Chapter 67
"Chang Wang's, no, Zhao Xianzhi, since it was the captain who added more dishes to Fifth Master, you have to give Fifth Master more food." Hearing that it was Xia Juhua who specially added more dishes to Fifth Master, the people in the queue turned back embarrassingly and wanted to find Fifth Master, wanting him to get his dishes first.
Zhao Xianzhi's loud voice was not happy: "Why do you still need to worry about this matter? I have already reserved some for the Fifth Master. You are all eating scrambled eggs because of the Fifth Master. Don't say that I reserved too much for the Fifth Master later."
"Don't tell me, don't tell me."
"It should all be kept for Master Wu, and we can just try it out."
"You took half a bowl, did you take it to taste it? If you just wanted to smell it, then quickly return the scrambled eggs to Li Changwang's family and Zhao Xianzhi."
…
Laughter and clashing sounds could be heard from the front of each pot, which sounded a bit noisy but made people feel very relieved. As a result, who had received their dishes did not want to leave, and they were willing to listen to others arguing or to find someone to argue with, even if everyone they were not afraid of the dishes getting cold.
"This pot of cabbage and bone soup was prepared by Daxi and his grandchildren's wives for Fifth Master, wishing him a long life." Not to be outdone, Chang Xiancao knocked on the edge of the pot and told the person who received the dish the origin of the dish.
In fact, the bones belonged to the production team, and the cabbage was brought by Liu Daxi's wife Chang Guihua and her sisters-in-law. Chang Xiancao and Chang Guihua were both from Changjiazhuang and married to Pinganzhuang, so of course they had to speak for him, and also to prevent Zhao Xianzhi from being the only one to take the spotlight.
People envied the Fifth Master for his good fortune. Not only were his sons and daughters-in-law filial, but even his grandsons and daughters-in-law were all filial. The Fifth Master's face lit up when he heard this: "They are good children, all of them are good children." He turned around and asked Chang Guihua: "Does your mother have any cakes at home? If so, bring them over so that we can eat together."
Everyone kept pushing it away, saying that they had already made cakes at home. But Master Wu was really happy today. He was the man who usually wanted to squeeze every grain of food into sprouts, but he insisted that Chang Guihua go home immediately to get the cakes.
Xia Juhua winked at Liu Zhishuang and said to Fifth Master with a smile, "Fifth Master wants to have some fun with everyone. Tell me which of our families has posted a cookie and bring it over. Today, we won't go home and will stay here to celebrate Fifth Master's birthday together."
Liu Zhishuang had already moved the production team's table and the only chair out and placed them in front of Master Wu. Zhao Xianzhi brought over a large bowl of eggs that she had reserved for Master Wu, Chang Xiancao served cabbage and bone soup, and An Baoling served a bowl of pig stew, which contained not only the rotten pig head but also several pieces of blood intestines.
"Fifth Master, this is the dish we added for you. May you have happy days like this every year." Zhang Cuiping, on behalf of the Chen wives, brought a bowl of pig's trotters stewed with soybeans and placed it respectfully on the table in front of Fifth Master.
The corners of Fifth Master's mouth twitched twice, and his eyes began to turn red: "Okay, okay. I didn't expect that you would bother so much with my birthday. Thank you. I'm not greedy for this bite of food, I just hope that our Ping An Manor will be peaceful and smooth in the future. That would make me happier than giving me anything to eat."
Seeing that the old man was somewhat sentimental, Xia Juhua hurriedly stepped forward and said to Fifth Master: "Fifth Master, as long as you are happy, we in Ping An Village will celebrate your birthday together every year in the future. Come, let us wish Fifth Master good health and longevity together."
"I wish Master Wu good health and a long life." Everyone in Ping An Manor shouted out together. Their voices were filled with heartfelt blessings. They were blessing Master Wu, and He Chang was also blessing himself.
There was no wine, but the amount of pig dishes from Ping'an Village today was twice as much as in previous years. The meat was still the same pig head, offal and bones, but the side dishes were plentiful, and everyone was enjoying the meal.
Of course, Fifth Master would not be allowed to sit alone at the table. Uncle Dong, Seventh Grandma and six or seven other elderly people of the same generation and age as Fifth Master were supported by Xia Juhua and Chen Qiu Sheng to sit with Fifth Master. It was not clear whose family was getting the dishes, and how much could the elderly people eat?
Although there was no wine, Xia Juhua still felt a little tipsy, with a sense of unreality in her head: Even though she had experienced this for a lifetime, it was the first time that the whole village got together to eat a meal with very little seasoning and make it taste delicious.
Xia Juhua was not the only one who was tipsy. Liu Erzhuang held his bowl in one hand and a piece of cake from home in the other, squatted in front of Xia Juhua, and didn't say anything for a long time.
Li Daya looked at her man with some concern. She wanted to go forward but was stopped by An Baoling: "Sister-in-law, I think my brother has figured it out."
"With his stubborn temper, can he think clearly?" Li Daya showed her absolute distrust of Liu Erzhuang: "Sister-in-law is generous enough, and has not given him a cold look so far. If he dares to say something unpleasant to sister-in-law, you see, I will not be able to get along with him."
Xia Juhua was feeding Liu Baoguo who came over. She was a little surprised to see Liu Erzhuang squatting over, but she didn't show it. It wasn't like she was sorry for the Liu family, so she wouldn't take the initiative to talk to Liu Erzhuang.
"Sister-in-law," Liu Erzhuang looked at Liu Baoguo, who was eating with his mouth full of oil. It would be a lie to say that he was not jealous: "I made things difficult for you about what happened that day."
"We are all family, there is no need to say it is difficult. If I were to say, the one with the most difficult situation is not me, but Daya." Xia Juhua stopped there.
Liu Erzhuang turned around and saw Li Daya looking at him worriedly in the crowd. He felt even more guilty: "She has been worrying about me these days."
"Daya is sincere in wanting to live a good life with you, so you shouldn't bully her too much." Xia Juhua felt a little unfair for Li Daya, but after all, she had separated from the old family a long time ago, so there wasn't much she could say.
Liu Erzhuang took the initiative to talk to her today, which was beyond Xia Juhua's expectation. It was probably the limit of what Liu Erzhuang could do, so Xia Juhua took the opportunity to say a few words.
Except when dealing with the Sun family, Liu Erzhuang was a person who could distinguish good from bad. After talking to Xia Juhua, he felt as relieved as if he had moved a big stone, and even smiled and fed Liu Baoguo a piece of pork head.
Liu Baoguo chewed the meat that suddenly appeared in his mouth, looked at his grandmother in confusion, and said vaguely: "Meat."
Xia Juhua smiled and wiped the corners of his mouth: "Well, the meat that Second Master fed you is delicious, isn't it?"
Li Daya didn't feel relieved until Liu Erzhuang fed Liu Baoguo meat. She came over with her bowl and asked with a smile, "Sister-in-law, are you full? I still have some cakes here."
Knowing what she was worried about, Xia Juhua gave Li Daya a sincere smile and said, "It's almost time to eat. Don't just take care of the children, you have to eat too."
It was a simple sentence, but it made Liu Erzhuang look at the people squatting on the ground eating. Almost everyone was squatting together as a family. Women would occasionally pick out meat from their bowls and give it to their children or their men.
Just after reading it, Li Daya had already given a piece of meat to Liu Erzhuang, which made his eyes turn red: "Didn't sister-in-law tell you to eat it yourself?"
"I've almost finished eating too." Li Daya didn't notice the change in Liu Erzhuang's expression, and concentrated on picking meat from her own bowl for him. Liu Erzhuang looked at the four children who came with Li Daya uncomfortably, thought for a moment, and picked a piece of meat for Hongling and Hongcui respectively.
The two girls had never received such treatment before, and looked at Liu Erzhuang in disbelief, which made Liu Erzhuang even more uncomfortable: "You have worked hard these days to weave mats, so don't weave before the New Year."
The scene of a father picking meat for his daughter instead of picking it for his son occurred in several families. Xia Juhua was happy to see it, and the women gathered together to talk about the changes in their men.
Even though they felt horified, they were still happy to see it happen, and they all felt that what Xia Juhua said was so true: girls only have a slightly easier life when they are at their parents' home, but once they become someone else's wife, they immediately have to take care of their own family, and even if there is meat in the bowl, they have to give it to the man and children.
So, shouldn't a father love his daughter more while the child is still at her parents' home?
The women who were thinking this way were most upset when they received Xia Juhua's notice in the evening and went to Liu's house to get the cloth. They suddenly realized that when they had calculated the cloth, they had more or less ignored the daughter-in-law and thought that the one who should have new clothes was the son.
They also said that men don't love their daughters, and as a mother, I don't love them that much either. So several people quietly asked Xia Juhua if they could buy more cloth so that they could make a jacket for the daughter for the New Year. During this period, it was not only Hongling and Hongcui who helped to weave the mats, but girls of the same age as them all helped to varying degrees.
Because Qi Weidong had taken away the fried peanuts when he delivered the cloth, and it was not known whether he would come again before the New Year, Xia Juhua did not dare to make any guarantees. She only said that if the people from the county supply and marketing cooperative came tomorrow, she would find a chance to ask for everyone.
Everyone knew that Xia Juhua always treated everyone's business as her own. When the women heard this answer, they were not disappointed, but rather looked forward to it. They were even thinking about what kind of fabrics they should buy to dress up their ladies.
Xia Juhua stood at the entrance of the village with the same expectation, waiting for the arrival of the supply and marketing cooperative leaders.
Liu Qixi looked at Xia Juhua who had been standing there since breakfast and advised her: "Sister-in-law, go home and wait first. Don't worry, I'll run to call you as soon as I see someone." It was so cold that the sister-in-law had to stand in the wind. If the grandfather knew about it, he would have to use his walking stick to support her.
"It's okay. Director Lin said he would bring a leader with him, so he will definitely come." Xia Juhua felt that the person coming was the leader of the county supply and marketing cooperative. Ping'anzhuang was reluctant to take out pork to entertain him, and all they could give was the sincerity of waiting a little longer.
Fortunately, after waiting for less than half an hour, a few people on bicycles finally appeared on the road. Xia Juhua excitedly went to greet them, only to find that the people who came were not Director Lin and any supply and marketing cooperative leaders, but the Red Team led by Captain Xia.
"Captain Xia, did you know we were coming?" Captain Xia of the Red Team asked sarcastically with a crooked mouth when he saw Xia Juhua standing at the entrance of the village.
Xia Juhua's face was almost frozen, so she simply stopped pretending to smile: "Captain Xia is here, has someone reported me again?"
This sentence successfully made the Red Team leader's face darken: "Captain Xia, the day before yesterday I led people to recover 110 yuan for your family. Have you forgotten it today? By the way, I asked your militia leader to tell you to write a self-examination. Have you finished it?"
Writing a self-criticism? Liu Liqun didn't mention the self-criticism except to scold Liu Zhishuang that day. But Xia Juhua would not betray Liu Liqun, and tried to calm her voice: "Captain Xia, you know I'm just a rural woman, I can't read a few words, how can I write a self-criticism."
Seeing Captain Xia staring at her, Xia Juhua thought he was waiting for her to thank him, so she couldn't help but say, "Captain Xia helped my family recover the money that was taken away. I have been thinking about how to thank you. After thinking about it, I think I should write a letter of praise to the comrades in the Red Team to express my gratitude..."
The last time the Ping'anzhuang Dale Team sent a letter of commendation to the supply and marketing cooperative, the news spread throughout the commune, and Captain Xia also heard about it from his subordinates. At that time, he was quite envious, and it was not that he had not thought about how great it would be if the Red Team also received such a letter of commendation.
Everyone knows their own business. Captain Xia has a clear idea of the image of the Red Team in other people's minds, so he only dares to think about it in his mind and does not think it will come true one day.
Now Xia Juhua actually proposed to send a letter of commendation to the Red Team. It would be a lie to say that he was not tempted, but the lessons of not getting the upper hand in the several confrontations with Xia Juhua made Captain Xia suspicious of Xia Juhua's motives: "You are trying to win over the corrupt revolutionary young generals. Besides, I am not helping your family recover the money for you, so you don't need to write a letter of commendation."
Well, I didn't say it. Xia Juhua just said it casually. Captain Xia didn't agree with her, so she just shut up - the Red Team came to Ping'an Village with great fanfare, so if there was something important, they would tell their purpose.
Don’t say it. It’s not important!
"Captain Xia, I heard that you guys at Ping An Manor have been leaking fans?" Captain Xia felt aggrieved again when he saw that Xia Juhua didn't persuade him to accept the commendation letter that hadn't appeared yet. His principle has always been that if he feels aggrieved, others shouldn't feel good about it either, so he said something to Xia Juhua in a sarcastic tone.
Xia Juhua's heart tightened, but she said calmly, "Yes, it's a good opportunity to take advantage of the fact that the fields are not busy in winter, so that everyone can grind the sweet potatoes into powder, so that they won't rot in the hot cellar in spring."
"How many sweet potatoes did you Ping'an Village get? How come it's been almost a month and they haven't been leaked yet?" Captain Xia pressed on.
Xia Juhua continued to state the facts: "Captain Xia, you have always cared about the revolutionary masses. How could you not know that in our rural areas, relatives are all relatives. If a relative heard about this good way to store sweet potatoes, he would bring his own sweet potatoes to Ping'an Village and ask for help to leak some flour. How could the members not help?"
Yes, the sweet potatoes distributed by our own production team were leaked out, but there is no rule that says we cannot help our relatives. Is it wrong for poor and middle peasants to help each other?
Captain Xia's face was so gloomy that it was unbearable to look at: "Then you don't have to complete your own production team's production tasks?"
"Who said that?" Xia Juhua suddenly became serious: "Captain Xia, no matter who reports Ping'an Village to you, I dare to confront him. Our Ping'an Village's production task, not to mention leading the entire commune, is the first to be completed in the Ping'an Village Brigade."
"Captain Xia, why are you waiting here?" Director Lin saw someone standing at the entrance of Ping'an Village from a distance. He pedaled quickly a few times and found that it was someone from the commune's Red Team who was talking to Xia Juhua. He quickly greeted them and wanted to help Xia Juhua out.
After greeting Xia Juhua, Director Lin smiled and nodded as if he had just spotted the leader of the Red Team. "Captain Xia, you are here too. Are you here like the leaders of the county supply and marketing cooperative? I heard that the members of Ping'an Village are using their free time in winter to start sideline businesses, so you came to learn from them?"
Captain Xia, who had just been speechless after being criticized by Xia Juhua, felt as uncomfortable as if he had swallowed a fly after hearing what Director Lin said. However, he knew that Director Lin now worked in the county supply and marketing cooperative, and was not someone he, as the leader of a red team in a commune, could easily offend.
He wanted to say a few more harsh words to scare Xia Juhua, but the leaders of the supply and marketing cooperative who came with Director Lin had already come over on their bicycles. When they saw Director Lin stop, they braked and got off, waiting for Director Lin to introduce himself.
Director Lin is a well-rounded person. He first took Xia Juhua to a middle-aged man with slicked-back hair and said with a smile, "Captain Xia, come, let me introduce you to Director Zheng from the county supply and marketing cooperative. After listening to my report, Director Zheng was very concerned about the sideline production of our Ping'anzhuang production team and insisted on coming to the site for an on-site inspection."
"Welcome, Director Zheng." Xia Juhua imitated the words she had seen on TV in her previous life and greeted Director Zheng politely. She couldn't say anything more.
Director Zheng, with a clean and fair face, looked very friendly as he greeted Xia Juhua. He then joked with Director Lin, "If we had known that Captain Xia had been waiting for us, we should have set out earlier, right, Captain Lin?"
With this joke, the atmosphere finally relaxed a little. Normally, Xia Juhua should have led Director Zheng and his team back to the production team, taken them to visit the mat weaving site, looked at the mats that Ping An Village had already woven, and discussed the next purchase price.
But there was a group of Red Team members with unknown intentions at the scene. Xia Juhua didn't know whether she should take them to the production team as well, so she had to look at Captain Xia.
Captain Xia felt aggrieved, aggrieved like never before since he became a member of the Red Team! If it was in the early days of the movement, during the heyday of the Red Team, he would not care whether the visitors were from the commune supply and marketing cooperative or the county supply and marketing cooperative. He would criticize/struggle against those who he disliked first.
But now the heyday of the Red Team has passed, and the Red Team's funds have to be allocated by the Commune Revolutionary Committee. In addition to the normal funds, the Commune Revolutionary Committee also has a part of its income from the difference in the price of local products purchased by the supply and marketing cooperative. Even Captain Xia, the leader of the Red Team, had to bow to the Five Fights for Rice.
If you don't recognize the current situation, you will have no funds. If you recognize the current situation, you will feel powerless and angry!
"We also heard that some people in various production teams were cheating before the New Year, so we went around everywhere. Since nothing like this happened in Ping'an Village, we won't go into the village." Thinking about the funds, Captain Xia had to find a lame excuse for himself.
What else could Xia Juhua say except thanking the Red Team for their concern for the Ping An Village production team? Anyway, she was just a rural woman who was not good at speaking, and her thanks were dry and the Red Team probably wouldn't be picky about the gifts.
After the Red Team members rode away dejectedly, Director Zheng sighed and said, "It's not easy for Captain Xia to lead the members to do side jobs."
We are all smart people, we all know where the difficulties are.
Xia Juhua thought of the women's expectations and said, "Thank you Director Zheng for understanding our difficulties. It's mainly because everyone cuts the reed stalks in the fall and piles them up to burn for firewood next year, which is a waste. So everyone wants to find a way to weave more patterns so that they can make new clothes for the children during the New Year."
At this point she smiled a little embarrassedly: "Even though we farmers only have one foot of cloth coupon per person per year, even if we make some money, it's still not easy to buy cloth."
For an old hand like Director Zheng, Xia Juhua's small trick was obvious at a glance, but he did not expose her. Instead, he said along with Xia Juhua: "There is no other way. The country's productivity is limited now. We can only work together to overcome it."
Official language, this is definitely official language. Xia Juhua glanced at Director Lin who was following her. Director Lin was pushing his bicycle silently without any expression.
"Director Zheng, how about we go sit in the production team for a while, drink some water and warm up?" Xia Juhua had no experience in dealing with officials. Seeing that Director Lin could not provide help, she tried to influence Director Zheng with her enthusiasm.
Mr. Zheng was a down-to-earth leader. He declined Xia Juhua's invitation and insisted on going to the yard to see how the women were weaving mats.
Let them take a look. Xia Juhua greeted the women and asked them to dress neatly today to leave a good impression on the county leaders, so she was not afraid of Director Zheng's visit.
Before we even got close to the reed wall, we could hear women talking and laughing. Director Zheng smiled and commented, "Everyone seems to be working very enthusiastically."
Of course, we all know that you might come to have a banquet today and pay in cash, so it would be strange if you weren't enthusiastic. Xia Juhua stepped forward and opened the door on the reed wall, inviting Director Zheng and his party in.
The scene was still the same, but the scattered reed stalks on the ground were specially tidied up, and it looked neat and tidy. Director Zheng nodded from time to time, and walked slowly, looking at the reed mats being formed by the women one by one. The women in the yard were seen with their fingers flying, which looked dazzling.
"Comrade, how many days can you weave a mat?" Director Zheng approached Li Zhaodi and asked in a low and slow voice, as if afraid of scaring her.
Everyone had already noticed the captain and his men coming in, and they all wanted to look up to see who was coming. There was no difference between city people and rural people. And they all remembered Xia Juhua's instructions, so they forced themselves to weave the mats in their hands and only watched the few pairs of shoes walking back and forth in front of them with their peripheral vision.
Li Zhaodi was staring at the leather shoes like everyone else, but she didn't expect that a pair of black leather shoes would stop in front of her and ask her a question in a low voice. What did he ask and how should she answer?
Li Zhaodi felt her mind go blank. She raised her eyes to look at the person who asked the question, then immediately looked at Xia Juhua for help.
After hearing Director Zheng's question, Xia Juhua became very nervous. She had told Director Lin that it would take three days to weave a mat. Director Lin must have reported this to Director Zheng, so he asked such a question out of the blue.
If Li Zhaodi said something different from what I said, I would probably reconsider the prices of all the reed mats, right?
Director Zheng was standing aside waiting for an answer. Now was not a good time to remind Li Zhaodi. Xia Juhua cleared her throat nervously and smiled at Li Zhaodi soothingly: "Director Zheng is asking you how many days it will take to weave a mat."
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