Chapter 71
Chang Xiancao was not the only one among the women who came back early to cook meat. Considering that this year was the most exhausting and unprofitable for everyone, the women all used their best cooking skills to make up for the hunger of their families who had worked hard all winter.
It gets dark early in winter. Just when the women have finished stewing the meat, it is already dark. But the playful children have not returned home yet. The streets are filled with the long-awaited shouts and scolding for the children to go home for dinner.
Smelling the faint aroma of meat in the street and listening to the loud voices of women calling their children, Xia Juhua's heart suddenly settled down.
It's a bit tiring, but it's worth it as it allows everyone to eat better and wear warmer clothes.
As the women began to learn new tricks, Xia Juhua adjusted the work arrangements of the production team: in the morning when the weather was a little colder, the women stayed at home to help the men with the flour. In the afternoon when the weather was a little warmer, they went to the yard to learn how to weave the Four Seasons Peace Mat.
With the experience of the previous two times, the women were much faster at learning a new pattern. Soon everyone got the hang of it. Even if the patterns were more complicated than before, it was guaranteed that each person could weave a mat in two and a half days, which was faster than Xia Juhua had originally expected.
However, Xia Juhua did not ask everyone to continue weaving mats, but whoever learned it went home to continue helping the men leak powder. They had to help, the physical strength and energy of the men in Ping'an Village had obviously reached their limit, and now they were all holding on with the hope of winning sweet potatoes.
With the addition of women, the men finally had some more time to breathe, but they still told Xia Juhua that after leaking these hundreds of thousands of kilograms of sweet potatoes, they never wanted to leak powder again.
Who wants to do the same job over and over again for the rest of their lives? Xia Juhua has seen the efforts of the men these days and understands their feelings very well - she also has two sons at home who are constantly leaking powder and can't even concentrate on talking during meals. What is there for Xia Juhua to not understand?
When nearly half of the newly-delivered sweet potatoes had leaked out, Director Lin arrived at Pingan Village again with his horse-drawn carriage. He brought Xia Juhua good news and bad news.
The good news was that all the reed seats that Ping An Zhuang had available were purchased at the price agreed upon with the supply and marketing cooperative. The bad news was that the number of seats ordered for the Four Seasons Ping An seats was no longer the originally agreed 800, but 1,000.
The supply and marketing cooperative needed these 1,000 seats urgently and had to deliver them within half a month. Because they needed them urgently, the supply and marketing cooperative raised the price of each seat to RMB 3.30, instead of the originally agreed RMB 3.10.
If all the men weren't leaking powder, Xia Juhua would have considered the increase in the order quantity and price from the supply and marketing cooperative as good news and would have been very happy. But now she was about to cry:
"Director Lin, how many people in our production team can weave mats? How many days does it take for a member to weave one mat? Others don't know this, but you do? These 1,000 mats are needed too quickly. We can't weave them."
Director Lin also shook his head and said, "Captain Xia, it's not that the supply and marketing cooperative is making things difficult for you. It's just that you guys have exceeded the order quantity in the past few times, so the leadership decided to increase the order quantity this time. Director Zheng has instructed that if you can't complete this order on time, I'm afraid the commission for the previous two orders that exceeded the order quantity will have to be returned to the supply and marketing cooperative."
Shameless! Xia Juhua had never thought that the leaders of the county supply and marketing cooperative would threaten her with the reed mats that they had already taken away. But she had to accept this threat - except for the production team's share, all the reed mat money from the previous two times had been distributed to individuals. Could she still ask for it back?
Seeing Xia Juhua nod reluctantly, Director Lin whispered to her, "If your production team has any difficulties, you can also ask the supply and marketing cooperative."
Xia Juhua's eyes lit up, and she asked in a low voice, "Can you mention anything?"
Director Lin pursed his lips and said nothing, but Xia Juhua's mind started to work rapidly. What Ping'an Village lacked most now was no longer food or a way to make money, but the obvious lack of labor.
If there is something that can save men some energy when they are leaking powder, they can free up their hands to help women cook and do some housework, so that women can naturally free up more time to weave mats.
How can we save effort? Xia Juhua thought about it and realized that the biggest problem of losing powder is grating the whole sweet potato into pulp. If this problem can be solved, half of the effort can be saved.
"Director Lin, spring is almost here, and many members of our production team are running out of sweet potatoes at home, so they are rushing to grind them into noodles. That's a strenuous job, and it would be great if there was something that could save effort and grind the sweet potatoes into pulp."
Who grinds sweet potatoes into pulp? Director Lin asked uncertainly, "Can't we use the same mill used to grind tofu? I remember that tofu is made by grinding soy milk."
It was obvious that he had never done farm work. Xia Juhua did not make fun of Director Lin. He had never done farm work, but he had fought for the best interests of the people of Pingan Village in an environment where the working class was in charge of everything. What right did she have to make fun of him?
"No. The holes in the tofu grinder are too small, and the sweet potatoes have to be cut into cubes before they can be put in, which wastes time." This method has been tried by others, but it was found that it took half as long as the pounding method, so it was abandoned by the people of Ping'an Village.
Director Lin was even more embarrassed and finally said to Xia Juhua: "Why don't you go to the commune's agricultural machinery station to have a look?"
Xia Juhua didn't want to go to the commune. Once she got there, she would think of the Sun family and Liu Sizhuang's family who were still in the Red Team Study Class, and her good mood would disappear. Compared with her mood, improving the efficiency of powder leakage prevailed, and Xia Juhua decided to go there with Director Lin.
Hearing that Xia Juhua was going to the agricultural machinery station, Chen Qiu Sheng was terrified and worried. He pulled her and didn't want to let her go: "Captain, I will take you there on my bike tomorrow, and you will have to watch me settle the score." As he said this, he kept squint at Xia Juhua.
Although she could guess that Director Lin already knew that the seat that Ping An Village handed over to the supply and marketing cooperative was made up by members, Xia Juhua still blushed and shouted at Chen Qiusheng in a somewhat angry tone, "Isn't it the same to let Xianzhi and Xiancao settle with you?"
How can it be the same as you? Chen Qiusheng looked at Xia Juhua's angry expression and didn't dare to say anything. He had to let her go reluctantly.
Director Lin was transferred to the county supply and marketing cooperative. He clearly saw that Xia Juhua was uncomfortable, but he didn't ask a single question. He let Xia Juhua sit in the front of the car and talked to her about unimportant things: "Captain Xia, the names of your production team members are quite nice."
Seeing Xia Juhua looking at him in confusion, Director Lin kindly explained to her: "Xianzhi and Xiancao sound like sisters. It's rare to find such names nowadays."
Many young girls also changed their names to revolutionary-sounding names such as Hong and Wei.
Xia Juhua was amused by Director Lin: "They are not sisters, but sisters-in-law. What a coincidence, they are from the same village and married into Ping'an Village, and they also married into the same family. They sound like sisters."
"So they are also a family?" Director Lin seemed really interested.
Xia Juhua told him about the "grudge" between Zhao Xianzhi and Chang Xiancao, and they chatted all the way until they arrived at the commune's agricultural machinery station. Director Lin had to go back to the county town, so Xia Juhua didn't let him go in with her. After saying goodbye, she patted her clothes nervously again and asked the gatekeeper, "Comrade, I want to go to the agricultural machinery station to inquire about something. Who should I look for?"
"Ask for information?" It was the first time for the gatekeeper to see someone asking for information at the Agricultural Machinery Station. He said with a joking attitude, "If you want to file a complaint, you can go to the commune revolutionary committee or the Red Team. If you want to inquire about policies, you can also go to the revolutionary committee. The Agricultural Machinery Station is a hard place, there is nothing to inquire about."
Xia Juhua was not annoyed by the misunderstanding. Instead, she explained to the gatekeeper in a gentle voice: "I am not asking about the policy. I just want to ask if the Agricultural Machinery Station has anything that can grind sweet potatoes into pulp."
This can only be found out at the Agricultural Machinery Station. The gatekeeper looked at Xia Juhua and asked suspiciously: "How many sweet potatoes can your family get? You can just spend some time to peel them yourself. Why do you have to come to the Agricultural Machinery Station?"
Xia Juhua had no choice but to explain to him: "I am the leader of the Ping'an Village production team. Spring is coming soon, and I am worried that the sweet potatoes in the members' homes will not sprout properly, so I thought of coming to the agricultural machinery station to ask if they have this kind of thing."
"Captain of the Ping'an Village Production Team? Oh, oh, I remember now. Your last name is Xia, right? You are the only female production team leader in the entire Red Star Commune. I heard that your Ping'an Village Production Team is very prosperous. How did you lead everyone to do it?"
Xia Juhua had never thought that the gatekeeper had heard of her. She said with a little embarrassment, "We rural people, apart from working hard and not fearing hardships, what else can we do?"
The gatekeeper nodded in agreement: "That's right. I tell you, you don't need to look for anyone else when you go in, just look for Technician Xue. In our entire agricultural machinery station, he's the only one who likes to mess around with these useless things."
Xia Juhua thanked the gatekeeper excitedly, as she had never thought that the Agricultural Machinery Station had such a talent. But the gatekeeper had never seen a female production team leader like Xia Juhua before, so he didn't even bother to look at the gate, but took Xia Juhua to find Technician Xue.
The farm machinery station occupies a large area. Walking from the gate, you can see three large tractors and several small tractors along the way. Xia Juhua sighed as she looked at them: "We have so many tractors in the farm machinery station. If they can help the production team turn the soil, it will save a lot of trouble."
The gatekeeper spat on the ground and said, "Turning the soil for the production team? Didn't you see that the wheels of these tractors are gone? They were placed outside and the Red Team deflated them all because they didn't want the agricultural machinery station to help the production team to plough the soil. They said that the production team must not develop a dependent mentality and must work hard and rely on themselves rather than on others."
It’s a sin or not!
夏菊花一聽跟紅小隊沾邊的事兒，本能的知道不會有好事兒，所以對看門人的話除了跟着感嘆一聲，沒發表別的意見：
雖然大城市現在已經出現松動的現象，風仍然沒有吹到紅星公社這樣的小地方，紅小隊的話仍然被人看做跟革命挂鈎，沒有人敢明着跟紅小隊對着幹。
不過經了紅小隊到孫家莊抓老孫家人一事，夏菊花對紅小隊也沒有了以往的畏懼——要真是天不怕地不怕，怎麽齊衛東就能想出辦法，讓紅小隊按他的意思辦呢？
能有一個齊衛東，就能有無數個跟齊衛東一樣的人。現在齊衛東跟夏菊花的關系還是互利合作，比起單純受齊衛東指揮的紅小隊來，夏菊花覺得自己心裏的底氣更足些。
“薛技術員，有人找你。”看門人猛來了一嗓子，把想事兒的夏菊花吓了一跳，發現眼前站着一個頭發亂七八糟，衣服上粘滿了機油看不出本色的年輕人。
判斷他是年輕人，完全是憑着他眼角沒有什麽皺紋，身體還很挺拔，否則就憑這幅邋遢的樣子，夏菊花覺得說他四十也有人信。
打量是相互的，薛技術員看着面前穿着一身黑色斜紋布衣的農村婦女，想不明白她來找自己幹什麽——他是受家裏牽連被下放到紅星公社農機站的，本地并沒有親戚，來了這麽些年也沒什麽人找他。
“你找我有事兒？”薛技術員直通通的問，态度算不上好。
看門人覺得薛技術員不了解夏菊花的情況，連忙介紹說：“薛技術員，你可別小看夏隊長，她是平安莊生産隊的隊長，這次來找你不是為了個人的事，是為了她們平安莊生産隊紅薯發芽的事兒。”
“為了紅薯發芽的事兒？”薛技術員更覺得夏菊花找錯人了：“那該上糧站或是農技站，來農機站幹啥。”
本地口音裏技、機兩個字分得并不很清，可薛技術員說一口标準的普通話，還是讓夏菊花和看門人聽出不同。看門人發現自己越解釋越說不清，只能看向夏菊花，希望她自己能跟薛技術員說清楚。
夏菊花的确說清楚了，話音剛落就聽到薛技術員拍大腿的聲音：“你們生産隊真的想要一種能自己磨紅薯漿的機器？”
夏菊花自然點頭，看門人也跟着想聽聽，卻被薛技術員問起他還留在這兒幹啥。夏菊花幾乎不敢看看門人的臉色，心裏認定薛技術員在農機站，一定不怎麽受歡迎。
太不會做人也不會說話了。
不想看門人并沒有氣惱，反而樂呵呵的：“我一聽夏隊長想找的東西，就知道你肯定有辦法，這才把人給你帶來了。你試的東西有用處了，不說感謝我，還想攆我走？門兒都沒有。”
原來薛技術員一家全都是搞科研的，雖然運動初期被沖擊，還導致他被發配到小小的紅星公社，實際上說是發配不如說是保護，否則他也不能安安穩穩做技術員。
加之他這人天生一根筋，即不懂拉幫結派，也不會溜須拍馬，只愛研究些實用技術，研究出來的那些東西，用起來即省力又省心，誰用過誰知道好使。
限于現在的環境，薛技術員做出的東西，沒法大力推廣，農機站卻人人知道他是有大本事的人。
因此哪怕他說話直通通的，大家也不跟他計較，就是希望自家有什麽需要的時候，薛技術員能幫着做出實用的工具來。幾年相處下來，一根筋的薛技術員，在農機站活的那叫一個如魚得水，分明是亂世裏進了世外桃源。
看門人就是得到過薛技術員好處的一員，可惜并不很受薛技術員歡迎——看門人需要的東西，在薛技術員看來太沒有技術含量，偏這人求到面前的态度足夠好，薛技術員拉不下臉來拒絕，增加了不少工作量。
因此薛技術員對看門人的态度，在夏菊花看來絕稱不上客氣：“得了，快看你的門兒去吧，人家要的東西你會做嗎？”
“我不會你不是會嗎？”
“我做出來你就能看懂？”薛技術員不客氣的給了看門人一句，叫過夏菊花就往他自己的地盤走。看門人無奈的跟了兩步，發現連夏菊花都沒有叫自己一起看一眼的意思，才讪讪的停下步子。
“你看看，就是這個東西。”薛技術員領着夏菊花到了一間屋子的角落裏，掀開一塊油氈布，夏菊花看到了一個固定在木架子上的大圓桶一樣的東西。
圓桶是用白洋鐵皮焊成的，看起來白白亮亮挺幹淨，可夏菊花想不明白這東西跟絞紅薯有什麽關系。薛技術員看出她的不解，讓她站到木架子上往下看：“看到沒，那三把刀，到時把紅薯裝進去，在外頭拉着履帶，刀子就能轉了，多大個的紅薯都能絞碎。”
“這一桶能裝多少斤？”夏菊花看明白了，問題也就出來了：“那履帶結實嗎，拉着拉着斷了的話，會打着人嗎，裏頭的紅薯會不會飛出來？還有裝滿紅薯的話，得幾個人能拉動？”
一系列的問題，讓薛技術員的眼睛越來越亮：“你真懂得絞紅薯呀，我還當你光是打聽打聽呢。你們生産隊是不是有好些紅薯，能不能讓我試驗一下？”
大兄弟，敢情你給我看的是沒試驗過的東西？夏菊花很是無語的看着薛技術員：“薛技術員，生産隊一口人最多分百十斤紅薯，你覺得夠你試幾回的？”
薛技術員就有些洩氣，嘴裏嘟嚷着：“那你還來農機站問什麽，自己人還用老辦法砸就行了。我跟你說，我這東西保準好用，我們家原來有絞肉機，就是這麽一拉一拉的把肉絞成肉餡。平德個個生産隊都種紅薯，我早想着怎麽讓農民用最小的力氣絞紅薯漿，才按着那個原理放大了一些。”
“那總得有個出漿的地方吧，絞完了還得一瓢一瓢往出舀紅薯漿嗎？”夏菊花上輩子見過絞肉機，仿佛裏頭跟薛技術員做的這個東西，真的差不多，所以有點兒相信他說的話了。
“咋能用瓢舀呢。你看這兒，看着了沒，這道槽就是流漿用的，裏頭裝着紗網，渣滓都能過濾掉。”薛技術員聽夏菊花有疑問，急頭白臉的向她解釋。
最後低聲下氣的說：“要不還是把你們家的紅薯拉來，咱們試試好使不好使，要是不好使的話我也能發現問題，然後按你的需要給你改好使了。”
确認了眼前的東西跟上輩子見過的絞肉機差不多之後，夏菊花心裏還是看好的，可是把平安莊的紅薯運到公社農機站來，則是不可能的操作。
“薛技術員，不知道你了解不了解農村的情況，糧食在我們眼裏那就是命，誰不是放在自己眼前才放心。所以帶紅薯來試驗……”
聽夏菊花同意同紅薯給自己試驗，薛技術員連忙說：“沒事沒事，你們嫌費事不願意來回搬紅薯，我可以把東西帶到你們生産隊去。”
“對了，你是哪個生産隊的來着？”
好吧，這真是一位技術員。夏菊花笑呵呵的回答薛技術員的問題後，才說：“那我明天讓我們生産隊的牛車過來接你？”
薛技術員生怕夏菊花變卦，非得說自己現在就有時間，可以馬上帶着東西跟夏菊花走。看着架子上的鐵桶，還有笨重的木架子，夏菊花為難了：“咱們兩個也搬不動呀。”
那木架子看起來就有兩三百斤，哪怕夏菊花外號夏小夥，也只能跟人擡起來走個百八十米。平安莊離公社，可足足有好幾裏路呢。
“沒事，我們農機站有拖拉機。”薛技術員向夏菊花拍着胸脯保證，只要夏菊花肯出紅薯讓他試驗，那他就能開着農機站的拖拉機送到平安莊去。
聽說薛技術員能把農機站的拖拉機開出去，夏菊花看他的眼神就跟看一塊肥肉一樣一樣的：“薛技術員，剛才看門的不是說農機站拖拉機都被紅小隊給放氣了嘛？”
薛技術員用一種你是不是傻的眼神看夏菊花：“放了氣還不能重新充氣了？再說他們就放了兩臺拖拉機的氣，我們站長怕他們再來破壞，就讓我們把車轱辘都卸下來藏好了，對外才說都是紅小隊放的氣。”
得了，竟然敢把紅小隊當成靶子，農機站的站長也是能人。出于對能人的佩服，夏菊花脫口而出：“既然農機站的拖拉機都閑着，那開春的時候能不能幫我們翻一下地？”
早知道冬天的時候應該請農機站的人幫他們運一下修渠的土，那得省多少事兒！
薛技術員越發覺得夏菊花異想天開了：“你是不是以為拖拉機跟你們生産隊的牛車一樣，喂牛兩把草就動拉着到處走？”
I forgot, tractors are expensive nowadays. They are expensive not only because of their high price, but also because they burn diesel. I heard that the fuel cost is several dollars a day, which is not something a production team can afford.
Seeing that Xia Juhua was depressed by his words, Technician Xue realized belatedly that he still needed her cooperation to know whether the things he made could be used, so he comforted her clumsily:
"It's not impossible to discuss it. I'll talk to our stationmaster in the spring and see if we can give priority to supporting your production team's agricultural production."