Chapter 82
Like Li Changshun, everyone felt that no matter how capable Xia Juhua was, when it came to determining the location for digging a well, they would rather trust the two educated technicians Xue Lin than believe that Xia Juhua could find the location for digging a well herself.
The two really felt a lot of pressure, and looked at Xia Juhua with helplessness. Xia Juhua nodded naturally: "Yes, since the two technicians came to our production team to guide agricultural production, they have treated our members' affairs as their own."
Even though what she said was a little vague, the four production team leaders all looked at the two technicians with envy, and some came up to them, passing cigarettes and trying to get close to them.
Only the captain of Team 3 asked Xia Juhua: "Captain Xia, how much did your production team spend on these materials?"
Chen Qiu Sheng had already calculated the amount of money before Xia Juhua bought the things, so Xia Juhua told the captain of Team 3 very clearly that the total cost of all the materials was 174 yuan.
"More than 170?" The third team leader felt that he was stimulated: "Your production team has more than 500 acres of land. Just digging one well is definitely not enough. At least 7 or 8 wells are needed. Doesn't that mean more than 1,000 yuan?"
Xia Juhua pointed to the canal in the distance and said, "We don't need to draw so much water. The water in the canal can also be used."
The captain of the third team smiled bitterly and said, "You are so close to the Xihe River that you can hardly use the canal, and our production team can't be relied on at all." It turned out that the captain of the third team was not calculating the account of Ping'an Village, but the account of his own production team.
Xia Juhua had a better impression of the captain of Team 3 than the three production captains, and she whispered to him, "If you want to dig a well, you should do it quickly while you can buy the materials."
After persuading the captain of Team 3 to dig a well as soon as possible, Xia Juhua felt a little uneasy. How other production teams arranged their own production and guaranteed the lives of their members was their internal affairs, and what she said was a bit too much.
However, the captain of the third team has always admired Xia Juhua since he sold the reed poles to Ping An Village. He did not feel disgusted, but felt that Xia Juhua did not treat him as an outsider by saying this to him: "I think so too. Captain Xia, can you tell me where you bought these things, so that I don't have to go the wrong way."
Xia Juhua was able to buy so many things because Qi Weidong took her to find places. She didn't know if the captain of the third team could buy them if he went there by himself, or if he could buy them at the price he wanted. But she was the one who persuaded him to do so, so she told the captain of the third team all the places one by one.
"The water delivery man is here, come up and have a drink of water before you continue digging." Chen Qiu Sheng saw people carrying carrying poles coming from a distance, so he lay down beside the pit that was already five or six meters deep and called for them to come up and rest for a while.
Liu Zhiquan refused and said, "Let Zhishuang and the others drink first. After they finish, we will go upstairs. It's a good opportunity to rest for a while."
Liu Zhishuang also agreed: "Okay, let's finish the drink quickly for you."
The conversation between the two brothers made other production team leaders jealous. The members of their production team were so busy working that they wanted to use scales to measure who had worked more and who had worked less. There was no such thing as them competing with each other for work.
When the water deliverymen came closer, they saw that they were all girls. They looked thin, but the loads on their shoulders were heavy. Four of them carried four hot water bottles on one side, and a pile of rough bowls on the other side.
Xia Juhua saw that the two sisters Liu Hongling and Chen Xiaoman were delivering water, so she said to the captain of the third team and went to greet them: "Why are you the ones delivering water?"
Liu Hongling smiled at the old lady and said, "My mother and her friends are busy grinding wheat bran. We have nothing to do after thinning out the seedlings, and it won't be tiring for us to deliver water."
It was said to be at the edge of the village, but it was almost a mile away from the village, and we had to cross the canal and the ditches, and it was not easy to walk with the heavy things on the shoulders. Xia Juhua took the bag from Liu Hongcui's shoulders and said, "Hongcui, don't follow your sister to deliver water next time, you won't grow taller if you are pressed down again."
Hongcui was more shy than Hongling, and followed Xia Juhua silently except saying "nothing". There was another girl Xia Juhua didn't know very well, and only knew that she was the daughter of Zhao Huajiang's family. After quietly asking Liu Hongling, she found out that her name was Zhao Wenying.
"Wenying, put down your carrying pole quickly. Are you tired?" Xia Juhua was unwilling to neglect any of the good girls who took the initiative to participate in the collective labor, so she smiled and helped Xiaoman and Wenying put down their carrying poles.
Liu Zhishuang and his friends gathered around, vying to get water out of the thermos. Li Daniu was jealous: "Captain Xia, you guys in Pingan Village are having a good time. Where did you buy these old thermoses?" They all looked quite new.
"They are all members' homes. We use the water from whoever delivers it." Xia Juhua answered casually.
It happened so inadvertently that the other four production teams understood that all the ordinary members of Ping'an Village were using new hot water kettles, and they didn't feel bad about giving them away for free for collective use.
Look at how aware the members are!
"Brother Zhishuang, here you go." Xiaoman poured hot water into a rough bowl and handed it to Liu Zhishuang before Liu Zhishuang could make a move. Liu Zhishuang glanced at her, took the water but didn't drink it himself, found his mother, and handed it to Xia Juhua: "Mom, you drink first."
Xia Juhua didn't think much about it and took it and held it in her hand. Then she saw Liu Hongling and Chen Xiaoman handed Liu Zhishuang a bowl of water at the same time. Liu Zhishuang took the one from Liu Hongling as a matter of course. There was something wrong with the expression on Chen Xiaoman's face.
What happened? Xia Juhua calmly brought the bowl to her lips and blew on it, then she remembered the other four production team leaders. When she wanted to let them go, she found that they had already walked a long way away.
"Hey, Captain Li, have a drink of water before you go." Xia Juhua forgot about the feeling of being uneasy just now and hurriedly greeted the people who were walking away.
Li Daniu turned around and waved to Xia Juhua, then turned to the leader of Team 5 who was closest to him and said, "Look at the life of Ping An Village, and look at how united their members are. How can I have the face to drink their water?"
The other three felt similar to Li Daniu and were reflecting on why the people in their production team were not as united as those in Ping'an Village. They concluded that they, as production team leaders, were not as prestigious as Xia Juhua, who had just taken office for more than half a year, because they were not as capable as Xia Juhua in leading the members to a better life.
After coming to such a frustrating conclusion, the captain of Team 3 became more determined to follow Ping An Village's footsteps and dig a well. He planned to go to the county town tomorrow to see if he could buy all the materials. If he couldn't come up with a good idea himself, and didn't follow others' ideas when they did, wouldn't he be a fool?
While the captain of Team Three was buying materials, the well in Ping'an Village had been dug nearly twenty meters deep, but apart from the fact that the soil was a little wetter than before, there was still no sign of water.
Wu Ye, who had been squatting by the side watching people dig the well since early morning, put his pipe on his waist, walked over and leaned down to ask, "Da Xi, what's wrong?"
Liu Daxi's voice came from below: "Nothing has happened yet, but the soil is a little wet again."
Xia Juhua was so scared that she stepped forward to support Wu Ye, and pulled him back two steps. Then she imitated Wu Ye's behavior and shouted to the people in the well: "Dig slower, and dig in the places with more moisture."
Last time, the well in this land seemed to have water after being dug to a depth of about 23 or 24 meters. Later, it took another half meter to produce a lot of water. Now the soil that is brought up is getting wetter each time. Xia Juhua feels that good news is not far away.
"Alas, this happened to me when I was digging a well. I only saw wet soil but no water. I dug two meters downstream but still couldn't find any water." Master Wu seemed to be in a bad mood, and the people waiting for their shift change felt depressed as well.
"Fifth Master, I think there is water coming out from here, look." Xia Juhua showed the wet soil she had just brought up to Fifth Master: "This soil is almost turning into mud, water should be coming out soon."
Seeing that the soil being brought up was getting wetter and wetter, Fifth Master was even more reluctant to leave. He waited until Liu Daxixi shouted from below, "There's water, there's water." The old man rushed to the well again and lay flat on the ground.
"Is there really water?" Fifth Master asked in disbelief. For many years, Ping'an Village had not dug a new well except for the two old wells. Some families went directly to the Xihe River to fetch water for convenience, except in winter.
Now, a well has actually been dug out of the ground!
Wu Ye turned around to look at Xia Juhua who insisted on digging the well, but he forgot that he was now lying on the edge of the well. When he turned his head, he felt his neck was stretched, and he quickly turned back to wait for Liu Daxi's answer.
Liu Daxi looked up and could see a round sky, but now there was a missing piece of it, blocked by his grandfather. However, Liu Daxi did not dare to complain, and shouted in the same excited voice as the fifth grandfather:
"It's really flooding, Grandpa. As soon as I dug with the hoe, water started to seep out. Grandpa, hurry up and you can pull it out when the water gets higher."
Someone had already helped Master Wu up, and everyone in the well was anxiously waiting for the next basket of soil to be brought up. Unfortunately, only half of the soil was brought up, and Liu Daxi, who was in the well, laughed and scolded: "Hurry up and put a bucket down, we are all soaked."
Liu Zhishuang shouted into the well from above: "Uncle Daxi, come up, it's our turn to dig."
"What the hell are you digging for?" Liu Da happily scolded him, "You want to get out of the water now, no way. You have to stand in the mud for a while."
The people at the well burst into laughter, and no one thought that Liu Daxi was deliberately making things difficult for them - there was really water, Ping'an Village had dug a well in such dry weather, and everyone was so happy that they couldn't help but laugh at each other.
Hearing that water had been found in the well, two technicians, Xue Lin, were also called in. The two inexperienced people were completely flattered by the people of Ping An Village and were at a loss as to what to do. They asked Xia Juhua with a guilty conscience, "Are we still going to dig a well?"
Xia Juhua nodded confidently: "Of course we have to. This year's harvest of Ping'an Village depends entirely on these wells."
不是一口，而是幾口，現在夏菊花有底氣說這番話，可兩位技術員覺得自己心更虛了是咋回事。
可平安莊的人相信，整個平安莊大隊的人，看到越來越清的井水，也相信平安莊還能打出更多的井來。
就在夏菊花準備第二次進縣城買打井的材料時，三隊隊長找上門來了：“夏隊長，你要去買材料，能不能捎上我？上次我有好幾樣東西沒買着。”
夏菊花有些為難的看看三隊隊長問：“你們還差啥沒買，要不今天我給你帶回來得了。”齊衛東的秘密，越少人知道越好。
三隊隊長是個明白人，聽夏菊花這麽一說，回想自己上次去縣城買東西的糟遇，沖着夏菊花點頭：“行，你給我捎回來更省事兒。你們這回準備再買幾口井的材料，我們生産隊至少得打兩口井，一拖拉機能拉回來嗎？”
能不能拉回來，就不用三隊隊長操心了，薛技術員真拉不回來的話，齊衛東也能替夏菊花找到別的車送回來。不過夏菊花決定親兄弟明算帳，拿着上次買東西的帳本給三隊隊長看。
三隊隊長有些不好意思看，又想知道平安莊一口井究竟花了多少錢，二意三思的推了一推，就看了起來。他認字也不多，數字卻還能認得全，把幾樣主要東西的價格記在心裏，就把帳本還給夏菊花：“夏隊長，這兩百塊錢你先拿着，我們需要……”
陳秋生在旁邊聽三隊隊長說一樣，就在紙上記一樣，等他說完已經把大概的錢數算出來了，向夏菊花說：“隊長，三隊這些東西，要是不漲價的話，差不多有一百五十塊錢就夠了。”敢情你上次就沒買回啥東西。
夏菊花也聽出來了，不客氣的接過錢，對三隊隊長說：“那我就先把錢拿着了。”
拿着好，夏菊花拿上錢就能替三隊把東西都買回來。三隊隊長笑的臉上都起褶子了：“行，那等下半晌的時候，我讓我們生産隊的人在這兒等着，好把東西挑回去。”
夏菊花還要去買東西，沒時間跟三隊隊長客氣，向他打過招呼就坐上薛技術員已經發動好的拖拉機，突突突的向縣城去了。
三隊隊長十分羨慕的看着冒着黑煙的拖拉機跑遠，才問陳秋生：“秋生，你們生産隊那個試點兒，是不是就是試能不能打出水井來？”要不咋夏菊花能買到的東西，他找遍了整個縣城都買不來呢？
得過囑咐的陳秋生神秘的搖頭說：“我也不大清楚，反正我們隊長讓我幹啥我就幹啥呗。”
越是神秘，越讓人想探究一下究竟是什麽秘密，可惜陳秋生的嘴不是一般的嚴，最後三隊隊長不得不猜測，平安莊不管用新方法種紅薯也好，突然打井也好，都跟那個試點兒有很大關系。
有關系好呀。三隊隊長心裏是竊喜的，用新方法種紅薯，三隊跟着種了，要打井，三隊也馬上跟着打，就是不是等于三隊也參與進試點了。
将來真的試點成功了，三隊是不是也能得到上級的認可？
越想越美的三隊隊長，忽略了一個問題，那就是平安莊打井的地方，其實是夏菊花指定的，三隊打井的地方，該找誰劃定才能保證打出水來呢？
三隊隊長沒想到，齊小叔卻想到了，現在正盯着夏菊花問：“夏隊長，你們生産隊的井能打出水來，那別的生産隊乃至整個平德縣，是不是都有可能打出水來？”
夏菊花心裏恨不得把齊衛東打一頓——這孩子嘴太快了，咋把自己買打水井材料的事兒跟齊小叔說了呢。不光說了，今天自己剛想讓他再幫着買點兒東西，他就把自己直接領到齊小叔的辦公室來了。
久未出現的苦笑，再次出現在夏菊花的臉上：“齊主任，你也太高看我了。我一輩子生活在平安莊，對那裏所有的土地都熟悉，哪個地方雨水少的年頭莊稼比別的地裏長的好，我都記着呢。可別的生産隊，我不熟悉呀。我把自己記着的事兒跟兩位技術員說了，他們再商量之後，才定下了打井的地方。”所以不是我一個人定下打井地方的。
夏菊花做着最後的掙紮。
對她這個說法，齊小叔明顯半信半疑：“光憑雨水少的年頭莊稼長勢，你就能判斷出那個地方适合不适合打井？”齊小叔很會看透現象看本質，自動把夏菊花嘴裏的兩個技術員給忽略了。
不是也得是呀。夏菊花臉上苦笑更甚，她總不能告訴齊小叔自己記得上輩子平安莊所有機井的方位吧。只能拿莊稼的長勢說事兒——有地下水的地方，哪怕雨水少些，莊稼也比別的地方長勢好，這是個常識，主管農業的齊副主任應該知道。
齊小叔一臉的若有所思：“那你娘家夏家莊呢，那裏你也生活了快二十年了，應該能知道哪個地方打得出水來吧？”說完期待的看着夏菊花。
別說，夏菊花還真知道，畢竟她上輩子跟兄弟不來往都是在八十年代後期了，夏家莊的機井早都已經打完了，方位她也大體記得。
看着齊小叔為了地裏莊稼憂心重重的樣子，夏菊花的頭怎麽也搖不起來，遲疑的說：“雖然有二十多年沒咋在夏家莊幹活了，我覺得讓我到地裏走走，說不定能想得起來。”
齊小叔激動的一拍桌子：“太好了，夏菊花同志，哪怕只是給平安莊和夏家莊兩個生産隊找到打井的地方，你也解決了兩個生産隊産糧的問題。你等等，我要去跟主任彙報一下。”
沒等夏菊花反應過來，齊小叔已經不見了蹤影。真的別怪齊小叔着急，農民能看得出今年天旱成災，縣裏的領導能看不出來？眼看着種到地裏的莊稼剛露個頭就開始打蔫，靠河修了渠的公社和大隊還能組織社員挑水澆地，沒靠河的公社和大隊的領導，這些天都快把縣革委會給擠破了。
大家都要求縣裏快點給發救濟糧，因為年前那一波餘糧收的，好些農民家裏的粥，都快能照見人影了。
可縣裏糧倉的糧食，早運到南方災區去了，除了平安莊大隊漏出的那些粉條，拿不出別的東西。縣革委會主任按着以往的經驗，本以為糧倉裏都是些爛紅薯，不管誰來要救濟糧都用臭罵把人攆走，嘴角也起了好幾個泡。
齊小叔覺得現在火候差不多了，才把自己安排平安莊大隊，将各公社的紅薯都漏成粉條的事兒向主任彙報了，還進行了自我檢讨：“往年大量的紅薯白白扔掉，我心疼的沒法兒。聽說平安莊生産隊會漏粉條，質量還不錯，就讓他們試了一試。”
“可是全縣紅薯儲存量太大，一個生産隊根本漏不完，我才安排平安莊大隊集體漏粉條。因為不知道能不能按時漏完，會不會造成新的浪費，我就沒敢跟主任彙報，請主任批評我吧。我會在生活會上做出深刻檢查。”
主任從辦公桌後站起來，走到齊小叔身前，握住他的手搖了搖，再搖一搖，聲音有些沉重的說：“你的這個決定，給全縣的農民救下了保命糧，我要感謝你，代表全縣人民感謝你，咋會批評你呢。”
齊小叔緊緊握了握主任的手說：“我知道年前的時候，主任被上級批評只低頭拉車不擡頭看路。所以漏粉條的事兒自己就決定了。我是想着萬一出了事兒，你不知道的話，那就是我個人決定，責任全都由我一個人抗着就行，所以才……”
主任聽了更加感動，卻沒再說別的，松開齊小叔的手重新坐到桌子後頭：“有了這些粉條，真到青黃不接的時候，咱們好歹能讓老百姓有一口吃的。有了這一口吃的，就能撐到秋收……”
說到這裏，主任停住了，今年的秋收明顯不能指望，真到了秋收農民同樣沒有吃的。
齊小叔笑了一下，被主任不滿的瞪了一眼才說：“那個幫着全縣人民漏粉條的平安莊生産隊，昨天在地裏打出了一眼深水井，聽說出水量很大，足夠澆周圍六七十畝地。”
“平安莊生産隊？”主任想了一下，有些不确定的問：“是紅星公社下頭的那個平安莊嗎，我記得他們好象葦席編的不錯，地區供銷社都讓縣供銷社多交葦席呢。”
“沒錯，就是那個平安莊。”齊小叔帶着些與有榮焉的表情，把自己知道的關于夏菊花的事兒，原原本本跟主任學了一遍：“這位女同志不簡單，是個有心人。她只憑着自己觀察到的莊稼長勢，就能确定深水井的位置，還真打出了水，比男生産隊長膽子都大。”
主任點頭贊同的說：“真是一位了不起的女同志。現在竟然還有人相信農技站的技術人員，相信他們的種植方法，也很難得。”
Uncle Lian Qi also admired this and said with a smile: "So I took the initiative again and gave their production team a task of hard work and trial. I hope that they can succeed in growing sweet potatoes with the new method this year. In this way, at least the county will not have to worry about the food for Ping'an Village Brigade."