Chapter 84 (1)
"Yes, yes, yes," Li Changshun said without any reluctance when Xia Juhua said that he could not follow him to watch other production teams dig wells tomorrow: "Your production teams are planting sweet potatoes at about the same time. Your production team's sweet potatoes should be transplanted, and the other production teams should hurry up with this matter as well."
After that, he called the captain of Team 3: "Niu Zhuang, Captain Xia said it's time to pull out the sweet potato vines. Has your production team made arrangements?"
Niu Zhuang answered straightforwardly: "Captain Xia said it's time to pull the sweet potato vines? Okay, I'll let them pull them tomorrow. By the way, Captain Xia, is there anything particular about pulling the sweet potato vines? Why don't you tell us now?"
If she wasn't afraid of being laughed at, Xia Juhua would hide in the sweet potato vines. What did Captain Xia mean by "it's time to pull up the sweet potato vines"? She was clearly saying that it was time to pull up the sweet potato vines of the Ping'an Village production team.
At this point, Xia Juhua had to admire herself. The Ping'an Village production team dug their wells early, and there was water everywhere. Not only could they irrigate the sweet potato fields, but other crops were also watered in turn. Although it was not as good as a year with good rain, it was ten times better than what Xia Juhua had experienced in her previous life, and she didn't have to worry about anything.
Otherwise, even if Xia Juhua was moved by Li Changshun's wholehearted consideration for the whole brigade, she could directly turn against Li Changshun, believe it or not.
Others didn't know that Xia Juhua wanted to quarrel with Li Changshun, but the news that it was time to pull the sweet potato vines spread like wildfire among the five production teams of Ping'an Village Brigade. Not only did the people of Ping'an Village get up early and pull the sweet potato vines, but the other four production teams also took action at the same time.
With deep well irrigation, the sweet potatoes of each production team are growing well, and members can pick some tender sweet potato leaves to take home every day. With the addition of tender sweet potato leaves, mixed with the bran bought by each production team last year, the taste is much better than eating bran alone (please forgive Xia Juhua, although she asked Liu Zhiquan to carry the bran home, she was too busy to try how to make the bran more delicious). The disaster in the entire Ping'anzhuang Brigade was much lighter than Xia Juhua remembered, and it was the only comfort for Xia Juhua's busy life.
Different from other production teams who mix half or even more than half of the tender sweet potato leaves and wheat bran into the porridge, except for a very small number of families in Ping An Village, most families only mix a quarter or less. The taste is not bad, and adding a little oil and salt makes it taste even better.
these very few families, there was the family of Liu Sizhuang, who had separated from Liu Erzhuang and Liu Sanzhuang. Most of their food rations were taken away by the Red Team at that time. After the four people came back, they had no plan for what to eat. When other people had already mixed wheat bran into their food to fill their stomachs, they were still eating pure grains. Now everyone was still mixing wheat bran in the original proportion. They had to count the grains of rice every day before putting them into the pot, and add a large part of sweet potato leaves and wheat bran.
"Mother, why don't you go and borrow some food from my second brother and the others." Sun Guizhi begged Sun again. She had been drinking wheat bran porridge for several days and she no longer had any strength left.
Sun's face was as dark as water: "I'll go and borrow, but how can I have the nerve to borrow food from them? If your parents hadn't embezzled the money, I could buy whatever I want to eat now. Why would I have the nerve to borrow food from others?"
Speaking of her brother from her mother's family embezzling money, Sun Guizhi had been hearing rumors for the past six months: "Mom, you were the one who insisted on letting Si Zhuang take the money. Besides, we don't want to lose the money, right? Who would have thought that my brother would become like that? It must have been my sister-in-law who instigated it. Now the money won't be returned no matter what I say, what can I do?"
Sun Shi was unmoved. Anyway, when it was time to eat, she would sit on Liu Erzhuang's kang and no one could get her out. As for Liu Sizhuang's family, they had taken all her money and wanted her to borrow food, but it was impossible. Sun Shi had already discovered that as long as she didn't mention Lao Sizhuang's family, Liu Erzhuang would still tolerate her eating and drinking for free. As long as she mentioned Lao Sizhuang's family, even Liu Erzhuang would not open the door for her.
Between filling other people's stomachs and filling his own stomach, Sun chose the latter without hesitation.
"Mom, I saw Old Man Dong carrying grain out of the production team's granary today." After returning to Ping'an Village from class, Liu Hongjuan, who had always had little sense of existence, suddenly said this to Sun Guizhi.
"What did you say?" Sun Guizhi jumped up like a cat whose tail was stepped on: "Old Dong was carrying food out of the granary. How could he carry food out of the granary?"
Sun Guizhi was almost jealous to death: their family drank porridge made from wheat bran and sweet potato leaves every day, but Xia Juhua actually had food to prepare for her granddaughter's full-month celebration. Although each person only drank a bowl of vermicelli soup, there were so many people, how much vermicelli would she need?
Not to mention drinking it, just smelling the soup, the sour and spicy taste is appetizing.
Sun Guizhi really just smelled the odor, because Xia Juhua did not invite Liu Sizhuang's family at all - she only invited members who helped Wang Caifeng produce milk during her confinement period, and she only invited one person from each family. Liu Sizhuang's family did not help Wang Caifeng produce milk, so Xia Juhua did not invite anyone, right?
Sun Guizhi, who was so angry, walked back and forth in front of Xia Juhua's house several times. None of the people who saw her blamed Xia Juhua for not being able to handle things and not even inviting her, the fourth grandmother, to celebrate her granddaughter's full month.
There were even two women who had spoken to Sun Guizhi before, who, when they saw her, turned their heads towards the yard at the same time, pretending not to see her.
What made Sun Guizhi even angrier was that the sour and spicy aroma was everywhere in the old courtyard. It turned out that Li Daya and An Baoling thought that Xia Juhua's hot and sour rice noodles were delicious, so they went home and learned to make a portion for the whole family.
They just did it, but they didn't even think of giving a little taste to the fourth room!
Of course, Sun's bowl was not missing. Liu Sanzhuang now just pretended that Sun did not exist, but Liu Erzhuang still asked his mother to come to the east room to drink hot and sour noodles together. Sun, who had eaten and drunk enough, completely forgot that she was now living with Liu Sizhuang's family, and did not think of asking for a bowl for each of Liu Sizhuang's family members.
Damn it, where did these people get all those vermicelli? Sun Guizhi couldn't understand why her own sweet potato team didn't have any at first, and when they came out of the class, they had already gone bad, but Liu Erzhuang and Liu Sanzhuang actually had more vermicelli than they could finish!
Of course, vermicelli tastes better than bran, and Sun Guizhi also wants to drink hot and sour vermicelli. After returning to the production team for a while, Sun Guizhi slowly found out that the people in the production team had missed out on vermicelli for the whole winter. Now every family has enough of this thing, which made her even angrier.
Their own sweet potatoes were rotting in the cellar, but Liu Erzhuang and Liu Sanzhuang's families never thought of turning them into vermicelli for them. Are they not human beings?!
With such anger and jealousy, Sun Guizhi couldn't help but explode the moment she heard Liu Hongjuan say that Old Dong carried grain out of the granary: "No, I have to ask Xia Juhua why she gave grain to Old Dong but didn't care about the life and death of my brother-in-law's family."
As she spoke, she took off her torn apron, rolled it up viciously and held it in her hands, then opened the door and wanted to look for Xia Juhua. Before she took two steps, her clothes were pulled by someone. She turned around and saw that it was her own son Liu Zhiliang who had not spoken to her since he came back.
"Why are you pulling me in? Even if you don't recognize your brother-in-law, we are still members of the production team. If others have food to eat, we have to eat too. If our whole family starves to death, Xia Juhua will be the one to bear the consequences."
Liu Zhiliang looked at his own mother with cold eyes: "Mom, you, my grandma, and my dad are now under labor supervision. Besides, Auntie gave bran to the people in the production team, and she also gave some to our family." What reason do you have to ask them? It's just a labor supervision, and no one would find fault if they didn't give you bran.
This sentence was like a needle piercing a balloon that had been blown up big, and Sun Guizhi's anger instantly disappeared. Now, except for Liu Zhiliang, all the people in the fourth room should be subject to labor supervision, but considering Liu Hongjuan's young age, Chen Qiusheng did not assign her any work and let her run around the village.
However, Liu Zhiliang felt that it was not a good thing for Liu Hongjuan to run around like this. Last time, she was running around and found out that her second mother was learning to weave mats from her eldest mother. She also instigated her grandmother to report to the Red Team. Today, she came home to learn to speak again. Who knows what kind of trouble she will encounter next time.
Liu Zhiliang believed that if Liu Hongjuan encountered this, she would not learn from the lessons she had learned, and would continue to do what she did now, instigating her mother or grandmother to make trouble so that would know about it. What good would it do to her family if they everyone knew about it?
There will be no benefit at all. Since Liu Zhiliang was found in the firewood pile that day, he has been thinking about the consequences of his family's actions against Xia Juhua. He concluded that not only did they not gain any benefit, but their situation became and worse.
He was extremely frustrated that he was only twelve years old. If he was older, he would be able to leave this home far away, or at least move out and live on his own, and no longer be mixed up with these people who refused to live a quiet life.
As for how he would survive after moving out, Liu Zhiliang somehow felt that with Xia Juhua around, the Ping'anzhuang production team would not let a twelve-year-old child like him die.
Xia Juhua didn't know that she had given Liu Zhiliang such confidence. She was looking at the little basket in her hand and asked, "Did you make this up?"
The people being asked were sisters Liu Hongling and Liu Hongcui and Chen Xiaoman. Their faces flushed with excitement as they asked, "Auntie (Captain), do you think our story is okay?"
Okay, how can I not like this beautiful blue?
The basket in Xia Juhua's hand was also made of reed bark. The girls felt that the reed bark was too thin to hold heavy things, so they stacked two layers of reed bark together, leaving the smooth side exposed. The resulting basket was clean and bright inside and out.
The most important thing is not the thought put into the materials, but the baskets made by the girls. They are not in the shape of dumplings with a long middle and curled ends as they usually see, but one is round, one is gourd-shaped, and one is oval.
The three small baskets were only half a foot in size, and the handles were carefully woven into a twisted shape, looking smooth and like a work of art, not something that ordinary people would use in their daily lives. Xia Juhua felt that she had never seen such a delicate basket in her two lifetimes, and now it was woven by a few little girls.
There are several little girls in front of me who have been taught by adults to weave mats. How did they come up with the idea of weaving baskets of this shape?
Among those questioned, Liu Hongling had the closest relationship with the aunt, and she answered without any pressure: "Now my mother and her family don't weave mats anymore, and Auntie Xianzhi said that the reed stalks have turned yellow and are useless after being left for a long time. We think that they were bought by the production team at great expense, and it's a waste to just leave them there, so we wanted to try weaving them into baskets."
Children, do you know how precious the things you have tried out are? Xia Juhua once again looked at the exquisite basket in her hand, and sighed in her heart that if it were ten years later, it might be exported to make money for foreigners.
Xia Juhua remembered hearing about this on TV in her previous life. The people in a village lived a good life by earning money from foreigners with such small blue hats and straw hats.
"Then how did you come up with the idea of weaving it like this?" Xia Juhua couldn't help but ask the girls the question that concerned them most.
Liu Hongling smiled: "Thanks to Uncle Lizhu, when he was teaching us to read at night, he saw that we sometimes didn't listen carefully, so he taught us to draw..." As she spoke, her voice became softer, because Liu Hongling remembered that her aunt had spoken to her mother in order to let them learn to read.
Now, Liu Hongling admitted in front of the old lady that she had not learned to read well, and her face almost burned.
Xia Juhua's thoughts were different from Liu Hongling's: "Your uncle Li Zhu can also paint. I really didn't know that."
Liu Hongcui didn't think as much as her sister, she just nodded like a chicken pecking at rice: "Sometimes we want to see Uncle Lizhu draw, so we pretend not to like reading, and he draws for us."
Chen Xiaoman pulled at the corner of Hongcui's clothes and stared at Xia Juhua. Seeing Xia Juhua looking at the small baskets again, he breathed a sigh of relief and asked softly, "Captain, do you think the supply and marketing cooperative will accept the baskets we made?"
Xia Juhua didn't feel guilty at all about influencing the girls and making them think of exchanging money for any good things they had - young girls knew how to earn money through their own labor so that they could buy some of their favorite little things, so what was there to be embarrassed about?
She smiled and nodded to Chen Xiaoman: "I will go to the supply and marketing cooperative to ask tomorrow. If the commune supply and marketing cooperative does not accept it, I will go to the county to ask for you." Such a good thing, even if it cannot make money from foreigners now, it should not be left to gather dust.
Now the well-digging work of each production team has come to an end. After one production team's well failed to produce water and had to pay for the materials, many production teams dared not dig wells anymore. The four production teams, after they found water in the place pointed out by Xia Juhua, did not dare to try other places.
The sweet potato vines in the field had already been pulled over, and the members had to carry water to water the fields every day. Xia Juhua felt distressed by the watering, and was thinking of going to the commune's agricultural machinery station to ask if she could buy some diesel from them and use Technician Xue's tractor to pump out the water, so that watering the fields would be quick and labor-saving.
Anyway, it was no big deal to go to the commune and bring the little baskets made by the girls to the supply and marketing cooperative to ask. However, Xia Juhua had another question in her mind: "If the supply and marketing cooperative wants it, the quantity must be large. What will you do if you can't finish making it?"
Liu Hongling and the other two smiled like three flowers: "Auntie, why are you so confused? If the supply and marketing cooperative is going to collect it, of course it can't be just the three of us who are weaving. We weavers learn this much faster than those who don't, so we will definitely not make a mistake in the supply and marketing cooperative's order."
Listen. The girls have been influenced by what they have seen and heard, and can even blurt out new terms such as "order".
Xia Juhua couldn't help but scratched Hong Ling's nose: "Auntie is afraid that this trick was thought up by you guys, so she doesn't want to teach it to others."
The sudden intimacy made Liu Hongling feel curious and nostalgic, and her face turned redder: "Auntie, when you first came up with new patterns, you taught my mother and the others all of them. We all know that people from other production teams have learned how to make mats from us. But they only made one or two mats themselves, and the supply and marketing cooperative thought it was too little and refused to accept them in small quantities."
"If we just rely on ourselves to weave, wouldn't it be the same as other production teams weaving mats? If the quantity is not up to par, no one will want our mats." Liu Hongling felt more and more that she was right, and her face shone with confidence: "If everyone in our production team learns it, and the quantity is larger than that of other production teams, the supply and marketing cooperative will only accept our mats, how great it is. Those reed stalks will also be useful, and the money spent by the production team will not be wasted."
What a good girl who knows how to live. Xia Juhua touched Liu Hongling's hair again, which made Liu Hongcui jealous: "Auntie only loves my sister."
Xia Juhua laughed more happily than ever before, and moved her hand from Liu Hongling's head to Liu Hongcui's head: "Your sister is right, of course Auntie loves her. You just don't like to talk, next time don't let your sister talk, talk to Auntie, Auntie loves you too."
Chen Xiaoman looked at the little sisters who were being stroked, feeling envious but she couldn't say the same words as Liu Hongcui. She just watched them silently for a while before forcing herself to look away.
Xia Juhua did what she thought. The next day, she took a tractor to the commune. Along the way, she carefully put the three small baskets into a big basket and covered it with a layer of cloth, which made Technician Xue look at it curiously again and again.
The two of them first went to the agricultural machinery station. When the stationmaster heard that Ping'an Village wanted to buy diesel again, the bitterness on his face was almost squeezed out of juice: "Captain Xia, our agricultural machinery station has received instructions from the leaders to do our utmost to ensure the agricultural production of your Ping'an Village. But the tractor driven by Technician Xue is equivalent to being used by a production team in Ping'an Village. Some teams have already expressed their opinions, and now you want to..."
Xia Juhua hastened to comfort the stationmaster: "Stationmaster, you misunderstood. I know that our agricultural machinery station takes good care of our production team, so we will pay for the diesel this time." The Ping'an Village reed mat weaving and vermicelli making collectives all made money, and that money could save everyone's labor, so Xia Juhua was still willing to pay.
But the stationmaster still had a bitter look on his face: "But our agricultural machinery station has a fixed annual diesel supply. If we sell it all to you, will other tractors still run?"
Xia Juhua had nothing to say. She also had to reflect on the trouble Ping'an Village had caused for the agricultural machinery station. Finally, she took out the vermicelli that she had prepared long ago from the truck and quietly left it for the stationmaster before riding the tractor to the supply and marketing cooperative.
Seeing Xia Juhua getting paid for her job without getting anything done, the stationmaster felt bad for her and gave her some advice: "You have a good relationship with Director Wang of the Agriculture and Forestry Bureau, so why don't you go to the county town to find the Agriculture and Forestry Bureau? They have more diesel quotas than we do."
Thinking of Director Wang, who was even fatter than the director of the county revolutionary committee, Xia Juhua didn't think he had a good relationship with her. But in order to save the members some effort, she felt it necessary for her to go to the county.
Before going to the county town, Xia Juhua showed up at the supply and marketing cooperative and showed the three small baskets to Wang Caixia: "What do you think of these things? If they work, the reed stalks left over after our production team will be useful."
Wang Caixia had never seen such an exquisite basket before. She looked at it again and again and returned it to Xia Juhua: "It's really beautiful. You have a smart brain. You can even make such a beautiful basket."
Xia Juhua said proudly: "I didn't make up this basket. It was thought up by a few girls in our production team."
"Are all the people in your production team so lucky?" Wang Caixia sighed: "Yes, if it's not a coincidence, not everyone can learn to make mats. But to be honest, this thing can't hold anything, it can only be used as a decoration. But now everyone can't even fill their stomachs, who has the spare money to buy this."
Xia Juhua, who had been beaming with joy at Wang Caixia's previous words, felt as if she had been hit on the head with a stick. She only thought about the beauty of the basket, but forgot that what everyone wanted now was practicality.
Everything went wrong in the commune today, and Xia Juhua was in no mood to chat with Wang Caixia. After a few more words, she went to the county town to think of a solution. Wang Caixia saw that she was upset, and said with a smile: "The local products collected by our supply and marketing cooperative must also be submitted to the county supply and marketing cooperative. You might as well go to the county supply and marketing cooperative directly to ask. Besides, it is difficult for me to give you a price for such things. The county supply and marketing cooperative may be able to give you a good price."
Wang Caixia now doesn't know that within three years, she will be slapping her thigh in regret for her decision today. She simply wants to comfort Xia Juhua.
Although the words were all nice, Xia Juhua still felt a little uncomfortable. She forced a smile at Wang Caixia and told her not to mind it, then sat in the co-pilot seat next to Technician Xue.
Technician Xue had just come into the supply and marketing cooperative to take a look. He saw the three small baskets. He did not start the tractor, but said to Xia Juhua, "Captain Xia, how much are these baskets? Why don't you sell them to me? I'll give you one yuan for each."
Xia Juhua was amused by what he said: "Technician Xue, I know you are afraid that I will be sad, but I don't want you to spend money on it. I will go to the county to ask, and if it doesn't work, let Hongling and the others stop making it up for now."
Technician Xue was anxious: "Captain Xia, I didn't buy these baskets because I was afraid you would be anxious. I really like them."
Xia Juhua still didn't take his words to heart and urged him to start the tractor - today the production team had to water the fifty acres of corn, otherwise the fertilizer just applied would be wasted, and tomorrow they would have to water the wheat again. If they could buy the diesel early, they could save a day's effort.
Technician Xue, who knew Xia Juhua's temper, thought that since Xia Juhua was unwilling to sell the basket to him, he could go back to Ping'anzhuang and buy it from Liu Hongling. He then started the tractor and drove towards the county town with confidence.
The condition of the crops in the fields along the way made Xia Juhua particularly worried: although the Agriculture and Forestry Bureau issued a notice to each production team to obtain materials for digging wells, if they could not pump water, each production team would have to pay for the materials, so not all production teams had the courage to try.
In the land without a well and far from the river, the crops are growing droopy, the corn leaves are curled due to drought, the sweet potato vines are not even half as long as those in Ping'an Village, and even the weeds at the edge of the field are almost turning yellow and wilted. Compared with the lush green crops in Ping'an Village, it seems as if they are not grown on the same land.
"I have been staying in Ping'an Village and didn't notice the drought this year. But as soon as I went out, I felt that I couldn't count on this year's harvest." Technician Xue, who was driving the tractor, sighed to Xia Juhua like a worm in her stomach.
Xia Juhua sighed and said nothing. She had never thought that with her efforts, Ping An Manor would be able to survive the natural disaster so smoothly. But in such a large area like Chengping, only Ping An Manor survived the natural disaster smoothly. Is this really a good thing?
Xia Juhua didn't dare to think further, she just hoped that God would see how hard the farmers were working and send a heavy rain as soon as possible. This way, not only would all the land have some harvest, but Ping'an Village would also not be so conspicuous.
For the first time, Technician Xue felt that he could not speak, so he and Xia Juhua went to the county supply and marketing cooperative in silence. Xia Juhua was stunned by the two setbacks she received in the commune, and she just wanted to deal with Director Lin, who was more familiar to her, first, so that she would not be in the mood to come to the county supply and marketing cooperative after being rejected by Director Wang.
"Captain Xia, how come you have time to come to the county today?" Director Lin smiled so much when he saw Xia Juhua that his eyes almost disappeared. "It's almost noon, why don't we have lunch first?"
Xia Juhua shook her head: "I have to go to the Agriculture and Forestry Bureau later. Can you tell me if our supply and marketing cooperative can accept this stuff? If not, the remaining reed stalks of our production team will be wasted."
Seeing her firm attitude, Director Lin picked up the three baskets and looked at them. "The things are good and I put a lot of thought into them. However, they are not practical and I can't buy much. I'm afraid I can't give you a good price."
Xia Juhua was afraid of causing trouble for Director Lin, so she said hurriedly, "If it's difficult, forget it. Don't make a mistake because of this."
Director Lin smiled and said, "Okay, how about you wait for a while and I'll go ask the director?"
It would be best if Director Lin is not allowed to make the decision on this matter. Xia Juhua is afraid that he will take the basket without caring about the favor he did for Qi Weidong's help last time, and someone will catch him.
If you ask Director Zheng, it will be different. Director Zheng and Xia Juhua are just partners, so Xia Juhua does not have such a heavy psychological burden.
After a while, Director Zheng and Director Lin came to the office together. As soon as they entered the room, they smiled warmly at Xia Juhua: "Captain Xia, you have provided new products to our supply and marketing cooperative again. I think this basket is very thoughtful. I wonder if you can produce it in large quantities like Wei Xi. By the way, it would be even better if you could change the color."
Xia Juhua, who had been hit hard for the whole morning, was a little dazed. From what Director Zheng said, he not only wanted to collect the baskets, but also wanted to collect them in large quantities?
She asked tentatively: "Director Zheng, I know this thing is not very practical. If you have trouble handling it after I take it, then..."
"How can it be difficult to handle?" Director Zheng said with a smile: "The province is looking for some things with local characteristics to participate in the expo, and your things come at the right time."
An expo? Xia Juhua didn't quite understand and looked to Director Lin for help. Director Lin explained to her that although the country doesn't have many foreign exchanges now, it still has some friendly countries. In a city in the southernmost part of the country, an expo will be held to exchange with these friendly countries.
However, the province where Chengping is located is also a major agricultural province. It is impossible to send some corn and wheat to the expo, so tasks were given to each supply and marketing cooperative, requiring them to explore some distinctive products as much as possible.
Director Lin had also received the task, but he did not think about the expo when he got the basket. Only when he gave it to Director Zheng was he reminded that something with local characteristics might be able to stand out in the provincial selection.
"Captain Xia, this is it." Director Zheng said to Xia Juhua solemnly, "Each of these three kinds of baskets is priced at 80 cents. Do you think it's okay? If it's okay, we can first order 100 of each kind from the supply and marketing cooperative, and then we'll talk about it after we get news from the region."
Xia Juhua finally found her tongue: "Okay, of course." A reed mat is only three yuan and thirty cents, how many reed stalks are needed? The reed stalks used to make a reed mat are enough to make six or seven baskets, so it's a good deal no matter how you calculate it.
However, Xia Juhua asked with some concern: "Director Zheng, you just said to change the color, but this reed bark is not easy to color. If you paint it..." In the past life, everyone was annoyed by the smell of paint, as if there were something bad in it that was bad for the body.
Director Zheng continued to smile cordially and looked at Director Lin. Director Lin said, "Captain Xia, you can actually try to soak the broken reed skin in pigment to change the color before weaving it, wouldn't that change the color?"
Yes, Xia Juhua patted her head and said to the two people embarrassedly: "I have been busy digging wells and planting crops recently, and my brain is not working well. Team leader Lin, does our supply and marketing cooperative have any colors for dyeing cloth?"
Director Zheng was very pleased with Lin's quick-acting character, and he decided that the color of the dyed cloth would be provided by the supply and marketing cooperative, and that Director Lin would go to Ping'an Village in three to five days to see the effect of the dyeing.
Xia Juhua had to ask to postpone Director Lin's visit to Ping'an Village for a few days, because although the weather was getting hot now, it would take several days for the reed bark to be soaked in color, and they would have to try it to know.
Director Zheng was even more satisfied with her cautious attitude, and felt that he didn't need to worry about his cooperation with Xia Juhua. Satisfied, Director Zheng became more cordial and insisted on inviting Xia Juhua to have lunch together before going to the Agriculture and Forestry Bureau.
The leader's speech was even better: "If you go to the Agriculture and Forestry Bureau now, they should be off work soon. You have to wait outside. It's better to go after you have a meal. Otherwise, it will be very uncomfortable to wait for someone on an empty stomach."
"Then there's no need to bother Director Zheng." Xia Juhua still declined: "I came here on the tractor of our commune's agricultural machinery station. Technician Xue is still waiting outside."
So in the end, there were only four people eating together. Director Zheng also instructed Xia Juhua at the dinner table that since the members of the Ping'anzhuang production team had the skills to weave things, they should not only limit themselves to weaving baskets, but if they could weave better patterns before the regional selection, they could send them directly to the county supply and marketing cooperative.
Xia Juhua, who had eaten her fill, responded confidently and waited patiently for Director Wang. Unfortunately, patience alone was not enough to get things done. Director Wang, who was already resentful because his funds were confiscated, was not willing to sell diesel to Xia Juhua.
His white, plump face was flat, his voice was neither high nor low, and his tone was neither gloomy nor positive. He said, "Captain Xia, this diesel is not a material for drilling wells, and our Agriculture and Forestry Bureau does not have any extra quota for your production team."
Even though she had known this would be the outcome, Xia Juhua was still very disappointed: the members of the cooperative had to carry buckets of water in the hot sun, walking nearly a mile back and forth to water a few crops, and Director Wang just sat in his office and killed their hopes with just one word. Didn't he grow up eating grain?
Xia Juhua was unwilling to give up. She didn't smile as she did when they first met. She said directly to Director Wang, "I'm sorry Director Wang. I thought our Agriculture and Forestry Bureau was serving farmers, so I had the courage to give it a try. I didn't expect that the Agriculture and Forestry Bureau only provides well-drilling materials for farmers. I'm sorry to have caused you trouble."
After saying this, he walked out of the door without looking back, thinking to himself, let's see how long you can jump around. When the spring breeze blows, it will be strange if you can have a good life by fawning over the rebels like this.
She left happily, but Director Wang was so angry that he smashed his water cup: A farmer dared to ridicule him, a director! He wanted, he got, he wanted...
There was nothing he could do.
Xia Juhua was just a rural woman, a small production team leader. Even if he was the director of the Agricultural Machinery Bureau, he could not fire a rural woman. Could he let her stop farming?
The attitudes of the director and deputy director of the county revolutionary committee are all there. Even if Director Wang wants to use some means to prevent Xia Juhua from becoming the production team leader, he has to wait until the director and deputy director of the county revolutionary committee forget the existence of this rural woman first.
Even though she heard the sound of a cup being smashed right after she left the house, Xia Juhua did not turn back: the wells in Pingan Village had been dug, and water was flowing out of every well. This Director Wang had no excuse to make things difficult for her. She could no longer ask Director Wang for help, so why should she suffer his anger?
But if it wasn't done, it wasn't done, and Xia Juhua's frustration was clearly written on her face. Technician Xue had been dealing with her for such a long time, and he had never seen Xia Juhua so listless. In his impression, no matter what happened, Xia Juhua would desperately try to find a solution, instead of looking like she was about to give up.
"Captain Xia, since we're already in the county, why don't we go look for Xiao Qi? He knows a lot of people in the county, so maybe he can come up with a solution." Technician Xue couldn't bear to see Xia Juhua lacking the will to fight, so he gave her some advice.
Instead of looking for Xiao Qi, it’s better to look for Lao Qi!
Xia Juhua thought that if the members of Ping'an Village had not suffered from poor health due to excessive drinking in the winter, she would not feel sorry for them now and would not be willing to let them fetch water to water the fields - they had watered the fields in previous years.
Why did the members leak powder without a day's rest in the middle of winter? It was all Uncle Qi's fault. Now the members need to be compensated. Shouldn't Uncle Qi do his part?
At this time, Xia Juhua had forgotten how Uncle Qi had asked the Agriculture and Forestry Bureau to provide Ping'an Village with materials for digging wells - the materials were not just for the production team of Ping'an Village - and she only thought that since Ping'an Village had solved the problem for Uncle Qi, Uncle Qi should also help Ping'an Village solve its difficulties.
Uncle Qi, who didn't know that Xia Juhua came to see her with the idea of taking it for granted, asked after listening to Xia Juhua's request: "How much diesel do you think your production team needs to ensure that the grain production reaches the normal year's output?"
That's too much, Deputy Director Qi. Don't you know the rainfall situation this year? You still want to achieve the output of a normal year. We should be thankful if we can produce more summer chrysanthemums than we did with seeds.
Fortunately, Xia Juhua had recovered from the anger she had just received from Director Wang, so she was still polite when speaking to Deputy Director Qi:
"It's probably impossible to reach the production volume of a normal year. Even if we irrigate, our eight wells can't irrigate all the more than 500 acres of land. People and livestock still need to eat. The only thing we can do is to get some harvest from the crops. There is no hope for the autumn harvest."
Most of the production teams in Pingde County have almost lost hope for the autumn harvest. Uncle Qi stared at Xia Juhua without saying anything. Xia Juhua thought for a moment and said, "I don't know how much diesel fuel is burned to pump water for a day. I heard from Technician Xue that..."
Uncle Qi asked, "Has Technician Xue arrived?" He remembered that it was him who came to the county with Xia Juhua last time.
Xia Juhua nodded quickly and went out to bring in Technician Xue. Technician Xue did not feel restrained by his leader and answered the question clearly: "There are 537 acres of land in Ping'an Village. It would take at least one and a half tons of diesel to water it once."
Uncle Qi showed his first smile after seeing Technician Xue: "Young man, you have a big appetite. Are you planning to set an ambush for Ping'an Manor?" He was afraid that Xia Juhua would ask for too much, but he didn't expect that the new guy might have an even bigger appetite than Xia Juhua.
Deputy Director Qi, who is in charge of agriculture, knows clearly that a maximum of one kilogram of diesel is used to water one acre of land. To water the more than 500 acres of land in Ping'an Village, half a ton is more than enough. But this guy actually asked for a ton. He must have regarded him as an official who sits in the office and does his job without any knowledge.
Technician Xue smiled and said, "Deputy Director, you also know that Ping An Village is a long place, so there must be losses in the process. I have included all the losses in my calculation."
You calculate the loss by doubling it, how can you be so good at math?
"Captain Xia, as the deputy director, I am not only in charge of Ping'an Village. What if other production teams knew that I approved diesel for you and they all came to ask me for money? Besides, the diesel quotas in various places in the county are very specific. I have to find a way to squeeze it out of others for you."
Uncle Qi began to complain to Xia Juhua. Technician Xue silently rolled his eyes in his heart. It was not until Uncle Qi told Xia Juhua to go to the county agricultural machinery station to get diesel that he spoke up: "Director Qi, we still need water pipes to water the land."
Uncle Qi's hand trembled as he was writing the note. Seeing Xia Juhua showing a pleased smile to Technician Xue, he took some effort to finish writing the note.
When Xia Juhua had nothing to do, she learned a lot of words from Liu Lizhu and managed to catch up with her uncle Long Fei.
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