Chapter 85
Uncle Qi couldn't continue. He couldn't bring himself to say that Ping'an Village had to reduce its output when he knew that with the diesel, they could get a harvest that was no worse than in previous years.
Xia Juhua didn't understand, but Technician Xue did, and asked carefully, "Director Qi, is there a leader coming to inspect the disaster relief efforts?"
Director Qi looked at Technician Xue deeply and silently.
Xia Juhua looked at Technician Xue in confusion. Seeing that Uncle Qi had no intention of explaining to Xia Juhua, Technician Xue could only speak out his own inference:
"If a leader came to inspect the disaster relief work, the Ping'an Village production team would be too conspicuous. If the county revolutionary committee only took the leaders to inspect the growth of crops in Ping'an Village, the leaders would make a wrong judgment on the grain production of the entire county, and even affect the distribution of relief grain in the entire county."
Uncle Qi slammed the table, heaved a sigh of relief and said, "Comrade Xiao Xue is right. The director has already gone to the district to attend a disaster relief meeting, so I'm worried that he will then promote Ping An Zhuang, which he worked so hard to pilot, to whitewash the situation."
Xia Juhua didn't understand what it meant to whitewash the truth, but she had seen fraud as early as the late 1950s.
"How about we not transport diesel today?" Xia Juhua felt her heart bleeding when she said this.
It would be a shame to throw away the diesel that we got with great difficulty.
"Captain Xia." Technician Xue also felt sorry for them. "Let's take the diesel back and use it after the leader's inspection. Although the crop yield will decrease a little, it can at least help to save some crops."
Having worked with the members of Ping'an Village for half a year, Technician Xue deeply understood how much hardship and suffering everyone had endured, and he was also reluctant to give up the diesel that he had worked so hard to obtain.
Uncle Qi was amused by Technician Xue's words, and the heaviness on his face disappeared without a trace: "Comrade Xue, it's not good for you to teach Captain Xia how to fool the leaders in front of me, right?"
Technician Xue smiled at Uncle Qi without any pressure: "If it were any other leader, I certainly wouldn't dare to do that, but Director Qi is always thinking about the farmers. If I don't tell the truth, I'll be fooling Director Qi."
It was not until they were on their way back to Ping'an Village and saw the crops hanging down again that Xia Juhua asked Technician Xue again: "Technician Xue, when the leaders went to Ping'an Village, did they really not see what the crops on the road looked like?"
Technician Xue couldn't answer this question. He could only pretend that he was concentrating on driving the tractor and didn't hear it, and safely delivered Xia Juhua and the diesel back to Ping'an Village.
Wu Ye and Chen Qiu Sheng knew what Xia Juhua had done in the commune and the county town, but they did not expect her to come back so late. When they finally saw her, they noticed that Xia Juhua did not look well, and they became worried.
Master Wu thought that Xia Juhua was disappointed because she couldn't buy diesel, and he advised her with some concern: "It's okay. Even if there is no diesel, our old farmers have plenty of energy. If we get up earlier and go to bed later, we can water the fields."
The production team suddenly had eight more wells, and each well produced a large amount of water, which was something that we had never dared to think about before. With a well, there is water, and with water, the land can be irrigated. In 1942, when we wanted to irrigate the land, the river dried up, but the people of Pingan Village survived.
Chen Qiu Sheng had already seen several oil cans in the tractor, so he was more puzzled than Wu Ye. He looked at Technician Xue in confusion, trying to see from his face why Xia Juhua was unhappy.
Unfortunately, Technician Xue's expression was not much better than Xia Juhua's, which made Chen Qiu Sheng regret not going to the county town with Xia Juhua.
"Qiu Sheng, ask someone to unload the oil to the production team first. After unloading, come to Fifth Master's house and we will discuss something." Xia Juhua felt that she still had to persuade Fifth Master first, so she asked Chen Qiu Sheng to arrange people to unload the diesel.
The rumbling tractor drove towards the production team. Master Wu asked in even greater confusion: "Didn't we buy the diesel? Why aren't you happy?"
Seeing people coming and going on the street constantly greeting her, Xia Juhua did not immediately answer Fifth Master's words, but first told Liu Hongling who came to ask for information: "Your Lanzi County Supply and Marketing Cooperative can accept it. Come to my house in the evening and I will talk to you in detail."
When Liu Hongling saw Xia Juhua and the Fifth Master walking together, she was very tactful and didn't ask any questions. She just smiled sweetly at Xia Juhua and walked away with Hongcui and Xiaoman who had come with them.
"They are all good children who are willing to endure hardships." The fifth master sighed as he watched the girls run away lively. The worry in his heart about Xia Juhua's face also disappeared for the most part.
Seeing that they were not far from Master Wu's yard and there were no one around, Xia Juhua said, "I'm afraid that not only will they have to suffer for a while, but our members will also have to suffer for a few days."
"What's there to be afraid of about suffering? Being able to eat enough is better than anything else." Fifth Master waved his hand indifferently, thinking that Xia Juhua was making a fuss out of nothing.
Look, these are the farmers. Their demands are always so humble.
Xia Juhua looked at the old face of the Fifth Master and told the truth: "But I don't want everyone to suffer so much."
The Fifth Master sighed, "Everyone knows that it's good to take a rest, but if you really take a rest, you'll become useless. What's the point of counting your fingers every day like me? Look at you, you're more tired than anyone else every day, but seeing that everyone has food and drink in such a dry day, aren't you happy in your heart?"
Seeing that Xia Juhua was silent, the Fifth Master smiled and said, "Not only are you happy, but everyone in the production team is happy too. This is worth it. People in Ping'an Village have to suffer a little, but farmers in the whole county can get more relief food. Even if they don't know that it was our contribution, don't you feel comfortable?"
Xia Juhua replied silently in her heart, feeling that she was persuaded by the Fifth Master. After all, the members of Pingan Village only had to carry water for a few days before the leader's inspection, and endured a little hardship. After the leader's inspection, Pingan Village could still use diesel to pump water for irrigation. In fact, it was much better than other production teams that had no water to carry when they wanted to irrigate the land.
Just like what Fifth Master said before, it would not be a bad thing for Ping'an Village if other production teams could get more relief rations so that they wouldn't have to envy Ping'an Village's good harvests.
Xia Juhua, who had figured it out, gave Fifth Master a shy smile and said, "Fifth Master, I understand. When Qiu Sheng comes later, you can tell him. I'll go back and talk to Hong Ling and the others about the basket weaving."
Master Wu didn't know about Hong Ling's story of making up a beautiful blue cloth. After hearing what Xia Juhua said, his face lit up with joy: "Well, these girls have learned to read from Li Zhu in vain. I think they are much better than those brats. Go quickly and don't keep them waiting anxiously."
Hongling and the others were sensible, waiting in the yard to tease Lele, who was old enough to be carried out of the house, without any anxious expression on their faces. When they saw Xia Juhua coming back, they smiled and told her how Lele had just smiled at them, or how seriously she sucked her little fingers, as if they came here just to amuse Lele.
Xia Juhua figured it out and was in a good mood, chatting with the girls about all sorts of things, but she didn't take the initiative to talk about the result of going to the supply and marketing cooperative.
Hong Cui is two years younger after all. After telling Lele's funny story, she looked at Xia Juhua's face again and again, as if she wanted to ask something but didn't dare to. She was so adorable.
A few girls helped to hold the baby while Wang Caifeng put the rice in the pot. When she came out and saw her mother-in-law teasing a few people, she couldn't help laughing: "Mom, give Lele to me. Hongling and the others may have something to ask you. They have been waiting for you for a long time."
Xia Juhua then handed Lele to Wang Caifeng and said to Hongling and the others, "Go and call your mother, your Aunt Xianzhi, and Sister Cuiping. We have to wait until they get here before we discuss this matter."
When they heard that they were going to find their own mother, Hong Ling and the others did not get impatient because of the runway. Instead, they happily agreed and walked out of the courtyard quickly. Wang Caifeng looked at their backs and said with some envy: "Life at your mother's house is really good."
Xia Juhua held out her hand to Lele for her to play with, and said to Wang Caifeng, "That's right. When you get married in two years, you won't be so relaxed anymore."
Wang Caifeng disagreed again: "That depends on what kind of family they marry into. For example, my family is no worse than when I was at my parents' home. The food and clothing are better than when I was at my parents' home."
This flattery was not very technical, Xia Juhua just pretended not to hear it. Wang Caifeng had something else to say: "Mom, what do you think about me learning to weave baskets from Hongling? Mom, you are busy at home and outside now, I definitely can't go to work in the fields for a while. Baoguo doesn't need anyone to him now, and Lele can't crawl yet, so there's no need to follow worry. I can learn to weave baskets without affecting my work at home."
Just forget it. Xia Juhua glanced at her daughter-in-law and couldn't help but think of her previous life when she had only one child and kept the adults busy. Now Wang Caifeng actually felt that it was too idle for her to take care of two children alone?
It is true that the environment shapes people.
"Is there not enough housework?"
Wang Caifeng said somewhat disappointedly: "But mother, you, Zhiquan and Zhishuang earn work points every day, and I'm the only one eating idle meals at home. I feel very unhappy." What if her mother-in-law dislikes her for this? There are many such examples in her mother's production team. Her mother even instructed her before she left.
"Why are you not working hard? Besides, how can you think you are idle? The two children are not yours alone. They are so small that they need someone to look after them at home. These are your children, Zhiquan and you. If you don't look after them, you have to stay at home to look after them, or you have to carry the children to work. Then you will see whether he can still earn ten work points a day or not."
"Besides, how much do you do at home? How much do the three of us do? If you don't cook meals at home, we won't have the energy to earn work points if we don't eat. Or we will work ourselves to death outside and have to go home to cook for ourselves?"
"So you are not a here to sit around and do nothing. On the contrary, this family would be in chaos without you. Just remember, the work you do at home is no different from what we do on the fields." Xia Juhua saw Wang Caifeng staring at her blankly, and finally said to her viciously.
In her previous life, she had seen many men who, because they earned more work points, would leave their wives at home to eat idle meals and raise their fists at their wives. Now, such things are almost extinct in Ping'an Village, but Xia Juhua still gets angry when she thinks about it.
"Oh, captain, you should have said this to those men during the meeting." Zhao Xianzhi was standing at the gate of the courtyard. He had obviously been there for a while and heard everything Xia Juhua had just said.
Chen Xiaoman, who went to find Zhao Xianzhi, looked at Xia Juhua with admiration in her eyes. She felt that only a woman like the captain, who was more capable than a man, could speak so confidently - for many years everyone believed that housework should be done by women, even though they were obviously more tired than men every day and were often scolded for having idle meals.
But the captain said that housework is not the responsibility of women alone, even children should be taken care of by two people together!
Sister Caifeng is so lucky to have such a sensible mother-in-law who is also so capable. If I could have half of the captain's ability, no, at least a little of it, I would never have to worry about my future life.
Chen Xiaoman was thinking this, but Zhao Xianzhi said it directly: "You can't find a mother-in-law like you even with a lantern. Anyone who marries into your family must have burned incense for the rest of their lives."
Wang Caifeng didn't say anything, but her eyes followed Xia Juhua, as if she was afraid that her mother-in-law would disappear from her sight in a moment. Lele in her arms felt uncomfortable because she was being held so tightly, and she pursed her lips and was about to cry, which woke Wang Caifeng up: "Mom, Lele seems to be awake, you two talk, I'm going to coax her to sleep." Then she walked quickly back to the east room, and only dared to wipe the tears from the corners of her eyes after entering the house.
Zhao Xianzhi looked at Wang Caifeng's back as she hurried into the house and said to Xia Juhua, "How can she be so lucky?"
Xia Juhua said to her unhappily, "I have something important to talk to you about. Why are you only talking about Cai Feng?"
Of course, business was more important. When everyone arrived, Xia Juhua told everyone that the supply and marketing cooperative had ordered 300 baskets and paid 80 cents for each. However, she also said that the supply and marketing cooperative hoped to make the reed bark into other colors. Whether the color of the dyed cloth could be dyed with the reed bark in the same way, we would have to try it to know.
Li Daya had seen the two girls weaving baskets before. When she heard that the small basket that was less than half a foot long could be sold for 80 cents, she sighed, "The supply and marketing cooperatives are really rich." The basket could not be used to hold anything and could not be eaten, yet they actually spent 80 cents on it. Did they have money but nowhere to spend it?
What Zhang Cuiping was concerned about was: "Hongling, is it easy to learn how to make a basket? How long does it take to make one?" If it takes several days to make one, it will not be counted for work points.
Hong Ling smiled and said, "We are all new to knitting, so we are not very good at it. We can knit one gourd-shaped one in a day. Hong Cui and Xiao Man's two are simple and they can finish them in half a day."
Calculate!
Zhao Xianzhi couldn't hold back, and then Hongling asked her to quickly teach everyone how to weave the basket, but Xia Juhua stopped her: "No matter how you weave it, you have to break the reed skin first, and then try to see how many days it takes to dye the color and how many days it takes to dry. If the soaked reed skin is too crispy, you have to think of a way."
Li Daya spoke up: "Even if it's become brittle after being soaked, we can still braid it before it's completely dry, and then hang it to dry after we're done."
That was a solution. A few people got together and discussed for a long time. In the end, the most worrying thing was the site: Even if there was less rain this year, what about next year, winter? The sun was getting hotter and hotter every day. If you sat under the sun and made baskets, you would be dried out in no time.
"No, we can do as we do in winter and weave some thatched curtains and find some wood to prop it up. It will be like a roof, so we won't be afraid of the sun." Zhao Xianzhi felt sorry for the original thatched wall. If the yard needed it again in winter, it would have to be re-woven.
But Zhang Cuiping disagreed: "That would require so many reed stalks to weave so many baskets." Nowadays, reed stalks can be dyed into other colors, so it doesn't matter if they are a little yellow. She was reluctant to use them to weave reed curtains - what's the difference between that and putting money on your head!
Li Daya said jokingly, "Qiu Sheng is the accountant of our production team. He taught his wife to be good at accounting."
After everyone laughed, they thought of another idea, which was to use corn stalks and sorghum stalks instead of reed stalks to weave curtains, which should have the same good effect.
But Xia Juhua thought more: "It's too cold to weave mats in the winter when the yard is exposed to the wind everywhere. When the men have some free time, let them take off more adobe bricks and build a solid fence around the yard. It would be best if we could leave doors and windows like we are building a house, so that everyone can suffer less in the winter."
No one thought that what Xia Juhua said was unrealistic - after a winter of collective labor, the women all fell in love with getting together to weave mats. They looked at each other, compared their feelings, and chatted about other people's gossip. It was much better than the boredom of weaving mats by themselves at home.
So from the beginning to the end, no one suggested that everyone could take the reeds home to make baskets. They were a group, so of course they had to complete the task together.
The women, who had to complete the task together, were more united. When they sent their unburned corn stalks and sorghum stalks to the production team, they did not feel bad at all. The production team did not take the stalks for nothing. Each family was given a pound of white flour sifted from the bran as compensation, which made the men who had some complaints shut up.
They had already discovered that the captain herself was a woman, so he was biased towards women in his heart and was not afraid of being discovered. What could they do?
The men have no choice but to repeat the tasks of carrying water and watering the fields every day: the weather is dry and the sun is strong, and the fields will start to dry up if they are not watered for three days. They cannot just sit there and watch the crops that they have worked so hard to grow.
Crops are the life of farmers.
Just when the members of Ping'an Village were struggling for their crops, two jeeps, which were rarely seen in the countryside, quietly stopped at the west end of the village. As soon as the first car began to slow down, the car behind it had already stopped and the back door was quickly opened from the inside. If Xia Juhua had been nearby, she would have recognized that the person who opened the door and got out of the car was the director of the County Revolutionary Committee whom she had met once in Uncle Qi's office.
The door on the other side also opened, and it was Uncle Qi who got out. He watched the director run a few steps, and when the first car stopped, he smiled and opened the door of the passenger car, and said to the people inside with a smile: "Director Zhang, the Ping'an Village production team is here."
Uncle Qi knew that this Director Zhang was not the Director Zhang of Red Star Commune. Red Star Commune had not been notified today, and that Director Zhang did not know that the director of the district revolutionary committee was coming to inspect. When Director Zhang slowly stepped out of the car, Uncle Qi happened to walk in front of him, neither stealing the limelight from the county director nor neglecting the district director.
"The crops of this production team are growing well." Director Zhang seemed to have kept his eyes closed the whole way, and all he saw were the crops in Ping'an Village, which were half strong and half wilted.
The county director was about to nod when Uncle Qi replied, "The members of their production team listen to instructions and are willing to endure hardships. Even if the weather is dry, they carry water every day to irrigate the land to fight against disasters. Other production teams don't have this convenient condition."
"Does their production team have any convenient conditions?" The district director was interested no matter who answered his question.
Uncle Qi then realized that he had interrupted the county director. He looked at the county director with a look of forgiveness and did not answer the district director's question immediately, wanting to keep the limelight with the county director.
The county director cursed Uncle Qi in his heart, but he had to smile and say to the district director: "Deputy Director Qi is the chief of agricultural production in our county, and he has a comprehensive understanding of the situation at the grassroots level."
After hearing what he said, Uncle Qi continued to explain the situation to the district director: "The Ping'an Village production team is close to the Xihe River. During the winter, they carry out major water conservancy repairs according to the county's unified arrangement. The irrigation area of the canals is 10% larger than that of other production teams. When the drought first occurred this year, their production team leader led the members to dig wells to fight the drought. According to my understanding, they have dug a total of seven wells for watering the land and one well for people and livestock."
"Look, Director," Uncle Qi pointed at the members who were constantly moving around in the fields and said, "Since water came out of the well, the members of Ping'an Village have been carrying water to irrigate the fields every day. That's why I said that the conditions of their production team are more convenient than those of other production teams."
"So that's how it is." The district director nodded thoughtfully and said, "I heard from your deputy director Zhao yesterday that the county agriculture and forestry bureau had allocated well-drilling materials to all production teams. How come only the Ping'anzhuang production team was able to dig water?"
The so-called Deputy Director Zhao is also the deputy director of the County Revolutionary Committee. Unlike Uncle Qi, who is a pragmatist, he became the deputy director of the County Revolutionary Committee by rebelling. Together with several other people who got the position by the same means, he wants to sideline the position of the county director.
They did sideline the county director for a period of time, but work ability was not proportional to the level of rebellion, and Pingde County was lagging behind in all aspects of work, which was not what the superiors wanted to see. So those few people had to slowly transfer power back to the county director and others.
But after the transfer, he was unwilling to give up and kept making small moves. For example, the district director just arrived in Pingde County yesterday, but Deputy Director Zhao had already reported to the district director yesterday. When and where the report was made, the county director and Uncle Qi had no idea.
This caused the two people's eyes to collide quickly, and the county director spoke with some helplessness: "The female captain of the Ping'an Village production team is much more careful than the male captain. She usually pays close attention to the growth of crops..."
After hearing this, the district director remained calm: "That's why they say women hold up half the sky. The old man's words are all true. By the way, who is the leader of the Ping An Village production team?"
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