Chapter 86
The county director and Uncle Qi tried hard to distinguish Xia Juhua from the group of people carrying water, but unfortunately they couldn't find her. They had to say to the district director: "Maybe she has been assigned other work in the production team. Director, why don't we go to the production team first and listen to Captain Xia's report?"
The district director's face showed little expression, and his voice was calm: "We have all arrived at the field. Let's go and say hello to the members who are working so hard to fight the drought."
Even though the district director did not show any unhappy expression on his face, Uncle Qi and the county director knew that the district director was dissatisfied with Xia Juhua.
Regardless of whether the leaders themselves sit in the office and listen to reports every day, they don't want to see a small production team leader who does not work with the members but hides in the production team to "arrange" other work.
Uncle Lian Qi also felt a little resentful towards Xia Juhua in his heart. She was obviously a hardworking person, but she was discovered by the district director when she hadn't worked in the fields for a day. How could she have such bad luck?
In this way, no matter how much or how well Xia Juhua had done in the past, it would be discounted in the eyes of the district director. Uncle Qi was not afraid of anything else, but he was afraid that the county director would try to figure out the intentions of his superiors. If he wanted to do something biased towards the Ping'an Village production team in the future, he would block it. Since he was sidelined by a few people once, the county director had learned to keep his "position correct".
"Hey, comrade, aren't you tired of watering the fields every day?" The district director walked for a while before stopping a member who was carrying water and asked him if he was tired.
This member wore a straw hat with scattered flowers on the top, a white shirt and black trousers. He was not tall, and from his back one could only see the two buckets he was carrying, which were full of water. After he was carried down, he first transferred the shoulder of the bucket to the other, and the water in the buckets swayed gently between the two buckets, but did not spill out at all.
After the shoulder was changed, the member said impatiently: "If we don't water the fields, the crops will be planted in vain. What will we eat? We have to water the fields even if we are tired, in order to have something to eat in the fall."
Although the member's tone was unpleasant, Uncle Qi was delighted when he heard it and called out tentatively, "Captain Xia?" You are dressed too much like a man, and you are wearing a straw hat that is even more tattered than a man's. No wonder I didn't recognize you just now.
The member then pushed up his straw hat, revealing half of his face, which was red from the heat or tiredness. It was none other than Xia Juhua.
When she spoke just now, the district and county directors both recognized that it was a female comrade who was speaking. When they heard Uncle Qi call her Captain Xia, they understood Xia Juhua's identity even more clearly. The district director, who had just thought that Xia Juhua's tone was bad, smiled for the first time after getting off the car: "Captain Xia, you and the members have worked hard to fight the drought."
Xia Juhua pushed aside the straw hat that blocked her eyes and saw the person in front of her clearly. She quickly put the bucket on the ground, and casually placed the shoulder pole on top of the bucket. She smiled at the person who was speaking and said, "Hello, leader. I may say something unpleasant, but please don't take it seriously. The farmers rely on these crops. We have to work as hard as we can for the harvest. It doesn't matter whether it's hard work or not."
The district director had already extended his hand to Xia Juhua, his eyes constantly looking at her: her white cloth shirt had turned yellow, and it was unknown how many years she had worn it. The black trousers on her legs were inevitably rubbed with dirt from carrying water back and forth. She was doing the same work as the male members, so it was no wonder that she could not be distinguished from a distance.
However, Xia Juhua's eyes were clear and calm even when facing herself, the district director, and she did not look as panicky as the words she said.
What was Deputy Director Zhao thinking that he actually reported to him that this female production team leader, whose gender was almost ignored, had a special relationship with the county director and Deputy Director Qi?
If all production team leaders were as capable as the female one in front of him, the district director would wish that the county director and deputy director Qi would have a special relationship with them!
Xia Juhua had already quickly shaken hands with the district director, and was now greeting the county director and Uncle Qi: "Director, Deputy Director Qi, are you here to check on our production team's well digging? Please rest assured, our Ping'an Village production team has always been honest in their work and would never cheat. Just look at how everyone is carrying water, and you'll know that every well has water."
The district director did not hear Deputy Director Zhao's report on the well digging yesterday, and Uncle Qi just talked about it in general terms. Now of course he wants to get to the bottom of it. After hearing the county's arrangements, the district director, who has some understanding of the situation in Pingde County, said to the county director in a heavy tone:
"Your county's drought relief work was arranged in a timely manner and the measures were very effective, which is good. But the well-drilling situation is not ideal. The situation of other production teams is not as optimistic as that of Ping'an Village, right?"
The county director and Uncle Qi had the same heavy expression on their faces: "Yes, Director, you have seen along the way that the production teams later dared not dig wells. Originally, the production teams close to the river could still carry some water to irrigate the land, but now the water from the Xihe River is no longer allowed to be used for irrigation. We must first ensure that people and animals have drinking water."
The district director nodded, turned around and asked Xia Juhua: "Captain Xia, how is everyone's food in your production team now?"
Xia Juhua pointed to the members who were pulling sweet potato seedlings in the field, with a hint of pride on her face and a hint of joy in her voice: "Director, look, it's time to pick the tips of the sweet potato leaves now. I'll let everyone mix them with wheat bran to make porridge, and add some regular food. There are no households in Ping'an Village that are short of food now."
In Pingan Village, where the crops were growing better than those of other production teams, the production team leader was proud that no household had run out of food. Everyone felt bad after hearing this. The district director asked, "Does your production team have enough bran? Have other production teams already run out of food?"
Xia Juhua knew everything: "Before the New Year, our production team, led by the team leader, bought some wheat bran because the grain station had surplus grain and we were afraid that we would have nothing to feed the pigs this year. But now who cares about the pigs? Our production team members collectively decided to distribute the wheat bran to the members first. I don't know about the situation of other production teams because I have been watering the fields all the time." Later, the pride in Xia Juhua's voice disappeared, and it was so low that people had to listen sideways to hear it.
The district director knew it as soon as he heard it, but he dared not say it. The district director's expression became even more serious. The county director and Uncle Qi both knew that the order to collect the surplus grain was issued by the district, and the surplus grain collected was not in the district's grain warehouse.
The district director's eyes never left the busy people in the distance. He saw that the people carrying water did not all go to the same well, but went to different wells in an orderly manner to carry water, so there was no queue at one well. The members who were pulling sweet potato vines all carried baskets on their backs and carefully put the sweet potato leaves they picked into the baskets.
Xia Juhua thought that the district director had seen enough, so she glanced at the county director and asked carefully, "Director, the sun is too strong, why don't you go to the production team and take a rest for a while?"
The district director gladly accepted such a sincere invitation. Xia Juhua called Chen Qiusheng over, briefly introduced him to the leaders, and then asked Chen Qiusheng to continue organizing the watering. She led the leaders across the ridge and ditch to the village entrance.
The fifth master was sitting on an abandoned millstone under an old locust tree, his face facing the direction of the farming field. When he saw Xia Juhua coming with some people who were obviously dressed differently from farmers, he sat up from the millstone and smiled cautiously at the newcomers.
The leaders were all kind people, and were especially tolerant of an elderly man who was obviously unable to work: "Old man, why don't you rest here? The sun is so strong, why don't you stay at home?"
"Oh, I'm worried." Fifth Master frowned, "It's too dry. If we rely on people to carry water to irrigate the fields, I'm afraid they won't be able to do it. It's more reassuring to have them watching from here." Then he asked Xia Juhua, "How many acres of land have you irrigated today?"
Seeing that the leader had no intention of speaking, Xia Juhua answered Fifth Master herself: "Today I watered the wheat fields and have watered nearly thirty acres. Fifth Master, you should go home before the fields get damaged by the sun."
The district director asked, "Old man, are you here every day to watch them water the fields? How many people in your family work?"
The fifth master nodded and said, "I can't rest assured if I don't see him. All the children in the family have gone their separate ways, and I'm the only one left."
The district director's face turned serious and he asked Xia Juhua, "How do you ensure the elderly's livelihood?"
Xia Juhua said hurriedly: "Although the Fifth Master and his sons have separated their family, every family is filial and takes turns to cook for the Fifth Master every day. However, the eldest grandson's family takes care of him more than the others."
The district director was still worried: "Are there many elderly people like this in your production team? Are they all taken care of?"
Xia Juhua nodded and shook her head: "Fifth Master wants to live in peace and quiet and doesn't want to live with his son. But Uncle Dong and Seventh Grandma are both widows and have basically lost their ability to work. Every year, the production team gives them food according to the minimum standard. There are also four families with patients. There are few people who earn work points but many children. The heavier burden is debt. But I believe they will not owe work points to the production team this year."
Are you so confident? The district director looked at Xia Juhua with some disbelief, and she introduced how she organized women to weave mats in the winter, and how women from families who didn't earn much work points could also weave mats. The district director quietly repeatedly, "Captain Xia, your production team not only pays close attention to agricultural production, but also does a good job in this sideline production."
He shook hands with Master Wu, and they walked towards the production team. To enter the village, they had to pass the cowshed, where several old cows were lying in the shade, lazily wagging their tails.
The district director asked, "It takes so much effort for the members to carry water, why don't they let cows pull water?"
Xia Juhua followed the leader to the cowshed, explaining that the crops had already grown, and it would be inconvenient to turn the oxcart around in the fields, and she was also afraid that the cows would run around and ruin the crops.
As they were talking excitedly, a shadow rushed towards them, knelt on the ground, hugged the district director's thigh and refused to let go, howling: "Leader, Lord of Heaven, you have to make a decision for our family. Xia Juhua is trying to force us to death. We have been eating bran and sweet potato leaves for half a month. This is killing us."
Xia Juhua was very familiar with the voice and had seen the action before. It could be said that after knowing Sun Guizhi for such a long time, her action today was the most acceptable to Xia Juhua: it would be better to complain to the leader and say that their family had only eaten sweet potato leaves and wheat bran for half a month.
No matter how satisfied she was in her heart, Xia Juhua's face was full of anxiety: "Sun Guizhi, what are you doing? Get up quickly and don't dirty the leader's clothes." As she said this, she reached out to pull Sun Guizhi.
Hearing that she might have soiled the leader's clothes, Sun Guizhi felt uneasy. However, she didn't want to continue drinking the porridge made from sweet potato leaves and wheat bran, and she held onto the district director's thigh tightly and refused to let go.
The district director had probably never received such a warm "welcome". The smile on his face when he spoke to Master Wu disappeared. He lowered his head and said to Sun Guizhi: "Comrade member, if you have any grievances, please stand up and talk about them first. If you keep blocking me like this, we can't solve the problem." His voice was still very kind.
Encouraged by this kind voice, Sun Guizhi really let go of the district director's thigh, stood up and patted the dirt off her butt. The county director's uncle Qi looked at Xia Juhua anxiously, wondering why there were people in the Ping'anzhuang production team who were so dissatisfied with Xia Juhua.
Xia Juhua looked at Sun Guizhi innocently, and waited until she finished filming before saying, "Comrade Sun Guizhi..."
"Don't speak first. Let this member speak." The district director waved his hand at Xia Juhua sternly. He wanted to hear the difference between the Xia Juhua described by Sun Guizhi and the Xia Juhua described by Uncle Qi.
Finally, someone was willing to listen to her grievances. Sun Guizhi burst out with all her complaints, starting with how her family was captured by the Red Team, and how the sweet potatoes rotted and turned into vermicelli after they returned to Ping'an Village with no one to help them, and how everyone in the village now had food mixed into the sweet potato leaves and wheat bran porridge, but only her family had to drink the sweet potato leaves and wheat bran porridge. She poured out all her grievances.
"In other words, your husband injured someone and ran away with your family, and you gave the money to your brother from your mother's side, but the Red Team confiscated it?" A leader is a leader. Even though Sun Guizhi spoke in a disorderly order and shed tears from time to time to enhance her persuasiveness, causing her speech to be unclear, the district director understood the whole story:
"Then the Red Team will send you to study in a class, and in the spring you will return to the production team to accept labor supervision. The production team will distribute wheat bran to your families on a per capita basis, just like other members. You can also pick sweet potato leaves from the fields to cook porridge, right?"
At the end of the question, Director District's voice became stern again, and Sun Guizhi shuddered in the hot weather: Director District clearly repeated what she said, so why did she sound like she was not right?
Obviously, the leader should have listened to her crying and immediately criticized Xia Juhua severely so that she could not become the production team leader. At the very least, Xia Juhua should have been allowed to open the production team's granary so that she could carry some food back home.
Sun Guizhi was so terrified that she couldn't speak incompletely. Xia Juhua apologized to the leader and explained, "Director, it's all my fault for not doing my job well. I didn't arrange anyone to supervise Sun Guizhi's work situation. But you saw the situation in the field just now. Everyone was busy watering the land to fight the drought, and there was really no one to supervise her. Besides, there were only a few dumb animals in the cowshed, and I was thinking..."
The district director said to Xia Juhua sternly: "Since the Red Team has given the task of supervising labor to your production team, you should do it well. Since she has no one to supervise her and is not doing her labor reform well, let her go and fetch water to water the fields - so many members are here, I don't believe that we can't supervise a bad element."
Sun Guizhi was dumbfounded. She wanted to sue Xia Juhua so that she would be criticized and would not be able to become a production team leader. Why did this leader now want her to fetch water and water the fields?
Compared to carrying water to water the fields, cleaning the cowshed and feeding the cows is much easier, except that the taste is a little worse.
"Leader, you can't be fooled by Xia Juhua. She just can't stand to see our family doing well and wants to take revenge on us." Sun Guizhi wanted to lower her head and hug Director District's thigh again, but the same trick was avoided by Director District and she failed. Xia Juhua stood in front of Director District to prevent Sun Guizhi from hugging the leader's thigh again.
Seeing that the district director was not moved by her words, Sun Guizhi simply started from how Xia Juhua separated from the old courtyard and lived on her own, until she said that her son married her niece from her mother's side but divorced Sun Hongmei, which ruined Sun Hongmei's life: "Such a troublemaker who can't stand seeing others doing well, how can he be a production team leader."
Everyone looked at Xia Juhua with sympathy. No wonder this female production team leader worked so hard. If she didn't have some resilience, would Ping'an Village's current drought resistance be able to proceed so smoothly?
Yes, in the minds of the three leaders, Pingan Village's drought resistance was successful. They did not close their eyes the whole way here, as they saw the growth of crops along the way and then looked at the appearance of the crops in Pingan Village. They did make comparisons in their hearts.
With the comparison, Sun Guizhi, who kept telling Xia Juhua that she was wrong, was particularly annoying. The district director said to Xia Juhua loudly: "Captain Xia, if your production team is not capable of supervising such bad elements, you should continue to hand them over to the Red Team."
Sun Guizhi was already dumbfounded. When she heard the three words "Red Team", she sat on the ground with a pale face and couldn't get up. She looked at Xia Juhua with pleading eyes.
Xia Juhua glanced at the frightened Sun Guizhi and said with some embarrassment: "Director, the Red Team is holding a study class and is not allowed to bring wheat bran..." So it's not that I don't want to send it, I just feel sorry for the production team's food.
The county director heard this and said, "Then send her to the county Red Team. They will arrange labor for her and supervise her so that she can earn enough food for a day."
Sun Guizhi was so scared that she cried out, "Sister-in-law, I will never tell on you again. I won't join the Red Team, and I won't go to any other classes."
Sun Guizhi's crying was so loud that it attracted all the women who stayed in the production team. However, no one stood up to her because the leaders were there. Now that she had the nerve to beg Xia Juhua, Zhao Xianzhi spat at her and said, "Shameless thing, if the captain hadn't bought wheat bran before the New Year, your family would have starved to death by now. How dare you complain to the captain?"
Zhang Cuiping quickly stopped Zhao Xianzhi who was about to hit Sun Guizhi, and smiled at the leader who was looking over. Some people followed suit and scolded Sun Guizhi, while others advised others not to scold her so as not to cause trouble for Xia Juhua. In short, no one sympathized with Sun Guizhi.
There was no need to ask who was right or wrong. The district director said to the county director seriously: "Comrade Xia Juhua needs to organize agricultural production. We cannot let her be distracted. This matter is handed over to you, Pingde County, to handle."
The county director was about to nod when Zhao Xianzhi shouted unwillingly, "Sun Guizhi's husband is not a good person either. She dared to complain today. Maybe the couple had discussed it. If we only take Sun Guizhi away, what if her husband causes trouble in the production team?"
This possibility cannot be said to be non-existent, but it is very small. Xia Juhua could not help but glance at Zhao Xianzhi, who said indignantly: "Captain, you treat them as family, but they stab you in the back every day. This is the nth time. Our production team relies on you to take the lead in everything, but you have lost so much of your attention for their family."
I understand. I understand everything. The district director looked at the county director again. Although he didn't say anything, the county director also understood the meaning and nodded slightly at him. The leaders stopped looking at Sun Guizhi who was sitting on the ground and asked Xia Juhua to continue to take them to visit Ping'an Village.
"Captain Xia," the district director felt a little guilty for having to listen to Sun Guizhi in the first place, and asked Xia Juhua again in a friendly manner: "Aren't the women comrades in your production team going to the fields to fight the drought?"
Xia Juhua explained to him that the women were not avoiding work, but that they now had to complete the task of making baskets for the county supply and marketing cooperative, which was related to the district supply and marketing cooperative's participation in the expo.
"I don't know what the expo is about, but the county supply and marketing cooperative has so much trust in our production team that the women comrades are willing to complete this glorious task even if we have to get fewer work points."
Why do we say that working people are lovable? It is because they are so simple and honest. Even if they sacrifice their own interests, they still put collective honor first. The district director was so moved that he wanted to shake hands with the women who came to watch. Zhao Xianzhi, who had just been shouting, blushed and didn't know what to do.
Xia Juhua had no choice but to say, "We have rarely been out of the house, so we don't know the etiquette in the city."
The leader of Hexi raised his hand to shake hands, waved it to the women and said, "Comrades, you have worked hard."
The women who could live in Ping'an Village had too little experience and they all blushed and said that it was not hard - weaving baskets was profitable just like weaving mats, and they could sit under the shed out of the sun, so it was not really hard compared to watering the fields.
The district director, not knowing what the women were thinking, was extremely satisfied with this heartfelt answer and said to the county director: "Since the members of Pingan Village have made sacrifices for the collective interests, Pingde County and the county supply and marketing cooperative can consider giving them some appropriate subsidies."
The county director, who didn't quite understand the situation, nodded repeatedly, while Uncle Qi, who understood most of the situation, chose to remain silent.
Xia Juhua herself chose to remain silent. We have been working so hard to carry water these days, isn't it because the leader is coming to inspect? Otherwise, once the tractor is running and the water pipes are connected, we can just send a few people to watch. We have worked so hard, the leader should give us some subsidies.
Li Changshun, who just got the news, limped over and heard the leader say that they would give subsidies to the women in Pingan Village. He hurriedly said, "Captain Xia doesn't have much time to weave the baskets herself, otherwise she would weave faster and better than others."
Xia Juhua looked at Li Changshun in disbelief, unable to believe that these words came out of his mouth. The surprised expression was too obvious for the district director to fail to see. After asking about Li Changshun's identity, he smiled and asked, "Comrade Captain, it seems that you are standing up for Captain Xia."
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