Chapter 89

"Hasn't the commune notified us to hand in the public grain?" Xia Juhua was probably annoyed by Fifth Master's nagging these days: "It's so dry, and the harvest we have now is all thanks to the wells dug by each production team. But the wheat ears of the brigades that didn't dig wells are all shriveled, not even a grain of wheat can be harvested, so what can we use to pay the public grain?"

We are all in the disaster area now. Why can others not pay the public grain if they can't produce grain? Ping'anzhuang Brigade has to pay the public grain if they have to work hard to fight the drought? If Xia Juhua hadn't remembered the location of the well in her previous life, her brigade wouldn't have been able to produce grain either.

The angry face of the Fifth Master flashed before Li Changshun's eyes again. He gritted his teeth and said, "Okay, you can distribute some wheat to everyone according to previous years. Even if the remaining wheat of the production team is not enough to pay the public grain, it should not be too much. If they insist on it, they can pay sweet potatoes!"

"I'll listen to the captain." Xia Juhua was extremely supportive of Li Changshun's decision: "We'll divide the wheat when it's dried."

If the wheat is dried before being distributed, the members can get a few more kilograms of wheat after the moisture is removed. Li Changshun pretended not to hear Xia Juhua's selfish intentions - they all agreed to let them share the grain, so this little bit is not a big deal. We have to give the members some hope so that they can continue to take care of the autumn crops that are still in the fields.

Since he agreed to let Ping'an Village share the wheat, Li Changshun had to inform the other four production teams to also share the wheat, so that they would not accuse him of favoring Ping'an Village.

What a bunch of heartless people, who is he siding with?

Without seeing Li Changshun anymore, Chen Qiusheng came over with a smile and asked, "Captain, can we get out the wheat we harvested up front?"

Of course they have to be taken out. The last time the members plowed the fields was to pick off the fully ripe wheat ears at intervals. These past few days they have relied on the women to rub off the grains little by little. If they are not dried in the sun, they will sprout and their work will be in vain.

Baskets of husked wheat were carried from the production team to the yard and mixed into the wheat pile that had just been weighed, expanding the pile by a full circle. This was the real output of wheat in Pingan Village: 409 catties per mu.

With the 10% of wheat that was kept secret, each member of Pingan Village received 30 kilograms of wheat, and naturally everyone was very happy. The impatient families ground flour, steamed buns, and cooked noodles that day, and ate them with the pork fat made from the meat they bought a few days ago.

The fifth master did not eat the thin noodles rolled by his grandson's wife first. He walked back and forth on the street, shouting loudly: "Think about how you can eat this white flour, don't talk nonsense to everyone you meet when your dog's stomach can't hold two ounces of sesame oil. If people know about this, the white flour in the mouths of your children, parents will have to be taken away by others. Will you feel bad?"

Liu Daxi followed his grandfather helplessly, thinking in his heart, how come he is the eldest grandson? If he had an older brother like Erxi and the others, he could avoid offending people with his grandfather.

"Fifth Master, your wife Daxi didn't serve you well, so you come out to swear?" Someone who was not afraid of death joked with the old man. Even when Liu Daxi raised his fist at others, they still kept talking: "If I were you, you should be swearing. If I don't hear you swearing, I won't be able to eat my steamed buns."

"Get lost!" Liu Daxi shouted to the others, "When your wife goes to grind flour again, I will throw a handful of sand at her."

The fifth master didn't care how his grandson quarreled with others, and walked all three streets of Pingan Village. Only then did he go home contentedly to eat the already rolled noodles. Even if they were rolled, they were still made of white flour, and they were cooked in a pot with boiling oil, and they tasted delicious!

After the delicious food, the work of field management became more arduous: the wheat fields had to be dug out and turned over quickly to make new ridges, and buckwheat, a short-growing crop, had to be planted. Sweet potato vines had to be pulled out, and corn and sorghum had to be weeded. The people of Ping'an Village continued to struggle on the land as if they were risking their lives.

People from other production teams had said something sour, thinking that the people of Ping'an Village worked so hard, but only harvested 10% more wheat than their own production team, and that the autumn harvest would probably not be much better.

Since the harvest can be seen at a glance, why bother with yourself?

The people of Pingan Village ignored these sour words, and they also became their excuse to resist those distant relatives who came to borrow food. As for their real family members, the women who married into Pingan Village would secretly give a few yuan to them, but they also dared not send food - their own family members also had relatives, and the rumor that Pingan Village had more food was not a joke.

Time flies when people are busy, and in the blink of an eye it is harvest time. Xia Juhua has not left Pingan Village these days, and has been working hard in the fields. She doesn't know how the crops are growing in other villages, but she knows that the grain in Pingan Village is enough to support the next year, even if it is not a bumper harvest, and she is indescribably happy.

There is nothing more satisfying than to, through your own efforts, provide food for everyone in a village that was once shrouded in hunger.

It wasn't just her family that didn't go hungry, but all the people in Ping'an Village who had fought with Xia Juhua for a year didn't go hungry. Seventh Grandma didn't die in the summer, but was full of energy every day, and she and Liu Hongling were thinking about how to weave something better:

The baskets and roosters made of reed bark that Ping'an Village sent to the district supply and marketing cooperative were selected for the expo and were quickly sold out. Now, not only the county supply and marketing cooperative, but even the district supply and marketing cooperative has placed orders directly with them.

What is worrying is that the water in the Xihe River is almost non-existent this year due to the drought, causing the reeds that were lush along the river in previous years to grow thin and withered, making it difficult to muster the energy to cut them.

Fortunately, such skinny reed stalks are not enough material for weaving mats, but they are enough for weaving small baskets and big roosters. Xia Juhua plans to organize members to cut large amounts of reeds after the autumn harvest.

Now, of course, the most important thing is to store the food in the warehouse.

This time, without Fifth Master's reminder, Xia Juhua organized the members to go into the cornfield and pick one sorghum corn for every nine corns, and brought the grain to Fifth Master's house early.

These two crops grow tall, so it is easier to hide them quietly than to harvest wheat. In addition, no one was allowed to touch the crops outside, so who could see what was happening deep inside? The members of the neighboring three teams and the small village had long been accustomed to the people of Ping'an Village working in the fields every day. If they didn't show up in the fields one day, it would be like the sun rising from the west. So this time, Ping'an Village hid the harvest in advance and was not discovered.

When the production volume came out, it was apparent that Ping'an Village's production volume was the same as Xiaomi's, only a little more than 10% higher than that of Xiaozhuangtou. The members of Xiaozhuangtou also laughed at the fact that the production volume was a thankless task.

"Don't laugh at them. The sweet potatoes haven't been harvested yet. How do you know that their sweet potatoes grow like this?" Li Daniu did not stand on the side of his own members this time. He just felt that Ping'an Village's output should not be this much.

When the sweet potato farm is mentioned, everyone in the small farm shuts up. Except for those who really can't stand seeing others do well, everyone has to admit that the sweet potato seedlings of their production team were distributed from Ping'an Village, and how to plant them was also taught by the people of Ping'an Village. In fact, this year the production team planted more sweet potatoes than in previous years, which was also learned from Ping'an Village.

Thanks to the large number of sweet potatoes planted and the three wells dug under Xia Juhua's guidance, there is some hope for autumn. Otherwise, they would have to work hard. And yet they still laugh at Ping An Village for working so hard but getting no reward. Are you a human being?

Li Daniu, who felt that the members of his production team were not human, walked to the land where the two production teams met. The sweet potatoes in the adjacent fields did not look any different, but the closer he got to his own production team, the greater the difference in the growth of the sweet potatoes on both sides.

Fortunately, the sweet potato vines have begun to wilt, otherwise the contrast would be more obvious. Li Daniu thought so in his heart, and couldn't help squatting down to dig out the sweet potatoes from his production team.

Under one sweet potato vine, there were four or five sweet potatoes that were larger than an adult's head, which was not much different from previous years.

This thing is really drought-resistant, which was Li Daniu's first thought. Can other fields also grow so many and so big? This was Li Daniu's second thought. When he dug a sweet potato in a field farther away from Ping'an Manor, he found that there were only three big sweet potatoes, and he knew what was going on.

The tree just now clearly grew so large and numerous with the help of the water from Ping An Village!

Is Pingan Village going to lose powder again? Li Daniu had many thoughts in his mind, the most important one was to make sure that the members of his production team would not say anything sarcastic about Pingan Village: even if the harvest of other villages in Pingan Village was only 10% higher than that of Xiaozhuangtou, their sweet potatoes were enough to crush Xiaozhuangtou.

The sweet potatoes in Pingan Village were indeed a good harvest in such a drought year. Xia Juhua and her friends had never thought of hiding the sweet potato production: firstly, sweet potatoes grow in the ground, and a hole is too obvious to hide. Secondly, the people of Pingan Village worked hard for a year, and it was impossible to have no results at all.

They want to get more production materials next year. If the commune or the county finds out that the result of tilting the materials towards them is not much better than the production team that does not tilt the materials, the loss will be huge enough if they just don't allow technicians Xue Lin to come to Ping'an Village next year.

After the grain was stored in the warehouse, the brigade held meetings day after day, not for any other reason but to discuss how to pay the public grain this year.

"Now that the commune hasn't issued a notice, we shouldn't rush to hand over all the grain ourselves." Several production team leaders were unanimous in their opinions.

Li Changshun shook his head and said, "Paying rations is a matter of course. What will you use to distribute dividends to members if you don't pay rations?" The money paid for rations every year is the largest source of income for the production team.

Several team leaders looked at Li Changshun as if he were a fool. In a year like this, having enough to eat is everyone's greatest wish. Is there any need to compare between holding food in hand and having money in hand but not being able to buy food?

李長順被看的直拍桌子：“你們現在不把公糧交了，全都分給社員，等公社下通知的時候，你們拿啥交？”普通社員交不交公糧不打緊，生産隊長無不成任務，能跑得了？

兩邊的意見就是達不成一致，會就每天得開，然後大家吵吵一頓，連點兒新詞都沒想出來，就到了該吃中飯的點兒，除了散會還能咋辦？

李長順氣的把夏菊花單獨留下來，夏菊花恨不得自己病上一病：“大隊長，我也沒辦法。”總不能別的生産隊都不交公糧，平安莊圖表現帶這個頭。

“咱們好歹有點兒收成，別的大隊能把種子收回來就算好樣的。”李長順眉頭就沒松開過：“要是都不交公糧，縣城裏的人吃啥？”

你咋不放眼全球呢？

夏菊花心裏嘟嚷一句，嘴也沒閑着：“去年咱們可支援災區來着，現在咱們受災了，總不能沒人管吧？”

李長順就沉默下來。要讓夏菊花說，人家公社張主任現在都抗着，沒讓糧站下交公糧的通知，李長順也該想想咋讓各生産隊快點兒把收上來的紅薯漏成粉兒，而不是老想着完成公糧任務。

平安莊大隊不向上級伸手要返銷糧、救濟糧，就是給集體減輕負擔了，何必把自己摳的這麽死？

想到漏粉，夏菊花就不能不想起平安莊還有脫好曬幹的那些土坯：“大隊長，明天我得回娘家一趟，不能來開會了，我讓秋生過來吧？”

早知道平安莊脫了不少土坯的李長順，太知道夏菊花為啥要回娘家了，帶着點兒不确定問：“你能說動你那個堂叔？”

夏菊花從不是把話說滿的人：“能不能說動，都得試試不是？”

要說李長順這個人吧，心裏永遠有一本自己的帳，他關心的人多，有些大家長劫富濟貧的觀念。可不能否認，他對有出息的孩子很偏愛，比如對夏菊花的要求，答應的就比別的生産隊長痛快。

于是近一年多沒回娘家的夏菊花，就出現在了夏家莊的街道上。滿囤頭一個看到了大姑，還沒敢認，等人走近了才一蹦三尺高：“大姑？真是你呀大姑，你咋回來了呢，也沒給我送個信，我去接你多好？”

傻孩子，還當是過去呢，出門子的姑娘要回娘家，還得娘家人趕個毛驢接人呀？夏菊花把自行車往滿囤手裏一塞：“你今天咋沒上工，在這兒站着呢？”

“我等我三爺呢。”滿囤把自行車推的歪歪斜斜，臉上的笑藏都藏不住：“今天我娘說包點兒包子，叫我三爺到家裏吃飯呢。”

可真是巧了，夏菊花要找的人，就是滿囤嘴裏的三爺，也是夏菊花的三堂叔。只是這位堂叔命不大好，年輕的時候在地主的磚窯上當過把頭，用掙下的錢買了幾畝地，剛晴天的時候就被定為了中農。

在人人扛活的北部平原，中農的成份已經不低了。所以覺醒了的媳婦就跟他離了婚，帶着孩子另嫁他人了。這讓堂叔倍受打擊，總覺得自己在磚窯上掙的也是手藝錢，買地也是為了讓媳婦孩子過上好日子。

那些年媳婦也沒少跟人顯擺自家日子好過，咋一定了成份就不跟自己過了呢？

枕邊人和自己的親骨肉都說跑就跑，一下子讓堂叔失去了對人的信任，每天除了上工下工，哪誰也沒有一句話，直到災害那幾年，才緩過勁來。

用堂叔自己的話說：跟人命比起來，啥都是虛的，都不如進口的那把糧食實在。跑了的媳婦要活着，想活的好沒啥錯。

讓他發出這種感慨的，起源就是夏龍在堂叔快餓死的時候，掰給他的那塊餅子。也是因此，跟誰也不親近的堂叔，和夏龍一家子走的很近。夏家老人沒的早，夏龍跟媳婦兩也能幹，孩子們都能幫上手，做點調樣的都會叫堂叔一起吃。

“你娘咋今天想起包包子來啦？”夏菊花覺得以兄弟媳婦會過日子的勁頭，不年不節的不會包包子吃。哪怕是素餡，包子皮咋也得放一半白面才能團成個——光放玉米面的話蒸出來拿都拿不起來。

滿囤就笑着告訴他姑，今天是三爺的生日，所以他娘特意請假買了斤肉回來，用新分的麥子磨了面，給三爺過生日。

巧上加巧四個字，就是這麽寫出來的。夏菊花看着挂在車把上網兜裏的兩桶麥乳精，覺得這禮送給老人當生日禮物，不太磕碜。

何止是不磕碜，堂叔接過麥乳精的時候，眼角都有些濕了：“夏龍媳婦也是，這麽老遠還給你送啥信，不就是過個生日？”

夏菊花臉上的笑十分真誠：“三叔，你可別冤枉紅翠，”叫出這個名字，夏菊花心裏打了一個突，咋跟劉二壯家的紅翠一個名呢，農民給閨女起名字都太不走心了：“我可沒記着今天是你的生日，是有事兒求你才回夏家莊的。”

三堂叔只當夏菊花是為了不讓自己有負擔，笑眯眯的說：“行，不管你是趕上了，還是特意回來給三叔過生日，三叔都高興着呢。你有啥事跟三叔說，三叔頭拱地也給你辦到喽。”

夏菊花當然不可能現在就說求人的話，她把自己帶給夏龍、夏虎兩家的東西，讓許紅翠給分開，還是一家一份沒偏沒向的五斤花生。

張鳳玲很驚訝的問：“大姐，你們生産隊今年還種花生了？我們生産隊倒是種了，可惜長了沒有半尺高，□□都是癟的。”

許紅翠拿胳膊肘子杵了她一下，說：“你管是不是大姐他們生産隊種的，收好了過年給孩子們炒着吃不香嗎？”

張鳳玲一下子反應過來，沖着夏菊花不好意思的笑了一下，拿着花生回自己屋了。三叔把一切都看在眼裏，又仿佛啥也沒看到，問起平安莊的收成來。

夏菊花說完平安莊的，也向三叔打聽了一下夏家莊的收成，托了幾口井的福，夏家莊今年的收成只比正常年份減産了不到兩成，讓三叔這樣經歷過幾次旱災的人都覺得不可思議：

“多虧你幫着生産隊打了井，又捎信讓生産隊別惜力多澆地，要不今年就得有逃荒的。”三叔看向夏菊花的目光裏有着感激，他覺得這感激不光自己得有，全夏家莊的社員都該有。

“你們生産隊，咋交公糧呀？”心裏感激了一番夏菊花的三叔，又關心起了農民最關心的問題。

夏菊花沒急着回答，反而問：“咱們夏家莊已經準備交公糧了嗎？”

三叔搖了搖頭：“還沒呢。聽隊長說，別的生産隊沒啥收成，想交也沒糧食可交。可大隊覺得夏家莊還有收成，應該交。”說到着長長嘆了一口氣：

“夏家莊的收成又不是老天爺扔下來的，也是大夥拼着命澆水才有的，咋就非得讓夏家莊交公糧？要是得的這點兒收成都交了公糧，大夥幹啥不跟別的生産隊人一樣，天天躲在樹蔭底下看螞蟻上樹？”

可不就是這樣。夏菊花跟着點頭：“我們大隊更麻煩，個個生産隊都有收成，怕是躲不過。”

光犯愁并不能解決交不交公糧的問題，夏菊花想着今天是三叔的生日，便不想再說這不高興的話題，關心起三叔的日常來。聽三叔的意思，許紅翠和張鳳玲兩個真是沒挑的好媳婦，對他這個不是親的堂叔照顧的周到，時常讓他心裏內疚。

“你是長輩，他們照顧你也是應該的。”夏菊花勸三叔別多想。

三叔就抹了一把眼睛：“哪兒那麽多應該的？整個夏家莊管我叫三叔的人多了去，連親侄子我都有四五個，可誰管我冬天有沒有棉衣穿，夏天糧食夠不夠吃過？”

“唉，人老了不中用了，我一年也掙不下多少工分，分紅也少，說把自己分的糧食拿過來他們也不收，我不成了吃閑飯的了嗎。”

“你可不是吃閑飯的。”夏菊花見三叔越說越傷心，盡量撿好聽的說：“這十裏八鄉的，也就你有燒磚的手藝，哪個生産隊想燒磚了，不得好說好道的請你。”

“不是這點兒手藝……”三叔說不下去，擡頭看向從廚房裏出來的滿囤：“我就想着到時候帶着滿囤他燒幾窯磚，等他們學會了以後我就不燒了。可今年這年景，哪個生産隊有心思燒磚呢。”

“我們生産隊燒。”夏菊花沖三叔拍起了胸脯。

吓得三叔忙攔她：“你可不敢這麽想，就算你現在當了生産隊長，可也不能這麽幹。要是讓人說你以權謀私咋整。”

聽三叔說出以權謀私幾個字，夏菊花真的笑了起來：“三叔，我今天說特意回來求你，為的就是這個事兒。夏天的時候我已經讓社員脫了好幾窯土坯，就等着秋天不忙了，請你幫忙燒磚呢。”

"What do you want to do by making those bricks so early?" Uncle San did not say whether he would help or not. Instead, he wanted to find out whether Xia Juhua really wanted him to help or whether she wanted her nephews to learn his craft.

Although he was willing to teach Man Dun a few tricks of brick-making, he would not feel comfortable if Xia Juhua wanted her nephew to learn the craft but had to ask for it herself.