Chapter 92
Without any objections, Xia Juhua picked up the money on the table and said, "This is mine. My dividend this year is 252 yuan, which includes a portion of food money for the children. Caifeng, take this money." Then she counted out 180 yuan and handed it to Wang Caifeng.
Wang Caifeng didn't reach out: "Mom, even if we buy expensive food outside, we won't be able to use this much."
Xia Juhua handed the money to her stubbornly: "The high-priced grain doesn't require so much, but the production team deducted 1,500 work points from Zhiquan per person, and you have to pay that amount for your children."
After saying that, Xia Juhua picked up the second thickest pile and said, "This is Zhishuang's. He didn't take any leave this year, so his dividend is 240 yuan." She counted out sixty and handed them to Liu Zhishuang, and the remaining 180 was handed to Wang Caifeng.
Wang Caifeng couldn't stop crying. She had only heard of people fighting and cursing over money, but she had never heard of a mother-in-law trying to stuff money into her daughter-in-law's hands.
"Mom, we can't accept all this money from Zhishuang," she sniffed and said, "Zhishuang still has to get married, and besides, the money I have is enough for his food expenses." After that, Wang Caifeng took out eighty yuan and handed the rest back to Xia Juhua.
Liu Zhishuang was about to push the money away from his sister-in-law, but Liu Zhiquan held his hand and said, "Second brother, this year your sister-in-law can't work in the fields, so I shamelessly took advantage of you for a year. When your sister-in-law can work in the fields next year, I will return the money to you." After saying that, he looked at Xia Juhua and said, "Mom, I will return your share to you as well."
Xia Juhua didn't say that she didn't have to pay it back. She was willing to give the subsidy. Wang Caifeng had worked hard at home for the past year. Besides, Xia Juhua wanted to let men know that women who take care of children and do housework at home are also contributing to the family and should be recognized. But if Liu Zhiquan asked to pay it back, she would not refuse, lest they think that her contribution is taken for granted.
Liu Zhiquan put the sixty yuan he had just received and the one hundred yuan that Liu Zhiquan had pressed in his hand together, pushed them to Xia Juhua and said, "Mom, you keep this money. I have enough money in my hand."
Xia Juhua counted out eighty yuan and handed it to him: "We have set the rules, so we have to follow them. Just keep the money you deserve."
These words made Liu Zhishuang blush. He took the money and said nothing more.
Needless to say, the thinnest stack of money that Xia Juhua picked up at the end belonged to Liu Zhiquan. Wang Caifeng thought he would not get the money back today, but unexpectedly he still had some left, so she couldn't help but nudge him with her elbow.
Liu Zhiquan turned around and whispered to her, "When the dividends were distributed, my mother said that Baoguo and Lele's food money would be paid tomorrow, so I got a little bit." This made Liu Zhiquan a little proud. He watched Xia Juhua figure out her dividend in a few seconds:
"After deducting your and your two husband's food rations from Zhiquan's work points, there is still 60 yuan left for dividends. I'll take 30 yuan, and you can keep the rest." After saying that, he handed another 30 yuan to Wang Caifeng.
Wang Caifeng, who became the biggest winner of the night, felt like crying again. She forced herself to take out ten yuan and handed it to Xia Juhua: "Mom, keep this for yourself to buy some clothes. I won't go to the county town either, because I'm afraid I can't buy good ones in the commune."
Liu Zhiquan thought he should show some appreciation for his sensible wife: "Mom, why don't I go to the county town to buy you another scarf? But why didn't I see you wearing one a few times last year?"
It would have been fine if he hadn't mentioned it. As soon as Xia Juhua mentioned it, she remembered her resistance to the khaki scarf: "It's not time to wear it yet. I'll wear it when the weather gets cold. Don't buy more blindly. One is enough. Buying more is a waste of money."
Liu Zhishuang also handed Xia Juhua ten yuan. Xia Juhua took it without saying anything. She counted the money in her hand, took out thirty-six yuan, and put it into the pocket where Wang Caifeng and Liu Zhishuang had just given her the money as a gift in front of her son and daughter-in-law. "This is mine."
He then raised the other money in his hand and gestured, "This belongs to all of us."
Separating her own money from the family's money is something Xia Juhua has been doing all her life. Both her son and daughter-in-law have become accustomed to it, and no one thinks there is anything wrong with her doing so.
Liu Zhiquan stood up and said, "Mom, let's go back."
Liu Zhishuang also said: "Brother, you stay at home, I will go to my uncle's house."
Seeing that Xia Juhua didn't say anything, Liu Zhiquan didn't object and followed Wang Caifeng back to the east room.
After the three of them left, Xia Juhua closed the door and took out the money from under the kang cabinet. There were two small bags containing her own money and the shared money. As for the shared money, Xia Juhua counted it and found that there were 422 yuan, which was a lot for a rural family.
However, Xia Juhua took out a grid notebook where the children did their homework and wrote on it: Liu Zhiquan 30, Liu Zhishuang 80 - she had to know exactly how much money the two boys had, so that when she asked them to build a house, they wouldn't have to use the excuse of having no money.
As for her share of the money, Xia Juhua was calculating in her mind when she opened the small package: Adding this to what she just got, it should be enough for one thousand, right?
After counting, there were only 870 yuan, 130 yuan short of 1,000 yuan. Xia Juhua slapped her forehead, wondering why she had forgotten about the bicycle, which was a huge expense of 168 yuan and was also Xia Juhua's largest fixed asset.
This money was useless for the time being, so Xia Juhua decided to deposit it in the bank the next time she went to the county town, at least there would be some interest. As for the introduction letter required to deposit money, Xia Juhua, who was already a production team leader, didn't take it seriously - Chen Qiusheng was not a talkative person, so she just asked him to open a card.
Unfortunately, Xia Juhua received 2,000 kilograms of peanuts from the noodle factory the next day, so she couldn't go to the county town for a while. She went to ask Chen Qiusheng for leave, but Li Changshun came to Ping'an Village again today. When he heard that she had to ask Chen Qiusheng for leave again, his eyes popped up:
"You agreed to fry peanuts for the noodle factory because you wanted to buy bran for the whole team, not for personal reasons. Why are you asking for leave?" He glared at Chen Qiusheng and said, "You are just an accountant, and you dare to approve leave for the production team leader. Can you also approve a day off for me tomorrow?"
Chen Qiusheng felt wronged: "Captain, last year when our captain was frying peanuts, she asked for leave, but I didn't listen to her. Why did she deduct her work points this time?"
Li Changshun then let Chen Qiusheng go: "That's better. Boy, you should know what's going on. Without your captain, you still want to share the profits. You can just drink the wind."
Old comrade, that's an exaggeration. Xia Juhua quickly asked Li Changshun why he came, so as to change the subject: "Captain, why are you here today?"
Li Changshun smiled: "I heard that your production team distributed dividends last night, and I thought that we should ask those production teams to pay back the work points they earned from learning how to leak powder from you last year. By the way, how much is one work point worth this year?"
Chen Qiusheng looked at Xia Juhua, not knowing whether he should tell the truth. Seeing Xia Juhua nodded slightly, he said, "One work point is worth 1.2 cents."
"Did you include the money for paying the public rations? Did you not mention the retention of money, or did you include the money for paying the pigs for the mission?" Li Changshun had a series of questions. He just couldn't believe that in such a year, Ping'an Village had not even paid the public rations, but its work points had reached 1.2 cents.
His family lived in Xiaozhuangtou, and everyone in his family was in the Xiaozhuangtou Production Team, so he knew the work point value of the Xiaozhuangtou Production Team very clearly: four points.
Originally, Li Changshun thought that Ping'an Village must have a higher work score than Xiaozhuangtou, maybe two or three points higher at most. But now it is three times that of Xiaozhuangtou. How can he not ask a series of questions?
Chen Qiu Sheng said to Li Changshun proudly: "Captain, we have reserved all the levies for our production team, and we have not included the pig money for the mission. Moreover," Chen Qiu Sheng emphasized: "This year, our food rations and work points are deducted at 1,500 per person!"
Put away your smug expression. Xia Juhua glared at Chen Qiu Sheng and looked at Li Changshun sympathetically: "Captain, if those production teams..."
"No, we agreed at the time to calculate it based on the work points of your Ping'an Village, so you have to pay according to the work points of Ping'an Village." Li Changshun said with an unquestionable look, which made Xia Juhua, who originally wanted to say that the four production teams could wait a while before paying, shut up obediently.
It would be better to give them money now. Except for the families of Grandma Qi and Uncle Dong, all the people in Ping An Zhuang have taught the outside production team how to leak powder. Everyone remembers when and who learned from whom and how many days they learned. After calculating the accounts, the people in Ping An Zhuang have made an extra income.
Li Changshun had already stood up. After thinking for a while, he said to Xia Juhua and the other two, "You'd better not tell anyone about the fact that your production team only deducted 1,500 food ration points." If the people from the other four production teams heard about it, they would be even more dissatisfied with the cadres of their own production team.
Now he has heard many people whispering that the cadres of their production team are not good enough. If they were all as capable as Xia Xiao, their production team would have been able to make money by selling powder a long time ago.
What else can those four production team leaders do? !
It was not until Li Changshun limped out of the production team yard that Xia Juhua sighed from the bottom of her heart: "The team leader didn't even tell me not to take the work points from the four production teams today."
Chen Qiusheng said with a smile: "The captain said something himself, can he take it back? Now the people in the production team should be happy again, because they still have to help us repair the canal for 20 days."
"It's just right. During these twenty days, the grain in the yard has almost dried up. Let's clean up the yard and the powder room. It's time to start kilning bricks in Xiajiazhuang."
頭一窯磚的确燒的很順利，火停後降了溫，一塊塊青色的磚就出現在了大家的面前。脫土坯的時候，平安莊用的模子是普通土坯磚用的，所以燒出來的磚比正常磚又大又厚，看上去很有份量。
三叔拿起兩塊磚用力撞了一下，兩塊磚都只掉了幾塊小渣，保持着完整的磚樣，掉茬的地方仍然跟表面一樣是青黑色，三叔滿意的點點頭：“火候到了，水燒的也正好，這磚結實。蓋房子的話，一層磚就夠了。”
滿囤湊過來，也想拿兩塊試試，被他三爺給攔住了：“你大姑要是知道你禍害她的磚，肯定拿磚拍你。”吓的滿囤一縮脖，有點兒不死心的問：“三爺，下一窯你多歇歇，我幫你看着火。”
三爺笑了：“行，啥時候加火、啥時候加水、啥時候撤火，你都記着呢吧？下回我可一句都不提醒你了，要是燒毀了你姑生氣，你爹打你，可別讓我替你說話。”
這難度就有點兒高了，滿囤想想剛要回答，見他三爺眼睛裏帶着笑，知道他還在逗自己呢，也笑了：“行，三爺只要你放心，我就敢燒。”
初生牛犢不怕虎，說的就是滿囤他們這個歲數，三爺自己也是跟師父學出來的，知道學手藝光靠看練不出真本事，剛才那麽說就是要試試滿囤的膽氣。
見滿囤一口應下，三爺也被他的興奮感染，啪地給了滿囤一脖摟兒：“快去搬磚吧，等一會兒給你姑送去。”
算着日子的夏菊花，當然不會讓夏家莊送磚，陳秋生帶着牛車和十來個壯勞力過來，三下五除二的把磚搬上了牛車，才把三叔拉到一邊：“三爺，我們隊長那兒有挂面廠的任務，實在脫離不開，就讓我給你捎了點兒東西。”
裝了五斤花生的小布口袋，被陳秋生遞到三叔眼前。這是侄女孝敬自己的，三叔覺得自己可以心安理得的收下，只是回家打開袋子的時候，才發現裏頭除了花生還有六塊錢，正好是當初夏菊花跟自己說的，從裝窯到起磚的三天時間的工錢。
看着手裏的六塊錢，三叔只覺得即燙手又欣慰：多少年了，他又憑着自己的手藝掙着錢了。
夏菊花看到磚，就只有欣慰了：“把磚先卸到場院那邊去。”
趙華江邊把牛車往場院趕邊貧嘴：“隊長，你也有點兒太偏向婦女了啊。上縣城你頭一個帶婦女去，現在有點兒磚了還給婦女們先用，結果搬磚的是我們這些老爺們兒，起架子還是我們這些老爺們。下回再這樣，我們老爺們都可不幹了。”
“趙華山，你長能耐了是吧？”趙仙枝聽着了連忙替夏菊花發聲：“那天分紅的時候，你咋不說隊長偏向我們婦女呢？今年你領着分紅，還不都是我們婦女一篾片一篾片編出來的，要不你領個屁！”
話糙理不糙，不光趙華山，平安莊的男人們此時都保持沉默。夏菊花看着以前碰着這種情況，總要嘴硬的說一句“你們女人知道啥，一幫頭發長見識短的。”男人們，現在卻只能用沉默維持尊嚴，抿着嘴樂了。
真好，女人可以正大光明的反駁男人，好;女人說是自己的勞動，讓全生産隊的人都有了共同收獲，更好。
不過也不能太打擊男人們的積極性，因為接下來的漏粉兒，主力就要換成男人們了：“你也別說嘴了，要沒李常旺給你漏粉兒，我看你還有勁吵吵不。”夏菊花假意嗔怪了趙仙枝一句。
對此趙仙枝根本不當一回事兒：“我還給他裏外都做了新衣裳了呢，這叫禮尚往來。”
行，禮尚往來是這麽用的，夏菊花沒話說了。別人卻起哄讓趙仙枝講講，她還跟李常旺有啥禮尚往來的事兒，氣的趙仙枝罵了這個又跑來那個，場院裏一時氣氛高昂。
陳秋生趁機開始分活：“劉二壯你們幾個把棚子拆了，劉二喜你們幾個等棚子拆了就開始打地基，趙大狗，你帶着你爹和你弟弟跟着路生哥去河裏推泥，今天把麻刀切出來。”
別人都高高興興的接下任務，只有被特意點名後的趙鐵蛋不高興：“都是老子帶着兒子幹活，憑啥讓大狗帶着我幹活。”
沒有人回答趙鐵蛋的問題，因為今年趙大狗簡直象換了個人一樣，不管派給他啥活都下死力的幹，開始的時候不熟練還只能記七八個工分，等收過小麥之後，已經能記十個滿工了。
大家都發現，只要趙鐵蛋不好好幹活，趙大狗就湊到他耳邊小聲說幾句話，然後趙鐵蛋就老實的跟着幹起活來。雖然趙鐵蛋幹活還是力巴，可農忙的時候一天記上六七個工分還是沒問題的。
今年分紅的時候，趙家父子不但有足夠的工分扣今年的口糧，甚至還拿出兩千個工分，還了還前幾年的欠帳，讓人不得不相信，只要有趙大狗在，趙鐵蛋也不是不能做活兒的。
所以現在誰管趙鐵蛋抱怨不抱怨呢，只要分給他們爺仨的任務能完成不就行了。
等夏菊花把挂面廠的花生炒完，讓趙華山趕着牛車送走的時候，場院已經起了兩大排房子，用的就是夏天的草頂。雖然仍是草頂子，可那青色的牆體一看就厚實，還有門有窗戶，婦女們光想想自己要在這樣的屋子裏編席或是藍子，就笑個不停。
劉紅玲幾個又跑來磨夏菊花：“大娘，我們可願意跟我娘她們一塊編東西了，你就讓我們也去場院吧。”
看來場院這個名字，一時半會大家是不會忘記了，夏菊花也不糾正她們：“你們在家裏編東西多暖和，等來年入夏了再去，省的把手都凍了，年年手發癢。”
小滿細聲細氣的說：“可誰家都沒有那麽大的地方，我們想在一起說話老湊不齊。”
見小姑娘們都一臉期盼的看着自己，夏菊花不忍心再逗她們：“沒看起了兩排房子嘛，一排給你娘她們編席，另一排分一半放葦杆，另一半就是給你們準備的。咋樣，能坐下你們了吧？”
“能。”劉紅翠搶着答應一聲，上來抱着夏菊花的胳膊蹭了蹭：“大娘，你可真好。我們都想好了，到時候好好編個東西給樂樂玩兒。”
夏菊花樂了：“行，等你們再編出好東西來，我還給你們送到供銷社兒去。”
劉紅玲三個因自己編的小藍子幫着大家掙到了錢，除了每天能記七個工分外，這次分紅還每人得到了五塊錢的獎勵，正是信心十足的時候，聽了全都高興的小小歡呼了一聲。
“得了，這回高興了，快些去幹活吧。”夏菊花還要去看看打瓦片和漏粉房的進度，跟小姑娘們說笑一會兒就讓她們回去幹活。
劉紅翠就噘了下嘴：“仙枝嬸子這兩天脾氣可不好了，因為今年葦杆少，她老想讓大家編席，可我們還想多編點兒小藍子啥的，又不敢惹她生氣。”
雨水少對平安莊最大的影響不是糧食減産，而是往年大家捎帶腳割回來的葦杆，今年不光長的矮更長的稀，平安莊割回來的連三千張席都不夠編，所以趙仙枝覺得應該全力保證編席。
夏菊花卻覺得相對于編席來說，編小藍子、大公雞或是這半年來七奶帶着姑娘們摸索着編成的小花藍、小筆筒更劃算。
這些小東西除了染色需要些時間，用的葦皮還不到葦席的四分之一或五分之一，用的時間也比編席省出大半，而供銷社給的定價足有一塊錢。
因為博覽會之後，這些小東西就進了省供銷社的視線，訂單一批接一批的自上而下送到平安莊，結帳也結的很利索。
夏菊花就跟姑娘們一起先到了場院，找來趙仙枝一問才知道，人家覺得編席才象正經幹活，編小藍子那些在她看來就跟哄着孩子過家家似的，她都不好意思因為編藍子，每天還記九個工。
“我就問你，供銷社到現在給咱們下過葦席的訂單嗎？”夏菊花心裏清楚，用不了十年，葦席就要永遠退出農村的生活舞臺，各種炕革因為光滑便于清潔，替代了葦席的位置。
現在不是說的時候，只能用最能說動趙仙枝的方法：“明顯他們現在更願意讓咱們編這些小東西，那咱們不趁着小東西好賣多掙點兒錢，想啥呢？”說着沒忍住，點了點趙仙枝的腦門：
“是編席費事兒還是編小東西費事兒，你心裏沒數？放着好掙的錢不掙。”
趙仙枝都聽不見夏菊花最後說的是啥了，感覺還停留在夏菊花親昵的點她腦門上，她現在敢拍着胸脯保證，隊長和她第一好，什麽安寶玲什麽張翠萍，都給她靠邊站！
"Okay, captain, I know what to do. Today I will go to all the production teams along the river and ask if anyone is willing to sell reed stems. I will buy all the ones I can." There is another advantage of making small things that the captain didn't mention just now, which is that there is no need to worry about the reed stems turning yellow after being stored for a long time - they have to be dyed anyway, so what's the big deal if the base color is a little yellow.
Zhao Xianzhi felt much more relieved after Xia Juhua figured it out. He asked her to continue to look after the work in the yard with An Baoling and Zhang Cuiping, and walked towards the powder room where the leak was being covered.
In winter, leaking powder became the main task of Pingan Village. Whether the house was built well or not was of great importance. Just like Li Changshun, Xia Juhua would be worried if she didn't check it every day.