Chapter 93
The place for building the vermicelli house was specially chosen, not far from the road at the east entrance of the village, so it would be convenient for shipping vermicelli or sweet potatoes to Ping'an Village in the future. The land division brigade was quite supportive this time, and Ping'an Village directly enclosed an area of three mu. Xia Juhua did not hesitate to use the baked bricks to build the frames of the three rows of houses:
Six pulping machines can be placed in a row of houses, so that people who are making pulp inside no longer have to put their hands in their sleeves to keep warm because they are exposed to the wind.
The next row of houses was divided into eight rooms, separated by fire walls. The stove was outside the house, so when the starch needed to be dried, a fire was lit outside so that there would be no smoke in the house.
The last row of houses was divided into two. A cellar was dug in one room. In addition to the ground, the cellar could also be used to store sweet potatoes. Six stoves were built on the other side. Each stove could hold a twelve-person pot for making rice noodles.
Xia Juhua has thought it through. If there are not many sweet potatoes, she can put them in a cellar and put some poles on top. After the powder is drained out there, she can hang it here to drain. The whole process of draining the powder can be completed in this yard.
This is a pure handmade vermicelli factory. Xia Juhua thought happily as she watched the people working diligently on the wall.
"Captain Xia, what are you thinking about that makes you so happy?" someone asked Xia Juhua jokingly.
Xia Juhua turned around and saw that it was Technician Xue who had not been to Ping'an Village since the autumn harvest. "Why are you here? I just watched them working and didn't hear the tractor."
Technician Xue smiled and said, "I came here on a bicycle today, not a tractor."
Xia Juhua didn't care. The autumn harvest in Ping'an Village was over, so there was really no need for a tractor. Seeing that she didn't ask, Technician Xue took the initiative to say, "I came here today to say goodbye to Captain Xia."
Say goodbye to yourself in a proper way? Xia Juhua felt that she didn't quite understand: "You're going home for the New Year, why don't you go early now?"
Technician Xue's eyes were full of smiles, and his tone was also genuinely happy, but he deliberately lowered his voice: "My father has been released, and our whole family can return to the capital."
A few key words lingered in Xia Juhua's mind for a while before she understood the meaning. She couldn't help but feel happy for Technician Xue: "That's really good. Your parents have been in good health these years. Have they not suffered any crime?"
The crime was certainly worse, but compared to the upcoming reunion, what was it? Technician Xue nodded: "Not bad, they returned to Beijing last month, and my transfer order came a few days ago. This is the address of my new unit." He handed a piece of paper with the address to Xia Juhua.
Xia Juhua took it and looked at it. It said: China Machinery Research Institute, and a string of numbers.
Seeing that she was staring at the paper, Technician Xue felt a little annoyed that he had forgotten that she could not read. Just when he wanted to tell Xia Juhua directly, she pointed at the string of numbers and asked, "Is this a phone? Is it yours or your new company's?"
Technician Xue became even more annoyed. He asked for a piece of paper, took out the pen from his jacket pocket, and wrote down another string of numbers, carefully marking at the back which one was for home and which one was for the company.
Xia Juhua took it and put it away solemnly, then asked, "You're leaving. Is Technician Lin leaving too?" Technician Lin was not sent back to the Agricultural Technology Station until all the grain in Ping'an Village was stored in the warehouse. He has not shown up for several days.
Technician Xue shook his head and said, "Technician Lin's family is from the area, so he probably won't leave for the time being."
Seeing Xia Juhua's relieved look, Technician Xue was a little amused: "Captain Xia, thank you for taking care of me in Pingan Village this year. If you come to Beijing or have anything you need to do, you can write to me or call me."
Xia Juhua shook her head: "What are you talking about? Haven't you contributed enough to Ping'an Manor this year? You don't take any work points from Ping'an Manor, but you work day and night. It looks like the rice noodle will leak again, but you're leaving, and you haven't even had the first batch of sweet potato rice noodle this year."
This really piqued Technician Xue's interest: "Auntie, please make me some sweet potato noodles again."
"Of course I have to make sweet potato flour for you. Not only that, I also have to make dumplings for you. Dumplings when you get on the bus and noodles when you get off. How can you not eat dumplings?" Xia Juhua said with certainty.
After sending Technician Xue off with a meal of dumplings, Xia Juhua realized deeply that the spring breeze was getting closer and closer to her, and it was time to consider the future path.
But even though she roasted 2,000 kilograms of peanuts for the noodle factory, she was still several dozen kilograms short of 1,000 kilograms. It might be a lot in the eyes of others, but not much in Xia Juhua's eyes.
When the spring breeze blows, it will be enough to use it to start a small business, but it is still a long way to go if you want to earn money for your retirement without such hard work.
That's right, Xia Juhua's ultimate goal is to build the agricultural and trade market that Qi Weidong will build in the county town in the future. Her ideal is to buy a few stalls, rent out a few and use one for herself. Even if the stall she runs does not make much money, the rent from the other stalls will be enough for her to support herself in her old age.
There's nothing I can do. Most of what I've seen in my previous life came from what I saw on TV, where there were many people renting out their houses to make money.
Xia Juhua had heard people say in her previous life that at first no one wanted to buy the stall in the farmers' market, and it could be bought for only three or four hundred yuan. But when people realized they could make money and wanted to buy it, the price rose to one or two thousand or even more.
It would have been great if she had partnered with Qi Weidong to build the farmers' market from the beginning. Xia Juhua knew that her idea was unrealistic, but she still wanted to dream: she would keep all the stalls and sell some of them when the price went up.
In the end, Xia Juhua did not give up the idea of keeping a few stalls for herself, because she felt that she was not a businessman and the only thing she could count on in the end was the rent.
If Qi Weidong knew that Xia Juhua had this idea, he would be the first to disagree: She is not a businessman, but she can squeeze so many benefits for the people of Ping'an Village from her own hands, even if it means that the grain station leaks flour, she is ruthless when it comes to collecting processing fees. And she also makes his uncle think that Xia Juhua has made a great contribution to the farmers in the entire county?
Now it was time for Qi Weidong to meet Xia Juhua again. Qi Weidong still had his eyes on the sweet potato vermicelli from Ping'an Village. "Auntie, you planted a lot of sweet potatoes this year, and the members can't just eat vermicelli all day long. You might as well give the extra to me and exchange it for cash."
Xia Juhua shook her head and said, "We still haven't received any news on whether or not we will pay the public grain. We don't even dare to touch the sweet potatoes."
When Qi Wei entered the village, he heard the sound of the pulping machine crushing sweet potatoes. Xia Juhua actually told him that he dared not touch the sweet potatoes. She must be teasing him: "Auntie, we won't do that. I heard in the county that the relief grain from above has been brought in today. Do you still need to pay the public grain?"
All the relief rations have been brought in? This was the first time Xia Juhua had heard of this. She quickly pulled Qi Weidong aside and asked, "How much has been brought in? Has the county said how to distribute it?"
Qi Weidong and his subordinates only knew a little bit when they saw the relief trucks, so how could they know how to distribute it? However, he still said, "Auntie, I think no matter how much relief food comes, it has nothing to do with you Ping'an Village."
"We don't expect to get much relief rations, as long as our public rations are not taken away." This is what Xia Juhua is thinking now, but unfortunately no one has given her a definite answer.
For this reason, Li Changshun went to the commune several times by ox cart, but he did not get accurate information from Director Zhang. He only said that each production team should set aside a portion of the public grain. No one could tell how much this portion would be, whether it would be the same as before or only a percentage.
Now Qi Weidong, who came from the county town, still did not have a definite answer. Xia Juhua could not help but sigh: "I don't know what the leaders are thinking. Why don't they let people feel the truth?"
Qi Weidong also wanted to get to the bottom of the matter: "Auntie, just tell me how much you can give me for the first batch of vermicelli and when I can pick it up. I will still pay you 60 cents per pound as last year."
Xia Juhua looked at Qi Weidong with a look that said, "Do you think I'm stupid?" "What was the price of sweet potatoes last year? Can the price of sweet potatoes still be the same in this season?"
So the more he emphasized that he was not good at doing business, the harder it would be to talk business with him. This was how Qi Weidong felt now: "Then my dear, how much do you want per pound?" He was so angry that he didn't even mention changing the word.
"Seventy-five cents." Xia Juhua felt that she was not asking for too much - the entire Chengping area was hit by disasters this year, and the sweet potato production was small. Even fewer people were willing to spend money on vermicelli, so vermicelli was a rare item now.
Can rare things be cheap?
Qi Weidong came to ask for vermicelli so early this year. His idea was similar to Xia Juhua's. He calculated his cost in his mind and said through gritted teeth, "Okay, 75 cents is 75 cents. Auntie, let's make a deal. This price can't be changed from now on."
Even though there are fewer sweet potatoes this year, Ping An Village still made a lot of money at the price of 75 cents per pound, so Xia Juhua said decisively: "We have dealt with each other many times, and it will definitely not change."
Qi Weidong then smiled with satisfaction, put away his businessman's attitude, and started chatting with Xia Juhua. When he learned that the supply and marketing cooperative had been collecting the small baskets and other things in Ping'an Village, he became curious and had to go to the yard to see them.
Xia Juhua had no choice but to let Liu Baoguo take Qi Weidong to the yard. Liu Baoguo was very satisfied with the task. He took Qi Weidong's hand and said seriously, "Uncle, let's go. Don't let go of my hand. If you get lost, you won't be able to see grandma."
Qi Weidong happily held Liu Baoguo's hand and walked out of the courtyard one after the other. Wang Caifeng was a little worried: "Mom, can Baoguo make it?"
"What's wrong with that? Didn't he come to the yard to look for me that day?" Xia Juhua recalled the scene when she saw Liu Baoguo at the gate of the yard that day, and she felt a little scared: "It's a good thing that he didn't run out of the village, otherwise I would have found him."
Wang Caifeng felt very guilty: "It's all my fault. If I had watched him more closely, he wouldn't have been able to escape on his own."
Xia Juhua felt that Wang Caifeng was not to blame for this: "He is already three and a half years old. Can you always follow him when he wants to run? You still have to take care of Lele. Now that he can crawl, he really can't leave you alone."
Then he said with some regret: "It would be great if our production team had a kindergarten like in the city. When we go to work, we can put the children in the kindergarten, and the adults can pick them up when they get off work. It would save a lot of trouble."
Wang Caifeng didn't know what a kindergarten was and thought it was a new term her mother-in-law had heard from the city. But after hearing what a kindergarten was, she felt that there was indeed a good one in Ping'an Village.
"If the production team gives me work points, I am willing to babysit for other people's children at home and make sure I keep the children clean." That way, I can not only look after other people's children, but also my own two children.
"If it's a kindergarten, you can't just look after the children. You have to teach them to recite poems, count and so on. Can you do it?" Xia Juhua was moved when she thought of several young wives who had given birth this year and did not go to the yard to continue weaving mats.
Wang Caifeng was really stumped by the question: "Teaching counting is fine, but reciting poetry, what the hell is poetry, mother?"
Look, you will know it is like this. Xia Juhua looked at Wang Caifeng helplessly: "Wait until Lele goes to bed early one day, and you will know when you go to the listening column's class." So let you all learn some words, otherwise the production team will not be able to run a kindergarten.
Just as I was thinking about the failure of running a kindergarten, Li Changshun came into the yard. Xia Juhua and Wang Caifeng quickly asked him to sit down, poured him some water, and even added a spoonful of sugar. Xia Juhua then asked, "Captain, are you here to see our production team's powder leaking room again?"
Li Changshun has been coming to Ping'an Village every day these days just to see how their powder leaking room is going. Hearing Xia Juhua's question, he said, "I have to take a look. If you build it well, their production teams will have something to learn."
Xia Juhua quickly stated: "If any production team wants to burn bricks, they can go to my uncle. I don't have the face to keep him busy all winter."
Li Changshun really had no idea what to do about Xia Juhua's vigilance. "I know, I know. I came here today to discuss something with you."
Xia Juhua let him drink some water while waiting for the next words. Li Changshun tasted the sugar water in the bowl, opened his mouth to say something but didn't say it. He drank another sip of water before putting the bowl down and said, "I went to the commune two days ago and told Director Zhang that our brigade has been without a teacher. He asked us to think of a solution. I think Li Zhu has done a good job teaching this year, so why not let him go to the brigade primary school to learn."
Liu Lizhu's teaching level can be seen from the girls in Pingan Village. They didn't know any words before, but now they can recognize 700 to 800 words. This is just the result of listening to the class in the evening.
Xia Juhua did not correct Li Changshun's misconception, that is, the things Liu Lizhu taught to adults at night were different from those taught to children during the day. Adults only focused on learning more words, but children not only needed to learn words, but also mathematics, and sometimes they were even taught to sing.
In fact, what Liu Lizhu taught the children in the past year were all things before the second grade, which was just a little faster than the elementary school. However, Xia Juhua was in favor of Liu Lizhu going to the elementary school. She remembered that in the early 1980s, there was a quota for private teachers to become regular teachers. If Liu Lizhu could catch up, he could stay in the elementary school to teach, which would be good for their family and the children of Ping'an Village.
Besides, the yard where Liu Lizhu teaches now can be used as a kindergarten when Liu Lizhu and the children go to the brigade primary school during the day. He can still teach adults to read at night. How great!
"If Lizhu goes to the brigade primary school, your production team will still have to calculate the work points. It will still be ten work points a day. The members can't have any objections, right?" Li Changshun asked worriedly.
Xia Juhua shook her head quickly: "What can I say? Who doesn't have two children going to school in the future?"
Li Changshun was happy: "No objection is fine. The commune can still give them two yuan a month in subsidies, which can at least help their family."
"It's OK if we don't need the subsidy from the commune." Xia Juhua said generously: "Now Lizhu's wife helps to weave things every day, and he also gets ten work points a day. When the dividends were distributed this year, half of the work points owed in previous years were paid back."
"Then there are only five households left in your production team that owe you money." Why did Li Changshun want to come to Ping'an Village? Because after he came here, he heard nothing but good news. When he went to other production teams, they would either complain to him or complain to him. There was not a single such person in Ping'an Village.
So Li Changshun felt that the people in the four production teams were all idle, and the people in Ping'an Village were too busy to complain.
"We have to wait until next year before Zhao Tiedan's and Liu Lizhu's families are no longer in debt. As for Zhao Huashan's family, although they didn't pay as many work points as these two families this year, they still paid back a little." Xia Juhua tried her best to sound calmer, lest Li Changshun think that life in Ping'an Manor is too easy.
This alone was enough to make Li Changshun breathe a sigh of relief, and he finally changed the subject: "I remember your production team raised nine pigs this year, right? How are they growing?"
Xia Juhua said with some stammering: "When we first went to the agricultural technology station to catch pigs, they said that one of the piglets was smaller than the others when it was born and they were afraid it would not survive, so they asked our production team to help raise it. Another pig had a bad hind leg, so they gave it to us."
In fact, the nine piglets were all sent to Ping'an Village by the Agricultural Technology Station, with only one condition, that is, Ping'an Village had to return a mature pig weighing no less than 200 kilograms to the Agricultural Technology Station before the end of the year.
Because they had two more pigs than the regulations allowed, Xia Juhua had never dared to report this to Li Changshun. In addition, Pingan Village was really busy this year, and whenever Li Changshun came, he could only see Xia Juhua in the sweet potato field or the wheat field, so he had no time to visit the pig pen.
As for the time when the district director came, Xia Juhua had already asked Chen Lusheng to hide the pig, so he dared not let anyone see it. Also, because Chen Lusheng had a heavy workload this year and Sun Shi could not be relied on, when Chen Qiusheng was settling accounts, Xia Juhua and the others discussed and recorded Chen Lusheng's work points to ten per day. When Chen Lusheng found out about the dividends, he almost cried.
But how did Li Changshun know that Ping'an Manor had nine pigs? After explaining, Xia Juhua looked at Li Changshun and said nothing, hoping to hear some clues from his next words.
Li Changshun waved his hand impatiently and said, "I really can't remember how much bran your production team bought last year. And I also know how much bran each of you got. If I count the two, you should have some bran left, but it's gone long ago. Didn't the pigs eat it?"
Xia Juhua was blocked for a long time before she whispered, "Captain, every household in the cooperative only gets to eat meat during the Chinese New Year, but last year each person only got a few ounces. So when the Agricultural Technology Station said that the piglets were free this year, I couldn't care less. Don't worry, the Agricultural Technology Station will definitely not get the news out, and they themselves are counting on our pigs to provide benefits to the employees."
Xia Juhua had said all the good and bad things, so what could Li Changshun say? If he really wanted to cause trouble for Ping An Manor, he could have stopped it when those piglets were brought back. Why did he have to wait until now?
"If you forget to call me again when your fifth master's birthday comes, I will smash your table." Li Changshun finally said this harshly.
Xia Juhua smiled brightly: "I invited you last year but you didn't even bother to show up. No matter what I said, you wouldn't come."
"Is it the same last year as this year?" Li Changshun patted the small table in front of him and said, "You just killed two pigs last year, and one of them was raised to that state by Sun. How can I have the nerve to share your meat?"
"Grandma, look at my ball." Liu Baoguo's happy voice came from outside the yard. Xia Juhua did not refute Li Changshun's words anymore. She turned around and saw Qi Weidong pulling Liu Baoguo back. Liu Baoguo was holding a big red ball the size of a palm in his hand, shaking it as he walked.
Qi Weidong also knew Li Changshun because of the sweet potato harvest last year, so he took the initiative to greet him: "Captain Li, you are here too."
Li Changshun wanted to stand up, but Xia Juhua said hurriedly, "Xiao Qi is not an outsider. Captain, please sit down. He doesn't like this kind of etiquette."
Qi Weidong also quickly let go of Liu Baoguo's hand, took a few steps forward to shake hands with Li Changshun, and directly explained his purpose: "I'm tired of the hot and sour rice noodles made by Auntie Xia, so I came over to ask Auntie to make me a bowl to try."
Li Changshun just took what he said as the truth, and asked with a smile how Uncle Qi was doing, and asked if there was any news about the payment of public grain in the county. Qi Weidong said the same thing as what he said to Xia Juhua, and Li Changshun showed a look of disapproval: "Xiao Qi, you have been to Ping'an Village so many times, how can you not know what we are concerned about?"
Qi Weidong was extremely embarrassed, while Xia Juhua was surprised. Was this still the Li Changshun she knew? Oh, it was still the same. When Li Changshun sent the letter of commendation to Director Lin, he behaved similarly to the way he does now.
It seems that Li Changshun has two completely different faces internally and externally.
Liu Baoguo happened to run over with the red ball, swinging it as he ran. Qi Weidong finally found another topic to talk about: "Auntie Xia, this is a new pattern that the members of your production team came up with. I don't know them, so I'm embarrassed to give them advice, so I'll tell you about it."
Xia Juhua nodded with amusement: "Go ahead."
Qi Weidong took the red ball from Liu Baoguo and handed it to Xia Juhua. She then discovered that the ball was also made of reed bark. She didn't know what was stuffed inside, and it made a slight noise when it was shaken.
Qi Weidong said, "I don't know what's stuffed inside now. I think it would be better if a small bell was weaved into it."
Of course it would be better, but Pingan Manor doesn't have so many bells. When Xia Juhua told him the difficulty, Qi Weidong became excited. If Li Changshun wasn't there, he would have promised Xia Juhua that he would get the bells as soon as possible, provided that Xia Juhua asked Pingan Manor to hand over the vermicelli as soon as possible.
Xia Juhua was moved and asked him, "When are you going to the district? Can you help me see if there are any small balls, jigsaw puzzles, building blocks, etc.? I'll pay you when you buy a few more?"
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