Chapter 71
Chang Xiancao was not the only one among the women who came back early to cook meat. Considering that this year was the most exhausting and unprofitable for everyone, the women all used their best cooking skills to make up for the hunger of their families who had worked hard all winter.
It gets dark early in winter. Just when the women have finished stewing the meat, it is already dark. But the playful children have not returned home yet. The streets are filled with the long-awaited shouts and scolding for the children to go home for dinner.
Smelling the faint aroma of meat in the street and listening to the loud voices of women calling their children, Xia Juhua's heart suddenly settled down.
It's a bit tiring, but it's worth it as it allows everyone to eat better and wear warmer clothes.
As the women began to learn new tricks, Xia Juhua adjusted the work arrangements of the production team: in the morning when the weather was a little colder, the women stayed at home to help the men with the flour. In the afternoon when the weather was a little warmer, they went to the yard to learn how to weave the Four Seasons Peace Mat.
With the experience of the previous two times, the women were much faster at learning a new pattern. Soon everyone got the hang of it. Even if the patterns were more complicated than before, it was guaranteed that each person could weave a mat in two and a half days, which was faster than Xia Juhua had originally expected.
However, Xia Juhua did not ask everyone to continue weaving mats, but whoever learned it went home to continue helping the men leak powder. They had to help, the physical strength and energy of the men in Ping'an Village had obviously reached their limit, and now they were all holding on with the hope of winning sweet potatoes.
With the addition of women, the men finally had some more time to breathe, but they still told Xia Juhua that after leaking these hundreds of thousands of kilograms of sweet potatoes, they never wanted to leak powder again.
Who wants to do the same job over and over again for the rest of their lives? Xia Juhua has seen the efforts of the men these days and understands their feelings very well - she also has two sons at home who are constantly leaking powder and can't even concentrate on talking during meals. What is there for Xia Juhua to not understand?
When nearly half of the newly-delivered sweet potatoes had leaked out, Director Lin arrived at Pingan Village again with his horse-drawn carriage. He brought Xia Juhua good news and bad news.
The good news was that all the reed seats that Ping An Zhuang had available were purchased at the price agreed upon with the supply and marketing cooperative. The bad news was that the number of seats ordered for the Four Seasons Ping An seats was no longer the originally agreed 800, but 1,000.
The supply and marketing cooperative needed these 1,000 seats urgently and had to deliver them within half a month. Because they needed them urgently, the supply and marketing cooperative raised the price of each seat to RMB 3.30, instead of the originally agreed RMB 3.10.
If all the men weren't leaking powder, Xia Juhua would have considered the increase in the order quantity and price from the supply and marketing cooperative as good news and would have been very happy. But now she was about to cry:
"Director Lin, how many people in our production team can weave mats? How many days does it take for a member to weave one mat? Others don't know this, but you do? These 1,000 mats are needed too quickly. We can't weave them."
Director Lin also shook his head and said, "Captain Xia, it's not that the supply and marketing cooperative is making things difficult for you. It's just that you guys have exceeded the order quantity in the past few times, so the leadership decided to increase the order quantity this time. Director Zheng has instructed that if you can't complete this order on time, I'm afraid the commission for the previous two orders that exceeded the order quantity will have to be returned to the supply and marketing cooperative."
Shameless! Xia Juhua had never thought that the leaders of the county supply and marketing cooperative would threaten her with the reed mats that they had already taken away. But she had to accept this threat - except for the production team's share, all the reed mat money from the previous two times had been distributed to individuals. Could she still ask for it back?
Seeing Xia Juhua nod reluctantly, Director Lin whispered to her, "If your production team has any difficulties, you can also ask the supply and marketing cooperative."
Xia Juhua's eyes lit up, and she asked in a low voice, "Can you mention anything?"
Director Lin pursed his lips and said nothing, but Xia Juhua's mind started to work rapidly. What Ping'an Village lacked most now was no longer food or a way to make money, but the obvious lack of labor.
If there is something that can save men some energy when they are leaking powder, they can free up their hands to help women cook and do some housework, so that women can naturally free up more time to weave mats.
How can we save effort? Xia Juhua thought about it and realized that the biggest problem of losing powder is grating the whole sweet potato into pulp. If this problem can be solved, half of the effort can be saved.
"Director Lin, spring is almost here, and many members of our production team are running out of sweet potatoes at home, so they are rushing to grind them into noodles. That's a strenuous job, and it would be great if there was something that could save effort and grind the sweet potatoes into pulp."
Who grinds sweet potatoes into pulp? Director Lin asked uncertainly, "Can't we use the same mill used to grind tofu? I remember that tofu is made by grinding soy milk."
It was obvious that he had never done farm work. Xia Juhua did not make fun of Director Lin. He had never done farm work, but he had fought for the best interests of the people of Pingan Village in an environment where the working class was in charge of everything. What right did she have to make fun of him?
"No. The holes in the tofu grinder are too small, and the sweet potatoes have to be cut into cubes before they can be put in, which wastes time." This method has been tried by others, but it was found that it took half as long as the pounding method, so it was abandoned by the people of Ping'an Village.
Director Lin was even more embarrassed and finally said to Xia Juhua: "Why don't you go to the commune's agricultural machinery station to have a look?"
Xia Juhua didn't want to go to the commune. Once she got there, she would think of the Sun family and Liu Sizhuang's family who were still in the Red Team Study Class, and her good mood would disappear. Compared with her mood, improving the efficiency of powder leakage prevailed, and Xia Juhua decided to go there with Director Lin.
Hearing that Xia Juhua was going to the agricultural machinery station, Chen Qiu Sheng was terrified and worried. He pulled her and didn't want to let her go: "Captain, I will take you there on my bike tomorrow, and you will have to watch me settle the score." As he said this, he kept squint at Xia Juhua.
Although she could guess that Director Lin already knew that the seat that Ping An Village handed over to the supply and marketing cooperative was made up by members, Xia Juhua still blushed and shouted at Chen Qiusheng in a somewhat angry tone, "Isn't it the same to let Xianzhi and Xiancao settle with you?"
How can it be the same as you? Chen Qiusheng looked at Xia Juhua's angry expression and didn't dare to say anything. He had to let her go reluctantly.
Director Lin was transferred to the county supply and marketing cooperative. He clearly saw that Xia Juhua was uncomfortable, but he didn't ask a single question. He let Xia Juhua sit in the front of the car and talked to her about unimportant things: "Captain Xia, the names of your production team members are quite nice."
Seeing Xia Juhua looking at him in confusion, Director Lin kindly explained to her: "Xianzhi and Xiancao sound like sisters. It's rare to find such names nowadays."
Many young girls also changed their names to revolutionary-sounding names such as Hong and Wei.
Xia Juhua was amused by Director Lin: "They are not sisters, but sisters-in-law. What a coincidence, they are from the same village and married into Ping'an Village, and they also married into the same family. They sound like sisters."
"So they are also a family?" Director Lin seemed really interested.
Xia Juhua told him about the "grudge" between Zhao Xianzhi and Chang Xiancao, and they chatted all the way until they arrived at the commune's agricultural machinery station. Director Lin had to go back to the county town, so Xia Juhua didn't let him go in with her. After saying goodbye, she patted her clothes nervously again and asked the gatekeeper, "Comrade, I want to go to the agricultural machinery station to inquire about something. Who should I look for?"
"Ask for information?" It was the first time for the gatekeeper to see someone asking for information at the Agricultural Machinery Station. He said with a joking attitude, "If you want to file a complaint, you can go to the commune revolutionary committee or the Red Team. If you want to inquire about policies, you can also go to the revolutionary committee. The Agricultural Machinery Station is a hard place, there is nothing to inquire about."
Xia Juhua was not annoyed by the misunderstanding. Instead, she explained to the gatekeeper in a gentle voice: "I am not asking about the policy. I just want to ask if the Agricultural Machinery Station has anything that can grind sweet potatoes into pulp."
This can only be found out at the Agricultural Machinery Station. The gatekeeper looked at Xia Juhua and asked suspiciously: "How many sweet potatoes can your family get? You can just spend some time to peel them yourself. Why do you have to come to the Agricultural Machinery Station?"
Xia Juhua had no choice but to explain to him: "I am the leader of the Ping'an Village production team. Spring is coming soon, and I am worried that the sweet potatoes in the members' homes will not sprout properly, so I thought of coming to the agricultural machinery station to ask if they have this kind of thing."
"Captain of the Ping'an Village Production Team? Oh, oh, I remember now. Your last name is Xia, right? You are the only female production team leader in the entire Red Star Commune. I heard that your Ping'an Village Production Team is very prosperous. How did you lead everyone to do it?"
Xia Juhua had never thought that the gatekeeper had heard of her. She said with a little embarrassment, "We rural people, apart from working hard and not fearing hardships, what else can we do?"
The gatekeeper nodded in agreement: "That's right. I tell you, you don't need to look for anyone else when you go in, just look for Technician Xue. In our entire agricultural machinery station, he's the only one who likes to mess around with these useless things."
Xia Juhua thanked the gatekeeper excitedly, as she had never thought that the Agricultural Machinery Station had such a talent. But the gatekeeper had never seen a female production team leader like Xia Juhua before, so he didn't even bother to look at the gate, but took Xia Juhua to find Technician Xue.
The farm machinery station occupies a large area. Walking from the gate, you can see three large tractors and several small tractors along the way. Xia Juhua sighed as she looked at them: "We have so many tractors in the farm machinery station. If they can help the production team turn the soil, it will save a lot of trouble."
The gatekeeper spat on the ground and said, "Turning the soil for the production team? Didn't you see that the wheels of these tractors are gone? They were placed outside and the Red Team deflated them all because they didn't want the agricultural machinery station to help the production team to plough the soil. They said that the production team must not develop a dependent mentality and must work hard and rely on themselves rather than on others."
It's a sin or not!
When Xia Juhua heard about the Red Team, she instinctively knew that it was not going to be a good thing, so she only sighed along with the gatekeeper and did not express any other opinions:
Although the big cities have shown signs of loosening, the wind has not yet blown to small places like the Red Star Commune. The words of the Red Team are still seen as being linked to the revolution, and no one dares to openly oppose the Red Team.
However, after the Red Team went to Sunjiazhuang to arrest the old Sun family members, Xia Juhua no longer had the fear of the Red Team as before - if they were really fearless, how could Qi Weidong find a way to make the Red Team do what he wanted?
If there is a Qi Weidong, there will be countless people like him. Now the relationship between Qi Weidong and Xia Juhua is still mutually beneficial. Compared with the Red Team that is simply commanded by Qi Weidong, Xia Juhua feels that she has more confidence in her heart.
"Technician Xue, someone is looking for you." The gatekeeper suddenly shouted, startling Xia Juhua who was lost in thought. She found a young man with messy hair and clothes covered in oil, his true color unrecognizable, standing in front of her.
The reason why we judged that he was a young man was that he had no wrinkles around his eyes and his body was still very straight. Otherwise, based on his sloppy appearance, Xia Juhua felt that people would believe that he was forty.
The glances were mutual. Technician Xue looked at the rural woman in black twill cloth in front of him and couldn't understand why she came to see him - he was sent down to the Red Star Commune Agricultural Machinery Station due to his family's involvement. He had no relatives in the local area, and no one had come to see him in all these years.
"What do you want to talk to me about?" Technician Xue asked directly, and his attitude was not very friendly.
The gatekeeper felt that Technician Xue didn't understand Xia Juhua's situation, so he quickly introduced her, "Technician Xue, don't underestimate Captain Xia. She is the captain of the Ping'anzhuang production team. This time she came to you not for personal reasons, but for the sweet potato sprouting of the Ping'anzhuang production team."
"About the sweet potato sprouting?" Technician Xue felt that Xia Juhua had found the wrong person: "Then you should go to the grain station or the agricultural technology station. Why come to the agricultural machinery station?"
The local accent didn't clearly distinguish the two words "ji" (technique) and "ji" (machine), but when Technician Xue spoke standard Mandarin, Xia Juhua and the gatekeeper could still tell the difference. The gatekeeper found that the more he explained, the more confused he became. He could only look at Xia Juhua, hoping that she could explain it to Technician Xue herself.
Xia Juhua did explain it clearly. As soon as she finished speaking, she heard the sound of Technician Xue slapping his thigh: "Does your production team really want a machine that can grind sweet potato pulp by itself?"
Xia Juhua nodded naturally, and the gatekeeper wanted to listen, but Technician Xue asked him why he was still here. Xia Juhua almost didn't dare to look at the gatekeeper's face, and she was sure that Technician Xue must not be very popular in the agricultural machinery station.
He is so unmanageable and doesn't know how to speak.
The gatekeeper was not angry, but cheerful: "When I heard what Captain Xia was looking for, I knew you must have a way, so I brought him to you. The things you tried are useful, but instead of thanking me, you want to kick me out? No way."
It turns out that Technician Xue's family are all engaged in scientific research. Although they were impacted in the early stages of the movement and were exiled to the small Red Star Commune, it was actually more of a protection than an exile, otherwise he would not have been able to work peacefully as a technician.
In addition, he was a stubborn person who didn't know how to form cliques or flatter others. He only liked to study practical technologies, and the things he studied saved effort and worry to use. Anyone who had used them knew how useful they were.
Due to the current environment, the products made by Technician Xue cannot be promoted vigorously, but everyone in the Agricultural Machinery Station knows that he is a man of great ability.
Therefore, even though he was straightforward, no one cared about him. They just hoped that when they needed something, Technician Xue could help them make practical tools. After a few years of getting along, the stubborn Technician Xue was like a fish in water in the agricultural machinery station. It was like he had found a paradise in the troubled times.
The gatekeeper was one of those people who had received benefits from Technician Xue, but unfortunately he was not very popular with Technician Xue - what the gatekeeper needed was too low-tech in Technician Xue's opinion, but this person's attitude when he came to him was good enough, so Technician Xue could not bring himself to refuse him, which increased a lot of his workload.
Therefore, in Xia Juhua's opinion, Technician Xue's attitude towards the gatekeeper was not polite at all: "Come on, go and watch your gate. Can you make what they want?"
"I can't, but you can?"
"Can you understand what I've done?" Technician Xue said to the gatekeeper rudely, and then he called Xia Juhua and went to his own territory. The gatekeeper followed helplessly for two steps, and found that even Xia Juhua didn't want him to take a look, so he stopped awkwardly.
"Look, this is the thing." Technician Xue led Xia Juhua to the corner of a room and lifted up a piece of oilcloth. Xia Juhua saw something like a large barrel fixed on a wooden shelf.
The barrel was welded from white iron sheets. It looked clean and shiny, but Xia Juhua couldn't figure out what it had to do with shredding sweet potatoes. Technician Xue saw her confusion and asked her to stand on the wooden rack and look down. "See, the three knives. Put the sweet potatoes in, and pull the tracks outside. The knives will rotate. No matter how big the sweet potato is, it can shred it."
"How many pounds can this bucket hold?" Xia Juhua understood, and then she had a question: "Are the tracks strong? If they break while being pulled, will they hit people? Will the sweet potatoes inside fly out? And if it is filled with sweet potatoes, how many people will it take to pull it?"
A series of questions made Technician Xue's eyes brighter and brighter: "You really know how to peel sweet potatoes. I thought you were just asking questions. Does your production team have a lot of sweet potatoes? Can you let me try it?"
Brother, you are showing me something that has never been tested before? Xia Juhua looked at Technician Xue speechlessly: "Technician Xue, each person in the production team can only get a hundred or ten kilograms of sweet potatoes at most. Do you think that is enough for you to try a few times?"
Technician Xue was a little disappointed, and he muttered, "Then why are you asking at the Agricultural Machinery Station? We can just smash it the old way. I tell you, this thing of mine is guaranteed to work. We used to have a meat grinder at home, and it grinds meat into stuffing just by pulling it. Every production team in Pingde grows sweet potatoes, and I've long thought about how to let farmers grind sweet potato pulp with the least effort, so I enlarged it a little bit according to that principle."
"Then there must be a place to discharge the pulp. Do we have to scoop out the sweet potato pulp one ladle at a time after grinding?" Xia Juhua had seen a meat grinder in her previous life, and it seemed that the thing inside was very similar to the one made by Technician Xue, so she began to believe what he said.
"How can you use a ladle to scoop it? Look here, see? This trough is used for slurry flow. There is a gauze mesh inside, which can filter out all the residue." When Technician Xue heard Xia Juhua's doubts, he explained to her hurriedly.
Finally, he said humbly, "Why don't you bring your sweet potatoes here and let's try to see if it works. If it doesn't work, I can find the problem and fix it for you according to your needs."
After confirming that the thing in front of her was similar to the meat grinder she had seen in her previous life, Xia Juhua was still optimistic about it. However, it was impossible to transport the sweet potatoes from Ping'an Village to the commune's agricultural machinery station.
"Technician Xue, I don't know if you understand the situation in the countryside. Food is life in our eyes. We feel at ease only when we have it in front of us. So I brought sweet potatoes for the experiment..."
Hearing that Xia Juhua agreed to let her experiment with the sweet potatoes, Technician Xue said quickly, "No problem, no problem. If you don't want to carry the sweet potatoes back and forth, I can bring them to your production team."
"By the way, which production team are you from?"
Well, this is really a technician. Xia Juhua answered Technician Xue's question with a smile, and then said, "Then I'll have our production team's ox cart come to pick you up tomorrow?"
Technician Xue was afraid that Xia Juhua would change her mind, so he insisted that he had time now and could take the things with Xia Juhua right away. Looking at the iron buckets on the shelf and the heavy wooden shelf, Xia Juhua was embarrassed: "We can't move it by ourselves."
The wooden frame looked like it weighed two or three hundred kilograms. Even though Xia Juhua's nickname was Xia Xiaohuo, she could only carry it for a hundred or eighty meters. Ping'an Village was quite a distance away from the commune.
"It's okay. We have a tractor at our agricultural machinery station." Technician Xue assured Xia Juhua that as long as Xia Juhua was willing to give him sweet potatoes for testing, he could drive the tractor from the agricultural machinery station to Ping'an Village.
Hearing that Technician Xue could drive the tractor out of the agricultural machinery station, Xia Juhua looked at him as if he were a piece of fat meat: "Technician Xue, didn't the gatekeeper just say that all the tractors at the agricultural machinery station were deflated by the Red Team?"
Technician Xue looked at Xia Juhua with a look that said, "Are you stupid? Can't you just inflate them again after they've been deflated? Besides, they only deflated two tractors. Our stationmaster was afraid they would damage them again, so he asked us to remove the wheels and hide them. He then told the public that it was the Red Team that deflated the wheels."
Come on, they dared to use the Red Team as a target. The director of the Agricultural Machinery Station is also a capable person. Out of admiration for the capable person, Xia Juhua blurted out: "Since the tractors at the Agricultural Machinery Station are idle, can they help us turn the land in the spring?"
If they had known earlier that they should have asked the people at the agricultural machinery station to help them move the soil for the canal repair in winter, it would have saved them a lot of trouble!
Technician Xue felt that Xia Juhua was daydreaming more and more: "Do you think that tractors are like the ox carts in your production team, which can be pulled around after feeding the oxen with a handful of grass?"
I forgot, tractors are expensive nowadays. They are expensive not only because of their high price, but also because they burn diesel. I heard that the fuel cost is several dollars a day, which is not something a production team can afford.
Seeing that Xia Juhua was depressed by his words, Technician Xue realized belatedly that he still needed her cooperation to know whether the things he made could be used, so he comforted her clumsily:
"It's not impossible to discuss it. I'll talk to our stationmaster in the spring and see if we can give priority to supporting your production team's agricultural production."
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