Chapter 70 (1)
What era is it now? Xia Juhua, who has been reported twice, knows it better than anyone. Even if Qi Weidong said that the sweet potatoes obtained by exchanging vermicelli would be enough for the people of Ping'an Village to eat for ten years, Xia Juhua still did not intend to agree.
Anyway, she knew that the natural disaster would only last for a year. Although Ping'an Village did not have enough food now, they could supplement their food with wild vegetables in the fields in spring and summer, and by the time the collective could sell back some relief food in the autumn of next year, there would be no problem.
Therefore, Xia Juhua, who had just been shaking her head slowly, shook her head faster after hearing Qi Weidong's words: "Xiao Qi, it's not that I don't want to help you. It's already this time, and the New Year is just around the corner. We've been busy for a month, and we're all tired and can't do anything anymore."
"That person can exchange seven and a half kilograms of sweet potatoes for one kilogram of vermicelli." Qi Weidong thought that with Xia Juhua's calculating mind, she would be able to figure out how much profit the people of Ping'an Village could get from it.
The two Liu brothers put down their bowls at the same time and looked at Qi Weidong in surprise, trying to tell whether he was telling the truth or a lie. Qi Weidong was anxious to persuade Xia Juhua to agree, and his expression was not fake at all.
It was a really well-calculated deal.
Liu Zhiquan and his brother looked at each other, hesitating whether to persuade their mother. Then they heard their mother say, "Seven and a half pounds of sweet potatoes for one pound of vermicelli. Did someone you know steal the grain station?"
Apart from the grain station, Xia Juhua really couldn't think of anyone who could or dared to stockpile so many sweet potatoes - the last time the production team exchanged vermicelli, they kept half a pound of sweet potatoes for every seven pounds, which was nearly four thousand pounds. Daxixi's families.
The sweet potato production team had to hide the extra 4,000 kilograms of sweet potatoes. Qi Weidong knew someone who had more sweet potatoes than he brought to Ping'an Village, and he dared to say that he would exchange 7.5 kilograms for 1 kilogram of vermicelli. So where did all those sweet potatoes come from and where could they be put so that they would not be discovered?!
Seeing Xia Juhua's attitude getting more and more firm, Qi Weidong's face became more and more aggrieved: "Auntie, not to mention that your production team didn't suffer any loss last time when the vermicelli was exchanged, just based on my hearing that Zhishuang was cheated, I quickly found someone to help him out. Isn't that good enough for your nephew? I've been so good, auntie, how can you not help me with this?"
Liu Zhishuang was cheated again? This was the first time Xia Juhua had heard of this. She looked at Liu Zhishuang with more than just anger. Liu Zhishuang was also very worried. He put down his bowl and stood up to assure his mother, "Mom, I have been staying at home and drinking milk these days. I haven't been anywhere."
"I only went to the county town today, and my eldest brother followed me the whole time. I really didn't do anything else. Don't listen to Qi Weidong's nonsense. Apart from being... "
At this point, the mother and the daughter both recalled the 110 yuan that the Red Team had inexplicably recovered from Old Sun's house. Liu Zhishuang asked tentatively, "Qi Weidong, was it you who asked the Red Team members from our commune to go to Old Sun's house?"
Qi Weidong, who wanted to be an unknown hero, had to play the emotional card in order to avoid a repeat of what happened in the past few days. He was a little embarrassed, and his tone when he spoke to Liu Zhishuang was not very good:
"You are the one who caused me so much trouble. You didn't keep your own money safe, and a woman took it away for nothing. If I wasn't worried that my aunt would get upset and have a bad New Year, I wouldn't bother to care about your business."
No matter how bad his tone was, it couldn't hide the fact that it was Qi Weidong who came forward to help the Red Team recover the money that Liu Zhishuang had taken away. Liu Zhishuang walked up to Qi Weidong, bowed to him solemnly, and said, "Brother Qi, thank you. At that time, I thought the Red Team just recovered my money, but I didn't expect..."
"Come on, if you want to thank me, just persuade my aunt to agree to buy me some more vermicelli." Qi Weidong never forgot his purpose.
Xia Juhua started thinking: It was not a coincidence that the Red Team went to Sunjiazhuang to find trouble with the old Sun family, but was instructed by Qi Weidong. This shows that Qi Weidong was not bragging before, but really had a backer, and could order the people in the Red Team around.
For someone with such a strong backing, if he wanted to collect vermicelli, he should not just rely on the Ping An Zhuang production team. However, he first did a favor and then gave New Year gifts, and the conditions he proposed were more generous than expected. It didn't seem normal no matter how you looked at it.
"Xiao Qi, where did you get vermicelli before you came to Auntie's place to exchange it?"
Qi Weidong, who was scolding Liu Zhishuang in a bad mood, answered Xia Juhua's question without thinking: "Isn't it that each production team collects what they can? Their vermicelli techniques are different, and some are coarse and some are fine. None of them are as chewy as the ones you guys make."
The chewiness of vermicelli depends on how long it is cooked in the soup. Xia Juhua continued to chat with Qi Weidong: "The thickness varies. You can just pick and sort them yourself after you collect them. Why do you have to ask for the vermicelli that your aunt has left?"
"That's different." Qi Weidong couldn't care less about Liu Zhishuang: "Other people's vermicelli is transported to different places, and they have to go to several production teams. It's too eye-catching to transport sweet potatoes and vermicelli back and forth. It's not like you, auntie, you just need to transport it to one place."
Okay, I understand. Xia Juhua continued with a smile: "But Auntie can't really do that much here, so you should take care of it yourself and go to more places. This vermicelli is popular before the New Year, but after the New Year, all the food that should be bought is sold out, and there won't be much left. You won't want too much, right?"
Qi Weidong was anxious again: "My dear aunt, vermicelli is not easy to sell, but it can be stored. Dry it a little and it will be fine for a year. But sweet potatoes are not the same. They will sprout in the spring, and they will be wasted if they rot."
After saying this, Qi Weidong wanted to cover his mouth. When he looked up, he saw Xia Juhua looking at him with a smile.
I was careless, I was really careless. I had originally thought of using small talk to persuade Xia Juhua, but I didn't expect that I would be tricked by this seemingly honest and almost dull rural woman.
Since the truth had already been revealed, Qi Weidong didn't intend to keep it secret any longer, and said to Xia Juhua, "Auntie, isn't it time for Zhishuang and his brother to go back to their room and rest?"
The Liu Zhiquan brothers, who were asked to go back to their rooms to rest, looked at the remaining soup in their bowls and thought that they didn't need to drink it all in the main room. If their mother wanted them to stay, she would have asked when Qi Weidong finished speaking. Since their mother didn't say anything until now, it meant that they could indeed go back to their rooms to rest.
The two brothers each carried their bowls out, considerately closed the door for their mother, and went into the kitchen together. Liu Zhishuang asked, "Brother, are we still going to have noodles today?"
"Of course I will. I think mother will agree to Qi Weidong in all likelihood. Tell me, why do you make mother so worried? If he hadn't helped you, mother wouldn't have to agree if she didn't want to. How great it would be." Liu Zhiquan, who had always been honest, was very good at complaining about Liu Zhishuang.
What could Liu Zhishuang say? He could do nothing except wash the dishes for his brother, fetch firewood to light the fire, and do all the preparations for the rice noodle soup by himself.
Xia Juhua stared at Qi Weidong in the main room but couldn't say anything.
Qi Weidong felt more and more uncomfortable when Xia Juhua stared at him: "Auntie, I can't help it. They have already seen the goods and paid a deposit. Can I not deliver the goods?"
He had delivered the goods but they were seized and he was not allowed to leave unless he exchanged the sweet potatoes for vermicelli. He had never thought about it. Thinking of the person who placed the order with him, Qi Weidong wanted to slap himself twice. Why did he let down his guard just because the person looked better dressed and gave a bigger deposit?
He was careless, really careless. Qi Weidong didn't expect that person to find someone else to test him.
It's all because I've been making money so smoothly these days. Qi Weidong looked at Xia Juhua with some resentment. Who made his most profitable products, vermicelli and fried peanuts, so closely related to Xia Juhua?
Xia Juhua was a little scared by his gaze: "Xiao Qi, did they beat you?"
Qi Weidong shook his head.
"Did they report you to the Red Team?"
Qi Weidong still shook his head: "They want to exchange more vermicelli from me, report me to the Red Team, who else can they find to exchange vermicelli with."
This is the logic of the person. How could he force someone to agree to exchange vermicelli? Is he really a reasonable person?
In contrast, Qi Weidong was the best possible partner. Xia Juhua made up her mind: "Okay, let's do as they say, seven and a half pounds for one pound. But we have to agree that I will only recognize you as my only friend. If anyone else comes to exchange with me, I will have no vermicelli to give him."
Okay, Qi Weidong understood. His role was the same as last time, which was to find someone among relatives and friends to help leak fans. Others didn't know Xia Juhua and Liu Zhishuang and were not their friends, so Xia Juhua would not acknowledge them even if they came.
"I still say the same thing. Auntie can't let you suffer too much. Ping'an Zhuang doesn't want the extra half pound of sweet potatoes. They are all yours." Xia Juhua would give it to Qi Weidong regardless of whether the person who provided the sweet potatoes would give him any benefits or not.
To put it bluntly, Qi Weidong is just a middleman. If both parties are threatened, Qi Weidong may not benefit. Qi Weidong is a trader. If he doesn't make money, why would he work for both parties?
Xia Juhua is making concessions now for the sake of Qi Weidong after the opening up, not for the sake of Qi Weidong who is still under threat.
Qi Weidong, who didn't know that Xia Juhua was playing the long game to catch the big fish, felt a sour taste in his heart: Qi Weidong knew the man who detained him too well, and he had to be the one to settle things when he encountered problems. But in order to make himself tell the truth, he couldn't sleep well for several days.
Even if that person didn't do it for himself, it was enough to make Qi Weidong feel a little resentful - he only dared to feel a little resentful.
Xia Juhua and I are merely in a cooperative relationship here, and she has her own reasons for whether to do so or not.
Could he threaten Xia Juhua the same way that man threatened him? Even if he did, Xia Juhua could give him a hint and everyone in Ping'an Village would slack off, and by the time spring came and the sweet potatoes started to rot, the vermicelli would still not be available, and he would still be in trouble.
But after hearing what happened to her, Xia Juhua, who had been refusing, first cared about whether she would be beaten, and then agreed. Not only did she agree, she also considered her own interests, and let herself get half a pound of sweet potatoes for every pound of vermicelli.
This advantage is certainly not comparable to selling vermicelli by yourself, but you don't have to get up early and wait anxiously in the black market for buyers, right?
The key point is that the attitudes of the two sides towards him are too different. Qi Weidong can't help but think: "Don't worry, auntie. Since I caused you this trouble, I will take responsibility for it no matter what I say."
Facing Qi Weidong's rare seriousness, Xia Juhua adopted an attitude of turning a blind eye - Qi Weidong was able to find Ping'an Manor with Liu Zhishuang, so whoever dared to arrest Qi Weidong could not find Ping'an Manor?
I just hope that everyone will keep the window paper open for the sake of their own interests.
Things turned out just as Xia Juhua had hoped. The next night, all the male laborers in Ping'an Village went out and spent the entire night piling up a mountain of sweet potatoes in the production team's yard.
Xia Juhua had to be thankful that the work of collecting the reeds was finished, otherwise if the people who delivered the reeds saw the mountain of sweet potatoes, the people of Ping'an Village would not be able to hide it even if they pretended to be silent.
Qi Weidong also did not sleep all night. Looking at the tired-looking strong laborers, he asked out of conscience, "Auntie, how about I bring a pig and sell it to the members of your production team at a profit?"
Xia Juhua didn't even have the energy to look at him: "I thought you were going to give our members a pig."
"Auntie, dear auntie," Qi Weidong called her auntie sincerely, "Don't you know how hard it is to buy pork now? If I hadn't seen how hard everyone was working, would I have just paid for it?"
Okay, you're telling the truth. Xia Juhua asked Chen Qiusheng to ask everyone if anyone wanted meat, where they wanted it and how much they wanted. Qi Weidong's eyes turned blue when he asked, "Auntie, why are you still being picky?"
"You want to do good things, so do it to the end, so that everyone can eat happily, and then everyone will have more energy to leak powder, right?"
When the topic of leaking fans came up, Qi Weidong immediately became dispirited. He asked Xie Hongbing to follow Chen Qiu Sheng to write down the members' requests, and he himself ran away with Li Lin.
They could run away, but the people in Pingan Village couldn't. After a busy night, they had to distribute the sweet potato mountain to the members' vegetable cellars as soon as possible, otherwise the people in the brigade would see it and it would be no joke.
They say that whatever you fear will come true. Xia Juhua didn't believe it before, but when she saw Li Changshun with a serious face, she immediately believed it 100%.
"Captain, why are you here? Are you looking for Fifth Master?" Xia Juhua didn't dare to look into Li Changshun's eyes, and her words were filled with guilt.
Li Changshun put his hands behind his back and limped around the sweet potato mountain. Liu Daxi, who was weighing the potatoes, was so scared that he didn't know where to put his hands and feet. The members who were collecting the sweet potatoes wished they could stick their heads into the mountain.
Xia Juhua walked around with Li Changshun and saw that he had been silent. She wanted to find a topic to talk about, but he was not a talkative person, so the scene was so awkward that it could not be described.
Fortunately, Qixi made up for it and called Wuye over. Before he even got to Li Changshun, the old man started complaining: "You said you were coming, why didn't you come to my house? You had to stand outside in the cold weather, you still think you are a young man, right?"
Li Changshun glanced at the Fifth Master, then looked deeply at Xia Juhua: "You, the Ping'an Village production team, are very united."
Xia Juhua awkwardly put on a half-laughing, half-crying expression: "It's all because of the education from the brigade."
"The brigade didn't teach you..." Li Changshun put down his hands behind his back, stretched out his left hand to point at the sweet potato mountain that had just been divided in half, pointed again and again, opened his mouth but said nothing else.
Wu Ye slapped Qi Xi twice first: "You didn't tell me earlier that the captain was coming. Look, you made the captain angry. Well, I've taught this brat a lesson. Come home with me and have some rest. I have something to discuss with you."
After saying that, he grabbed Li Changshun's arm without saying anything and dragged him away. Wu Ye was not supposed to go out in winter, but he forced himself to go out. When he was talking to Li Changshun for a few words, he was hit by the cold wind and started coughing violently. Now Li Changshun had no choice but to follow Wu Ye. Qi Xi looked at Xia Juhua with guilt and supported Wu Ye to walk home slowly.
Xia Juhua knew what Qi Xi felt guilty about - since Li Changshun suddenly appeared in Ping'an Manor last time, in order to prevent others from discovering the secret of Ping'an Manor, Xia Juhua arranged for Qi Xi and Chen Dongsheng's youngest son Chen Liuzhu to watch the village entrance every day.
As long as they are not from Ping'an Village, no matter who the outsiders are, they must tell Xia Juhua or one of the five masters and Chen Qiu Sheng as soon as possible so that they can make some preparations in advance.
Today, Li Changshun appeared quietly in Pingan Village again, which was equivalent to announcing that Qixi and the other two had failed in their duties. But could Xia Juhua blame Qixi and the other two? Last night, all the men in Pingan Village, as well as the women with more strength, went out to pick sweet potatoes all night, and Qixi and Chen Liuzhu also followed suit to pick sweet potatoes for half the night.
They were still young boys, and they couldn't sleep enough in the middle of the night when they were tired. It was understandable that they took a nap or were distracted while watching the village entrance. The only remedial measure Xia Juhua could think of was to send two more people to watch the village entrance next time, not only in the direction leading to the brigade, but also in the direction from the small village.
The only thing to be thankful for is that the person who came today was Li Changshun, who, like Xia Juhua, understood the importance of food to the members.
The one who caused trouble was Li Changshun, mainly because he was looking at the entire Ping'anzhuang Brigade, instead of being like Xia Juhua, who was only worried about the Ping'anzhuang production team.
So when Li Changshun knocked on the kang of Wuye's house and asked Xia Juhua what happened to the half of the sweet potato mountain, Xia Juhua remained silent. Wuye knew that silence was not a solution. He could not take advantage of Li Changshun's disdain for reporting and criticizing and not even give him an explanation.
I just don't want to do what those malicious people do, not that I can't do it.
After taking two puffs of his pipe, Master Wu spoke up for Xia Juhua: "You don't need to ask Juhua about this. It was all caused by an old man like me. She took the blame for it."
"She took the blame for you, so you should take the blame for her." How could Li Changshun be the captain? He knew the temperaments of the most important people in the entire team. If Wu Ye really had the ability to let others take the blame, why didn't he let Liu Erzhuang take the blame in the past two years?
Wu Ye was speechless, so he took advantage of his old age and frailty to act like a rogue: "What do you say we should do? The entire Pingan Village production team is counting on these sweet potatoes next year. We have finally caught up with such an opportunity. Even if you report it to the commune, I will make sure that the people in Pingan Village don't starve to death!"
Xia Juhua silently gave Fifth Master a thumbs up in her heart, but her face was still full of fear: "Fifth Master, if the team leader reports to the commune, even if I go to the study class, you must make everyone reveal all the vermicelli. Otherwise, Ping An Manor will have a reputation of not keeping its word, and no one will dare to deal with us in the future."
Li Changshun was amused by the two men's concerted actions: "Since you think I will report it, it would be a shame for your trust in me if I don't go to the commune."
Captain, can we really have a pleasant conversation if you say something sarcastic like this? Xia Juhua glanced at Li Changshun and saw that he was staring at her. She was frightened and lowered her head to pretend to be a quail.
"What do you want me to do?" Li Changshun sighed when he saw that Wu Ye and Xia Juhua were silent. "Which of the five production teams has people going hungry? It's all my fault as the team leader. Besides, we are all from the same village. Can you really swallow the hunger of other production teams?"
Why can't I swallow it? The people in Ping'an Village didn't steal or rob. They earned some sweet potatoes with their own skills, which gave them the confidence to deal with the natural disaster. Why can't I swallow it?
Xia Juhua just thought about this in her heart and didn't dare to say it in front of Li Changshun.
She couldn't say anything, but Fifth Master didn't care: "Captain, as the old saying goes, you should sing the right song in the right place. Ping'an Village's sweet potatoes are earned through hard work. Look at the people of all ages in Ping'an Village now, is there anyone idle? As for other production teams, everyone is basking in the sun by the wall and bragging!"
Li Changshun was also helpless: "How can they compare with you? They can do nothing but farming."
Xia Juhua disagreed and said, "Captain, I can't say anything about weaving mats, but our production team really didn't keep anyone in the dark about how to leak vermicelli. No matter which family's relatives wanted to learn, we taught them step by step. But those people took the easy way out and just put sweet potatoes in our members' homes and waited for the ready-made vermicelli. In order to leak vermicelli for their relatives, many people in our production team had to take leave, and even delayed their production tasks."
The Fifth Master snorted and said, "You should deduct those people's work points. Why should they work for other teams and delay the work of their own production team?"
Li Changshun's face was so red that he was too embarrassed to speak. But the mountain of sweet potatoes in Ping'an Village was so delicious that he was reluctant to leave immediately, so the three of them had to sit there in a daze.
After a while, the sound of Master Wu knocking on the tobacco pot broke the silence in the room. Li Changshun sighed again: "Whether you think I am unreasonable or biased towards the four production teams, you have to give some of the sweet potatoes to them anyway."
The fifth master banged the pot on the stove and said, "The sweet potatoes are for the vermicelli. They are all distributed to the four production teams. What can we use to exchange the vermicelli for them?"
It was not a good idea to continue the stalemate. Xia Juhua expressed her thoughts: "Captain, you are worried about the same thing as me and Master Wu. We are afraid that there will be no rain after the New Year, and the crops planted in the spring will not be harvested, and a large number of people in the brigade will go hungry."
Seeing Li Changshun nod, Xia Juhua promised him: "They say we help in emergencies but not in poverty. I can only say that if any production team is really in financial difficulty next year, our production team can provide some vermicelli. But it will cost money, and it will be higher than the usual price. What do you think, Captain?"
Wu Ye knew that Xia Juhua was after the sweet potatoes in his cellar, and he sighed like Li Changshun: "Captain, we can all see that the soil moisture in the fields is not good, but the captains of those production teams can't see it. And the elders in their production teams can't see it either? Our production team plans to plant more sweet potatoes in the spring. Should other production teams plant more as well?"
Even though he had been a soldier for more than ten years, Li Changshun was still a farmer at heart. He knew which crops were drought-resistant and which crops had high yields. When he heard that Ping'an Village was going to plant more sweet potatoes next year, he naturally nodded and thought it was a good idea.
As the team leader, he reminded Wu Ye and Xia Juhua: "You all know what the public grain you pay every year is. Don't just worry about drought and not plant. You will have a hard time explaining it later."
The Fifth Master counted on his fingers with Li Changshun the various crops, and figured out how much should be planted so that the inspectors from the commune would not say anything and at the same time save as much land as possible for growing sweet potatoes.
After the calculation, they found that the sweet potato seeds needed by each production team were not a small number. This time, Xia Juhua did not even ask Li Changshun to speak, but directly said: "If any production team is short of sweet potato seeds, our production team can provide some. As usual, you have to buy them. We will sell them at whatever price the grain station charges."
Li Changshun nodded and did not ask Ping'an Village to provide sweet potato seeds to each production team for free. Even if Xia Juhua could agree, how would he explain to other production team leaders why Ping'an Village set aside so many sweet potato seeds and gave them away for free to other production teams?
Finally, Li Changshun was sent away. Xia Juhua's heart almost stopped beating: "If you scare me like this again, I really won't be the production team leader anymore."
The Fifth Master wanted to call Qixi and the other two over to scold them, but Xia Juhua waved her hand and said, "Qixi and the other two were busy running around yesterday, they were exhausted. They are still half-grown children, and I think it's good that they can watch over the village entrance every day without being lazy. We can find two more stable children to take turns with them."
The child is already feeling extremely guilty, how can he possibly stand being scolded by Master Wu? What if he becomes rebellious and refuses to take on responsibilities?
Now Xia Juhua is not afraid of anything else except some person or some family who suddenly wants to take over.
Because the members are really too tired. Just take the process of grinding sweet potatoes into pulp as an example. It requires a lot of hard work to smash, squeeze and press the sweet potatoes. In order to ensure that they can earn a pound and a half of sweet potatoes, every family dares not grind the sweet potatoes as finely as possible. You can imagine how much physical energy they consume.
Is it enough to just puree the sweet potatoes? That is only the first step in the long journey. You have to change the water in the sweet potato pulp every day. After three days, you have to carefully pour out the clear water on the surface and carefully scoop the remaining wet starch into a basket and put it on the kang to dry.
If you are not careful at any step and a little bit of starch leaks out, it will be enough to make you feel distressed for a long time.
In order to make room for sweet potato starch, many families in Pingan Village have several generations of a family squeezed together to sleep for several hours, and at dawn they would repeat the work of the previous day. After the sweet potato starch is finally dried, the men have to go into the kitchen to keep spilling the starch:
If the vermicelli is not drained out quickly, there will not be enough utensils at home to hold the sweet potato paste or wet starch.
Even if Qi Weidong really delivered the meat to the people of Ping'an Village according to their needs, it did not stop the people of Ping'an Village from working hard. Everyone did make dumplings during the Chinese New Year, but the sound of Xia Juhua chopping the dumpling fillings sounded so weak, as if she was not from the same production team as the one who was making sweet potato paste during the day.
This is why Xia Juhua refused to share the sweet potatoes with other production teams no matter what. The people in Ping'an Village worked so hard, but the one and a half kilograms of sweet potatoes that were earned from the sweet potato vermicelli that leaked out should be given away by others just by touching their upper lips with their lower lips?
Look at the members of Ping'an Village. Even someone as old and frail as Qi Nai is helping the people who leak powder for her to keep the fire burning. Xia Juhua couldn't bring herself to let Hongshu do the work.
Li Changshun came to Ping'an Village again on the New Year's Day. After seeing the hard work of the members of Ping'an Village, he left without saying anything. Later, Qixi asked Xia Juhua in confusion: "Sister-in-law, didn't I report to you that the team leader was coming? Why didn't you let everyone stop for a while? Now the team leader knows that the sweet potatoes we exchanged for are leaking flour. What should we do if he reports it?"
What to do? Cold mix.
Xia Juhua, who had been anxious for days, had completely forgotten the possibility that Ping'an Village might be reported. There were only two words left in her mind: leak the sweet potatoes distributed to each family into powder as quickly as possible.
We have to hurry. After the New Year, the weather will get warmer day by day. If we don't speed up, the sweet potatoes in the vegetable cellar will sprout. Not only will we leak the flour, we may even poison the pigs to death when feeding them.
It was not until the seventh day of the Lunar New Year that Director Lin once again appeared in Ping'an Village. Only then did Xia Juhua's mind finally shift a little from the powder leakage. She remembered that she had not paid attention to the progress of mat weaving in the yard for nearly ten days.
"Director Lin, are you having a good New Year?" Although feeling a little guilty, Xia Juhua still smiled and extended New Year greetings to Director Lin first.
Director Lin held a net bag with two cans of oranges in it. He greeted Xia Juhua and handed the net bag to her: "This is for Baoguo from your family. It's New Year's Day, so don't be polite with me."
Xia Juhua took the net bag generously and said with a smile, "Then I really won't be polite. Come on, Director Lin, come in and sit down."
Director Lin also looked at Xia Juhua and smiled: "Captain Xia, this is not like how you do things."
Xia Juhua was stunned, and Director Lin smiled even more: "Usually when I came, you asked me to count the reed mats quickly, and you wanted to put the money in my pocket into the safe of Ping An Zhuang right away. Why did you invite me to sit in the house today? Could it be that your production team has not finished making the mats?"
This joke has a bit of a heart-breaking feel to it.
Xia Juhua had to force a smile: "It's normal as usual. This time it's Chinese New Year. I can't let you go to the yard to count the quantity without drinking a sip of water or warming yourself up."
Director Lin waved his hands quickly and said, "It's not about celebrating the New Year. I just thought that today is the first day of work and people in the county are not focused yet. Sitting in the office is useless. I came to see how our production team is doing and figure out when to come to pull the mats."
It's not enough to count them right away. Xia Juhua put her worries aside and talked to Director Lin for a few more words before taking him to the yard. Before they got close to the reed wall, they heard the women talking and laughing. Director Lin couldn't help but say with emotion: "Captain Xia, just hearing how energetic your members are, I'm willing to come to our Ping'an Village more often."
Who says it isn't true? Xia Juhua herself knew that the members of Pingan Village were very hardworking - even if they didn't have a day off during the Chinese New Year and none of the women went back to their parents' homes, she didn't hear a single complaint, but instead heard everyone joking and laughing from time to time.
It is completely different from the Ping'an Village in Xia Juhua's memory where people just get by from day to day.
"Director Lin is here? I hope you're having a good New Year." Zhao Xianzhi saw Xia Juhua leading Director Lin to the yard, and greeted him in a familiar manner, then looked at Xia Juhua and asked, "Captain, is it time to count now?"
You see, everyone is already familiar with the routine. Xia Juhua could only nod and could not say a word.
Zhang Cuiping and An Baoling stood up at the same time and walked to the place where the woven reed mats were placed. In front of Director Lin, they picked up the mats one by one and asked him to check them before putting them away separately. In this way, they counted the mats and let Director Lin check the goods, saving a step.
Xia Juhua didn't expect An Baoling and Zhang Cuiping to come up with such a good idea. Her lips curled up, and her expression showed both appreciation and relief. After counting the mats in the yard, Xia Juhua discovered the problem: the women worked too hard to make mats. There were already 307 mats in the yard, plus the 350 mats that were transported away last time, which exceeded the supply and marketing cooperative's order by 57.
"Director Lin, if you are in trouble, you can leave these fifty-seven mats behind." After saying this, Xia Juhua's heart was bleeding: these fifty-seven mats were all made by the women one piece at a time, and how much hard work of everyone was put into them.
Director Lin was also a little embarrassed: "We have already made so many." After saying this, he looked at the women who were still making mats. There were still more than 40 mats. Adding them together, there were almost 100 mats. He really couldn't make a decision.
"Captain Xia, how about you prepare a hundred fewer double-wedding banquets?" Director Lin came up with an idea.
Xia Juhua said with some embarrassment: "Director Lin, I won't lie in front of you. I have already arranged for others to make the double happiness banquet. Because the yard is too small and there is no room for everyone, they are all making it at home. I have been busy with the New Year celebrations these days, and I haven't had time to ask how many double happiness banquets have been made."
Even if the blessing mat was left behind, Xia Juhua would let Director Lin take the double happiness mat away - that was the first time the girls had taken on the task themselves, and not bringing any or bringing too little would dampen their enthusiasm.
Hearing that Xia Juhua had arranged for someone to make double-happiness banquets, Director Lin knew that things were getting a bit complicated and asked, "How many double-happiness banquets have you made?"
Xia Juhua felt even more embarrassed, so she called Li Daya and asked her to go home and asked Hong Ling how many double-wedding banquets her sisters had made.
Fortunately, the girls promised Xia Juhua that they would make 200 double-wedding banquets, so they only made 200 banquets. Even though they had finished making them, the girls became the main force of household chores because their father had to make the rice flour and their mother had to make the banquets. Therefore, they did not make more banquets.
When Hong Ling came to report the number to Xia Juhua, she was still a little nervous and asked in a low voice: "Auntie, didn't we make too few? How about I go back and tell everyone to make more?"
"No, no." Xia Juhua quickly pulled Hong Ling and said, "It's enough. You have completed your task very well. The supply and marketing cooperative will come to collect banquets soon. Go back and tell your sisters that you have been very hard-working these days. Take a rest."
But I dare not make up any more stories. This has already made Director Lin very embarrassed.
Director Lin was in no mood to talk to Xia Juhua anymore. He told her that he would report to Director Zheng when he got back. They might have to hold a meeting to discuss whether Ping An Zhuang could accept the extra 100 mats with the word "Fu" on them.
He told Xia Juhua not to worry. If he hadn't come to Ping'anzhuang in the next few days, it meant that the leaders had not had time to hold the meeting. The county supply and marketing cooperative would definitely accept at least 600 tables with the word "Fu" and 200 tables with the word "double happiness".
This did not comfort Xia Juhua at all, nor did it comfort the women who heard the conversation between the two. As soon as Director Lin left, Zhao Xianzhi came over and said, "Captain, are you going to make up the seats you have?"
I have already finished knitting halfway, can I just throw it away if I don't finish it? Xia Juhua nodded and said, "Knit, we must finish knitting what we have now. Those who have finished knitting can go home and rest, and I will teach you new tricks tomorrow."
Such a firm attitude calmed the women's anxiety. They now believed everything Xia Juhua said and believed that as long as Xia Juhua was there, their work would not be in vain.
Therefore, even though Xia Juhua had already told those who had finished weaving mats to go home and rest, no woman actually left. Instead, they carefully cleaned up the reed pith around them and then cleaned up the areas around those who were still weaving mats.
By the time the last person had finished weaving the mats, there was no scattered reed stalks left around the reed pile. The broken reed skins were carefully tied up, and the cushions in the yard were arranged more neatly.
"Okay, let's go home. The captain will teach us new tricks tomorrow." Zhao Xianzhi looked back at the yard where he had been sitting for two or three months. He was reluctant to leave and could only persuade himself with words.
There were many people who felt the same as her. Chang Xiancao even asked for the first time out of concern, "Have you finished making the clothes at home?"
Zhao Xianzhi shook her head: "I have been so busy these days that I don't have time to make clothes."
Many people nodded in agreement. Of course, in previous years, we had always wanted to make new clothes, but it was difficult to get enough cloth coupons. This year, we finally bought cloth that did not require cloth coupons, but we did not have time to make new clothes.
"Then go home and cut it out quickly, and I'll roll it for you on the sewing machine tonight.
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