Chapter 65
Patchouli flavored soda
Today is the happiest day of Sun Duoyu's life.
Roll the fine white flour into a thin pancake, mix it with a large squash and a bunch of steamed squash, dip it in the sauce made of vinegar and garlic, and eat a big bowl of it. It is so delicious.
The farm also distributed a bottle of Bawangsi soda to every household. It was the first time for Sun Duoyu to drink this soda. There were red, yellow and black sodas. She chose for a long time and picked a red one because it was bright in color.
It tastes a bit spicy at first, and makes me cry, but after drinking a few more sips, I find that it tastes really delicious.
So, I sat in front of my own nest, sipping soda and eating squash, listening to the songs coming from afar, from "Why Are the Flowers So Red" to "The Girl from Tashkurgan", one song after another, thinking about the soda and white flour, which originally belonged to Sun Dabao, but now all belong to me.
Surprisingly, I wasn't that sad about the death of my brother Sun Dabao.
"You're such a redundant idiot! Your brother has been killed, and you can still eat?" With a slap, Sun Duoyu's bowl of rice was knocked away.
"Mom, why are you back? What are you wearing?"
Looking up, I saw a person wearing a grass-green military uniform and a military cap. It turned out to be Sun Duoyu's mother, Huang Huacai. She had been visiting Beijing for more than half a year, and she had returned with a military green schoolbag hanging around her neck.
"Don't mention it. There are no good people in Beijing. They say the leaders will rule for the working people, but in fact, all the people outside are bad. My mom's passbook was stolen, and my money is gone. If this military uniform hadn't been stolen, I wouldn't have come back."
It seems that day lily will not adapt to the climate and soil in Beijing. This time when I visited, I returned with great failure.
"Mom, you have to say, Director Chen is really nice. You don't know that this year's harvest is very good, and every family in our family has fine white flour to eat. Starting tomorrow, you should also go to the fields to work. This farm is now thriving."
"You're talking nonsense. If your eldest sister were alive, this white flour and this big squash would belong to our grandson's family. How would others eat? Ah, let me ask you." The old lady wiped her tears and said, "I heard that Dabao was also killed. I'm angry and hate it. I really don't want to live. I wish I could shed the blood of that bitch Chen Lina."
"But Director Chen is really nice. Look at the Liberation suit I'm wearing. It was given to me by her. She treats me better than my older sister. Two days ago, the farm wrongly accused me and said I wasn't a thief. Director Chen went to the mining area in person and picked me up from the Public Security Bureau. She also gave me two sets of clothes and vindicated me in public, saying I wasn't a thief. Mom, my older sister is dead, but Director Chen treats me well, so I treat her as my sister."
Oh my god, this is actually a case of rebellion.
Huang Huacai jumped up and slapped Sun Duoyu several times. "Your second and third sisters are scared and don't dare to fight. I thought you were still a warrior, but I didn't expect you to rebel. People say that capitalism's sugar-coated bullets work, but I didn't believe it. Today I have finally seen it. I must tear Chen Lina apart."
After the old lady came back, she went to look for Sun Ainan, but couldn't get the door open. She then went to look for Sun Xiangan, but she didn't know where Sun Xiangan had moved to, so of course she had to go back to the farm.
I went back to the farm and took a walk. Oh my god, I was so angry that I felt dizzy.
She saw Chen Lina riding a bicycle, blowing a whistle, moving from front to back, and directing the members here to look after the cotton fields.
Then she directed the members over there to sweep the woods. In short, the whole farm seemed to listen to her.
Looking at her little liberation outfit and long black skirt, she looked so sloppy and neat. Huang Huacai became even angrier. If Sun Zhuan Nan was alive, wouldn't everyone belong to Sun Zhuan Nan?
It happened to be such a lively day today, and all the leaders of the mining area were here, so Huang Huacai was ready to have a big fight and make a big scene to embarrass Chen Lina.
After taking a look around and earnestly reminding the members to prevent fire and theft, Chen Lina returned to the warehouse, turned around and took a cloth bag from the car.
"Anna, is the distribution of the items going well? Can you guys handle it?"
"Okay, dear director, we have more than 20 people, and we can handle the registration and distribution of things."
The candies were distributed with coupons, with one pound of candy per family, one bottle of Hachioji soda per person, and some fruits, but in fact everyone had already received them.
Look, a few girls were listening to the old experts outside, some playing the accordion, some blowing the harmonica, and some singing, and they were stamping their feet in anxiety.
"Okay, leave Anna on duty, and the rest of you can go and play. But before you leave, pack one of these for each person and distribute them to the educated youth in our farm. And remember to blow them before using them, and listen to them after blowing them. If they leak, they will make a popping sound, so they can't be used."
"What? Director, you actually gave us condoms?" Anna opened the cloth bag and immediately covered her mouth. "Director, do you think we are that kind of people?"
Outside in the threshing ground, officers and soldiers from the armed forces were sitting in a row, about a hundred of them. All of them had a crew cut and wore emerald green military uniforms and big leather shoes, which was exactly the look that girls love most nowadays.
"I know you all love yourself, but I also know that girls' love can't match boys' passion. I've been through this, so I can tell you one thing: even if you can't control yourself, remember to wear a condom so you don't hurt your body. Of course, I'd be happier if you could return the condoms tonight."
A few educated youths wanted to refuse, but Anna said, "Okay, everyone take them and distribute them quietly. If everyone returns them in the evening, we can avoid paying the director's request. Don't you agree?"
The girls thought about it and thought, that’s right, if they protect themselves and the other sisters and come back at night, wouldn’t that make the manager feel at ease?
So, one person grabbed a box and left.
Then there were the leaders of the factory area, Secretary A, District Chief Gao, Minister Gao of the Armed Forces, Staff Officer Yu, as well as leaders of the plastic factory and the oil refinery, dozens of people, led by He Min, who, after visiting the karez under the Baiyang River, arrived at the endless cotton fields.
After leaving the cotton fields and entering the greenhouse built with soil film, the leaders were truly amazed.
It turns out that the temperature outside is only a dozen degrees, but the temperature in the greenhouse can reach thirty degrees. In this case, in principle, as long as the warmth-keeping work is done well, crops can also grow in winter.
"Director Chen has made great contributions to the production method and scale of our farm. But why didn't Xiao Chen come today? I wanted to dance with her." Secretary Ah turned around and asked Nie Bozhao.
Gao Dayong, the Minister of the Armed Forces, was also rubbing his hands. "No, Secretary, today
Secretary Ah is a cultured man. How can he defeat this rough fellow in arm wrestling? Well, he can only let Xian win.
"Dancing is just a form of entertainment besides revolutionary work, and I was just joking. But she is a hero of the farm. Labourer, you don't know how to do the old social stuff. Seeing so many of us here today, why don't you tie up Comrade Xiao Chen's feet and not let her go out to see people?" Secretary Ah said with a smile.
What he said hit the spot for the leaders, and of course everyone burst into laughter at the same time.
Nie Gong quickly said, "She is the production farm manager. So many people suddenly rushed into the farm today. For her, safety is the first priority, so she has to patrol everywhere to ensure the safety of the farm."
"Actually, it was me who came up with the idea of growing vegetables in greenhouses, Secretary." He Min relayed the message at the right time and quickly pushed herself out.
He Lanshan also immediately said, "Our Secretary He is the one who has grasped the general direction and policy in the construction of the farm. He should be remembered for his great contribution."
Secretary Ah smiled but said nothing.
Chen Lina has suffered for a year, and He Min has only been here for a few days. The leader has a clear account of the situation in his mind.
After leaving the greenhouse, there is the grafted seedling house. This is also a house made of earth film, but one side has a thick wall built with rammed earth, making it bigger and wider, so grape trees can be planted directly inside. Several old experts who should have been locked up in the cowshed stood together, rubbing their hands anxiously, and put out all kinds of grafted agricultural products to be reviewed by the leaders.
"If I remember correctly, Professor Tian, Mr. Qiu and others are all hired as laborers from various places. The green and tender cucumbers on our table this year are probably the result of your craftsmanship."
Secretary Ah walked over to the old leaders and said, "Thank you for your hard work. You must have suffered a lot."
Everything is self-evident. Policies are policies. The most important thing is to do your job well under the policies and guidelines.
He Min hurried forward and said, "Secretary, in order to ensure the nutrition of the old experts, I paid out of my own pocket to buy milk powder for them."
"Not bad, Secretary He, you did a good job." Secretary A really gave a thumbs up.
To be honest, the educated old professors were not as thick-skinned as He Min, so even though they heard him lie to his face, they could not say anything to expose his lies.
He Lanshan saw an opportunity and immediately wanted to add a few more nice words to grab credit. District Chief Gao Feng couldn't help it and tugged at the back of his wife's clothes. He said, "He Lanshan, your brother is simply shameless. If you dare to say such hypocritical words again, I will send him back to Daqing."
Well, He Lanshan didn't dare to speak anymore.
"The scale of the farm was built up by Director Chen. Now I have to issue a military warrant. He Min, go find her for us. We have to celebrate the harvest together at the farm cultural center tonight. If she doesn't come, she will be punished severely." District Chief Gao said in a firm voice.
He Min didn't get to the limelight, and the leaders ignored him, which made him very angry.
So, after going around in circles for a while, he still refused to find out where Chen Lina had gone, and just wandered around, wondering if there was anything else that could allow him to shine in front of the leaders, and of course, something that would allow him to take control of the farm.
However, when the leaders came back from the fields and just arrived outside the cultural center, Chief of Staff Yu in the team suddenly shouted, "Director Chen, we finally found you. How is it? Today everyone came to celebrate the farm's good harvest, but you were hiding from us. What do you mean by this?"
Chen Lina was caught in a circle by a man. Before she knew who he was, the male educated youth from the art troupe in the cultural center had already carried her in with their musical instruments.
Quick four steps, "The Girl from Tashkurgan", Chief of Staff Yu said while jumping, "Let me introduce myself. My last name is Yu Lianhai, and I am the chief of staff of the armed forces of our mining area. Although I did not participate in the Liberation War, I was not able to go to the Korean battlefield to make merit.
However, I have helped herders living at the foot of the Tianshan Mountains kill more than forty wolves, helped herders save countless sheep, and I have also stood guard at the Tanggula Pass for two full years.
Moreover, I will always respond to the call of the motherland. As long as the call is given, I will rush to the battlefield."
"Wow, what a great military achievement." The beautiful Chief Chen smiled brightly. "These officers and soldiers of the armed forces should all be under the command of the Chief of Staff."
"Of course." Staff Officer Yu was very happy, and he gave Minister Gao Dayong a proud look. Well, he won.
Gao Da stomped his feet with great courage and said, "Officer Yu, you won unfairly."
"Besides training, what else does our armed forces do?"
"It is our military duty to wait for the call of the Republic, rush to the battlefield at any time, and be ready to fight bravely for the country," said Staff Officer Yu.
"The leader said it well. In peacetime, there are battlefields everywhere. Chief of Staff Yu, you should have inspected our cotton fields. We planted 100 hectares of cotton this year, but the farm only has 800 workers. In the one-month cotton harvest season, each worker has to harvest 18 acres of cotton on average. This is really impossible.
So, handsome, brave, and always protecting the people, Chief of Staff Yu, the farm is in great need of the people's soldiers to lend a hand, can you come and help us pick cotton? "
"Yes, of course. After the National Day holiday, all of our comrades in the Armed Forces, except those on duty, will go to the farm and help the farm harvest cotton all night long."
"I knew that Chief of Staff Yu was a good leader who truly loved the people and the masses." Director Chen said, and when he saw the music stopped, he gently let go of Chief of Staff Yu's hand.
Oh, this is the trouble of a beautiful woman. Even if she tries hard not to be in the spotlight and makes her man jealous.
But she is so dazzling that she is surrounded by men wherever she goes.
However, just after she let go of Chief of Staff Yu and before she could show off in front of her man, Secretary Ah came over. The next song he played was "Under the Silver Moonlight". He smiled and said, "Our Director Chen has worked hard. I'll dance with you, okay?"
It is an old tradition of the workers, peasants and soldiers of the Republic to dance socially in their spare time from revolutionary work. Of course, it is also a good opportunity for superiors and subordinates to communicate with each other while listening to music.
"Xiao Chen, it's not that I have to dance with you, but your sister-in-law Alai said that we can eat big yellow melons and big squash this year, and she wanted me to thank you. I think Nie Gong is not very happy today."
Yes, men are extremely jealous.
Chen Lina said, "Leader, it's not that I don't want to dance with you, but I'm in a hurry to pick cotton and don't have time to dance with you."
Well, since the man is not doing his job well, she has to come forward and ask for benefits herself.
Secretary Ah really takes it very seriously. "Ensuring production is the top priority, but we can't let all the farm managers go to pick cotton. If you have any ideas or anything you need my cooperation with, just go ahead. Today, I have to dance a few times with you and let's have a good talk."
Well, District Chief Gao waved his hand and the music started playing non-stop.
From "The Grapes of Turpan Are Ripe" to "A Lovely Rose" and then to "Alamuhan", Chen Lina explained to Ashuji the necessity of mechanized planting, from combined tillage machines to large hand mowers.
Secretary Ah nodded repeatedly. Of course, he was probably also calculating in his mind that there was still money in the mining area and he could use some of it to add equipment to the farm.
He Min was just outside the cultural center, where all the officials were dancing and clapping to the beat while drinking Ba Wang Si soda. He wanted to squeeze in but couldn't, and was getting anxious when he saw Wang Guanghai, the leader of the first production team, coming.
"Secretary, it's bad. The daylily is back again."
"Sun Gong's mother? Oh, we should express our condolences to her. She is the mother of a hero." He Min had never experienced the spiciness of day lily, and the first thing she thought of was, hey, I finally found an opportunity to show off in front of the leader.
When he arrived at the warehouse, he greeted her at the door and said, "Anna, Anna, give me two bottles of soda and two kilograms of sugar. I have something to do."
"Secretary, give me the ticket."
"You are so stingy. Okay, I'll give you the ticket. Anna, you are thinking wrongly. It was you who exposed my film. Just wait, I can't take off your hat for you."
Anna herself particularly disliked He Min's hypocrisy and affectation. Coincidentally, Chen Lina's three children had recently suffered from heatstroke and had anorexia, so she wanted to coax them to drink the Huoxiang Zhengqi water she had prepared with Huoxiang leaves. However, the soup could not be fed to the children, so she asked Anna to secretly pour it into soda bottles and coax the children to drink it.
It was too much, there were only two bottles left, so Anna gave the bottles of soda filled with Huoxiang Zhengqi water to Hemin, thinking, this stuff tastes good, you can drink it slowly.
Furthermore, they were cheated a little when they bought candy this time.
The people at the Uru state-owned store secretly packed several kilograms of unsold mint candies for them, because the people in the border areas were not used to the taste of mint, so the candies were not distributed yet.
It was just perfect, so she gave the mint and Huoxiang Zhengqi water to He Min.
When we arrived at the production team, Huang Huacai was beating Sun Duoyu in front of the door of the cave. While beating him, her grandson Zhuannan, Sun Dabao, was crying. At that time, the soldiers of the armed forces and the educated youth were allowed to move freely, so of course, many people came over to watch the fun.
Isn't this just a perfect expression?
"Hero mother, it's because the leaders of our farm didn't do their job well. On such an important day, no one came to visit you. I'm He Min, the secretary and the top leader of the farm. Look, I've come to see you with the benefits distributed by our farm."
As he said this, he bit the iron cover of the soda and it broke open easily. He said, "Come on, heroic mother, taste the soda that Sun Gong fought for with his life and blood on this Gobi beach, and have a candy, okay?"
The best thing in the life of daylily is that someone delivers something to you, which makes you feel proud.
Besides, she was tired of beating and scolding, and was about to go to the cultural center to make a scene. If she didn't replenish her nutrition now, when would she do so?
He threw a mint candy into his mouth, chewed it, and drank a big gulp of drink.
Instantly, the pungent smell of mint and patchouli filled the old lady's face. "Bah, the people on this farm are so evil. As a secretary, you actually used fake soda to coax an old lady?"
Besides, the old lady didn’t know any other characters, but she knew the Chinese characters for “八” and “王” after walking all the way to Beijing. So, she would think, “Well, you still dare to call me a bastard?”
I thought of Beijing, where an old lady was also cheated under the Tiananmen Gate Tower.
Staying in a hotel, I was sent to a garbage dump when checking my household registration certificate in the middle of the night. I finally bought a bottle of soda, opened it and was about to take a sip, but there was something bitter inside, so I had a big fight. Okay, the money was returned. However, I stayed in the garbage team at night, and I couldn't run away with the little guards. I wanted to eat a bowl of noodles, but I had no money. The old lady had been digging for food in the garbage dump for a while.
That feeling of frustration and anger instantly burst out at He Min.
With two bottles of soda pouring down her head, the old lady would have eaten He Min alive if the educated youth hadn't stopped her.