Chapter 122 City Labor Conference
Fang Dihua and Lu Laodi did not tell him about Lin Shu's class and coaxing her parents-in-law Lu Shaotang to carry out a secret mission instead of sacrificing.
First, Lin Shu hinted in advance that they should not tell Lu Shaotang, because he was a materialist and did not believe in this. What if it offended Ma Shenxian?
Second, she was afraid that he would have some ideas that would affect the relationship between husband and wife. Third
, she hoped that if she did, she would tell him herself.
Her parents-in-law certainly respect her.
Lin Shu would naturally not tell him. Even if he accidentally knew about it and asked her, she would say, "I made it up to deceive my parents-in-law. It was a white lie. Who knew it could be an accident?" After
the Lantern Festival, Lu Shaotang became busy. Naturally, he would not tell his family what he was busy with and where he was going.
The production team also entered the spring ploughing stage.
Mrs. Lu and her fellow tractor operators were the busiest and had to work the night shift as usual.
Father Lu and Big Brother Lu were also busy, one seeing a doctor and the other settling accounts.
Fang Dihua and her second brother Lu were also very busy, they had to go to the production team to work and select seeds, and they also had to tend to their private plots and tidy up the vegetable beds in the yard to prepare for planting vegetables.
Lin Shu originally thought that Lu Xiuxiu didn't want to go back to Guo Caixiu, but she still chose to go back.
Lu Xiuxiu felt that she had already paid for two years and learned the basic skills for two years. In the last year, she didn't need to pay any money to learn the master's unique skills. If she didn't go, she would lose out.
The main reason is that after this year, she can work in the commune's tailor shop and earn a salary for the family.
Both her parents earn a salary, and she also wants to earn money.
Lin Shu didn't care too much, as long as the child is willing. The things she worried about before are not a problem for the child now.
Who doesn't live like a weed now? Being well fed and clothed is happiness. Most children will be beaten and scolded by their parents. What's the big deal if they are scolded and spanked by the master?
Lu Xiuxiu is sensible and doesn't want to cause trouble for the family. Besides, her aunt is watching over her in the commune, so Lin Shu doesn't care too much.
After the spring plowing and planting, the members are busy, and Lin Shu will also be busy cooking for everyone.
Without fresh vegetables, she had to rely on last year's dried beans, dried eggplants, overwintered spinach and leeks, fresh mung bean sprouts, and various pickles, pickles, salted duck eggs, and salted eggs in the pickle jar.
This was already better than 99.9% of the families in the countryside, because other families were entering the lean period.
Without wild vegetables, the winter stored Chinese cabbage had been eaten up, the radishes and pumpkins had long been eaten up, and even the farmer's soybean paste from last year had been eaten up. Now all she could really eat was pickled cabbage lumps, and those who didn't have pickled vegetables could even eat salt water as pickled vegetables.
Fortunately, there was a bumper harvest last year, and the rations were okay. We ate almost all the fresh sweet potatoes stored in the cellar in the fall, and the rest began to rot and sprout. Most people ate boiled and sun-dried sweet potatoes.
That is really the most disgusting whole grain.
If possible, mix it with corn flour, sorghum flour, soybean flour and the like.
Lin Shu would take the initiative to give some kimchi and pickles to people she was close to, such as Jin Ping'er, Mrs. Qiu, Mrs. Wang, Aunt Li and others.
They didn't eat for free, so they exchanged eggs for extra, and they had to wait until the wild vegetables sprouted.
Someone in the village knew that Lin Shu's family had several pickle jars, and they also gave eggs or money to exchange for pickles.
Not to mention the crispy pickled cucumber, even the ordinary pickled cabbage, pickled cabbage, and pickled radish impressed them.
"We should also grow more dishes this year and learn how to pickle vegetables from Shaotang's wife."
"Yes, it's really hard to swallow dried sweet potatoes. It tastes much better with some pickled vegetables."
Some people also learned to make fried cakes from Lin Shu, which tasted good, but most people were still unwilling to do so, because eating more food means eating more, and the food is fixed. Wouldn't you be hungry if you eat too much?
Lin Shu's family didn't have such worries. Not only did they have a lot of food and vegetables, but they also had a lot of meat and eggs.
Last year, they killed a pig and froze part of it, and made a part of salted meat. During the spring plowing, they stewed the salted meat with sauerkraut, which was also appetizing and delicious.
Lin Shu asked Sister-in-law Lu to bring some to Lin's father and Lin Yue as well. The other farm operators were drooling over the food. Those who were well-off took salted meat, grain coupons and money from their own homes and asked Sister-in-law Lu to take them home and ask Lin Shu to help them stew a pot.
Lin Shu did not refuse. Anyway, she had a lot of pickled cabbage at home, and she had to eat it before the weather got warmer, otherwise it would go bad easily.
She also made some money from pickled cabbage and pickled vegetables to supplement her family income.
In a blink of an eye, the Qingming production team began spring planting, which mainly relied on manpower. After all, there were limited tractors, and the best sowing time might have passed before it was their turn.
Anyway, the tractor had already plowed the land, so it was much easier for their own production team to farm.
When the production team was busy planting, the county notified all advanced workers to go to the city to participate in the May 1st Labor Conference.
The units participating in the prefecture-level city labor conference are mainly advanced workers from various units in the city and the eight counties below.
Qing County has seven communes, and there are more than 30 advanced model workers including the urban units.
The Fighting Commune has three of them, and Lin Shu, Lu Laodie, and Lu Dasao are all on the list.
Lin Shu was a little surprised. She is not a model worker, so how can she go to participate in the labor conference?
The branch secretary and the team leader assured her, "You were specifically asked to go, so you must have deserved it."
Although Lin Shu was not a model worker, she was the most beautiful military wife and had been commended by the Public Security Bureau many times, so she was also an advanced member.
After Xu Ermao was shot, the Public Security Bureau issued her a certificate of honor.
For this reason alone, she was qualified to go.
Since the higher-ups had made the arrangement, Lin Shu had no objection. However, the team
leader was reluctant to let Lu Dasao go. Now was the time when spring plowing and planting were in full swing in the countryside. If you let her attend the meeting, wouldn't that delay production?
She was the main force of the agricultural machinery team.
The team leader was still complaining, "Should we write to the county and suggest changing the time? National Day..."
The branch secretary: "We are busy planting wheat on National Day, so it's even worse."
Brother Lu: "In fact, we can do it before the end of spring planting and wheat harvest. We don't have to stick to May Day."
The branch secretary: "People in the city are not subject to this restriction. We will definitely follow their example. How can we expect the city to accommodate us?"
Although he was reluctant, the team leader did not stop him and still let Mrs. Lu go to the city with him. This was a good opportunity to show her face.
The county arranged two buses to take the model workers to the city on the 14th.
Lin Shu thought that she might be able to meet her second sister, and she also had to visit Mrs. Jiang, so she brought more gifts.
She is now very good at steaming various kinds of steamed cakes, so she steamed a pot of big steamed cakes and took them with her.
Mrs. Jie likes it, so Mrs. Jiang must like it too.
Before the New Year, the production team collectively made vermicelli, and the Lu family also made some. She bought a ticket and asked the bus to the city to take some vermicelli to the director of the steel rolling mill office. It was a promised New Year gift, and she also asked someone to share some with Mrs. Jiang.
This time I didn't bring vermicelli, but I brought half a bag of sweet potatoes that I dried at home.
This is to slice the cooked sweet potatoes in the winter, dry them in the sun, and put them indoors to let them frost naturally. They are chewy and sweet. You can also cut them into small pieces and stir-fry them in a big pot.
After they are fried, they are crispy and delicious. Both adults and children love them.
This gift is cheap but popular, and the cost-effectiveness is very high.
When we were waiting in the bus, some people looked at Lin Shu's delicate skin and tender flesh and were not convinced. They couldn't help but whisper, "She is so pretty, with delicate skin and tender flesh, how can she be a model worker?"
"Maybe she can sing and dance, and was selected for her beauty like in the art troupe?"
The bus took more than three hours to go to the city. It was boring on the way, so the cadres of the county revolutionary committee introduced each other and exchanged ideas with everyone.
After chatting for a while, Qiu Lina, a female veteran from the textile factory, couldn't help but cheer, "Comrade Lin Shu, please sing a song for everyone."
She was the one who muttered that Lin Shu was so beautiful, she must have been selected for singing and dancing.
Everyone liked the excitement, and others followed suit and asked Lin Shu to sing a song.
They had a strange consensus: she was so beautiful and had such a pleasant voice, so she must be able to sing.
Lin Shu and Lu Dasao were sitting together, and she didn't refuse, and started singing directly, "Then let's sing a song 'All members are sunflowers.'" Just
as she was about to start singing, Qiu Lina was unhappy again, "Why not sing 'We Workers Have Power'?"
Lin Shu felt her pure argumentative nature, "It's been several hours, isn't it too late to sing another song after singing one?"
She could have said that it was still in time, using an affirmative tone, but she was annoyed by the argumentative person and asked back.
Qiu Lina's face looked a little bad, "Workers are the big brothers, of course..."
"Okay, don't divide, we are workers and farmers. We are one family." An elderly model worker spoke up to smooth things over, "It's been a long time on the road, we should sing songs of farmers, workers, soldiers, and students to make it lively."
Qiu Lina was a little unhappy to see someone speaking for Lin Shu.
She had a problem with Lin Shu, first because her cousin was Wu Xuan, and second because of Zhou Qiaoling.
Because of Lin Shu and Fang Dihua, not only did Zhou Qiaoling lose her job, but her whole family was also in trouble. The key point was that Qiu Lina's brother's job, which he had finally arranged with Zhou Ergu's relationship, also fell through.
She was resentful in her heart.
Of course, she would never mention this matter. She even lied to herself that she was standing up for Lin Shu because she played tricks on her cousin.
After listening to what Zhang Sigu said, she felt that Lin Shu actually looked down on her handsome cousin at the moment.
In fact, Wu Xuan explained that Lin Shu had never had a blind date at all. It was her eldest cousin's wife who secretly brought people to see each other, thinking that if the man liked her, the daughter-in-law might be happy after a while.
Who knew that the man did not sacrifice and came back, so the matter was naturally dropped.
Wu Xuan specifically told relatives and friends who knew about it not to talk nonsense, lest it get to the ears of other men and cause unpleasantness.
Qiu Lina, however, felt that it must be her cousin who covered up for Lin Shu. This woman looked coquettish and you could tell at a glance that she was not a serious person.
Lin Shu felt that Qiu Lina was targeting her, but she was too lazy to ask the reason. She didn't rely on her for food, so she was nothing.
Seeing that everyone loved to sing, Lin Shu started to let everyone sing together, and then gave the opportunity to whoever sang the loudest to let them shine.
This operation made many people secretly like it, and they could take the opportunity to show themselves.
Everyone sang happily all the way to the city.
The guesthouse of the Municipal Revolutionary Committee was not enough, so Lin Shu and others were arranged to stay in the guesthouses of other units.
It was dark when we checked in. Each person was given two or three steamed buns made of two-kneaded flour and some pickled vegetables for dinner.
Mrs. Lu was very happy, but Qiu Lina complained that the food was bad and didn't even order any hot dishes. The steamed buns were cold.
Qiu Lina: "Lin Shu, such a hard steamed bun, a delicate person like you must not be used to it, right?"
Mrs. Lu couldn't stand Qiu Lina always targeting Lin Shu along the way, and directly retorted, "Comrade Qiu Lina, is the food in your textile factory so good? In our countryside, we are in a period of shortage of food, and we can only eat steamed buns with dried sweet potatoes every day. This steamed bun mixed with fine flour is a delicacy that can only be eaten during the Chinese New Year. Why can't my sister-in-law get used to it? She is beautiful, but she doesn't have a delicate stomach like you."
Everyone looked at Qiu Lina with a subtle look. She is so picky about steamed buns made of two kinds of flour?
What kind of model worker is she? What conditions are there?
She is a bourgeoisie with a capitalist stomach.
Qiu Lina's face turned pale after being confronted. She glared at Lin Shu but didn't dare to find fault.
The car was about to fall apart. Lin Shu didn't want to chat with others, so she took her sister-in-law to fetch water to wash and go back to the house to rest early.
It was already late March. After the strong sandstorm in February, it was sunny and warm.
Sister-in-law Lu was strong and had a lot of work to do. She took off her cotton padded jacket half a month ago, but Lin Shu just took it off in the past few days.
Although it was hot during the day, it was still a little cool in the morning and evening.
Anyway, it's really cool to wash your feet with cold water!
Lin Shu didn't want to make trouble when she was out, so she just made do with it.
Who knew that after a while, Father Lu came knocking on the door with a warm kettle.
Lin Shu: "Dad, where can we get hot water?"
They were only coming for a day or two, so they could just bring teacups and lunch boxes. No one would bring a thermos, which would break easily.
Father Lu smiled and said, "I'll just take a stroll there, give someone a few injections and remove a cup."
If you know the people in the guesthouse, it's just a matter of asking for a bottle of hot water.
Sister Lu was very happy, "Our father's skill is really popular wherever he goes."
Three people shared a room, and the other woman was called Yu Qianer. She was not from Qing County, but from the neighboring county of Jiao County. They came here together because it was close to Qing County.
Yu Qianer was not as tall as Mrs. Lu, but she was just as dark and strong, and she looked like a capable working woman.
She didn't dare to talk to Lin Shu, mainly because Lin Shu was too beautiful, sang well, and spoke elegantly and gracefully, which was incompatible with these dark-skinned people. She was a little worried.
She suspected that Lin Shu was a capitalist lady who had been sent down.
She was very enthusiastic about Mrs. Lu, especially knowing that Mrs. Lu was a tractor operator, she admired her very much.
Soon, Lu Dasao knew that their village was called Dayushu Village, and there were many elm trees in the village. When she was born, they were eating elm money rice, so her father named her Yu Qian'er.
After a while, she even knew how many people in the woman's family were and what their temperaments were.
Yu Qian'er asked about Lu Dasao's family.
Lu Dasao: "My third brother's wife is the best in our family. The Public Security Bureau has commended her several times. She caught a murderer and..."
She boasted to Lin Shu.
When Lin Shu was introduced in the car, she only reported her name, but did not say what advanced she was awarded. Even if she was in the newspaper several times, the county and the countryside would not see it immediately, and even if someone saw it, they would not immediately identify it. Anyway,
Yu Qian'er didn't know.
Yu Qian'er: "Your third brother's wife is really amazing, I really want to meet her."
Sister Lu pointed at Lin Shu lying on the bed, "Look."
Yu Qian'er looked at her in surprise, "Really? She is so... delicate, can she catch bad guys?"
It's too fake.
She felt that Lin Shu was so thin that she could make her fall over with a push.
After getting the affirmation of Sister Lu, Yu Qian'er immediately apologized to Lin Shu, "Sister Lin Shu, I made an empiricist mistake, I apologize to you."
Lin Shu smiled, "It doesn't matter, we don't know each other, it's natural that it's the first impression."
Yu Qian'er: "You have a nice voice when you speak."
His temper is also gentle, and his clothes are a little different from theirs. He doesn't look like a country person.
The next day, everyone got two steamed buns for breakfast.
Mrs. Lu had a big appetite and ordered three, and Lin Shu even gave her one.
After dinner, they lined up to go to the auditorium next to the Municipal Revolutionary Committee.
Lin Shu saw her second sister at a glance and immediately waved to Lin Xia, "Second sister!"
Lin Xia was also turning her head to look for her, and after seeing her, she ran over to greet them.
After Yu Qian'er knew that Lin Xia was a female electrician and was going to deliver electricity to the countryside, he was very excited and completely believed that Lin Shu was a country girl, but she just looked particularly delicate.
While talking, Lin Shu saw Director Jiang, who looked over here from time to time, and when he met Lin Shu's eyes, he raised his hand and greeted her.
After entering the venue, everyone sat down according to their units.
This kind of meeting is similar, the leaders take turns to speak, some like to shout slogans and recite quotations, while others are concise and to the point.
Then the model workers were invited to give a speech.
This kind of opportunity to show up in front of the whole city was for the representatives designated by the leaders, which had a gold-plating effect.
After the speech, the leaders of each unit went up to speak, and then lined up to receive the certificates and prizes.
The prizes were basically the same old three things, a kettle, a washbasin, a teacup, or a pen and a plastic notebook.
Victory in honor!
It was already afternoon after receiving the awards, and many people who didn't eat enough in the morning were starving.
Lin Shu took the steamed cake to cushion her own stomach, and Yu Qian'er also got some.
Yu Qian'er was very grateful, but didn't dare to eat more, and only broke open half a piece and ate it.
After knowing that it was Lin Shu who made it, she was more convinced, "You really can't judge a person by appearance. Comrade Lin Shu is really amazing. The steamed cake she made is so delicious. It's a pity that everyone still has to work, otherwise you can go to our brigade to eat elm money rice. The elm trees in our brigade grow exceptionally well, better than those outside. During the years of hunger, we relied on elm trees to save our lives."
The leaves and bark of elm trees can be eaten, and they are more delicious than sawdust when ground with miscellaneous grains.
After the meeting, the counties that were far away also hurried to organize people to go back quickly and no longer stay because the accommodation fee was too expensive.
Lin Xia invited Old Man Lu and Sister-in-law Lu to stay in the city for two more days to have a look, but Old Man Lu declined. It was not appropriate for an old man like him to mix with a young woman, and he had to go back to work.
Mrs. Lu didn't want to stay either, as she had to go back for spring planting.
They told Lin Shu not to worry, to stay in the city for a few more days, and to go back when she wanted to.
Qiu Lina stared at Lin Shu from the side, always feeling a little unreal, she didn't expect that Lin Shu was still the most beautiful military wife, and had really been commended by the Public Security Bureau several times.
At this conference, other model workers were basically just named, but when it came to Lin Shu, the leaders also talked about several of her deeds.
When Yu Qian'er was about to leave, he ran over and said loudly to Lin Shu: "Lin Shu, you are great, you are worthy of being the most beautiful military wife, you are really amazing! I'm sorry, when we were in the car, someone said bad things to me about you, and I didn't know you and was prejudiced against you. I apologize to you!"
She bowed to Lin Shu seriously and gave Qiu Lina a meaningful look.
Qiu Lina was furious.
Is there something wrong with this guy? What's wrong with a few words in private? Do you have to do this just to lick Lin Shu?
What good can she do to you?
After hearing what Yu Qian'er said, the others also felt that they had gotten to know Lin Shu again, and they all greeted her and shook hands.
Qiu Lina pouted. Her contempt for Lin Shu was not so easy to eliminate. A man wanted to go on a blind date just after "sacrificing". How could he be so cold and have the nerve to be the most beautiful military wife?
Everyone else wanted to go back with the car, but Qiu Lina didn't leave. She wanted to take the opportunity to visit a cousin and let her cousin take her to meet two unmarried young people in the city.
Her cousin had introduced her to two people before. One of them was called Wei Lan. He had a good family background and was a deputy section chief at a young age. His family was arranging to introduce him to a partner.
She boasted that she was young and capable, and had good looks, and was a good match for him.
If she could marry into the city, she could go to work in the city textile factory, and maybe even get a job as an official.
After Father Lu and Sister Lu left, Lin Xia wanted to take Lin Shu to the guesthouse of the power supply bureau.
She was on a business trip in Huang County a while ago, and just returned to the Municipal Power Supply Bureau this month. She also took some time to work at the steel mill.
The dormitory at the Power Supply Bureau was crowded, and she was squeezed together with five single female comrades. The steel mill also had a collective dormitory, but Aunt Jiang always took her to live at her home.
She wanted to take Lin Shu to live in a guesthouse. Although the guesthouse had a moldy smell, it was at least more spacious and comfortable than the dormitory.
"Comrade Lin Shu!" Wei Lan, wearing a four-pocket Zhongshan suit, ran over happily to greet Lin Shu.