The next morning, Sun Daqin got up early. Seeing that the house was quiet, she guessed that everyone else was still sleeping in. She took the package and tried to sneak out of the house, but was bumped into by Qian Shulan who just came out of the kitchen. "You're not going to eat?"
Sun Daqin was startled and quickly hid the package in her hand behind her back. She forced a fake smile on her face and stammered, "No, I'm going back to my parents' house to eat." After saying that, she ran out of the house like a ghost.
Qian Shulan watched her quickly hug the package behind her and frowned slightly. Did she steal again? But the valuables at home were all in her room. Then she thought of the time when Sun Daqin asked Zhengguo for money. Could she have stolen money again? She wanted to call Sun Daqin, but found that she had already disappeared.
Qian Shulan quickly knocked on Zhengguo's door. Zhengguo was also frightened when he heard his grandmother's words. He immediately bent down and took out the money box from under the bed. He counted it several times and found that there was not a penny missing. He couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
Qian Shulan was a little puzzled. Why did Sun Daqin look like a thief
At this moment, Zhengjun started crying in the east room.
Qian Shulan then realized that Sun Daqin had taken away Zhengjun's caterpillars. Qian Shulan had specially prepared them for the family last night to improve their meals. Zhengjun was reluctant to eat them all at once and saved them for the next morning. Who would have thought that when he woke up the next day, they were gone!
Qian Shulan was speechless. Wang Shouren comforted her, "When your mother comes back, Dad will make her compensate you."
Zhengjun stopped crying and pouting to remind him, "It must be fried with some chili. It must also be fried by grandma."
Wang Shouren agreed repeatedly.
Qian Shulan didn't want to say anything. This mother was really weird. She was addicted to stealing, right? She even stole snacks from children!
Qian Shulan said, "When your mother comes back, I will ask her to pay you double. She took it without asking, which is stealing. Zhengjun, you must not learn from your mother."
Zhengjun nodded heavily.
…
On October 1, more than a thousand people from the Wangjia Village Production Brigade gathered in the cafeteria to celebrate National Day together.
Since midnight, the two canteens in the team have been busy. The cooks in charge of cooking were busy slaughtering pigs, the men took fishing nets to catch fish in the fish pond, and some people went to the vegetable garden to pick vegetables. The whole team held a big wedding banquet to celebrate the festival and the harvest. The table was full of pork and live fish, and there were piles of potatoes, lentils, cucumbers and leeks in the yard, and a bamboo basket of eggs was placed next to it. The elderly and children took the initiative to help pick vegetables, and sat together with a smile, talking about this year's harvest and the novelty of free meals after the canteen was established.
What a lively scene, but it’s all fake.
If you don't believe me, look at this. Among these people, there is a young man in blue clothes. He is holding a camera and taking pictures of the cafeteria. While taking pictures, he is directing, "Smile more brightly. Yes, open your mouth wider and show your teeth. Yes, very good!"
The cafeteria was crowded with people. Qian Shulan stood in the crowd and sighed as she watched the scene. That’s how the photos in the newspapers came about. It turns out that you can still take beautiful photos without using Photoshop.
You may ask why we cheat. There is nothing we can do about it!
Ever since the Zhaojia Village Production Team won the title of advanced production team, President Zhou has started to focus on Wangjia Village. At the meeting, he criticized their production team for not being enthusiastic at all about setting up a public canteen and for having backward ideas. He ordered them to hold a celebration party for the establishment of the canteen.
After Wang Shouquan and Qian Minghua discussed it, they decided to hold it on National Day.
So, the above drama happened.
President Zhou was afraid that the two men would trick him, so he personally brought his subordinates here to take a look. After having a hearty meal here, he left with satisfaction.
Many people looked at the group of people, envious of the bicycles. They were riding too fast, and disappeared in a flash.
After finally sending the person away, Wang Shouquan and Qian Minghua began to wipe the sweat from their foreheads and breathed a sigh of relief.
But the food had already been prepared, so it couldn't be wasted, so they started to serve food according to work points. No one had any objections to this.
The next day, the country officially launched the Great Steel Production Campaign.
In order to meet the steel production target, the whole county was mobilized to produce iron products.
After all, there was only one iron mine, and it had been almost completely mined by the Beitai Steel Plant over the years, so there was no extra iron ore for them to smelt. As for scrap iron, there was even less.
The leaders above held a meeting to find a solution.
Someone joked, "Aren't the iron locks and iron spoons at home also made of iron? Why not hand them in for refining?"
There was a moment of silence.
In the end, it was passed unanimously.
As a result, the entire county began to issue orders downwards, assigning steel production tasks to each production team.
In the Wangjia Village Production Brigade, each household had to hand in 50 kilograms of iron.
This made everyone in the family very worried, and they started to gather all the iron products in the house.
The iron pot boiling water on the stove, the iron lock hanging on the door, the enamel basin for washing face and feet, the nail for hanging the calendar on the wall, the iron box for storing money, the kerosene lamp used for walking at night, the bracket on the makeup mirror, and even the door bolt were all found.
The task iron is so heavy that if these things are not included in the weight, the total weight will not be enough to reach 50 kilograms.
Other things are fine, but this iron pot is used to boil water at home. What else can we use to boil water without it
The whole family looked at the iron pot with worried faces. Qian Shulan was also quite helpless.
Even if she had an iron pot in her space, she couldn't take it out at this time. Once discovered, she would be asked to confiscate it. If she refused, she would be considered a backward person and would be rejected.
At this time, if you fail to complete the task assigned to you or make a discouraged sound, you will be rejected. This is a precursor to ideological struggle.
Qian Shulan could only take out the clay pot she had bought from the county department store.
However, we still dare not use it during the day. Once it starts to smoke, people patrolling the countryside will see it and at best they will smash the clay pot. At worst they will be dragged to the commune meeting for criticism.
None of the Wang family members dared.
Qian Shulan had no choice but to cook something for everyone in the evening.
Of course, when boiling water, Qian Shulan would also put a few eggs in the casserole.
Each child had an egg, but the adults did not. Qian Shulan also ate one herself, saying that she had hidden it before.
The whole family admired Qian Shulan's skill in hiding things. They also hid some things, but the number was relatively small, and most of them were hidden outside. Even if they were found, as long as they did not come out and admit it, the militia would not be able to do anything to them. However, they did not have as many things as Qian Shulan.
After collecting iron pots and other things, they began to look for bricks, which was also a task assigned by the township to the production teams below.
In Wangjia Village, all the houses with bricks were stripped. Even the roof of the house of Wang Shouquan, the brigade secretary, was stripped.
Not to mention the members below.
Then came an important notice that all men between the ages of fourteen and fifty-five had to go to the county steel plant to make steel.
Because I don’t know when I will be able to come back.
Therefore, the team had to re-elect temporary cadres: temporary brigade secretary, temporary production team leader, production team leaders of the four teams, scorers, and warehouse keepers. These were all male comrades, and when they went to the Great Steel Production Campaign, they would definitely have to elect female comrades to replace them for a while.
Qian Shulan also raised her hand to sign up. A soldier who doesn't want to be a general is not a good soldier.
As long as she becomes a cadre, she will have more authority at home than she does now, and her words will be more effective and convincing than before.
Think about it, between an old rural lady and a village cadre, who's words are more effective? Without a doubt, it's the latter.
"I want to be a scorekeeper. I am learning to read from Dana. I can measure and count. I think I am suitable for this job."
Not to mention, if it were the Qian Shulan of the past, let alone she could read, even if she graduated from college, the members would not have chosen her.
Now, the old lady seems to have changed a lot. She is more generous than before and knows how to help others. It is still feasible for her to do this job.
Besides, the job of a scorekeeper is not free work. The subsidy is only four work points a day. This subsidy is only available during the autumn harvest.
When working in the fields, I do the same work as everyone else, according to the quantity.
The scores recorded by the scorer must be checked with those of the members. If one party makes a mistake, it must be confirmed repeatedly.
Because almost all the members of Wangjia Village Production Team had the same surname, they were related and no one wanted to play dirty and be criticized. Therefore, after the collective was established, no one made a mistake.
Although Qian Shulan also encouraged her family members to sign up, the effect was not obvious.
Except for Wang Danna who signed up to run for the temporary accountant position, everyone else had their own considerations, and some people felt that they were not qualified.
After hearing their reasons, Qian Shulan was speechless.
When it was time to vote, Qian Shulan was afraid that people would not vote for her, which would be very embarrassing for her. Before the vote, she even wrote a few words of acceptance speech, "Comrades, do you still remember the incident of collecting cicada monkeys? Think about whether I counted you wrongly at that time, not even a point! When I become the scorekeeper, I will definitely check the number with you after I write it down, and only record it after confirming that it is correct. I will try not to make mistakes. I hope you can support me a lot. I have a burning heart to serve you, and I am determined to contribute to the team. Please support me a lot."
Why did she mention the monkey? It was just a subtle reminder that she had done the math and helped everyone.
Alas, although it was a bit scheming, Qian Shulan said she was also ashamed. But there was nothing she could do, because these people had such a bad impression of her original self. If she didn't take this opportunity to show off, she would only have a half chance of getting the scorekeeper job.
Maybe the strategy really worked, as more than 80% of people chose Qian Shulan.
The family members were so shocked that their eyes almost popped out of their heads. The most exaggerated one was Sun Daqin, who really didn't expect her mother-in-law to be selected.
A scorekeeper. If selected, she will get four work points. It's a good thing that comes for free. Even if her son doesn't go to school, he can also be the scorekeeper.
However, she could only think about it.
Zhengkang is in his second year of high school this year, a crucial year. After finishing it, he will be able to get his high school diploma.
Sun Daqin had never thought about choosing herself, mainly because she knew herself well. Her popularity in the team was obvious to all, and she thought it was better not to embarrass herself.
As for Li Chunhua, it was purely because she was too dull. She felt that to be a cadre one had to be eloquent, and she was definitely not good at speaking, so she would not be able to do it.
Zhou Xuemei was not selected simply because she didn't know enough characters. She had missed a lot of classes because she went to Beijing. She couldn't even write a complete character, so naturally she couldn't be selected.
Xiaomei applied to be a warehouse keeper at the instigation of Li Chunhua, but she was rejected because she was too young and not in good shape.
Seeing that even her sister was rejected, Xiao He didn't move forward.
There is no problem with Wang Danna’s application for accounting.
Originally, there were few girls in the village who could read and write. Once the men left, only the blind were left, and Wang Danna, who had a high level of education, was the only choice.
She could earn six work points a day, more than Qian Shulan.
The whole family looked at Wang Danna with envy.
Just after the temporary cadres were selected, Zhengguo and Zhengkang, who had been attending school, came back with sad faces.
"How much?" Qian Shulan scratched her ears. She must have heard it right! Who could come up with so much iron? Did they think it was a leaf? It would be there if the wind blew.
Zhengkang paused for a moment and repeated, "The school requires each student to hand in 100 kilograms of iron!"
Qian Shulan felt like she was going crazy! She had finally managed to collect 50 kilograms of iron from her family, and now she needed another 100 kilograms of iron. Their place was a plain, and it was a rural area. There were no big factories, so where did they get the iron
Qian Shulan spread her hands and said, "Look around the house. As long as it's iron, you can take it."
Zhengkang and Zhengguo squatted on the ground without saying a word, their faces wrinkled, like little old men.
Qian Shulan picked them up and said, "Tomorrow, I will go to school to ask for leave for you. Just say you are sick. You can go to school after you get better."
The two looked at each other, their eyes lit up, "Can it be done?"
Qian Shulan patted the two on the shoulders and said, "It will definitely work."
This is ridiculous! Why do middle and high school students make iron? Do they know anything about iron making
The next day, Qian Shulan took some things to school and asked for leave for the two of them.
Although the teacher was a little unhappy, when she saw her carrying things with a sad expression on her face, she really believed that the child was really sick.
When Qian Shulan came out of the teacher's office, she saw a blast furnace on the playground. Next to the blast furnace was the iron that the students had handed in. The so-called iron was actually some farm tools, such as iron plows and sickles.
Who handed these things over? These are important tools for farmers to harvest grain! This is too abominable! Qian Shulan stood by and gritted her teeth.
Although Qian Shulan couldn't bear to see these farm tools being destroyed, there were so many people watching and she couldn't openly put the things into the space. She could only leave the school with a heavy heart.
But not long after she left school, she passed by a production team and saw a farmer and police officers investigating a case of stolen farm tools.
Qian Shulan then stepped forward and told the police, "I just saw a lot of farm tools in the school, and I don't know if the children stole them."
As if to suit the situation, some members immediately said when and where they saw which children stealing things.
Thus, the case was solved. All the iron was stolen by the children from the production team.
Qian Shulan felt helpless and turned away.
Within two days, the men were ready to go to the steel mill.
Qian Shulan was very worried. Wang Shouren and Wang Shouyi had never been involved in steelmaking before, so how could they make steel
Qian Shulan told them, "You must pay attention to safety and don't ruin your health just for the sake of honor. You have children, so you should think more about your family."
Wang Shouren and Wang Shouyi both nodded in agreement.
Qian Shulan handed them the things she had packed last night. Seeing that they wanted to open them, Qian Shulan hurriedly stopped them, "Just keep these things to yourself. Eat some when you are hungry." Finally, she added, "There are also masks that Mom asked Chunhua to sew for you. There are four in total. You can take turns wearing them and wash them when they get dirty. Don't be bothered, you must wear them, and don't breathe in the dust, which is deadly."
What Qian Shulan said was not false. Her female classmate in high school had a brother who worked in a steel factory. He had to wash himself and change his clothes every time he got off work. There were many toxic substances in the steel factory that were very harmful to the human body.
Qian Shulan didn't ask for anything else, she just hoped that they wouldn't be poisoned.
The two men held the packages and nodded solemnly.
Qian Shulan thought for a moment and added, "If your superiors don't allow you to wear a mask, you can make an excuse and say that you had a check-up some time ago and the doctor said that you have lung problems and wearing a mask will not infect others."
Wang Shouren and Wang Shouyi looked at each other and had no choice but to agree.
Qian Shulan was a little worried. Steelmaking is a life-threatening business. If you are not careful, you may get hurt. But she couldn't not go.
What’s even worse is that middle schools and high schools also started making steel, and classes were not even held in schools.
Several of Zhengguo's classmates came to see him and report to him the latest news of the school.
It turned out that they also asked for leave to go home and help the team work and water the fields. They didn't want to go to school to forge iron lumps.
After everyone left, Zhengguo complained to Qian Shulan.
"Grandma, do you think those teachers are idiots? They are made of iron, but they want to burn them. Isn't this just like taking off your pants to fart?"
When Qian Shulan heard his words, she was stunned for a moment, then she touched his head and laughed. You know what, it's true.
But it is helpless. Now the whole nation is engaged in steel production, not to mention steel mills. Even schools, factories, government departments, and even restaurants have to use earthen stoves to produce iron.
People seem to be brainwashed, and all want to be advanced.
However, they had no idea how to smelt iron, so doing this would be a fool's errand.
A few days later, Qian Shulan heard something incredible from Zhengkang.
Several students in their school, who had no iron objects at home, thought of the only tractor in the town, which was plowing the fields at the time. During lunch break, these students dismantled the tractor and brought it to school to hand in the scrap metal...
This action was undoubtedly destructive to production. When people from the county came to investigate, they found out that it was just a few students who wanted to complete the task of making steel, but in the end the action was abandoned.
When the school saw that the incident had become too serious, they quickly cancelled the steel task.
Zhengkang went back to school. Zhengguo wanted to wait a little longer. He didn't want to join the iron smelting class. He didn't know how to do that. He couldn't compete for advancement. Why suffer that
Then the militia entered the village to cut down trees. Not a single poplar tree that had been planted on the canal for 20 or 30 years was left. They were all cut down.
In the village, the trees on both sides of the road were also cut down, as if the green summer had suddenly turned into a bare winter.
Even the centuries-old tree at the entrance of the village was not spared. Although Qian Shulan felt it was a pity, she had no way to do anything.
In a few years, even the Confucius Temple will be destroyed, let alone an ancient tree.
After the men left, the team began to arrange for the members to work in the fields.
Sweet potatoes need to be watered regularly, especially in Wangjia Village, where the terrain is generally high.
The water they carried was used from the remaining water in the canal for watering. If it was not enough, they would go back to the well in the village to fetch water and boil it.
Qian Shulan was not idle this time. She put all the food in her space into her house, and then used her spiritual power to pour water from the canal into the space.
When he arrived at the field, he poured the water into the bucket and sprinkled it little by little.
Because everyone was working in groups and each person was responsible for their own area, no one noticed her actions.
At the end of the day, Qian Shulan had sprinkled 50 work points of land.
When others asked her about it, Qian Shulan would talk about the good things Qian Weihan brought her from Beijing.
In addition to some military supplies, Qian Weihan also gave Qian Shulan some food, but Qian Shulan did not share these things with her family.
It was just a show in the first place, how can I share it with others
"Not only does that canned food taste great, but eating it makes you feel strong. Look at my brother, he's very strong now. Otherwise, I would really be worried about her, an old man, going to make steel."
Everyone agreed.
Since Qian Weihan came back from Beijing, he has indeed changed a lot. His hair used to be half white, but now it is completely black. It is even blacker and shinier than that of young people.
If his face hadn't changed much, everyone would have thought he had regained his youth.
Qian Shulan also had a change, her hair turned completely black.
It was indeed a good thing brought back from Beijing. Everyone looked at Qian Shulan with envy.
Qian Shulan continued, "Well, if that thing wasn't so expensive, I would have asked my brother to buy more and bring it back. I'm really worried about my eldest and third sons going to make steel. I'm afraid they won't have the strength to do it, and that will slow down the progress and delay our country's major events."
Liu Yueqin continued, "Third sister-in-law, just relax. Your eldest and third sons are both tall and strong, maybe they can let you in first."
Qian Shulan waved her hands and quickly became modest, "You can't say that. They are just minions. How can they be advanced? I think your eldest brother is a capable person who can endure hardships."
Mothers of all ages like their children to be praised.
Liu Yueqin was no exception. After hearing Qian Shulan's words, she also became humble.
The author has something to say: This level won’t be reviewed highly, right
p.s. I have updated four chapters today. I am almost exhausted. If there is a prompt to update, it is the author correcting the typos, not intentional fake updates. Please don't mind, little angel, muah~