The days passed by were busy but steady. Qian Shulan finally had some time to rest. After dinner, the men went to work in the fields.
Because we are going to plant early sweet potatoes this year, the men have to plow the land and make ridges.
Only women and children were left at home. Older children like Xiaomei and Xiaohe had nothing to do, so they went to dig wild vegetables for Li Chunhua to feed the chickens or bring them home for snacks.
The younger children just played wildly in the yard.
Qian Shulan couldn't help laughing as she watched them having so much fun jumping on sandbags.
Suddenly she turned her head and saw Zhengguo leaning over the window, tilting his head to look inside. The little donkey next to him also followed his example. Unfortunately, the hole in the window paper was so small that the two brothers squeezed and shoved each other, neither of them giving way to the other.
Qian Shulan was a little curious, so she came over and looked inside in the direction they were looking.
Oh! It's Sun Daqin feeding the hens.
"What's so good about this?" Qian Shulan sighed, scaring the two children.
When Zhengguo turned around, he patted his chest and blamed, "Grandma, you scared me to death, do you know that?"
Qian Shulan put her finger on her lips and hushed, then pulled the two of them to the side, "Your voice is so loud that it can scare a chicken to death!"
Zhengguo curled his lips and said proudly, "What's the problem with scaring the hen? It can still lay eggs!"
Qian Shulan spread her hands and said, "See! You don't even know this. A hen cannot be frightened when it is sitting on its nest. This will make it feel insecure."
Zhengguo was a little unconvinced and looked at his grandmother with suspicion. But the little donkey exclaimed, "Grandma, you know so much."
Zhengguo glared at him, "Are you stupid? You believe whatever others say! Why does a hen need a sense of security?"
Qian Shulan flicked his head and said, "Why do you think a hen needs a sense of security? She is hatching chicks, so of course she wants to protect her chicks. She will worry that someone will come and snatch her chicks away. This is motherly love, don't talk nonsense if you don't understand it!"
Zhengguo lowered his head and said "oh".
The little donkey covered his mouth and laughed secretly when he saw him being hit. Zhengguo looked up and glared at him angrily.
Qian Shulan looked at them with suspicion and said, "You two haven't told me yet, why are you watching the hen laying eggs? You two don't really want to steal the eggs, do you?" The latter sentence was obviously spoken in a teasing tone.
Zhengguo choked and said, "How could we? I just..." His face became redder and redder as he spoke, and it was obvious that he found it difficult to speak.
Seeing that he was embarrassed to speak, the little donkey continued the next half of the sentence for him, "He is afraid that his mother will lose! Didn't grandma say that only 100 people will be selected this time?" This time, 100 people will be selected from 120 people, and 20 people will be eliminated.
When Zhengguo saw that he had revealed his secret, he glared at him angrily, and the little donkey smiled at him ingratiatingly.
Qian Shulan looked at Zhengguo in surprise. It turned out that Zhengguo cared so much about Sun Daqin now.
Maybe because of this illness, Sun Daqin is particularly concerned about her three children. She gets up early every morning to make breakfast for them. She also cares about their eating, dressing, and study from time to time.
She said, "Children's demands are actually the simplest, and they also have certain desires for their mothers. As long as Sun Daqin is willing to change and care about them, the children will definitely remember it in their hearts."
Qian Shulan touched his head and said, "There's nothing shameful about caring about your mother. Why should you be embarrassed?"
The three were talking animatedly when suddenly Wang Shouquan stood on the path outside the door and shouted at the top of his voice to call for a meeting.
Qian Shulan walked out of the yard immediately.
This time we gathered in the cafeteria.
"Comrades, our canteen has run out of rations. We only have a few sweet potatoes left. After a meeting, our cadres are going to distribute the sweet potatoes to everyone. From now on, everyone will eat at their own homes."
The news shocked everyone.
Although other production teams had been disbanded at the beginning of the year, when their own production team could no longer operate, everyone still found it hard to accept.
But the cafeteria can no longer operate, and it has to be disbanded.
This method of disbanding was proposed by Qian Shulan. Originally, there was not enough food, and Qian Minghua and Wang Shouquan wanted Qian Shulan to help buy food on the black market. However, Qian Shulan knew that the Four Cleanups would be held in a few years, and buying food on the black market would become a handle for these cadres to step down. Qian Shulan did not want the two to suffer in the future, so she firmly opposed it and tried her best to persuade them to disband the canteen temporarily, so that everyone could find ways to fill their stomachs.
If an individual buys grain on the black market, he will be fine even if he is found out because he does not have an account book. However, this is not the case if he uses the production team's accounts. Without the receipt, the numbers cannot be matched, and it is also an illegal act, which can be used as evidence in the future.
After discussing for a few days, Qian Minghua and Wang Shouquan finally agreed with Qian Shulan's approach. There was no other way. They didn't want to help buy food. Did they really have to buy food at two or three times the price? How would they fill the hole? So they had to disband first.
The rations were distributed according to the population, and Lao Wang's family received 15 kilograms of sweet potatoes. There were still more than three months before the summer harvest, so this amount of food was not enough to eat.
So after the sweet potatoes were distributed, Lao Wang's house was once again razed to the ground by the members.
They all looked at Qian Shulan with sad faces, holding her hands and begging her, "Aunt San, you must help us. Each family is only given a few kilograms of sweet potatoes. Even if each person only eats one or two kilograms a day, it will not last until the summer harvest."
"Yes, Third Aunt, you must help us."
"Yes, Third Auntie, you have many connections, please help us get some food back! I'll give you money!"
Qian Shulan saw so many people gathered around her house. Maybe because there were too few sweet potatoes this time, everyone was panicking. Many people didn't wait until dark and ran directly to her house, so people who didn't know before also came to join in the fun. The whole village probably knew that the wheat for the New Year was obtained by her. Qian Shulan thought for a while and said, "I can help you contact the food, but we have to sign and you are not allowed to sue me, otherwise I won't take the risk."
Everyone looked at each other, hardened their hearts, stamped their feet, gritted their teeth, and said, "Okay, we'll do whatever you say."
Qian Shulan drafted an agreement herself. She followed the "entrustment" method used by Xiaogang Village in Anhui Province more than a decade later. She signed a life-and-death agreement and asked everyone to put their fingerprints on the agreement. "You can sign it or not! But if you report me, I will take out this evidence, and then everyone will be in trouble." As for the remaining people who did not sign, if they report me, they will definitely be isolated by the whole team. Being excluded everywhere and being made difficult by everyone, they will definitely not survive.
Everyone is now unable to even fill their stomachs, so why would they think so much
What's more, there is a law that says "no one should be held responsible for many people"! As long as many people do this, the government will not sentence them.
So everyone in the village who was over ten years old came to sign. Not just the head of the family. Qian Shulan felt that some people were so selfish that they wouldn't even care about their families, so she had to be prepared.
Qian Shulan specially used the rice paper in the space to write the certificate. People at that time would not sign their names crookedly like later generations. Instead, they wrote line by line.
Although few people of that era could read, most people could still write their own names. For those who couldn't, Qian Shulan would write them in advance and then ask them to copy them stroke by stroke. No one was allowed to write for them.
After signing the certificate, Qian Shulan took out a notebook to record how many kilograms of grain she wanted.
Qian Shulan is still planting wheat this time, and the price is the same as before. In the first half of the year, Qian Shulan also asked No. 153 to help her plant corn, but it is not yet ripe. She only has rice and wheat.
But the members were still worried when they saw that so much wheat was needed at once, so Qian Shulan said, "We buy the bran from the wheat at our chicken farm, at 7 cents per pound."
This price is quite fair. At first, those who wanted to prepare the wheat bran for their own consumption thought of selling the wheat bran and eating some fine noodles later.
Some families are reluctant to eat such good food, so they plan to mix it with white flour and make steamed buns with mixed flour.
This time everyone calculated the quantity. Some families only bought 100 kilograms because they had little money, while some families had many people and didn't want to go hungry, so they bought 500 kilograms.
After Qian Shulan counted every household, she found that there were more than 54,000 kilograms of wheat this time.
My goodness, if she didn’t have the space, she wouldn’t be able to get so much wheat.
Qian Shulan still took Wang Shouren with her to transport grain this time.
Although all team members were involved this time, it was an individual act and the village cadres all turned a deaf ear to it.
Wang Shouquan and Qian Minghua were even afraid that they would encounter militia on the way, so they specially asked a few strong laborers from the village to go with them.
Qian Shulan asked Wang Shouren to watch them and not let them get close.
These people were entering the city for the first time and everything they saw was new to them. When they saw that Wang Shouren would not let them follow, they all behaved themselves and did not move.
It took several days to transport all the food that everyone needed back.
Now that we have food, everyone should be happy.
But every household’s wallet is empty and no one has the energy to work.
Qian Shulan then suggested that Qian Minghua and Wang Shouquan split the money.
Since the end of the year, they have sold rattan baskets several times, and now the production team has at least tens of thousands of yuan in its account.
Qian Minghua frowned, "Aunt, this is not the way to do it. It's only the middle of March, how can we share the money?"
This is also what Wang Shouquan meant.
Qian Shulan spread her hands helplessly, "Look at how energetic everyone is. If you don't give them some money to motivate them, when will they be able to plant the sweet potatoes?"
Qian Minghua and Wang Shouquan looked at each other. It was obvious that they were also very worried about the progress in the past few days.
The cadres meeting was held again.
The accountant thought this was unreliable, because he would be the one who would be tired if he was given an extra work point. So he firmly opposed it, saying, "I have never heard of any production team distributing money at the beginning of the year."
Wang Shouquan was smart and flexible, so he said, "Why not give each family 20 yuan first? Let's eat some food first, and stop frowning all day long. Otherwise, when the leaders come to inspect, they will think that our production team has withheld their food rations." In the Wangjia Village Production Brigade, there is no such thing as keeping accounts. If you don't have enough work points, you can make up for it! If you can't work in the fields, can't you make baskets to make up for the work points? So last year, even the poorest families could get more than 40 yuan.
Everyone thought it made sense, so the matter was settled.
When the members heard the team leader say that each household would receive 20 yuan, they immediately became energetic and no longer felt that life was meaningless. They no longer said discouraging words while working in the fields and became as efficient as before.
Just when everyone was busy making ridges and preparing to plant sweet potatoes.
Cao Chuanzheng, an agricultural technician, came back from a meeting in the town. Seeing everyone making ridges like this, he immediately became anxious. "You can't do this. We should deep plow all the land, and take turns deep plowing every three years, over and over again. The standard for deep plowing is more than one foot, and more than two feet for high-yield fields."
At first, no one paid any attention to him, but he came over to stop everyone from working. Qian Minghua was so angry that he wanted to kick him. After these people finally recovered their spirits, they ran into another mentally ill person who came over to stop them.
Wang Shouquan hurriedly stood in front of Qian Minghua and pulled Cao Chuanzheng to the edge of the field. "Technician Cao, we used to grow crops this way. We have never even heard of your method. What should we do?"
Cao Chuanzheng took out a newspaper from his schoolbag. Wang Shouquan tried hard not to roll his eyes. Only a fool would believe the nonsense of 10,000 catties per mu.
But then he was stunned. Cao Chuanzheng was holding a document and said to him triumphantly, "Look, this is the document I just took down from the town meeting, the □□ Central Committee's Instructions on Deep Ploughing and Improving Soil. This is a document from the Central Committee. Don't you listen to the Party? Stop it right now! Stop it right now!"
As he spoke, he started yelling hysterically at the members working in the fields, his face flushed and his neck thick, demanding that everyone stop working, and even went down to the fields to snatch the tools from people's hands. Everyone was stunned.
Qian Minghua wanted to come over and beat him up, but Wang Shouquan, who had come to his senses, grabbed him and said, "Minghua, stop it!" He showed the document to Qian Minghua. He was also stunned.
This... This is actually a document from the central government.
Seeing that everyone had stopped what they were doing, Cao Chuanzheng felt somewhat pleased with himself, so he turned around and went back to the ridge of the field to continue his lecture.
The people who were working didn't know who to listen to, and they all looked at Wang Shouquan and Qian Minghua.
Seeing that no one listened to him, Cao Chuanzheng became anxious. He turned around and said to Wang Shouquan and Qian Minghua, "Do you want to go against the Party? Don't you want to listen to the instructions from above? Do you want to be backward elements?"
The hats were taller than each other. Qian Minghua's clenched fists were creaking, and his eyes were red, almost spitting fire.
Cao Chuanzheng trembled all over after taking a look at him, but he had the support of the Party behind him, so he did not back down. He stammered to Qian Minghua, "You... what are you doing? What do you want to do? Do you still want to hit someone?"
Wang Shouquan pulled Qian Minghua aside and said, "Hurry up and tell your father and Third Aunt about this. They will definitely have a way."
Qian Minghua came back to his senses from his anger and began to nod frantically, "Yes! Yes! I'll go then, you hold on here!"
After saying this, he ran away in a hurry without caring about Cao Chuan's anxious look and wanting to reason with him.
Cao Chuanzheng was dumbfounded as he watched him run away. He pointed at Qian Minghua's back and said anxiously, "Hey, why did this guy... leave? I haven't finished what I'm saying yet."
Wang Shouquan smiled and pulled his arm back. "The team has something urgent for him to do. By the way, I still don't understand this document. Technician Cao, can you explain it to me?" He then pulled the man to the shore. His hands were gesturing behind his back.
So the team members who were just watching immediately understood that this meant "business as usual" and continued to bend down and work.
Wang Shouquan brought Cao Chuanzheng to the canteen. Now there are two canteens in the team, one is used as a rattan basket weaving place, and the other is used as their meeting place.
Seeing that Wang Shouquan was so serious and eager to learn, Cao Chuanzheng explained everything to him from beginning to end, and excitedly described how spectacular it was to have a rice field yielding 10,000 kilograms per mu.
Because the per-acre yield of Liuguan County was the lowest in the province and even in the country last year, the leaders arranged many technicians to go to Liuguan County to provide guidance to each production team.
Some of these technicians studied agriculture, and some were transferred from counties with an annual yield of 10,000 kilograms per mu.
Cao Chuanzheng is the latter. Because he can read and has personally visited rice fields that produce 10,000 kilograms per mu, he believes that it is true. Little did he know that grafting is not only a legend, but can also be performed in reality.
These are the versions Qian Weihan heard when he was in the hospital. He told them to everyone as a joke after he came back. Yet so many people believed them. Everyone was speechless.
Qian Shulan and Qian Weihan came over quickly. Cao Chuanzheng didn't know that Qian Shulan was not a brigade cadre at all. When he saw Qian Minghua invited her, he thought she was the leader of the Wangjia Village production brigade.
As soon as she entered the room, Qian Shulan greeted Cao Chuanzheng with a big smile on her face, "Technician Cao, I heard that you brought back new instructions from the town. Can you please spread them to us as soon as possible?"
Cao Chuanzheng immediately gave an impassioned speech on the principle of "deep cultivation and meticulous work".
Qian Shulan nodded after listening to him. After he finished speaking, Qian Shulan began to ask questions, "Technician Cao, it is like this. Our Wangjia Village Production Brigade has a total of more than 3,000 acres of land. Excluding the 1,000 acres planted with wheat, there are still 2,000 acres left. The strong laborers in our production team can only plow 100 acres a day, and this is with cattle and shallow plowing. If we follow your deep plowing method, I'm afraid we can't even do 30 acres a day. The entire spring planting is only a dozen days. When the grain in other people's fields is harvested, our fields are not yet plowed. How can we have a high yield by then? Do you think what I said makes sense?"
Facts and reasoning always convince people! Cao Chuanzheng was stunned by the numbers she said. According to her calculation, it would take 66 days to turn over 2,000 acres of land, and that was just turning over the land. The next step was to plant sweet potatoes and water them. They had just sprouted, but others had already harvested. This...
Wang Shouquan held back his laughter and gave Qian Shulan a thumbs up under the table.
Qian Shulan rolled her eyes at him. If he can't even handle such a small matter, he is really unworthy of being the brigade secretary.
Qian Weihan also said, "Yes, Technician Cao, it's not that we don't want to listen to the higher-ups, but this really can't be done."
Cao Chuanzheng had just done a careful calculation and naturally knew the answer. He was so anxious that sweat was about to fall from his forehead. Suddenly, an idea flashed in his mind, "Since we can't plant 2,000 acres, let's plant 1,000 acres first."
Qian Shulan spread her hands and sighed, "Technician Cao, this is not just a matter of 1,000 or 2,000 acres!" She looked embarrassed, as if she didn't want to say it, but also wanted to tell him.
Cao Chuanzheng was a little anxious, "What else?"
Qian Shulan pretended to be embarrassed and said, "It's not that we don't believe you. As the saying goes, seeing is believing. You said the yield per mu is 10,000 kilograms, I believe it! Everyone here believes it." As if in agreement with her words, everyone present nodded wildly, indicating that they all believed it.
Then, Qian Shulan changed the subject, "But the team members below don't believe it. Our team's yield per mu was only 100 catties before, and you've increased it by 10,000 catties, which is a hundred times. This is really exaggerating. The numbers are so different, how can these ignorant people believe it! I think, since this is the case! Why don't we plant two mu of experimental fields first? When the summer harvest comes, we can also produce 10,000 catties per mu to open the eyes of these old-fashioned people below. When the autumn planting comes, they will have no reason to object. What do you think?"
Cao Chuanzheng sneered at several people, "Look at you, all of you are literate brigade cadres, but you can't even handle some illiterate old farmers. You are such a cowardly cadre!" He laughed and shook his head, and stamped his feet when he was excited. Qian Minghua's face became more and more scary. Cao Chuanzheng accidentally saw it, and his smile suddenly stopped. He was a little scared of him, so he held back his laughter!
After he finished laughing, he slapped his thigh, no longer in the embarrassed state before, and he readily agreed, "Okay! I'll listen to you! Chairman m also said that we should seek truth from facts! Let's build two acres of experimental fields to open the eyes of those old-fashioned people." He paused and felt that two acres was a bit too little, so he quickly added, "No! It has to be five acres, no less."
Qian Shulan agreed readily, "Okay! Five acres is five acres!"
The author has something to say: Thank you for your landmines, muah
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