The crowd dispersed, and Ma Gensheng and Secretary Ma invited the leaders to the cafeteria. Teacher He stepped back and asked everyone with a smile: "How was it, did I perform well just now?"
He Meimei gave him a thumbs up, and said while covering her heart: "Don't mention it, the leader's behavior just now almost scared me, my calves were shaking, but Teacher He is brave and resourceful."
Of course, the most amazing one was Su Ye, who answered all the questions fluently and with a sense of propriety. If she hadn't organized everyone to prepare the materials, she would have been confused by the questions asked by the leader today. How could they look like they were here for an inspection? The questions they asked were more incisive than the last, as if they were here to torture criminals.
Everyone was thinking in their hearts: Could it be that they would be arrested and sent to jail as negative examples for no reason
Gu Xiangqian gave Su Ye a thumbs up. Su Ye smiled at Gu Xiangqian reservedly, then led the leaders of the Economic Committee group to the cafeteria with his head held high.
Gu Xiangqian went to the cafeteria and took a look. It was already noon. Because of the New Year, the cafeteria provided free sweet potato and corn buns and fragrant rice. Each person was limited to one bun. Chicken and braised pork were also available. You had to pay for them, but the prices were not expensive. The tables and chairs in the cafeteria were all new, and the brand new walls were painted with slogans such as "Save food" and "Do everything you can to complete the tasks assigned by the country."
Everything is so prosperous. Although it is not as grand as the factories in the city, it is not easy to achieve this level within just one year. What is even more rare is that Shanggou Village has abundant food and the farmers have good food. The factories in the city are far inferior to them in this respect.
Team leader Ma Gensheng proudly asked the chef to serve the food, and introduced it to everyone: "This was built when the factory was being built. Village members can come and eat here in the future. No food coupons are needed. It is affordable and cheap."
Meat dishes cost 50 cents, vegetables cost 20 cents, rice and noodles cost 10 cents, and various noodle soups cost 60 cents. You can have a delicious meal for less than one yuan. If you go to a state-owned restaurant outside, you may not be able to eat such affordable meals if you spend at least three or five yuan.
The Economic Commission's inspection team had a total of six people. Liu Gang carefully prepared four dishes and one soup for the guests who came from afar. Although there were only four dishes and one soup, he put a lot of effort into it.
For example, the braised lion's head is made with pork freshly slaughtered from the pig farm. The members of the cooperative delivered it to him right after the pig was slaughtered. The authentic lion's head is made of three parts fat and seven parts lean. The pork is chopped nearly a thousand times, and the lion's head is made to be soft and chewy. It is fried in oil and then slowly stewed for fifteen minutes. The essence is all in the meatballs.
Shredded eel fried in oil is a famous dish in Suzhou and Hangzhou. It is not greasy, and the meat is fresh and fragrant. Shredded eel cooked with heavy oil and thick sauce is not greasy, but only tender and smooth, because the hot oil locks the moisture of the eel, but it cannot be fried until it is burnt. If it is fried, it will become another dish - fried eel paste, which is very particular about the control of the heat.
A pot of golden soup with pork tripe and chicken is simmered on a small stove over low heat. The temperature is just right when you eat it, and the warm taste can soothe the stomach that is uncomfortable after motion sickness.
It's not a very precious ingredient, but you can see that a lot of care is put into it. The meat is the freshest and sourced locally in the village. Combined with Liu Gang's craftsmanship, you can taste the freshest flavor in every bite.
Before dinner, Zhu Shan casually asked the villagers: "How many times can you eat meat in a year?"
The farmers were stunned at first, and then carefully counted on their fingers: the meat was distributed during the Spring Festival and there was still some left until the fifth day of the New Year. Last year, the village began to subsidize pork from the Dragon Boat Festival, and then after the autumn harvest, and then the college students held banquets... In the second half of the year, a factory was built in the village, and there were countless meats. The laborers who went to build the factory had meat to eat every day until the factory was completed.
"Ten times!" someone counted loudly.
"I can't remember exactly, but it happened many times! We raise pigs in our village, and we have pork to distribute during festivals."
"Reporting to the leaders, I received 15 kilograms of pork from the village dividends at the end of this year. I have never received so much pork in my life!"
The factory canteen opened after the spring. As long as you have money, you can eat as many meat meals as you want. Just thinking about it makes everyone feel that life is more enjoyable, and their eyes towards the leaders become more enthusiastic.
The comrades from the Economic Commission listened and thought to themselves that the living standards of these villagers were really good. They didn't just get 15 kilograms of pork at the end of the year. If this condition was taken alone, there wouldn't be a single village like this in thousands of villages.
After dinner, Zhu Shan met Su Ye alone and talked to her about the "piecework system". He found another way out of the piecework system and was very excited. If the leader wanted to find her something, Su Ye would definitely go along with him.
She introduced the "piece-rate system" in detail, "The reason why our village can ensure efficiency is undoubtedly due to the piece-rate system. Only when it truly involves their own interests will everyone be more active.
When I first came to Shanggou Village, I found that ten people could not weed one mu of land even after a day. After changing to piecework, one person can weed two mu of land in one day. If pesticides are used, one person can finish one hundred mu of land. At the beginning, everyone worked so hard that we had to send them back to rest every now and then. I call this 'distribution according to work'."
Zhu Shan thought that what she reflected was a very practical problem. People are lazy. They have been commending and setting up role models over the years. In order to complete the targets every year, they have gone to great lengths to set up incentive systems and hold commendation meetings, but in the end, they are still not as good as the easy "piecework system". Allocating tasks according to needs is different from "distributing according to work"... The former requires people to watch them work, while the latter requires them to work hard on their own initiative.
Having said that, the "piece-rate system" involves a different distribution system, which is contrary to the current national policy. These young people are really young and arrogant, and they dare to do so only because the tall provincial party committee is supporting them.
He pondered and asked again: "Every year you go to the city to find educated youth to work in the countryside. How many jobs can your village provide?"
This is another issue that Zhu Shan is concerned about.
The employment problem has not only been a social problem in recent years, but also a hot potato that the Economic Commission has taken on this year. A large number of unemployed young people stay in the city and do not work in production, which easily disrupts social order. Their food and accommodation problems have become a heavy burden that the city cannot solve.
The problem of unemployed young people in cities is an urgent problem that the country needs to solve. In recent years, the president has called on educated young people to go to the countryside. But the countryside has nothing and is extremely poor. How can we attract these young people to go to the countryside on their own initiative
Su Ye smiled and said, "We have written down each position in the plan. We estimate that we can provide about 500 jobs in 1962. We plan to recruit young graduates from the city every year. This is called mutual complementation. It not only solves the labor problem of young people in the city, but also solves the problem of labor shortage in our rural construction."
She chatted with the leader for an entire afternoon, while the others accompanied the investigation team to wander around the village, drinking tea, eating fruit, tasting juices of various flavors, and visiting orchards, tea mountains, and sweet potato fields. The whole thing was no different from a farm stay in later generations, and everyone's enthusiasm was overwhelming.
After the sun went down, a group of people got into a car and slowly disappeared from everyone's sight. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
"Teacher Su, does the leader look satisfied?"
Su Ye smiled after a long while and said, "Of course they are satisfied. We gave them all our proposals, right?"
"These leaders are so serious. When I met them, they were so nervous that it was like they were catching an economic criminal."
Secretary Ma smiled and invited everyone to his place for tea. "I'll ask Gensheng to make you the best Jin Xiangyu. Thank you for all the hard work during the New Year holidays. I'll ask the projectionist to continue showing the movie tonight. Do you want to watch "White Haired Girl"?"
Everyone nodded, "Look!" The White-haired Girl is so good to watch. This movie can make people taste sweetness. Especially the elderly love to watch it, and tears well up in their eyes while watching it. The life in the movie is hard, but in reality there are no landlords and no oppression. They have enough food and warm clothes, listen to songs and eat melon seeds. This is the happiest thing.
In the evening, Secretary Li called Su Ye, and his smile seemed to flow through the phone line and out of the receiver.
"I heard that Leader Zhu gave you a very good evaluation. He is a very serious person. Leader said that you did a great job this time."
Su Ye said shamelessly: "We are already very good, how can he not be satisfied?"
She even gasped when someone said she was fat! Secretary Li couldn't even look Su Ye in the face, so he just expressed the leader's opinion to her: "After the New Year, the province and the central government will hold a special seminar on your village's model. If all goes well, your village's deeds will be reported in the newspapers one after another. The leaders require you to stabilize the situation during this period, guard against arrogance and impatience, and work hard to grasp spring production.
Next year, grain production needs to be increased. There is no problem with the high-yield grain experiment, but your village’s per capita output is still far from enough. Secondly, apart from the income from tea, the income from other sideline businesses is still not enough. Didn’t Shanggou Village open a juice factory? Can the income be tripled next year?"
Su Ye accepted the task crisply, "Of course I can do it, please rest assured, leader!"
Secretary Li also told Su Ye a piece of gossip, "Before coming to Shanggou Village, Zhu Shan's group visited 'Da Zhai Village'. He had praised them highly before, but after coming to our province to visit Shanggou Village, he found that you are very flexible."
"Dazhai Village?" Su Ye was stunned for a moment. Her mind went blank for a moment.
She must have heard it right. This Dazhai was the famous "Dazhai" that she remembered
In the 1960s and 1970s, there was a vigorous slogan: "Industry should learn from Daqing, agriculture should learn from Dazhai". This slogan has been the guiding principle until before the reform and opening up. The so-called "Agriculture should learn from Dazhai" refers to the self-reliance and hard work of Dazhai Village. At that time, it was regarded as an advanced object for agricultural learning across the country, and everyone in the country knew it.
Zhang Ying took the phone and corrected him, "It's the house of the house, not the village of the village. Their village is similar to yours, but they are mining terraced fields and improving their lives through hard work."
Zhang Ying had visited Dazhai before, and found that the hardships in Dazhai were really hard, but they had the perseverance of Yugong moving mountains. Both villages are quite interesting, with similar terrain, with many hills and mountains. Dazhai Village dug the hills into terraces, while Shanggou Village planted tea and fruit trees on the mountains, exported the tea to the port city, and squeezed the fruit into juice to open a juice factory.
It was natural for Zhu Shan to be moved by the Dazhai spirit, but Zhang Ying believed that Shanggou Village in their province was not bad either, and even better in some aspects. Shanggou Village's model was more viable, with record-breaking high-yield grains and characteristic industries that earned foreign exchange through exports. It was not only self-sufficient but also had enough to supply the surrounding areas.
Zhang Ying said seriously: "Comrade Su Ye, the province wants you to do your best to fight for this opportunity."
The names are different, but they are similar in that they have "terraced fields"! Su Ye calmed down. They are competing with Daya Village for the title of model, so why can't they compete with them
Digging terraces also has disadvantages. It forcibly changes the natural terrain and easily causes landslides in years with heavy rainfall. Shanggou Village follows the path of Huaxi Village and Xiaogang Village, integrating the ideas of reform and opening up. If nothing else, it develops the rural economy in accordance with local conditions. This is the ideological line of socialist poverty alleviation in the new era!
Su Ye shouted into the microphone in a clear voice: "Don't worry, leader!"
…
In the evening, everyone prepared a sumptuous meal for Gu Xiangqian. Gu Xiangqian's annual leave was only a short week, and he had to go back to work tomorrow. In order to cope with the inspection of the leaders from the central government, they rushed to prepare the materials for several days, and had no time to properly entertain Teacher Su's wife.
Teacher He used the special supply coupons to get a few bottles of good wine and filled his cup. "Captain Gu, try it. This wine is not available on the market. You have to try it!"
He Meimei handed all the good things to Su Ye and asked her to bring them to Gu Xiangqian.
Su Ye spread it out and looked. Oh, they gave quite a lot of things. They took out all the good stuff from the bottom of the box. A thick stack of special supply coupons, including special supply fruits, cakes, cigarettes, alcohol, bicycles, radios, sewing machines, all of which are valuable. There are even industrial coupons. Industrial coupons are a hot commodity issued recently. With them, you can buy industrial products. People in the city are crazy about buying industrial coupons at high prices. The premium has risen to two yuan per piece and no one wants it.
But... Why doesn't Gu Xiangqian need these? It's better to keep them for the village and buy a few more bags of fertilizer!
Gu Xiangqian accepted all the offers and drank a lot of the wine that was offered to him. When they were drunk, everyone said to him, "Teacher Su's life is really not easy. A girl has to go to a place as far away as the port city to sell tea to everyone."
"I heard that the leaders of the provincial party committee were willing to come to our village only after she went to the provincial party committee several times."
"Although she is a bit lazy and likes to oppress us, I feel an indescribable sense of security when she is around. I feel at ease and comfortable from the bottom of my heart. I would feel uncomfortable if she didn't criticize me one day." said a student who was drunk.
Liu Gang choked up when he heard this. Could it be that he was addicted to being scolded by Teacher Su
The others also glared at the freshman. Teacher Su was a person that everyone admired. She was the smartest, most humorous and gentle person. How could she be mean? She was not lazy. It was just that everyone loved her from the bottom of their hearts and was willing to do something for her.
Niu Cuihua said: "Among so many people in the compound, I am not impressed by anyone except Su Ye. She is indeed an extraordinary person. Captain Gu, I know you have a heavy task on your shoulders. Thank you for always supporting Su Ye."
Looking back at the past two years, they relied on their hard-working hands to change the village bit by bit, from nothing to something, and from something to something big, and they have achieved what they are today. This is something she could not have imagined.
Or maybe there is a confidentiality agreement. If she wrote home and told her family that they had whatever they wanted to eat and that they had meat for almost every meal during the New Year, they would probably think she was dreaming!
After the practice meal, Gu Xiangqian and Su Ye sat on the bed together, warming themselves by the stove. They listened to the tunes on the radio and gazed at the bright night sky.
Gu Xiangqian said, "They seemed to be very worried that you would leave them. They kept giving me wine and saying nice things tonight."
Having said that, there was a smile in his eyes.
The longest period of suspension is two years. Even if Su Ye is unwilling to leave, she must go back to school. There are so many people who respect and admire her from the bottom of their hearts. Gu Xiangqian is very proud of her. He plans to contact old friends, elders and leaders to get some support for Su Ye.
Su Ye pointed to the large experimental field in the distance and asked him with a broad smile: "See? This is my ideal."
If all goes well, it will soon turn into a bigger surprise. Su Ye took a look at her backstage and saw that the food had piled up into small hills, which showed that what she was doing now was correct and her years of hard work had finally brought about a glimmer of hope.
Gu Xiangqian praised sincerely, "I saw it, it is beautiful. Su Ye, I am proud of you."