A layman in the courtyard

Chapter 69 Negotiating Grain Prices

1959/4/28

Spring has arrived again, and the flowers, plants and trees in the courtyard are full of life.

There is a thick layer of moss growing on the ground in the yard. It is soft when you walk on it, like a high-end green carpet.

Cao Zhihua was wandering in the front yard of the courtyard in a daze.

Xiaoyu went out and saw her elder brother like a wandering spirit. She walked over worriedly and asked:

"Brother, what's wrong with you? It feels so scary. Don't scare Xiaoyu."

When Cao Zhihua heard Xiaoyu's voice, he came back to his senses and smiled comfortingly at Xiaoyu.

"It's okay, Xiaoyu, big brother was thinking about something just now."

The 15-year-old Xiaoyu is already tall and slim, and looks like her mother. She is a little beauty.

Thanks to Cao Zhihua's guidance to the three little ones since childhood, Xiaoyu is now more thoughtful than adults.

Xiaoyu did not calm down with Cao Zhihua's comfort. She took Cao Zhihua's hand to the recliner under the corridor of her home, let Cao Zhihua sit on it, and stood beside him and continued to ask:

"Brother, I have never seen you lose your temper like this. Tell Xiaoyu what happened. Xiaoyu is an adult now and can help brother share the burden."

Cao Zhihua looked at Xiaoyu who looked worried, and shook his head with a dumb smile:

"Brother, everything is fine. It's just that the country elected a new leadership team yesterday. The great men have taken a back seat. The country is about to enter a troubled period."

Although the people in Sijiu City are keen on talking about politics, Xiaoyu is too young to understand these things.

"Oh, then there's nothing to worry about. As long as our family is safe, everything will be fine."

"Well, brother, just be careful as the three of you are growing up. If you are so short of oil and water now, will it affect your healthy growth?"

When Xiaoyu heard this, she remembered that her eldest brother had given up his studies and work at the age of 14. Fortunately, he had worked hard to raise his three brothers and sisters. His tearful eyes were about to fall, and Nunuo said:

"Brother, you have worked so hard. You have taken good care of us. We can eat meat at least once a week, and eat less white flour, millet, and whole grains every day. Look at the lives of other neighbors in the yard. None of them are living as well as us. It’s good.”

Xiaoyu pulled Cao Zhihua to the corridor of her home and asked her eldest brother to sit on the recliner.

Cao Zhihua lay on the chair, shook it, and said:

"Xiaoyu, brother is fine. He can just lie down and rest for a while. You will go and do your work first."

"Okay, brother, I'll go and get busy first. Don't let anything happen to you. If something happens to you, we'll be finished." Cao Zhihua waved his hand impatiently.

"Okay, Luo Li is so young, so he said it's okay."

After driving Xiaoyu back to Wuhe, Cao Zhihua remembered that people's happiness is often determined by comparison. Compared with many people now, the daily food of the three little ones is already very good.

The era of food stamps has fully entered last year, and speculation is now severely suppressed, rationing is extremely strict, and the supplies of materials in the world are also very poor.

The three little ones have a monthly food ration of 25 kilograms per person, Cao Zhihua's monthly ration is 32 kilograms, and meat coupons are 5 taels per person. In total, Cao Zhihua's family has 107 kilograms of grain and two kilograms of meat. Meat coupons cannot be collected because there is a time limit. , so Cao Zhihua would ask the three little ones to go to the vegetable market early every weekend to buy half a catty of meat to eat.

However, in the rationed grains, fine grains only account for 30% and coarse grains account for 70%, so now people in the courtyard cannot make flour and millet every day like before.

The basic food every day is stick noodles and steamed buns.White flour and millet are generally given to the elderly and children during Chinese New Year, festivals, and when relatives and friends visit.

Cao Zhihua bought half a bucket of stick noodles and put them in the kitchen with 30 pounds of sweet potatoes to show off. From time to time he would bring back some white noodles and millet for the three boys to eat secretly.

The three little ones are very sensible. They know that there is something wrong with the food that their elder brother brings home from time to time. They know what kind of life everyone is living now, and they also know that the consequences of the news being exposed will be serious. Therefore, the three little ones always eat with the door locked. Not exposed.

Fortunately, the aroma of steamed buns and steamed rice is not strong, and the kitchen of Cao Zhihua's house is next to the corner of the street and no one lives there, so Cao Zhihua dares to put white noodles and millet in the house from time to time, but he dare not take out meat. a little.

In less than a year, many people have been reported by their neighbors as spies and arrested because of food problems. Those who can prove the source of the supplies can be released. Those who cannot prove the source or bought on the black market are all detained. A little renovation.

So even every week, Cao Zhihua would spend time looking for opportunities to go to the suburbs, find a cave in the wild mountains, and cook a few pots of fish, meat, chicken and other meat dishes that he usually avoided eating.

But I only dare to take a lunch box occasionally and take it home to give the three little ones a toothbrush as a gift. I don't dare to bring meat home in a big way.

Because of the rationing, each urban household is entitled to a monthly quota of meat. Stir-fried vegetables are not like steamed rice, and the aroma cannot be hidden at all. The neighbors in the courtyard basically know what meals your family cooks every day.

If you eat meat every once in a while and you can't tell me where the supplies come from, then I'm sorry, but you will get free meals from now on.

Cao Zhihua thought for a while, but luckily all four of his brothers had urban household registration. They had 2 kilograms of meat coupons every month, and bought 5 taels every weekend. If this continued, they would be able to eat meat dishes every week.

The life of Jia Dongxu's family is quite miserable now. When registering their household registration in 55, Jia Zhang and Qin Huairu were concerned about the three acres of land in their hometown and refused to register their household registration in Sijiu City.

The two mother-in-laws and daughter-in-law have indeed taken a lot of advantage in the past few years. The weather has been good these past few years. Relatives help plant the land in their hometown, and they can bring back 600 kilograms of fine grain from their hometown every year. Compared with other neighbors in the yard, Eating commercial grain was much more cost-effective, which made the neighbors in the courtyard envious.

But last year, the village had a big pot of rice and supplies were distributed according to work, and the village ran out of food. Now the two women in Jia Dongxu's family, plus Qin Huairu, is pregnant with her second child. So many people in the family only eat the commercial food provided by Jia Dongxu. , these days have become sad. Now no one dares to go to the black market. They can only spend high prices to buy negotiated food, or borrow some food from a grandpa's house to live.

Yi Zhonghai's family only consists of his eldest mother and him, and their ration is only 60 kilograms of grain. Although the courtyard houses all have full-time workers to support their families, and they dare not go to the black market, Yi Zhonghai can't stand the fact that he is rich.

Yi Zhonghai's rating reached the top level of workers last year. The legendary level 8 worker's monthly salary is 99 yuan. In addition, Yi Zhonghai lives a frugal life and has saved a lot of money over the years.It's really not stressful to use the money to buy some negotiated food for Jia Dongxu's family.

(End of this chapter)