Siheyuan: He Yuzhu’s Sunshine Farm

Chapter 141 Jia Zhang encourages Bangge to steal

After getting off work in the evening, the sun was setting. He Yuzhu took He Yuyu and Yu Haitang to ride home together. There were people on the road in a hurry. Because of the heat wave, the summer in Sijiu City is very hot. No matter it is day or evening, it will always be hot. It’s hard on people.

Just when they were about to enter the door curtain, He Yuyu and Yu Haitang shouted excitedly: "Brother sells popsicles...!"

He Yuzhu looked up and saw an old woman pushing a white wooden cart with two red letters "popsicle" written on it and shouting "popsicle~"

These two greedy cats should be unable to walk at this time.

I bought seven popsicles in the past, one for each person in the family. When the old grandma opened the thick quilt, the cool breath that hit her face drove away the summer heat. There were one popsicle inside that belonged to her childhood. Best memories.

The popsicles were neither cream nor chocolate. The popsicles at this time were sugar popsicles. In factories at that time, tap water that had been sterilized by ultraviolet light was used to make sugar popsicles, and then mixed with milk powder, starch, sugar, flavors, and edible ingredients. pigment.

Often the first part of the popsicle is bitter and astringent. This is because the popsicle mold has been used for too long and has been corroded by salt water.

The price is only a penny per piece, but this is indeed the best tool to relieve the heat in summer for many people during their childhood.

With the popsicles, He Yuyu and Yu Haitang's speed became faster. He Yuzhu watched the two of them enter the courtyard with a smile. At this time, outside the courtyard, people were already moving out a small table in twos and threes to have dinner.

Some people say that in this summer, why can I feel happy eating outside or blowing an electric fan at home?

Sigh. This is so impossible. Let’s not talk about the price of the electric fan. Whether you can afford it or not, you can’t even think about blowing the electricity. At that time, each row of houses shared one electric meter.

How to charge it?
Apportioned equally according to the number of lights per household.

At that time, fluorescent tubes did not exist yet, all incandescent lamps were used, and every house had one lamp for each room.

If there is a desk lamp on the table in your home, it is also a lamp holder, and the radio at home is also a lamp holder.Of course, this is unreasonable, because there are 15-watt light bulbs, and there are also 25-watt or 40-watt light bulbs, and the electricity consumption is of course different; besides, some families are used to turning on the lights before dark, and some families always turn on the radio. .

A big pot of rice will make people feel unbalanced, but they are just discussed behind their backs because there is no better way to charge, so it continues like this.

The light bulbs at that time were very easy to break. Because of poverty, if the light bulb did not light up, they would not throw it away immediately. Instead, they would take it off, hold it in their hands, and turn it carefully to see if they could replace the burned tungsten filament. If so, Once you put it on, it can be used for a few more days.

Another reason is that there was insufficient electricity in the 60s, and there would be power outages from time to time. Every household also had candles or kerosene lamps with glass shades and adjustable lamp bases.

In the future, in order to adjust the power balance in the urban area, Sijiucheng will have a system of rotating power outages for one day per week in each district.

At that time, Xuanwu District had power outages every Thursday, and XC District had power outages every Tuesday.

On this day, the factories in the district stopped working, and the employees' weekly rest day was changed to this day.

So at that time, if people met and asked: "What days of the week do you take off?", they would know which district your workplace was in.

Naturally, each household takes turns charging electricity bills on a monthly basis.

When it was He Yuzhu's turn, it was also He Yuzhu's turn.

"Aunt Liu, how many lights did your house have last month?" "Uncle Li, how many lights did your house have last month?" According to the electricity bill, add, subtract, multiply and divide, go to each house to collect the money, and then make a note In a small notebook.

The electricity bill is paid to the power supply bureau, and the small amount is paid to the next household.

If you have an electric fan at home, you will be attacked by a group of people. Everyone will make a fuss about it, so if you buy it, they will be attacked and they will not let you use it.

So, at that time, summer dinners were usually eaten in the courtyard, and every family would set up a small dining table in front of the door. Interestingly, the smell of other people’s food would also drift along with the wind; if someone else had something delicious, I would also bring some to the neighbors; if there was anything new, I could hear them saying hello loudly. This was the courtyard at that time.

Outside the courtyard is a spacious and flat asphalt road, and there are basically no cars at night.

So after dinner, people will go to the roadside to enjoy the cool air.Some are playing cards under the street lights, some are playing chess, some are watching and giving advice, and some uncles and uncles are lying on bamboo chairs, shaking banana fans and chatting about the mountains. Most people are sitting on small stools in groups of three or two. The group chatted.

The children circled left and right, even more cheerful and lively. Some skipped rope, some jumped rubber bands, some played with sandbags, and some played hide-and-seek.

Anything can be turned into a toy in the hands of children. For example, if you smash a bottle cap, you put the beer bottle cap on the ground. Another child uses his own bottle cap to smash it. If he smashes it over, he wins the other person's bottle. build.

Another example is mud throwing. At that time, some reddish soil would be piled up on the construction site. The soil was very sticky. Children would grab some mud and mix it into a small bowl shape, and then throw it hard on the road. When the mud tire bursts, it will make a "pop" sound. The sound is louder than anyone else's.There are also whip-crackers who split old gear belts, use the threads in them to make whips, and crack the whip on the asphalt road to see who can make the sound.

In summer, the roadside after dinner has become a good place for people to relax and chat, and it is also a paradise for children.

Bangge is the most active at this time, but unfortunately, the adults in the courtyard have ordered their children not to play with Bangge. Anyone who is disobedient will basically be beaten severely.

As time went by, Bangge could only take his two younger sisters and watch others play with resentment.

"Guoping, Guoan, come out quickly." He Yuyu shouted loudly after drinking Yu Haitang and returning to his courtyard.

Eight-year-old Zhou Guoan and 12-year-old Zhou Guoping also ran out.

Now Zhou Guoan is eight years old and has grown a lot taller. The 12-year-old Zhou Guoping has also grown into a big girl. However, the relationship between the two and He Yuzhu is getting closer and closer.

"Sister-in-law, you are off work!"

Zhou Guoping said happily after seeing He Yuyu and Yu Haitang.

"Look what this is?" Yu Haitang handed over a popsicle.

"Ah, it's a popsicle." Zhou Guoan shouted happily. After taking it, he said thank you first, then couldn't wait to tear open the paper outside and took a big bite.

"Wow, it's so cold!" Zhou Guoan was very happy.

And this scene also made He Yuzhu feel gratified. This is what a child who knows how to repay a favor would do. When he gets something he likes, he says thank you in advance instead of stuffing it directly into his mouth and then saying "Thank you". scold you.That white-eyed wolf stick dog and Xiaodang, the children of Qin Huairu's family, just ate He Yuzhu's food and called He Yuzhu a fool.

Of course, children are taught by their parents. If Li Xiuniang respects He Yuzhu, the two children will also respect He Yuzhu. And Qin Huairu is taking advantage of He Yuzhu, so of course the children will also disdain He Yuzhu.

At this time, 14-year-old Banggeng, 12-year-old Xiaodang, and six-year-old Huaihua were just lying by the window eagerly watching He Yuzhu and his family eating popsicles, and the corners of their mouths could not stop dripping.

It's a pity that since Qin Huairu's affair with the first uncle was revealed, the people in the courtyard have kept away from her. Not only that, but when she arrived in the factory, the young workers knew that Qin Huairu had a relationship with the first uncle. Everyone was extremely disgusted.

Now Qin Huairu is living on Qin Huairu's dead wages. The white flour steamed buns he used to eat are no longer replaced by corn flour steamed buns, and the meat is even more unaffordable.

According to our logic, the family is in such a difficult situation. Ms. Jia Zhang, is your mother-in-law going to have to do some work? Although you can’t do heavy physical work, you can always paste matchboxes and earn ten yuan a month. Money, subsidies to support the family, is always possible.

But this is not the case for Mrs. Jia Zhang. Mrs. Jia Zhang is too lazy. She would rather sleep at home than work. However, the conditions at home are really bad. Fortunately, Mrs. Jia Zhang also died in the hands of her son Jia Dongxu. time pension.

Whenever she feels like eating meat, Mrs. Jia Zhang will secretly go to a restaurant alone when no one is at home. She will have fried beef, braised pork, and a piece of fish to satisfy her craving.

However, money is difficult to earn but spent quickly. Later, Jia Zhang’s pension for Jia Dongxu was about to bottom out, so last year, Jia Zhang kept hinting that her grandson Banggeng could look for something in the courtyard.

Since last year, things have been frequently lost in the courtyard, including salted meat, salted fish, rice noodles and oil left outside. Almost everything will be stolen. For a time, people in the courtyard were afraid to leave things outside.

Later, everyone also knew that the person who stole things was Qin Huairu's family. Once, two kilograms of meat coupons were stolen from the family. My God, that was two kilograms of meat coupons. The family saved more than half a year. Meat tickets saved.

At that time, the supply of pork was tight, and 3 meat stamps were issued every month (divided into one for the first, middle and last days), and each ticket supplied 1-3 taels of fresh meat. If the meat purchased was less than 0.20 yuan, you would not be required to register. A two-pound meat stamp is The family squeezed it out from between their teeth and wanted to save some meat and vegetables for their mother when she celebrated her birthday.

But it was actually stolen. Do you think the other party would be angry?

So the men of this family found the Jia family without saying a word and asked Banggeng to take out the meat tickets he had stolen. If it were the previous Banggeng, he might still be afraid, but the current Banggeng has already practiced His face was as thick as the city wall. He refused to admit it and asked the other party to produce evidence. If he did not produce evidence, he would call the police and sue the other party for defamation.

Hehe, it's amazing enough. At the age of 13, you can confuse right and wrong with a eloquent tongue. Fortunately, just when Banggeng refused to admit it, someone in the courtyard stood up and personally testified that he saw Banggeng sneak into the family's home.

This time Bangge had nothing to say, but the younger one had nothing to say, so the older one came out to help at this time.

I saw Mrs. Jia Zhang running out of the house and lying on the ground, howling, rolling around, and cursing loudly, saying that when she entered the house, she was stealing things, and when she entered the house, she just went to look at your home.

Then he yelled Dongxu, Lao Jia, you all come back. The people in the courtyard bullied your grandson, and then even pretended to go to the kitchen to get a knife to commit suicide, causing the other party to be sued for his life.

At this time, the other family could only leave in anger. The two-pound meat ticket was immediately taken over by the Jia family. They bought the one-pound meat ticket, and then used the money to buy a pound of meat. Several people came back. I finished a pound of meat in one meal.

Because of this, the reputation of the Qin Huairu family in the courtyard is getting worse and worse, and everyone deliberately keeps a distance from anyone in the Qin Huairu family.

Qin Huairu's family's life is getting harder and harder now.

"Walk home." He Yuzhu saw those sinister little eyes inside the window. He Yuzhu didn't want Zhou Guoping and Zhou Guoan to be jealous of these three children, because these three children were really shameless.

Banggeng tried to sneak into He Yuzhu's house many times to steal things, but fortunately, He Yuzhu's house was always looked after by Grandma Li, so he never succeeded. Otherwise, He Yuzhu's family would have been the focus of Banggeng's attention.

After entering the house, Grandma Li immediately came over to fan He Yuzhu, Yu Haitang, and He Yuyu, and asked, "Is it hot today?"

"I'm fine!" He Yuzhu replied with a smile.

"Grandma, eat a popsicle." Yu Haitang handed Grandma Li a popsicle, and then went to the kitchen to give one to Li Xiuniang. Grandma Li took the popsicle and smiled and said: "I won't eat it, leave it to Guoping and Guoan. "

After hearing this, Zhou Guoping and Zhou Guoan hurriedly came to Grandma Li, helped tear the popsicle paper open and said, "We have our own, this one is for my wife."

"Haha...!" Grandma Li looked at the sensible child and let out a hearty laugh!

"Wait a moment. Dinner will be served soon. Let's eat on the water tonight!" Li Xiuniang's voice came.

He Yuzhu said: "Then I will move the table, and Guoping Guoan will take the chairs."

"Got it!" Zhou Guoping and Zhou Guoan nodded happily.

The whole family started to move, and after 10 minutes, the water surface came up. This water surface is a bit like cold noodles. In the summer, eating this water surface is very cool.

Pour a bowl over the water and add a full spoonful of sesame seeds.

Saozi is stir-fried with pork, carrots, green peppers, onions, etc. It has a rich aroma and is mixed with the water. It is moderately salty and really delicious.

"delicious!"

Yu Haitang and He Yuyu nodded their heads.

"If it's delicious, eat more, and I'll be good at making noodles." Li Xiuniang laughed.

Zhou Guoping and Zhou Guoan also laughed together.

However, Grandma Li understood very well why she ate more noodles and less steamed buns at home. It was not because Li Xiuniang was only good at making noodles, but because He Yuzhu specifically told her that noodles are easy to digest, and the elderly Eating it is good for the stomach.

So He Yuzhu made his family eat more noodles, just to take care of himself. To be honest, Grandma Li was really satisfied with He Yuzhu. In the past few years, He Yuzhu had taken great care of her.

The last time Grandma Li accidentally fell down and her leg was twisted, He Yuzhu carried her on her back for three months without any complaints. He was really a good child.

The sound of cicadas sounded again, this summer is so beautiful!

(End of this chapter)