readsfreenovel Chapter 225 "He Yuzhu" 29
Chapter 225 "He Yuzhu" 29
In October 58, supplies began to become scarce. Whenever people in the compound gathered to chat, He Yuzhu would steer the conversation toward "food".
For example: "It hasn't rained for a long time, so this year's yield is probably not going to be good."
"Everyone's busy making steel right now, I don't know if anyone's still doing the work in the fields."
“With all the large canteens in the countryside now, who’s going to work hard anymore? Anyway, it doesn’t matter how much you work, you get the same food.”
"You're saying satellites are being deployed everywhere, but does your hometown have that kind of production capacity? Wangjia Village certainly doesn't." and so on.
People who survived the war years are not stupid. Even if there are stupid people, they are protected by their families. So, as people listened, they started to take action.
The family's grain ration book was used up at the beginning of each month. They would occasionally go to the pigeon market to browse, and if they came across any grains, whether coarse or refined, they would bring them home. The women, who usually stayed at home, would often get together to go to the mountains around Beijing to dig for wild vegetables and such.
And sure enough, they found sweet potatoes and potatoes while digging. This caused quite a stir, with every household pitching in. However, as more and more people came to dig, conflicts frequently broke out, and He Yuzhu stopped allowing his own family members to come.
Every day off, while the women were digging for wild vegetables, He Yuzhu would lead the able-bodied men in the yard to the depths of the mountains to find meat. Although they only caught a wild boar once, they caught quite a few pheasants and rabbits, which were then salted and distributed to each family.
Meat rations have been reduced now. The men in the family are mostly doing physical labor, and the kids are growing. Without meat, it's really hard to cope.
As they continued to save, in 60, the compound organized several trips to the black market. By 61, each household was only supplied with two jin of white flour per year, and even with the very limited rations of oil and meat, it was practically impossible to buy them. There was no meat for sale in the market, and several households in the compound were still struggling to make ends meet each month.
One was the Yan family. Although Yan Jiefang had joined the army through He Yuzhu's connections after graduating from high school, his family members were either students or on ordinary rations, and their monthly rations were basically the lowest level. Even though Yan Bugui tried to replace coarse grains with sweet potatoes, the family still didn't have enough to eat. There was no oil or fat, and everyone seemed to have become "big-bellied men".
Another family is the Jia family. Jia Zhangshi is not subject to rationing. In good years, there are places to buy high-priced grain. But now, let alone the pigeon market, you can't find grain for sale in the black market. Even if there is, it is snatched up as soon as it appears. Jia Zhangshi has become as thin as a normal person.
If the Yi family hadn't adopted a child before, they could have helped the Jia family a little. But now every family is struggling, and the Yi family also has to take care of their own children, so they can offer Jia Dongxu very little help. Jia Dongxu is a family man; even though he's become so thin he's practically a paper doll, he still tries his best to share his food with his family.
At this time, Qin Huairu was pregnant. Although the people in the courtyard also felt that Jia Dongxu was a bit out of control, and several older women advised Qin Huairu to have an abortion, Jia Zhangshi felt that once the child was born, there would be a ration of food, the family would have more food every month, and the adults could eat a little more every day, so she wouldn't let Qin Huairu have an abortion.
It was only then that He Yuzhu remembered that, according to the timeline in the TV series, Jia Dongxu should have died this year or next. Now He Yuzhu knew how Jia Dongxu died: he was starving. As for the operational error, it was probably because he had low blood sugar while operating the machine, which caused the problem.
Seeing that everyone in the courtyard was almost skin and bones, He Yuzhu felt that things couldn't go on like this, or something bad would really happen in the courtyard. So he gathered the heads of each household in the courtyard to hold a meeting in the front yard.
"I've come to talk to you all today about grain. I can get a batch of grain." He Yuzhu didn't beat around the bush and directly stated why he wanted to see them.
Although everyone was excited, they all restrained their voices. "Zhu Zi, can you really get the grain? How much can you get?" Yi Zhonghai asked on behalf of everyone.
“A family can only get a maximum of 400 jin of cornmeal. The price is high, but it’s a little cheaper than the black market price, at one yuan per jin. If a family needs less, other families can share it,” He Yuzhu said.
"My family wants 400 jin!" Yi Zhonghai was the first to say. "My family also wants 400 jin!" Liu Haizhong also said. After that, the heads of each family expressed their opinions and all wanted 400 jin. After all, no one knew when the famine would end. If they didn't want it this time, who knew if they would have it next time? Now was not the time to be stingy with money.
"Let me make this clear from the start: don't ask where the grain came from. This is the only time I can get it. If you want the grain, we'll sign a document. Everyone is involved in this, so if anyone leaks the information, we'll all be held responsible. So keep your own family members' mouths shut."
Those who want grain, come and sign here, then go home and get the money to give to me. I'll deliver the grain to you tonight. I'll knock on whose door, and whoever opens the door to take the grain. Don't open the door if you don't knock. Uncle Yan, give me the key to the compound tonight." He Yuzhu had to be careful, after all, he had read so many fanfictions and even lived in parallel worlds. To put it bluntly, he didn't trust these people's character.
The heads of each household came over and signed and pressed their fingerprints on the documents that He Yuzhu had prepared in advance. Then they all quietly went home to get money. The people in the courtyard were really not short of money. Every family had a lot of savings. Even the Jia family, since Jia Dongxu's salary had increased in the past two years, had been saving money every month. Even though they had spent a lot on buying grain in the past two years, they still had a lot of savings.
Everyone went back to their families to discuss the matter, keeping it from the children. The children couldn't know about this; in those days, food was a matter of life and death. How could the children know about something so life-threatening? No one made a big fuss, not even the Jia family.
One by one, everyone came over and paid their money. He Yuzhu then told everyone to go back and wait, while he went out of the courtyard and locked the gate from the outside.
None of the people who returned home were in the mood to sleep. They weren't worried that He Yuzhu would embezzle the money, but rather that something might happen to him when he brought back the grain. These days, news of people being beaten to death over food was everywhere, so they were all worried about the grain supply.
Around 2 a.m., He Yuzhu returned to the courtyard house and knocked on each door in the front yard. Each house had four bags of cornmeal, each weighing 100 jin (50 kg). When the door opened, He Yuzhu helped deliver the grain inside and then closed the door. No one spoke during the entire process.
It took more than half an hour to deliver the grain. When he delivered it to the Jia family, he said, "Aunt Jia, you know that people who practice martial arts know a little about medicine. Brother Dongxu needs to eat more, otherwise his body won't be able to take it. He can't be in trouble in your family."
Tears welled up in Jia Zhangshi's eyes immediately. That was her own flesh and blood; how could she not feel heartache? This damned world! "Eat! I'll watch him eat from now on!"