Siheyuan: Walking the Path of Qin Huairu

The tavern's business was also quite depressed. People couldn't even get enough food, so who would have money to drink? The few people who occasionally came to drink were also gloomy. The tavern had completely lost its former lively atmosphere.

The same is true for the canteen. The benefit of paying extra money to buy food without using food stamps is gone. You have to use food stamps to buy food, so business is not as good as before. It’s good enough that the income can barely pay everyone’s salary.

Tofu is still being sold, with a daily limit of 100 kilograms. This is because Xu Huizhen had the foresight to store a lot of soybeans in advance.

Zhao Yali said with a sad face: "Nothing at all, when do you think this will end?"

Tsai said listlessly: "It will take more than a year or two to get better. Everyone should be mentally prepared."

Zhao Yali stared at Cai Quanwu and asked, "Did you hear any inside information? Otherwise, why are you so sure?"

Cai Quanwu certainly heard what Xu Huizhen said. Xu Huizhen had previously warned him that this year would be a bad year and asked him to store more food. It turned out that there was a shortage of food. Later, Xu Huizhen said that this situation would last for two or three years, which was definitely correct. However, Xu Huizhen had told him not to talk about it casually to other people.

When asked by Zhao Yali, he could only perfunctorily answer, "It's so difficult now. The new grain will have to wait until the wheat harvest next year. Think about it, how good can it be during this period? What if, I mean what if, what if the harvest next year is not good, then life will only be more difficult."

Zhao Yali sighed and said, "What you said makes sense. But what should I do? My eight children are all growing up, and they are eating me to death. Now the food supply has been reduced, and it's all cornmeal, which doesn't even satisfy hunger. The children don't have enough to eat every day. Oh! It worries me so much."

Here is some scientific knowledge. Cornmeal is different from the cornmeal we eat in later generations. Cornmeal today is made by grinding corn and corncobs together into powder. It contains corncobs, and the flour grinding level of this era is not as fine as that of later generations. Therefore, cornmeal is rough, dry, and sore to the throat. Pure cornmeal is yellow, while cornmeal is black and dark in color.

Moreover, the nutrition of cornmeal is not as good as that of cornmeal. The supply of side dishes is insufficient, and there is no fat in the stomach, so the appetite for staple food is particularly large.

The average food supply for residents in Beijing is 27.86 kilograms. Among them, general manual laborers receive 30 to 33 kilograms, light manual laborers receive 28 kilograms, heavy manual laborers receive 37 kilograms, and special workers receive up to 45 kilograms. The elderly and children receive appropriate reductions.

But now the supply is reduced, and even this amount cannot be supplied, not to mention meat and eggs. People can't eat, and the number of poultry raised is even less. Now one pound of meat ticket can only buy half a pound of meat, and sometimes there is not enough supply.

From the historical knowledge Xu Huizhen knew, it seemed that food shortage was not so serious in 59. After all, Beijing was the capital, and the whole country's strength was used to ensure the capital's food supply.

The worst period of famine was in 60. I wonder if it was because of the butterfly effect of the letter she wrote that the top leaders made arrangements in advance, increased food reserves, and made long-term plans?

———Dividing line

He Yuzhu has been doing very well in the steel mill recently. Who dares to call him "Shazhu"? Everyone who meets him calls him Director He politely. When he is not on a business trip, he teaches his two apprentices to practice cooking in the cafeteria. He also has to take time to visit the vegetable base.

This winter, the base's vegetable greenhouse planted a small amount of vegetables, which were reserved for the leaders to manage. When people can't even get enough food, who can afford to eat vegetables that are expensive but not filling?

The remaining land was planted with sweet potatoes. The sweet potato variety Xu Huizhen gave him was really good, with high yield and good taste, especially when roasted. He made roasted sweet potatoes in the cafeteria and made everyone drool.

Moreover, the leaves of sweet potatoes are also edible. After the sweet potatoes are harvested in the countryside, the sweet potato vines and leaves are crushed and used to feed pigs. Of course, people also eat them during years of disaster.

When the sweet potato leaves are tender, they can also be eaten as vegetables. They can be mixed with vegetables, stir-fried, or made into sweet potato leaf steamed bread. Not only are they nutritious, they can also prevent cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, improve constipation, and prevent anemia.

Therefore, many people in later generations highly praised it.

Today in the third canteen, He Yuzhu made steamed corn bread with sweet potato leaves. It looked emerald green, making people very appetizing. The vegetables used were the top ones picked from the vegetable greenhouse to control the growth. They were tender and tasted good. They cannot be wasted. For this reason, Director Li specially called him to the office and praised him. He said: "Zhu Zi, the steamed corn bread you made today was very good. You made full use of everything and didn't waste anything. It seems that you are good at managing the household and making arrangements. After a few more years of training, you can become the director of logistics."

He Yuzhu grinned and said, "This is all thanks to your leadership, Director Li. If it weren't for you making the decision to build a vegetable greenhouse, the workers in our factory would never have had such a good fortune." He Yuzhu's mouth was a lie, and he flattered Director Li loudly, making him feel very happy.

He took out an envelope from the drawer, handed it to He Yuzhu and said, "You didn't ask for money for the apples you gave me before. Take these receipts back, otherwise your wife will make you kneel on the washboard."

He Yuzhu smiled so hard that his teeth were exposed and said, "That's impossible. My wife loves me very much. Whatever I say goes."

Director Li snorted coldly, "Go and visit the two taels of cotton. Everyone in the steel mill knows that you are a henpecked man and a wife slave."

He Yuzhu argued: "We call it loving husband and wife, respecting each other like guests. How can they know the secret of getting along with husband and wife?"

After leaving Director Li's office, He Yuzhu opened the envelope and looked at it. There was a bicycle ticket, a radio ticket, 5 cigarette and alcohol tickets, and a stack of industrial tickets and cloth tickets. He muttered to himself, this logistics job is really a lucrative job, with so many tickets. He won't lose out if he exchanges these tickets for ten boxes of apples.

Director Yang was not willing to lag behind and generously gave him a job in the steel mill. Now that steel is in the lead, the number of jobs in the steel mill has also risen. They can be sold for more than 600 yuan. There is no other way, just follow the market, the factory has good welfare benefits.

He Yuzhu was very happy and hummed: Unity is strength. This strength is iron, this strength is steel, harder than iron, stronger than steel...

After returning home in the evening, he handed the gift from Director Li and Director Yang to his wife and said, "I got another work quota. Do you want it? If not, I will sell it. Jobs in the steel mill are very popular now."

Xu Huizhen thought for a moment and realized that in a close relationship, no one needs to work.

After much deliberation, he wanted to give this job to Xu Jianfu, the eldest son of Xu Jianshe's third uncle. In Xu Huizhen's memory, this family had good character and helped his family a lot, especially his third son Xu Jianan. Knowing to repay kindness is a traditional virtue of the Chinese people.

But Xu Jianan is still young, so this benefit should be given to his elder brother. If the elder brother has a job, the family's life can be improved.

The eldest son, Xu Jianfu, also had a hard life. Because there were many children in the family, life was difficult. He did not marry until he was in his thirties. Later, when life got better, he spent money to buy a wife from another place. She gave birth to a son for him. But after a few years, the wife ran away again, leaving him and his son to depend on each other.