Go back to the prosperous days and become a layman

Chapter 438 437 Winter Cabbage
Only when he arrived at the designated location did Tang Zhitong realize how much manpower and resources were used to harvest cabbage today.

Not only students from the Post and Telecommunications College, but also students from other universities participated. Except for the quantity needed by their respective schools, the rest of the cabbages were harvested, weighed, and taken away by special vehicles or animal-powered vehicles. It seemed that they were transported to various grocery stores in the old city.

The grain harvest was poor and the supply was insufficient. If there is a problem with the cabbage again this year, life will be difficult for the people.

There is strength in numbers, and we can accomplish great things by concentrating our efforts. This was demonstrated vividly at this moment.

Decades later, it is rare to see college students participating in crop harvesting under the organization of the school. The only large-scale social practice organized by colleges and universities is probably the two-month internship arranged uniformly on the eve of graduation.

But at the moment, this is a common phenomenon, and Tang Zhitong learned about its source in the ideological and political class.

Social practice is just a term that Tang Zhitong borrowed decades later. The correct term at present is "productive labor."

In August 1958, the leader visited Tianjin University and clearly proposed that colleges and universities should focus on three issues, one of which was "combining education with productive labor."

In September, a document was issued stipulating that colleges and universities must include production labor in their teaching plans and organize students to participate in production labor.

Of course, the content of the document not only mentions colleges and universities, but also primary and secondary schools, requiring that labor be promoted to the status of a formal course. The original words are "In all schools, labor must be listed as a formal course."

In short, the labor subject was introduced into schools and continued.

Before Tang Zhitong came here, the school still had labor classes.

Weeding the campus, moving the sand pile from the southeast corner of the playground to the northwest corner, and then moving it from the northwest corner to the southeast corner before the next class, and so on.

Tang Zhitong was still young at that time and didn't understand why they had to do this. He thought it was a futile effort.

But when I grew up and saw a new generation of young people growing up, I felt that there was nothing wrong with labor classes. Not only did they enhance cooperation and relationships with classmates, exercise the body, and temper the will, but they also allowed children to experience the hardships of the working people when they were not aware of it. This meant that I was not out of touch with the masses.

During the high school entrance exam, ten pull-ups were required to pass, and more than 95% of the male students could do it.

But as time goes by, it seems that fewer and fewer students can do this, and even college students who were once known for their "toughness" have become "fragile".

Getting back to the topic, as we all know, 58 was a very special year, and many things became extremely exaggerated in that year.

Not only students in school have to participate in production labor, but many units cannot avoid it either, so Xiao Wang went to the countryside to deliver books.

Because higher education has set a line for colleges and universities, there must be 3-4 months of productive labor in a school year. Only then can the schools contact some units for cooperation, and even students with outstanding performance can enter the job early.

It's a bit outrageous, but it's also a helpless move in an era of talent shortage.

By the time Tang Zhitong finished his work and returned to the college with the remaining cabbage, it was already dark.

At this time, Tang Zhitong remembered that he did not greet Xiao Wang in advance before participating in the production labor today, and he didn't know whether she was anxious or not.

Before eating, Tang Zhitong called the pay phone at the entrance of his alley, but unfortunately the person at the phone had already gone off work and no one answered.

After working for an entire afternoon, Tang Zhitong was starving, so he went to the canteen to get his meal and wolfed it down.

After eating three steamed buns with freshly stewed Chinese cabbage in the cafeteria, Tang Zhitong still felt a little unsatisfied, and the other students felt the same way.

This was Tang Zhitong’s second time eating the college’s steamed bread. He didn’t think it was very delicious the last time, but today he was very hungry and it tasted especially sweet to him.

So, sometimes people are just picky eaters. They are not hungry when they are picky about food, but when they are starving, anything tastes delicious.

Tang Zhitong didn't delay any longer. After dinner, he rode his bicycle and headed home in the dark along the slightly frozen road.

It took me nearly two hours to ride the twenty-mile distance from the Post and Telecommunications College to my home.

"Are you back?" After hearing the sound of the front door, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law both walked out quickly from the main house.

"Well, the college was busy with labor today and there was no prior notice. When I called, there was no one on the public phone." Tang Zhitong put away his bicycle and turned around to bolt the door.

"Have you eaten? Are you hungry?" Classmate Xiao Wang came up and took Tang Zhitong's bag without any blame and asked.

"The college provided a meal for me, and I came back after eating." Tang Zhitong lowered his head and allowed Xiao Wang to take off his bag smoothly.

"You kid, if you have something to say, tell Jingwen in advance. You waited and waited, but she didn't come. If I hadn't stopped her, Jingwen would have gotten on the bike and went to the school to find you." Zhang Guifang breathed a sigh of relief, and then started nagging, expressing her concern on behalf of her daughter-in-law and blaming her son for not telling her in advance.

"Okay, Mom, I'll definitely do it next time. This happened suddenly, and the farmers' cabbages were frozen in the fields. The college organized a rush to harvest them, but we didn't have time to take care of them at all. I guess the street will soon send out a notice to buy cabbages." Tang Zhitong nodded in agreement, took Xiao Wang's hand and patted it to express his apologies.

In front of his mother-in-law, Xiao Wang felt a little embarrassed, but he didn't pull his hand out.

Zhang Guifang pretended not to see anything, as if she was night-blind. However, the curve of her mouth betrayed her. She turned around and walked towards the main house while saying, "The street office has already notified us this afternoon that we will start selling cabbages from tomorrow. I wanted to ask you, will we buy some?"

"Buy it. It's less than two cents per pound, and it's not expensive. Why not buy it? When the cellar is built in a few days, we can throw all of them into the cellar and eat them until next summer." Tang Zhitong made a decision for his mother without hesitation.

"Okay, let's buy it." Zhang Guifang nodded and agreed.

"Mom, is there a limit on the purchase of this cabbage?" Tang Zhitong asked again.

"Yes, there is a limit. What is not limited now? One person can only buy 30 kilograms at most. You need to take your food certificate to buy it and register." Zhang Guifang replied.

"Then let's buy within the upper limit." Tang Zhitong was afraid that Zhang Guifang would buy less, so he reminded her.

"Okay." Zhang Guifang pushed open the door, let her son and daughter-in-law in, and then closed the door.

"Mom, there will be a lot of people buying cabbage tomorrow. You go and queue up first. After you buy it, ask a neighbor to look after it and call me over." Tang Zhitong had no plan to buy cabbage. He took advantage of his mother's absence to dig out the cellar.

"Don't worry about it. I will go to see your Aunt Ma tomorrow. We can go together and use her cart and buy it back. Why, you are not going to school tomorrow?" Zhang Gui spoke quickly and had already made arrangements in his mind.

"I took a day off and dug the cellar before it freezes solid."

"You've asked for leave. Let's dig the cellar together. Or you can go to Jingwen's mother tomorrow and ask her to help buy the cabbages and ship them back?" Zhang Guifang obviously thought more than her son.

"Mom, no need. There isn't much quota there. My mom bought some for us at the canteen at her workplace. Just let Jingying carry it upstairs." Upon hearing this, Xiao Wang immediately declined.

In the past, the canteen there would purchase some winter vegetables and distribute them to everyone as a welfare benefit. The whole family would go out together and carry most of the vegetables upstairs in one trip.

There are three people there now, and 90 kilograms of cabbage can be transported in two trips at most, so Xiao Wang did not think of asking her husband to make another trip.

Tang Zhitong chatted with his mother for a few more words, then went back to his room with Xiao Wang to sleep.

The stove was obviously lit early, and the west wing was quite warm. Tang Zhitong lay on the bed, thinking about storing cabbage for the winter.

Last year, there was no street notice and there was no purchase limit on cabbage. Cabbages were placed in front of grocery stores and even pushed to the street corners for sale on vegetable beds.

As the average living area of ​​residents is very limited and not every household has a cellar, many people chose to buy food as they ate last year.

It was precisely because of this that Tang Zhitong had the opportunity to buy cabbage last year.

This year's street notice already has the meaning of storing cabbage for the winter.

The supply of non-staple food is tight right now. When many residents, including Zhang Guifang, heard that they could buy cabbage, they were just happy and certainly didn't think too much about it.

Tang Zhitong had just participated in the rush to harvest cabbages in the afternoon, and when he saw the wrinkled faces of the vegetable farmers, he understood everything.

The reason why residents of Beijing are storing cabbage for the winter this year is probably not just because the cabbage has been frozen.

The cabbage should also be distributed to the residents of the city as soon as possible, rather than being put in the hands of vegetable farmers.

If the cabbages are allowed to be stored in the commune as in previous years, perhaps after a while, not only will it become much more difficult to harvest them, but the amount harvested may also be much less.

After all, the further into winter we get, the less there is to eat, and who wants to go hungry?
Don’t worry about things that you shouldn’t worry about. Tang Zhitong fell asleep in a daze, and when he woke up, it was already the morning of November 11, Singles’ Day.

After breakfast, Xiao Wang and Fengzhen went out together, Fengzhi went to school, Zhang Guifang queued up at the grocery store to buy cabbage, and Tang Zhitong prepared to dig a cellar.

There were not many cellars in the old city before liberation, because many people did not have their own houses at that time, and many houses were controlled by the "house lords".

Just like future landlords, how many landlords will be able to provide tenants with first-class energy-consuming appliances and parking spaces?
The most common cellars are in rural areas, also called villages.

At that time, farms were generally owned by the powerful and wealthy. They would dig cellars to store fresh vegetables, and servants would regularly deliver them to their masters' homes.

The cellar in the master's house is usually used to store watermelons or something to cool down in the summer.

The powerful would dig cellars deep inside the inner city to store ice, and the construction cost would be ridiculously high.

The Aisin-Gioro clan really knew how to enjoy themselves. They built as many as eighteen ice cellars!

During the coldest days of winter, the hard ice on the lake and in the moat is cut and stored in ice cellars, to be taken out and used for cooling in the hot summer of the following year.

Of course, the water in Shichahai and Haizi are all first-class water flowing from Yuquan Mountain. The water quality is clear, and the ice taken from here is provided for the Aisin-Gioro group to use.

The ice taken from the moat was of lower quality and was generally given to ministers as a token of the emperor’s grace.

After liberation, digging cellars was actually closely related to storing vegetables for the winter.

Starting this year, winter vegetable storage will be completed before the cold winter comes. It will no longer be a model of buying and eating as before, so many places will gradually begin to build cellars.

For example, on the west side, the dormitory building that will be built in the future will have not only a row of storage rooms downstairs, but also additional cellars outside the storage rooms, in neat rows.

This cellar is built with red bricks, with prefabricated panels and concrete poured on top, and has ventilation holes, so it is very sturdy.

If ordinary people dig their own cellars, although they would like to be more particular, they are short of money and can only make do with what they have.

The lowest cost method is to open a circle with a diameter of 80 centimeters or one meter, dig directly down five or six meters, and then dig side holes on both sides.

As long as a pit is dug at a certain distance in the vertical shaft so that there is a place to step, the cellar can be dug.

The advantage is that it saves money, the disadvantage is that it is laborious, and you might even end up digging out water.

The next step is to dig down three or four meters, then lay a few logs on top, then lay woven reeds or something on top of the logs, and finally cover with soil.

The advantages are that it is cheap and fast, but the disadvantages are that it is not water-resistant and easily corroded, and may need to be renovated every two or three years.

Taking into consideration that he also wanted to grow vegetables in the yard, Tang Zhitong chose to dig about four meters down, then covered it with gray soil and wall bricks, raised the top, applied cement, and then covered it with gray soil and mud.

The advantage of this is that it does not interfere with vegetable planting and there will be no leakage. The disadvantage is that the construction cost will be relatively high. However, Tang Zhitong has already prepared the most expensive item in the cellar - bricks, so the price is no longer so heavy.

The location for the cellar chosen by Tang Zhitong was two meters away from the south side of the main house to avoid it being too close and causing deformation of the foundation of the main house.

After drawing the length and width, Tang Zhitong began to dig the ground with his head. Digging the ground was just an act, as the real work was done by the plug-in.

When Zhang Guifang returned home at noon, Tang Zhitong had already dug three meters deep, which really surprised Zhang Guifang: "Anzi, did you do this by yourself?"

"Well, it may be because we farm at home, the soil is not hard." To prove that what he said was true, Tang Zhitong waved his head, dug hard, and then pried, and a large piece of soil rose up.

"That's quite a lot of work. You must be exhausted, right? Let's do it after dinner. There are too many people buying cabbage. I left home late in the morning and it wasn't our turn yet. I asked my neighbor to save a seat for me. Now I have to queue again after eating." After saying this, Zhang Guifang hurried into the house to prepare lunch.

Tang Zhitong thought, what a coincidence, there is no one at home, which is a perfect opportunity for me to cheat.

After lunch, Tang Zhitong leveled the floor of the cellar, covered it with a layer of dust, then squatted beside the cellar and smoked a cigarette.

I was thinking happily in my heart, if this were to build a shelter in the end times, wouldn't it be done in minutes?

After smoking, Tang Zhitong went directly to the Housing Management Office.

I first consulted Masters He and He about wall and roof construction. After handing them two boxes of cigarettes, the two masters patted their chests and assured me that there would be no problem and said that they could finish the job in one day with two helpers.

Next, of course, there was a cordial and friendly exchange with the comrades from the Housing Management Office.

Due to food shortage, Tang Zhitong chose to "take charge of the labor and materials" this time, without having to provide food. He agreed to start work immediately, and paid a deposit of ten yuan to have cement and sand delivered to his home.

With the addition of Master He and He and two young workers, the speed naturally increased.

In order to complete the project as soon as possible, Tang Zhitong drove the four masters down to the cellar and carried the wall bricks alone.

The bricks of the city wall were large, and Tang Zhitong transported them down in a timely manner, so the walls of the cellar grew taller at a speed visible to the naked eye.

As it was getting dark, the bottom of the cellar and the surrounding walls had been built, and the top would be cleaned up by Masters He and He tomorrow.

(End of this chapter)