Go back to the prosperous days and become a layman

Chapter 577 Chapter 576 Exchange Rice
Who is this woman? She was the girl selling onions and ginger whom Tang Zhitong met on his way home from school when it snowed last year when the Post and Telecommunications College helped the nearby commune harvest cabbages.

What Tang Zhitong remembered most about her was that she cried and beat her younger brother who had ruined the Baicai Gang.

I don’t know whether she carried the frozen cabbage stalks back home. It seems that her life is still very difficult.

"Are you okay?" Tang Zhitong parked his bicycle and walked forward to help the girl up.

The two robbers knew they were in the wrong, and like wild dogs that had been let off their leash, they relied on their familiarity with the terrain and disappeared in the blink of an eye. Even if Tang Zhitong had used cheats, he couldn't find them.

"It's okay, thank you." The girl was still scared and couldn't stand steadily. After being helped up by Tang Zhitong, she squatted down again holding the basket.

Tang Zhitong walked back a few steps, bent down and picked up the scarf that had fallen to the ground. Fortunately, it was caught by a branch on the ground, otherwise it would have been blown away by the wind.

Tang Zhitong brushed off the dust and dead leaves on his scarf and handed it to the girl: "Put it on quickly. The wind is strong. Don't catch a cold."

"Thank you." The girl took the scarf with one hand but did not put it on her head. She held the basket tightly with the other hand, as if she was afraid that Tang Zhitong would snatch it away.

When Tang Zhitong saw the girl's expression, he knew that she was suffering from stress.

"Put on your scarf and go home quickly. It's not safe for you to be here alone." It was a cold and cloudy day. Tang Zhitong looked around. Who knew who might be hiding nearby? Would they jump out like they did just now?

"Comrade, do you want rice?" The girl tied the scarf around her head tremblingly and did not recognize Tang Zhitong. Perhaps it was because she was still frightened, or perhaps it was because Tang Zhitong wrapped himself too tightly.

"How much?" Tang Zhitong finally figured out why the girl was robbed. She probably asked everyone she met if they wanted rice.

Food is expensive nowadays, and it would be strange if people didn't take it seriously if I asked this question so openly.

"Five dollars...four dollars and fifty cents at the lowest!" The girl gritted her teeth, closed her eyes, and stretched out five fingers towards Tang Zhitong.

"Wow, you're quite bold in asking for a price? Why is rice so expensive?" Tang Zhitong had a good impression of this girl and had intended to help her, but he didn't expect the price to be beyond his expectations.

At present, you can buy a coarse grain ticket with a face value of one kilogram from the ticket sellers in the park for one dollar.

Flour and rice coupons were worth at most two yuan per pound. Even if you included the money for buying grain at the grain store, it would be two yuan and thirty or four yuan at most.

"This... this is the rice for the nobles to eat. Our village team planted some and turned it all in. Only a little was left for each household." As the girl spoke, she squatted down and grabbed the basket, looking around, as if she was afraid that someone would run out to snatch it.

"Oh, it's Jingxi rice, right?" Tang Zhitong immediately understood after hearing what the girl said. The last time he went there, he helped to harvest cabbages and didn't pay attention to what was planted in other fields.

Jingxi rice is very famous, but its planting area in Beijing is not wide. During the Qing Dynasty, the Tartar royal family had their own planting areas, which were probably in the Summer Palace, Yuquan Mountain, Liulangzhuang, and the area around Tsinghua University today.

The girl's village is right at the corner of this area.

"Yeah, yeah, that's right, that's what it's called!" When the girl heard the name, she became more excited, thinking she had met someone who knew the business.

"Four dollars and fifty cents is fine. How much is in your basket?" Tang Zhitong still remembers the Jingxi rice clearly. He has been here for more than a year and has only eaten it once and a half. Once was in Chunshu Hutong and half was at home. He mixed it with other rice to make two kinds of rice.

"Five pounds! You want them all?" the girl asked in surprise.

I couldn't help but be surprised. I've been here for half a day, but there are few people and even fewer people asking questions. I finally found someone who asked, but not only did he not take anything, he turned around and tried to steal my rice!
"Take out two grains and let me take a look. If they are Jingxi rice, I will take them all." If circumstances permit, Tang Zhitong doesn't mind improving the quality of life a little. Although he can't eat it every day like some people, it's still okay to improve it occasionally.

The girl did not hesitate. She reached into the bamboo basket, pulled aside the straw on top, revealing the bundle inside. She opened a crack, pinched out a few grains, and carefully handed them to Tang Zhitong.

Tang Zhitong picked up a grain and looked at it carefully. Jingxi rice looked different from ordinary rice. Ordinary rice was round and short, while Jingxi rice was long and slender, and its surface looked slightly reddish, so it was called "rouge rice".

Since the girl didn't recognize him, Tang Zhitong felt that there was no need to reveal his identity. He pinched the rice with his hands and passed it into his mouth from under his scarf, pretending to bite it and tasted it.

"Okay, that's the taste. Are you sure it's five pounds?" Tang Zhitong chewed it, nodded with satisfaction, and took out money while asking.

"Well, five kilograms. It's not a lot, but definitely not a small amount." The girl was very honest and answered decisively.

"It's so cold, it's not easy for you to come out. Here, 25 yuan. Next time, ask the adults in the family to come out. As a girl, if this happens again, you will have no place to cry." Tang Zhitong admitted that he was soft-hearted. It was a disaster year, and it was very unfriendly to the farmers.

The girl burst into tears the moment she took the money. She counted the money while crying. After confirming that the amount was correct, she wiped her tears with her sleeves, held the basket and was about to kneel down to Tang Zhitong.

"Hey~Hey! What are you doing? I don't want you doing this!" Tang Zhitong was quick-eyed and quick-handed. He didn't care about the differences between men and women at this time. He took a step forward, grabbed the girl's arm and lifted her up.

The hardships of life, coupled with the fright she had just received, and Tang Zhitong's heartwarming gesture, made the girl unable to hold back her tears any longer, and she lay on the basket and burst into tears.

"Girl, if you beat me like this, I will be the one who gets beaten. People will think I bullied you. Stop crying." Tang Zhitong felt helpless and sad. It was all for food. If they could only have a few melons and dates to fill their stomachs, who would be willing to lose face and kneel down to others?
The girl may have heard it, she wiped her tears with her sleeve, her sobbing turned into sobbing, and she cried and said: "Rice, rice is for you, you are a good person, I will pray to God to bless you at home."

"Alas, if God cared about these things, he would have struck those troublemakers to death long ago. Just wait and see. When spring comes, pick more wild vegetables and fruits, and dry them in the sun if you can't eat them." Tang Zhitong smiled and shook his head. He was a man of little importance and could not get involved in many things.

"Here's rice." The girl didn't know whether she heard it or not, she took out a bundle from the bamboo basket and handed it to Tang Zhitong.

"Pour it into my bag." Tang Zhitong took the shoulder bag off his body and emptied it with a hook. The bag was not big, so it was more than enough to hold five kilograms of rice.

No matter what, life had to go on. The girl stopped crying, untied her bag, carefully picked up a handful of rice, and slowly put it into Tang Zhitong's shoulder bag, while Tang Zhitong held the bag on the side.

There wasn't much rice, and in a short while, all the rice was transferred to the bag. Tang Zhitong put the bag on his back again and said to the girl, "It's not very peaceful around here. Which way are you going? I'll protect you from behind and send you off."

"I live outside the city. Thank you, you are a very kind person." The girl was still a little embarrassed. She imitated the people in the city and bowed awkwardly to Tang Zhitong.

"Okay, stop being polite, pack up your things and go." Tang Zhitong didn't know whether to laugh or cry. In just a short while, he received two "good guy cards", both from the same girl. The girl turned around, put the money close to her body, put the bamboo basket on her back, turned around and nodded to Tang Zhitong, and walked out of the city with her head down.

Tang Zhitong didn't ride a bike, but followed behind pushing his bicycle, keeping a distance of three to five meters.

On the way out of the city, the two of them didn't talk at all. Only the howling northwest wind whistled in their ears, as if accusing something...

After leaving the city, Tang Zhitong accompanied her all the way to Xiaoxitian before he stopped and said, "Miss, the road ahead should be fine. Just walk back along the main road by yourself."

Nowadays, there are definitely people who dare to rob people on the road, but most of them will choose remote places. There is a main road from here to the production team where the girl is. There are also more universities and factories here, and they are all people with guaranteed lives, so they will not jump out to do such despicable things.

"Well, thank you." After hearing this, the girl turned around and bowed to Tang Zhitong again.

Tang Zhitong smiled and waved. After the girl turned around and walked home, he turned the car around again and headed into the city.

On the way back, Tang Zhitong wondered whether it was time to exchange for some Jingxi rice?
When soaking rice this morning, Tang Zhitong found that the quality of the rice was not very good and had no fragrance.

Last year's Jingxi rice has been harvested, and it is estimated that rice farmers may have some new rice. It seems like a good choice to take this opportunity to exchange it.

I definitely couldn't go to the area around Yuquan Mountain and the Summer Palace. After all, I had worked on the construction site collecting stuff for the supply and marketing cooperative for a few months and had a lot of dealings with local residents. There was no guarantee that someone would recognize me.

Apart from this old Jingxi rice growing area, there are only two places in the city where Jingxi rice is grown, namely Baishuiwa Village in Shangzhuang, Changle Village and Yuanmingyuan.

As for Baiwang Mountain, wheat and corn are still the main crops at present. It will have to wait until the Beijing-Miyun Canal is completed in 1966 before it can be converted into paddy fields and Jingxi rice can be planted.

The history of rice cultivation in the Old Summer Palace is not long, and it only started around 1955. However, it was not planted by farmers, but it was a bit like a farm, and the staff were all paid.

The cultivation history in Shangzhuang is longer, but Tang Zhitong estimated that it was not specially supplied to the royal family in the past.

The only drawback is that Shangzhuang is a bit far from the inner city, probably about thirty or forty kilometers away.

Tang Zhitong sighed in his heart, it doesn’t matter if it’s far, at worst he can take the train. If he doesn’t seize the opportunity this year, he will have no chance in the future, because after a year, when 61 years comes, Shangzhuang will be integrated with the farm, and it will be difficult to switch to Jingxi rice by then.

Since it was an exchange, Tang Zhitong took inventory of the inventory while riding his bike. In addition to money, there was also some food.

I went to Anton a few days ago. After deducting the money given to my uncle and aunt and the money shipped home, there was less than 2000 kilograms of corn left.

In addition, there are about 200 kilograms of rice produced in Bangzi, and about 300 kilograms of flour stored at the construction site.

Tang Zhitong plans to decide what to exchange for it based on circumstances when the time comes.

He walked and thought all the way and unknowingly arrived at the Beijing Library. Tang Zhitong looked at his watch and it was almost time for Xiao Wang to get off work, so he went to pick her up again!
After entering the Beijing Library, Tang Zhitong went to the bicycle parking area first. After seeing Xiao Wang's bicycle and confirming that she was at the workplace, he squatted beside her, lit a cigarette and started smoking.

Not long after, Xiao Wang came out. He was very surprised to see Tang Zhitong: "Why are you here? It's so cold, why don't you go to the office?"

"I went to the Post and Telecommunications College today to collect tickets and invoices for my classmates. I passed by here on my way home and came in to see if you had left. I just arrived too and haven't finished my cigarette yet." Tang Zhitong showed the half-smoked cigarette in his hand and said with a smile.

"You can go inside to smoke. You look so cold." Classmate Xiao Wang felt a little distressed when he saw Tang Zhitong's red cheeks from the cold.

"It's okay, let's go." Tang Zhitong took a deep breath, threw the cigarette butt on the ground, put it out with his feet, and put on his scarf again.

Life was rough for old men. When Xiao Wang saw that Tang Zhitong's scarf was a little crooked, he straightened it himself, then turned around and pushed the cart with satisfaction.

"Let's go to Chunshu Hutong. Today is the first day that the two of them go home alone. I'm a little worried." Classmate Xiao Wang suggested on the way.

"Okay, let's go." Tang Zhitong rode his bicycle, pedaled hard twice, and turned into the East Imperial City first.

Ever since Tong Wang had been waiting for him, Tang Zhitong tried his best to avoid going through the east and west entrances of Qianliang Hutong to avoid meeting him again.

The young couple entered the Women's Federation dormitory and heard the noisy noise coming from their own room through the door.

When Xiao Wang opened the door, he saw Jingying and Jingmin fighting. Fengzhen was trying to persuade them, while Fengzhi was biting her finger. Xiao Wang asked with a serious face, "What's wrong? Why are you fighting?"

"Sister! Jingmin just took Fengzhi to go fishing secretly, but was discovered and stopped by Aunt Gao. After they came back, I said a few words to him, but he was not happy." Jingying didn't want to argue with Jingmin anymore, and turned around to complain.

"Is that what you call a few words? That's called fighting! Fengzhi said she had never seen fishing before, so I took her to the riverside to broaden her horizons. I didn't plan to go down on the ice to fish. What's wrong with that?!" Jingmin argued confidently, looking like he was right and afraid of no one, and he refused to give in.

"Are you trying to broaden your horizons? You brought the bait, fishing line, and fish hooks!" Jingying pointed at the "evidence" on the table and questioned.

Tang Zhitong looked in the direction his sister-in-law pointed. Wow, he forgot to throw away the Spanish mackerel entrails that he left in the sink that morning. Could it be that his brother-in-law was planning to recycle them?

"Fengzhi, are you really just going to take a look?" With the physical evidence here, Xiao Wang turned his gaze to his sister-in-law.

Fengzhi looked at her sister-in-law, then at Jingmin, ignored her good friend's looks, and finally chose to lower her head to look at her feet, as if there were ants on the floor of the building in the middle of winter.

There was no need to say anything now. Classmate Xiao Wang took off his cotton gloves but not his scarf, strode forward, grabbed his brother by the collar and started spanking him on the butt.

"Sister, sister, I was wrong, I was wrong, look at me, look at me!" Jingmin saw that his elder sister was really angry, so he stopped being stubborn and turned to her, showing her a smile that he thought was very bright.

(End of this chapter)