Go back to the prosperous days and become a layman

Chapter 739 738 Big Ticket Era

The two brothers hadn't seen each other for two months, so they couldn't help but chat a little more when they met this time, much of which was about supplies.

Due to family reasons, Gu Yong knew a lot of inside information.

According to Gu Yong, the stock of frozen meat in the cold storage is already in jeopardy. The total stock in the entire city of Beijing is less than 2000 tons. Assuming that each person is supplied with 4 taels of meat per month, the meat can only be supplied for about a month at most.

Tang Zhitong felt that the rabbits, chickens, and pig offal he had stockpiled would soon come in handy.

The two chatted until after get off work, and Gu Yongfei took Tang Zhitong home for dinner.

"No, no, the vegetables in my yard will grow in a while. You can bring your sister-in-law over to sit over there and pick whatever you want to eat." Tang Zhitong rejected Gu Yong's invitation.

Since the implementation of vegetable coupons after the Chinese New Year, there has been no improvement in supply. In addition to those that were already supplied with coupons, most of the non-staple foods were also supplied with coupons or certificates, per person or per household.

Things like cakes, biscuits, dairy products, liquor, dried vegetables, fish, seafood, dried and fresh fruits, sauces, seasonings, salt, soy products, starch, vermicelli, etc., basically everything that can be eaten on a daily basis has started the journey of rationing.

The supply of salt has been changed from unlimited to 1 jin per household per month. Although there are regulations on how much vermicelli, rice noodles, soy products, starch, etc. each household can buy per month, they are out of stock most of the time.

In addition, the supply of pepper and aniseed has gradually decreased. They may arrive occasionally, but if you go too late, they will be gone.

Even the supply of alkaline noodles was adjusted again. In February, it was still distributed according to households, with an average of about one or two taels per person. From April on, it was changed to be distributed according to the number of people, with half a tael per person per month, which was directly cut in half.

Due to the hasty implementation, most of the goods are currently purchased with the non-staple food book, and the salesperson records the purchase manually. According to Gu Yong, they are already preparing to print various receipts, and I believe it will not be long before the system will be fully implemented with tickets or with tickets plus non-staple food.

Tang Zhitong felt that a comprehensive system of using tickets was not without its advantages. At least on average, everyone, regardless of whether they were rich or poor, would have the same amount of resources.

If someone was so poor that they couldn't even afford to eat, they could sell their snack tickets on the black market and that would be enough money to buy food.

The whole process will not take up the quota of others, which can not only satisfy the stomachs of the rich but also reduce the burden of the poor.

After refusing Gu Yong's attempt to keep him, Tang Zhitong arrived home earlier than Xiao Wang.

"Your brother Xiaoping came over this morning. I gave him the book you bought, and also brought him some lard and oil residue, and gave him twenty kilograms of corn." As soon as she got home, Zhang Guifang "reported" to Tang Zhitong a little embarrassedly.

"Mom, you have the final say in our family. You can do whatever you want." Seeing his mother's expression, Tang Zhitong wanted to laugh but didn't dare to. He was worried that his uncle was too embarrassed to express it.

"I have to tell you that I gave the lard to your brother Xiaoping, and there is more than half left. Can you give some to Wenwen's mother?" Zhang Guifang forced herself to talk about Zhang Chengping all the time, and never mentioned her elder brother Zhang Yongxiang.

"No, keep it for ourselves. I'll find some lard and send it over there later." Tang Zhitong shook his head. He finally found a chance to help his family. If he shared it with others, there wouldn't be much left. "Hey, Mom, what do you use to hold the lard? Is it convenient for Brother Xiaoping to take it back?"

"He gave me a rice bowl with a lid during the training. I thought it was good, so I melted the lard and poured it into the bowl, then put it in water to cool it down for a while."

"Wow, it's you who has to do it. I couldn't think of such a good idea if it were me." Tang Zhitong flattered Zhang Guifang lightly, but in fact he had forgotten that Zhang Chengping had distributed the rice bowl.

"What's so difficult about this? Let's eat steamed buns today." Zhang Guifang was still somewhat worried, fearing that her son would think that the share given to the Zhang family was too much. When she saw that her son didn't say anything, she finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Okay! I haven't eaten it for a while, and I miss it." Tang Zhitong had no objection. After that, he took out the salary he had just received today from his pocket, counted out forty and handed it to Zhang Guifang: "Mom, this month's food money."

"Tell Wenwen that she doesn't need to give me money every month. These forty yuan are enough to cover our family expenses." Zhang Guifang took the money and put it in the drawer, saying.

"Well, aren't you happy that Wenwen gave you money? Just like the old Fang family in the backyard, they fought so hard for a meal, and it's also ten yuan, right?" Tang Zhitong stretched out his hand and pointed behind him, comparing his own family with others.

The residents in this area are either ordinary people or low-level workers. Not only are there very few with high incomes, but there are also many people with a lot of gossip.

If you don't have money, conflicts are inevitable, and once conflicts arise, gossip will follow soon.

"As the old saying goes, every family has its own problems. The Fang family is poor. Not only do they have to calculate their food, but they also have to take care of the children. It's not easy." Zhang Guifang had also heard about the Fang family's affairs. In the final analysis, it was all about money.

The eldest son got married not long ago, and as the company did not allocate housing, the couple had to rent a house. They originally thought that eating with their parents would save them money on cooking, but they did not expect that the old couple not only charged them ten yuan per person for food, but also secretly gave some of the delicious food to the younger one.

Now everyone has a ration, and when you add up all the food, oil, salt, meat and vegetables, an adult can spend less than five yuan. Even if you include the cost of labor and coal, the maximum he can spend is six yuan.

The eldest wife of the Fang family knew what was going on. She gave money but still did not get enough food, so she encouraged her husband to split up the family.

Of course the old couple would not let it go. Once they divided it up, they would earn ten dollars less a month!

One side wanted to divide, but the other side wouldn't let them, and the noisy scene was quite lively.

"That's right, Wenwen gives you money because she feels that you have a hard time. This is because she loves you. Don't you agree?" Tang Zhitong took the opportunity to speak well of Xiao Wang in front of Zhang Guifang. The relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law depends largely on the role played by the son.

"That's too much. You give forty and Wenwen gives another ten. This is more than your dad's salary." Zhang Guifang grumbled. In all the years she had been married, she had never easily earned fifty yuan a month, and she always felt uneasy.

"What are you talking about? You're laughing so happily." When Xiao Wang came home from get off work, she saw her husband's smiling face.

"Our mother said that she doesn't want your money in the future because she thinks there is too much money and she can't spend it all." Fengzhi was originally doing her homework while eavesdropping on her mother and brother's conversation. When she saw her sister-in-law asking, she raised her head and answered quickly.

"Go away, you can't even pass on a message. Is this what our mother meant? She's worried that your sister-in-law will be wronged because she's short of money." Tang Zhitong slapped his sister on the head, then told Xiao Wang about the incident.

"Mom, didn't Anzi tell you last time that if you can't spend it, you can save it as retirement money." After saying that, Xiao Wang also took out money from his pocket and put ten yuan into his mother-in-law's hand: "Mom, this month's money." "Here, I'll keep ten yuan, you take these." Tang Zhitong took out the money in her pocket that was not yet warm, and then she didn't let the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law argue anymore, and cut the Gordian knot: "Mom, get ready for dinner. I have to go out after dinner. I ordered a lot of Chinese toon sprouts from someone, and I have to bring them back tonight."

"You ordered again?" Zhang Guifang asked in surprise.

"Yeah. They ordered a lot, over a hundred kilograms this time." Tang Zhitong nodded. It seemed that he forgot to tell his family that there was more after he brought back the toon sprouts last time.

"So many? Can we eat it all?" Zhang Guifang calculated the output in the yard and felt that this time, the same amount of toon sprouts as last year would be enough.

"The supply situation this year is not optimistic. Not only is there only two taels of vegetables a day, but I also heard today that the inventory of pork and mutton in Sijiu City is only enough to supply one month. Let's prepare more to be on the safe side." Tang Zhitong was determined to put the toon sprouts in the open.

"Well... our pickle jar is not big enough. We used the salt we saved last time to pickle toon sprouts. Now salt is limited, so we can't pickle them even if you buy some." Zhang Guifang said with a frown.

"Mom, I've thought of it a long time ago. This time I'll bring back Chinese toon and salt together. As for the pickle jar..." Tang Zhitong looked around the room, pointed at the jar that Xiao Wang had just bought to hold the soybean paste, and said, "Let's use this small jar as a water jar and free up the water jar to pickle Chinese toon sprouts. As for the soybean paste, if it doesn't work, we can just use a basin."

"Okay, then I'll heat up the food first." Seeing that her son had made up his mind, Zhang Guifang said nothing more and turned to prepare dinner.

"How about I go ask my classmates and buy another jar?" Xiao Wang thought what her husband said made sense, so she started thinking to help her husband solve the problem.

"Let's do this for now. It's not good for you to always go to your classmates to buy jars. I'll see if I can find one at the flea market later. It might be cheaper there." Tang Zhitong scratched his head. A cunning rabbit has three burrows. If you buy from the same place again and again, it will easily cause people to notice something wrong.

"That's fine. Do you have enough money to buy toon sprouts and salt? Take it first, and give me the rest." Xiao Wang said, and took out the money that Tang Zhitong had just given him from his pocket. Fearing that it was not enough, he handed over the rest of his salary.

It would have been fine if Xiao Wang hadn't said anything. Once he did, Zhang Guifang immediately stopped what she was doing and took out money: "The eucalyptus is also for the family. You can't use your money, take it from me."

"Okay, okay, stop arguing. Now is the time when Chinese toon sprouts are on the market. The price is cheaper than last time. Salt is only 1.3 cents per catty, and 40 catties of salt is only 5.2 yuan. These ten yuan are enough to spend." Tang Zhitong pushed everyone's money back and didn't want anyone else's.

Seeing that Tang Zhitong had made up his mind, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law stopped being humble.

Seeing that it was getting dark, Tang Zhitong hurriedly ate some dinner and went out.

Fengzhen came back late and didn't know what happened at home, but this didn't prevent her from knowing what had just happened because she had Fengzhi, her little loudspeaker.

At the Zhuzikeng, Zhang Laosan had been waiting for a long time, still in the grass pile beside the road, muttering to himself: "Xiao Zhang must come, must come, if he doesn't come, I will be eaten alive by my neighbors."

When Tang Zhitong's figure appeared at the intersection in the moonlight, Zhang Laosan finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Uncle Zhang, you must be waiting impatiently. I'm stuck with something." Tang Zhitong saw Zhang Laosan rushing out from the roadside, so he stopped the car and apologized.

"It's okay, it's okay, I came too early." Zhang Laosan would not mess with the "rich man". He didn't bother to shake off the dead grass and dust on his body. He rubbed his hands awkwardly and explained to Tang Zhitong: "Um... Xiao Zhang, I have collected all the Chinese toon buds for you."

Before Tang Zhitong could speak, Zhang Laosan immediately revealed the reason: "The weather has been warm these days, and the Chinese toon buds are growing fast. If we wait any longer, they will get old."

After saying that, he glanced at the sack on the back seat of Tang Zhitong and said sympathetically, "It's okay if you don't bring enough corn. You can give it to me later."

"Thank you, Uncle Zhang. You've taken care of everything, and I can't let you down. I'll go back and get the corn later." Tang Zhitong turned his back to the moonlight, and could see the expression on Zhang Laosan's face clearly in the moonlight. Although he said that he would pay later, his expression showed that he was hoping to get all the money tonight.

Tang Zhitong could understand Zhang Laosan. Originally, his family did not have enough toona sinensis sprouts to spare. If he wanted to get the rest in a short time, he could only exchange them with his neighbors. Who knows how many houses these toona sinensis sprouts had been to. People might not necessarily believe Zhang Laosan's empty talk and might even give him some corn first.

"That's great, that's great." Zhang Laosan felt relieved when he heard Tang Zhitong say that, and he couldn't hide the smile on his face.

"Then let's count the goods?" Tang Zhitong glanced at the pile of grass next to him and saw not only bamboo baskets, but also sacks.

"Okay, I'll carry you on my back!" Zhang Laosan seemed full of energy, and he nimbly dived into the bushes by the roadside.

Tang Zhitong didn't just stand there and watch, he went down to lend a hand. The two of them carried the load twice, and the total weight was more than 100 kilograms.

"This is 160 kilograms, and we have 80 kilograms left at home. I'll go back and get it for you now." Zhang Laosan said he would take it, but he didn't move.

"I only brought 40 kilograms this time, and I will go back and get another 15 kilograms later." Tang Zhitong quickly calculated the exchange amount in his mind. This time, he only needed to give 55 kilograms, and the 240 kilograms of toon shoots would be settled.

Tang Zhitong said this, but his hands were not idle either. He took the sack off the back seat of the bicycle and said, "Uncle Zhang, there's no need to exchange sacks. I'll use yours and you use mine."

Although handicrafts such as sacks and hemp ropes are not expensive, they are of high status and have become a type of unified purchasing supplies, on the same level as grain, oil, cotton, flue-cured tobacco and sugarcane.

As we all know, the higher the grade, the harder it is to buy, and if it is broken you can only mend it.

The two men poured the toon buds in the bamboo basket into Tang Zhitong's unused sack. Zhang Laosan carried the grain home and carried the remaining toon buds, while Tang Zhitong packed up the toon buds and walked back for a while.

There were few people at night and no street lights in this area, so Tang Zhitong simply pulled the toon buds directly into the space, then took out twenty kilograms of corn and walked back.

The whole transaction process went smoothly. Faced with the extra five kilograms of corn that Tang Zhitong gave him, Zhang Laosan burst into tears of gratitude and kept thanking him.

"Uncle Zhang, I have to thank you for helping me collect so many toon shoots. If you think it's appropriate, I'll come to see you again at this time next year." Tang Zhitong showed goodwill to Zhang Laosan, but he also had his own plans. This famine would not be over in a year, and the cold winter in the city was far from coming. Naturally, the more inconspicuous things like toon shoots, the better.

(End of this chapter)