Go back to the prosperous days and become a layman

Chapter 760 Chapter 759 The storm is coming
(This chapter contains the Liu family. Friends who don't want to read it should subscribe carefully.)
Tang Zhitong was returning home in a lazy manner. A mold processed in a steel rolling mill was hung on the handlebars of his bicycle, which collided from time to time, making a clanging sound.

Seeing their son coming back, the Tang family started eating.

"I heard that the street is conducting a population survey again, counting the number of people who do not have urban household registration." Zhang Guifang talked about what she heard from the intelligence station today, intending to pave the way for Chu Chunxue to come and borrow grain.

"Oh, probably they want to persuade them to go back." Tang Zhitong continued. Now the food supply in the old city has been strictly controlled. The price of food on the black market has soared. The small grain warehouse in the factory has been inspected. Even if the street does not take any action, it is estimated that the relatives and friends who have been taken refuge will have to react next.

Returning home is certainly not a pleasant thing, but staying in the old city will only drag down relatives. Going back is not a dead end. As long as you can wait until the commune canteen is disbanded, most rural areas will have recovered by next year.

This is because the existence of the commune can take care of the weak to the greatest extent. If it were before liberation, a new round of land annexation would have started long ago.

In fact, before collectivization, there were already signs of land annexation in many places, which was also one of the reasons for promoting collectivization.

"Today's newspapers also started to publicize that it is not recommended for citizens to raise chickens." Student Xiao Wang interjected at the right time.

"Raising chickens is not very helpful in saving food. How many people who raise chickens at home spend money to buy food to feed them? It's nothing more than saving a little from their own ration to exchange for eggs." Tang Zhitong shook his head. Although Lu Jian's side did not allow raising chickens last year, this approach was obviously just a face-saving measure and did not address the root cause.

"We have to increase revenue and reduce expenditure. Today our unit launched a study activity, talking about organizing the economic life of the masses, living a good life as if it were a hard life, and mobilizing everyone to continue to eat the increased food." Student Xiao Wang agreed with her husband's statement, but she couldn't admit it directly because she had two sisters-in-law to look after.

A while ago, there was a trend of double-steamed rice and increased rice, which caused a lot of dissatisfaction among employees. The canteens of various units reduced the amount of water used, and now it is getting closer to the level before the trend.

"Oh, maybe we'll have to prepare more rice in the canteen." Tang Zhitong sighed. He had nothing to do in the steel mill today, so he flipped through all the newspapers in the workshop.

The recent trend is a bit confusing, with information gaps or contradictions highlighted everywhere.

A while ago, we were still talking about strengthening the role of public canteens and promoting urban communes, but in the past two days, we have begun to explain the rationality and necessity of current policies and call on the masses to save food.

It even published several letters from readers, all of which had similar meanings:
Why do we call for saving food when there is a bumper harvest? Why are there so many victories on all fronts, but we can’t buy daily necessities?
The correct answer is too many people.

It’s not that there is less food, but that more people are eating it. It’s not that there are fewer things, but that more people are buying them.

"It wouldn't be a big deal if the additional rice was provided according to the weight of flour and rice..." Xiao Wang was about to say this, but he was afraid that the amount of water would also be included. However, when he saw Feng Zhi's confused look, he swallowed the second half of his sentence back.

"Fengzhen, if you encounter similar essay topics when writing essays recently, please pay attention to the angle you look at the problem from." Tang Zhitong saw Xiao Wang's expression and spoke to Fengzhen in a special way. Fengzhi has been quite honest after being beaten. It is estimated that it will be effective for at least a week.

"Oh." Feng Zhen nodded, not quite understanding, and asked, "Sister-in-law, what does it mean to organize the economic life of the masses?"

"Why don't you tell Fengzhen about it?" Xiao Wang was a little embarrassed. It was not that he didn't know, but he didn't know how to say it. It would not be appropriate to say it too lightly or too heavily.

"It's not allowed to talk about this. This is for cadres to grasp the direction of propaganda." Tang Zhitong stopped using his chopsticks. He had indeed seen this term when he was in the escort department, but it was an internal publication, not for the public. "What if you really test... Let me give you an example from my family. If my family is short of food, the whole family can't eat enough, and we can't buy food outside, what should we do at this time?"

"Drink porridge? Everyone eat less." Feng Zhen thought of the rationed days some time ago, hesitated for a moment, and asked tentatively.

"Well, drinking porridge is a very vivid analogy." Tang Zhitong was thinking about how to explain it to his sister without breaking any taboos.

Unexpectedly, Zhang Guifang interrupted her with a sentence: "If that day comes, the three of us will have porridge to drink, and the thicker ones will be given to your brother and sister-in-law. With your brother and sister-in-law, our family will have two salaries. If they starve, our whole family will not even have porridge to drink."

"Hey, Mom, your description is absolutely perfect. It's a pity that you don't become a street cadre with your level!" Upon hearing this, Tang Zhitong immediately gave Zhang Guifang a thumbs up.

"Go away, stop humiliating me. I just heard this from someone else today. Besides, it's a very simple truth." Zhang Guifang rolled her eyes at her son and said.

"Hehe." Tang Zhitong smiled and didn't respond to Zhang Guifang's words. This principle is indeed very simple. Individuals and families are just the most basic units, and they can also be magnified.

In the current situation, what is needed is for everyone to work together to overcome the difficulties.

It would be best for residents like Zhang Guifang to have a similar understanding as her, and the cadres should control the overall situation and avoid any chaos.

Of course, there are also some people who try every possible means to stimulate the economy and continue to loosen up the free market...

When all this information was added together, Tang Zhitong had a vague feeling that a storm was about to come.

"Fengzhen, eat more. You look so skinny lately. Don't starve yourself." Tang Zhitong handed another steamed bread to his sister. Fengzhen seemed to have started to grow in size recently. She had grown a little taller, but her body had become thinner.

This kind of thinness is normal for a middle school student, because the current weight limit for children of Fengzhen's age is lower than that for adults. The specific standard is "the average weight limit for ordinary citizens and children over ten years old is 27.5 kilograms."

This average is slightly lower than that of ordinary citizens.

There was no shortage of food at home, so Tang Zhitong naturally wanted to give his younger sister more. She could be a little hungry, but it would not affect her growth and development.

In some places, some children of this age group are called Flower Swallows. Due to insufficient food supply, their height is permanently fixed at around 155 cm, or even lower.

Compared with them, the situation in China should still be good.

After the meal, Zhang Guifang hesitantly told him that Chu Chunxue had come to borrow grain again.

"Okay, just give it to her." Tang Zhitong did not blame his mother. Those steamed buns were originally made to do charity for beggars, so it would not be a waste to give them to Chu Chunxue.

"Mom, next time, crush the corn husks and steam them into steamed bread. If Chu Chunxue dares to come over again, give her this and prick her throat a few times, and she won't come again." Tang Zhitong thought of the lotus berries from the Post and Telecommunications University and the increased lotus berries eaten in Wuhan, and added another layer of comfort to his mother.

"Is this appropriate?" Zhang Guifang felt a little reluctant.

"What's inappropriate about this? I was on a business trip after the New Year, and the food I ate in Wuhan was worse than this. It would be really difficult to swallow such food. I heard that although Liu Chengzhi had no food, he never thought of picking some elm seeds or digging some wild vegetables. We don't have to be such a good person." Faced with someone like Liu Chengzhi, Tang Zhitong really felt that Heshen's mixing sand into the relief grain was a clever move. A handful of sand could filter out those who really needed it.

Tang Zhitong felt that it was not worth it for him to be a good person, and Liu Chengzhi also did not agree that Zhang Guifang was a good person.

Liu Chengzhi was very lucky today. He even forgot about being hungry while playing mahjong. He played from afternoon to evening. The five yuan in front of him increased and decreased several times, and gradually became more than fifty yuan.

Money is a good thing. It made Liu Chengzhi bolder. After paying the commission, he suddenly felt hungry. He spent two dollars on a bowl of noodles and did not forget to buy six steamed buns from the casino.

When Liu Zhang was around, she arranged family life very clearly. White flour and rice were reserved for Liu Chengzhi and Liu Jiaming, while coarse grains were mostly eaten by Liu Zhang and Chu Chunxue.

"What do you mean by good or bad? Are you treating beggars like this? The cornmeal from the grain store may be a little crusty, but who would buy it without just sifting it through a sieve? She obviously added all the sifted flour in it." Liu Chengzhi was still excited now that he had the money. He looked at the steamed bread that Chu Chunxue had left for him and obviously disliked it. He almost threw it on the ground and stepped on it twice.

Chu Chunxue sat aside and dared not say a word.

"Eat it, and then go to sleep." Liu Chengzhi handed two steamed buns to Chu Chunxue. He planned to have the rest for breakfast and lunch tomorrow. As for dinner, he would make a few more and buy them back when the time comes.

"Where did this come from?" Chu Chunxue grabbed a steamed bun impatiently, but stopped when it reached her mouth.

"Don't ask questions, woman. Eat quickly and go to sleep after that." Liu Chengzhi stretched, took off his shoes, and went to bed to wait for Chu Chunxue.

After what happened today, Liu Chengzhi finally felt relieved.

Liu Chengzhi believes that the past month has been the darkest moment in his life. He feels uncomfortable as he has no food to eat.

Before asking his coworkers to borrow money today, Liu Chengzhi thought more than once about going to the trade union for help, but the disadvantages of going there were obvious.

There were precedents before this, where the union did help workers with family difficulties.

For families that are short of food due to having many children, the union will not only provide a one-time subsidy of a small amount of food, but will also issue certificates and try its best to help coordinate with the street to increase the ration.

If a family is short of food because they have relatives without urban household registration to rely on, the trade union will provide a small amount of food subsidies and then work with the local police station to mobilize employees to send relatives back home.

In fact, even a humble person can understand that the trade union will not help employees support their families. If this is the beginning, I am afraid that more relatives and friends of employees will come to join it.

In addition, the grain department had just conducted an inventory of the grain warehouses of factories across the city. Not only did it take away all the grain that was privately stored in the factories, it also removed a deputy factory director in charge of logistics.

Then there are Liu Chengzhi's personal problems: he has poor skills, bad interpersonal relationships, and was punished a while ago. Except for Liu Jiaming, everyone else in his family owns land in the commune.

Liu Zhicheng believed that as long as he asked, the union would definitely help him solve the problem of food rations for three to five days, but it would also definitely mobilize his entire family to return to the countryside.

It will be too late to regret by then, and even throwing a tantrum will not help.

Liu Chengzhi knew that Haozi was unreliable, but the feeling of making money playing mahjong was really addictive! He planned to go three times a month. If he could make 50 yuan each time, plus his salary, it would be enough to cover the family expenses.

Now that he had money and food, Liu Chengzhi felt that he was ready again. He resumed his recreational activities that had been interrupted for several days and started digging!
After finishing their meal at the Tang family's, the couple returned to their room, and Xiao Wang sat at the sewing machine and began to finish the shirt.

The clothes have been made, but there is no time to iron them.

Irons are actually not uncommon in China and have existed since ancient times.

However, in ancient times, most people used metal containers to hold charcoal and held them with wooden handles. Nowadays, Xiao Wang uses an enamel pot filled with boiling water.

"Come, try it." Student Xiao Wang ironed the shirt, placed the enamel pot on the coaster, picked up the clothes with both hands and shook them, intending to let her husband try to see if they fit.

Tang Zhitong put down the pencil in his hand, stood up and cooperated happily.

"Not bad, it's very comfortable to wear." Tang Zhitong was a qualified clothes hanger. He put his arms into the sleeves and let Xiao Wang button them up.

After Xiao Wang helped him tie it up, Tang Zhitong looked at himself in the mirror. Not only did the clothes fit him well, but they also flattered him.

"It would be better if the buttons were white. The black ones don't match well." Student Wang also looked left and right and was not very satisfied with the color of the buttons on his chest.

The buttons were originally prepared for pencil cases, but later a tongue-type design was adopted, so they were not used. Now they were used by Xiao Wang on his shirt.

"Hey, we can't buy white buttons. It's good enough to have one. I'm not picky. Thank you." Tang Zhitong hugged Xiao Wang in his arms and rubbed Xiao Wang's forehead with the organ between his chin.

Most of the buttons nowadays are blue, black and gray. I can’t even think about buying white buttons. They are not available in the whole city, even in Wangfujing Department Store.

Tang Zhitong is not talking nonsense. Around this time, the king of a Southeast Asian country passed away, and the country sent an envoy to pay a friendly visit and express condolences.

According to international etiquette, white suits must be worn when paying condolences, but the visiting delegation did not prepare formal suits of this color at all, so the Red Capital had to work overtime to make them.

The clothes were made, but a new problem arose: there were no white buttons to match the white suit in the entire city.

Everyone brainstormed and tried all kinds of solutions, but either they were not suitable or there was not enough time.

Finally, the salesperson at Wangfujing Department Store figured out a solution to this problem. Although the department store did not have white buttons, it did have white chemical soap boxes!

The so-called chemical soap box is the "elegant name" for plastic products currently used by department stores and the general public. Calling it this way gives people a high-end feeling, like chemical combs, chemical soap boxes, chemical sewing boxes, etc.

The chemical soap box was pressed and cut, processed into round buttons, and sewn onto the white suit. It really matches well.

After consuming dozens of soap boxes, Hongdu finally completed the task before the specified time and delivered the full set of white suits to Kunming on time by a special plane.

Although buttons made from soap boxes may not be durable, they can still be used as an emergency substitute. However, this shirt is only worn on a daily basis and I won't be attending such high-end occasions. If it doesn't match the shirt, then it doesn't match. There's no point in using a soap box to mess with it.

(End of this chapter)