Go back to the prosperous days and become a layman

Chapter 893 892 Childhood
"Will it be difficult?" After lunch, on the way home, Ms. Wang sat on the back of her bicycle and gently asked her husband.

She had just tried to ask Director Ye for leniency, but her husband agreed too quickly and she didn't have a chance.

"Yeah, but we still have to do it. The more you know, the more you'll be asked to do things. Just be more restrained in the future. Actually, there's no need to be, since I don't know that much to begin with," Tang Zhitong said casually from the front.

He could see the difficulty on Director Ye's face. It was not easy to refuse what Aunt Li had asked for. Not only could he not refuse, but he also had to do it seriously. Moreover, the old lady's encouragement still resonated in his ears like a great bell.

Tang Zhitong truly admired the character of Aunt Li and her husband. They did not use their power to gain anything for their children, and they adopted many orphans. Their children were also very successful and never used their name to cause trouble. If everyone were like them, society would surely achieve harmony sooner.

Tang Zhitong felt that he was not even worthy to carry Aunt Li's shoes. Although he had encouraged Shi Zhengze a few days ago with the reason that "whether the masses can eat eggs depends on you", Shi Zhengze was also excited and greatly encouraged.

But Tang Zhitong knew he was different; he was just an ordinary person. If someone else said, "Whether we can ensure that more people have enough to eat in the next few years depends on you," Tang Zhitong felt he would most likely not agree.

Of course, apart from those big shots, who are extremely busy, they probably don't even remember their little Karami at this moment.

There's not much difference between praising oneself and causing harm through excessive praise. It's fine to tinker around in a small area, but forcibly elevating oneself will only lead to a harder fall. Moreover, it's uncertain whether these foreign exchange reserves will ultimately be converted into food; they might end up being used for high-end perfumes, cosmetics, drum sets, or cars.

"Pah, what nonsense you're spouting! Don't you even know what's going on?" Little Wang, recalling the past, punched her husband again.

At the beginning of their marriage, Tang Zhitong said she wanted to get to know Xiao Wang better and planned to start with ballet. Xiao Wang enthusiastically performed a set of difficult moves, but in the days that followed, her husband dismantled these moves one by one for various reasons.

At first, Ms. Wang was a little reserved, but she couldn't resist her husband's pleas. His most frequent reason was that "the more you know, the more you'll be asked to do."

"Haha, the greatest truths are the simplest, and the principles of the world are all interconnected." After being punched by Xiao Wang, Tang Zhitong was reminded of the happy times of the past.

Back then, the quotas weren't so strictly controlled, and wages weren't as high as they are now. Even lying on the bed in the west wing in the summer without doing anything would make you sweat.

There were many shortcomings back then, but those were old times that can never be returned to, just like everyone's childhood.

When we were little, outgoing kids would tell their parents: "When I grow up, I'll make money, I'll make money to buy you big houses and cars, and I'll give you all the money I earn so you don't have to work so hard in the fields every day."

Introverted children may not express these thoughts aloud, but many secretly write them down in their diaries or essays.

Back then, all children longed to grow up quickly, and Tang Zhitong also wondered when she would grow up.

Time flies by so quickly; it seems like only a blink of an eye has passed, and the little kids of yesteryear have grown up.

After graduating and starting work, I believed in hard work and diligence to get rich, but I was beaten down by society. Only then did I realize that the words I made so confidently when I was a child made me laugh. My meager monthly salary was barely enough to cover my own food, drink and basic needs, let alone have any money left to buy a car or a house for my parents.

When I go home for the Lunar New Year, no matter if I have money or not, and no matter where I'll pay next month's rent, I always buy some beautifully packaged New Year's goods to try to show my parents that I'm doing well outside. But what I get in return is a barrage of complaints from my parents.

No matter how you look at it, it's already a small way of showing filial piety.

When it comes to marriage, it becomes increasingly difficult to fulfill filial duties. Houses and dowries are always a huge burden, and these burdens are mostly lifted by the parents through hard work.

Looking at their parents' increasingly hunched backs, their ever-growing white hair, and their increasingly aged faces, how many of them haven't had the thought, "It's better not to get married"?

However, the older generation is obsessed with their children getting married and having children. Only when their children start their own families can they consider their lives complete.

Getting married is like putting a bridle on yourself. For the sake of your gray-haired parents and your crying, hungry children, you can only work hard and be a beast of burden from now on.

The story didn't end there. Not only were the vows made years ago not fulfilled, but the child also had to rely on his parents for financial support from time to time: "Here, pay for the child's classes; here, buy the child some fruit; here, buy the child some clothes; here, during the holidays, take the child out to broaden his horizons, don't let the child lose at the starting line..."

The reasons were different each time, but they were all filled with the love of their parents.

At times like these, Tang Zhitong wishes he could turn back time and return to his childhood.

Back then, my father was strong and healthy. Sometimes he would carry me on his shoulders, sometimes he would throw me up and catch me steadily, which made me scream and cry, but my father would laugh heartily.

Back then, my mother had a full head of black hair. When she found out I had used foul language, she pulled me aside, squatted down, and slapped my own mouth with tears in her eyes...

The pain of a child being hit is felt in the mother's heart. The mother feels the pain, but she has no choice but to hit the child, because a sapling will not grow straight if it is not pruned.

Tang Zhitong's wish was quickly fulfilled, just like making a wish at the Yonghe Temple; you never know how it will come true.

When I got home, there were two quilts hanging on the clothesline under the wooden frame.

In summer, you don't need to cover yourself with a blanket, but the scorching afternoon sun is the perfect time to air out your blankets, which seems to have become a summer habit for the people of Beijing.

The sandbags on the shelf had long since disappeared. Before winter, Zhang Guifang had told her son to move the sandbags to the beam in the side room of the main house and hang them up.

In Zhang Guifang's words, "In this year of plenty, there's not even enough food to eat, so who would hang this up? It's too conspicuous! It's better to keep it inside the house, so the little ones can just punch it a couple of times when they feel like it, and outsiders won't see it."

At this moment, Fengzhi was chasing Beibei under the covers, playing in the sun.

It's strange, but whether it's a domestic dog or a domestic cat, most of them can distinguish crops, whether it's grains or vegetables. They only step on the edge of ditches or even into the water, but they won't step on the crops.

Seeing Fengzhi sweating profusely from the heat, Tang Zhitong also became interested and joined the Qin King's circling of the pillar.

Unfortunately, Tang Zhitong was strong and heavy, and the clothesline couldn't hold on. With a clatter, it came off one end, one quilt landed on Tang Zhitong's head, and the other fell to the ground.

Upon seeing this, Fengzhi took off running towards the main room, complaining as she ran: "Mom! Mom! My brother broke the clothesline! The quilt fell to the ground!"

"Hey! This little brat, all that pampering for nothing." Tang Zhitong was outside, pulling the blanket off her head and tucking it under her armpits.

Xiao Wang smiled and helped her husband pick up the other quilt, sweeping away the loose dirt stuck to it. "You're such a grown man, why are you still acting like a child? You're so unsteady." Zhang Guifang came out with a broom to sweep the bed, first giving her son a couple of slaps on the bottom, before taking the quilt from her daughter-in-law and intending to sweep it up.

"Oh~ My brother got beaten up! Sister-in-law, did you see that?" Fengzhi, always eager for a good show, grabbed Xiao Wang's hand and egged him on.

"I didn't see you. It's so hot outside, look how hot you are. Come inside and have some water and rest." Little Wang took out a handkerchief to wipe the sweat from his sister-in-law's forehead and hair, and gently pushed her.

"I'm not hot!" It was a rare treat to see her brother get beaten, and Fengzhi, in the heat of the moment, called out to her mother, "Mom! My sister-in-law didn't see it, hit her again!"

"I think you're the one who deserves a beating. Don't think I didn't see you crawling under the covers earlier; you might have been the one who broke the blanket," Zhang Guifang glared at her daughter who was helping with the rice seedlings and threatened her by waving the broom in her hand.

"That's right, that's right, she must have broken it." This time it was Tang Zhitong's turn to incite her mother to beat her younger sister.

"I didn't! Humph, brother is bad!" Although Fengzhi hadn't learned "playing with fire" yet, she knew that if she continued like this, she would easily get beaten up. She stomped her foot and ran into the house, refusing to come out.

The clothesline broke, but the blankets still need to be aired.

Zhang Guifang took the quilt and went into the house temporarily, while Tang Zhitong found pliers and tied the clothesline securely again.

It's called a clothesline, but it's actually wire. Tang Zhitong specially went to a hardware store to buy this wire when the young couple got married, so that he could tie two towel handles to the chimney.

This thing is technically called galvanized iron wire. Because of its grayish-white color, which is similar to oxidized lead, people in Beijing usually call it "lead wire".

Before 58, galvanized iron wire in Beijing was supplied by allocation. Starting in 58, Beijing successively established BJ Special Steel Plant, Baizhifang Wire Drawing Plant, Mentougou Wire Drawing Plant, Panggezhuang Wire Drawing Plant, etc., and the production capacity increased dramatically.

Galvanized iron wire has a wide range of uses. It is a Class II material and a "must-have" commodity. In addition to supplying the defense, metallurgy, coal, transportation and forestry sectors, there is a surplus. The supply of galvanized iron wire in Beijing has finally become more relaxed. It has become one of the few materials with sufficient supply during the three years of hardship. At one point, the supply even exceeded the demand, and it was even sold to other places.

Although they are wealthy, ordinary people live their lives by repairing and patching things up; if it's still usable, there's no reason to replace it with something new.

Because of the abundant supply of galvanized iron wire, starting around the 70s, a homemade pistol—the chain gun, also called a chain gun or match gun—became popular among children in Beijing.

It is said that the chain gun became popular in the compound area.

Making chain guns requires bicycle chains, which are controlled materials and also a type of military material. They are relatively easy to obtain in the compound.

Although he could repair his own clothesline, Tang Zhitong thought he could make a chain gun for his brother-in-law.

Holding a chain gun in his hand, occasionally firing a shot, he was the coolest kid on the street, rightfully holding the top spot. It was an absolutely complete and happy childhood, and it will be a beautiful story many years later.

The chain is a bit tricky to get; I guess we'll have to use a large quantity of counterfeit goods to pave the way.

We had stir-fried cauliflower for dinner. The cauliflower was freshly bought from the vegetable store and was definitely not a pre-made food that can be stored for 18 months.

These days there are frozen meat and frozen eggs, but frozen vegetables are the only thing missing.

Freezing also incurs costs, but vegetables only cost a few dollars. Money should be spent wisely, right?
From the moment he finished tying the wire until he went to bed, except for meals and bathroom breaks, Tang Zhitong kept thinking about earning foreign exchange.

It's easy to talk about this, but Tang Zhitong had no clue what to do. He was completely clueless about the situation outside these days, and with the weak industrial base, finding a suitable product to generate foreign exchange was not easy.

Tang Zhitong thought of the erotic series once again.

Those kinds of clothes don't care about the fabric; they're easy to tear to satisfy the destructive desires of a specific group of people. They don't need to use good fabrics at all; they can lower several production standards.

Ropes, whips, leather sheaths, and small balls are all easy to make; you can even make them by hand.

There are also those wonderful tools for self-satisfaction, and the market is as vast as a blue ocean, constantly growing, never slumping even during the financial crisis. It's just that we can't make such skin-friendly materials yet.

After much thought, Tang Zhitong decided to put an end to the idea. The thing he had concocted was no less powerful than a self-destructing truck, capable of blowing him to pieces.

"Take a break, there's no rush. I'm sure Aunt Li will understand." Seeing her husband struggling to find a solution, Xiao Wang felt sorry for him. She got up, walked behind him, and gently massaged his head to help him relax.

"Hmm, take a break, stop thinking about it. Maybe one day inspiration will suddenly come." Tang Zhitong closed his eyes, feeling the brainwaves from Xiao Wang's head. This was much better than an ergonomic chair. Did ergonomic chairs have massage and relaxation functions?

While Tang Zhitong was relaxing, the members of the Science and Technology Commission's negotiation team were working tirelessly day and night to make final preparations for the contract that was about to be signed.

After verifying the supermagnet's magnetism, the experts on the Russian side were very interested. They had never seen a material with such strong magnetism before, and they couldn't even imagine how much improvement it could bring if used in the military.

Although the rift between the two countries was already very large before this, the people still had mutual goodwill and referred to each other as comrades.

Among them, our feelings for the other side are more prominent, simply because the assistance given in the past few years was so thoughtful and the publicity was so effective.

In the past few years, Russia has provided a total of $100 billion in low-interest aid to the socialist bloc, of which 40% went to my country. Moreover, during the construction process, Russian engineers built the facilities to the standards they would use for their own country, providing hands-on instruction and taking into account every detail. They basically did not hold back any information.

Most Chinese people value reciprocity, so it's impossible not to feel good about someone under these circumstances.

Although there was mutual attraction, the negotiation team adhered to their principles and insisted on allowing the Russian experts to only feel the supermagnetic properties through glass and watch our fully-covered staff conduct the tests, without giving them any opportunity to handle it themselves.

After several rounds of intense negotiations and ensuring a sufficient supply of Erguotou (a type of Chinese liquor), both sides learned of the situation at the Romanian conference and quickly communicated with their respective countries. They decided to compromise, reach an agreement, and complete the delivery within fifteen days.

It can be said that they timed it perfectly, getting what they wanted before things completely fell apart...

(End of this chapter)