Go back to the prosperous days and become a layman

Chapter 924 Food Poisoning (923)
On his way home, Tang Zhitong went into any store that wasn't crowded. He had used up a lot of tobacco today and needed to restock while there was still stock.

State-owned enterprises buy only the maximum allowed by the purchase limit, while joint ventures distribute the purchases among different people. If the private manager is present, they offer a premium to buy up the inventory of the most common cigarette brands.

After returning home, Tang Zhitong told his mother about the laborer incident, then grabbed his ration book and flour sack and hurried to the grain store.

Now that things have come to this, Zhang Guifang has no choice but to do as her son instructed.

Steaming forty catties of dry flour into cornbread in half a day is no easy task. After buying the cornmeal, Tang Zhitong pushed the millstone while watching the stove to lighten his mother's burden.

Although we still have some cornmeal that we ground yesterday, we can't stop, because Fengzhi and Jingmin are about to start their holidays, and Xiao Gu will be tutoring them soon, so we need to prepare this portion of food.

Fengzhi came home from school first and wanted to help start the fire, but Tang Zhitong refused: "You still have an exam tomorrow, right? Go back to your room and study hard. If you don't do well, I'll hang you from the roof beam and whip you with a belt!"

"Hmph, I don't believe you!" Not only did Fengzhi not believe this, but she also complained to her brother after Xiao Wang got home from get off work.

Complaining will not end well. Fengzhi was coaxed into going inside to study by her classmate Xiao Wang, while he was responsible for tending the fire.

Fengzhen had no chance to help at all, because she was also about to take her final exams. Junior high school is not like primary school; if you fall behind, you fall behind at every step. These days, any commoner who can attend junior high school would want to go to a vocational school to ease the burden on their family.
The family worked until nine o'clock and managed to steam about thirty catties of cornbread.

"Mom, finish steaming this pot and go to sleep. We can steam another one tomorrow morning. That way, we can take care of you all day. There's still time." Tang Zhitong hadn't been busy for so long in a long time and was a little tired, but since her mother hadn't rested yet, she couldn't just go back to her room and lie down.

"Okay." Zhang Guifang was not in a good mood today; she was either kneading or mixing dough, practically tied to the work surface all day.

"Let me tell you, that cellar in Dashizuo Hutong is so beautiful. The entire cellar is built with bluestone, and there are several hitching post-like nose rings on the top of the cellar. I don't know what they're for." Although he was a little tired, Tang Zhitong was very excited. After all, it was the first time he had ever looted so much gold and silver.

"It's for hanging cured meat." Today, her husband was tired, so Xiao Wang took on the task of emptying the foot bath water. While listening to her husband's rambling, she poured out the foot bath water and hung the foot-drying cloth to dry.

"How do you know?" Tang Zhitong was a little surprised by Xiao Wang's erudition. After all, this was a local secret of old Beijing. How could a girl like you, who was born in Nanniwan and grew up in Yan'an, know so much about it?
“I used to have a classmate who lived on Li Guangqiao Street. When I was a child, I went to her house to play with my classmates. Her house also had a cellar, according to what she told me.” Xiao Wang smiled at her husband.

"..." Tang Zhitong felt that this conversation was over. Although both of them had classmates, the gap between classmates was huge.

Li Guangqiao Street is a nice place. The Prince Gong Mansion is on the east side of the street, and Heshen used to live on the west side.

After liberation, several bigwigs lived in this place, and another name gradually spread among the people - Marshal Street. In a few years, when the roads in Beijing were replanned, it will be renamed Willow Shade Street.

"What's wrong?" Xiao Wang turned off the light, took off her clothes, got into bed, and asked after hearing that her husband was not moving.

"I'm thinking about how to fix the yard. After the workers finish repairing the house, I'll ask them to help tidy up the yard too." Tang Zhitong casually laid the groundwork for Xiao Wang. According to Wan Shan, the work would be finished by Sunday morning. If they asked the workers to tidy up the yard, it would take another afternoon, so lunch would definitely be provided.

When I mentioned that he weighed over 30 kilograms today, my mother felt a pang of heartache. If she had to manage it for another day…

Tang Zhitong decided to forget about it; he had his own cheat code, so he could handle cleaning the house himself.

He was indeed thinking about the yard. After two or three days of renovation, the yard would definitely be full of mud, sand and lime marks. With this construction waste there, even if the soil was turned over with a hoop, the vegetables would have a hard time growing well.

For the sake of his mother's smile, Tang Zhitong felt that the soil needed to be changed, but where could he get the soil from?

I should have just harvested some black soil from Northeast China. Black soil is said to be "worth its weight in gold," rich in minerals, humus, and other organic matter, making it a great resource for any plant.

But just thinking about it, it's not easy to explain the color of the black soil that was dug up, since the soil in Beijing is all yellow.

Tang Zhitong's mind was in turmoil. He was physically tired, but his nerves were very excited, and he just couldn't fall asleep.

Listening to her husband flipping the pancakes over and over, Xiao Wang thought he had something in mind, so she enthusiastically stretched out her hands and demonstrated how to make freshly squeezed coconut juice.

Now I feel much better...

Saturday, October 7.

While Tang Zhitong was still fast asleep, Zhang Guifang had already gotten up in the dark to steam cornbread. She planned to have her son take everything with him when he went out, so he wouldn't have to make a trip back in the sweltering heat.

Tang Zhitong brought his mother's homemade cornbread to Dashizuo Hutong. Because of his mother's hard work, he didn't want to trouble the master craftsmen to help him tidy up the yard again, so that his mother could make one less day of cornbread.

Wan Shan was quite organized. When Tang Zhitong arrived at Dashizuo Hutong, he saw that the master craftsman and the laborers were all doing their jobs.

The laborers mixed the sand and lime, then used ropes to carry buckets of it up to the scaffolding, and then passed it up to the master craftsman.

Since there weren't enough master craftsmen for the roof, some of them stayed inside scraping the paint off the walls in preparation for applying the whitewash. Others were working on the pillars, doors, and windows under the eaves, scraping off the peeling paint in preparation for repainting.

Looking at the orderly and rapid construction in front of him, Tang Zhitong was somewhat moved. When he built his own new house, it took five days just to lay the roof.

Tang Zhitong had always thought that five days was the normal pace, but after seeing the construction in front of him, he realized what the master craftsman's ability was and what the power of the masses was.

If a project as large as the Great Hall of the People can be completed within a year, from design and relocation to foundation excavation and roofing, it is quite reasonable for a family with only a few rooms to complete the renovation in three days.

Yesterday, I gave out two cartons of cigarettes. Today, there are more people, so Tang Zhitong gave out four cartons. Since meals are provided, there's no need to skimp on such a small amount of money. Besides, economy cigarettes aren't expensive.

Tang Zhitong spent the whole morning boiling water and barely managed to supply it.

"Comrade Wan, I'll leave things here to you. I need to go to the office this afternoon." After having lunch here, Tang Zhitong was planning to leave. When she asked Fang Yuan for leave, she said she would "arrive later," not that she would be gone all day. Besides, it was Saturday, and she needed to go back and process the financial documents. "Okay, don't worry, I'll take care of things here. I guarantee I'll do a good job." Wan Shan assured her without hesitation.

With Wan Shan's assurance and Director Zhu's consideration, Tang Zhitong felt completely at ease.

Upon entering the escort center, Tang Zhitong saw a mound of earth in the vegetable garden, next to which was a pond.

"So they're still planning to cultivate Chlorella?" Tang Zhitong shook his head to himself, after all, he was of lowly status and had no voice to contend with the influence of a second-rate daily newspaper.

Fortunately, the pond is not very large, and there are obvious signs that the remaining vegetable plots are being dug to plant pumpkins. Hopefully, these pumpkins will grow well and provide everyone with some additional food and nutrition.

When you're sleepy, you have a pillow. Another benefit is that the soil for the new courtyard in Dashizuo Hutong has been settled. Although this soil is a bit barren, it's still better than the soil in the new courtyard that has been trampled down to the point of being almost stone-like over time.

If we take the dead branches, leaves, pine needles and pine cones that we plucked from the old forests of Northeast China, crush them into small pieces, mix them with the wood ash from the Wanshoushan construction site, and process them thoroughly to grow some vegetables, that shouldn't be a problem, right?
Tang Zhitong planned to stay at his workplace until dark and take half of the soil with him.

When Ma Wei arrived at the finance department, she did not stand up to greet Tang Zhitong as usual. Instead, she covered her stomach with one hand, rested her head on her other arm, and leaned on the desk.

"Section Chief." Hearing the noise, Ma Wei looked up and greeted Tang Zhitong with a frown.

"What's wrong? I thought you were taking a nap." Tang Zhitong put down her bag first and subconsciously picked up the thermos to pour hot water for Ma Wei.

"My stomach hurts a little," Ma Wei forced a smile.

"Drink more hot water. If you're not feeling well, just rest at home. Our company's attendance policy isn't that strict. Health is the foundation of everything. Only by taking care of your health can you better serve the people." Upon hearing that she had a stomachache, Tang Zhitong subconsciously assumed it was menstrual cramps. Menstrual cramps naturally require drinking more hot water, although it doesn't really help with pain relief, it does have a slight psychological effect.

"Thank you, Section Chief." Ma Wei forced a smile again and rested her head on her arms once more.

Seeing that Ma Wei was not interested, Tang Zhitong did not say anything more. If she had already married Comrade Wu Gousheng, he would say that having a baby would not hurt anymore.

Tang Zhitong was quietly organizing the receipts he had accumulated over the past few days when he heard Ma Wei creak and arch her chair back, then slump onto the table and vomit.

"Do you have a cold? Let me take you to the hospital to get it checked out." Tang Zhitong immediately got up when he heard Ma Wei vomiting.

"It's not a cold, thank you..." Ma Wei finished vomiting and didn't even bother to cover her stomach. She took out a handkerchief to wipe the remaining vomit from the corner of her mouth. She was about to say thank you, Section Chief, but the words that came out were "I'm going to the toilet."

After saying that, he grabbed the newspaper on his desk and ran out. If he hadn't been a little unsteady, who would have thought that he was a patient?
The vomit smelled awful. Tang Zhitong glanced around the office and saw nothing to cover it up. He went back to his workstation to put away the receipts and planned to go outside and shovel some soil to cover it.

Once outside the office, as if by prior arrangement, several colleagues rushed to the restroom, and several others leaned against the wall, vomiting violently.

"Holy crap! Food poisoning?!" It's one thing if one person is vomiting and having diarrhea, but if a group of people are vomiting and having diarrhea at the same time, then food poisoning is probably the only option left.

The possibility of viral infection also exists, but the probability is not high. After all, everyone's constitution is different and the infection events are different. It is unlikely that they will vomit and have diarrhea at the same time.

Tang Zhitong glanced back at Ma Wei's vomit; the dark green substance appeared to be potato leaves.

Faced with such an unexpected event, Tang Zhitong dared not delay. His first reaction was to go to Fang Yuan's office and tell him to get ready immediately.

“Brother Yuan…” Tang Zhitong ran to Fang Yuan’s office and was stunned when she saw his condition. There was a puddle of vomit on the floor, and a faint stench was coming from it.

“Anzi, it seems you were right, they’ve been poisoned…” Fang Yuan gave a miserable smile. “I heard some noise outside, could it be that the other comrades have been poisoned too?”

"Hmm, I see a few. Yuan-ge, gag yourself and vomit them all out." Tang Zhitong replied while pouring Fang Yuan a glass of water, then picked up the soap from the sink and stuffed it into the glass, intending to make some soapy water to induce vomiting.

"I've soiled my pants. Go and organize those who aren't poisoned or have mild symptoms to help everyone. I'll call the hospital right now for backup." Fang Yuan ignored Tang Zhitong's instructions and grabbed the phone to dial.

"Brother Yuan, call Director Su first, and ask the clinic... never mind, I'll call." Tang Zhitong was afraid that Fang Yuan would let something slip, so he ignored the soap still on his hands, rubbed himself a couple of times, took the phone from Fang Yuan, and skillfully dialed Su Qingxiang's number.

While the call was connecting, Tang Zhitong covered the receiver and whispered to Fang Yuan, "Brother Yuan, once the call connects, make a gagging sound and keep vomiting."

Mass food poisoning is no small matter in any era, and the responsible officials would certainly be held accountable. Tang Zhitong wanted to absolve Fang Yuan of any subjective responsibility as much as possible.

Fang Yuan nodded with a complicated expression after hearing this.

"Director Su, this is Tang Zhitong. Several of our comrades in the escort department have food poisoning, and Director Fang is also vomiting and has diarrhea, so he can't call you. Could you have the doctor from the clinic bring atropine? It must be quick, and bring all the atropine tablets." After the call connected, Tang Zhitong quickly reported on his end, while Fang Yuan was vomiting loudly beside him.

Atropine, a drug that became very niche decades later, disappeared from public view in tablet form for some reason, but it was very effective, especially for detoxification and stopping diarrhea.

This stuff can effectively inhibit intestinal peristalsis. Even those who suffer from diarrhea and need to go to the toilet more than ten times a day can experience the relief of not having a bowel movement for three days with just two tablets.

There are no disposable syringes available right now, and the needles are all disinfected and reused. There are quite a few people poisoned at the escort point today, so some injection solutions are not suitable. Therefore, Tang Zhitong chose to use tablets.

After hanging up the phone, Tang Zhitong instructed Fang Yuan, "Brother Yuan, drink the soapy water, then keep gagging and vomiting. Drink two cups and vomit twice. I'll bring you some medicine later."

Without waiting for Fang Yuan's response, Tang Zhitong immediately ran out of the office. There were still a group of employees suffering from food poisoning outside, and they had to deal with it quickly to prevent any serious consequences, otherwise Fang Yuan's position would be in danger.

Although I didn't explicitly say it to Su Qingxiang on the phone just now, we're all on Director Hu's side, so some things don't need to be said directly to be understood.

(End of this chapter)