Siheyuan: Relieve stress and relieve worries

Chapter 1132 The dust has settled
"Have you heard? The Xu family in the backyard and the Liu family in the frontyard have both moved away. Old Mrs. Wang moved to the backyard, to the house that Xu Desheng owns," said Liu Gen's mother. The women of this courtyard were gathered under the covered walkway in the middle courtyard, and Liu Gen's mother was one of them.

Madam Jia Zhang had also heard about it, but since none of the families had moved, she didn't know if it was true or not. She looked at Liu Gen's mother and said, "Who told you that? Why did they just move away all of a sudden?"

At this moment, Liu Yuanyuan's grandmother said, "It's true. I'm in the front yard. Old Mrs. Wang said it herself, and she also said that it would be good for her to keep the deaf old lady company."

“Good heavens, if this is true, once those two families move out, the entire east wing of the front yard will be empty. Do you think we can apply for one room at the neighborhood office?” said Li Yue’e, Liu Haizhong’s wife, from the back yard.

Upon hearing this, Jia Zhangshi's eyes lit up. She looked up in the direction of Yi Zhonghai's house in the east wing. Yi Zhonghai had already gone to work today, and only Aunt Li Cuilan was at home. She guessed that Aunt Li Cuilan was at the old lady's house in the backyard. Jia Zhangshi was not in a hurry at the moment. She decided to go to Yi Zhonghai's house to ask after he got off work.

The news that Xu Desheng's family and Liu Shuquan's family were moving had already spread far and wide while they were busy with the paperwork at the neighborhood committee. Even people in the neighboring courtyards had heard about it. For the time being, there was no negative news, and it was just considered a normal house swap.

Sha Zhu woke up late today. When he went to work, several middle-aged women in the courtyard were discussing the matter enthusiastically. Sha Zhu listened for a while, but felt that it had nothing to do with him, so he went to work with his empty lunchbox.

In one morning, Director Wang helped them complete the formalities smoothly. However, Director Wang noticed that the money for Xu Desheng's house purchase was paid by Liu Shuquan's wife. Although she had some doubts, she didn't pay attention to it.

As the group walked out of the neighborhood office, Old Mrs. Wang looked at Wang Zhan and said, "Young man, come visit me more often when you have nothing to do. You may not know, but Old Mrs. Yang from the east courtyard and I often talk about you. I know you are also a martyr's family member, so let's look after each other."

Wang Zhan nodded. To be honest, Wang Zhan cared a lot about the title of "family member of a martyr," after all, it was something his parents had earned with their lives. So he always felt a sense of closeness to other families who were also families of martyrs.

Wang Zhan didn't plan to go to No. 95 Courtyard right now. He would go after he finished dealing with those two cases. So he said goodbye to Xu Desheng and Liu Shuquan and left alone. But what he didn't know was that Director Wang was standing at the entrance of the street office, watching him walk into Yu'er Hutong and then into his own home.

The Liu family went to No. 49 Yu'er Hutong as soon as possible. Grandpa Yang was quite clear about the matter and knew that Wang Zhan had moved out of the house. He had no objection, but he wanted to know who the new people who moved in were.

Liu Shuquan's wife and children went directly to the house for a tour and then discussed how to renovate it. Meanwhile, Liu Shuquan chatted with Grandpa Yang in the front yard. After learning about the new family, Grandpa Yang was very satisfied with them; they seemed to be an honest and hardworking family.

Xu Desheng handled all the paperwork himself today. He had no intention of moving to the new apartment; he had sold his old house directly to Liu Shuquan and moved into the steel mill's dormitory building, which was the apartment the factory had allocated to him. Yi Zhonghai only found out about this when Xu Desheng was moving, and he glared at him with some resentment.

Xu Desheng already knew he had been assigned to a dormitory-style apartment building. If it weren't for the housing exchange issue, his two rooms would have been returned to the steel mill. At that time, if there weren't enough rooms in this compound, he could apply to the mill. Unexpectedly, Yi Zhonghai's maneuvering benefited Xu Desheng, who got both money and houses.

Liu Shuquan was also a winner. He paid Xu Desheng 200 yuan, making a total of 700 yuan. His own house went from two large and one small rooms to three large rooms, and he also got a small shed for free. Actually, it wasn't really a shed, but just a kitchen and storage room that had been built.

Wang Zhan was also a winner, as his three rooms became five rooms, consisting of three large rooms, two small rooms, and so on.

Grandma Wang didn't lose out either; the original two rooms, one large and one small, became two large rooms, and they were still the main rooms.

The residents of No. 95 Courtyard were all thinking about one question: how come everyone who swapped houses ended up being a winner? Shouldn't there be winners and losers? They couldn't figure it out no matter how long they thought about it.

But there were definitely those who suffered losses, namely, Director Wang who spared no effort in running around and even opened doors of convenience for others in some places.

After the fifteenth, Wang Zhan went to courtyard number 95, hung up the plaque for his family's "Home of Honor," changed all the locks, and never went back.

The city of Beijing relied entirely on grain imports from other regions. However, after 1959, these imports became increasingly difficult and scarce. At one point, there was an emergency where the city's grain reserves were insufficient to meet six days' needs. At that time, the city's population was less than 400 million (the "non-agricultural population" enjoying commodity grain benefits). Residents were supplied with low-standard grain rations, changing the system of "certificate-based" grain rations implemented since the "unified purchase and sale" system of 1954 to "ration coupon-based" rations. Everyone with a formal household registration in Beijing (those "eating commodity grain") received monthly grain coupons. These coupons were divided into: coarse grain coupons, flour coupons, rice coupons, etc. Grain rations varied according to age and individual circumstances, ranging from 3 jin for newborns, 6 jin for infants, 8 jin for children, and up to 21 jin for adults. Furthermore, rations varied depending on status, with slight increases for university and high school students, government officials, and those in special occupations. Of the total supply, flour accounts for 20%, rice accounts for 10%, and the remainder is supplied with coarse grains such as cornmeal, dried sweet potatoes, and sometimes sorghum flour, fresh sweet potatoes, and other miscellaneous grains.

Infants are issued milk certificates, receiving two bottles daily, each weighing half a pound. Children one year old receive one bottle, mixed with "milk substitute powder." Milk substitute powder coupons and infant sugar coupons are issued monthly. These coupons can be used at designated stores to purchase one jin (approximately 500 grams) of milk substitute powder (made from soybean flour, rice flour, and a small amount of milk powder) and two liang (approximately 100 grams) of brown sugar (Cuban-made).
Pork, a staple food for most residents, was rationed starting in January 1959. Anyone with a formal household registration in Beijing was given three coupons per month (one for the first, middle, and last ten days of the month), each coupon rationing 1-3 liang (approximately 500-150 grams) of fresh pork, depending on supply. When pork was scarce, the ration was 1 liang, and when it was plentiful, it could not exceed 3 liang. However, starting in May of the same year, the three coupons per person per month were reduced to two (one for the first half of the month and one for the second half).

Beef and mutton have been rationed since last year. All ethnic minority residents who practice Islam and have a formal household registration in Beijing are issued three "Halal Meat Coupons" per month. The coupons are marked with the dates for the first, middle, and last ten days of the month, and each coupon is valid for one-time use, allowing the purchase of 1-3 ounces of fresh meat (either beef or mutton). When supplies were insufficient, camel meat was imported from the Northwest to substitute for beef. It was also stipulated that offal (internal organs) could be used to replace the amount of fresh meat.
(End of this chapter)