Restarting life by going to the countryside to support medical work

Chapter 26 New Life

In Li Yancheng's memory, before he joined the army, the alleys were bustling with activity every time the Chinese New Year was approaching. The adults were busy preparing New Year's goods, while the children were having fun playing outside.

They were really poor and supplies were indeed scarce, but the status of the Spring Festival in the hearts of ordinary people was far beyond that of other festivals. Even the country treated these festivals differently.

Regardless of whether the units are rich or poor, they will give some New Year goods to their employees at this time.

Each street office will also distribute New Year goods to everyone through the neighborhood committees below. For example, each household will be given a ticket for one or two taels of sesame paste and tea (high-quality). They can use the ticket to purchase them.

There are also thick vermicelli, rice noodles, pepper, aniseed, black fungus, chrysanthemum, and alkaline noodles. Tickets are given per household, with a maximum of two taels. Seasonings are half a tael.

Of course, half a pound of peanuts, with the skin on, and two ounces of fried melon seeds are indispensable. These two items have been quantified according to the hair of people registered in the household registration system since the year before last.

A small amount of peanut oil will be supplied during the Spring Festival. On weekdays, cooking oil tickets are issued according to household registration, three taels per person per month, which can be used to buy soybean oil or cottonseed oil. Peanut oil can only be seen on the market during the Spring Festival.

During the Spring Festival, a holiday subsidy oil ticket will be issued, which can be used to purchase one or two taels of sesame oil.

Oh, there is one most important thing, that is sugar coupons, because sugar has a special status, it is a reserve material. Under normal circumstances, each person is given two taels of sugar coupons per month, and one more will be issued during the Chinese New Year.

All these situations show how high the status of the Spring Festival is in the hearts of ordinary people.

But look at the present.

Li Yancheng walked from the entrance of the alley to the gate of No. 20 Courtyard, a distance of several hundred meters, but he didn't see anyone. It felt like a swarm of locusts passing through and eating all living things.

If it weren't for the occasional voices coming from someone's yard, he would really suspect that aliens had come and kidnapped all the people living here.

As for the sound of firecrackers that would be heard at this time every year in previous years, haha... he didn't hear a single one during the ten kilometers he drove from the hospital.

When he saw the big lock hanging on the gate of the yard, he was stunned for a long time.

Since his grandfather passed away the year before last, the remaining adults in this courtyard have all had jobs and the children have to go to school, so it is normal to hang big padlocks during the day.

But since the school was suspended, he had never seen the gate locked again. Today it was suddenly locked again, which made him curious. Where did the three children who didn’t go to school go?
I put down the luggage in my hand, took out the key to unlock it, and just as I pushed the door open, I heard a cat's meow coming from the yard.

"Meow……"

Perhaps hearing the noise of the door, an orange cat turned around from behind the screen wall and poked its head to look towards the door.

This is the second child of the Zhao family in the front yard who is in high school. He brought the cat home from somewhere last year. When he was brought home, it looked like it was just born and was about to die.

I didn’t expect this guy to be so lucky and survive on his own.

Since we got it, we haven't seen any mice in this yard anymore.

When the cat saw the person for the first time, it probably didn't recognize him. It bared its teeth and let out a "ha". At the same time, its fur stood up and its body arched, ready for the attack.

"Go ahead, you still want to tickle me."

Li Yancheng walked into the gate carrying his luggage.

Hearing the voice, the cat probably recognized him. It stopped bending its body and its fur stopped standing up. It tilted its head and took another careful look. After confirming that it was someone it knew, it meowed and walked to Li Yancheng's legs, rubbing back and forth with his footsteps.

"Where has everyone in the courtyard gone?"

"Meow"

"You don't know either. You should know when he left, right?"

"Meow"

"Silly cat, you don't know what to do with me." "Meow"

This call was obviously emotional, and he ran away after calling out!
He also carried his luggage, walked through the hanging flower gate and into the backyard.

The yard is still as clean and tidy as ever.

Jin Zhihai's wife Xing Lihua and Cai Fangchao's wife Fu Xiuli are both clean people, especially Xing Lihua, who cleans the backyard almost every morning.

It should be said that the wives of these two people, no matter whether they were introduced by others or chosen by their parents, are all excellent. Look at him, ah, it's really hard to describe.

Ok?
Li Yancheng opened the door of his house and looked inside with some surprise. He stood at the door without moving his legs to go in. If the furnishings had not changed, he would have suspected that he had opened the wrong door.

It wasn't that the house was robbed, but that it was too clean. The difference was so great compared to when he came back a month ago.

In an instant, he thought of the little girl Jin Wenning.

The last time he came back after dinner he didn't go home, but took the bus directly to Qianmen, and this girl went with him.

Halfway through the journey, the little girl asked for the shoulder bag he was carrying, saying that it contained his household registration booklet and divorce certificate, and it would be troublesome if he lost them in the countryside, so she helped him put them at home.

Li Yancheng left a key to his house at Jin's house. He couldn't say that he had a warehouse and it was impossible for him to lose it, so he followed the girl's wishes and gave her the bag.

She must have known the approximate day of his return, so she helped him clean the house.

You know what, it’s really clean.

After entering the bedroom, he found that not only had the room been cleaned and swept, but even the sheets and quilts on his bed had been taken apart and washed. It was probably because the weather had been good in the past two days that the quilts were pulled out to dry in the sun. The room smelled of the sun.

Hey! This girl!
Looking at the tidy house, Li Yancheng smiled bitterly and shook his head.

Being a twelve year old, no, he is already thirteen years old this year, but he is still a child.

He felt really bad about having a little kid clean the house.

He put away his luggage. Today the weather was gloomy and the weather forecast said it would snow starting tonight. He couldn't dry the bedding he brought back, so he stuffed it into the suitcase and would unpack and wash it when the weather got better.

After putting clean clothes into the bag and picking up toiletries, he turned and walked out of the house to take a bath and wash off the dust on his body.

When I came back, it was almost five o'clock in the afternoon. I soaked in the bathhouse for three hours. It was so relaxing.

This time, someone had already returned to the yard. They were Zhao Mingming, the third child of the old Zhao family in the front yard, and Jin Wenning. There were also two children from other families in the alley. The four of them were playing with paper buns in the front yard.

"Big Cheng Brother"

"Uncle Dacheng"

"Mingming, Ningning, why aren't you at home when I got back at noon?"

"Brother Dacheng, we are at Nana's house. Her aunt is giving us lessons."

Jin Wenning's little mouth was the fastest to answer.

Nana was another little girl who played with them. Her home was in Courtyard No. 15 in this alley.

Her aunt's name is Zhang Weiyu. She is the only college student in their Meishandong Hutong and a sophomore at Beijing University. She has been on hold at home since the year before last. During this period, she no longer followed those classmates to go out and mess around. Instead, she started to tutor the children in the hutong who were willing to study.

(End of this chapter)