60s: I have a store

Chapter 207

The next morning, Zhou Yimin's first focus was still on the 1 yuan purchase.

今日的1元商品是100斤珍珠米、100斤松子、100桶菜籽油，以及100斤雪花牛肉。

Pearl rice is a type of japonica rice, named for its full grains, white color and pearl-like shape. Thai pearl rice has the best quality. The best pearl rice producing area in China is in the Northeast, and Ningxia in my country also has a history of growing pearl rice.

During the Qing Dynasty, Ningxia Pearl Rice was listed as tribute rice presented to the imperial court. Its grains are full, white in color, oily, sweet in taste, rich in nutrition, and rich in protein, fat and other ingredients.

There's nothing much to say about pine nuts.

Rapeseed oil...

Zhou Yimin reacted and his heart skipped a beat.

That's right!

You read that right, it’s 100 barrels, and only 1 yuan.

This is undoubtedly a huge discount! It's even the same as giving it away for free.

Nowadays, people are short of oil and water, and what they want most is oil.

Even in the steel mills, there is never enough oil and water. After all, the workers in the steel mills basically do manual labor, and they cannot do without oil and water.

100 barrels of rapeseed oil are very important materials even in a steel plant.

Marbled beef may seem a little strange in this era.

Zhou Yimin is not sure whether the concept of "marbled beef" exists in China at this time.

In later generations, many people know that marbled beef refers to beef containing a large amount of intramuscular fat. The fat of this type of beef is deposited between the muscle fibers, forming a distinct red and white, marble-like pattern. It contains a large amount of fatty acids needed by the human body and has a much higher nutritional value than ordinary beef.

In fact, this phenomenon occurs not only in beef, but also in high-quality pork.

Their muscles and fat do not penetrate each other. Generally, fat is deposited in the subcutaneous tissue, while muscles are formed under the fat. White fat and red muscles are clearly separated.

As far as Zhou Yimin knows, not all cows have the potential to produce marbled beef.

The most important thing to look at for a cow with this potential is its ability to deposit fat. Beef cattle can be divided into two categories: lean and fat. Lean cattle are not easy to deposit fat, so it is difficult to produce marbled beef.

Among the cattle breeds that are easy to produce marbled beef, the most famous is undoubtedly the Wagyu beef.

In addition, my country's Qinchuan Yellow Cattle and Luxi Yellow Cattle also have a certain degree of fat deposition ability, and have a certain chance of producing marbled beef.

Shortly after dawn, guests came to Old Xu's house in the front yard.

"Daniu, why are you here? How is your family?" Mrs. Xu's daughter-in-law was very surprised by her brother's arrival. At the same time, she was a little worried.

The main reason is that my family is not well off and I don’t know how to entertain guests, so I feel stressed.

It’s like Chinese New Year is almost here but you have no money.

When I am in trouble, I really don’t want to meet my relatives and friends.

The tall but thin-looking man touched his head, as if he was unable to speak.

Got it!
This expression made the Xu family understand what was going on.

"Second sister, our family is in a difficult situation. We have nothing to eat, and several people in the village have starved to death. Mom asked me to come and see you. If conditions permit, I would like to borrow some food to take back." The man finished his words hesitantly, and was too embarrassed to look at his second sister or the people in her husband's family.

If it were in the past, he would have no psychological burden in borrowing some food from his second sister's family.

After all, my second brother-in-law used to be a driver and his family was relatively well off. At that time, my second sister also sent some things back home.

But now, his second brother-in-law is gone. He guessed that his second sister's family was not doing well either, and it felt bad to ask for food at this time.

"Isn't the wheat ripe?" the young woman couldn't help asking.

The man was even more embarrassed, and he faltered to explain: "There is a severe drought in our village, and we have no harvest, so we really can't hold on any longer."

No harvest?

The Xu family widened their eyes.

If there is no harvest, it means there will be no food for most of the next six months.

This……

When his daughter-in-law was in trouble, Old Xu said, "I'll go check on Yimin later!"

He was very satisfied with his daughter-in-law. She gave birth to a big fat grandson for his Xu family. Not only did she inherit the family line, but after his son got into trouble, she had no intention of remarrying. She only wanted to raise their grandson to adulthood and take care of them both in their old age.

How could he just stand by and watch when his daughter-in-law was in trouble?

"Dad, I still have some money left..." The young woman immediately took out her own money.

Before he finished speaking, Old Man Xu waved his hand and said, "Keep the money for yourself!"

In fact, the son's pension is still in the hands of the daughter-in-law, but the two elders have never asked her for it. A widow without money will panic and lose confidence, and it is easy to think of other ways.

The two old people did not ask for a pension, they just wanted to stabilize their daughter-in-law.

Now, the two elders know how their daughter-in-law spends the money, and they feel more at ease.

The daughter-in-law confessed to them that she intended to use the money to educate her son and save it for him to get married and have children in the future.

Old Man Xu and Old Lady Xu naturally had no objection to this approach. All the money was spent on their grandson, what else did they want?

Afterwards, Old Man Xu solemnly took something out of his house and walked towards the central courtyard where Zhou Yimin lived.

"Mom, Dad..."

Because the things were in a box, she couldn't see what was in it, and the young woman was curious.

The old lady smiled and said, "That is the Xu family's heirloom, but I don't know how much it is worth now."

Then, we talked about some things about the Xu family.

In China, who hasn’t had wealthy ancestors? With thousands of years of history and so many generations, there must be a generation that is promising, right?

The Xu family is no exception. More than a hundred years ago, their ancestors were also wealthy.

Zhou Yimin was about to go out when he met Old Man Xu who came to visit him.

"Uncle Xu, what's the matter?"

As soon as Zhou Yimin saw the old man's expression, he knew that something was wrong.

"Yi Min, are you talking inside?"

Zhou Yimin quickly invited him in: "Okay, Uncle Xu, come in."

After entering the house, the old man took out the box from his arms, told Zhou Yimin about his heirloom, asked Zhou Yimin to take a look, and asked Zhou Yimin if he could exchange it for some food.

"Uncle Xu, there's no need to exchange your heirloom! I have 20 kilograms of sorghum here, you can take it back and eat it first!" Zhou Yimin said.

Old man Xu smiled bitterly and had to tell him the story of his daughter-in-law's family. The food he wanted to exchange this time was not just ten or eight kilograms.

After hearing this, Zhou Yimin opened the box and was almost shocked. He had often heard of the treasure inside in his previous life.

He took a deep breath and asked, "Uncle Xu, how much do you plan to exchange?"

Old Man Xu was nervous and held up three fingers: "How about 300 kilograms of food?"

Too little is useless.

Zhou Yimin nodded immediately: "I'm getting a great deal. I'll give you 500 kilograms! But you have to wait."

Old man Xu was ecstatic and thanked him quickly, then left with many thanks.

Zhou Yimin put away the treasure and returned to Zhoujiazhuang.

The two brothers Lai Fu and Lai Cai followed Huang Lan and put the harvested wheat in order. They also wanted to help because children also have their own size.

Because in the 1960s, the rural areas implemented a collective economic system. People were members of the production team and worked collectively to earn centimeters. The distribution of rations was implemented according to the number of centimeters. In order to ensure that family members had enough food and clothing, every family member, including children, needed to participate in the production team's labor to earn centimeters. Although children had fewer work points, they also had their own work points, which had an important impact on the overall distribution of rations for the family. This system embodied the principles of collective labor and fair distribution in rural society at that time, and also reflected that in that era, even children were regarded as part of the family's labor force and participated in the family's production activities.

Generally, an adult male can earn about 10 centimeters per day's work, while a woman can earn about 8 centimeters and a child can earn about 4 centimeters.

When the brothers Lai Fu and Lai Cai were working hard, Lai Cai, who had sharp eyes, whispered, "Brother, there is a snake over there, but it looks so brightly colored, is it poisonous? If it is not poisonous, should we catch it and exchange it for snacks with big brother?"

"Laicai, are you telling the truth?" Lai Fu said loudly.

Lai Cai immediately put his hand on his lips: "Brother, keep your voice down, if others find out, there will be no place for us!"

You should know that snake meat is a rare meat nowadays. After all, when you are hungry, you will even eat tree bark and even Guanyin soil. Although you know that eating Guanyin soil will not cause any harm, you will starve to death if you don't eat it.

Guanyin clay is a clay mineral whose main component is kaolin. It is also called Guanyin clay, bentonite, bentonite, sweet clay, bentonite, pottery clay or white clay. This soil is mainly composed of montmorillonite and is rich in minerals such as silicon, zinc, magnesium and aluminum. Guanyin clay was used as a substitute food by many families during the Great Famine when food was scarce. People ate Guanyin clay to survive.

Guanyin soil is called "Guanyin soil" because in folklore, Guanyin Bodhisattva once transformed into an old man and brought this soil to help sick people, so this soil was named "Guanyin soil". Although this soil does not have any nutritional value, it can produce a sense of fullness for a short period of time after eating, so it was used by people to relieve hunger during famine. However, Guanyin soil cannot be digested by the human body, and eating a large amount of it can cause bloating and other health problems, and may even lead to death. Therefore, although Guanyin soil was used as emergency food during famine, it cannot be used as a long-term food source.

Lai Fu nodded, then looked in the direction of Lai Cai's finger, and saw a red and black snake about one meter long, and then said: "It turned out to be a red-banded snake, it's not poisonous, don't worry!"

Aren't all venomous snakes necessarily colorful and beautiful? This is not the case. For example, the red-banded snake is very beautiful, with red and black patterns, but it is a non-venomous snake. "Snakes also use this natural camouflage method to tell their natural enemies 'I am poisonous', so as to escape the predation of natural enemies. In fact, it is a non-venomous snake.

Also, the color of the pit viper is relatively ordinary, but it is a poisonous snake. So bright colors are not an accurate criterion for judging whether a snake is poisonous or not.

Lai Fu was seen tiptoeing slowly towards the red-bellied snake, which was not far away. After walking for more than ten steps, Lai Fu stopped, accelerated, grabbed the red-bellied snake's tail, and then began to swing it continuously. After a while, the red-bellied snake was shaken all over and had no reaction.

"Brother, it's easy to do." Lai Fu said.

Lai Cai: "Brother is really amazing."

After seeing this scene, Huang Lan walked over immediately, fearing that her child would catch a poisonous snake. This was no joke. You have to know that the medical conditions at that time were not good. If there was no toxin vaccine, people could die in minutes.

But when he got closer, he realized it was a red-fire chain, so he felt relieved because red-fire chains are not poisonous. He immediately said, "Laifu, take the snake back to your father to deal with it."

After saying that, he prepared to go back to work.

Lai Cai retorted: "Mom, I want to take this snake to exchange for White Rabbit Milk Candy with my eldest brother."

Huang Lan got angry when she heard this: "What did you say, you little bastard? You still want to exchange things with your big brother. It seems I have to beat you today."

You have to know that Zhou Yimin is very good to his family. If these words were to reach Zhou Yimin's ears and he had some opinions about his family, it would be troublesome. Now it is all thanks to Zhou Yimin that the family can eat meat and fine grains every now and then.

When the villagers knew about this, they thought that their family was greedy. You know, reputation is very important at this time. The more they thought about it, the angrier they got. They immediately picked up a stick and were ready to beat the guy up. They had to show their attitude.

When Lai Fu saw what his mother was holding, he immediately stopped her: "Mom, you can't waste food. If you really want to fight, use this snake!"

He also knew that his mother would definitely not be willing to use the snake to beat him, so she said that on purpose. Although there was not much meat on the snake, it was still meat.

Huang Lan was also excited for a moment. Seeing that she had a handful of wheat that she had just cut, she immediately put it down. She couldn't waste the food now. Then she said, "Send the snake to your elder brother. Remember not to exchange it for anything."

"Isn't big brother a buyer? Can't I give the snake to big brother and then exchange it for something else?" Lai Cai asked puzzled.

Lai Fu didn't really understand why other people could exchange things with his elder brother, but why not in his own house? However, seeing that his mother was about to lose her temper, he didn't dare to say anything.

Huang Lan said forcefully: "If I find out that you traded the snake with your brother, I will break your legs."

After saying that, he didn't pay any more attention and turned back to work.

Lai Fu didn't expect that his usually smart brother would dare to argue with his mother, but in order to avoid being beaten, he said, "Brother, forget it, just listen to mom!"

Lai Cai could only nod helplessly, indicating that he already understood, and then ran back with Lai Fu.

The people around were very envious when they saw this scene. If they caught it, wouldn’t they have an extra meal tonight? But suddenly they thought that they could eat pork tonight.

However, some people expressed their understanding of what Huang Lan did, and they would probably do the same if they were in her shoes.

After all, Zhoujiazhuang is getting better and better under Zhou Yimin's care, so this little thing is nothing compared to Zhou Yimin's efforts. If I, a bastard, dared to say that, I would definitely be beaten up.

The surrounding villagers saw that there was no more fun to join in, so they continued to work.

(End of this chapter)