60s: I have a store

Chapter 577 Smile
Zhou Yimin and Director Li finalized some details, and then Director Li left after eating and drinking his fill.

After Zhou Yimin sent Director Li out of the courtyard, he returned home and was about to close the door when he was suddenly stopped by a hand.

He turned sideways and saw that it was Dapeng, so he asked, "Dapeng, what do you want to talk to me about?"

After the two of them entered, they closed the door.

After Dapeng saw that the environment was safe, he spoke up: "Yimin, the black market is not very safe recently. Li Youde and I are thinking of taking a break for a while!"

Zhou Yimin thought it was something else: "Okay, let's stop for a while."

Seeing that Dapeng was very greedy for the braised meat, he directly picked up the remaining braised meat and said, "Take it back and eat it!"

Dapeng didn't hesitate to take it and brought it back for his family to try.

Seeing that it was getting late, Zhou Yimin took a shower and went to bed as he had to get up early the next day.

The next day, Zhou Yimin got up early and first bought today's flash sale products.

There are 100 kilograms of mangoes, 100 kilograms of olive oil, 100 kilograms of cucumbers, and 100 kilograms of mutton.

Zhou Yimin saw that his luck was pretty good today as there was nothing to eat.

Then he briefly familiarized himself with the place and drove away from the courtyard on his motorcycle.

Then, here in Sijiu City, they chose a dilapidated yard where no one would pass by. After all, if 5,000 kilograms of grain were discovered and taken away by others, it would be a disaster.

For Zhou Yimin, it is also a considerable loss.

After more than half an hour of selection, Zhou Yimin finally picked a good place. First of all, this place is shabby and remote, so not many people will come here.

Then the chances of the food being discovered by others will be even smaller.

He then bought two thousand kilograms of sweet potatoes and three thousand kilograms of corn flour from the store.

Zhou Yimin considered that eating only one kind of food would be a bit greasy, so he thought of buying two kinds.

The morning mist had not yet dissipated when Director Li pushed open the mottled wooden door on the street with both hands.

She rubbed her cuffs that were wet with morning dew and turned on the incandescent light in the office in the dark.

The light bulb made a crackling sound of electricity, casting her hunched shadow on the wall, like an old corn hit by frost.

There was overnight tea still brewing in the enamel pot on the table, but the heat had long since gone.

Director Li picked it up and took a big gulp. The bitter tea slid down his throat, but it failed to suppress the anxiety in his heart.

She took out her pocket watch and checked the time. It was 6:20 - two full hours before the time she had agreed to meet Zhou Yimin.

"Bang--" The sound of a cleaner sweeping the floor came from the corridor.

Director Li stood up suddenly, and the legs of his chair made a harsh sound on the concrete floor.

She walked quickly to the door and looked at the end of the gray corridor. Every footstep made her heart beat faster.

When she found out it was the cleaner, Lao Wang, she forced a smile: "Lao Wang, you're here to clean so early?"

"That's right!" Lao Wang straightened up with the help of his broom. "I heard that the shelter is running out of food. I thought I'd finish cleaning it up as soon as possible. Maybe I can help a little."

These words were like a needle piercing Director Li's heart. She nodded reluctantly and returned to her office.

The clock on the wall ticked particularly heavily, and every jump of the second hand felt like a tap on her temple.

She opened the shelter roster on the table, and saw 327 names densely packed together.

The youngest child is only three years old and the oldest is seventy-three. These days they can only have two meals a day of porridge that is so thin that you can see a person's reflection in it.

Thinking of the children crying with hunger, Director Li dug his nails deep into his palms.

At 8:05, the sound of leather shoes hitting the ground was finally heard in the corridor.

Director Li almost rushed to the door and saw Zhou Yimin standing in the morning light, the collar of his white shirt soaked with sweat and his motorcycle helmet still hanging in his arm.

"Yi Min?" Her voice trembled and her eyes were fixed on the other person's face, trying to read the result from his expression.

Zhou Yimin raised his hand to wipe the sweat off his forehead, revealing a tired but relieved smile: "Aunt Li, I have lived up to your trust."

These words fell like a heavy stone to the ground. Director Li's legs went limp and he had to hold on to the door frame to barely stand.

Her eyes instantly turned red, and her voice choked: "Yimin, thank you! Fortunately, I have you, otherwise I don't know what to do!"

"Aunt Li, given our relationship, I will definitely help you if I can." Zhou Yimin said, looking warily at both ends of the corridor, and lowered his voice.
"But we have to hurry up on this matter. The longer we stay at night, the more trouble we will have." Director Li nodded repeatedly and immediately shouted at the top of his voice, "Everyone, gather in the conference room!"

Five minutes later, the courtyard of the street office was crowded with people.

Bicycles and carts were piled up on the bluestone road, and the chains and bells made a chaotic sound.

Secretary Zhang was pushing a 28-inch bicycle with peeling paint and a hemp rope tied to the back seat. The new arrival, Xiao Wu, was struggling to support a cart with an iron basket on it, and the wheels were squeaking on the bumpy ground.

"Listen carefully!" Director Li stood on the steps and spoke in a sonorous and powerful voice: "Today's mission is to transport the grain safely back to the storage center! Don't talk to anyone on the way. If you are questioned, just say..."

She paused, looking around at everyone, "Just say it's supplies for the instant noodle factory!"

This is the result Director Li came to last night after discussing with his family. We cannot say that the grain came from Zhou Yimin; there must be a source.

Zhou Yimin got on the motorcycle and the roar of the engine broke the tense atmosphere.

He nodded to Director Li, and the headlights of his car cut through the mist: "Aunt Li, follow me!"

When the motorcycle turned out of the street office, Zhou Yimin deliberately slowed down. In the rearview mirror, a long transport team was like a winding gray snake, slowly moving forward in the morning mist.

Half an hour later, the convoy stopped in front of a deserted yard on the outskirts of the city.

The faded red lacquer door was half-closed, and the door knocker was covered with cobwebs. Zhou Yimin got out of the car and pushed open the door. The "creaking" sound startled a group of mice, which rustled into the hole in the corner of the wall.

In the middle of the yard, five grain piles covered with waterproof cloth were clearly visible, and the sacks were piled up as high as two people.

Director Li took a deep breath and unconsciously quickened his pace.

She reached out and lifted a corner of the tarpaulin, and golden cornmeal poured out, forming a small golden mound on the ground. "This... so much food, just put it here?" There was a low murmur from the crowd.

"Load the truck quickly! Don't dawdle!" Director Li shouted sternly, fearing that gossip would spread.

She turned to look at Zhou Yimin, her eyes moistened again: "Yimin, I really don't know how to thank you... In the future, if there is anything, as long as I can do it..."

"You're too polite, Aunt Li." Zhou Yimin waved his hand and looked outside the yard vigilantly, "I have to hurry to the factory. Remember, keep your mouth shut."

After saying that, he got on his motorcycle. The sound of the engine spread far away and soon disappeared in the morning mist.

The loading process was much more difficult than expected.

The ground was bumpy and the cart couldn't be pushed even after it was filled with grain. It took several people working together to barely lift the wheels.

The sack on the back of the bicycle was tied and loosened, loosened and tied again, leaving deep red blood marks on everyone's hands. "Sister Wang, you take three people to stay here to guard." Director Li wiped the sweat from his forehead and called his most capable subordinate aside, "Patrol every half an hour, if there is any movement..."

She squeezed his hand and said, "Go to the shelter and report it immediately!"

The sun was already high in the sky when the first transport team set out.

Director Li sat on the front cart, holding the account book tightly in his arms, his eyes fixed on the surroundings.

Only when he saw the familiar gray brick walls of the shelter did Director Li breathe a sigh of relief.

The cheers of children could be heard from afar, and a few hungry and skinny children were clinging to the wall and looking out.

When Director Li saw this, he could only shake his head helplessly.

At this moment, Zhou Yimin was sitting in the office of the steel plant, flipping through the purchase report as if nothing had happened.

In his shirt pocket was a tea egg that he had bought from the store before leaving the house that morning.

He took a bite of the warm egg, the salty and fragrant taste spread in his mouth, and the sunlight outside the window shone on him, as if nothing had happened.

Then I started thinking about what else could be developed at this time. It couldn't be too difficult, otherwise even if I could come up with it, I wouldn't be able to produce it.

The morning light was obscured by clouds, but the courtyard of the street office was filled with tense heat.

Director Li stood on the steps, beads of sweat on his gray temples. His eyes swept over the uneven transport team in front of him, where rusty 28-inch bicycles were crookedly carrying hemp ropes.

The paint-chipped cart bed was covered with tattered straw mats. Twenty or so workers were gripping the handlebars, their knuckles turning white from the force.

As soon as the team turned out of the alley, Lao Wu's cart sank into a mud pit.

The sacks filled with corn weighed more than 100 kilograms. He bent his back and pushed the cart desperately, but the wheels slipped in the mud, and the splashing mud stuck to his trouser legs.

"Don't just stand there! Give me a hand!" Sister Zhao dropped her bicycle and ran over, followed by several young staff members.

Six pairs of hands exerted force at the same time, and accompanied by heavy gasps, the cart finally broke free from the mire with a "click". Everyone staggered back a few steps, sweat on their foreheads dripping onto the gravel road.

The few of them used up their already limited physical strength in an instant.

At this moment, Xiao Sun's bicycle chain suddenly fell off, and the sound of metal collision attracted everyone's attention.

He squatted down in a hurry to repair it, and his hands were soon covered with oil.

Director Li looked back and saw this scene. He stamped his feet anxiously, but could only lower his voice and urge: "Faster! Faster!"

After turning into the dirt road on the outskirts of the city, the road conditions became worse.

The wheels rolled over the raised mounds of earth, and the sacks on the cart shook violently.

Master Wang gripped the handlebars tightly; the sweat from between his fingers made the wooden handle slippery.

"Hold steady! Don't spill anything!" He reminded his companions loudly, but before he could finish his words, the sorghum rice in the truck bed leaked out through the cracks, leaving a winding golden trail on the loess road.

The sun is now scorching, and the asphalt road is emitting heat waves.

Everyone's clothes had already been soaked with sweat, and white salt stains appeared on their backs.

Old Li's asthma flared up. He leaned against a tree and gasped for air, but he refused to put down the hemp rope on his shoulders: "I can do it... We can't delay the food."

Director Li handed over the water gourd with red eyes, her Adam's apple rolling and she couldn't speak - these old friends who had worked with her for more than ten years were now using their overdrawn physical strength to protect the food rations of 300 people.

When the mottled vermilion lacquered gate finally came into view, the team burst into suppressed cheers. They were relieved to have finally returned to the neighborhood office.

On the return trip from the first transport, Director Li looked back at the gradually shrinking grain pile and suddenly discovered that his cloth shoes had cracked at some point and his toes were rubbed painfully in the shoes.

But they did not stop. After a short rest, Director Li led everyone to continue transporting the remaining food back.

Director Li held onto the door frame and watched the last cart slowly disappear into the alley.

Her back was already soaked with sweat, her cloth shoes were covered in mud, and her legs felt as heavy as if they were filled with lead.

But Director Li thought that with so much food, it would be possible to ensure that the shelter and the street office would not be short of food within a month.

"Comrades, let's work harder!" Director Li shouted in a hoarse voice, "Let's cook a hot meal for everyone first!"

As soon as he finished speaking, more than 20 street office staff members immediately took action.

Someone ran to bring an iron pot, and someone started a fire in the corner. The flames crackled, illuminating everyone's dusty faces.

Xiao Wu didn't bother to treat the wound on his hand. He grabbed a handful of cornmeal and poured it into the pot.

The golden powder cascaded down like a waterfall, and the air was gradually filled with the fragrance of grains.

Sister Zhao cut the washed sweet potatoes into small pieces and threw them into the boiling porridge pot.

The sweet potato chunks float up and down in the boiling water, as if telling of the coming warmth.

"Don't worry, everyone has a share!" Secretary Zhang held a large iron spoon and stood in front of the pot to maintain order.

The people in the shelter spontaneously lined up in a row, but they all kept their distance - they knew too well how precious food was, and were afraid of accidentally spilling even a drop.

In the team, a three-year-old girl stood on tiptoe, staring at the steaming pot, her saliva almost dripping.

When the first pot of porridge was cooked, the sky had already darkened completely.

Director Li personally took the spoon and served the thick corn porridge into a stoneware bowl.

When she handed the first bowl of porridge to the 73-year-old man, the old man's trembling hands almost knocked over the bowl: "Thank you, thank you." Turbid tears dripped into the porridge, causing small ripples.

In the past, a bowl of porridge like this, plus half a sweet potato, was the entire day’s food supply for everyone in the shelter.

But today, Director Li cooked more food so that the people in the shelter could have a full meal.

"Eat, you'll have more energy if you're full!" She watched people wolfing down their food, feeling both relieved and sad. In the light of the fire, some people held their bowls and savored the food carefully, while others drank the entire bowl in a few gulps and then licked the edge of the bowl carefully.

In the corner, several children squatted on the ground with bowls in their hands, eating from them one bite at a time.

Their clothes were tattered and their faces were covered in coal dust, but at this moment, a satisfied smile bloomed on everyone's face.

A little boy suddenly looked up and shouted, "This is the best porridge I have ever eaten!"

The childish voice echoed in the night air, making everyone laugh.

After hearing this, Director Li's tired face showed a hint of a smile.

After everyone had eaten, Director Li spoke up: "Everyone, you've worked hard today, go back and rest early!"

When the staff of the street office heard this, they all breathed a sigh of relief and were finally able to go home and have a good rest.

(End of this chapter)