Era: I was a farmer at the foot of Yaoling Mountain

Chapter 12 Paying public grain and distributing food rations

"Everyone, work harder. We'll give you rations once you return from handing in your grain."

Zheng Xianfa took the lead, and the sacks on the flatbed truck were piled high.

As the leader of the production team, he naturally had to set an example.

Fang Wei and Zheng Hu followed behind Zheng Xianfa's flatbed cart. They had to help push the cart on flat roads and uphills, and help pull the cart on downhills. It was not easy.

Zheng Hu is no longer in serious condition. This boy is very strong and does not slack off when working.

"Third Brother Fang, thank you for saving my life. From now on, whatever you say is what I will listen to."

Although Zheng Hu seems a bit of a jerk, he is very clear that he had a close call with death that day.

He couldn't beat Fang Wei in the first place, and he was saved by him, so his words were sincere.

"Yeah, from now on, stop bullying others and do more serious work."

Fang Wei didn't want to say too much, as long as the other party didn't provoke him in the future.

As for the other party's behavior, he couldn't control it, nor was he obliged to do so. He just gave a casual reminder out of respect for Brother Zheng.

"I said I would listen to you. If you don't let me bully others, I will definitely do it in the future."

Zheng Hu responded, and his attitude seemed quite correct.

After the two chatted for a few sentences, they happened to encounter an uphill road ahead.

Even Zheng Xianfa felt very tired, and they almost used up all their strength.

The journey was really hard, the car was heavy and the road was bumpy.

Fortunately, it was not raining, otherwise the road would be muddy and the heavily loaded flatbed truck would not be able to pass through.

The grain delivery convoy continued to move forward, sweating all the way, and finally arrived at the commune after ten o'clock in the morning.

"Comrades, it will be our second team's turn at 11 o'clock. Let's take a break and have something to eat and drink."

Zheng Xianfa said something with a smile and went to the front to negotiate with someone.

The grain delivery location is in the large yard next to the supply and marketing cooperative, where it is inspected, graded, weighed, and then transported to the warehouse.

The young boys who came with them had nothing to do, so they gathered together to talk and chat.

Fang Wei didn't try to avoid them on purpose. These boys would follow him wherever he went.

Ever since he saved Zheng Hu, he has been the most handsome guy in the village. In the eyes of these guys, he is an "idol".

People of the same age have a lot of common topics, but Fang Weiyi is not interested in any of them.

I just didn't walk away out of courtesy.

About half an hour later, Zheng Xianfa and a man in his twenties came over.

This man is the inspector. If he wasn't related to Zheng Xianfa and hadn't accepted a pack of good cigarettes from him, he wouldn't be so proactive.

"Yes, your rice is free of impurities and well-dried, meeting the second-grade standard. Let's go and get it weighed."

The inspector was very responsible and conducted random inspections on every truckload of rice.

The team's rice was of good quality and was rated second grade, and everyone had smiles on their faces.

The lower the level, the more food you need to pay, and the higher the level, the less food you need to pay.

Zheng Xianfa waved his hand and led everyone to weigh the rice, and then moved the weighed rice to the warehouse.

This busy work lasted until the afternoon.

Fang Wei found his brother and sister-in-law, and the three of them ate some dry food together, and then went to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy matches, salt, soap and other daily necessities.

Zheng Xianfa gave everyone an hour, and after everyone came back, they dragged the cart back to the village together.

That night, several cadres on the team held a meeting together, and all of them looked worried.

The summer harvest will reduce production, but the task of handing over grain will not change. At most, there will be some consideration when allocating and returning grain.

However, most parts of the country have suffered from various natural disasters this year. Can the returned grain arrive in time?
"Rations will be distributed tomorrow, and a meeting of all members of the team will be called."

Zheng Xianfa sighed and told everyone to go back and rest. "We've been tired all day, and I can't think of anything good to do if I stay here. I might as well go back to sleep."

Fang Wei returned home, had dinner, and went to sleep. He was at an age where he could eat and sleep well, so no matter what troubled him, he would forget it after a good sleep.

early morning.

After he got up, he went straight to his private plot. His elder brother and sister-in-law had already arrived at the edge of the field.

We are going to harvest cowpeas today. While the summer sun is good, we will dry some of them in the sun and pickle the rest to make sour beans.

Most of Fang Wei's private plot is planted with cowpeas.

After picking, the fields can be planted with sweet potatoes.

"Third brother, we didn't plant peanuts this year. Let's see how much tea oil the team can distribute later."

The man was working and talking at the same time, and Fang Ping mentioned tea oil.

Lard is very precious nowadays. We don’t even eat meat very often, so where would we get the fat to make lard?
However, there is an oil tea forest on the mountain behind the village. These oil tea trees are wild and later belonged to the team.

This is the main source of cooking oil for every household. In the past, some peanut oil could be used as a supplement, but this year there will definitely be none.

"Hurry up, rations are being distributed today, and we don't want to be late."

Tian Guihua got angry when she heard about tea oil. If it weren't for this terrible weather, life wouldn't be so difficult.

At present, we have to rely on half rice and half sweet potatoes to fill our stomachs. If the disaster continues, we may only be able to rely on sweet potatoes to fill our stomachs by next year.

It is true that sweet potatoes are good things, but eating too much will cause bloating, stomach acid, stomach pain, etc.

But in order to avoid going hungry, the family has to stock up as much as possible.

The three of them picked a few baskets of cowpeas and returned home. After breakfast, they went to the barn.

"Everyone, be quiet! The weather is bad this year, and the team's grain production has decreased, so our rations are also smaller than usual.

I tell you, plant as many sweet potatoes as possible in your plots, so you won’t go hungry later.”

When Zheng Xianfa saw that all the members had arrived, he asked everyone to be quiet.

This year's harvest is 20% lower than normal years, but the task of delivering grain is no less, so the remaining food rations are pitifully small.

"Then what should we do? Captain, when will the grain be delivered?"

"Yeah, we used to be able to eat half full, but now we're going to starve to death? We've planted sweet potatoes in the fields, so what are we going to do with soybeans, peanuts, and glutinous rice?"

The crowd was in an uproar. In fact, everyone knew about the production cuts, but when it came to distributing rations, how many people could remain calm?

Last year's harvest was poor, and we only managed to survive by relying on sweet potatoes. However, this year's situation is even worse than last year's, and the little rice we were given won't last long.

Does this mean I can only rely on sweet potatoes to fill my stomach from now on?
"What are you arguing about? Do you think food will fall from the sky if we shout? The team will also plant more sweet potatoes next time. Several of us team leaders have discussed it and decided to take the lead in planting more sweet potatoes in our private plots."

Although Zheng Xianfa is not tall, he has a high prestige in the team.

He just glared and looked around, and the area in front of the barn suddenly became quiet.

"Captain, the tobacco fields in our team are now empty. Can we plant sweet potatoes and pumpkins instead?"

At this time, Fang Wei stood in the crowd and loudly made a suggestion.

The team has 64 acres of tobacco fields, and the tobacco leaves have been harvested.

According to convention, tobacco fields should practice "tobacco-rice" rotation.

The team originally planned to plant rice in the 64 acres of tobacco fields, but Fang Wei proposed to plant pumpkins and sweet potatoes.

As soon as this statement came out, the scene was in an uproar.

Zheng Xianfa glanced at Fang Wei, then said helplessly:
"That won't do! The team has a tobacco procurement mission. If we don't plant rice in the empty tobacco fields, we'll have another 64 mu of rice fields next year, which will be very troublesome."

As the captain, he needs to consider more.

If we follow Fang Wei's suggestion, it will not only affect next year's grain delivery task, but it is also likely to lead to mistakes.

(End of this chapter)