Courtyard Houses: Starting with the principle of hard work paying off

Chapter 141 Yan Bugui's Cleverness Leads to Jia Zhangshi's Trap (5k)

"Yi Zhonghai is a very biased guy. When he was a big shot, he always favored the Jia family and Sha Zhu."

"He may seem fair at times, but he is actually a hypocrite who is all talk and no action."

"Yi Zhonghai and the Jia family are in cahoots."

"Speaking of which, Sha Zhu is a fool. Yi Zhonghai and Jia Dongxu, the master and apprentice, are the real family. Sha Zhu, an outsider, is still trying to get close to them."

"This fool Zhu has been tricked by the Jia family countless times, yet he's still willing to be Yi Zhonghai's lackey. Isn't that ridiculous?"

"..."

Xu Damao's complaints, coupled with his evaluation of Yi Zhonghai, made Li Hongbing take a second look at him.

His remarks conveyed a sense of sobriety and clarity.

Stripped of his so-called "old man" aura, Yi Zhonghai is really not a very good person.

As Xu Damao just said, he's all hypocritical and sanctimonious.

Since being dethroned by Li Hongbing last year, Yi Zhonghai's image is not very positive now.

If it weren't for his status as a senior fitter at a steel rolling mill, probably no one in the institute would take him seriously.

As for why Xu Damao harbored such resentment and dissatisfaction towards Yi Zhonghai, it is actually quite easy to understand.

Xu Damao and Sha Zhu are mortal enemies, but he is also a restless person who often provokes Sha Zhu and gets beaten up a lot. In the end, Yi Zhonghai always stands up to protect Sha Zhu. It would be strange if Xu Damao could find Yi Zhonghai agreeable.

Although Xu Fugui was also the head of the courtyard before, he was only the second-in-command and was overshadowed by Yi Zhonghai. Moreover, in their eyes, Xu Damao and Shazhu's behavior was just children playing around.

Sha Zhu went easy on him, so Xu Fugui didn't want to make a big deal out of it, lest he be branded as someone who bullies a junior.

But if he went too far, Yi Zhonghai would immediately jump in and interfere, and preemptively demand that Sha Zhu apologize and pay for medical expenses. Since they were all in the same hospital, Xu Fugui would not be able to pursue the matter any further.

Over time, Xu Damao's resentment towards Yi Zhonghai grew to a considerable degree.

Especially during the Spring Festival, when Jia Dongxu, Yi Zhonghai's apprentice, went to great lengths to destroy him, Xu Damao disliked Yi Zhonghai even more.

At this time.

Seeing that everyone's attention was on this side, Liu Haizhong couldn't help but speak up, his face stern as he spoke up for Du Jianguo: "Jia Zhangshi, Old Du is also following the rules. Don't cause trouble. Don't delay everyone because of your own actions."

Jia Zhangshi was clearly being unreasonable, and Liu Haizhong, being a fellow manager of the courtyard, naturally sided with Du Jianguo.

Moreover, Officer Yang will be coming over later to collect the statistics. If Jia Zhangshi causes such a commotion and delays things, and they don't get the job done in time, then they will be considered incompetent.

"Tch! It's just a small amount of flour. What's the big deal? I can just take it."

With everyone watching her, even the most thick-skinned Jia Zhangshi felt somewhat embarrassed and immediately retorted defiantly.

Seeing this, Yan Bugui adjusted his glasses and suggested to Jia Zhangshi, "Jia Zhangshi, if you really want this flour ration, it's not entirely impossible. Go back to the countryside and change your household registration from rural to urban. Then you'll have the same eight jin of flour ration as everyone else every month."

“Yan Bugui, I already said I don’t want it anymore. What kind of stupid idea did you come up with? At worst, we can just use less flour and eat less pasta. It’s not like anyone will die.”

Already in a bad mood, Jia Zhangshi became even more dissatisfied after hearing Yan Bugui's terrible idea, and complained about it in front of everyone.

Although her current household registration is in the countryside, she still owns land there.

When the land was being divided up in the countryside, Jia Zhangshi, who saw an opportunity to profit, secretly ran back and also got a piece of land.

The land is still in her name. Although she has never farmed it, it has not been left uncultivated either.

Jia Zhangshi had her younger brother manage the land for her. Now, every year after the harvest, she can bring back a portion of the grain as rent.

If she were to move her household registration back from the countryside, she would lose this land. Jia Zhangshi was unwilling to give up this so-called eight jin of flour purchase quota.

She had just figured it out: even with a flour purchase certificate, she would still have to pay for it, so it wasn't worth it at all.

"Hey! Jia Zhangshi, how dare you speak to me like that?"

Originally, Yan Bugui had meant well by offering advice to Jia Zhangshi, but Jia Zhangshi not only didn't appreciate it, but also publicly criticized him. Yan Bugui couldn't stand it anymore and directly questioned, "I kindly offered you advice, and you don't accept it, fine, but why this attitude?"

"I don't need your kindness!"

When Jia Zhangshi discovered that Yan Bugui still had the nerve to question her, she gave him an even colder look.

“Jia Zhangshi…”

Just as Yan Bugui was about to argue with Jia Zhangshi, Liu Haizhong spoke up and advised, "Old Yan, forget it. Let's finish the task that Officer Yang gave us first, and we can talk about the rest later."

"Fine!"

Remembering that he still had a mission to complete, Yan Bugui, who was full of anger, could only compromise for the time being.

With Jia Zhangshi calming down, Liu Haizhong, Yan Bugui, and Du Jianguo's subsequent statistical work obviously progressed much more smoothly.

Because of the planned flour supply and flour purchase certificates, the courtyard was very lively tonight, with many people discussing and speculating.

It was the next day in a blink of an eye.

It just so happens to be the weekend.

Liu Haizhong, Yan Bugui, and Du Jianguo, the three elderly men who managed the courtyard, went to the police station to queue up and retrieve their flour purchase certificate.

After receiving their flour purchase certificates, each household in the courtyard set off for the grain store to buy their flour.

Before we even reached the grain store, we saw a line of people waiting to buy flour that stretched for who knows how long.

The claim of "a sea of ​​people" is an exaggeration.

But it really doesn't end as far as the eye can see.

When Li Hongbing came home from get off work in the evening, he heard about this. Some people in the courtyard who went to the grain store to buy flour today lined up until noon or even the afternoon before they could buy flour, while those who went later did not get any.

It wasn't that the grain store was out of flour, but rather that the staff had gone home for the day.

"Hongbing, this is your flour purchase certificate."

Upon seeing Li Hongbing return, Yan Bugui went back into the house, retrieved his flour purchase certificate, handed it to him, and reminded him, "This flour purchase certificate is issued once a month and will be invalid next month."

Next month, new flour purchase permits will be issued. Remember to buy this month's flour beforehand, so you don't forget later.

"Alright, thank you, Uncle Yan."

After seeing the flour purchase certificate in his hand, Li Hongbing thanked Yan Bugui.

After chatting with Yan Bugui for a while, Li Hongbing learned that the price of flour had been adjusted uniformly today. Jianshe brand flour in the city was 1920 yuan per jin, and Shengchan brand flour was 1840 yuan per jin.

Although the "Construction Brand" and "Production Brand" flours may seem like just two different brands, they actually correspond to different grades.

Construction brand is called "August 1st Powder," while Production brand is called "August 5th Powder."

The terms "August 1st flour" and "August 5th flour" actually refer to the proportion of flour that can be produced from every 100 kilograms of wheat.

Just like Jianshe brand Bayi flour, every 100 jin of wheat can produce about 81 jin of flour.

The lower the proportion of flour produced, the finer the texture of the flour, the fewer impurities, and the whiter and shinier the color.

Above the Construction and Production brands, there is the more well-known Fuqiang Flour, which is currently the highest grade of refined flour. One hundred catties of wheat can only produce about seventy to seventy-three catties of refined flour.

"By the way, Hongbing, now the higher-ups are limiting the amount of flour each household can buy each month. Will they also impose similar restrictions on staple foods like rice and other grains later?"

As they were chatting, Yan Bugui suddenly whispered a question to Li Hongbing.

"Well... Uncle Yan, I'm not really sure either."

There will be restrictions in the next phase, but not as many as with flour, though it will be less than two years.

However, Li Hongbing "doesn't know" right now, so naturally he can't tell Yan Bugui these things.

Hearing Li Hongbing's answer, Yan Bugui didn't say anything more.

The next day...

Some families in the courtyard, including the Yan family, "secretly" went to the grain store and "robbed" a batch of rice, cornmeal, and other grains.

They are not the only department to do this.

this day.

Sales of rice and grains throughout Beijing were three to four times higher than before, and some grain retailers and cooperatives even experienced shortages of coarse grains.

When Li Hongbing returned to the courtyard after get off work, the people who had been keeping quiet were now discussing how much grain they had bought from the grain store that day. Upon learning that Yan Bugui, known for his stinginess and penny-pinching, had asked his wife, who didn't have to work, to borrow a cart and buy fifty jin of rice and one hundred and fifty jin of mixed grains, Li Hongbing couldn't help but admire his "cleverness" and keen sense of smell.

It cannot be said that Yan Bugui's approach was wrong, but policies are uncertain, and whether it is good or bad can only be determined by luck.

If you win the bet, everyone will be happy.

If you lose the bet, just consider it a waste of time.

Anyway, once the grain is bought, it won't spoil easily if left there, so there won't be any obvious losses.

Unfortunately.

This time, Yan Bugui was destined to hoard grain too early.

Pushing his bicycle into the yard, Li Hongbing learned of the situation and saw Aunt Yan discussing the frenzy of "grabbing" grain with the others in the yard. He couldn't help but smile and teased, "Aunt Yan, didn't you say last time that you can't buy too much grain at once, otherwise you won't be able to finish it and it will easily become stale grain if you leave it for too long?"

These were the words that Aunt Yan had said a few days ago when Li Hongbing came back from buying grain, and she complained that he didn't know how to manage money. Now Li Hongbing was giving them back.

Of course.

Li Hongbing knew that Aunt Yan didn't mean any harm at the time, so she was just joking now.

"Hey, Hongbing, let's put this aside. Things aren't like they used to be. These days... what's it called again..."

Seeing that Aunt Yan wanted to say something but couldn't remember the idiom, Li Hongbing reminded her, "Times have changed!"

"Ah! Yes, that's the saying: times have changed!"

Reminded by Li Hongbing, Aunt Yan immediately realized and explained, "I didn't know before. Now there are restrictions on buying flour, so who can say for sure what will happen in the future?"

Right now it's just flour. What if they start making the same demands on rice and other grains next? What will we do if we don't have enough food at home?
We have a large family, especially many children, so we can't let them go hungry.

Moreover.

"This grain won't spoil, so buying more and storing it at home won't cause any loss..."

For a long time, Beijing has not seen such long queues and people rushing to buy food as they have these past two days.

When Yan Bugui asked her to buy grain today last night, Aunt Yan didn't really think much of it. But after arriving at the grain market this morning, she completely changed her mind.

People have a herd mentality; once they start following the trend, the scene of people queuing up to buy grain at the grain store today is even grander and more intense than yesterday.

After buying the grain, Aunt Yan was shocked and relieved.

Today's massive panic buying of grain was unexpected by the authorities, who were somewhat unprepared.

However, the actual situation is not as serious or outrageous as outsiders speculate, so the authorities are unlikely to use strong measures to stop this behavior by the public.

if not.

That would only backfire and cause even greater panic, so the only option was to do everything possible to increase the grain supply and let everyone rush to buy it.

“Yes, Hongbing, what Aunt Yan said makes sense. You should go and buy more tomorrow so that there won’t be a food shortage at home.”

"Hey! You're worrying too much about this. Have you forgotten that Hongbing just bought two big bags of flour and a bag of rice a few days ago? That's enough for him to eat until next year."

"It really is!"

“Hongbing, you’re so lucky. You just bought so much flour, and now the higher-ups are going to issue a policy to limit how much flour people can buy. So from now on, you can eat as much dumplings, steamed buns, or noodles as you want.”

"Sigh, if I had known this would happen, I would have bought some flour last month. My kids love my noodles and steamed buns the most, but I'm afraid they won't be able to eat them many times this month."

"That's a minor issue. What's worse is that rice and other grains will become like flour, requiring a purchase permit to buy. That would be a bigger problem if people couldn't get enough to eat."

"No, I have to go to the grain store tomorrow and buy more grain, otherwise it will be too late to regret it."

"..."

Li Hongbing did not stop the people in the courtyard from making their plans.

As Aunt Yan just said, even if you buy it and don't eat it right away, it won't spoil in a short time.

This situation of panic buying of food that happened today continued for several days afterward.

They discovered that not only did the authorities not stop it, but the grain stores were also supplying more and more grain, and the enthusiasm of the impulsive buyers gradually subsided.

only.

After the implementation of the unified sales system for flour, the sales volume of rice and other grains in the market increased significantly. Some unscrupulous grain merchants also shifted from purchasing flour in bulk to purchasing rice in bulk, resulting in the outflow of rice and a renewed supply shortage.

Therefore, the authorities decided to include staple foods such as rice and coarse grains in the unified sales and purchase system.

Starting from December 1st, residents will need to present a grain purchase certificate issued by the local police station to purchase the grain they need at designated grain stores. Flour will continue to be issued and purchased using the original flour purchase certificate.

This is what is known as "designated locations for film screenings, purchased with vouchers".

As soon as the policy was finalized, it was quickly communicated to the lower levels, and the people living in the city of Beijing received the news one after another.

Because of the matter of obtaining a grain purchase certificate, Officer Yang came to the courtyard again.

"Officer Yang, are the grain purchase certificates we're issuing this time the same as the flour purchase certificates from last time, where the amount of grain each household can buy each month is determined according to the information registered on the household registration book?"

"There are still some differences. Apart from flour, people still buy as much rice and other grains as they need, just like before."

"Then what's the point of this grain purchase certificate? It's practically useless!"

"It will definitely be useful, because in the future, people can only buy grain from designated grain stores and cannot go to grain stores in other areas. Moreover, each time they buy grain, they will have to register the amount they buy with a grain purchase certificate."

"Of course, while there won't be a limit on the amount of rice and grains you can buy each month, thrift is a virtue, so we still encourage everyone to buy only what you need. Just buy enough to eat, and please don't buy too much at once..."

"..."

After Officer Yang finished explaining the policy and answering everyone's questions, he left, leaving everyone somewhat dumbfounded.

Over the past period of time, most of the people in the courtyard have stockpiled some grain at home, especially the "big buyers" led by Yan Bugui.

"It's over, it's over..."

Just as everyone was discussing this, Jia Zhangshi, looking extremely annoyed, suddenly stood up and angrily confronted Yan Bugui, saying, "Yan Bugui, what a mess you've made!"

Jia Zhangshi's action left everyone present dumbfounded.

Everyone's eyes darted back and forth between Jia Zhangshi and Yan Bugui, wondering if there was some unspeakable "secret" between them, and the flames of gossip ignited in everyone's eyes.

"Jia Zhangshi, what nonsense are you spouting? What have I done to you?"

Seeing that things were not going well, Yan Bugui's expression changed immediately, and he quickly reprimanded him.

"Of course it's your fault. If your family hadn't been buying so much food all this time, I wouldn't have bought so much too."

"Now it's all good. Apart from flour, the authorities don't care what people buy."

"In that case, wouldn't all the grain we bought have been for nothing?"

"We all believed your lies, which caused our family to be deceived and suffer losses."

"With so much food at home, how long are we supposed to eat it all?"

"..."

Madam Jia was furious.

If it weren't for seeing how enthusiastically Yan Bugui and the others were buying grain, she wouldn't have followed suit and hoarded so much.

to this end.

Jia Zhangshi even used all of her hard-earned retirement savings.

With flour purchase certificates in hand, and with someone as stingy and shrewd as Yan Bugui quietly leading the way in hoarding grain, Jia Zhangshi also mistakenly believed the rumors circulating outside.

The food they've stockpiled at home is enough for their family of four to eat until next Chinese New Year.

Having so much grain at home not only takes up space, but if it's not stored properly or gets infested with rats, then we're in big trouble.

In Jia Zhangshi's eyes, the "culprit" behind everything was Yan Bugui, who led the hoarding of grain.

at the same time.

Upon hearing Jia Zhangshi's condemnation, everyone realized they had misunderstood and even felt a little regretful.

(End of this chapter)