Courtyard houses: Those who are capable are rewarded, and many children bring many blessings.

In order to convince Su Wan, he had no choice but to bring up the old lama to fool her.

"You know Da Yu, Da Xiong, and Da Yong, right?"

"I know, aren't they your underlings?"

"Yes, of course, the reason I took them in was because I received a favor from his advisor, one of which was this secret technique that made me more energetic in battle."

"Oh, using such a secret method, that's incredible."

"It's not over yet, their advisor is the chief lama of Yonghe Temple."

Before his death, he made some predictions about what would happen afterward, and one of them would soon prove accurate.

"What is it?"

"Next year he will see the area around the capital city as a barren wasteland."

"Oh, wouldn't that be a drought?"

"Hmm, have you noticed if there's been a heavy snowfall since the beginning of winter this year?"

Su Wan thought for a moment: "There really isn't. Let's hurry and notify the relevant departments!"

"Don't be silly, what am I supposed to say then? I don't want to be accused of promoting feudal superstition."

"Let's just mind our own business. Don't tell anyone. If it causes any trouble, the consequences will be dire."

"Did the old monk say how long the drought has lasted?"

"As I said, the worst was in 1959, and it lasted until 1960. It eased up in the second half of 1961. This was not just a natural disaster."

"Throughout history, natural disasters have always been accompanied by man-made calamities, so let's prepare in advance, at least by stockpiling more food!"

"I've been stockpiling food for the past few years, so don't worry, you won't go hungry if you stay with me."

At this point, Su Wan was about 70-80% convinced: "Then what does it matter if you go to the security department?"

"Then let's talk about another thing the old lama predicted, which is much more significant than the drought."

"Just tell me already, stop keeping me in suspense."

"The old monk said he saw the sky filled with red clouds starting in 1966."

"Ah! A sky ablaze with red clouds? What does that mean? Is another war about to break out? No way!"

"I don't think so either, but it doesn't hurt to be prepared, don't you think?"

Su Wan remained silent for a long time.

"Alas, when the nest is overturned, no egg remains unbroken! Let's hope the old lama is mistaken!"

"Then what about my trip to the security office?"

"Whatever you want!"

"I've only told you about this, so please don't tell anyone else, lest they live in constant fear!"

"Oh, ignorance is bliss! You'd better get back to work!"

It is human nature to seek advantage and avoid harm. Since Su Wan has believed it, she will definitely take some action.

After getting home from get off work, Su Ting and I started talking.

Su Ting's immediate reaction upon hearing this was to stockpile grain: "Sister, what are we waiting for? Let's hurry and exchange all the grain coupons and money at home for grain!"

"Dazhuang already knew, and he's been preparing for over a year, so we don't need to worry about food!"

Su Ting patted her firm chest: "That scared me to death. A famine really means going hungry."

"Dazhuang, even though you're a few years younger than me, you also experienced hunger in the old society. We don't need to remind him; he values ​​it more than we do."

"Sis, even though he's well-prepared, we can't be completely unprepared. I'll take the day off tomorrow, or I'll go to the ghost market tonight too."

"Idiot, call Dazhuang over tonight. He can stay home for the first half of the night and go out for the second half. Kill two birds with one stone!"

"Hehe, that's what I thought too! I'll hurry up and cook. Let's eat early so Xiaoling can go to bed early!"

It's already December, and it's too cold outside. No one can stay in the yard anymore. Su Ting went to great lengths to send a signal to Niu Dazhuang.

Even after dinner, he still took a bowl of millet to the cow's house in the backyard and exchanged it for half a bowl of pickled vegetables.

Others change their pickles to eat, and of course, Su Ting changes her pickles for her own "eating" as well.

Niu Dazhuang received the signal but wasn't in a hurry.

First, get your own little plot of land sorted out and cleared up.

I secretly left home around 10 o'clock.

"Sister Wan, why aren't you asleep yet?" Niu Dazhuang entered the room and found Su Wan on the kang (heated brick bed).

"I'm worried. I'm due to give birth in two months. I don't know if you've prepared condensed milk for the baby."

Niu Dazhuang glanced at Su Wan's exaggerated curves and said, "With our figures, we could have enough to eat even if we had twins!"

"Get lost, I'm being serious. I'm just being cautious, it's always good to be prepared."

"I really wasn't prepared. I'll go buy it tomorrow."

"Are you sure there's enough food to feed everyone for two or three years?" Su Wan wanted to confirm again.

"The government is unlikely to cut off rations, but it will probably reduce the supply. Those who go hungry are the ones with many children, or those who don't have urban residency."

"The current ration of 32 jin per month is already tight enough. If we reduce it any further, we'll definitely go hungry. At that point, the price of grain on the black market will surely skyrocket," Su Ting chimed in.

"That's not the key point. Small quantities can be bought on the black market, but if you want to resell in large quantities, you'll definitely need to eat black dates," Su Wan reminded Niu Dazhuang.

"Don't worry, Sister Wan, I have no such intention, and I don't want to take the lead. Living a peaceful life is better than anything else."

"That's good. You guys play, I'm going back to my room. Keep your voices down, don't disturb the children!"

After Su Wan left, Su Ting asked softly, "Hey, did that high lama teach you the art of transformation?"

"What are you thinking? Transformation techniques? Do you think I'm Sun Wukong?"

"I'm not talking about the kind of transformation technique Sun Wukong uses, I'm talking about that kind of transformation technique." As she spoke, her beautiful eyes swept over Niu Dazhuang's muscular waist.

"What?! You're complaining?!"

"Get lost, are you deliberately being sarcastic?"

After midnight, Niu Dazhuang took all the assets that Su Ting had prepared and went to the nearby black market again.

He would buy anything he could find: millet, flour, rice, soybeans, mung beans, cornmeal... anything edible, Niu Dazhuang would buy.

I made seven or eight trips back and forth before moving on to the next black market.

Busy until dawn, having visited five black markets, they finally spent all the thousand yuan that Su Wan and her sister had given them.

After a rough calculation, it was found that there were more than 1,000 jin of cornmeal and more than 800 jin of flour in the space. Niu Dazhuang was too lazy to count the small amounts he usually ate, so he just piled them up together.

The sheer volume of food in the space now is nothing short of a mountain. Even without rations, it would be enough to feed twenty or thirty people for three years.

Back at the Su family home, they first woke up Su Ting, and then called Su Wan over.

Su Ting was fast asleep, unwilling to even open her eyes: "You guys discuss it, I need to sleep a little longer."

"Although you have four rooms here, the privacy is not good. It will definitely not work if you pile up all the grain you buy in the rooms."

So, I took it upon myself to put the extra grain together with my own. Let me know when you run out of grain in your room.”