Courtyard House: Purchasing Agents' Comeback from the Great Famine

The Intermediate People's Court, the Jia family.

As Jia Zhangshi was eating her cornbread, she suddenly smelled the aroma of mutton. She immediately put down her cornbread and burst into a tirade of curses:

"Damn little beasts, they eat meat every day, why don't they eat them to death?"

"Qin Huairu, you better go and get some meat from my door right now!"

Qin Huairu put down the cornmeal porridge in her bowl and said with some difficulty, "Mom, as you saw, I knocked on the door, but they pretended not to hear me and wouldn't open the door for me at all. Even if I went, it would be a waste of time."

"Grandma, I want to eat mutton! I want to eat mutton! Mutton smells so good!" Banggeng shouted.

With her deadpan eyes, Jia Zhangshi glared fiercely at Qin Huairu and yelled, "If she won't open the door, can't you think of anything? You useless thing!"

"Mom, I've been calling for ages, but they won't open the door. What can I do?"

Qin Huairu wiped away her tears, feeling wronged. What kind of situation was this? What did her mother-in-law take her for? Did she think she was omnipotent? Making her figure out everything? If she were that capable, would she still be suffering in the Jia family?

Jia Dongxu sighed, "Mom, let's forget about it. Didn't we just have meat for lunch?"

"No way! Those two little beasts, Wang Feng and Qin Jingru, eat meat every day. If they don't give me any meat, I'll report them tomorrow!" Madam Jia Zhang cursed relentlessly.

Upon hearing this, Jia Dongxu quickly stopped her: "Mom, you must not report Wang Feng. Even if you do, it won't do any good. He's the deputy head of the purchasing department now, and with his salary, he can afford to eat meat every day."

"Don't ask where his meat came from. Even if Wang Feng bought it from Pigeon Market, it won't do you any good if you report it. Who doesn't buy things from Pigeon Market these days? Even if this is verified, at most it will be a light punishment, which is unnecessary."

"Mom will listen to you and won't report them."

Jia Zhangshi swallowed the cornbread in one gulp, her triangular eyes filled with malice.

......

The backyard, the Liu family's house.

Liu Haizhong took a bite of egg and then put another piece of egg on Liu Guangqi's plate, which made the Liu Guangtian brothers' eyes turn red with envy.

Liu Haizhong ignored the Liu Guangtian brothers and said to Liu Guangqi:

"Guangqi, your dad spent 120 yuan at the factory today and got a radio voucher and a watch voucher. Adding that to the industrial vouchers we had saved up, it's enough to buy a sewing machine. Apart from a bicycle, we'll have all three (radio, sewing machine, and watch) and one (watch)."

"Meat is hard to buy these days. Let's go to the black market in a few days and buy some meat for the banquet. Your father-in-law is a cadre, so we can't let him look down on our family. Sha Zhu can cook the banquet."

"Thank you, Dad!"

......

The Intermediate People's Court, the Yi family.

After the older woman returned from the deaf old woman's house, Yi Zhonghai hurriedly asked, "How was it? Did the old woman react at all?"

The older woman nodded: "The old lady told me to tell you that she doesn't have any cash right now, so she won't give you your living expenses this month. She said she'll use something else to offset the living expenses later."

Upon hearing this, Yi Zhonghai pondered for a moment before saying to the old woman, "Alright then, starting tomorrow, continue making white flour steamed buns for the old lady and restore her previous diet."

An older woman took a bite of cornbread, then a bite of cabbage, and said:

"Old Yi, I just don't understand. Look at us, we scrimp and save on food and clothing every day, eating only cornbread and steamed buns, yet we still make white flour steamed buns separately for the old lady. What's the point of all this?"

"She's on a government-provided ration for the elderly, plus the monthly allowance we receive, so while we haven't lost money, we haven't gained much either. We've been taking care of her for over ten years, so what have we actually gotten in return?"

Yi Zhonghai waved his hand and said in a deep voice, "What do you know, you woman? Alright, since you asked, I'll tell you. I'm telling you, the old lady has no children. After she passes away, isn't this house ours? This house is her private property."

"Also, I accidentally saw that the old lady had at least two large yellow croakers in her house. I saw her take them out of a box. If the whole box was full of large yellow croakers, I estimate there were at least dozens of them."

"hiss."

Upon hearing Yi Zhonghai's words, the middle-aged woman was shocked, followed by overwhelming joy.

......

The next day, early in the morning.

After Wang Feng finished breakfast, he chatted with Qin Jingru for a while. After Qin Jingru went to Fengzeyuan, Wang Feng pushed his bicycle and went out.

When Jia Zhangshi saw that Wang Feng and Qin Jingru had both left, she grinned, her triangular eyes filled with resentment.

She pulled Banggeng aside and said, "Banggeng, Grandma will go to your aunt's house to get you some treats later. Go to the front yard and keep watch. If Wang Feng comes back, run back quickly and tell Grandma, okay?"

Upon hearing that there was something delicious to eat, Banggeng quickly nodded in agreement.

"Grandma, don't worry, I'll go to the front yard and keep an eye on things right away."

After saying that, Banggeng ran to the front yard.

Jia Zhangshi glanced towards the central courtyard and, seeing that no one was outside, quickly went to Wang Feng's house, took out a wire, and soon opened the door.

Once inside, Madam Jia quickly closed the door, muttering curses as she spoke:

"That damned brat, he won't even give me any meat? Can't I take it myself?"

Jia Zhangshi first went to the kitchen, opened the cabinet, and saw a bag of rice, a bag of flour, and a bag of cornmeal. There were also several kilograms of cured meat hanging on the wall. Without saying a word, Jia Zhangshi took them directly.

The kitchen had been emptied, and Jia Zhangshi started looking for money again. She searched the bed and cabinets thoroughly, and even checked the floor tiles, but she couldn't find a single penny. Helpless, she had to leave.

......

the other side.

Wang Feng rode his bicycle to No. 28 Nanluoguxiang and knocked directly on the door.

"Knock knock knock".

A short while later, a middle-aged woman opened the door and asked, "Excuse me, are you Comrade Wang Feng?"

"It's me," Wang Feng nodded.

The middle-aged woman smiled and said, "Hello, Comrade Wang Feng. Chairman Lou has already told me that you're here today to complete the property transfer?"

"Yes, Auntie, thank you for your trouble," Wang Feng said politely.

The middle-aged woman waved her hands repeatedly, saying, "It's no trouble at all, you're too kind. By the way, have you prepared the IOU?"

Wang Feng smiled and nodded, handing the IOU to the middle-aged woman and saying, "You just need to sign and put your fingerprint on it, and then you'll need to come with me to the neighborhood office."

The middle-aged woman took the IOU, glanced at it, went back inside, signed her name, pressed her fingerprint, and then returned the IOU to Wang Feng.

"Auntie, do you have time now? How about we go to the neighborhood office now and get the paperwork done?" Wang Feng asked with a smile.

"Yes, yes, let's go."

Soon, the two arrived at the Nanluoguxiang Subdistrict Office.

This time, Wang Feng didn't go to see Director Wang, but instead went to see a clerk in charge of real estate.

When the clerk saw the IOU and the property deed, he knew what was going on, but he didn't say anything and just processed the transfer for them.