Courtyard House: Drunk and tipsy, the whole courtyard exposed at the start.

Early in the morning, Zhang Dabiao, with his hair in a mess, walked out of the small wooden house, stretched, and then lit a cigarette.

He was thinking, "Yesterday I was in Agongyan Village in Shau Kei Wan, Aberdeen, and today I'm in Beijing. This is faster than high-speed rail and airplanes, isn't it?"

"They were still in Hong Kong this morning."

Still drinking soup at Kowloon Tea House;

Why did the scene suddenly jump to Xi'an?

I'm on the bank of the moat...

He hummed a little tune as he went to the side room to get water to wash his face and brush his teeth.

"Brother Da Biao, you're back? When did you get back?"

"Da Biao, what are you singing?"

"Uncle Da Biao, you're back."

Just as they went to get water, Qin Jingru, He Yushui, and Qin Mancang spotted them.

Zhang Dabiao gave a perfunctory reply: "I came back last night. I'll be going out quite often these next few days because of some things to do. Jingru, you don't need to worry about me. Just go to school. While I'm home, please help me cook more meals."

"Just humming a couple of lines, Rain, you'll be late if you don't go out soon."

"Oh, I'm not talking to you anymore, I'm going to school!" He Yushui's high school was a bit far away, and after hearing Zhang Dabiao say that, she rode her bicycle out of the yard.

"Mancang, did anything happen on the road yesterday?"

"Uncle Da Biao, don't worry. Xu Damao went to Changping with me. When we got to the county, he made a phone call to the commune to find the village, and someone came to pick us up." Qin Mancang was biting a cornbread and carrying a hoe, having come to tend to the vegetable garden in his yard.

Seeing that there were no outsiders around, Qin Mancang lowered his voice and said, "The clan chief said that if 2000 jin is too difficult, 1500 jin will do. Don't push yourself too hard; safety comes first. It's almost the end of the month, so a little less is fine. The village can still manage."

Zhang Dabiao nodded; the old man still had some conscience.

"Don't worry about that, Jingru. Go make some breakfast so you can eat before going to school."

"Keep the rest of the food for us to eat together. Make more, you'll have to make a trip later."

After eating and drinking to their hearts' content, Zhang Dabiao moved the more than 1,000 jin of grain, oil, and salted fish from the "main base nest" to the small wooden house in the courtyard.

After everyone in the courtyard went to work, Qin Mancang pushed his tricycle to the central courtyard. Zhang Dabiao loaded 300 jin of rice, cooking oil, and salted fish onto the tricycle, keeping the change for himself and trying to round up the amount for Qinjiatun each time.

So, if you calculate it this way, he took 300 jin when he was forced to abdicate that day, then had Qin Mancang deliver another 300 jin, and today he sent another 300 jin. That means he's already completed his 900 jin quota for the month. (Revised: Let's just say he'll only deliver 300 jin at a time.)

Zhang Dabiao took two more bags, which were already packed separately.

"This is 50 jin of grain I brought for my master, as a special gift to him."

"This one is for Uncle Pi. Please also tell him over there that I'll go again next month. Please save me some good hides, and we'll settle the bill then."

"I've left you some food in the house. Tomorrow, hand in your factory's quota for this month. Brother Tian said that since you joined the company late this month, you only need to hand in one-third of the quota."

"Here's another knife for self-defense. If you get robbed on the road, you can leave the food and the cart behind. Make sure you're safe first before reporting it to the police."

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Qin Mancang nodded: "I know, Uncle Dabiao."

Each bike weighs a full 400 pounds; riding it all the way to Qinjiatun will be no easy feat.

The back of the truck was covered with a waterproof tarpaulin, and some dry grass was casually laid on top as camouflage before it was carried out of the yard.

On the way, he ran into Qin Huairu and tried to strike up a conversation with her several times, but Zhang Dabiao and Qin Mancang ignored him.

Like strangers on the street, Qin Huairu was at her wit's end. Yesterday, she went to the post office to call the commune and asked around. They said their family was fine and there was nothing wrong with them.

But her parents weren't willing to tell her about Mancang's affairs, so Qin Huairu had completely become an outsider.

As Jia Zhangshi was sewing shoe soles in front of her door, she only glanced at the two of them sideways, muttering to herself, but dared not make a sound.

Because Zhang Dabiao was genuinely daring and could afford to pay compensation, and the neighborhood committee was on his side. With a stronger backer than herself, Jia Zhangshi naturally wouldn't go looking for a beating.

As for frequently handling so much grain—everyone knows that Zhang Dabiao's small courtyard has a vegetable garden and a stable for storing grain. That grain belongs to the "No. 95 Courtyard Youth Mutual Aid Association," and it's collective property, so no one dares to touch it casually.

In addition, the vegetables and fish in the garden were supplied to the factory and also provided financial assistance to the neighborhood office.

Moreover, Zhang Dabiao often brought back supplies from the countryside, and Yan Jiecheng would take the members of the mutual aid society to the suburbs every weekend to exchange refined rice and flour for coarse grains.

So there were plenty of supplies in the small courtyard, weighing around a thousand kilograms, and everyone had gotten used to it.

Two purchasing agents are carrying grain; do they really have to notify each household individually?

However, Zhang Dabiao still felt it was a bit inappropriate. When he first came to this era, he was a bit too arrogant and impulsive, and unconsciously brought some habits from later generations with him.

They are flammable, easily angered, and prone to explosions; they act recklessly and without regard for consequences, leaving loopholes everywhere.

Now that I've seen so much of this, and I've been schemed against and reported by others, I naturally have to restrain myself.

Although I now have the identity of a purchasing agent, a small vegetable garden in my yard, and some legitimate money...

However, even if you have a legitimate source for moving grain every day during a natural disaster, there's no guarantee that someone won't bring up past grievances later, since there are too many envious people.

Every time they move things, they push a tricycle out of the central courtyard. In the future, the number of times they transport grain will increase... This is a hidden danger.

This problem cannot be solved in the short term.

We'll see.

Qin Mancang rode his bicycle to Qinjiatun, while Zhang Dabiao wandered around the streets. He arrived at the post office, thought for a moment, and then called Zhangzhen in Shunyi, asking the commune to help him find his second uncle or Maoshan Maosheng. He needed to inquire about the situation in Zhangjiatun.

Half an hour later, Zhang Dabiao smoked several cigarettes outside, took a stroll, and then came back to make a call, which he finally got through to.

The person who answered the phone was Zhang Maoshan, who had been adopted by Zhang Banxian and was considered Zhang Dabiao's older brother.

"Da Biao, it's Maoshan. What's up? Is there anything you need me to do?"

"Nothing much, I just wanted to ask about the land in the village, how the harvest was in Shunyi this year, whether the river still has water, and whether we have enough food at home."

"..."

Zhang Maoshan remained silent for a long time without saying a word.

"Brother Maoshan?"

"In the village... this year's harvest is only 4%... but we still have to pay the grain tax, so the brigade's stored grain and each household's surplus grain have all been used."

"The river near the town... has dried up. My dad, no, my second uncle said that next year's harvest probably won't be good either..."

"Because of your help last time, Maosheng and I are both working in town, and we're able to eat our fill, but we use all our wages to buy grain and transport it to the village..."

"Our family is doing alright, but my third uncle, and several other relatives..."

"..."

Zhang Maoshan remained silent, unable to continue; in short, the situation was dire. Zhang Dabiao guessed it was probably similar to that of Qinjiatun.

But the Zhang family now has at least two workers, which makes them more resilient to risks compared to purely agricultural families.

"Then—why didn't you come to me?"