Courtyard House: Starting by inheriting the tradition and suppressing the barbarians.

Time flies like an arrow.

In the blink of an eye, the calendar turned to the end of winter in 1959.

That fiery and passionate era of the Great Leap Forward in steel production has just passed.

What followed was a natural disaster that swept across the country.

Drought, floods, poor harvests...

This is what later generations called the "Three Years of Natural Disasters," which quietly began.

The sky over Beijing seemed to have turned gray.

The shelves in the supply and marketing cooperatives are getting emptier and emptier, and the rations in the grain books are being reduced again and again.

In the past, you could still find some meat in grocery stores, but now even the lowest quality pig's head meat has become a rarity.

You have to have a ticket and queue overnight to have any chance of getting a few.

As for the black market, grain prices have skyrocketed, with prices soaring but no buyers.

The courtyard at No. 95 Nanluoguxiang has long lost its former liveliness.

Everyone is hungry.

Everyone had a sallow complexion, prominent cheekbones, and blank stares.

To conserve energy, everyone went straight to bed after get off work, leaving the yard eerily quiet.

That evening, the north wind howled, swirling withered leaves around in the yard.

The third uncle of the front yard, Yan Bugui, was squatting at the door.

He was holding half a hardened cornbread in his hand; that was his dinner for the day.

His life has become increasingly difficult since he separated from his son.

Coupled with the scarcity of supplies, his little schemes were simply no match for absolute deprivation.

"Sigh...when will this ever end?"

Yan Bugui sighed, carefully broke off a small piece of cornbread, put it in his mouth, and held it for a long time before finally swallowing it.

Just then, a commotion suddenly broke out in the Intermediate Court.

"Let go! This is mine!"

"That's mine! I saw it first!"

"You old bastard! Let go! Ouch, you dare bite me!"

Yan Bugui's eyes lit up, thinking there was something good in it.

He quickly stuffed the remaining cornbread into his arms and stumbled towards the Intermediate People's Court.

When they arrived at the Intermediate Court, they saw Jia Zhangshi fighting with Xu Damao in the backyard.

Half a roasted sweet potato lay rolled on the ground.

The sweet potato was actually only the size of a fist, and it was also a little moldy.

Xu Damao brought it back from showing movies in the countryside; it just accidentally fell to the ground.

As a result, this fall was spotted by Jia Zhangshi, who was lying in wait like a hungry wolf.

Jia Zhangshi was truly starving.

She pounced on the sweet potato like a vicious dog, pinning it down firmly.

"Jia Zhangshi! Have you no shame?! You stole my sweet potatoes!"

Xu Damao was so angry that he cursed loudly and reached out to snatch it.

"Once it's in my hands, it's mine! It's a gift from God!"

Driven by her stutter, Jia Zhangshi unleashed astonishing fighting power, biting Xu Damao's wrist.

"Ah! Let go! You're a dog!"

Xu Damao screamed in pain and kicked Jia Zhangshi in the stomach.

But Jia Zhangshi stubbornly refused to let go.

Instead, he took the opportunity to stuff the sweet potato covered in mud and chicken droppings into his mouth!

"Gulp!"

He swallowed it whole without even chewing it!

She choked, her eyes rolling back in her head, but a triumphant grin spread across her face: "I ate it!"

"If you're so capable, cut open my stomach and take it back!"

"vomit!"

Xu Damao almost vomited when he saw her disgusting appearance.

"You're insane! Your whole family are reincarnations of starving ghosts!"

He angrily shook his hand and walked away cursing.

The neighbors who were watching the commotion, including Yi Zhonghai and Liu Haizhong, looked at each other in bewilderment.

A sense of desolation, like the feeling of "the rabbit mourns the fox's death," welled up in my heart.

Once upon a time, they were respectable people.

How can they fight like this over half a rotten sweet potato?

Qin Huairu stood at the door, holding her emaciated child in her arms.

Seeing her mother-in-law's grotesque appearance, tears silently streamed down her face.

This is unbearable.

She subconsciously looked towards the backyard.

There, the gate was tightly closed, and the curtains were drawn tightly shut.

But the wisps of smoke rising from the chimney exuded a sense of tranquility that made one maddened with envy!

......

The backyard, the Li family's house.

It was completely different from the cold and hunger outside.

The room was warm and cozy, with a blazing coal stove.

On a round table sits a bronze hot pot.

The charcoal fire glowed red-hot, and the bottom of the pot was Li Xuan's special spicy beef tallow broth.

The red oil is bubbling and the aroma is incredibly rich!

In other words, Li Xuan made sure the doors and windows of his house were well-sealed.

Otherwise, if the fragrance wafted out, I reckon all the beasts in the courtyard would tear the door apart.

"Come on, come on! Add the meat! Add the meat!"

Li Xuan used his chopsticks to pick up a plate of mutton rolls that were sliced ​​as thin as cicada wings.

Those are black-headed sheep raised in the space ranch; their meat is tender and has no gamey smell at all.

"Splash!"

The mutton is cooked when it changes color after being put into the pot.

"It smells so good!"

Xiaoyu and Xiaotian, the two little ones, haven't gone hungry in the past few years.

But the aroma of the hot pot still made their mouths water.

Su Yun sat beside him, dressed in a well-fitting wool sweater.

Because she took the Youth Preservation Pill, the years did not leave any traces on her face.

On the contrary, it made her look even younger and more beautiful, and sitting next to He Yushui, they looked like sisters.

"Eat slowly, no one's going to take it from you."

Su Yun smiled and put a piece of frozen tofu on He Yushui's plate. "Yushui, eat more."

"You've lost weight lately from studying."

"Thank you, Aunt Su... oh no, thank you, godmother."

He Yushui is now a young woman, and she has blossomed into a graceful and beautiful young lady.

Because of adequate nutrition, her skin was fair and rosy, unlike the pale complexion of people outside.

As she ate the hot mutton, her heart was filled with happiness and gratitude.

If it weren't for Li Xuan taking her in back then.

By now, she'd probably be fighting tooth and nail for half a sweet potato, just like Jia Zhangshi outside.

"Brother, it sounds like there's a commotion outside again."

Li Tian, ​​with a meatball stuffed in his mouth, mumbled something indistinctly.

Who cares about them?

Li Xuan dipped his food in sesame sauce and ate leisurely, saying, "Let's just live our lives well."

He peeked through the gap in the curtains at the dark, cold night outside, then looked at the cozy room inside.

Inside the space warehouse, the stockpiled grains, meat, vegetables, and fruits were piled up like mountains.

No matter how severe the famine outside, the Li family will always remain that enviable paradise.

"Come on, let's drink to our good days!"

Li Xuan raised the glass full of freshly squeezed juice.

"Cheers!"

The family's cups clinked together, making a crisp sound.

Outside, the wind howled and the birds struggled desperately for survival.

Inside the house, the hot pot was boiling, and Li Xuan's family ate mutton and sang songs.

This stark contrast is Li Xuan's greatest source of confidence and satisfaction in this era.

"The 1960s were a time of impending storm."

Li Xuan swallowed a mouthful of tender mutton, his eyes gleaming with confidence.

"But this wind and rain cannot blow into the gates of the Li family!"

......