Era: Starting from the local police station

Jiang Zhenghua let out a burp and walked into the house.

Jiang's mother and sister are cleaning.

The older brother stayed by his sister-in-law's side, occasionally grinning.

Seeing his youngest son come in, Jiang's father, his face flushed, sat down on a stool and said, "There's some tea on the table, have some to sober up."

Jiang Zhenghua hummed in agreement, walked to the stool next to him, sat down, picked up the enamel mug, took a sip, and instantly felt a sense of relief.

"Did your registration go smoothly today? Why are you so late?"

Jiang's father looked at his youngest son, who was dressed in a uniform, with eyes full of satisfaction.

Before his youngest son joined the army, he was a notorious troublemaker in the neighborhood, always causing trouble.

I never expected that things would change so much after I returned from military service.

Jiang Zhenghua put down the enamel mug and said slowly, "Everything went smoothly. Director Qiao and Instructor Zhang are very kind and took good care of me."

He paused briefly: "I came back late because I had a meeting tonight."

Jiang Qinghe, who was sweeping the floor with a broom, suddenly stopped. "Second Brother, I heard someone died in our area today? Was your mission to catch the murderer?"

Jiang's father frowned and asked in a deep voice, "Where did you hear this from? Is there such a thing?"

The eldest sister-in-law and eldest brother both looked on with curiosity and turned their gazes toward Jiang Zhenghua.

Jiang's mother straightened up and said, "It was all over the place this afternoon. They said someone was thrown into a garbage dump, and it was a young man. You were all busy preparing for tonight's events as soon as you got back, and you didn't notice what people were saying."

She looked at her youngest son: "Zhenghua, is it true?"

Jiang Zhenghua nodded emphatically: "That's right, one person did die."

"Second brother, are you solving a case?"

Jiang Zhenghua nodded slightly: "This case has indeed been assigned to me."

The mother, younger sister, and older brother and his wife immediately beamed with joy, their expressions tinged with pride.

The older brother gave them a thumbs up: "Zhenghua, you're amazing, no wonder you're my brother."

Jiang's father frowned even more deeply, and there was a hint of worry in his eyes as he looked at his youngest son.

Jiang Zhenghua laughed and said to his older brother, "Get out of here. It's my skill that's what you have to do with me, you blockhead. Did I ask you to raise your voice to ask? Not only did you shout, but my younger brother told you to ask."

Upon hearing this, his parents and sister burst out laughing.

The older brother looked embarrassed and scratched his head haphazardly.

The sister-in-law's face turned red, and her right hand unconsciously reached out to the brother's waist.

Immediately afterwards, the eldest brother's eyes widened, his lips twitched, and he clasped his hands together, secretly bowing to his wife.

Jiang's father's smile faded, and after hesitating for a long while, he asked in a low voice, "You...can you do it? Should I talk to Old Qiao...?"

Jiang Zhenghua was taken aback, and then a warm feeling washed over him.

This is what a father is like—watching silently.

He smiled and explained, "It's not what you think. Chief Qiao is the team leader for this case, and Chief Yu from Yu'er Police Station and I are the deputy team leaders. I'm just responsible for the specific work."

Jiang's father immediately relaxed.

"Dad, when did you meet Director Qiao and his team?"

"They mentioned me?"

"Director Qiao and the others said they had drinks with you."

Jiang's father picked up the cigarette box on the table, took out two cigarettes, and handed one to his youngest son.

Jiang Zhenghua quickly got up, picked up a match, lit it, cupped his hands to light it for his father first, and then lit it for himself.

Jiang's father exhaled a smoke ring before speaking slowly, "Actually, I'm not very familiar with Director Qiao. I deal with Director Yu more often. Director Yu's station has a three-wheeled motorcycle that often breaks down, and the engines of these motorcycles are all made abroad, so the parts are very hard to find."

Hearing this, Jiang Zhenghua probably figured out the reason.

Sure enough, Jiang's father took a puff of his cigarette and continued, "Later, he found out that my skills were pretty good, so he privately asked me to make parts a few times. We got to know each other after a while. At that time, Director Qiao was working in the West District, and I went drinking with him once with Director Yu."

"Until the beginning of this year, when your deputy director Sheng was transferred, he and Instructor Zhang came and had a drink together, and everyone became acquainted."

After Jiang's father finished speaking, a hint of pride appeared on his face.

Jiang Zhenghua smiled and said, "Oh, I see. Director Qiao was saying today that he'd come over for a couple of drinks once he's done with this busy period."

"Remember this, let me know in advance, and I'll try to get some hostages."

Jiang Zhenghua thought for a moment and said, "Dad, how's the food at your factory lately? Is there any meat?"

Why are you asking this?

"Hey, I had a meal at the office today and found that there was hardly any meat, so I thought I'd ask you about it."

Seeing his youngest son say this, Jiang's father didn't think much of it and said softly, "This year is indeed not as good as last year. In order to respond to the call from higher authorities, our factory is expanding this year, and we have also recruited a lot of apprentices. With more people, the logistics supply has become tight."

He took a deep drag of his cigarette: "We haven't had any meat for a week. I heard even the leaders' private kitchens are running out of meat, and they've been surviving by buying wild game and free-range chickens."

"Father, have you heard that the logistics department has managed to get some meat these past two days?"

Jiang's father glanced thoughtfully at his youngest son: "It should be no. I ran into Chef Zhao from the second canteen this evening, and he was complaining that the purchasing department couldn't even get a single piece of meat. I don't know what to do with tomorrow's banquet."

Jiang Zhenghua gave a soft "Oh".

At this moment, the eldest sister-in-law suddenly said, "Zhenghua, actually, the situation in all the factories is not very good this year. Take our textile factory for example. Because cloth is precious, the factory manager can always exchange defective cloth for meat, so we have never lacked meat in previous years. But this year we can only have meat and vegetables every two days."

Jiang's mother nodded and said, "In that case, we really are not as good as the people in the countryside now. A few days ago, some people were chatting at the door, saying that now that the countryside is carrying out the commune movement and has set up collective canteens, not only do people eat for free, but they also get white flour steamed buns and meat every meal."

Upon hearing his mother's words, Jiang Zhenghua immediately recalled the related news he had seen online in his previous life.

In March 1958, the Chengdu Conference adopted the "Opinions on Appropriately Merging Small Agricultural Cooperatives into Large Cooperatives," which was approved and issued by the Politburo on April 8, and small cooperatives began to merge into large cooperatives in various places.

In mid-July 1958, the first people's commune in the country, Chaya Mountain Satellite People's Commune, was established in Suiping County, Henan Province. This marked the first official use of the name "people's commune".

The eldest sister-in-law was also intrigued by her mother-in-law's words: "I've heard about it too. Xiao Qin from our department is from the countryside, and she said that the village is celebrating like it's New Year's these days, with good food at every meal."

Jiang Zhenghua felt bitter.

It was precisely because of the People's Commune Movement that the pigs in the village were collectively owned, which led to a decrease in the slaughter rate of the pigs raised, resulting in a further shortage of meat supply. So, these people slaughtered and ate quite a lot of them.

"I heard on the radio at the factory today that when the great leader inspected Henan and Shandong these past few days, he put forward the slogan 'The people's commune is still the best.' He encouraged everyone to work hard and concentrate their efforts on major tasks."

"I heard today that our neighborhood office is planning to build a makeshift blast furnace to support steel construction. Sister Wang said someone is even planning to donate all their pots and knives."

"Seriously? They donated all the cooking utensils? How are we supposed to eat?"

"I heard that they're going to build a large public canteen to encourage everyone to eat there."