Chapter 180

"Brother Li, I borrowed high school books from the library and I'm studying at home."

Ding Qiunan took the person to her small room, and sure enough, the table was full of books.

"Qiu Nan, don't stay at home reading books all day. Oh, here are two hundred yuan. I know your father has a job now, but the salary in the clinic is not high, so it may not be enough to cover the expenses.

You can save this money and spend it when necessary, and pay me back when you make money in the future."

As he happened to be free today, he simply gave her the money. Otherwise, when this girl went to high school and lived on campus, he might not be able to see her for several months.

"Thank you, Brother Li."

It was the first time that Ding Qiunan received so much money, and she felt relieved. The tuition was five yuan per period, and living expenses were a few yuan a month. She didn't have to worry about her family, and these two hundred yuan could last her a long time.

"That's it, I'm leaving."

Li Zhiguo rubbed Ding Qiunan's long hair to show his affection, but that was all.

"Brother Li, why don't you have dinner before leaving?"

Ding Qiunan wanted to keep him, because once he left, she didn't know when they would meet again.

"It's not even four o'clock yet. I'd better go home and eat. See you later."

Li Zhiguo followed him and left. There was no one else at the Ding family at the moment, and it would not be good to stay for too long.

Ding Qiunan sent the person to the door and watched the bicycle go away. He was stunned for a long time before returning to the room, opening a special notebook and writing down the amount of two hundred yuan and the date in the first entry.

I turned to the back and wrote a diary...

Just after the National Day in 1957, the small water pump was manufactured. A total of seven were made, and all passed the test, because three defective products had to be scrapped halfway.

After receiving the news, the leader rushed over in less than half an hour and left with three water pumps.

The next day, major newspapers reported the news extensively.

"Breaking news, breaking news, the Beijing Pump Factory has developed a world-leading small water pump and will invest 5 million to build a new factory..."

"The pump factory is recruiting 1,000 workers. All the major streets are eager to see who will get the 1,000 workers."

"Three hundred high school students who failed the entrance exam to Beijing No. 4 Middle School were collectively resettled in the water pump factory..."

Li Zhiguo also received the news that the first phase of the water pump factory expansion would involve the construction of new factory buildings, dormitories, office buildings, canteens, etc., and that one thousand workers would be recruited initially.

The five million invested has little to do with the workers' wages, or even the construction site. It is mainly used to purchase equipment, establish production lines, and purchase necessary materials. It can be said to be a huge amount of money.

At the same time, the level of the Beijing Pump Factory suddenly jumped to the same level as the Red Star Steel Rolling Mill, becoming a department-level company.

But Li Zhiguo is still in the old Tongyi Pump Factory. He cannot be promoted so quickly, so this place continues to serve as a research and development unit.

……

In a blink of an eye, two years later!

Summer, 1959!

"Li Zhiguo, hurry up, wake up, the food is coming, it's too late to buy it."

"Here comes the second aunt."

Li Zhiguo turned over and got up from the bed. When he went out, Second Aunt handed him a washcloth and he quickly wiped his face.

"Which store has the food?"

The second aunt in front of me has lost weight. She went from 130 kilograms to just over 100 kilograms. In just half a year, she actually looks younger.

"There are a lot of people queuing up at Chunqiao Grain Store. I asked Guangjun and Guangfu to go over there first and grab a seat."

As the second aunt said this, she helped to carry the bicycle swiftly.

"Okay, let's go there now."

Li Zhiguo looked up at the sky. What was coming had finally come. Natural disasters were inevitable. Moreover, there had been signs since last year. The quota had been decreasing at the end of last year, but it had become even more serious this year. Life was difficult for the whole country.

His original monthly ration was 36 kilograms, but now it is only 25 kilograms, which means 8 taels of staple food per day, which is already considered good.

For jobless urban residents like Aunt Er, their monthly ration is only 19.5 kilograms, less than 20 kilograms, which is 650 grams per day, equivalent to three steamed buns.

If there is no food, then eat vegetables. But there is no food either. Vegetables are also in short supply. Then use more oil. But there is no food either. The original oil coupons of one and a half kilograms per month have been reduced to half a kilogram.

Then eat more meat. Okay, the monthly pork ticket is half a catty, and one catty during the month of Spring Festival and National Day. It is valid for the month and will be invalid after the expiration. But now there is a shortage of food and meat is even harder to buy.

But this is also considered good. In some places, the ration is only 14 jin and 2 liang of oil coupons, which is far below the previous standard.

Beihe, next to the capital, planted 1.6 million hectares of wheat this year, and 800,000 hectares were affected. Fortunately, 200,000 hectares were rescued through water pumps. Even so, more than one-third of the land was affected.

Further down the road in Jichun, more than a thousand reservoirs and two hundred rivers have dried up.

Overall, water pumps still played a huge role. In many places, water was pumped into farmland and land for irrigation before the rivers dried up.

Otherwise, when the soil really dries up, everything will be gone and there will be a serious power shortage.

"Hurry, get the bags. New food has arrived, including white flour."

"Second sister, run quickly to the grain station and queue up."

"Mom, I can't run anymore. I'm hungry."

The yard was in chaos and people from all households rushed out. Li Zhiguo pushed his bicycle and took his second aunt to Chunqiao Grain Station.

On the road, I also caught up with a little mouse, and it didn’t seem to be hungry either.

When we got there, we saw a long line already forming.

"Mom, brother, this way."

Liu Guangtian was shouting in the team, and the two unlucky kids also lost weight.

"coming."

Li Zhiguo went over and took the seat, then handed the bicycle to Liu Guangtian.

"Li Zhiguo, do your Guan Xiang and Chao Yang have anything to eat at your father-in-law's place?"

The second aunt couldn't help but ask.

Since the beginning of the year, Li Zhiguo sent his mother-in-law and two sons to live in the Sanjing Courtyard. There was no other way. Otherwise, if they stayed in the Siheyuan, how could they dare to eat and drink so lavishly?

The ration is so limited, where do you get the food? Where do you get so many meat and oil coupons? How can you buy vegetables?

Similarly, Chunyan also took her son back to her parents' home. Even though her second uncle is now the director of a food factory, he does not dare to send food to Chunyan as that would cause public outrage.

"It's fine over there, otherwise my mother-in-law wouldn't be able to stay here if she didn't have enough food."

Li Zhiguo didn't have many grain coupons, and no one dared to sell or even exchange them. As long as grain arrived, they would take the grain book and exchange it for grain and put it in their pockets.

Otherwise, even if you go to a restaurant with your food coupons, you may not be able to buy food.

"Oh! When will the weather get better? I heard that in some places, there hasn't been any rain this year."

The second aunt sighed and was chatting when suddenly Yan Bugui came over carrying a bag.

"Hey, you guys are queuing here and you can buy food."

"Uncle, you're here pretty early!"

Li Zhiguo joked that he couldn't move away and had to stay in the yard, otherwise if he ran away, others would think there was something wrong.

"I came here in the middle of the night and finally got my monthly ration of flour."

Yan Bugui came over after seeing Li Zhiguo, and whispered, "I can't finish the white flour at home. Can I ask you to exchange it for corn flour?"

"Oh my god, Uncle Third, you are having a hard time making ends meet. Can you survive by just eating whole grains?"

Li Zhiguo has not asked anyone to exchange food for him. He cannot lead others into a desperate situation. He himself has no shortage of food, but he just doesn't have the tickets.

"How can I bear it? It's summer vacation now. I stay at home every day. Half a pound of coarse grains is enough. The children usually stay at home and don't go out. They won't be hungry if they don't move."

Yan Bugui calculated that food was very expensive now, and the price of flour coupons had been speculated to 35 cents. A pound of flour could be sold for 55 cents privately. With the market being so good, he must take advantage of the summer vacation to make some money.

There are six people in his family, all lying at home. After two months of summer vacation, they can earn a lot of money.

"Uncle, it has to be you. Let's discuss this later. There are too many people here and they are talking nonsense."

Li Zhiguo was a little sad just now, but when he encountered Yan Bugui's behavior, he almost collapsed.

"Okay, I'll wait for your good news."

Yan Bugui left happily, put the food on the back seat of the bicycle and tied it there. He was now out of breath. He had eaten a steamed bun last night and had not eaten a single grain of food until now.

I could only push my bike back to the yard, but I couldn't cross the threshold. I had no strength, so I had to shout, "Wife, come and help me."

"coming."

When the third aunt heard the noise, she got up from the bed. If she didn't move, she wouldn't be hungry.

The couple carried the food back and saw that the four children were lying down at home. They nodded with satisfaction.

"Mom, I want to go out. I'm so tired of lying down. Woo woo..."

Yan Jiecheng cried. His younger brothers and sisters had only been bedridden for a few days because it was just summer vacation, but he had been bedridden for more than a year, waiting at home for the street office to assign him a job.

But it's not that easy now, the jobs are too scarce. "Jie Cheng, don't cry, crying is tiring."

Yan Bugui looked at the four children and said with a smile, "We have exchanged the flour for six people, so we have 36 kilograms of flour. It is all new grain this year, and it was delivered to the grain station in the middle of the night."

"Dad, we can have white flour for lunch. Can you cook some dumplings? I really want to eat dumplings."

Yan Jiedi was lying on the upper bunk. She had been lying there since dark yesterday after eating steamed bread. Except for going to the toilet, she had been lying on the bed all the time.

"What's the point of eating dumplings? That requires vegetables, and fresh vegetables are so expensive nowadays.

Your mother and I have other uses for this white flour. You guys continue to lie down and have steamed bread for lunch."

Yan Bugui was very happy. He went back to his room with his wife, closed the door, and then said, "Wife, I just met Li Zhiguo and asked him to exchange white flour for coarse grains. What do you think the price difference should be calculated?"

"Boss, this white flour is sold at 55 cents without a ticket, and corn flour is only 25 cents. We have to charge a difference of 30 cents. Li Zhiguo is not short of money. He has a bad stomach, so he needs fine grains."

The third aunt also lost weight, but because she was lying down well, her weight loss was not as obvious as that of the second aunt.

"Give him all the flour? Or leave a pound of flour for the kids to satisfy their cravings?"

Yan Bugui thought of his boss's half-dead appearance, there was nothing he could do about it as there were no posts in the street, but it should be soon.

Liu Guangqi waited for more than a year and finally the job was assigned to him.

"Why keep it? If you eat white flour, you can't eat corn flour. You will end up like Li Zhiguo, lying at home every day and rarely going out."

The third aunt didn't care about that. She wanted to earn the money first. Once the disaster was over and things were good, she could exchange the thirty cents for a pound of white flour and a pound of corn flour and still have some left over. The difference was too big.

"That's fine. I'll exchange 36 kilograms of corn flour and we'll continue to eat steamed bread. The whole family can lie down for two months. Maybe there will be some food left. We don't have to exchange for it next month. We can sell all the white flour to Li Zhiguo. That would be a huge profit."

Yan Bugui laughed. He said, "You can have enough food and clothes if you don't have them, but you will be poor if you don't plan well!"
"Boss, don't sit and talk, lie down."

"Yes, yes. Sitting is more strenuous than lying. No wonder Li Zhiguo lies down every day to keep fit. I will definitely gain weight in two months."

Yan Bugui lay down quickly and didn't even eat breakfast. There were two meals a day, which was very tight. He could have an extra steamed bread at one of the meals, and he would still be full.

Here, it was finally Li Zhiguo's turn. Originally, he didn't need to queue up, but each family's grain book could not be transferred across districts, so they could only exchange grain at the grain station within the street.

Since I have nothing to do anyway, I might as well go to the grassroots and experience life there.

After following the team into the gate of the grain station, you have to go to the side room to go through the formalities first. This is also where you exchange grain coupons. If you have children at home or are working and need to use grain coupons, you must exchange them.

If you purchase food directly, you just pay the money and the staff will register it in the food book, and then you can go to the side to collect the food.

There are counters with marks on them, indicating that coarse grains have been exchanged after the 3rd. Those who come today are here to exchange for white flour or rice.

Li Zhiguo paid the money and took the notebook to the flour counter. After verification, he opened the bag and put it under the funnel.

After the salesperson weighed the flour with a dustpan, he poured the flour into the funnel from above. With a swish sound, white mist rose up and the flour slid into the bag.

Generally, people will subconsciously look into the funnel to make sure there is some flour stuck inside and not leaking out, otherwise they will suffer a big loss.

"Twenty-four pounds of flour, you have packed it."

The salesperson smiled. She recognized this person and she couldn't afford to offend him.

"Okay, you've worked hard too."

Li Zhiguo carried the bag and looked at the oil pumping place in the next house. There were few people there and it had been pumped there before.

His family of four, plus two children, now has a monthly ration of 71 kilograms. This is because his and Qin Huairu's initial ration was high, which was considered physical labor.

If it were Yan Bugui, who is a mental worker, his ration would be several kilograms less.

Today, refined grains only account for one-third of the ration, while previously it accounted for as much as 70%.

He stood at the door for a while, and when Second Auntie came out, he said, "I have to go to my father-in-law's place. You guys go back to the courtyard first."

"Okay, I feel relieved now that I have bought the white flour."

The second aunt asked her two sons to carry the flour bags and left.

Li Zhiguo went to the small courtyard. Liang Ladi lived here, but she was at work. He unlocked the door, went to the kitchen, and put 20 kilograms of white flour into the big vat. This was taken out from the space. Don't put too much, otherwise there will be problems.

Then he put a piece of paper written in Fangsong font on the white noodles, closed the lid, and ran to the next store.

When I went out, I took out a big bag filled with corn cobs. Corn cobs are easy to make fire and last longer than wood.

He got the props and propped up the bag.

Afterwards, he went to Chen's house, parked his bicycle at the door, and picked up the bag on the back seat. The white flour inside had expanded from 24 kilograms to 50 kilograms, adding more from the space.

"Tuk-tuk!"

He had a key, but it would be better to knock.

"coming!"

Mother Ding opened the door and asked, "Zhiguo, are you here to deliver food again?"

"This month's new food. Aunt Ding, is Xueyi home?"

As soon as he finished speaking, he heard shouting from inside the house.

"Uncle Li, you're here."

Xue Yi quickly ran to the door and threw himself into Uncle Li’s arms.

Mother Ding said quickly: "Xueyi, your uncle is still carrying food."

"It's okay. I'm strong."

Li Zhiguo carried the food, picked up his son with one hand, and said with a smile: "You have to eat more, it's nothing."

"Mother Ding, here are 50 kilograms of flour. It's not planned. Please hide it."

This was not the first time he delivered food, so he didn't say much.

"Hey! I'll hide it."

Mother Ding quickly took the bag of flour.

"Zhiguo, why are you sending food again? Do you have anything to eat at home?"

Grandma Chen came out of the house and was lying down to rest. She is old and not as healthy as she used to be.

"There is food, grandma, you should not be stingy with it, but don't tell anyone about it."

Li Zhiguo looked at his watch and said, "Grandma, I'll take Xueyi out to play for a while and then send him to Xueru."

"Go ahead. I'll stick to you when I learn chess. When I grow up, I'll be just like you. I'll be a handsome guy and popular."

Grandma Chen is now basically certain that her grandson is Li Zhiguo's son. If he was not her biological son, how could she send 50 kilograms of flour every month during a disaster year? Even the director of the grain station would not dare to make such a claim.

"Of course not. Xueqi is like my own son."

After saying this, Li Zhiguo ran away holding his son.

Grandma Chen smiled and said, "Look, they've admitted it, but Xueru still won't give in."

Li Zhiguo put learning chess aside as soon as he went out and went to the tavern first. Every trip out had to be valuable, as he had to go see Guan Xiang and Chaoyang in the afternoon and deliver food there.

"Manager Li is here."

"Manager Li, this is your son. He is so handsome."

When everyone in the tavern saw him coming, they hurried over to greet him.

Business is not good nowadays, but the decline is not serious. The convenience canteen sells coarse-grain cakes and steamed bread. Because of the good communication with the grain station, the coarse grains can be replaced in time every day. The only problem is the cooking is that there is a lack of fresh vegetables and meat.

The business at the tavern is pretty good. The main ingredient of Erguotou is sorghum, which is the coarseest grain among coarse grains. People cannot digest it if they eat too much.

But the wineries also reduced production and wine became a luxury item. However, Li Zhiguo had a lot of inventory of his own and was not worried.

"This is Chen Xueru's son Xueyi. I brought him out to play."

Who knew that as soon as he finished speaking, Xue Yi shouted: "Uncle Li is also my father."

"Oh, this child has been close to me since he was little."

Li Zhiguo is really shameless, it’s nothing.

Everyone in the tavern was stunned for a moment and pretended not to understand the meaning. The scandal between Manager Li and Chen Xueru had been circulating for several years and was nothing new.

"Xu Huizhen is not here?"

He looked around the store but didn't see Lao Cai.

Kong Yuqin replied, "She is in the backyard, working afternoon and evening shifts just like before."

"Yes!" Li Zhiguo nodded and said, "Sister Zhao, your child can still make a living, right?"

"Eight children are lying at home, so they won't cry out for hunger."

Zhao Yali looked bitter. There were eight children and eight mouths to feed, all of which needed food. She could only lie at home to save food.

Li Zhiguo said generously: "Well, I will go to your house at four o'clock in the afternoon to see the children."

(End of this chapter)