The next morning, after breakfast, Lin Wencui called out to Sun Zhengguo.

"Zhengguo, if you have nothing to do today, take your food ration book and buy this month's quota."

"Oh! I understand, Mom. How many kilograms are we rationing now?"

Food supplies are already tight, and Sun Zhengguo knows that there will be a famine in the next three years. He just wants to know what the situation is like now.

"It weighs less than 120 jin in total. With the factory's subsidy of some grain coupons and the extra amount you brought back, it's enough for our family."

"How come there's only this much left of the allotted amount?"

Sun Zhengguo clearly remembers that his family's previous ration consisted of a mixture of coarse and refined grains, totaling nearly 140 jin (70 catties) a month. He suddenly lost 20 jin (10 catties), and this was just the beginning.

"It seems there's been a drought this year, and many places are experiencing poor harvests..."

Lin Wencui paused here, looked around, and then said softly.

"We're actually doing alright here. I've heard that people are starving to death in some places."

"It's so serious; the situation doesn't look optimistic."

In his previous life, Sun Zhengguo had only heard of it but never experienced it, and this was just the beginning! He couldn't even imagine what it would be like in the next year or the year after.

"Okay, Mom won't talk to you anymore, I have to go to work later! Just don't forget."

After saying that, Lin Wencui quickly cleaned up the dishes and washed them before going to work with Sun Dajiang.

After his parents went to work, Sun Zheng'an walked in with a happy look on his face.

"Brother, I'll get off the bus later and take my sister to play."

"Didn't you hear me? I'm going to buy grain. If there's no cart, you can have me carry it back."

Although the grain store is not far from here, Sun Zhengguo would definitely not agree.

"Don't worry, everything is arranged for you. The grain transport equipment will be here soon."

Seeing Sun Zheng'an's confident demeanor, Sun Zhengguo understood that his sister must have gone to her classmate's house to borrow a cart again.

"Did you meet up with the Yu sisters again today?"

Sun Zhengguo asked with a gossipy look on his face.

"You understand me best, brother! Otherwise, why would my sister willingly borrow the cart? She wanted to go play too!"

Sun Zheng'an said with a smug look on his face.

Soon after, Sun Zhenghong returned, and the brother and sister pushed their bicycles and prepared to leave.

"Come back, where's the cart?"

"Of course it's at the entrance, so it's not easy to push it in. Don't worry! Uncle San is watching the car! We're leaving now."

Watching the brother and sister walk away, Sun Zhengguo said he didn't understand.

Would Yan Bugui kindly help watch the car?

Do you have some misunderstanding about what "helping" means? Anyway, Sun Zhengguo didn't believe it.

Now that everything was alright, Sun Zhengguo picked up the bag, locked the door, and walked towards the front gate. He wanted to see what Yan Bugui was up to.

Upon arriving at the entrance, I could see Yan Bugui circling around the cart from afar!

"Uncle, what are you looking at? What, you want to buy one for yourself?"

Seeing Sun Zhengguo's joke, Yan Bugui was not angry, but instead smiled and said.

"Why would I buy it? It's not like I can't borrow one. If I'm going to buy something, I'll buy a bicycle."

As expected, things are very expensive in Yanbu. I won't buy anything that I can borrow; I'll only consider buying things that I can't borrow.

"By the way, Zhengguo, I want to make a deal with you."

As soon as Yan Bugui said this, Sun Zhengguo knew that he was trying to hitch a ride.

"Uncle, do you need a car?"

Sun Zhengguo said, "I know you."

"Yes, yes, yes! Aren't you going to buy grain? I haven't bought any for my family either, so it's on my way."

"Oh! Uncle San even found out about this. It's no problem for everyone to buy grain together, but..."

Sun Zhengguo made a sudden turn of events, leaving Yan Bugui bewildered. Wouldn't this slippery fellow disagree?

"But what? Tell me, I will never refuse anything I can do."

Yan Bugui said with absolute certainty.

"No other requests, Uncle. The rickshaw pulling job is yours, is that alright?"

Sun Zhengguo made a request.

"Hey! What's wrong with you? Leave it to me. I can't expect you to provide both the vehicle and the labor!"

Yan Bugui said, feigning nonchalance.

Although it didn't go as he had originally planned, he was still satisfied to be able to hitch a ride.

The two reached an agreement happily. Yan Bugui did not delay. He went back to his house to get his grain ration book and bags, pulled the cart, and headed to the grain store.

Ten minutes later, the two arrived at the grain store. By then, a long line had already formed at the entrance. This was not unusual, as the rations had just been issued the day before.

The two parked their car first, and then joined the long queue. No one dared to cut in line like that; if you did, the people would definitely give you a taste of their iron fist.

Feeling bored watching the team move slowly, Sun Zhengguo started chatting with Yan Bugui.

"Uncle, everyone knows we're busy today, so why not wait a few days and avoid this peak period?"

As soon as Sun Zhengguo asked the question, he regretted it. The people queuing next to him, including Yan Bugui, all looked at him with disdain, as if he were an idiot.

At this critical moment, since they were all from the same hospital, they couldn't let outsiders laugh at them, so Yan Bugui quickly came to their rescue.

“Zhengguo, you’re not in charge of the household, so you don’t know how scarce food is right now. Who has any surplus grain? If we hadn’t come today, we might have gone hungry.”

After hearing Yan Bugui's words, the crowd realized that the young man didn't understand! Indeed, if he did understand, he wouldn't have asked such a stupid question.

Sun Zhengguo finally understood where the problem lay!

It's empiricism that kills people again. He's been through two lifetimes and has never really gone hungry. How could he know anything about human suffering?

After making a fool of himself, Sun Zhengguo lost interest in chatting and slowly moved forward with the group.

After a long wait, it was finally Sun Zhengguo's turn.

Sun Zhengguo took out his grain ration book and handed it to the grain store staff.

"Hello comrade, I've bought the entire ration for this month."

Without any further ado, the staff took the grain ration book and started calculating. After calculating, they wrote down the weight in kilograms, stamped it with a red seal, and then you could go pay and collect your grain.

"Hey! Something's not right, comrade? Why are you a few pounds lighter?"

As a science and engineering student, Sun Zhengguo could immediately see the changes in the numbers.

"We just received a notice yesterday that the reserves are insufficient. If you buy 10 jin, we will reduce the amount by 2.5 liang. Everyone will be treated the same."

The staff member's expression didn't change at all; they had explained it countless times that morning and were already used to it.

After hearing this, Sun Zhengguo didn't care. He took his ration book and went to pay. Anyway, it was all the same, and it wasn't targeting him personally.

Yan Bugui, who was queuing behind, also saw this scene, and his heart was already filled with turbulent emotions.

The dosage was reduced again, and although it wasn't much this time, his heart was still bleeding.

He had a premonition that this would not be the last time.