Chapter 029: Receiving Subsidies

"The state has issued a statement rejecting price gouging by supermarkets, looting by the public, and panic-mongering. Once discovered or reported, political rights will be revoked and supplies will be confiscated."

"From December 15th to 31st, citizens with no criminal record can receive a free daily package of supplies at community centers, supermarkets, and other regular stores by using their ID cards and facial recognition. The package includes 2 kilograms of corn and 2 kilograms of rice/flour. Only individuals can receive the package by facial recognition. Any claim by someone else, impersonator, or violation of regulations will result in disqualification and recordation."

"Master Kong is distributing donations for Dark Day. From December 15th until the end of Dark Day, each person can receive a random flavor of instant noodles every day, with the same conditions as above. 2 million free instant noodles will be distributed starting at 10:00 am every day. People will line up at major supermarkets to receive them by facial recognition. A person can receive up to 3 free instant noodles during Dark Day."

This day finally came, just like in her previous life, but she could no longer compare the news with Typhoon Mangkhut.

At that time, everyone thought that this was a disaster similar to Mangkhut. It was over in just over a month. Those who should go to school went to school, and those who should go to work went to work. In her previous life, Jingshu didn’t even have time to claim the free supplies distributed by the country. She regretted it so much later. If it happened again, she would definitely claim it!

Every day in the supermarket there are retired elderly people, housewives who bring their babies to get double orders by scanning their facial recognition, some freelancers and the unemployed.

For a meal worth more than ten yuan, grown men are usually too lazy to queue up to get it, and basically just buy two bags of rice and flour to take home. However, most of the women are housekeepers, and they can't resist free things.

The state distributes 4 kilograms of food to each person every day for 17 days, which is equivalent to two months' food rations for a person. In addition to ensuring that everyone has food, it also limits the purchase amount.

Just like withdrawing money from a bank, limit the amount of food a person can purchase from supermarkets, grain and oil stores to no more than 500 yuan per day. Encourage frequent purchases of small amounts of supplies, and prohibit the stockpiling of excessive amounts of food at one time, which can cause panic and looting and drive up prices. Of course, snacks and other meats are not included.

"Let's go to the supermarket to get some rice." Grandma Jing took Grandpa Jing, who had just shown off his two sheep, Jingshu, and Jingba, and the four of them went together. Jingshu was a little excited, as she was finally going to get some rice in this life to make up for the regrets of her previous life.

I drove to the Aijia Supermarket seven kilometers away. There was a patrol car parked at the door and a security guard blocking the gate. Everyone entering and leaving had to go through security checks, scan facial recognition and ID cards before entering. If there were any dangerous items such as knives and lighters, they had to be placed at the security check door and could only be taken away after coming out.

It eliminates any possibility of causing trouble, Jingshu gives it a thumbs up.

Although there were many people, the process was very fast. On one side, cashiers at ten windows were constantly collecting money, and on the other side was a warehouse full of packaged grain. Staff members used loudspeakers to continuously broadcast the rules, prohibiting private reselling, false collection, or collection on behalf of others.

The automatic pickup counter is similar to the one for picking up train tickets. You swipe your ID card and face recognition in front of the camera, and then the square packages of rice will come out. There are also staff members standing nearby who are responsible for giving rice to the elderly who don't know how to pick it up. When the clock strikes, it will be Jingshu's family's turn.

"Things are becoming more and more high-tech now." Jing Ye curiously swiped his ID card and looked at the camera. Packaged rice and corn popped out of the shipping port, and the collection time was recorded.

Just then, the machine next to it sounded an alarm.

Two staff members came over immediately and began to confront the man about his ID information.

"Sorry, sorry, I took the wrong ID! This is mine..."

"You'll have to explain this to the police comrades."

Without further explanation, they took the person away. The originally bustling noises around them suddenly became much quieter, followed by whispers. The content on the loudspeaker also changed: "Again, I emphasize that anyone who falsely claims, claims on behalf of others, or resells will be disqualified! If you have a disability or a serious illness, please report it and we will personally deliver it!"

The episode passed quickly, and the supermarket was bustling again in a few minutes. Most of the people who received food would stock up on some things, and would not buy too much of things with a short shelf life. Instant noodles were quite popular, so the shelves were not emptied. Most of the popular things were piled up like mountains, and they were almost sold out.

Will make up for it.

The number of people is just a little more than on weekends, unlike a month later, when it's too late to queue up at 5 a.m., and people basically have to queue for several days for food and accommodation.

Jingshu will never forget that scene. The temperature was 40 degrees Celsius during the day and dropped to a few degrees Celsius at night. She and Jing's father took turns standing in line at the supermarket door. Prices had skyrocketed at that time, and only a pitiful amount of stale food could be bought in the supermarket.

Most people still have food stored at home, but faced with the dark days that lasted for half a year and the situation where food companies such as Master Kong all announced the suspension of production, no one complained that they had too much food stored.

The high temperature and drought caused many people to suffer from heatstroke. Jing's mother also suffered from heatstroke. It was really difficult to find medicine or a hospital bed.

Seeing that the supermarket was too crowded and that they would have to wait a long time to buy things, Jingshu and her father and grandfather returned home. Unfortunately, Jingshu was too late, and the free Master Kong was gone in less than 30 seconds due to the consumption of the people across the country.

The circle of friends was flooded with messages in the morning. On the one hand, it was because of the arrival of Dark Day, and on the other hand, people had to get up early to grab the free Master Kong. Jingshu estimated that she would not be able to get it. By the time she drove such a long distance with the elderly couple and Jing's father, it would be gone.

After returning to the villa, Jingshu, Jingnai and Jingye started talking about today's topic, sheep.

Both the shabu-shabu lamb in the south and the roasted lamb in the north are delicious, so after dissecting the lamb, I kept the whole lamb, chopped it up and put it in the refrigerator to freeze. I will cut some of it when eating pulled lamb slices or roasted lamb buns in the future. When the weather gets cold, I will stew some lamb and carrot soup... slurp.

The remaining offal was washed and cooked into mutton offal soup, which was then frozen. Jingshu secretly kept a few hot portions in her space as a midnight snack. Now Jingshu has four meals a day, otherwise she would not feel full.

The sheep's trotters are made into spicy sheep's trotters, and the casings are kept to make rice sausage, flour lung, etc.

I took two lamb legs, marinated them, and put them into the hot kang that Jingshu had requested at the time to make rack meat. When they were roasted until golden brown and crispy on the outside and crispy on the inside, I took them out and sprinkled them with chili powder and cumin. Then I put a row of flatbreads around them and sprinkled them with sesame seeds. In Wucheng, it is called naan pit meat.

The rest was made into dried meat, which sold mediocrely, as many fans wanted to eat the golden roasted naan pit meat.

The next morning, Jing Ye pulled out a beef cattle to show off. He asked everyone in the live broadcast room if they had ever seen a muscled cattle. While patting the cattle thigh, he said with satisfaction: "This beef shank must be very delicious."

Jingshu's cow was left in the villa to produce milk. It gave birth to a male and a female cow, which Jingshu kept in the space to reproduce. The remaining bull could be slaughtered for meat.