In this era, there were no hundred-yuan notes, only ten-yuan bills, piled thickly together. Qin Huai carried this pile of money and felt that he finally had the capital to survive in this era.

Yu Zhennan said, "Don't be in a hurry to leave. The factory has distributed some food. Take it back and feed your children."

He pushed two boxes of cakes over, and Qin Huai said, "Brother Yu, you don't need them. You have children at home too."

"My child is not at home these days, you can take it."

He didn't seem to want to talk about his family, so Qin Huai didn't want to ask. He held up the cakes and said solemnly, "Brother, you gave our family their lives. If you have any problems, don't be polite to me."

"You're here again..."

Before Yu Zhennan could finish his words, a chubby man with blood on his head rushed into the office and shouted, "Boss, someone's been murdered! Someone's been murdered!"

Two middle-aged men rushed in from outside and said, "Fatty, don't think you can hide here just because you're here with the factory director."

Yu Zhennan scolded loudly, "Xu Chuang, you two are workshop directors, what are you doing?" After scolding the two men, he turned to the fat man and said, "What's going on?"

"I can't do this job anymore. People say even pigs won't eat the food I cook. I can't buy anything. Can you blame me?" The fat man complained.

The quarrel was because the food in the cafeteria had not been oily for many days, so Yu Zhennan scolded a few people and kicked them out.

Qin Huai's heart moved and he said, "Brother Yu, can't you buy pork at your factory?"

"Pork is a controlled commodity in the county. Our factory is small, so we have to give the meat to the big factories and government cafeterias first. There's nothing anyone can do about it."

"If I can find a way to get the meat out, would you like it?"

Yu Zhennan's eyes lit up and he said, "Can you get it?"

"Yes, but you can't use money to pay, you have to use food."

After listening to this, Yu Zhennan thought for a while and said, "What do you want, food?" When he heard that he needed food, he suddenly lost interest.

"Sweet potatoes will do."

"If you're talking about wheat and rice, I really can't do anything about it. Sweet potatoes are easy. Okay." He was happy again when he heard that they wanted sweet potatoes.

Qin Huai said, "Then I'll go run some errands for you. If all goes well, the pork will be delivered in three days at most."

As he was about to walk out, Yu Zhennan threw the car keys to him and said, "Drive the car first, and drive faster."

"Let me drive?"

"You drive well, and you're working for our factory. How long will it take you to get there on foot?"

After taking the key, Qin Huai could only keep his gratitude in his heart.

When he drove back home, the old man was waiting in the yard, smoking with eager eyes. He was stunned to see him driving back by himself, but Qin Huai raised the paper bag in his hand and said, "Grandpa, I got the money."

The old man hurriedly locked the door and asked tremblingly, "How much?"

"6900."

As he spoke, he saw the old man's tears falling continuously.

"Grandpa, what's wrong with you?"

The old man wiped his tears and said, "Qin Huai, you are really capable. We won't starve to death. I'm happy."

Sister Qin Xiaoyun came out and saw the car outside. They were so happy to hear that the soap had been sold and they had money.

"Grandpa, this money was earned by our whole family. Yatou and Xiaomi also made great contributions."

The old man said, "That's it."

Qin Huai hid the money, thought for a moment, and took out another hundred yuan. He walked out and said, "Grandpa, keep the money at home. I have something to do and need to go back to the village. The village is too chaotic. You guys stay in the city and don't run around."

The old man said, "I will keep the money even if I die, don't worry."

Driving back is a different experience from walking back. When the car entered the village, I felt dead silence and there was not even a single person in the village.

He drove directly to the captain's door and asked, only to find out that the commune was going to have a big battle and he would not be back until the evening.

When I casually asked where Qin Fengying had gone, the captain's wife's face changed and she said, "Don't mention her."

Qin Huai didn't understand why and didn't dare to speak. He turned and went to Sister Hong's door. It was ajar. He pushed it open and walked in. It was pitch black inside. He called out tentatively, "Sister Hong."

"Here it is."

A bad feeling flashed through Qin Huai's mind. He quickly walked into the room and saw Sister Hong and Goudan lying motionless on the bed.

"What's wrong with you?"

Goudan struggled to get up. Qin Huai found that he was even weaker than he had seen him a while ago. He realized that he was hungry. "Sister Hong, don't you have food? Why don't you give it to the child?"

"I didn't dare light the fire during the day, so I could only secretly cook a little at night. I kept waiting until I couldn't go to the fields."

Goudan called him weakly, "Uncle Qin Huai."

His pitiful look reminded Qin Huai that when he came, Yu Zhennan gave him two bags of pastries, but he didn't give them to Qin Xiaoyun. He hurried back to the car to get them, first gave a few to Goudan, and gave the rest to Sister Hong, asking her to eat first. Then he went out with a shoulder pole to fetch water.

In the room, Sister Hong said to Goudan, "We are lucky."

The iron pot was covered in rust and had to be scrubbed several times before it was clean. Qin Huai sat down to light the fire and felt sad.

The water was almost boiling, and Sister Hong struggled out of the house. After not walking for a long time, her legs were too weak to stand up. Qin Huai hurriedly said, "What are you doing out here?"

Sister Hong said, "Qin Huai, you saved my life and mine."

He scooped two bowls and handed them to Sister Hong, saying, "Why are you saying that? If I had known this would happen, I would have come back to see you earlier. Drink some water and eat a few more cakes."

Carrying Sister Hong into the room, Goudan was eating pastries without even looking up. Qin Huai said, "You guys eat first. I have something to ask the captain."

As he said this, he walked out of Sister Hong's house and drove towards the commune.

Perhaps it was thanks to the car that the commune's guard told him, "Everyone has gone to Dawangzhuang to help. Go find them there."

Qin Huai asked for directions and when he arrived at Dawang Village, he saw many people demolishing houses. After asking several people, he finally found Qin Laoshuan.

Qin Laoshuan's face was covered with ash and he asked him, "Why are you here?"

"Uncle, I have something important to talk to you about. By the way, what are you doing here? Why are you demolishing someone else's house?"

"Everyone in this village has died. The commune said they should tear down the houses and use them for farming."

Qin Laoshuan spoke calmly with an indifferent expression.

He didn't know how terrifying it was to hear the words "the whole village died."

The captain brushed off the dirt on his body and asked, "Did someone just say you drove here?"

"Yes, uncle, I have a high-ranking official in the city as my relative." There was nothing that could be done about the lie he was telling.

Qin Laoshuan said enviously: "You are so lucky."

"Stop talking here. I have something urgent to talk to you about. Can you leave now?"

Qin Laoshuan looked at his car and said, "You drove this car to see me, who would dare to stop me?"

When he left, he still told the commune staff before getting on the bus. After the car drove for a while, he said, "Damn it, riding in a car is just more comfortable than walking."

On the way, Qin Huai stopped and asked, "Uncle, let me ask you something. Everyone in our village is almost starving to death. Why don't you cadres think of a solution?"

Qin Laoshuan said, "What can we do?"

Qin Huai stopped the car and said, "I have an idea, but I don't know if you dare to do it."