Chapter 19: Exchanging Food

The next morning, the three of them had breakfast and went straight to the brigade headquarters.

"Captain, there's not much food left from the food we distributed earlier. You said you could exchange it for food, but I wonder if you can do that now."

When Xie Chen entered the room and saw Captain Jiang, he went straight to the point.

"How much do you want in exchange? You have eaten all your food." Captain Jiang looked at the three people in front of him.

These three new male educated youth are much better than the previous ones. I heard that they started going into the mountains to collect firewood the day after they arrived, and they seemed to have collected a lot of mountain products. They haven't caused any trouble during this period. It would be good if they can keep up the pace.

"We haven't finished eating yet, but there's not much left. We just want to be prepared. Li Zhe and I would like to exchange for another 80 kilograms of cornmeal, 80 kilograms of sweet potato flour, 30 kilograms of sorghum flour, 50 kilograms of sorghum rice, 30 kilograms of cornmeal, 150 kilograms of potatoes, 200 kilograms of sweet potatoes, and 10 kilograms of white flour."

"We don't have white flour, so you have to go to the millstone in the brigade to grind cornmeal and corn grits. We gave you the finished products before because we were worried that you wouldn't have enough to eat when you first arrived, so we prepared them for you. From now on, you have to get them all by yourselves.

I only have corn kernels here, 8 cents a pound, sorghum 6 cents a pound, potatoes and sweet potatoes 1 cent two pounds. You can see how much you need and go to the accountant to pay. Old Hu, calculate the amount and write a receipt before collecting the money."

The captain asked the accountant to collect the money and then asked Shi Luo, "What about you, Shi Zhiqing, what do you want to exchange for?"

"I'll exchange it for 100 kilograms of corn kernels, 50 kilograms of sorghum, and 150 kilograms of potatoes and sweet potatoes."

"Okay, then you go over there and pay the money too." After the team leader saw the three people paying the money to the accountant, he led a few people to the warehouse to load grain.

After loading the grain, the three of them borrowed the brigade's cart to transport the grain to the Youth League Home.

After returning the cart, the three of them went to the commune together.

"Hey, that ox cart driver in front looks like Uncle Zhou from our brigade."

Shi Luo looked at the ox cart in the distance and asked Xie Chen uncertainly.

Xie Chen took a closer look, and after confirming it, he quickly shouted, "Uncle Zhou, Uncle Zhou, wait for us."

Zhou Ping heard someone calling him and quickly stopped the ox cart. He looked back and saw that it was the new educated youth.

Zhou Ping and the other two took a few minutes to catch up. Shi Luo climbed into the car and asked, "Uncle Zhou, where are you going?"

"Let's go to the commune. Isn't it today that the hunting team is back? Every year after we distribute the meat, the captain always stews the remaining bones and distributes them to children under seven years old. This year is no different, but the team is out of seasoning, so the captain asked me to buy some."

"That's perfect. We're going to the commune to buy things too. Uncle Zhou, please take us along. I saw the team leader looking so serious every day and thought he was scary. I didn't expect him to take care of the children. The team leader does a great job." Li Zhe really didn't expect that Captain Jiang could do such a heartwarming thing.

"You don't understand. The team leader is serious in order to prevent the people below from causing trouble. Let me tell you, our team leader is really responsible for our team. In the 1950s, everyone reported an exaggerated harvest. Only our team leader in the entire commune withstood the pressure and did not report an exaggerated harvest. That's why no one in our team starved to death during those three years of famine.

You teenagers were still ignorant back then, weren't you? Sigh, you probably don't know or understand how hard it was for our captain to withstand the pressure. We almost got him fired in those years."

"I didn't understand it at that time, but later I often heard my grandfather talk about the difficulties back then. In fact, we all know what it feels like to be hungry, and it's something we can never forget. My grandfather once told me that people even exchanged their own children for food back then. It was really terrible." Although Shi Luo had not actually experienced it, he had heard a lot of stories from that time.

"Yeah, back then people couldn't get enough to eat, so it's no surprise they did anything. Okay, we're at the supply and marketing cooperative, go buy some quickly, I'll be waiting here for you after I finish shopping."

After Zhou Ping finished speaking, he tied the ox cart to the wooden stake in front of the supply and marketing cooperative and went in to buy seasonings.

Shi Luo and his two companions first went to the place where jars were sold to buy some.

Shi Luo bought two thirty-jin jars, three twenty-five-jin jars, two fifteen-jin jars, and two earthenware jars.

"Why did you buy the clay pot?" Xie Chen looked at the clay pot in Shi Luo's hand in confusion.

"Make soup and porridge! Once I change more bones today, I can make soup and porridge every day in winter. Hehe, just thinking about it, it must be very comfortable to curl up on the kang in the middle of winter and drink hot soup."

Shi Luo thought about the Shi family's old stove in his space. Well, he had to find an excuse to take it out. That stove could burn both wood and coal, and was very useful.

"You don't have a coal stove, and our stove is big. Your clay pot is too small." Li Zhe also felt that this clay pot was useless.

"Hey, I'll buy it in a few days and it will be there. Why rush?"

"Okay, I've finished shopping here, let's go check out the seasonings." Li Zhe and Xie Chen bought five 35-jin jars and one 30-jin jar together.

Three people went to a place selling seasonings and each bought three pounds of coarse-grain salt and five pounds of coarse and fine chili powder.

Shi Luo looked at the other seasonings and bought a little bit of almost everything. After buying the seasonings, he also bought some peach cakes and glutinous rice strips.

Li Zhe and Xie Chen also bought a lot, especially dim sum, each of them bought at least three or four items.

Three people moved the things to the ox cart, putting the big jars on the small ones. It took them half a day to get everything on the ox cart.

Xie Chen grabbed a handful of the candies he had just bought, about seven or eight, and handed them to Zhou Ping. "Uncle Zhou, wait for us for a while. Li Zhe and I will go to the post office across the street to mail some things, then go to the nearby grain station to buy some food and come back."

Zhou Ping took the candy and nodded. Looking at Shi Luo who was sitting motionless in the car, he asked, "Aren't you going to send some things to your family? And don't you need to buy some food?"

"I don't need it. I have no one at home. I brought all the remaining food from home when I went to the countryside. Plus what I exchanged at the brigade today, it's enough for me to eat."

Shi Luo took out a cigarette from his backpack and handed it to Zhou Ping.

"Uncle Zhou doesn't smoke, try this."

"There are very few men here who don't smoke. What's going on in your family? Why is there no one here?" Zhou Ping couldn't bear to smoke, but carefully put the cigarette on his ear.

"Well, my mother passed away when I was young. My father told me that she got lost and was never found. Later, I have been living with my grandfather. Some time ago, when my grandfather was at work, a thief broke into their factory. My grandfather sacrificed his life to stop the thief and protect public property." At the beginning, it might be the influence of the original body's emotions. Shi Luo felt a little sad when he thought of his grandfather, but now, maybe because of a long time, Shi Luo didn't feel sad anymore.

"Then you shouldn't go to the countryside in your situation. It's totally fine for you to stay in the city. You can even inherit your grandfather's job."

"I missed my grandpa every day when I stayed in the city, so I wanted to change my environment and signed up to go to the countryside."

"You are such a fool. That's a stable job. Now that you've gone to the countryside, it won't be easy in the future."

Shi Luo: "It's not easy for anyone these days. I'm considered lucky. As long as I have enough food, the whole family won't be hungry. I'm content."

"That's great. Contentment is the key to happiness. By the way, I see you bought quite a few jars, big and small. What are you going to do with them?"

"Pickled vegetables. They say the winters here are long and there's nothing to eat. Li Zhe said he can pickle vegetables, so we plan to make some to eat during the winter."