Chapter 163 Her Status

Although Yu Mingbo regretted that out of the two sacks of rice, only one was his, but with one sack, would he have less things to do afterwards?

After figuring it out, he looked at Lin Qi with a smile on his face. With Lin Qi around, his eldest grandson was safe.

Lin Qi wrote down the address, put down the pen, stood up and wanted to leave, but was stopped by Yu Mingbo, "Qi Qi, look at your sister-in-law."

Lin Qi looked at Sister Yu in confusion and took a closer look. "Sister Yu, have you gained weight?"

Mrs. Yu was a little embarrassed. She stepped forward and pinched Lin Qi's face, and said angrily, "It's not that you're gaining weight, you're pregnant."

"Ah..." Lin Qi's eyes swept towards Mrs. Yu's belly, "I can't really tell, how many months?"

"It's six months. It's not that the baby is not getting enough nutrition, so it's almost the same as it was four months. You couldn't tell because she was wearing thick clothes." Mrs. Yu touched her belly, her eyes sore. It was because of the drought that the child suffered.

Not getting enough nutrition?

Lin Qi naturally wouldn't think that the Yu family didn't have money and tickets, after all, all four of them were paid. Since they weren't short of money and tickets, it was just that there was too little food on sale in the town and they couldn't buy food.

"What do you want?" Lin Qi asked without waiting for the Yu family to speak.

"Meat." Yu Mingbo asked excitedly, "Qiqi, what kind of meat can you get now?"

"It's almost all right." Lin Qi did not hide her strength. The Yu family was very nice to her. Now that Mrs. Yu was pregnant, she would naturally help if she could.

"We want chicken and fish. Of course, if there is mutton and pork, we want them too. The more the better." Yu Mingbo said.

Lin Qi thought for a moment and said, "I'll bring you some chickens and fish tomorrow. As for the mutton and pork, we'll talk about it in two days."

With Lin Qi's assurance, Yu Mingbo felt a lot more relaxed. "As long as we have chicken and fish, the other things are not so urgent."

"We don't have fresh pork, but we have some smoked pork. Do you want some?" The castrated boars in the planting area had to be slaughtered when they grew up. She and Xu Hexiao smoked the rest of the pork, except for eating it themselves and sending it to Boss Mo. So there was still a lot of smoked pork.

"Yes, yes." Yu Mingbo said repeatedly, "As many as you can get."

"I'll give you 100 kilograms. I'll mail the remaining 50 kilograms back home." Lin Qi said. In fact, there were no less than 1,000 kilograms of smoked pork in the cave. But she couldn't tell Yu Mingbo this amount, for fear of scaring him.

In fact, the figure of 100 kilograms frightened Yu Mingbo, "That's so much!"

"Well, we hunted a few wild boars." They probably couldn't tell whether the pigs were castrated or not from the smoked pork. Even if they thought it tasted good, they just thought wild boar meat tasted good.

"Then it's more than 100 kilograms. We'll take whatever you have left." Yu Borui said.

"Yes, there is more, but can you eat so much?" Lin Qi asked.

Yu Borui: "There is no meat for sale in town now, and everyone is short of food. Two hundred kilograms is not enough to share."

Yu Mingbo: "Yes, relatives, friends, colleagues, and neighbors. We can't let them smell the aroma of our meat every day. I'm worried that they will report us."

"Then I'll give you 300 kilograms. There's no more. I have a lot of friends here." Lin Qi said.

"Three hundred kilograms is enough, Qiqi, you are the lucky star of our family. With your arrival, Uncle Yu can finally sleep well tonight." Yu Mingbo almost burst into tears.

Lin Qi didn't comment, "I'm leaving. I'll come back around this time tomorrow."

When Lin Qi left the town, Xu Hexiao was already waiting on the roadside. She sat on the back seat of the bicycle, hugged Xu Hexiao's waist, and briefly told him what happened at Yu Mingbo's house.

"The situation is the same over there with Boss Mo. There is a shortage of food and meat. The prices of food and meat are now extremely high. Rice on the black market is now five yuan per pound." Xu Hexiao said.

Lin Qi was a little surprised. "A worker can only buy three or four kilograms of rice with a month's salary?"

"It's good enough to be able to buy it. Rice on the black market is often out of stock. The food sold nowadays are all coarse grains. In order to let me send him rice, Boss Mo has already paid a deposit in advance. It's in my coat pocket." Xu Hexiao's tone was light, and it seemed that this deposit was very much to his liking.

Lin Qi reached into his pocket and pulled out two pure gold toads. They were heavy, weighing about 25 grams each. "Boss Mo is really generous this time."

"Because he can earn more." Xu Hexiao said.

"He has to take a big risk, so there's no need to envy him." Lin Qi comforted Xu Hexiao.

"I'm not envious. He still has a bunch of people to support. It's a drought now, and his business is not doing well. He promised me a huge profit so that I can continue to provide him with food and meat. Especially now it's winter, and the New Year will come in three months. No matter what food it is, it will only become more and more expensive." It's also a good time for them to make money. Xu Hexiao didn't say the last sentence, because he was afraid that Lin Qi would feel uncomfortable.

Now others are suffering from the disaster, but they are "making money". It will never sound good to say it out loud.

However, Lin Qi didn't think any deeper. She said, "Then sell more. We can make money and they won't go hungry."

Xu Hexiao burst out laughing, "I thought so too."

When the two returned home, it was already two o'clock in the morning. After a quick wash, they fell asleep in each other's arms on the bed.

After sleeping till dawn, when Xu Hexiao got up, Lin Qi was still sleeping. He first lit a fire to boil water, threw two large pieces of wood into the bottom of the pot, and then went out to practice boxing.

Lao Yi and the other two were already waiting there. When they saw Xu Hexiao, they all came over.

"You've been a bit slack these past two days." Old Fu said seriously.

"Well, I didn't come back until midnight, so I got up later." Xu Hexiao said, thinking for a moment, and revealed to the three people, "Qiqi and I will be out these nights, you should be more alert at home, if someone comes to steal - forget it, don't worry about someone coming to steal things, just protect yourselves."

Lao Yi and the other two felt that Xu Hexiao looked down upon them, but they also felt that what Xu Hexiao said made sense. So, they didn't care. Protecting themselves was the most important thing.

"I heard that you have been learning calligraphy and painting in recent years. Old Yi was thinking that when he has time during this period, he could teach you how to write and paint." said Lao Bi.

Lao Yi nodded, "Indeed, I have this plan. I am quite good at calligraphy and painting, so it won't be a problem for me to teach you."

"Then I'd like to thank you here first." Xu Hexiao thought for a moment, "The three teachers, please come over in an hour, have breakfast at Qiqi's house, and then go to the study together. My calligraphy and paintings are all in the study."

The eyes of Lao Yi and the other two lit up, "Qiqi, there is a study here?"

"Well, she specially prepared a room for me to write and paint. But there are not many books in it." He usually reads books in the mountains and does not bring them back. Even if he brings them back, he will definitely send them away the next day to avoid leaving any risks with her.

Xu Hexiao practiced boxing for half an hour, listened to a half-hour class, and then went back to make breakfast. Lao Yi and the other two also had to go back to wash up and change into cleaner clothes.

This was the first time Xu Hexiao invited them to Lin Qi's house for dinner, so they couldn't be too rude.

"Teacher Yi and the other three will come here to eat later." Xu Hexiao said to Lin Qi who had just come out of the room.

Lin Qi hummed, yawned, and went to wash up. "You should have invited them earlier. Those people in the brigade are not fools. How could they not understand the relationship between you, me, and the three of them?"

Xu Hexiao smiled helplessly, did not refute, and took the bucket to get hot water for Lin Qi.

Her contribution and influence on the team did not happen overnight. As time went on, her transcendent position in the team became more and more stable. Even Jiang Wanwan, even though she coveted him, dared only to turn her back to Qiqi. When Qiqi was around, Jiang Wanwan was as obedient as a mouse meeting a cat. And Luo Laizi, the person who was most at odds with Qiqi, because he wanted to steal something, Qiqi asked him to herd cattle, and now he had to do it obediently. When he saw Qiqi, he didn't dare to say a bad word -

Why do these people worship Qiqi? Isn't it just for a bite of food?

Now is a year of disaster, and those people have to rely on Qiqi, so they dare not make trouble in front of Qiqi.

It was because her position was secure that he dared to act so unbridled.

"As long as this drought continues, the greater the pressure you will have to bear. During the autumn harvest, the commune took our rice and has not distributed it yet. I guess it will not be distributed this year. How we are going to survive until next year's autumn harvest is a problem. In addition, whether or not to pay this year's agricultural tax is also a problem," said Xu Hexiao.

"How do we pay? Should we pay with last year's old grain? Who has last year's grain in stock these days?" Lin Qi asked, and expressed her own guess, "In two days, the team leader should distribute the autumn harvest grain to the team members. As long as it is in the hands of the team members and everyone eats it, the commune leaders will have no way to deal with it."

However, Lin Qi still miscalculated. The team leader did not wait until two days later, when they finished their breakfast. Instead, he walked from the beginning to the end of the village, beating a gong, to notify the team members that food would be distributed.

"There is no rice this year. I don't even know if the total amount of grain we were allocated is even 100 kilograms." Old Yi looked worried.

Lao Bi roughly calculated with his fingers, "The sweet potato harvest is not bad, and the coarse and fine grains combined should be around 200 kilograms."

"Can two hundred kilograms last until the end of the year?" Old Fu secretly looked at Lin Qi and Xu Hexiao, and seeing their calm expressions, he felt at ease.

As someone who can contribute dozens of bags of sweet potatoes, taro and potatoes to the brigade, she should have other food reserves.

Lin Qi has some stored food, so she won't ignore these old people.

"I have planted sweet potatoes in my two acres of land, but they haven't been dug yet. Later on, let one of you three go to distribute the grain, and the other two go to dig the sweet potatoes. Otherwise, we won't be able to compete with others later." Lin Qi admitted.

"What do you mean?" Old Yi and the other two were puzzled. Wasn't that Lin Qi's land? Why did they allow others to dig it at will? And weren't there seeds for next year's harvest in that land?

"After today, I plan to temporarily open that piece of land to the public. Everyone can go in and dig sweet potatoes, but each person can only dig two sweet potatoes, no matter if it's an adult or a child," said Lin Qi.

The three of Lao Yi looked at each other and hurriedly quickened their eating speed. They hurriedly ate a few mouthfuls and went outside. "Let's get the tools and start digging right away."