Chapter 22 Snow-white rice tempts you
Kuanjie Chinese Medicine Hospital was converted from a royal palace.
In the early days of liberation, in order to accommodate doctors who came to support from all over the country, the government specially used several large houses next to Kuanjie Chinese Medicine Hospital as staff dormitories.
For example, Lin Kucan was allocated three main rooms in the east wing of the Gege Mansion. This was definitely a great privilege.
As for a dean like Shen Guomin, whose rank has reached the main hall, his housing is even more preferential, and he can occupy the three main rooms and two side rooms in the main courtyard of the Gege.
Because his home is next to his workplace and only takes 5 minutes to walk through the back door, Dean Shen always goes home for lunch after get off work.
There is no way. The food in the hospital cafeteria is too bad. Every day they have steamed buns made of mixed grains and some vegetables and radishes without any meat. Just looking at it makes people lose their appetite.
Dean Shen is from the south. Southerners like to eat rice and cannot get used to the millet porridge, cornmeal and steamed buns from the north.
Before 1959, the country was not so difficult, and Shen Guomin's family could get some rice every month.
The Shen family would also exchange the coarse grains, flour, etc. that they received for rice, which was enough for the whole family to eat, and occasionally eat some pasta to change the taste.
However, as natural disasters become more and more serious, the food supply can no longer be described as tight. It feels like the supply may be cut off at any time.
Fine grains are no longer available. Every month when I go to the grain store, I can only buy sweet potato, yams, and cornmeal. I haven't seen rice and flour for a long time.
Dean Shen's family is in the same predicament as the Lin family. They are desperate to eat rice and rice porridge.
Of course, there was also a black market in this era. The tighter the food supply, the more prosperous the black market became.
But the price of food on the black market is too high.
In 1959, the market price of refined flour at the grain station was 1.8 cents per pound, and rice was 2 cents (both with coupons).
But on the black market, the price starts at 20 times, which means rice and flour start at 4 yuan or 5 yuan per catty, and there is no demand for them.
(Online data shows that in 1961, the black market price of 1 jin of Beijing grain coupons was 3 yuan, 1 jin of national grain coupons was 4 yuan, and 1 jin of BJ flour coupons was 5 yuan. These prices do not include the cost of grain. Of course, these were the abnormal prices during the three years of special times.)
But an ordinary worker only earns more than 30 yuan a month, and a ninth-level fitter like Yi Zhonghai only earns 99 yuan.
Lin Kucan enjoys a salary of 159 yuan per month at the level of a director, while a director-general like President Shen Guomin earns 201 yuan per month, which is already the 11th administrative level.
By this calculation, few people can afford the rice on the black market?
Of course, there are also rich people, such as the old Manchus, private bosses of public-private joint ventures, and speculators who still have money.
But a cadre like Shen Guomin, who has loved D education for many years and has a certain level of professional ability, would not easily go to the black market. If he was caught in the black market, his future would be completely ruined.
So Dean Shen's family, like thousands of other families, lived a hard life.
When Dean Shen returned home, his wife had already prepared lunch: a few corn steamed buns and some stir-fried wild vegetables. The wild vegetables were obviously greasy, obviously because a lot of oil had been added.
This made Dean Shen very distressed:
"Oh, how much oil was poured here? There's no need to waste it on me."
Wang Huiqin brought out another plate of pickled cucumbers from the kitchen and complained:
"Eat something. If you don't eat, your old bones will collapse. You're a doctor yourself, don't you know that stomachache requires nourishment? Nourishing the stomach is the most important thing. Now that the white rice porridge is gone, and without any oil or water, your stomach will become as thin as white paper."
Dean Shen sighed softly, picked up the greasy wild vegetables, and felt quite sad.
He thought that the Shen family was a wealthy family in Gusu back then, and he had been living a life of luxury since he was a child, and had never lacked food and clothing.
As a result, when I am old, I can’t even eat a bowl of rice. It makes me sad to think about it:
"Alas, there's nothing we can do. God seems to be against us. It's either drought or floods. We haven't had peace since last year, and I don't know when it will end."
If Lin Sanqi were here, he would definitely tell Dean Shen: This year has just begun, there are still two years to go.
At this time, Wang Huiqin whispered, "Hey, we have a lot of yellow croakers buried under our bed. How about taking some out and exchanging them for food on the black market?"
Dean Shen refused without a second thought:
"Forget it. The black market is too dangerous. Be careful of people robbing you. Besides, who are you going to do the trading? You? Me? Our son? No one is suitable."
The old couple looked at each other in silence and began to eat their lunch which was barely enough to fill their stomachs.
At this moment, the open door suddenly went dark, and a young man with a sack on his back and his face covered rushed in from outside.
As soon as the young man entered the house, he put down the sack and slammed the door shut.
Shen Guomin and Wang Huiqin were so scared that their steamed buns fell to the ground. They thought that someone would dare to break into their house and rob them in broad daylight?
"Who are you and what are you doing!"
Lin Sanqi quickly took off the towel covering his head and face, then said with a smile:
"Dean Shen, it's me, Lin Sanqi. We met this morning."
"Lin Sanqi? What are you thinking in broad daylight? Don't you know that scaring someone can kill them?"
Dean Shen lowered his guard when he heard that it was the boy from the Lin family, but he was a little unhappy in his heart, thinking that this young man was too rash.
Lin Sanqi didn't take it seriously. He had already figured it out in his mind. No southerner could resist the temptation of rice.
"Dean Shen, please keep your voice down. I'm here to give you some benefits. Do you want some rice?"
“Rice???!!!”
Shen Guomin and Wang Huiqin’s screams were about to break.
"Yes, rice, fragrant rice, white rice, absolutely first-class rice, look, look!"
Lin Sanqi opened the bag like the big bad wolf luring Little Red Riding Hood, revealing a bag full of rice. He grabbed it with his hands and let it slide down through his fingers like a waterfall.
Dean Shen stepped forward quickly, picked up the rice with trembling hands, and when the rice fell out, he picked it up again.
"Rice, really rice, this is top-quality late rice. Wow, Lin Sanqi, where did you get it from?"
After the excitement, Dean Shen still retained a bit of rationality and vigilance. The sudden appearance of so many rare fine grains these days definitely couldn't have come from a regular source.
Lin Sanqi decided to make up a story:
"Dean Shen, you don't know, during the 10 years I was wandering, I was adopted by the big brothers and big sisters in the black market, so I have a very close relationship with them. Look, these food were also obtained from them.
I know that Dean Shen, like our Lin family, is from the south and is not used to the staple food of the north. Well, under your care, Dean Shen, I will soon be able to work at the Chinese Medicine Hospital, and it will be a formal job, so I wanted to get some food to thank you.
Shen Guomin shook his head after hearing this: "I can't accept this grain..."
(End of this chapter)
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