Chapter 24: Dividing Rations
The distribution of rations had nothing to do with her. Wen Wan didn't want to get up so early in the morning. It was a rare opportunity to rest, so naturally she wanted to sleep until she woke up naturally.
Liu Changqing and the others also got up a little later than usual. After cooking, they called Wen Wan outside. Wen Wan responded in a daze, turned over in her arms, and continued to sleep.
Since she didn't have to go to work, she naturally didn't have to get up early, so it didn't matter whether she ate breakfast or not. After eating corn grits porridge for so long, she felt like she was about to die X﹏X.
I was drowsy and heard some noise outside, but it soon died down. I slept until almost twelve o'clock.
The warehouse was bustling with activity. All the members of the production team gathered there, carrying loads, backpacks, and sacks, waiting to receive their rations.
Wen Wan had slept enough, so she got up, packed up, and used the boiling water in the kettle to make half a cup of malted milk to soak the biscuits. After eating and drinking her fill, she locked the door and went to watch the fun.
It’s really lively, even more lively than the fields when people are working.
Wen Wan had just arrived when that brat Lu Donglin grabbed her and said, "Hey, Sister Wen Wan, here, here!"
Just shouting wasn't enough. He threw the backpack aside, stuffed the sack into Lu Chun'e's hand, and ran out of the team: "Hey, Sister Wen Wan, why are you here just now?"
"I won't get any rations this year, so why are you here so early?"
"Come and see, learn. By next year you'll know how to do it. Come on, my dad, mom, and sister are all lined up over there. We have rules in our team. My uncle set them up. We have to line up."
Wen Wan followed him through the chaotic crowd and arrived at the middle of the long line.
Lu Mingjiang, Zhang Hongying and Lu Chun'e were indeed queuing there, and in front of them was Gao Xiulan from Lu Minghai's family with her son and daughter-in-law.
Wen Wan came over and greeted Gao Xiulan and then Zhang Hongying and her husband.
Lu Chun'e looked at her and smiled sweetly: "Sister Wen Wan, are you here to help us?" She was not as shameless as Lu Donglin, but she was also trying her best to show her utmost kindness.
She knew that her eldest brother liked this educated youth from the city. She thought that if this educated youth could like them and their family, her eldest brother's wish might be easier to achieve.
Wen Wan was stunned for a moment, then scratched her head in embarrassment. "Yeah, after all, your brother has helped me many times, so I came to see if there's anything I can do for you." No way, carrying food? How much could she possibly carry? Ten or twenty pounds? Whether it was a backpack or a shoulder pole, she had never tried it before.
After saying that, he quickly changed the subject: "Where's your brother? Did he go to the commune? Won't he be back for the ration distribution today?"
Lu Donglin pointed to the front of the line and said, "Here, here, he's helping Uncle and Accountant Liu. Oh! These people are so annoying. The rations are distributed the same way every year. This year the harvest is good, so each household can get a little more, but they're still complaining and picking and choosing. I'm almost limping from standing there."
Wen Wan didn't understand what he meant at all: "Rations, can we still choose?"
Lu Donglin nodded with a stern face. "Yes, here we have wheat, rice, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and so on, in addition to corn. Corn is considered the staple food, followed by rice and wheat. Sweet potatoes, potatoes, and pumpkins are considered miscellaneous grains. Five kilograms of miscellaneous grains are equivalent to one kilogram of staple food."
Wen Wan seemed to understand.
There's a food shortage now, especially for families with elderly parents and young children, and with a large population and few laborers, who can only survive on per capita rations, wouldn't they want as much food as possible? So, they'd definitely have to fight tooth and nail for coarse grains. But there were limits on the amount of coarse grains that could be used to offset the main grain supply, so wouldn't that lead to friction and wrangling?
Therefore, on the day of distributing rations, the members of the team basically had breakfast early. After breakfast, all the family members who were able to move, young and old, came, holding their belongings and waiting to verify the work points of the family population, and then received the food to be transported back.
Lu Minghai is the production team leader and Lu Dongping is the officer of the armed forces department. Both of them are cadres, so naturally there is no way for family members to compete for the first place. Every year they come at the right time, neither too early nor too late.
It was already late when it was Lu Dongping's family's turn. Wen Wan chatted with Lu Chun'e and Lu Donglin, brother and sister, and didn't feel that the wait was unbearable.
"Sister Wenwan, we'll start hibernating after the rations are distributed. We have exams in a week. After the exams, I'll take you to the mountains to catch rabbits!"
Wen Wan's interest immediately perked up when she heard this. Her already beautiful eyes sparkled. "What kind? Are there rabbits on this mountain? Little white rabbits? Can we catch them?"
Little white rabbit? I haven't seen that, but there are little gray rabbits: "Yes, my eldest brother got one before."
Lu Mingjiang coughed dryly a few times and was too embarrassed to interrupt him. He thought to himself, that was what your brother caught, what does it have to do with you? You talk as if you can do it too.
Lu Donglin didn't know that his father was complaining about him, and asked Wen Wan curiously: "Sister, are there no mountains in your city? Have you never seen a rabbit?" Otherwise, why would she be so excited.
"There are mountains in the city, right? But we don't have any where we are. I've heard of rabbits. They're pictured in textbooks, aren't they? I've never actually seen one."
Lu Donglin's slightly cracked face wrinkled a little: "I haven't even seen a rabbit, so what do you have in your city?"
"In the city, there are more buildings and wider roads in the city?" Wen Wan couldn't put her finger on it. When she was at home, she basically went back and forth between school and home. When Xu Ruyin was around, she was very strict with her. Besides classes, she was busy with piano and dance lessons, and her schedule was packed. Old Wen was a kind father, but he didn't allow her to run around, even after Xu Ruyin passed away two years later. He was usually cheerful and easy to talk to, but he was very strict when it came to his requests.
So, she really didn't know what was so good about the capital. After all, she had only been to *** to watch the flag-raising ceremony.
"Tsk!" Lu Donglin rolled his eyes, his face full of anticipation. "What's so good about that? Aren't tiled houses just as good for living in? They're warm in winter and cool in summer. If there's nothing, why do so many people still want to move to the city?"
Wen Wan said, "Not really. Once you get a job in the city, you can use your grain book to get commercial grain, and you don't have to farm. The supply in the city is much richer than in the countryside. There are a lot of fine grains, and you can always eat white rice, white flour dumplings, and meat. It's not like here, where you have corn grits porridge every day. My throat is burning from drinking it."
Lu Donglin's eyes widened: "Really? Can I eat it anytime?"
Lu Mingjiang couldn't help but sneer, "What nonsense are you talking about in broad daylight? Remember your second uncle Mingwang? Isn't he from the city too? Didn't we mountain people provide relief during the famine a few years ago? Look how plump you are after eating. Do you remember your second uncle's cousins? They're as skinny as straw. That's because they've been starving because they don't have anything to eat."
"Then you keep nagging me to study and become a worker in the city. What's the point of that if I can't even get enough to eat?"
Zhang Hongying glared at Lu Mingjiang fiercely: "If you can't speak, just keep quiet. Do you think everyone is like your second brother? A good man is rushing to marry someone in the city? Are there no lazy people in the city? That family is sucking him like leeches. How can he not suffer? So, men should be careful when choosing a partner. Don't rush into people on impulse. You will be sad for the rest of your life."
Lu Mingjiang snorted twice: "Why are you telling me this? Go up front and talk to that bastard Lu Dongping." The topic suddenly changed.
Lu Donglin blinked and started to change the subject again: "I don't believe my father's nonsense. There must be differences between cities. There are big cities and small cities. My second uncle lives in a small county town. The conditions there must be bad and he suffers. Sister, your family must be in a big city. The conditions there must be good. In the future, I will either not move to the city, or I will go to a big city."
Lu Donglin was a talker and a boaster, and Wen Wan happened to share this tendency. The difference was that Lu Donglin's talk was truly wild and imaginative, while Wen Wan's was actually quite substantial.
The two people had similar interests and talked about everything from the production team to the school, from the countryside to the city. The girl of seventeen or eighteen and the boy of eleven or twelve talked with relish. The little girl Lu Chun'e was stunned by what she was saying, and the old couple Lu Mingjiang also listened.
Then I became more and more pessimistic about the girl Wen Wan.
The couple knew their son's character all too well. Lu Donglin was a complete jerk with nothing but a mouth that could flatter people to death. Wen Wan was even more boastful than Lu Donglin, which only meant one thing: she was even less reliable than him.
It’s a headache to think about how such a person can live his life.
It was almost three o'clock in the morning when it was finally Lu Minghai's family's turn. Lu Minghai's two daughters had been married a long time ago and their household registration had been moved away. The eldest son, Lu Dongcheng, was in the army, and the second son, Lu Dongcai, had just gotten married the year before and had no children yet. The youngest, Lu Dongfu, was about the same age as Lu Chun'e and was attending junior high school in the commune.
The family has quite a bit of labor, and generally speaking, they have more work points, so naturally they get more food. In addition to food, they can also get some money after the team deducts the reserve fee. The results of the whole year are all here.
Lu Minghai was busy distributing food there, and Gao Xiulan was the only one who could carry the food back home with her son and daughter-in-law.
It was impossible to recite all the words in one trip, so Wen Wan stood there to help.
After all, after she came to the team, Lu Minghai, the production team leader, was very caring towards her. Even if he didn't take care of her, she had to curry favor with him. In the production team, the team leader is the boss, and she would have to trouble him in the future.
There are five people in Lu Dongping's family. The father and the daughter are full-time workers, Zhang Hongying is a half-worker, and Lu Chun'e and Lu Donglin, a brother and sister, can still do some work after school and on holidays. Although their work points are not the highest, they are not bad either.
It is said that this year is a good year with a bumper harvest. Wen Wan watched from the side and only distributed more than 700 kilograms of grain.
Lu Dongping also exchanged one hundred kilograms of staple food for several hundred kilograms of potatoes and sweet potatoes. By mixing them together, he could ensure that everyone could eat a few more bites at each meal.
He only had time to say hello to Wen Wan and went back to work without saying anything else.
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