Wang Fugui shook his head. "Although the factory gets grain from outside, it's all supplied to the canteen. Even the factory director can't buy it for himself."
"What should we do? My parents are about to run out of food, and ours is almost empty too."
Wang Fugui took out a cigarette he hadn't smoked in a long time, and Li Yan didn't stop him. The two remained silent in the smoke, a sense of melancholy lingering in their hearts.
Wang Jingjiang returned home triumphantly, but was startled by the gloomy atmosphere as soon as he opened the door. His brow furrowed, and he looked at the two people on the sofa and asked sadly, "Mom and Dad, is it... is it Grandpa and Grandma...?"
“Your grandparents are fine!” Li Yan quickly interrupted her son’s unreliable daydreams.
"Oh, that's good." Wang Jingjiang had been hearing the two of them talking about how his grandparents were about to run out of food these past few days. When he saw their atmosphere, he thought his grandparents had starved to death.
Fortunately, he has resolved the matter, and the whole family no longer needs to worry.
Thinking of this, Wang Jingjiang's expression became smug again. "Dad, you can walk back by yourself tomorrow. I need to use my bicycle. Hey, just park it in the same spot as before. I'll ride it directly after get off work."
Wang Fugui was already worried, but when he heard Wang Jingjiang's words, he got even angrier. "What are you going to do with your bike again? You're here now and you're still thinking about going out to play!"
"Hey, I'm really not going to play this time. Mom, get me a few bags, the kind that are airtight. I need them to store grain, so they don't leak along the way."
Wang Fugui and Li Yan were stunned when they heard this, thinking they had misheard.
"What did you just say? What are you putting in a bag?"
"Grain? Let me tell you, I have connections to get grain, and I don't need coupons!" Wang Jingjiang said, waiting for the two men to praise him.
Instead of praise, Wang Jingjiang was met with a serious question from Wang Fugui: "Wang Jingjiang, this is no joke. There's a food shortage everywhere. Where are you going to get food?" And he didn't even need coupons, which clearly indicated a risk of breaking the law.
"Yeah, even your dad, a logistics director, can't do anything about it. What can you do? Don't be fooled."
Wang Jingjiang crossed his legs and said, "That's none of your business. Just get the things ready. Oh, and the money too."
Seeing how confident Wang Jingjiang was, Wang Fugui and Li Yan were unsure what connections he had made. On one hand, they were worried that he had been deceived, and on the other hand, they were afraid that they might miss the opportunity if they were really cheated.
Ultimately, the urgent crisis of food shortage made the two decide to give it a try.
"Alright, I'll let you give it a try. This is a big deal concerning your grandparents' food supply, so be careful. Did you find someone from outside or someone from our factory?" Wang Fugui was still a little worried and wanted to ask more questions to see if he could find out anything.
This time, Wang Jingjiang kept his mouth shut and couldn't get anything out of him.
The two of them could only anxiously prepare things for him.
That evening, Chen Ke shared the candy Wang Jingjiang had given him with Chen Zhi and Chen Yu. He wasn't interested in sweets, but the two little ones were overjoyed.
Perhaps it's because people of that era, both adults and children, had a special fondness for sweets.
While eating the candy, Chen Yu said somewhat embarrassedly, "Brother, we've run out of cornmeal, and the grain store has stopped supplying us these past two days. We're almost out of food."
As soon as Chen Yu finished speaking, Chen Zhi interrupted, "Why are you telling your older brother this? Didn't I just tell you I'll figure something out?"
After working for more than half a month, Chen Zhi has matured a lot and become more responsible. He believes that he is also a man and should contribute to the family's livelihood.
Chen Ke was pleased that Chen Zhi had this idea, but in this current situation, even if you have money, you may not be able to buy grain. No matter how hard Chen Zhi tried, he was helpless.
"You don't need to worry about the grain. Big Brother will bring it back tomorrow." Chen Ke didn't think about asking the two younger ones to help. The fewer people involved, the better. He and Wang Jingjiang were enough to carry it.
Hearing Chen Ke's words, Chen Yu was overjoyed. Chen Zhi breathed a sigh of relief, but at the same time, he couldn't help but feel a little frustrated. Although he said he would try to find a solution, he actually had no clue what to do. In the end, his older brother had already solved the problem without saying a word.
The next day, apart from Chen Ke, everyone else from both the Wang and Chen families seemed somewhat distracted throughout the day.
Finally, it was time to leave work. Wang Fugui had planned to secretly follow Wang Jingjiang to the textile workshop, but halfway there, he remembered his wife Li Yan's words: this was the first time Jingjiang had done something on his own…
Wang Fugui paused, turned around, and walked towards the factory gate.
Wang Jingjiang, barely containing his excitement, urged Chen Ke as soon as he got off work, "Hurry up and get ready, I'll go get my bike and wait for you on the path to the left of the gate."
Seeing Wang Jingjiang acting like a spy on a rendezvous, Chen Ke couldn't help but remind him, "Relax and be natural. If you keep acting like this, people will think you're going to steal something."
"Oh, really? I don't feel nervous at all."
Finally, the two met up on the path. Wang Jingjiang patted the back seat and said, "Come on up, my dad specially tied a soft cushion for my mom, so it won't bounce your butt."
Chen Ke: ""
Chen Ke eventually got into the back seat because the transport plant was some distance from the textile factory.
Wang Jingjiang was like he'd been injected with chicken blood; his long legs almost made the wheels fly off the ground, and he kept talking.
Finally, when asked the thirty-sixth question, Chen Ke saw the gate of the transportation plant.
Wang Jingjiang waited at the door, while Chen Ke went in alone.
Looking at the imposing gate of the transport plant, Wang Jingjiang was puzzled and couldn't understand why the transport plant would have so much grain.
After waiting for nearly half an hour, Chen Ke and an old man came out pulling a cart.
Seeing the sacks of grain firmly packed on the cart, Wang Jingjiang quickly stopped the cart, took out a rope, and the two of them swiftly moved the grain onto the bicycle and tied it up. After thanking the old man, they carefully pushed the cart away.
Wang Jingjiang touched it and found that each grain was full of rice!
He was so excited that his hands trembled as he pushed the rice, and he swallowed hard. "Chen, Chen Ke, this, this is all, your big, rice—"
Listening to Wang Jingjiang's incoherent words, Chen Ke said calmly, "Watch where you're going, or you'll fall."
"Oh, okay."
After waiting for a while, "Chen, Chen Ke, it's all rice, ah."
Chen Ke: ······
"Chen Ke, you, you push the faucet, my hands are still shaking."
Chen Ke had no choice but to switch places with Wang Jingjiang. Wang Jingjiang trembled as he touched the grain bag, his face filled with barely suppressed excitement and joy.
Haha, he actually managed to get his hands on rice!
Haha, Old Wang can't even get coarse grains, but he managed to get rice!
"Pfft, hahaha...pfft..."
Chen Ke suddenly heard the strange laughter and turned around to see Wang Jingjiang, his face flushed red, but he still couldn't stop laughing...
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