After a few days of the bustling street canteen life, Aunt Wang and the neighborhood committee staff began to announce the latest news - iron smelting.
Everyone was having breakfast in the cafeteria and was talking about it.
"Everyone, please be quiet. You eat in the cafeteria, so what use are the iron pots at home? After breakfast, go home and collect all the iron products and leave them at the door. We will be at your door before noon. Be disciplined and don't let us come to your door and make you do it yourself."
Someone quickly asked, "Auntie, do you mean all the iron products you mentioned, including the scissors and hoes in the house, need to be donated, except for the things in the kitchen?"
"Right. Go back and check carefully. If it's iron, we have to hand it over. Every street has started taking action this morning. We can't let anyone else get ahead of us."
Someone else laughed out loud, "Don't worry. Our street is either first or second. I'll go home and ask my wife to pry the handles off the cabinets."
Then someone else said, "My front door is made of iron. Please come and help me later."
Seeing everyone's positive attitude, Aunt Wang clapped happily, which led the whole audience to applaud as well.
The enthusiastic applause continued, and she suppressed it with her hand. After everyone quieted down, she continued, "Now that we have iron, we need a furnace. To this end, I have asked our Master Cui to guide us in building a blast furnace for ironmaking. Now, please invite our Master Cui to come up and say a few words."
Zhang's mother secretly pulled her eldest son's sleeve and looked at him anxiously.
Zhang Guoqing nodded at her with a smile.
Mother Zhang burst into laughter and pointed at Master Cui who was coming forward. "Let's listen to what the master chef has to say."
Master Cui stood on a stool and shouted excitedly, "...We have a large population in several of our streets. What's the benefit of having a large population? Strength lies in numbers! Therefore, we must work harder than anyone else to become the best in the county. Let's unite together and strive to produce more iron, so that the people of the whole country can see it, and the people of Northeast China can see it..."
Zhang's mother was stunned for a moment and whispered to her family, "Why hasn't he told me how to build the furnace? What is this for?"
Hearing this, Zhang Guoqing clenched his fist and put it to the corner of his mouth. He coughed a few times and said, "I'm too excited and haven't thought it through yet."
"I've seen this old man several times. Every time he was chatting with others. Don't be anxious, mom, wait a little longer." Zhang Meili said quickly.
Zhou Jiao glanced at Zhang Guoqing and was about to say something when she heard Master Cui getting to the point. She immediately turned to look ahead. He was talking loudly, his hands moving in unison, and foaming at the mouth.
"...So we're going to build a blast furnace in the small square..."
Zhou Jiao was secretly happy. Fortunately, it was in the small square. If it was near her home, she would have vomited to death.
"...If we're going to build one, let's build the biggest one. Haha... I'm just kidding. I'm talking about the tallest and largest blast furnace in the entire county. What do you think? How can grown men like us, young and old, not be the best? Don't you agree?"
Some women immediately shouted, "Master Cui, men and women are equal. We women can also light the stove. Please add another stove."
son. "
Zhang Guoqing looked at the woman with a headache. This crazy woman had ruined his wife. Before he could come up with an excuse, more women called for more stoves.
Zhang Guoqing was so depressed that he just wanted to go up and beat these stupid women to death.
There were voices everywhere, both rising and falling, which continued until it was almost time to go to work. A nine-meter blast furnace had to be built, and every household in the street, young and old, participated in the activity.
As for Master Cui's tallest and largest furnace in the county, no one mentioned it anymore. It was a joke. Even the director of the largest textile factory in the county didn't dare to make a decision about it.
Zhang Guoqing patted his son speechlessly. His son couldn't escape either. He just didn't know why such a young child would go into battle. He didn't want to consult about such ridiculous things.
On the way, Mr. and Mrs. Zhang were worried about the village yard, so they decided to walk back.
Zhang Guoqing regretted that after joining the commune, all his possessions became collective property. Nowadays, you can no longer find a horse-drawn carriage on the street.
After returning home and settling their son down, the couple piled a pile of scrap metal, along with two large pots and a handful of kitchen knives left by Professor Liu, by the door. Finally, they spotted the door handle, exchanged a wry smile, and finally removed it and threw it on the door handle.
After finishing up, Zhang Guoqing returned to his workplace and resumed his meeting. The meeting had just concluded an hour earlier, and the company was also planning to build a blast furnace.
As you can imagine, he and his colleagues then pried down the large iron gate, gathered all the iron products, and piled them in the open space to the right of the unit, where they would prepare to build the blast furnace.
There is strength in numbers.
All units and streets in the county collected iron products from every household in the county and began to go up the mountain to search for mineral resources.
By the evening, many open spaces in the county were filled with piles of iron products, firewood and coal, as well as a small amount of iron ore, coke, limestone and some materials for building blast furnaces.
Zhou Jiao had a headache at the moment, a very serious headache.
All the firewood and coal briquettes piled up in her house were taken away, and the two stoves in the kitchen opened their big mouths. These did not give her a headache, but the little thing in front of her.
Ping An shed tears and cried softly, "My...my..."
Zhou Jiao didn't know how to explain to him.
Tell him that if someone asks for something, he has to give it to them, and give it to them happily? She was afraid that such an explanation would affect the child's outlook on life and values.
Or tell him that we have many more at home? With this explanation, she was even more worried that children would speak without restraint. No matter how smart they were, they were still children and would be finished with just one sentence.
Finally, Zhou Jiao held him, locked the door, and returned to the kitchen.
She pointed at the entrance to the cellar. Thank goodness, the iron sheet at the entrance to her cellar had finally been saved. She treasured the iron sheet more than gold.
After opening the cellar door, Zhou Jiao held him and took out two large pots, a pile of firewood and a pile of coal.
She patted the child gently and turned around to let him see, "Look, mommy is hiding. You can't tell me, or it's gone. Shh... When others ask if you're safe, just shake your head, okay?"
After saying this, Zhou Jiao nervously demonstrated twice, and when she saw the child's smile, she let out a long sigh. It's really not easy!
"Ping An, do you have anything to eat at home?"
As soon as she finished speaking, the child immediately shook his head.
"Ping An, your family has no pot, did you cry?"
As soon as she finished speaking, the child immediately shook his head.
"Ping An, can you give me the pot from your house?"
As soon as she finished speaking, the child immediately shook his head and said, "No more."
"Do you know where your mother hides her things?"
Ping An shouted happily, "It's gone."
This made Zhou Jiao laugh out loud, and she kissed him several times and gave him a thumbs up.
Afterwards, she wrote down this simple conversation between mother and son in code and sent it to her father Zhou Xiaozheng.
It was a very ordinary sentence, but in her eyes, her son, who was not even eight months old, made her proud and was worth showing off.
After returning to the bedroom, the mother and son changed into homespun clothes.
Outside, the small square was bustling with people, piled with ironwork, firewood, and coal. Children were happily playing in the mud, and even the blaring of loudspeakers couldn't drown out the clamor.
Zhou Jiao laughed out loud in the direction her son pointed. How stingy her son must be, still thinking about the family's big pot and firewood.
"Shh... Look, there's fire and thorns. It's dangerous! Be good and don't come down. Mommy will take you to find your grandparents." Zhou Jiao quickly gave him a few instructions and carried him to find Zhang's father and mother.
It took a long time to find Zhang Dad and the others. Zhou Jiao saw that they were moving things, so she didn't go over.
I heard the loudspeaker saying that we would be divided into groups for dinner, and then started to do our homework late into the evening.
She realized that it was not the right time yet.
She began to adjust her position, carrying her son on her back, while she slowly moved forward to carry things, turning her head to look at the child from time to time. She thought to herself that she had to think of a solution. After being grouped, the mother and son became a burden and an eyesore.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
