Today is the end of the year and it is the day to slaughter pigs and distribute grain. The pigs are raised by the villagers together, and the grain is stored in the warehouse after the harvest.
The grain production in this era was low, unlike the high grain production in later generations, but grain was a hard currency at that time.
The price of grain in Shanqiao Village is 5 work points per kilogram of grain. In a whole year, the work points of a couple are only 2,500, which means only 500 kilograms of grain. This is not enough to eat. If a grown man wants to eat his fill, he needs to eat about one and a half kilograms of grain a day. If he has a big appetite, it will be even more difficult, not to mention a couple with children to support.
Therefore, adjustments were made to the distribution in Shanqiao Village. In addition to exchanging work points for food, they could also be exchanged for money, and money could be exchanged for food.
Ten work points were worth one cent, and 2,500 work points could be exchanged for 25 yuan, which was a lot of money to exchange for food. Furthermore, to exchange for village food, you didn't need food coupons. Rice was 1.5 cents per pound, and you could also exchange it for sweet potatoes, corn, potatoes, and the like.
Everyone gathered in the ancestral hall all afternoon to count their work points one by one. It took the whole afternoon to finish. Apart from exchanging the work points they earned for food and meat, the rest depended on their personal wishes.
Village Party Secretary Gu Ren was sitting in the ancestral hall, while the village chief Gu Jianqiang and his sons were distributing food and calculating work points.
The village head would stand up and say, "Today is the end of the year. Everyone's annual harvest is exchanged for work points. We can say this year was a bumper harvest, and with so many educated youth coming, we'll start expanding and reclaiming wasteland next year so we can grow more food."
"Okay." The villagers responded.
The villagers were naturally very happy to be able to reclaim wasteland. After all, there was a limited amount of arable land in the village. They didn't have the time to reclaim wasteland. There were only a few people in the village to begin with, and now that many educated youth had come, they could finally reclaim wasteland and cultivate the land.
Gu Ren also distributed the subsidies for the educated youth. Of course, this subsidy could only benefit the educated youth and not the villagers.
"Okay, everyone, let's go back after distributing the food." The village chief stood up.
Everyone followed the village chief back, and he kept muttering as he walked: "This year we can have a good New Year."
Although Gu Ranzhou did not have much work in the second half of the year, he worked very hard in the first half to earn work points. He earned about 1,200 work points in the first half of the year. Together with the work points earned by Lu Zhenchuan, the total work points was exactly 2,500.
Gu Ranzhou didn't want to stand out too much, so he changed the food to some rice, sweet potatoes and some grains. Gu Ranzhou used the reason that the child was still young and needed some nutrition.
Rice was a luxury. Others were envious when they saw that most of the work points earned by Gu Ranzhou and his wife were exchanged for rice. However, no one gossiped about them behind their backs. After all, the educated youth had just arrived and didn't know much. But everyone in the village knew the situation. Everyone knew that Gu Ranzhou loved his son from the bottom of his heart.
Gu Ranzhou asked Lu Zhenchuan to take the food he exchanged for work points home, and the other villagers also took the food they exchanged home. After all, tomorrow is the Spring Festival, and that day is the most fulfilling day of the year.
After all, it has been almost a month since they ate meat. They had saved the meat they had hunted before and were reluctant to eat it. Now they have been given a few pounds of meat. Although they still cannot eat it to their heart's content, at least they can taste the meat for a few days during the New Year.
Gu Ranzhou walked in front and entered the kitchen, and Lu Zhenchuan followed behind with the food. After arriving in the kitchen, he put the rice into the rice jar and placed the sweet potatoes aside.
Lu Zhenchuan looked at his wife and said, "Wife, let me help you wash the vegetables."
Gu Ranzhou instructed, "The children are outside. Go and give them a bath."
Lu Zhenchuan nodded and walked out quickly: "That's fine, wife, you wait."
Lu Zhenchuan pushed open the door of the two children's room and walked in. He saw Gu Yu'an learning to read characters, and Lu Haoyu watching from the side. "Big Daddy! Fifth Uncle!"
"Um."
Lu Haoyu asked, "Fifth Uncle, what's wrong?"
Lu Zhenchuan said to the two children, "Okay, An An won't write anymore." Then he added, "Haoyu, take An An to take a bath."
Lu Zhenchuan asked, "Do you know what to wear today?"
Gu Yu'an said in a baby voice, "I know."
"Now that you know, I'll go to the kitchen to help Zhou Zhou."
"Big Daddy, go ahead!"
Lu Zhenchuan nodded, responded, turned around and walked out.
Gu Yu'an looked at the new clothes his father had prepared for him and his brother, and suddenly remembered this time in the past.
Lu Haoyu seemed to sense that Gu Yu'an was unhappy and asked, "What's wrong, An'an? Are you unhappy during the New Year?"
Gu Yu'an pouted and said, "No, I'm very happy, but... it was just the last time I spent Chinese New Year with Mom and Dad." Dad was out at that time.
After hearing this, Lu Haoyu quickly changed the subject and said, "An An, let me help you take a bath."
Gu Yu'an looked at his brother and thought of his father, nodding obediently: "Yeah!"
Lu Haoyu picked up the clothes that Gu Ranzhou had prepared for them and took An An's hand to take a shower. When they arrived, they found that hot water was already in the bathtub.
After Lu Zhenchuan put the hot water in, he went to the kitchen. When Gu Ranzhou came back, he still hadn't seen Lin Feng. He wondered where he had gone.
Gu Ranzhou saw Lu Zhenchuan walk in and casually asked, "Where is Lin Feng?"
Lu Zhenchuan walked over to pick some vegetables and said, "A letter came from the capital. He gave it to Uncle Lin and Uncle Xu. Maybe he's going to be vindicated."
Gu Ranzhou suddenly stopped what he was doing, but he continued working again in a moment. "You mean they're ready to leave? What about you?"
Gu Ranzhou didn't expect that it had only been a year or at most half a year. The gap with that dream was really too big. It might be that the butterfly effect was caused by the flapping of his wings.
Lu Zhenchuan also knew what his wife was asking, and quickly said, "They left, I didn't plan to leave."
Gu Ranzhou smiled and said, "Really?"
Then he asked, "When do you plan to leave?"
Lu Zhenchuan was a little reluctant. He had only been with his wife for half a year, perhaps even less, and he didn't want to be separated from her so soon. "Wife, I've only been here for half a year, and you're asking me to leave? Isn't that a bit too fast?"
Gu Ranzhou looked at Lu Zhenchuan and asked, "Have you forgotten what you do?"
Lu Zhenchuan was stunned for a moment, but quickly recovered and said, "I didn't expect it to be so fast. I've only been here for half a year. I thought it would take two or three years."
Gu Ranzhou shook his head and smiled faintly, "Stop talking nonsense. With your current strength, ordinary people are no match for you. After they are rehabilitated and leave, you can follow them!"
Lu Zhenchuan felt a little reluctant, but he also knew it was time to go back. He asked cautiously, "Wife, will you come with me?"
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