Zhou Yuanyuan sat in the corridor, gazing at the white clouds in the distant sky, but her heart was filled with frustration.
After returning from Zhoujia Village yesterday, Zhou Yuanyuan and Zhao Qingshan shared their plan: their entire family, including Zhao Qingshan, would move to City N. They could rent a house there until Zhou Zhixin's application to join the army was approved.
Zhao Qingshan rejected Zhou Yuanyuan's proposal out of hand. Back then, you needed a letter of introduction and food coupons to go out. Otherwise, even a steamed bun wouldn't be sold at a restaurant. Zhao Qingshan didn't have to worry about letters of introduction; he could just ask Zhao Youtian to issue a few. However, the family's hasty journey to N City presented a significant challenge, as they lacked food connections.
Seeing Zhou Yuanyuan dumbfounded, Zhao Qingshan remembered that his little granddaughter was only six years old. Although she looked smart and experienced, she might not understand what food relationship meant. So he explained it to Zhou Yuanyuan in detail.
During this era, Chinese residents were divided into two categories: rural and urban. Adults with rural household registrations were required to participate in collective labor in their registered area. At the end of the year, they would receive a share of grain and money from the production team based on their annual earnings, like Zhao Yunxiang.
Adults with urban household registration were assigned jobs by the government. In addition to receiving a monthly salary, they were also provided with coupons such as food coupons, meat coupons, cloth coupons, and oil coupons. These coupons had to be collected from the residents' committee in the area where their household registration was located. For example, Zhao Guohui.
Rural residents also received cloth and meat coupons, but not grain coupons. These were the grain relationship of the Chinese people. Rural residents, if they didn't work, received no grain. Urban residents, to eat, had to bring their grain books, grain coupons, and money to the grain management office every month to buy food to take home. Furthermore, these grain coupons were divided into local and national. The Qingshan City grain coupons Zhao Qingshan issued each month became worthless once outside Qingshan City. Only the national grain coupons were valid throughout the country.
Zhao Qingshan's household registration is in the Sanhe Town Neighborhood Committee, and the various tickets supplied every month can only be collected at the Sanhe Town Neighborhood Committee. When he arrived in N City, the Neighborhood Committee of N City did not know who he was, and his household registration was not there, so he could not get anything, unless Zhao Qingshan transferred his household registration to N City.
Transferring household registration? Zhou Yuanyuan knew a thing or two about this. Even when she lived to her thirties in her previous life, the household registration issue was still the biggest problem for residents. Even if one already had a house and a job, transferring one's household registration from one city to another still required numerous hurdles. Not to mention now, they had no roots in City N at all. Asking Zhao Qingshan to transfer their household registration there was nothing short of a fantasy.
Zhou Yuanyuan's head spun as she listened until she finally understood what Zhao Qingshan meant. If their family wanted to leave Sanhe Town, they had to make many preparations. It wasn't like later times, where people could just grab money and their ID cards and move anywhere. In this era, if they were caught by the police without a letter of introduction, they would be labeled "blind migrants" and sent back to their hometown. Their family had no plans yet. If they tried to figure out a solution after arriving in City N, as Zhou Yuanyuan suggested, they might be sent back to Sanhe Town before they could even come up with one.
Moreover, their hasty arrival in City N meant Zhao Yunxiang couldn't participate in the production team's labor and earn a cent, and Zhao Qingshan's food coupons and other vouchers were cut off. Food was even more scarce in the city than in the countryside, and without food coupons, even if they had money, they had nowhere to buy food. Without food, their family would surely starve to death. This was why Zhou Zhixin insisted that Zhao Yunxiang wait at home for his application to accompany the army to be approved.
Once Zhou Zhixin's application to join the army was approved, Zhao Yunxiang and her two children could transfer their household registration to City N, where Zhou Zhixin's troops were stationed. Then, Zhao Yunxiang and her two children would be considered residents of City N, and would receive various monthly allowances. Regardless of whether they were sufficient, the family would not be at risk of starvation.
After hearing what Zhao Qingshan said, Zhou Yuanyuan completely shrank. Her plans to become wealthy, her plans to distance herself from the Zhou family, were all stillborn.
It's already the beginning of 1976, so the X Revolution should be almost over, right? In her previous life, Zhou Yuanyuan was indifferent to many things, but she remembered a few major historical events firmly in her mind.
In that year, three great men of the Chinese society passed away one after another, and the whole country mourned.
According to Zhou Yuanyuan's memories from her previous life, the country will not restore the college entrance examination system until next winter, and then China will slowly open up its economic policies, allowing some people to get rich first.
Next winter is still two years away! Was she just going to watch those two years slip by between her fingers? Not being able to make money, not being able to go out and see the world, what a waste! For the first time, Zhou Yuanyuan felt like life was playing a huge joke on her. She had Xiaoyu, divine consciousness, strength, and prophecy, and was about to show off her skills, but she was told that the time had not yet come.
"Alas!" Zhou Yuanyuan couldn't help but sigh. She thought "With Xiaoyu in hand, the world is mine", but who knew? Who knew she would have to wait and wait...
There are many pine trees on Daqing Mountain. Every autumn, Zhaojiagou organizes villagers to spend three to five days thinning out some of the pine branches on Daqing Mountain. This helps the trees save nutrients for the winter, and the cut branches can be used as firewood by the villagers, killing two birds with one stone.
The trees on Daqing Mountain are very tall, and the branches that are cut down must be sawed into sections and then chopped into small pieces with an axe before they can be used as firewood. In winter, the men in the family will chop a lot of firewood and pile it into piles whenever they have time. After drying, it becomes excellent firewood.
Ever since Wen Ziqing came to Zhaojiagou, the job of chopping firewood for Zhao Qingshan's family almost fell on Wen Ziqing.
Wen Ziqing was chopping firewood in the yard, but his eyes kept staring at Zhou Yuanyuan. He watched the little girl smile, then frown. Her facial expressions were truly rich. She had lived two lives, yet her eyes were filled with innocence.
Yes, it's innocence. Wen Ziqing admires this aspect of Zhou Yuanyuan the most. Having lived two lives, Zhou Yuanyuan doesn't vent her anger on others simply because of the pain she experienced in her past life. She was bullied so badly by Zhou Miaomiao and Zhou Meimei in her past life that Wen Ziqing believed she should at least seek revenge on them in this life. But Zhou Yuanyuan didn't. If Zhou Meimei provoked her, she would fight back. She didn't bully her like she did in her past life, and she didn't dwell on the past life's grudges. At most, she ignored her, not seeking revenge.
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