He was quite happy to see his wife stop collecting things, because there was really nowhere else to put them. If they were to build a bamboo house to store them, it would be a major undertaking.
Since there was nowhere else to build, they had to dig and excavate the land themselves, which shows how big the project was.
When Feng Yi learned that the drought had started and the monthly food ration had been reduced, he recalled his wife frantically hoarding food. For some reason, he had a feeling that his wife knew something.
If she didn't know, there would be no way she could have stockpiled so much food. But even if he had many thoughts in his mind, he wouldn't say anything. After all, his wife was doing it for the good of the family, especially since their two children were already over three years old. Although he usually looked very serious, he was actually the one who loved the two children the most.
It's just that fathers are often relatively serious, and they find it hard to express their love. When they think about how their two children won't go hungry, they'll pretend they don't know.
Although it might seem a bit unethical to others—watching others go hungry without even informing them beforehand—even though he is wholeheartedly devoted to serving the people, there's still a corner of his heart thinking about his family. Besides, those things were hoarded by his wife; it has nothing to do with him, and it's not his place to be a good person.
At first, we thought that if there was a food shortage, things would be fine once the next harvest came in. But unexpectedly, due to the drought, there was a food shortage everywhere, and all the fields failed to yield a good harvest.
Then everyone gradually started to get anxious, running up the mountain every day, not caring that the wild vegetables were already old, and picking them all to take home.
After all, everyone experienced drought in the 1940s. Just thinking about the feeling of being hungry made everyone want to spend day and night looking for food.
The military side was actually doing alright, because most of the military dependents were allocated wasteland. At that time, people valued land highly, and no one's land was left uncultivated; everyone was cultivating it.
Now, everyone sees those freshly grown sweet potato vines in the fields, and they all have to be picked off and stored at home to make all sorts of dried vegetables and pickles.
Tang Baozhu's family also followed suit and brought all the newly grown sweet potato vines home. The dried sweet potatoes, after peeling off the outer layer of fibers, were quite delicious when stir-fried.
All the leaves were blanched and dried, so nothing was wasted; everything edible was brought back.
Tang Baozhu now uses the resources in her spatial storage as little as possible. Apart from releasing the five puppets into the deep mountains to roam freely and help her scavenge for useful items, she no longer needs them.
The only difference is that the food for the two children is more refined. They still use the best things from their space to make food for them. So, during the past six months of food shortages, almost everyone has lost weight, but their two children haven't lost any weight at all.
Even Tang Baozhu and Feng Yi, in order to avoid standing out from the crowd, tried to eat only until they were 80% full, just enough to meet their body's needs.
The chickens we raise at home lay eggs every day, but our two children aren't getting enough nutrition, so we steam an egg for them every day to supplement their nutrition.
The potatoes and sweet potatoes harvested in the first half of the year were not made into vermicelli and were all stored at home. When it was time to plant them again in the second half of the year, we found that the potatoes and sweet potatoes had been stolen.
It wasn't just Tang Baozhu's family; other families were also affected, and everyone had been poached to some extent by others.
Logically speaking, those family members would never do such a thing. After all, each family has more than two acres of wasteland, and if they planted all of it with sweet potatoes and potatoes, they would have enough to eat.
Moreover, the stream below the hillside has never stopped flowing, so there is no shortage of water for irrigation. The crops are growing very well, and the annual harvest is over 10,000 jin. With the grain supply added, it's not nearly as bad as it seems.
However, considering that many people from their hometowns are now coming to join the soldiers, they are not necessarily family members, wives, or children; they could be brothers or sisters-in-law. These people are a bit inconsiderate.
So it was quickly discovered that these people had stolen everyone's things. They were allowed to live in the camp because they couldn't survive in their hometowns. Of course, it was all investigated and confirmed that they were indeed related by blood or something similar.
Now that this has happened, the military leaders are supposedly planning to send them back to their hometowns, but they are all crying poverty and saying that they will have no way to make a living if they go back, so that the military leaders will make an exception for them.
After a stalemate of about half a month, we finally gave them a break, but we had to make them promise that if it happened again, we would not accept them into the military.
As family members, their behavior resulted in the soldier receiving a minor disciplinary action. It is hoped that these soldiers can better restrain their families.
If things didn't work out, the whole family would leave the army. They would hear that if they dared to do it again, the whole family would leave the army, and then there would be no more traces of those things being stolen.
Because Tang Baozhu's family had a lot of stockpiled goods, they managed to get through those three years peacefully, while other families either survived or were severely injured.
Fortunately, some wasteland was planted with grain; otherwise, some people might have starved to death. Soldiers needed to be well-fed to have the strength to go on missions, so the cookhouse reclaimed wasteland and planted a large area of grain as soon as there were signs of drought to ensure that they could eat their fill.
Three years later, the two children were already six years old. Because of the drought in recent years, they were not sent to kindergarten. They were raised too well and the difference between them and others was too great. They were not comfortable letting them go out into the world.
After 1961, things seemed to get even more chaotic outside. According to the news brought back by Feng Yi, many people had already been sent to the countryside.
For now, it hasn't affected the military. However, there are still people eyeing the outside world with hostility. The army can't afford to be in disarray; if it is, things will get really messy.
After the food supply was restored, those who had been staying in the army gradually left and returned to their hometowns.
Over the past three years, there have been some unscrupulous people who may know that soldiers receive wages and allowances. Those who came here to escape disaster targeted those soldiers, and they came up with all sorts of tricks.
Even Tang Baozhu, who disliked going out, often went out to watch the excitement; those girls really had no sense of restraint at all.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
