Song Jinxiu returned to the counter and felt that her usually leisurely job had become even more deserted.
Not only her counter, but even the fabric area was much quieter.
Only the food area downstairs is noisy all day long.
"You may not know this, but it's becoming increasingly difficult to buy food, especially fine grains.
Every night at the grain station, there's a long line of people, and even then, those behind you might not even be able to buy anything." The older sister next door came over to share her secret again.
"Isn't there a ration for everyone? How can it be impossible to buy it?" Song Jinxiu asked curiously.
Uncle Dong works at the grain station, so they don’t have to queue up to buy grain. Every month they give their grain books and coupons to Uncle Dong and ask him to help them carry them.
“It was okay before, I could always buy something early or late, good or bad.
It’s been tough these past few months. I have to queue up early every morning, fearing I won’t be able to buy food if I’m late.”
The eldest sister looked at Song Jinxiu suspiciously.
"Why do you seem to know nothing? Don't you need to buy food yourself?"
"I work every day, how can I have the time? I just give my food allowance to my family and ask them to bring it along when they go shopping.
Then I will…" Song Jinxiu stopped talking and gave a look that said "you know what I mean."
Sure enough, everyone understood it immediately.
"That's right, you're alone, so you don't have any pressure. Unlike us, we have elderly parents and young children to support, and a bunch of relatives in the village waiting for support.
"Look, there are four of us in our family, three of whom are workers, and we still live a tight life." The eldest sister sighed.
"Who isn't? Don't look at me as I'm alone, there's a whole village waiting for my food.
I only get a tiny amount every month, otherwise it wouldn't be so easy for me to not have to worry about anything." Song Jinxiu also said.
"Oh, every family has its own problems." Seeing that she had no intention of saying more, the older sister next door stopped asking.
Who doesn’t have some troubles?
"But things are really tough in the village this year. God hasn't been kind to me. My parents and my husband's family haven't had a complete crop, and the yield has basically been cut in half."
The eldest sister shook her head and whispered to Song Jinxiu, "The higher-ups are demanding more harvests, saying that other places are producing 1,000 kilograms per mu, and we can't fall behind.
They also said that it was just a formality, just like last year, and that food would be available soon.
So even though we have just harvested the autumn harvest, in fact, no one has any food at all.
We were tightening our belts and waiting for the autumn harvest to have something hot to eat, but who knew that we would have to wait for the next crop.
We don’t know how much coarse grain will be left from the next crop.” Everyone shook their heads.
They secretly sent some of the food they received back home. Now everyone still eats from a big pot and is not allowed to cook on their own. If they are discovered, the food will be confiscated.
Song Jinxiu couldn't help but feel a little worried after hearing this, as no one in the village had told her about these things.
The old man didn't explain it in detail before, so Song Jinxiu thought it was just a simple reduction in production and was worried about it.
As soon as the holiday came, Song Jinxiu returned to the village with a lot of bags. She wanted to go back and check the situation.
I quietly walked around the village and everyone seemed to be in good spirits.
The fields were indeed dry, and everyone was carrying loads of water to water the fields. They greeted her warmly when they saw her.
This made Song Jinxiu confused. What was going on?
He must not be hungry, otherwise he wouldn't be so energetic.
When I saw little kids gathering together along the way, I gave them candy and asked them if they had enough to eat and what they had been eating recently.
The children were able to eat their fill and their meals were no different from usual.
Oh, I forgot, we are in the Zhengda cafeteria now, and everyone must be eating the same food.
"Where's Rourou? Have you eaten any meat recently?" Song Jinxiu asked.
"There's no meat, but there are eggs," said the child.
"There was Rourou yesterday," said another child.
"It's not yesterday, it's yesterday yesterday." another child said.
"No, it's tomorrow. We'll eat meat tomorrow." said a little fat boy.
"It was in the past. We used to eat a lot of meat." Several little kids almost started fighting.
But they were still young and had no concept of time, and they didn't know when they had eaten meat.
The older children were all sent to school.
What is certain is that I have eaten it.
Song Jinxiu strolled all the way to Yu Yuchuan's house. Principal Yu was definitely not at home. Only his daughter-in-law Erni was at home.
I was planning to return to Shanghai last year, but who knew Erni was pregnant.
So the trip was delayed.
Now Erni is playing at home with her three-month-old son.
The weather is not good this year and the children are too young to go out, so the plan to return to Shanghai has been temporarily suspended.
"Teacher Song is here, come in and sit down." Erni was hanging out the winter quilts at the door, and when she looked up, she saw Song Jinxiu standing at the door.
"Where is Dunzi?" Dunzi is Principal Yu's son, and the name was given by Song Jinxiu.
It cannot be said that she named the child. She just said that the child was very chubby, and then he got the nickname, Dunzi.
As for a name, I haven’t decided on it yet. I plan to choose one when I’m older.
"I'm sleeping." Erni said with a smile.
Before he could finish his words, he heard a babbling sound from inside.
"Hey, this kid must have known that I was coming, so he stood up to welcome me." Song Jinxiu happily followed Erni into the house.
Watching Erni change his diaper before picking him up.
"Will Principal Yu help wash diapers when he comes back?" Song Jinxiu asked curiously when she saw the diapers in the basin.
"Pfft, usually my mom helps me wash it, and I'll wash it when I have free time, so he doesn't have to do it.
Besides, he is busy at school every day and has to organize documents when he gets home.
I feel bad that I can't help, so how can I let him wash diapers?" Erni laughed.
"How virtuous." Song Jinxiu said.
Song Jinxiu tried to imagine her life with children after marriage, but she couldn't.
But Aunt Xia is so gentle, just leave everything to her, it should, probably, perhaps, possibly, be possible.
"How is the harvest in our village this year?" Song Jinxiu put the things in her hand on the table and asked.
"Not very good. Last year, we only harvested more than 300 kilograms of rice per mu of land." Erni shook her head.
In the past, we could collect four or five hundred every year. At the best time, we could collect more than six hundred, but it was relatively less.
"Is there enough food for everyone?" Song Jinxiu asked with a frown.
"This year's harvest alone is definitely not enough, but our village did not report it like other villages. The village chief withstood the pressure and reported it according to the actual situation." Erni said in a low voice.
"So with the food stored last year, we won't go hungry. Besides, our village has never wasted food. We always use the same amount as before."
After listening to this, Song Jinxiu nodded, which was pretty much what she thought.
The village chief is indeed wise.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com