“When I came over yesterday, Grandma Weng asked me to go and move it, so I just helped it and rolled it over.”
Hearing this, Cuiju looked guilty.
"You do everything for me and worry about everything, while I, as the older sister, haven't done anything at all."
Xiao Jiu, however, seemed completely unconcerned.
Why should my sister and I argue about those details?
"Are you hungry? Come wash your hands and eat. Aren't you starting work officially tomorrow?"
"Yes, I helped out for half the afternoon and have already learned the basic operations."
Sis, do you have a dictionary?
"I want to learn more characters after work so I won't embarrass myself at work."
Xiao Jiu thought of the complete set of primary, middle, and high school textbooks she had gotten from the scrap yard, which she hadn't yet taken home.
He immediately took out a whole stack of books that he had already arranged when he opened the cabinet door.
"Learning to read is not difficult; these are all textbooks. As for dictionaries, I don't have any here, but you can go and buy one."
Cuiju quickly squatted down to take a look. "Did you get this from a scrap metal yard?"
"Yes, this is the complete set. I originally wanted to bring it back for you, but I haven't had a chance to."
Since you want to learn, Second Sister, why don't you start from the beginning?
If your company has the opportunity to send you out for training in the future, you might be able to get a graduation certificate or something.
Having a diploma is essential for career advancement.
Cuiju's eyes lit up. "That's good. I'll learn this. You don't need to buy a dictionary. Those things aren't cheap."
I'll just look at the textbook, and leave the parts I don't understand blank so I can ask you when you get here.
Xiao Jiu thought about it and realized that it wasn't impossible, so she found her two pencils and a stack of waste newspapers.
"Then, sister, you can practice writing in the blank spaces here."
You should read this newspaper more often when you have free time, and circle any unfamiliar words.
Over time, their literacy level will increase.
Cuiju had attended literacy classes and studied for several more years, so she had a basic foundation.
She's already learned about 80% of the elementary school material. When she's on winter break, I can help her review the key points from elementary school.
Once I've mastered it, I'll try to get a primary school diploma.
Although it doesn't really matter whether you have an elementary school graduation certificate or not now, it's still better to get one if you can find a way to do it.
Having an elementary school graduation certificate at least proves that she wasn't just talking nonsense, but actually had the ability to do so.
Seeing that her second sister had found a job and that her ambition had grown as well, Xiao Jiu was genuinely happy.
It's a pity that it's the eldest sister; she actually misses the eldest sister the most.
Just because she's the boss doesn't mean she has to suffer all the losses.
What does it matter whether or not a son-in-law is chosen?
It's better to be happy than anything else.
But given the current situation, finding a job like this again would be harder than climbing to heaven.
After dinner, it was time for Xiao Jiu to go back to school. Her second sister offered to take her, but she refused.
"No need, sis, I still need to go to my classmate's house to return the bicycle."
But Cuiju still insisted on taking her younger sister to the main road, saying, "Don't wander off, go back quickly after you're done."
Because it was only a little past seven o'clock, and there were still many people on the road, and the school was on a main road, Cuiju wasn't too worried.
After Cuiju left, Xiaojiu found a secluded spot and transferred the food she had prepared earlier from her spatial storage.
The fifty catties of coarse grains were the same batch that Tao Changyi bought back then, mainly consisting of sorghum, quinoa, and buckwheat.
To preserve them better, they were all left with the skin on; you had to grind them before you could eat them.
Considering Aunt Cao's straightforward nature and her husband's position in the Public Security Bureau, there might be a need for her in the future...
After thinking it over, Xiao Jiu added another five catties of soybeans to the wine.
As for refined grains, they consist of various finely ground and sifted grains such as corn grits, cornmeal, sweet potato flour, wheat flour, brown rice, and millet.
If she were to suddenly bring out fifty kilograms of rice or fifty kilograms of flour, it would easily arouse suspicion.
That's why by putting all these miscellaneous items together, people can see how difficult it was for her to prepare all this food.
When they arrived at the entrance of the post office's residential compound, they gave a child two candies and asked her to call Ye Zhen, leaving her name in the message.
Not long after, Ye Zhen came running out, and you could tell what she was going to do tonight just by looking at her pushing her bike.
"I was calculating the time so you should be here. I ran into your second sister at the post office today. She's almost finished all the paperwork and can officially start work tomorrow."
Xiao Jiu patted the back seat of the bicycle, "We really owe it all to Sister Zhen. If it weren't for you, we wouldn't have been able to find such a good job."
"Let's go deliver the grain. By the way, have you finished eating?"
"I've eaten. I was just about to tell you that Aunt Cao's house has been rented out."
She's moved to the police station's family compound now. She gave me her address. Come on, I'll take you there.
Xiao Jiu was astonished. So many families have generations crammed into a tiny apartment of just over ten square meters, but Aunt Cao is something else, her family actually got two apartments.
"The house at the post office was arranged by Cao's parents when they got married, with them pulling strings to get it for Aunt Cao."
That all happened before the founding of the People's Republic of China; her husband had only been promoted a few years earlier.
We used to all crowd around here, but now we're going to the provincial capital.
Since she no longer works here, she simply rented the apartment cheaply to a colleague from her previous job.
Xiao Jiu was a little confused. "Isn't that house owned by the company? How come it can still be rented out after the company closes down?"
"Before the founding of the People's Republic of China, houses were allocated according to seniority. At that time, Aunt Cao was not eligible to queue up."
"Because they were young, Cao's parents spent some money to buy a house from someone so their daughter could have a place to live when she got married."
"Actually, this isn't anything new. After all, when we first got married, it was just the two of us."
With the birth of children one after another, the house is not spacious enough, and many people are moving to a new house.
Previously, regulations weren't as strict; the transfer of ownership was done directly. The person in question was the rightful owner of the property and therefore had the right to sell it.
"Even now, the housing is allocated based on seniority, and two yuan will be deducted from the monthly rent."
Unless you spend money to buy the house outright.
But given the situation these days, people can't even afford to eat, so who has the money to buy a house?
Therefore, renting still accounts for the majority of people, while buying a house still accounts for the minority.
"My parents scraped together four or five hundred yuan to buy this house."
Before you can buy a house, you must first have the right to reside there, and the right to reside there is obtained by queuing up based on years of service.
Therefore, in principle, whether you rent or buy a house, it is considered a benefit provided by your employer.
When the two of them pushed their bicycles to a bungalow in the police station's residential compound, they knew that Aunt Cao's husband was of a high rank.
In those days, being able to live in a single-story house with a courtyard was far better than living in a tenement building.
The main house has three large rooms, a kitchen is built on the right side, there is a latrine in the corner of the wall, there is a five or six square meter area in the yard to grow vegetables, and there is even a tap water pool in the yard. Isn't this better than the tenement building with no privacy?
Aunt Cao invited the two sisters into the house, and without delaying her business, she started taking out the grain.
"Auntie, would you like to weigh yourself?"
Aunt Cao glanced at Ye Zhen, "Oh, no need. We're all family, how could I not trust you?"
Xiao Jiu smiled innocently: "Let's wait a bit, that way everyone will feel lighter. You've helped us a lot, so we want you to be able to eat with peace of mind, right?"
Seeing this, Aunt Cao did not refuse any longer. They stood in the middle of the main room, but did not see the male head of the household, so they guessed he had avoided them.
First came the coarse grains. When she saw that they hadn't been ground into powder yet, Aunt Cao's face remained unchanged, but she regretted it in her heart. Why didn't she say a word more, like that they should be ground properly?
As she was secretly annoyed, she subconsciously looked at Xiaojiu when she saw that each type of coarse grain was weighed very high, and there were even five extra pounds of soybeans.
“I figured that grain doesn’t keep well, so I prepared these with the husks on for you. The extra five pounds of soybeans are an extra bonus for you.”
Upon hearing this, Aunt Cao felt immediately comforted, and the displeasure she had felt earlier because the grain had not been properly ground was instantly suppressed.
Xiao Jiu didn't give her a chance to speak and laid out the fine grains one by one.
Compared to whole grains, there are also quite a few types of refined grains, a total of six.
After weighing them, we found that each one was a tael or two, or about two or three taels more.
If you add it all up, it's about 110 pounds for her!
In the face of such a food shortage, the variety of food she collected shows how difficult it was for her.
Even so, the girl still gave her a little more. This thoughtful way of handling things made Aunt Cao look at her in a different light.
"Thank you so much, child. I appreciate this favor."
If you need any help in the future, feel free to contact me.
If I'm not home, you can come find my wife, and Xiaozhen can bring you there to meet her.
Xiao Jiu knew that this friendship was temporarily settled, but the chances of them getting closer in the future were slim.
After all, the famine situation would not be alleviated until the second half of 1962 or even the first half of 1963.
For the first six months of 62 years, as usual, there was nothing we needed.
For example, with meat, you can't wait until food is less scarce before you can feed chickens, ducks, geese, pigs, cattle, and sheep.
Since you've already fed it, don't you have to raise it to adulthood? By how old would it be?
Therefore, it will take at least 63 years for the domestic economy to fully recover.
The relationship can take another step forward as long as they need her during this time.
After leaving the police station's residential compound, Xiao Jiu handed Ye Zhen another plastic bag.
When she saw that it was pure white rice, even the finest white rice that Aunt Cao's grains had never been seen, she was stunned.
"Sister Zhen, there are only two or three pounds here, enough for you and your uncle and aunt to have two meals. Just enjoy it for a bit. I need to go find my classmate to return the bike. Can you give me a ride? I'll take you to the entrance of the residential compound and then I have to hurry up, otherwise my school will close."
Ye Zhen finally realized what was happening and quickly stuffed the plastic bag into her clothes.
"My goodness, this is pure white rice! Where did you get it? Also, I was just about to ask you, this bag is so convenient to use, how come I've never seen it before? It looks pretty sturdy, won't it leak?"
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