The others had already split up to dig and start working, but she pulled the village chief aside, acting mysteriously.
"Uncle, here's your wages. You know I can't provide meals anymore, so find the money in your wages."
After thinking for a moment, his hand, which was reaching for his money, paused.
"But Uncle, do you really want the wages in cash? I see that everyone seems to be quite weak. Can I pay with grain instead?"
She realized that, given the circumstances, even if they were given money, they might not be able to buy food.
Sure enough, Liu Weimin's eyes widened immediately.
"You...you have food?"
She nodded simply and spoke softly.
“Those packages of mine, didn’t you say they were heavy yesterday? They weigh about 100 pounds. Why don’t you send them to them first? My dad’s boss will mail them to me once, I guess that will also weigh about 100 pounds. I’ll keep a few dozen pounds for myself, so I estimate I’ll have about 130 or 140 pounds left. Is that enough for you? If not, I’ll give you more money.”
The little girl smiled shyly, and while Liu Weimin was pleasantly surprised, he also felt a bit powerless to bully the child.
But he doesn't care about saving face anymore; being alive is more important than anything else.
When the story was told to a group of men, several of them immediately became excited. They had come hoping for some reward, but they were surprised to find that they were given grain. Although it wasn't much, it was something that money couldn't buy these days.
“Take good care of the young girl. I’ll go back and get you some food. After you finish your work, find some water and go back to cook a pot of porridge for your mother, wife, and children. Wouldn’t that make life better?”
"This place is close to the mountain, so listen up. If you see any sign of that pillar, bring it back right away."
"Don't worry, Village Chief!"
As if injected with chicken blood, they were working just now, and now they are dancing with great vigor and power.
"Don't worry, I'll make sure it's sturdy, warm, and clean for you."
Simple wasn't just a bluff; after getting off the bus, she packed some coarse grains in her bag. She had already said she was moving here, so how could it all be light and airy?
She may have it, but can she say, 'I have food, I'll give it to you'? That would be utterly insane.
We can only try to exchange what they need when there is a need for trade.
Just like now, they put in labor, and she gives them the reward for their labor.
She handed the bag of grain directly to Liu Weimin. To be honest, he was the village chief, and his family had long since run out of food. For the past three months, they had been eating wild vegetables mixed with stale chaff and ground corn kernels. Even so, many other families still couldn't get enough to eat.
With more than a month until the autumn harvest, Liu Weimin was worried. He went to the commune to beg and plead, but to no avail. There was no surplus grain anywhere, and he was in such a predicament that he could not even save himself, so what else could he talk about?
Now, when I see clean whole grains for the first time, I feel even closer to them than to my own son.
Even the four- or five-year-old little black egg's eyes widened in surprise.
"It's grain!"
It was indeed coarse grain, all sourced from the Lin family. Just thinking about that family made her feel disgusted; she definitely couldn't stomach it.
Another bundle yielded a small cloth bag of cornmeal, weighing about ten pounds, which she also handed to Liu Weimin's wife.
"Uncle, will it take another day or two before I can move into this house? Aunt, please consider this my food for the next few days."
Before Wang Guihua could even react, a hand was stuffed with something.
"What?"
Liu Weimin glanced at it without saying a word, got up and took Jian Dan to complete the house's paperwork. At the same time, he had someone come and move the grain in exchange for the house. In no time, the news spread throughout the village as if it had grown wings.
"This is the proof of ownership of the house; it's yours now. As for this grain, I really don't know how you managed to get it off the truck—245 jin. Grain is scarce and expensive these days, so the village is taking advantage of this. I'll take 200 jin of the house and the renovations in total."
With these, the villagers will be able to live until the autumn harvest.
It's actually impossible to calculate in a simple way. There are 80 households in the village, which means at least 300 people. Many families are three generations living together. With 200 jin of grain and only one and a half months left, how can each person survive on less than one jin of grain?
"Uncle, keep them all. I'll go find Third Master at the commune and retrieve the copy from the post office. I'll keep some, and you can have the rest."
In my past life, I only faced vicious enemies and wealthy people. I've never experienced anything like this. Simply put, I can't stand it.
Master Liu glanced at the sky; the sun was high in the sky.
"If you're going, you really need to hurry, otherwise you'll be working late again when you get back."
When she passed the village entrance, the people were working hard, and the wall was already half-built. At this speed, Jian Dan felt that she might be able to move in tomorrow.
The mailing was just an excuse. When she arrived at the commune's post office, she put the letter to Zhu Yan and Chen Hongjun to let them know she was safe into the mailbox, and then took out three bags of grain from a corner. Yes, three bags, a total of about 240 jin. Too much wouldn't be good, so this would be fine.
The oxcart was right across from the post office. Seeing her come out carrying a bag, Uncle Liu was startled. He quickly directed the old ox to turn the cart around, and cautiously looked around.
"Why are there so many?"
Simply jump into the car,
"There's also my dad's comrade's, I put it together. Third Uncle, I want to go to the supply and marketing cooperative, there are a lot of people there, you can just park at this intersection, I'll be back in a bit."
Uncle Liu really didn't dare to wander off, since there was so much grain on the cart, so he could only tell her to hurry back.
Simple didn't really need to buy anything, but since she was moving into her own house soon, she needed a pot, which was a big item and her bag couldn't hold it. There weren't many people at the supply and marketing cooperative. She looked around and, sure enough, there were no large iron pots, and even kitchen knives, hoes, and sickles were in short supply.
I bought some needles and thread, and then, thinking about the state-run restaurant a few doors away, I bought a few lunchboxes as well.
Even a skilled cook can't cook without rice; there's not much grain here, and the state-run restaurants don't have much to offer.
Forget about meat buns and braised pork. What we do have are the Northeastern specialty vegetables and dry rations, like the flatbread we eat today. This flatbread has vegetable filling inside, and the cornmeal isn't ground too finely. It has oil, vegetables, and staple food. It's a shortcut for many housewives during busy farming seasons and is already a decent meal, especially in years when everything is scarce. The filling is a rare treat, especially meat.
She was young, had a delicate face, and a kind attitude. In the end, after secretly giving away two tomatoes as a token of her goodwill, she secretly packed up all the remaining tomatoes that had just been cooked, wrapped them in several oil paper bags, and put them in her basket.
As he reached the corner, he pulled out his main objective from the shadows: a large iron pot with ten seals, and placed it on his head.
Liu Sanye was sitting in the cart, watching intently, when he turned his head unintentionally and saw an iron pot slowly moving in the distance, heading towards him. Looking back at the three bags of grain on the cart, he was so frightened that he jumped back onto the cart and tried to drive away.
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