Chapter 205 Two in One
A week later, Ding Guo came to work in the morning and saw Li Shumei talking to Accountant Sun. When she saw Ding Guo coming over, she waved at her and said, "Xiao Ding, is there a drought this year in the place where your boyfriend is serving in the army?" Without waiting for Ding Guo to answer, she said to Accountant Sun, "If there is no drought in the south, it won't be a big problem."
Ding Guo pretended not to understand and said, "It shouldn't be a drought. I didn't ask, so what's wrong?"
Li Shumei: "I just realized yesterday that if it hasn't rained for such a long time, will the crops in the village below have reduced yields?"
I saw Accountant Sun today and talked to him. Accountant Sun also realized the problem and decided to ask someone about it.
Li Shumei was a little absent-minded at work.
When you don’t think of some things, you don’t think of them as anything, but once you think of certain key points, you become a little anxious.
Especially the generation that lived through those years.
At noon, Accountant Sun came over. Seeing that there were customers in the hall, he did not say anything. After all, the higher-ups had not released any news. If he spoke rashly, it would easily cause unnecessary trouble. He came over and whispered, "It has not rained in several places for a long time. The grain production will definitely decrease this year, but the south is fine, so the problem is not too serious. If you are worried that the grain supply will not keep up, find a way to buy some high-priced grain and keep it in case of emergency."
There are very few people who eat commercial grain who have not bought grain at high prices privately.
Li Shumei sighed and began to calculate the family expenses. After Accountant Sun left, she said to Ding Guo, "Your children are still young and you won't notice it. You and your partner will have to save half of your monthly allowance to feed the children. We have to find ways to get some money from outside every month, and we spend all our two salaries on feeding several mouths."
After saying that, he looked around and asked Ding Guo in a low voice: "How about we find someone to buy some together?"
Ding Guo looked a bit overwhelmed by the news and said in a panic, "I'll ask my family later and see what they say."
Li Shumei nodded: "Yes, your parents-in-law must have bought grain at high prices before. You are young and inexperienced, so you let your family worry about this matter."
Ding Guo also nodded pretending to be absent-minded, and gave himself a full score for his acting skills.
In the following days, I often heard Li Shumei talk about food: "Yesterday I bought another 60 catties." Then she said, "The price has started to rise. My husband went to buy cornmeal yesterday morning and it was 1.6 cents a catty. In the afternoon, it went up to 2 cents a catty. He didn't bargain. He bought it if he wanted!"
The price on the black market is higher than the regular price. In the past, cornmeal was only 9 cents per pound bought from the outside, but it was sold for 1.23 or 1.34 cents on the black market. Now that someone has smelled something unusual, the price will naturally rise.
The speed and height of the price increase are alarming.
"Rice and flour are more expensive, but my husband didn't even dare to ask." Li Shumei shook her head and sighed.
However, the transmission of information in this era was far less convenient than in later generations. Many people only realized this problem after June. By the time they started looking for channels to buy grain, the prices on the black market had already skyrocketed.
Some people panicked, while others saw that there was no impact on food supply and did not take it seriously.
Ding Guo didn't rush to the black market to find out the market price. She bought the refrigerator from the system mall with the ticket still in her pocket.
Aunt Qiao looked delighted and said, "Finally we have some goods!"
Ding Guo wiped the sweat off his forehead and said, "Yes, it's not easy to wait for such a long time."
Who knows if the department store has any stock? Anyway, whenever Pei Che came back, she would go out for a walk with great anticipation. She had never brought the refrigerator back, so she carried it back today.
Aunt Qiao felt a little distressed: "The department store doesn't deliver goods?"
Why did he tie it to the back of a bicycle and bring it back himself?
She went over to help untie the rope.
Ding Guo found a deserted place near the alley and took out the refrigerator.
Refrigerators these days are not big, they are so small that she can lift it with one hand.
However, he still extended a wooden board to the back seat of the bicycle, placed the small refrigerator horizontally on it, tied it up, and pushed it back with the bicycle.
"It's okay. This refrigerator isn't heavy. You can carry it back by yourself."
Aunt Qiao: "Did you ask clearly how to use it?"
Ding Guo nodded, picked up the refrigerator, went into the house, and gently put it on the ground.
Aunt Qiao knew that Ding Guo was very strong, but every time she saw her great strength, she couldn't help but sigh and wonder how her parents could have given birth to her.
Ding Guo didn't know that her great strength had won the favor of the scumbag parents with Aunt Qiao. She was scratching her head at the electrical wires in the house.
At that time, the use of circuits was not as convenient as in later generations. At least Ding Guo did not find the familiar socket on the wall, so he had to connect a single wire to a socket.
In that case, the bookstore in her space mall is about to open.
The company where I work doesn't have any books on electrical engineering, but the system mall should have them.
If you buy this kind of large appliance from a department store, the deliveryman will help you install it, but I don’t know whether the service includes helping you connect the plug.
But she bought it from the system mall, so she threw this question to Haozi.
"Haozi, when we buy large appliances, why don't you help us install them? Besides not asking for invoices, the prices we calculated are the same as those outside. Shouldn't your service keep up?"
It cost her tens of thousands of internal consumption points.
The system didn't even bother to figure out whether installing a socket on the wall was the responsibility of the electrical appliance after-sales department, and said, "Host, we don't have any service in this area at the moment. I'll report it to my superiors and ask."
Ding Guo: "Give me an answer as soon as possible, otherwise I'll be a little embarrassed."
Because Aunt Qiao was looking at her expectantly, wanting to help but not knowing what to do.
While reporting the host's question, the system defended its own products: "But the appliances sold in our mall are particularly energy-efficient, and if there is a long power outage outside, the fresh-keeping function of our refrigerators will also last longer than the refrigerators the host bought from the mall outside. The food stored in it is not easy to breed bacteria, and overnight food can be eaten at will, and food eaten three days later will not cause diarrhea."
It’s enough to make up for the inadequate service, and it doesn’t even require a ticket.
Ding Guo: ...
Eat leftover food as you like? She really doesn't need this function.
I also don't want to give other people in the family the illusion that "foods stored in the refrigerator can still be eaten after three days." What if Aunt Qiao and others leave their jobs and buy their own refrigerator in the future, and they develop food problems because of this concept?
However, it is still somewhat useful in saving electricity and preserving food after power outages.
Aunt Qiao saw that Ding Guo didn't make any other moves, so she asked cautiously, "Do you want to ask someone from the mall to come and help us?"
Ding Guo shook his head: "No, I'll try to study it first."
Aunt Qiao nodded. She wanted to see how this big thing was installed, but since Xiao Ding had no idea for the moment, she didn't wait any longer and went out to help Wang Chunhua prepare lunch.
When it comes to technical issues, Tongzi's reply would not be quick, so Ding Guo simply found the electrician book she needed in the bookstore and bought it. After making sure that Aunt Qiao and Wang Chunhua were busy in the kitchen, she quickly took out the book and started reading it at a glance.
The pages of the book turned rapidly.
She finished reading it, and Tongzi's feedback was out.
It is not possible to provide installation-related technology as soon as possible, but since the host's reaction was the system's fault, in order to express gratitude, Ding Guo was given a 50% discount and half of the internal consumption value deducted not long ago was returned.
Ding Guo was surprised.
She just mentioned the after-sales service casually, but it turned out to be a loophole on their part?
She immediately nodded in agreement. No matter what, being recognized meant that she was not being unreasonable or malicious.
Half of the internal friction value that was deducted before was returned. Ding Guo couldn't help but ask his own son: "Haozi, are you so backward?"
Can the so-called after-sales installation that can be completed by simply plugging in a socket become a loophole?
Count how many things she has helped them fill in the gaps.
This system must have been a sieve in its previous life.
system:? ? ?
Do you call the ability to research space and produce all kinds of rare props that don't exist in the world backward?
It admitted that it was just unlucky... No, it was lucky that the host it was bound to was quite clever, with a unique way of thinking. He could always think of trivial problems, and had no conscience to order it to do things.
Which good son would be given a piece of land and asked to help pick and grow vegetables?
System: Really, other Tongzi’s hosts are not as smart as hers!
System superior: Really, I have never seen such a dull and stupid subordinate. He takes on all kinds of work. Why don’t you take on the job of nursing the baby? He reports all kinds of problems to his superiors, which makes the system, which is known for its intelligence, look like a retard.
It just so happens that the problems reflected are more or less reasonable, but they cannot be ignored.
The cost is just a little higher!
The system superiors issued instructions one after another, asking their technical controllers to solve the problems of after-sales installation of large appliances as soon as possible.
Ding Guo opened the system mall again and bought a socket.
The sockets of this era are also different from those of later generations. They are black bakelite sockets.
But the work of an electrician is not something that can be mastered by just reading a book. Master Ding, who had no practical experience, chose to give up smoothly and went to the street to find a professional electrician to help connect a socket.
Now that there was a refrigerator at home, Aunt Qiao and Wang Chunhua were more active than Ding Guo in making arrangements.
After understanding which items needed to be kept fresh and which needed to be frozen, the two began to work.
The vegetables that would wilt easily if left outside, the steamed buns that could not be finished in one or two meals, the meat and eggs bought by Ding Guo, etc., were neatly stacked inside by the two of them.
There was mud on the roots of the vegetables, so I carefully wrapped them in newspaper to prevent them from dirtying the inside of the refrigerator.
When Ding Guo came in again, he brought back two more bottles.
With a refrigerator, she can put the expressed milk in the refrigerator to keep it fresh, warm it up with hot water when needed, and feed it to the two little ones alternately with milk powder.
The weather is getting hotter, so I don’t have to run back at noon.
The two kids wouldn’t see their mother for the whole day and would occasionally get a little upset, but fortunately they adapted and accepted their fate after two days. In the morning, when Ding Guo went to work, she would wave her little arms to say goodbye to her.
But when I get home from get off work in the evening, the first thing I have to do is hug and kiss her.
In the past few days, Ding Guo took advantage of the nights when he was not taking care of the children to sneak into the space to "mix" food.
She took a thousand kilograms of grain produced in the space and mixed it with the grain sent by Dayong. She packed them all in bags, sealed them, and placed them in a separate place.
He also took some time to dress himself up so well that his biological mother wouldn't recognize him, and went to several black markets to learn about the current food market conditions.
In the past, wheat was 3.7 cents per pound. Some prices have doubled, and some have more than doubled, but the supply is still insufficient to meet the demand.
Ding Guo did not plan to sell the grains pound by pound. She observed for a few days and selected a grain dealer she liked. She sold the blended grains at a price of 72 cents per pound.
The other party thought the price was too high, but Ding Guo knew that the price would go up in a few days, so the other party could make a profit from her asking price.
The other party insisted on the price and wanted to continue to bargain with her, but Ding Guo, who was dressed as an old lady, turned around and walked away briskly.
The other party had no choice but to compromise, quickly grabbed Ding Guo, and reluctantly accepted the price offered by Ding Guo.
"Sister, you are too impatient. If you sprain your ankle again..."
This lady pretended to be an old lady in a very comprehensive way. She even put on bound feet. She doesn’t feel tired walking on tiptoes!
Although Ding Guo was dressed as an old lady, the grain dealer opposite her saw through her disguise at a glance. Although he was not sure whether this face had any connection with her real facial features, she was definitely not a real old lady.
"Girl, don't be so fussy when talking to an old man. He's old and his bones are all rotten. If you break my arm, will you accompany me?"
The other party exposed her mercilessly, and Ding Guo didn't hold back either.
She had been observing this little grain vendor for several days. Even though his hairstyle and movements resembled a boy, she could tell that he was a girl.
Food dealer: “…”
"Sister, my name is Mosquito, what's your name?" Mosquito smiled and did not correct Ding Guo's judgment, but also continued to insist on calling Ding Guo the same way.
Judging from her experience, this 'little old lady' was definitely not very old.
Although she also disguised her hands, she forgot to disguise her nails.
Her nails are rosy red, and you can tell at a glance that she has plenty of blood and energy, and they have the rosy glow of a young girl.
Ding Guo: "My name is Mosquito Repellent."
mosquito:"……"
Mosquito was just her code name, and she knew that the 'little old lady' would not tell her her real name, but 'mosquito coil' was a little bit unethical. She smiled, showing two rows of white teeth, and said, "Sister, can you change your name?"
Ding Guo waved her hand. She was only going to make a one-time deal and had no intention of conducting a second transaction with the girl, so the name didn't matter.
"Let's talk about the deal. I'll decide the location and time. If I find out that you have other intentions, the deal will be canceled." Ding Guo said seriously.
Mosquito laughed and said, "Sister, we are not doing a one-time business. If we were to cheat the people who supply us, this stall would have been replaced long ago."
Anyone who can provide them with 2,500 kilograms of food at once must have her own ways. If we cooperate well this time, there might be a next time.
Naturally, no other thoughts will arise.
Ding Guo had already picked out the place. She told the location and time and left on tiptoe.
As Ding Guo left, Mosquito touched his short hair and muttered, "How did you see that?"
After saying that, he turned around and ran back quickly, made a gesture to a companion who was standing guard not far away, and then left.
We have to tell their boss about the more than 2,000 kilograms of food.
On the other side, Ding Guo had already slipped into an empty corner and stood in front of the mirror in the bathroom, carefully examining her makeup.
Grey hair with no leaking black hair on the edges.
The eyes are deliberately glued triangular eyes.
There are wrinkles all over his face, age spots are clearly visible, and even a few lines on his neck.
The padding on her back gave her the stooped posture of an elderly person.
The makeup is fine, but the voice is.
After all, no matter how hard you try, you can't imitate the voice of a real old lady.
"Mouse, next time, can you make a prop that can change the sound repeatedly?"
Haozi: "Yes, 30,000 internal consumption value, do you want to buy it?"
"Can I get a 10% discount... No, can I get a broken bone?"
The mouse stopped talking.
Ding Guo didn’t place an order anymore because it was too expensive.
It doesn't matter if her voice gives her away, as long as her real facial features can't be seen.
In the evening, after dinner, Ding Guo told Aunt Qiao that he was going to the compound and would be back later, and then he rode out on his bike.
First she found a place to enter the space and put on makeup, then came out and rushed to the small park she had chosen.
She arrived early, an hour before the scheduled time.
There is a small forest in the park. Ding Guo walked slowly into the shadows and turned on a small speaker to collect sounds. After getting closer and making sure there was no one nearby, he walked in quickly and waited in the dark.
Half an hour later, Ding Guo accurately locked onto the sound of the mosquito.
Well, it’s not too late.
“They haven’t arrived yet.”
This is the sound of mosquitoes.
Ding Guo asked her to wait in the southeast corner of the grove during the day.
Another man's voice came: "Why don't you go into the woods and take a look?"
Mosquito: "Don't make things complicated." Then he said, "Huzi, stay here with me, and the others should wait far away."
Another voice: "Listen to Xiaowu!"
The sounds of footsteps faded away, leaving only Mosquito and the man called Hu Zi.
The two were also cautious and did not talk to each other. The only sound that came through the small speaker was their breathing.
Ding Guo waited for about ten minutes and walked out slowly.
Although Mosquito knew Ding Guo would come, she was still startled when she saw a dark figure suddenly appear from the side. Fortunately, she was also a seasoned person, so she was not startled. She just lowered her voice to confirm: "That... old lady?"
Ding Guo lowered his voice and said, "It's me!"
Hu Zi was squatting on the ground, and then he stood up.
Ding Guo: "Come with me!"
It was dim in the park, but Dingo saw that both men had something under their arms, which looked like a sack and a pole.
She turned around, but used the small speaker to pay attention to the movements behind her and walked inside.
Mosquito and Tiger hurriedly followed, carefully paying attention to their steps and avoiding other tree trunks, and followed Ding Guo into the woods.
After walking in about ten meters, Mosquito and the others squinted their eyes and saw piles of food on the ground.
Hu Zi skillfully pinched it through the bag and whispered to Mosquito, "It's wheat grains."
After saying that, he picked up something and plunged it into a bag at random.
When pulling it out again, hold the front end of the pole with both hands.
The mosquito took something out of its pocket and quickly stuffed it into the hole.
Hu Zi had already caught the wheat grains he had brought out, and he slowly felt them with his hands, saying, "There are no gravel."
Ding Guo's mouth twitched. He was indeed a skilled grain dealer, and he brought professional testing tools with him. One of them was responsible for drilling holes, and the other was responsible for plugging the leak.
The location of the piercing is also very clever, it is relatively high up.
Hu Zi randomly picked up two more bags and said to Mosquito, "The goods are good."
Mosquito nodded, shook open the sack and quickly put on the bags with holes in them.
Then Hu Zi started to move. Just as Ding Guo was about to remind them to pay the bill first, he saw Hu Zi picked it up, weighed it, and put it on the ground again.
This time he didn't do it randomly, but weighed all the bags and said, "After peeling, the weight is enough, with less than two taels left."
Ding Guo was shocked: What a talented person!
"Are you so accurate?" she couldn't help but ask.
Mosquito smiled and said, "This is my friend's unique skill."
Ding Guo expressed his admiration, saying that this was real skill!
She opened the bag hanging on her shoulder, took out a cloth bag and handed it to Ding Guo: "Old lady, it's exactly 1,800 yuan, please count it."
Ding Guo discovered an interesting phenomenon.
In front of her companions, the girl called her old lady and stopped calling her "sister".
Although I don’t know whether she had told her companions about her speculation about herself before, at least she showed her professional ethics now.
Ding Guo counted the bundles, put them into his bag one by one, and put them into the space under the cover. He said, "Haozi, help me, hurry up and give me some money. I want to install it too."
Mouse: “…”
A second ago, even it itself didn't know that it could count money in seconds.
But, in a moment of desperation, I discovered...it really works!
Ding Guo finished collecting the last bundle and said, "I believe in you!"
The money is exactly eighteen thousand.
mosquito:……
Does this sister have any special skills?
"The payment has been made, and we will not be responsible if there are any problems!" Mosquito didn't care whether this was Ding Guo's unique skill or not, he just said it with certainty.
Ding Guo: "The money and goods are settled!"
The extra two taels of mosquitoes are assumed to be a burden, and they are indeed a burden.
Ding Guo left, Mosquito looked at the food, and Hu Zi ran out to call for help.
Ding Guo no longer paid attention to the movement behind him. After leaving the park, he continued to turn on the small speaker and rode away on his bike.
In addition to preventing being followed, turning on the small speaker is also a way to alert people patrolling the streets at night.
Dayong didn't send the food back to his hometown until July.
Ding Guo put the grain there in advance, and Dayong took it away at night and went directly out of the city. After arriving in Huiyang, he waited until night before quietly going into the village to wake up his parents and go to the village entrance to move the grain together.
I didn't drive in because I was afraid of the noise.
Changes in food supply are delayed.
The share was not reduced much, but it made many people anxious and they racked their brains to stock up on food.
Ding Zhigang found Ding Tao and asked her about the situation in her hometown, wanting to see if the second and third brothers' families could send them some food.
Ding Tao refused, adding: "The wheat production has decreased, and the brigade can't even pay enough public grain, let alone the members' families. There is no surplus grain at all."
Ding Zhigang frowned and said, "The grain harvest is not good this year, and your father didn't tell me in advance."
Ding Tao was unhappy: "My father is just an old farmer. How could he have imagined that the poor harvest in Huiyang would affect Fengning!"
Seeing that his niece was angry, Ding Zhigang quickly said, "That's not what I meant."
That’s right, my second brother is just a country boy. He probably thought that the drought was only in Huiyang, his hometown, but he didn’t expect it would affect multiple areas.
Ding Zhigang still didn't give up: "Is there no way back home?"
No matter how bad the harvest is in the countryside, after all, they are guarding the grain fields. How can they be better off than those who are waiting for the distribution of commercial grain, right?
There were also stocks in the countryside, and he wanted his second and third wives to help him inquire back home and ask the villagers to buy some grain.
"Master, even if someone really has stored food, who would be willing to sell it under the current circumstances?"
Ding Zhigang: "Where's Dayong? I know he works in the transport team. He has many connections, so he should be able to think of a solution."
Ding Dayong's workplace was discovered by Ding Zhigang himself. The steel plant also had cooperation with the transportation company. When he went to the transportation team for something, he happened to see Ding Dayong.
However, even though he knew it, he would not maliciously destroy Ding Dayong's job like Yue Hongmei did.
Normally, Ding Dayong would not need to use his connections in the transport team, but now there were several mouths to feed at home and not enough food, so he thought of using his nephew's help.
Ding Zhigang went directly to the transport team, but Ding Dayong was not there. Ding Zhigang asked someone to ask Ding Dayong when he would be back, and blocked him at the right time. Ding Dayong frowned and looked at Ding Zhigang with disapproval. He looked at Ding Zhigang as if he was looking at a villain who wanted to drag him into the abyss, and said, "Uncle, this job is not easy to come by, and I will never engage in speculation!"
Ding Zhigang: …
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