The old man is back, and they are starting to prepare to return to Pengcheng. After all, it will be several days by train, and school will start after the Lantern Festival. He Yuping will also have to go back to work.
Lu Zhiheng's leg has almost fully recovered. He can now walk like a normal person and even jog. He didn't bring much with him when he went back, so it wasn't too strenuous.
Apart from He Caiwei, everyone else had only two sets of clothes, making the train journey much easier. After a bumpy four-day ride, they returned to Shenzhen.
He Caiwei finally came back to life after getting off the train. The train was so crowded that the smell was indescribable.
Even going to the toilet makes her dizzy from the stench. She's so grateful for her father's military officer ID, which allows him to buy sleeper tickets. If she had to sit in a hard seat with these people, she would definitely be dizzy in less than a day.
People in this era had to carry large bags and small packages, along with food and vegetables, when they went out. It was normal to go several days without showering when the weather was cold. All these smells piled up together, making the entire carriage smell quite indescribable.
After returning home, Caiwei and her family got busy. They hadn't been home for a long time, so they had to clean the cold rooms. A busy day passed quickly.
When it was time to go back to school, He Caiwei went to school. She left in high spirits, eager to see her friends after the New Year. But when she returned, she was dejected.
"What's wrong? Who upset my daughter? Didn't she go to school today? Didn't your friends give you any gifts?" Lu Zhiheng looked at his daughter and thought she had suffered some grievance at school.
"No, that's all. It's just that after the New Year, a lot of people suddenly left the class. Xu Jiajia stopped coming, saying she was staying home to take care of her younger siblings, and she'll be able to register for the factory in another year. Zheng Mingyue didn't come either, and nobody knows what their family situation is like." Before the New Year, she had heard that the harvest in the fields was bad, but she never expected that out of 23 people in the class, only 10 would remain.
Originally, there were only fifty students in the two classes. Today, she went to see the class next door, and it was about the same size. The teacher said that the two classes should be combined into one class, and those students stopped coming to class and would never come again.
"Life's tough these days, so it's not surprising that things are like this. Okay, don't be sad. I've got a job offer, but I don't know which one to choose. Why don't you help Dad take a look?"
I've been given four job positions to choose from. Could you help me decide which one is more suitable? Director Zhang of the Public Security Bureau has already been transferred elsewhere, so they've reserved that position for me. There's also a textile factory manager, a transportation team leader, and a department store manager.
"Which of these positions does my daughter think is best?" Although Lu Zhiheng leaned towards the bureau chief position, given his physical condition, he might not be able to handle too much movement.
He had never held either the position of factory manager of a textile factory or the position of manager of a department store.
“Dad, go to the transport team. The transport team will be the most lucrative team for the next 20 years.” He Caiwei thought the transport team was the best choice.
“Okay, then I’ll listen to my daughter. I’ll go check out the transport team tomorrow.” Lu Zhiheng nodded, as he himself preferred the transport team.
As the team leader, he doesn't have to be on the road all the time, and he can also take care of some of his comrades who have retired from the military while in the transport team.
After everyone went to work, the old man had an extra job: driving the donkey cart every day to take the three of them to school and work, and then coming home to bicker and play chess with Zhang the tailor. That's how his day went.
The situation is becoming increasingly dire; there is less and less grain in the fields, and the grain bureau's supply of fine grains has essentially disappeared.
Apart from factories and department stores, almost everything else has come to a standstill, and the number of people in schools is dwindling. This situation makes He Caiwei feel heartbroken.
After the holiday started, she went to Zheng Mingyue's house, but there were fewer neighbors around. Nobody wanted to tell her where Zheng Mingyue had gone.
Just as they were about to leave, a little girl who used to be a good friend of Zheng Mingyue secretly told him that Zheng Mingyue and her family had also gone to the other side with those smugglers.
The little girl said that their fishing village's grain production has always been the lowest, and it has decreased by half since last year. More than half of the villagers have already left, and everyone is struggling to survive. They want to go there to see if they can find a way out.
For these fishermen, getting to the other side couldn't be easier. Old Master Zheng was a wise man; he had observed the area for a long time and had found the safest method.
Following Old Master Zheng, they were a group of villagers. After they left, the villagers who were retrieving the bodies paid special attention to the people who had been pulled up, and didn't notice any of them from their village.
Of course, they said all this in private. The girl slipped a letter to Caiwei, saying it was from Zheng Mingyue when she left.
He Caiwei could understand that when people are forced to make choices, they always have to make a choice. This was Zheng Mingyue's own choice, and she hoped that Zheng Mingyue was doing well over there.
Since her trip to the fishing village, He Caiwei has returned to her previous routine of going back and forth between home and work.
Life gets so boring that people start looking for trouble, and after only two months of peace, someone started causing a ruckus.
The news that the grain bureau's warehouse was completely empty had been spread by someone, and panic instantly gripped the city.
The food supply in the factory canteen was dwindling, and the workers, not getting enough to eat, started to protest. All these issues piled up, leaving Director Zhang overwhelmed and stressed.
Because Lu Zhiheng gave up his position as police chief, Director Zhang stayed in the same place.
Just as his father got off work, Director Zhang arrived again. His face, which wasn't particularly old before, had turned noticeably whiter in the last two weeks.
When He Caiwei saw him, he was following behind her father with a worried look on his face, muttering to himself, but she didn't know what he was saying.
"Hello, Uncle Zhang. The food is ready. Please eat here today." He Caiwei quickly set the food on the table and invited Director Zhang to come and eat.
"Little Weiwei, how did you know your uncle was here to freeload?" As soon as Director Zhang heard the little girl's voice, the worry on his face immediately disappeared, replaced by a smile.
"Uncle Zhang, I heard that several factory workers have gone on strike. What's going on? Is the Grain Bureau really out of grain?" He Caiwei remained skeptical about the Grain Bureau's claim of having no grain.
How could such a large city be without any food? If there is no food, what will happen to the food rations of the city's residents?
Now it's a new planned economy. The monthly ration for an adult man is 36 jin, for a woman it's 30 jin, for people under 16 and over 60 it's 26 jin, and for little kids under 10 it's 20 jin.
Although we couldn't buy refined grains before, we could still manage to get some whole grains.
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