Chapter 88
When Ye Manzhi and Wu Zhengrong rushed to the People's Hospital, their third uncle was scolding his son in the corridor.
"Uncle San, how is grandpa?" Wu Zhengrong frowned and interrupted the argument between father and son.
"I woke up in the afternoon, but I still feel chest tightness and shortness of breath. I am lying in the ward."
"It's already happened. It won't help if you scold Xiaofeng. Let him go in and keep Grandpa company."
Wu Yifeng shook his head and said, "Grandpa kicked me out. We have a huge disagreement, and neither of us can convince the other. Fifth brother, can you understand me?"
He felt that the person who understood him best in the family must be his fifth brother.
My fifth brother was also oppressed by my grandfather.
Wu Zhengrong scoffed, "I don't quite understand you. If you don't want to go to college, why didn't you tell your family earlier? If you back out right before the college entrance exam, you'll inevitably be misunderstood as a deserter."
Wu Yifeng glared. "Who's a deserter? I've already told Grandpa that if I want to go to military school, I have no choice but to join the army."
"Oh," Wu Zhengrong looked at him coldly, "Then why did you want to go to military school?"
“…”
"Are the things taught in military academies more advanced than those taught in ordinary universities?"
Seeing that he was speechless, Wu Zhengrong did not continue the topic. He nodded to his uncle and took Ye Manzhi to the ward.
Ye Manzhi whispered, "What's wrong with Xiaofeng? Isn't he a good student? Is he really not going to take the college entrance exam?"
"I guess he got cold feet and wanted to take a shortcut."
Except for the military cadre schools established just after the liberation, military academies nowadays rarely recruit students from the public, and most of the students come from the army.
The reason Wu Yifeng gave was quite good. If one wanted to go to military school, one had to join the army first.
But his original intention of going to military school does not stand up to scrutiny. In all likelihood, the young man could not bear the pressure of the college entrance examination and wanted to take a shortcut by joining the army.
However, having said that, whenever President Wu takes a fancy to someone, he will constantly put pressure on that person. So far, only two people have successfully withstood this extreme pressure.
One was their uncle who died young, and the other was Wu Zhengrong.
Apart from worrying about his own sister's studies, Wu Zhengrong has always been indifferent to the studies and careers of his brothers and sisters. Whether his cousin joins the army or studies, the elders will make plans for him.
After understanding the general situation, Wu Zhengrong didn't care anymore and pushed open the ward door and walked in.
Director Wu was sitting on the bed sulking and asking his daughter to be discharged and go home as soon as possible.
"Aren't you feeling chest tightness and shortness of breath? Why are you going home now?" Wu Zhengrong carefully observed his face. Seeing that he seemed to be in good condition and still had the energy to curse, he broke off two bananas from the net bag on the bedside table and gave one to Ye Manyi.
Ye Manzhi: “…”
Not only did they visit the patient empty-handed, they also ate other people's bananas.
Even though she has always been open-minded, she felt a little embarrassed at this moment.
"I want to go home for the New Year! Who else would spend the New Year in the hospital?" Director Wu looked at the banana in his hand and demanded, "Did you steal my camera again? When can I get it back?"
Ye Manzhi: “…”
He put the banana down guiltily.
Wu Zhengrong came to visit the patient without having eaten dinner. After finishing a banana in two bites, he found a fruit knife to peel an apple and said casually, "Your granddaughter-in-law has just been elected as a people's representative. I took two photos of her during the election. I'll show them to you when they're developed."
"Xiao Ye, you were elected as a people's representative? When did it happen?"
"Grandpa, it was just a few days ago. I was just elected as the district people's representative."
Ye Manzhi felt even more guilty. After taking photos of the election meeting, she originally wanted Wu Zhengrong to return the camera.
But during the Spring Festival, the city will hold a temple fair and Lantern Festival in People's Park. She and Wu Zhengrong have agreed to visit the temple fair on the second day of the New Year and watch the lanterns on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, and take two photos while watching the lanterns.
So they planned to secretly return the camera to grandpa after the Lantern Festival.
I didn't expect to be asked about it in person at this moment.
She changed the subject and asked with concern, "Grandpa, how are you feeling? When did the doctor tell you to be discharged?"
Facing his grandson's wife, Dean Wu's temper calmed down and he said calmly, "I know my own health and I can be discharged at any time!"
"If you feel fine, we'll go ask the doctor later..."
Ye Manzhi works at the grassroots level and treats Grandpa Wu as an ordinary old man, so she has no pressure in chatting with him.
She had a good chat with Old Wu, asking and answering questions. Wu Zhengrong got up and went to see the doctor to find out about Dean Wu's health condition.
After hearing that he could go home for observation, we immediately completed the discharge procedures for the old man.
After sending Dean Wu back to his room, Wu Zhengrong did not leave. Instead, he sat down beside the bed and said, "I heard that you didn't have any graduate students last year?"
"Yeah. The two students recommended by the school were not very good, so I rejected them."
"Since you won't be supervising graduate students anymore, I think you should take advantage of this hospitalization to apply for retirement from the university," Wu Zhengrong said bluntly. "Professors your age have all retired. You hold the title of dean, but Dean Lu is in charge of the daily administrative work of the School of Engineering. Instead of that, it would be better to retire early. After retirement, you could work as a consultant for a factory. Factories focus on production, there aren't so many large and small meetings, and the atmosphere is much better than at a university."
When Dean Wu heard his grandson bring up the topic of retirement again, he did not strongly object this time.
It was mainly his grandson's last words that touched him.
In the past six months, there have been frequent meetings at school, either discussing this faction or criticizing that tendency.
Because he was a military family member and a martyr's family member, no one said anything to him, but the frequent meetings had seriously interfered with his research progress.
If the equipment in the factory was comparable to that in a university laboratory, he would rather work as a consultant for the factory.
"What are the conditions of the laboratory at Factory 656 like?" Dean Wu asked, half leaning against the head of the bed.
"When you recover, have Director Shen send you an invitation letter. You can go and see for yourself and you will know."
*
Although Director Wu is bedridden, he still has to celebrate the Spring Festival.
Ye Manzhi is a new daughter-in-law. Logically, she should help her elders prepare the New Year's Eve dinner.
But at her mother's house, she was always the one holding a bowl and waiting for dinner. Preparing the New Year's Eve dinner was always handled by Chang Yue'e and her two sisters-in-law. At most, she helped to pick vegetables and set the table, but she had never cooked.
Wu Zhengrong also knew that she didn't have that skill, so he told Grandma Wu directly that his wife was the youngest in the family and had never cooked a New Year's Eve dinner, so don't expect her to cook, but you can assign the New Year's shopping work to her.
Ye Manzhi likes to shop. Even if she doesn't have this purchasing task, she will stroll to the Anti-Imperialist Market and department stores every day.
This time I have a reason to buy ingredients for the New Year’s Eve dinner, and I can’t wait to go to the market eight times a day.
That afternoon, Ye Manzhi came back from outside carrying a live chicken. She took off her scarf and said, "I heard that pork supply will be rationed. Should we stock up on some pork?"
Wu Zhengrong, who was sweeping the house, wearing a mask and a newspaper hat, murmured, "Hasn't pork been rationed with coupons for a long time?"
"No! I heard from Mr. Chen at the butcher stall that the city's pigs are no longer allowed to leave. Their meat processing plant and many public-private joint-venture meat processing plants are hoarding large quantities of pork!"
Ye Manzhi threw the chicken coop into the corner, told Lihua and Kuihua not to harm the rooster, and hurried to the study to look through the newspapers of the past few days.
In order to support the service station's newspaper subscription business, she has now become an annual subscriber of Binjiang Daily.
She is not in a hurry to read her own newspaper. She usually reads the People's Daily and the provincial newspaper at work first, and then saves up two or three days to read the Binjiang Daily together.
Ye Manzhi flipped through the newspaper quickly, and soon saw a brief news item in the newspaper from the day before yesterday - "Notice of the Municipal People's Committee on Controlling the Outflow of Live Pigs and Dairy Cows and Making Good Adjustments to Their Supply."
She took the newspaper and showed it to Wu Zhengrong.
"It says here that, with the exception of breeding pigs and cattle approved for distribution outside the city by the Municipal People's Committee, the export of all pigs and cattle is prohibited! At the same time, we urge all factories, enterprises, government agencies, colleges and universities, military personnel, and other catering units to actively raise pigs! The Municipal Commerce Bureau and the Municipal Service Bureau will organize procurement and adjust the pig supply."
"Look, except for breeding pigs and cattle, no pigs or cattle are allowed to leave Binjiang!" Ye Manzhi said nervously. "The Municipal People's Committee must have issued such a notice because the pork supply has become extremely tight! Let's stock up on more pork!"
Wu Zhengrong took off his gloves, took the newspaper and read it carefully.
"Your concerns are not unreasonable, but we can only store pork for this winter. We won't be able to keep it after spring. Instead of fighting over pork, we might as well raise two pigs."
Ye Manzhi couldn't help but glare at him. "Raising pigs is so smelly. We're willing to raise them, but will our neighbors be happy about it? Besides, who among us knows how to raise pigs?"
She felt this was a great opportunity to stock up on pork right under Wu Zhengrong's nose, so she urged him relentlessly, "From now on, live pigs will be purchased centrally by the Commerce Bureau and the Service Bureau. Let's take advantage of the lax regulations now and go to the countryside to buy a big fat pig! Then, have my mom and uncle help us make bacon and sausages from the pork! Bacon and sausages can be kept for a long time!"
Her uncle and grandfather both work in a sausage factory, so making bacon and sausages is not a difficult task for them.
Seeing that he was still indifferent, Ye Manzhi continued, "Look at how tight the pork supply is now. Let's stock up on some pork so that I can at least have some nutrition when I get pregnant."
His eyes fell on her lower abdomen, and Wu Zhengrong asked hesitantly, "Are you pregnant?"
"No, no!" Ye Manzhi straightened his face to prevent him from looking at her belly, "I'm just preparing for a rainy day!"
Wu Zhengrong took off his newspaper hat and said, "Chinese New Year is almost here. The pigs that should have been slaughtered have already been slaughtered. Who has a live pig in their pigpen now?"
"Yeah, even the two pigs that Fifth Brother raised were sold." Ye Manzhi sighed in disappointment, "Then let's wait a little longer, and talk about it after the Chinese New Year."
Wu Zhengrong put the newspaper hat on her head and handed her the broom.
"You clean up at home, I'll go out and take a look."
"What are you looking at?" Ye Manzhi put on sleeves and gloves consciously.
"You want to buy some pork? I'll go out and ask around."
Wu Zhengrong glanced at her. In order to eat some meat, she even moved out the missing child.
"Don't worry, I'll definitely do a thorough cleaning," Ye Manzhi promised. "When you come back, our house will be spotless!"
…
Wu Zhengrong went out alone in the afternoon and disappeared until the evening.
Ye Manzhi was reading and reviewing while waiting for someone. She fell asleep on the desk, but Wu Zhengrong still didn't come back.
It was not until two or three in the morning that Ye Manzhi was awakened by Kuihua's cry, and then she found that the gate she had reserved for the courtyard had been pushed open.
A tall figure walked in from outside.
She hurried over to open the door and asked anxiously, "Where have you been? Why did you come back so late?"
Wu Zhengrong put down the sack on his shoulder, breathed a sigh of relief and said, "I asked my uncle to help contact a pig farmer, and he killed the pigs over there overnight before returning."
Ye Manzhi poured him a teacup of warm water and helped him take off his military coat before asking, "Is there a whole pig in here?"
"No, I brought back two ribs, pig's trotters, and a pig's head for Chinese New Year. The rest I gave directly to my uncle. You're going to make bacon and sausages, right? Have my uncle take it back and help us process it before sending it back." Wu Zhengrong explained, "The pig's blood is for the members who helped with the butchering, and the pig's offal and one pig's leg are for my uncle. It's a very busy time during Chinese New Year, and we can't let my uncle work for nothing."
Ye Manzhi opened the sack, glanced at the pig's head, exclaimed "Ouch" and quickly turned his head to the side.
"Very good, very good! My uncle's sausage-making skills are just as good as my grandfather's. I'll call his factory tomorrow and ask him to make us some European-style sausage, meat rolls, and roast suckling pig. My grandfather got the recipe from a Soviet boss. Foreign consulates used to order from his factory. Their European-style sausage is incredibly authentic!"
Ye Manzhi described the taste of the rolled meat and roasted suckling pig in detail, which made both herself and Wu Zhengrong drool.
The couple stayed up late at night and opened a can of luncheon meat to satisfy their cravings.
Wu Zhengrong brought back two ribs, one of which was sent back to the Wu family's old house, and the other was sent to his father-in-law's house.
In addition to the spareribs, he also gave his mother-in-law a radio.
Chang Yue'e looked at the radio at a loss for a moment. "I'll accept the spare ribs, but this chatterbox is too valuable! You should take it back!"
Ye Manzhi said with a grin, "He made this himself. He was planning to tweak the look a bit, but we've both been busy with work and study lately and don't have time for this, so we'll have to leave it like this for now!"
The radio had been in the works for quite a long time. Wu Zhengrong started working on it long before they went to the south.
But after returning from a business trip in Beijing, he had to prepare for the selection for the associate doctorate, so the radio was just a semi-finished product. He worked hard for several days to make it a finished product.
Seeing that his mother-in-law was still about to refuse, Wu Zhengrong smiled and said, "Laiya won't be at home for the New Year this year. I'm afraid that without her, the atmosphere of the New Year will be lost. Let Chatterbox liven things up at home for her!"
Chang Yue'e now had a chatterbox, and even the sadness that her daughter could not spend the New Year at home faded away. She quickly asked her son-in-law to teach her how to use the chatterbox.
After returning from Old Ye's house, Ye Manzhi glared at him and asked, "Were you mocking me before, implying that I'm a chatterbox?"
"No."
"You're obviously mocking me!" Ye Manzhi dug her cold claws into his sweater and pinched his waist. "Who's to blame for me not being able to go back to my parents' home for the New Year? If it weren't for marrying you, I could go out with my third, fourth, and fifth brothers every year to set off firecrackers and watch fireworks!"
"Do you set off firecrackers yourself, or do you watch others do it?"
"Just watch my brother and the others release it."
"Well, I can also accompany you to set off firecrackers and watch fireworks this year."
Wu Zhengrong did what he said. On New Year's Eve, after having the New Year's Eve dinner at the old house, he took her back to his room on the second floor.
"Aunt San and Sister-in-law San are playing mahjong, why did you bring me up here?"
"Aren't you going to set off firecrackers and watch the fireworks?" Wu Zhengrong pointed downstairs. "My third brother and his two sons are busy in the yard!"
In order to make her feel more immersed in the scene, Wu Zhengrong also opened a frosted window.
The cold wind blew in unexpectedly, and Ye Manyzhi shivered. He skillfully hid in his military coat, leaving only his head sticking out.
My cousin shouted something downstairs, and soon the firecrackers exploded, followed by the sudden scattering of brilliant fireworks.
Ye Manzhi looked up in amazement, her eyes illuminated by the fireworks. She carefully turned around in her military coat and put her arms around the man's waist. "Did you buy these or did Third Brother buy them?"
"Third brother has no money in his pocket. All the money is with his third sister-in-law." Wu Zhengrong smiled.
Ye Manzhi felt the tremors in his chest and, while searching for his lips, muttered, "I should learn from Third Sister-in-law and control my extravagant spending habits."
Wu Zhengrong lowered his eyes and kissed the lips in front of him lightly, then patted her butt and said, "I didn't prepare anything today. If you get pregnant, it will affect your college entrance examination physical examination."
She put her cold fingers into his sweater again to keep warm. Amid the deafening sound of firecrackers, Ye Manzhi shouted, "Who wants to have a baby with you? I just want to kiss you!"
When the last two words came out, the sound of firecrackers stopped abruptly.
Ye Manzhi's own voice echoed clearly in her ears. She opened her eyes wide in fear and asked in a stammer, "The people downstairs shouldn't be able to hear it, right?"
"Of course you can't hear it. Sound travels upwards. We can hear the sounds downstairs, but the people downstairs may not be able to hear you." Wu Zhengrong calmly comforted her and kissed her on the forehead. "Okay, go play cards with my sister-in-law and the others!"
*
Ye Manzhi always felt that she had brought shame upon herself in her husband's family, but she had no evidence.
Her cousin and his two sons behaved as usual, leaving her with no choice but to believe Wu Zhengrong's scientific principles.
No one in the Wu family mentioned this matter, nor did anyone mention the limited supply of pork.
However, when she returned to her parents' home on the third day of the Lunar New Year, her eldest sister, second sister and fifth brother all brought up the issue of pork and beef.
"People's representative, what do you think if we raise two pigs at home, can we kill them and eat the pork after they grow up?" The eldest sister asked, pulling Ye Manzhi.
"Sure. But can you eat a whole pig? Pork is a limited supply commodity and private resale is not allowed unless you can eat the whole pig or give it to relatives. Instead of that, it would be better for the service bureau to purchase it in bulk!"
My second sister said, "My mother-in-law wants to raise two pigs at home, but we need to feed them with grain and vegetable leaves, so we are still hesitant."
"Why do you all want to raise pigs?" Ye Manzhi asked in surprise. "Don't you think it's troublesome? Besides, do you know how to raise pigs?"
"There are two old ladies in our area who raise pigs. My mother-in-law wants to learn how to raise pigs from them so that she can eat her own pork in the future. But it's hard to make pig food. I feel bad about feeding the pigs with grain."
Ye Manzhi asked, "Are there many families in the neighborhood who want to raise pigs?"
"Three families in our community want to raise pigs. Ever since we heard what the meat processing factory masters said, everyone wants to raise pigs themselves, fearing they won't have pork to eat in the future. Since we have a yard and the manpower at home, raising two pigs isn't a big deal," my second sister lamented again. "The only problem is the pig feed."
The topic was discussed so much that Ye Manzhi couldn't help but think about pig farming.
She didn't want to raise pigs in her own yard, but wanted to organize street residents to raise pigs.
After the Spring Festival, when it was time to officially go back to work, Ye Manzhi had just greeted everyone and couldn't wait to discuss pig farming with Zhang Qinjian.
Zhang Qinjian was still immersed in the relaxed state of the New Year, and when she suddenly mentioned pig farming, he was stunned for a long time before asking, "Why did you think of raising pigs? Besides, many people on our street raise poultry and livestock. It's all voluntary, so there's no need for mobilization, right?"
Ye Manzhi then showed him the Binjiang Daily.
"Live pigs and cattle are no longer allowed out of Binjiang, which means the city's pork and beef supply is very tight. The city is now calling on factories, enterprises, government agencies, colleges and universities, the military and other catering units to raise pigs, but I think residents of our neighborhood can also try raising pigs."
Guangming Street is located in the suburbs, and many of the bungalows have a large yard.
There's absolutely no problem raising two pigs in the yard.
"Pork will be purchased centrally by the Commerce Bureau and the Service Bureau in the future. If pork supply is tight, the purchase price won't be low. During this year's Spring Festival, the price of pork went up by five cents. Enabling residents to raise their own pigs will not only support the city's pork supply, but also provide some extra income for ordinary families."
Zhang Qinjian reminded: "Big fat pigs have a huge appetite, and the cost of pig feed is not small. If you calculate this carefully, you may not be able to make much money from raising pigs."
Moreover, raising pigs has a strong smell, so people who are particular about food are not willing to raise them in their yards.
Zhang Qinjian shook his head helplessly and sighed, "Director Xiao Ye, I know you're motivated and have ideas, and I want you to achieve something, but I've seen the notice in the newspaper. The city is mainly promoting large units' canteens to raise pigs, but there's no such requirement for ordinary citizens."
There is absolutely no need for them to look for trouble. It's a waste of time!
Ye Manzhi certainly knew that the city did not require ordinary citizens to raise pigs.
She felt that what she said to Zhang Qinjian was of little use, so she went to the district and introduced her pig-raising idea to District Chief Mu again.
"Leader, I want residents to raise pigs, not just to contribute to the city. For those families raising pigs in our city streets, can the Service Bureau and the Commerce Bureau provide some compensation in the form of meat coupons or grain coupons, in addition to cash, when they purchase live pigs?"
Mulan said with a smile, "Isn't the money enough? Meat coupons and grain coupons are all set at a fixed quota. How can you increase them just like that?"
"The city's pork supply is very tight, so we're encouraging residents to raise pigs to help alleviate the pressure. But raising pigs consumes food and manpower, and produces an unpleasant smell. If we don't offer some incentives, why would residents raise pigs in their own homes?"
If there really is a famine and food supply is tight, having money is useless and you must have food coupons.
If the higher authorities are willing to increase everyone's food quota, she will mobilize all residents on the street who have the conditions to raise pigs together to prepare for war and famine!
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