After their older cousin left, the siblings sat and chatted idly:
"Sister, are you worried about a bad autumn harvest?"
"Wen'an, if you want to do something well, you must first have the right tools. Without good farming tools, you can't plant in the spring on time, and the autumn harvest will definitely be reduced."
Look at the meals we're eating now, which have no planning whatsoever.
In the past, each family had to be very frugal to have just enough to eat. Now, with such gluttony, I don't need to elaborate on the consequences.
Wen'an, when looking at problems, look at them from a broader perspective.
Seeing Bai Wen'an deep in thought, Bai Xiaoyue thought to herself, "Silly boy, there's still drought to come, and even more difficult things are yet to come."
Sigh... It's really not easy to survive in this day and age!
Bai Wenli was quite helpful; he managed to buy several plows, hoes, and sickles from another town at a high price. Although they were all old, they were still usable.
As soon as the ground thawed, he organized the villagers to start plowing and turning the soil, racing against time.
Uncle Bai also instructed the other teams to plow the land earlier, and the entire Hongxing Brigade got busy.
We rushed around for a month before finally planting the seeds, much later than in previous years.
Immediately afterwards, Uncle Bai and Ye Jianguo convened a village meeting to announce that the canteen would provide a daily ration of food for each person, with a mix of coarse and fine grains.
As soon as Uncle Bai finished speaking, the villagers below erupted in uproar.
"I said I'd eat as much as I wanted, and I'd eat something different every day."
"How can we produce anything if we don't have enough to eat?"
"How could there be no food?"
"We collected so much grain, where did you cadres put it?"
The following are all questions and objections.
Uncle Bai roared in exasperation:
"The accountant of each production team keeps a clear record of how many kilograms of grain were harvested and how many kilograms were used each day and at each meal. The warehouse has a dedicated custodian."
Ye Jianguo glanced around with a serious expression and slowly said:
"Everyone, please don't argue. This is a decision made by all of our village officials in a meeting."
If you want to know how much food is left, go to the accountant.
You must believe that we made this decision for everyone's good.
We ate and drank with everyone, and we didn't want to do it this way either.
This was the first time Bai Xiaoyue had seen Ye Jianhua's older cousin. He was a tall, strong, and typical northern man with big eyes, a high nose, and a very masculine appearance.
“If you have time, you can go out and take a look. There are many villages where spring planting hasn’t even started yet, and the land is all lying fallow.”
Our village barely managed to plant anything, and the autumn harvest will most likely be reduced.
"If you have any grain stored at home, don't sell it." Ye Jianguo calmly analyzed the situation for everyone.
The Bai and Ye families are prominent clans in the village. After some persuasion from Uncle Bai and Ye Jianguo, everyone gradually calmed down and finally accepted the daily quota for each person.
There were no more leftover steamed buns or leftover dishes in the cafeteria.
Bai Xiaoyue felt that she was quite lucky; the village officials were all capable people, and she felt very safe living here.
As the weather warmed up, Bai Xiaoyue went to the supply and marketing cooperative to make purchases again.
Li Mingyue was pleasantly surprised to see her, but instead of rushing over, she stood there smiling.
"What's wrong?" Bai Xiaoyue asked, puzzled.
"Xiaoyue, I'm pregnant, thank you so much!" Li Mingyue touched her belly with a grateful expression.
"Why thank me? I can't get you pregnant. You should thank your man," Bai Xiaoyue joked.
Li Mingyue rolled her eyes, amused.
Bai Xiaoyue coaxed, "Alright, alright, don't be angry. You're going to be a mother-to-be now, so you need to keep a good mood every day."
"I'm going for a walk, Sister Deng, please keep an eye on things for me." Li Mingyue said, pulling Bai Xiaoyue along as she called to the lady at the counter next to her.
"Xiaoyue, Weiguo has bought another 2,000 jin of coarse grains recently, and the price hasn't gone up; it's still 140 yuan," Li Mingyue said softly as they walked.
"The price hasn't gone up?" Bai Xiaoyue said in disbelief, thinking to herself, how could that be?
"Xiaoyue, let me tell you, the newspapers have been reporting lately that wheat and rice yields in the south are over a thousand jin per mu."
Everyone thought that since there was an abundance of grain in the south, it was worthless, and everyone was busy selling it.
Bai Xiaoyue patted her head. Oh dear, she had forgotten about that, and there was also the exaggerated style.
"The bolder the man, the greater the harvest," but what can a nobody like her change? She only hopes that she and those around her won't starve.
She quickly took out 140 yuan and handed it to Li Mingyue: "Did you stock up on some for yourself?"
“Weiguo also felt something was wrong, so we bought 2,000 jin of coarse grains. Don’t worry, it’s just me and Jianguo in the courtyard, so we’ve stored them away properly.” After saying that, he pulled Bai Xiaoyue to the warehouse.
Bai Xiaoyue brought home bags and packages.
Honey, brown sugar, salt, soap, toilet paper, and some tattered cloth, etc.
Stock up on as much as you can buy.
She spent all of Xiao Chang Le's sugar and oil coupons for the year, and had two and a half jin of sugar and two and a half liang of oil.
Sugar and honey have a long shelf life, so she carefully packed them into bottles and sealed them, intending to save them for Chang Le to drink during difficult times.
We can still make ends meet now, so let's leave these things as they are and stock up on them for now.
After packing her things, Bai Xiaoyue thought for a long time and decided to go find her uncle and older brother.
They brought half a pound of pastries for Grandma Bai and went to her uncle's house with Bai's father.
Grandma Bai was an old woman with bound feet, old-fashioned ideas, somewhat sexist, and very superstitious.
They felt that Bai Xiaoyue was an unlucky widow and didn't like her coming to their door.
Normally, Bai Xiaoyue wouldn't go around to her grandmother's side, but today she had no choice; she had to do her best for the villagers.
The person who opened the door was Ye Fengqin, the eldest sister-in-law:
"Uncle, Xiaoyue, come inside quickly, Dad and Wenli are both home."
As soon as Bai Xiaoyue entered the house, she went to her grandmother's room, where the thin old lady was tidying up.
She quickly handed over the pastries: "Grandma, this is a sponge cake I bought today. Please try it; it's very soft."
Grandma Bai glanced at her, but didn't respond, continuing with her work.
Bai Xiaoyue placed the pastries on the kang table and turned to leave, feeling that her sentiments were enough.
The weather was warm, so the group sat in the courtyard, and Bai Xiaoyue told her uncle and Bai Wenli what she had heard that day.
After she finished speaking, she asked, "Uncle, do you believe that wheat and rice yields are over a thousand catties per mu?"
Uncle Bai: "Our village officials have also seen the newspaper and are preparing to go and learn from their experience in person."
Bai Xiaoyue was very happy:
"This is good news, Uncle. We can still buy grain now, and the price hasn't gone up yet."
"Shouldn't the village stockpile some first? So many people are counting on you for food."
"The village needs to hold a meeting to discuss this," Uncle Bai nodded.
It's unclear how much of Uncle Bai's advice he took to heart, but Bai Xiaoyue felt that the reminder was enough.
When she got home, she tried to persuade Bai's father:
"Father, I wonder what the autumn harvest will be like."
"You must keep the grain. All your relatives and friends are advising you not to sell any grain; it's best to buy some and store it."
"Daughter, don't worry, your parents have been storing up grain for the past few years, and your brother even asked me to buy some."
However, most of the relatives felt that since they were now living off the collective and didn't need to cook at home, there was no point in saving the grain, so many didn't keep any.
Hearing her father say this, Bai Xiaoyue had no choice but to do her best and leave the rest to fate.
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