Chapter 113: Food Distribution
It rained the next day after we paid the public grain. After the rain, the temperature dropped suddenly. It became much colder and even white smoke came out of our breath.
The temperature dropped sharply and I felt particularly cold.
The drop in temperature could not dampen everyone's enthusiasm. Today everyone got up very early, even Xia Zhizhi was woken up.
The team leader announced through the loudspeaker last night that grain would be distributed in the village today.
Han Youran and Jiang Xiurong didn't care about how much food they would get, they just wanted to watch the excitement.
Xia Zhizhi climbed up from the kang and washed her face with the hot water on the stove. As soon as she opened the door, a gust of cold wind blew in. She quickly buttoned up her cashmere jacket and tied a scarf around it.
I ate breakfast in a hurry and was dragged to the show venue by Han Youran and Jiang Xiurong.
While waiting in line, Han Youran touched her scarf and chatted: "Zhizhi, is this scarf knitted or bought?"
This scarf was knitted for her by Fang Yuan. This girl has a talent for knitting. She learned it not long ago, but the scarf she knitted has beautiful patterns and even stitches, just like a veteran, which is amazing.
She unfolded the end of the scarf to show off: "My friend from my hometown made it for me. Look, there are flowers on it!"
Jiang Xiurong also came over to take a look: "It's really good. The scarf looks fluffy when woven like this. The color is also well matched."
Jiang Xiurong discussed with Han Youran: "Let's go to the market and buy some wool so that we have something to do during the winter."
"Sure." Han Youran nodded.
During the cat's winter, the cat has to find something to do after lying on the kang for several months.
The queue was not fast, but not slow either.
The accountant has calculated the accounts in advance, and the employees just need to check and sign to make sure they are correct.
There were only three of them at the educated youth site who needed to earn additional work points. Xia Zhizhi earned the most, Jiang Xiurong was second, and Han Youran was third.
The educated youth received policy subsidies, with a basic ration of 100 kilograms more than that of the other members of the cooperative, and the subsidies were also calculated accordingly.
It’s no wonder that some members disliked the educated youth. If it were Xia Zhizhi, she would be unhappy too because she worked so hard every day but got less rations than the educated youth who slacked off.
The five of them ate together, and after the food was weighed, it was piled together. Cui Zijin and Tang Mingli borrowed a cart to push it back.
The brigade has made a good profit this year. In addition to food, those who work can get some money, except for the three who need to work extra.
Of course they don't really care.
After the grain was distributed, the team leader spoke again. The city was recruiting people to go to Muling to dig a reservoir. Every household must go with a quota. Idle laborers can also sign up. Anyway, meals and wages are provided. Those who want to sign up should hurry up and pack up today and tomorrow, and leave the day after tomorrow. The stay can't be too long, at least half a month, at most a month. They will come back after a few heavy snowfalls and severe freezing.
Although repairing a reservoir is hard work, there are still many people who sign up for the job.
Some of the strong-willed ladies in the village have signed up.
It's normal if you think about it. Not only are the meals provided, but money is also given. Although it's a bit hard work, if you work for a month, the whole family won't go hungry during the lean period next year.
Several male educated youth also signed up to go to the educated youth center.
If they want to get married and start a family in the future, they will have to spend money, and they can't rely too much on their family. After all, they have moved to the countryside, and there are many children at home, so they can't take care of them much.
Tang Mingli also went to sign up. How could repairing a reservoir be a good job? Jiang Xiurong definitely didn't want him to go, and advised him, "We have enough food to eat anyway, so you don't have to suffer that."
Tang Mingli lowered his head and said nothing, but in the end he still secretly went to register.
After Jiang Xiurong found out, he secretly wiped away his tears.
Then I rode my bike to the market, bought a few pounds of meat, made it into meat sauce, and put it in cans.
They ate a lot of canned food, and bottles were the most abundant, so they filled several cans.
Xia Zhizhi tasted some with chopsticks and found it very salty. She declined Jiang Xiurong's suggestion to leave two cans of food for him and said considerately, "It's been very hard for the educated youth Tang to repair the reservoir. Let him take all the food with him. We can cook it whenever we want at home."
She and Tang Mingli had never been on good terms, but she was still willing to consider him at this time. Jiang Xiurong was very moved: "I knew Zhizhi had the kindest heart."
Tang Mingli went to repair the reservoir, so they were busy too. They had to pickle vegetables, dry them, and store cabbage and onions.
Tang Mingli worked very hard to repair the reservoir, and Cui Zijin felt that he was not much more relaxed than him even though he had not gone.
Hundreds of kilograms of vegetables had to be moved around, and the divided potatoes and sweet potatoes had to be stuffed into the cellar.
The stalks were distributed in the village, and he alone pulled five people's share. He dragged it back and stacked it against the wall. He also had to get more firewood before it snowed, and he also had to fetch water every day.
When Tang Mingli was not around, he had to do the work of five people by himself and was exhausted all day long.
It may seem that all we need to do is wait for the winter, but in order for a cat to have a good winter, there are many preparations to be made.
Having just finished packing, Cui Zijin was thinking about taking it easy.
The village began to distribute coal again.
What was brought back from the village was mostly coal flour and few coal lumps. When it was distributed to the educated youth, it was all coal flour. This was different from coal lumps. It would not count if it was burned directly, so it could only be made into coal cakes.
Cui Zijin resigned himself to digging the soil. They put the coal flour of the five people together, and it took more than 100 kilograms of soil to dig. Then they added some water and mixed it together. After stirring, they made it into round shapes and spread it on the ground to dry. After it was dry, they stacked it together and knocked it off when burning.
Cui Zijin was playing with the mud while thinking about Tang Mingli.
The winter vegetables had been almost stored, and Han Youran and Jiang Xiurong had nothing to do in the afternoon, so they took Xia Zhizhi out to dig wild vegetables.
This is the last crop in the field this year. I don’t know whether it is dandelion or mustard greens. The three of them don’t know how to dig it, and they can’t compete with the other children. They can’t dig the tender ones, so they can only dig the old ones.
After going out for half an afternoon, they had already dug out a small basket of vegetables. Not much came out after washing. Han Youran suggested, "Why don't we make some wild vegetable soup? We haven't tried making soup with wild vegetables before!"
The other two had no comments.
Cui Zijin worked hard to make several hundred kilograms of coal cakes, then picked up the wild vegetable soup and took a big sip.
How can one describe this smell? He felt as if he was squatting by a frozen river washing quilts on a snowy day in the coldest days of winter.
In a trance, I thought I was born in the old society, a woman who gave birth to three daughters in one breath, was disliked by her husband's family for not being able to give birth to a son, was hungry and cold all day long, was beaten and scolded by her mother-in-law, and her husband was working in another place and could not come back for a short time.
With his big belly, he looked at his three hungry daughters and had no other choice but to go to the fields to dig up some wild vegetables. He would squat in a shed that was drafty on all sides, and drink the bitter and astringent wild vegetable soup. His life was so hard!
Cui Zijin held up his neck and tried hard to swallow the bitter water in his mouth.
Seeing that he drank half of it in one gulp, there was still a spoonful left in the pot. Han Youran picked it up and poured it into his bowl.
Cui Zijin took one look at the full bowl of wild vegetable soup, gritted his teeth, and gulped it down in one gulp.
My longing for Tang Mingli reached its peak at this moment.
He looked at Jiang Xiurong and Han Youran who were excitedly discussing what to eat tomorrow, and seemed to be hesitant to speak.
He really wanted to say, why don’t I cook and you guys stop improvising.
But Xia Zhizhi was watching him eagerly, and he hesitated for a long time and still didn't dare to speak.