On the first day of the big pot meal, everyone happily carried their bowls to the cafeteria.
The canteen was right next to the barn. There was a stove made of a few earthen bricks, four pots burning at the same time, and five tables were set up.
When Su Qing and his family arrived, the place was already crowded with people.
"Hey, Mrs. Su, I'm here." It was Aunt Xiulan who was greeting Mrs. Su.
"Why are you here just now? Come here, let's sit at the same table." Aunt Xiulan warmly invited Su Qing and his family to sit over.
"Fortunately, I came early, otherwise we would have no place to sit and would have to squat on the ground to eat like them." Aunt Xiulan nodded and gestured for Su Qing to look towards the wall.
The low wall was now full of people.
After sitting down, Aunt Xiulan looked at the small bowls that Daya and the others were holding and sighed repeatedly, "Why are you holding such small bowls? Look at what everyone else is holding. Sooner or later, you will suffer losses if you keep doing this."
When Su Qing took a look, he was shocked to see that everyone around him was holding large bowls that looked almost as big as washbasins.
"It's okay, auntie. The child eats little." And she didn't believe that the village chief distributed the food based on the size of the bowls.
"If the children eat less, the food can be left for the adults. You are still too young." Aunt Xiulan spoke to herself.
It wasn't until dinner started that Aunt Xiulan finally stopped talking.
The people who distributed the food were Aunt Wang, Aunt Liao and others.
Each person gets a spoonful of thick corn paste.
The bowl that Daya brought was perfect and just full.
Some people are dissatisfied.
"Village Chief's Wife, I know you have a good relationship with Su Qing, but you can't be so partial to her. Her family's bowls are full."
"Exactly. Look at ours. It covers the bottom of the bowl."
"Don't go too far, or I'll report you to the commune."
Aunt Wang gave up her job and placed the rice bowl heavily on the table.
"Each of you is given a spoonful, which can only cover the bottom of the bowl. Don't you know that? If you use a bowl smaller than this, you can take it away even if it doesn't fit in."
Everyone looked at the bowls in their hands, which were as big as washbasins, and then looked at the small ceramic bowls in the hands of Su Qing's family, and immediately fell silent.
At noon, we ate wild vegetable porridge, which was actually corn porridge with various wild vegetables added.
Most people in the village are satisfied with such food, especially those who are lazy and cunning like Zhao Moli.
I only paid a small amount of food, but I can eat such thick porridge every day. It would be a fool not to take advantage of the good deal.
As he thought about it, the slurping sound in his mouth became louder.
Tian Xiaocui finished the porridge in the bowl in no time and shamelessly came to Aunt Wang to try to get close to her.
"Auntie, I see there's still some left. How about you give me some more?"
As soon as these words came out, several pairs of eyes stared at her.
Aunt Wang frowned, "Eat, eat, eat. Give more to you, give more to that one, everyone wants more. Do you want everyone to starve to death next?"
Seeing that Aunt Wang was unmoved, Tian Xiaocui returned to her seat in embarrassment.
Seeing that He Fang still had half a bowl left, she poured it directly into her own bowl. "Children are not allowed to eat so much. Be careful not to stretch your stomach. Come, let me help you eat it."
He Fang was so anxious that she burst into tears. She had finally managed to eat such a thick paste, but she was reluctant to finish it all at once, and in the end it was all gone.
I could only wait until Tian Xiaocui finished eating and then lick the bottom of the bowl mouthful by mouthful.
Luo Quanxiang was better than her and did not eat her daughter's meal in public.
Instead, he poured most of the food in He Mei and He Li's bowls to He Bei and He Zhong, claiming that boys ate more and he had to give more to them.
After the meal, each family took their own bowls and chopsticks back home.
He Fang took the bowls from Tian Xiaocui and the others, found a place where no one was around, and started licking them.
The first day of the communal dining life passed just like this.
Then the next day, the day after that... the food became thinner and thinner.
Some people are not happy.
"Village chief, the rice is getting thinner day by day. I can't even eat enough. How can I work?"
"Village chief, the grain in this barn belongs to everyone. If someone steals everyone's property in the village, we will not agree."
What I mean is, did you, the village chief, embezzle the food without permission?
"Village head, I see the food in the neighboring village is pretty good. They eat coarse flour buns and corn porridge every day. It doesn't make sense that our food should be so bad."
More and more people began to shout.
He Aiguo saw that the effect he wanted was achieved, and stood silently at the back of the crowd.
He heard that people in the neighboring village still had meat to eat, but people in his own village couldn't even get enough porridge. He must have heard that the money was embezzled.
The only people who have access to food are a few village cadres.
Thinking of this, the hatred in He Aiguo's eyes deepened.
"The amount of food taken from the barn every day is recorded and weighed again in the cafeteria. We act uprightly. But if I find out who is behind this instigation, don't blame me for being ruthless."
Watching the crowd dispersing, the village chief squatted on the ground, pulled out his increasingly sparse hair, and felt a chill in his heart.
"Old Wang, what are you doing squatting here?" asked Accountant Liao.
"I'm thinking we should retire. We've worked so hard for half our lives, but we haven't gotten a single good word from anyone and we've gotten into so much trouble."
"What's wrong? Who is nagging in front of you?"
"Nothing much, I just feel that the atmosphere in the village is getting worse and worse. People are just thinking about sitting back and enjoying the fruits of others' labor."
"It's like that. Every village has some thieves and sneaky people. Don't pay too much attention to them."
The village chief thought: If only I could solve the problem by not paying too much attention.
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