Ye Zhiqiu smiled, then said, "Dad, it doesn't matter whether it's a drought or not. They will just be hungry because of lack of food! Think about it, when we used to farm, could we eat dry food every day?"
Ye Tianya shook his head and said, "How can that be possible? We have such a small piece of land that we can only grow corn and sweet potatoes. There's not even a few acres left for wheat! We can't even grow rice. There's no way we can eat dry food every day!"
"That's right! At least half of the people in the village are in the same situation as our family. They eat three meals a day, and every meal is dry. They are just overdrawing the food in the backyard!
They are still thinking about selling back the grain after eating it all. If everyone eats like this and wastes the grain like this, how can the country have so much grain to sell back?
They were lucky to have enough to drink porridge! Not to mention filling their stomachs, that was simply impossible! And if the big pot of food was disbanded, then everyone would eat their own food. What good life would they have?
Don't look at the old man being proud now, he has so many people in his family! When the food shortage comes, he will spend all the money he has embezzled over the years to buy high-priced food! "
There was another reason, and that was the Great Steel Production Campaign. When that happened, the village chief and his bastards would definitely take the lead in donating their own ironware!
In 1961, when the "big pot meal" system was no longer in operation, everything in the city had to be purchased with a voucher or ticket. They had no tickets at all, so even buying an iron pot for cooking would cost a fortune.
Ye Tianya sighed, "It's hard on the others, but there are still some honest people in the village. Not everyone is as bad as the village chief and the accountant..."
Ye Zhiqiu smiled and said nothing. His cheap father still had such a saintly mindset! If his cheap mother's household registration problem couldn't be solved, then two people would have to support five. He would naturally understand what hardship meant, what it meant to be powerless!
Kindness is indeed a good quality, but unfortunately Ye Zhiqiu doesn't think he is a good person! If he meets someone he likes, he might help him!
For example, he liked the four people in the Qian family very much, and he was not afraid that their family was poor! As long as he was willing to lend a hand, they would be able to get through this period.
After chatting for so long, it was already past nine o'clock. The father and son smoked a cigarette together, turned off the lights and went back to their rooms to sleep.
The next day, Ye Zhiqiu slept until eight o'clock. When he woke up, he heard the voices of his cheap mother and Liu Cuihua chatting in the yard.
Holding a toothbrush and a cup, Ye Zhiqiu walked out of the yard and saw two people washing the millstone.
"Aunt Liu, you're here so early to get busy!"
Liu Cuihua said cheerfully, "Little lazy boy, why did you get up so late? I'm just sitting around doing nothing, so if I have work to do, I have to get started early!"
"Well, I'll be back at the factory this afternoon. I got up so early and my mother treated me like a donkey again!"
Wang Xiaolan scolded him with a smile, "You little bastard, hurry up and wash up and have breakfast! Help me chop the sweet potatoes into small pieces later, otherwise I won't be able to put them into the grinder to make the pulp!"
"Okay, wait a minute, the meal will be ready in about half an hour!"
After washing up, Ye Zhiqiu went to the living room but didn't see Ye Bailu and Ye Wubing. He put some vegetables into the corn porridge and went to the yard to eat.
"Mom, aren't the second and little sister up yet?"
"Of course I can't get up. I went to bed so early last night! I'll give my second son some money to buy some gauze from the grocery store. I'll need that thing to filter it after I grind the pulp."
Ye Zhiqiu was even more puzzled, because when they didn’t have a big pot of food, they would occasionally make tofu with this stone mill at home. He remembered that there was gauze at home!
But Wang Xiaolan continued to mutter, "I didn't know it before I found it, but now that I've found it, I don't know when the gauze was eaten by rats!"
Ye Zhiqiu was a little amused, because when he was in the village, he had never used this thing, so he kept it in the kitchen basket. He didn't know when it was eaten by mice.
After eating, Ye Zhiqiu washed the bowl and put it away. Then he took out a large board to clean it, and also took out a chopping board and kitchen knife.
Only then did he ask, "Aunt Liu, how big should I chop the washed sweet potatoes into?"
Liu Cuihua, who was washing sweet potatoes with a loofah, replied cheerfully, "Silly boy, look at the millstone inlet. It's too big to fit in!"
Ye Zhiqiu finally understood and began to chop. Essentially, he just needed to chop the sweet potatoes into small pieces so they could fit into the feed port. He could press the sweet potato chunks with something, and the rotating millstones would grind them into a pulp.
This kind of work is not that hard, it just requires some patience. After Ye Zhiqiu chopped for more than ten minutes, Ye Wubing brought Ye Bailu back with him after buying things.
"Mom, I gave you the gauze. I had fifty cents left, but my sister was clamoring for a soda. I could only buy one bottle and drank it over there, so I have thirty cents in change."
Wang Xiaolan rolled her eyes and said, "Second brother, your mouth tastes like soda. I'm afraid you drink more than your sister!"
Ye Bailu said happily: "Mom, my second brother and I each drank a sip. He drank four sips, and I drank five!"
Ye Zhiqiu stopped what he was doing and laughed, "Silly sister, your second brother drank so much, you're at a big loss!"
Wang Xiaolan scolded him, "Boss, stop making trouble. If your sister gets angry, will you comfort her?"
Ye Zhiqiu continued to work with a chuckle. This second brother was really interesting. He didn't learn much else, but he did learn how to use numbers to trick the little girl.
After two hours of cutting, Ye Zhiqiu felt his hands were tired, so he asked Ye Wubing to do the cutting. He went back to the living room, poured himself a bowl of boiled water, lit a cigarette, and sat down to smoke and rest.
After finishing his cigarette, Ye Zhiqiu came to the yard and said to his mother, "Mom, I'm going to go to the village fish pond first, and then I'll go to Aunt Liu's yard. When the reinforcements come back from school, I'll bring them over for lunch."
Liu Cuihua hurriedly said: "That won't work, I'll go back and cook..."
Before Liu Cuihua could finish her words, Wang Xiaolan shouted, "Sister, don't say anything. The boss will do this. Remember not to be late! Otherwise, the reinforcements will need time to go to and from school, and they will be late for class."
"Okay, I'll remember that."
Ye Zhiqiu walked outside, but was driven back home by the little black dog that followed him. Then he walked towards the commune canteen.
The main thing is that the fish pond can only be reached by turning right at the fork in the road in front of the cafeteria. The road is wide enough for trucks to drive in.
When Ye Zhiqiu arrived, Yang Guizheng and a villager were watching the fish pond. They were also watching the drain hole to see if it was blocked by weeds or something, so they could clean it out anytime.
"Village Chief Yang, how's the water going?"
Ye Zhiqiu shouted and walked over quickly.
Yang Gui turned around and saw Ye Zhiqiu coming over. He smiled and replied, "Purchasing Manager Ye, everything went smoothly. We can arrange for a car to come and load the fish tomorrow morning."
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