"If we let you develop, you'll still be treasures."
"That's true."
"In the study in that courtyard, under the bookshelf, there's a movable brick. Take it out, and you'll find a keyhole. The key is the one I gave you. Just open it. You can find the rest yourself later. Remember, don't lose the key."
"I understand, Mom, but aren't Grandpa's family镖师 (bodyguards/couriers)?"
"Yes, our family started out as bodyguards. Later, after we got rich, we opened a bodyguard agency. Who would have thought that it would grow bigger and bigger, but at the same time we offended a lot of people. Fearing retaliation, we started to gradually shrink our family business."
At the same time, the world was in chaos, so he bought a piece of land in the West District, built a courtyard, and put his things there. Gradually, people got the impression that Liu Family Escort Agency was no longer a force to be reckoned with.
Gradually, it went from a large escort agency to a small one, and eventually, the agency didn't have many escorts left, so my grandfather no longer had to personally deliver goods.
"What about the rest of the Liu family?" I wondered if the Liu family was also a single-son lineage, so I asked.
"The others started clamoring to split up the business when the escort agency was declining."
"That……"
"Those things were originally meant for the Liu family's descendants, but they saw the escort agency declining day by day and thought there was no money left to divide, so they started making a fuss about dividing the family property. They also refused to support the elderly in their old age. In the end, it was the most honest great-grandfather in the family who took care of them. On his deathbed, he left all the things he had hidden to his great-grandfather. But his great-grandfather was also unlucky. He had several children, but only his grandfather was a son. His other daughters got married with only a small dowry. You know the rest."
"Ah, I see."
"You thought..."
I thought he was at least a high-ranking official or something.
"Are you stupid? If he were a high-ranking official, he would either have been robbed by foreign invaders or looted clean by warlords."
"That's true."
"Remember this, you can't tell anyone about these things, not even the Shen family members, understand?"
"I know, I understand."
That's how I found out that my family had a considerable fortune, but I didn't tell my parents what things could be put in the space, because the space was my greatest asset.
Mom checked the time and said, "It's getting late, go back to sleep."
I remained still, just watching my parents. When my father saw me staring at them, he asked, "Mianmian, is there anything else?"
"Dad, Mom, I want to ask you a question?"
"Go ahead and ask?" Mom said with a smile.
"Dad, will Mom need meat coupons to buy pork in the future?"
"Yes, what's wrong?"
"What if we have ration coupons but no meat? And even after we got ration coupons and food ration books, why is it still not enough to eat? What if, like some grandfathers say, during the drought in Henan in 1942, did we still have food to eat? They even said that we wouldn't have tree bark or grass roots left to eat. Is that true?"
"Mianmian, who told you that?" Dad asked with a serious expression after hearing this.
"It was something that a few days ago, a few of us were near the martial arts training ground, and some of the grandfathers who were sitting there playing told us."
At that moment, the Shen family children were talking to Aunt Zhou and Uncle Shen somewhere.
"Don't worry about that. Our country is so big, it's impossible for all of us to be affected by disasters at the same time. We'll definitely bring in food from other places," Dad reassured me.
"What if it happened simultaneously?" Wouldn't the period from autumn 1958 to 1961 be nationwide? He quickly asked again.
"Alright, why are you worrying about this at your age?" the mother said, seeing the father's heavy face. Meanwhile, the Shen family had also sent their children away. The couple lay in bed discussing the matter.
"Old Shen, what do you think?"
"It can't be that bad, can it?"
"Whether or not we know it ourselves, even if a place is affected by a disaster and has no food, it will take some time before the food is transferred. Besides, by the time we get it, there certainly won't be much!"
Shen Wenbo thought for a moment and said, "You're right, why don't we buy some grain and store it?"
"But buying grain privately is illegal."
"Isn't it illegal for you to buy grain from the village?"
"We didn't buy much, just enough for a few children."
"You said it yourself that it's just enough for the kids, and besides, I didn't plan to buy much!"
"Where will we put it then?"
"This house is definitely not suitable; it was assigned to us by the organization when we first came to the city."
"How about we keep it at Mianmian's house?"
"That's the only way. The two families can discuss buying some. Didn't you tell me the training ground is quite big? We can dig a cellar and hide it there. You and Xiao Liu both work there, so if we don't have enough food at home, we can go there."
Meanwhile, Liu Linjuan added, "After get off work, Sister Zhou and I will come over and take some back. We don't need too much, just enough for two or three months. Besides, there's a canteen, and with the food coupons, it should be enough for our whole family."
"You trust the Shen family that much?"
"I don't know about Deputy Commander Shen, but I can trust Sister Zhou and the children."
"That's fine. Old Shen and I will go together after the autumn harvest."
"Should we still ask Shen Dong to help buy the grain?"
"Buy it, buy as much as you've always bought before. If we don't let him bring the kids, they might get suspicious."
"Oh well"
"It's getting late, go to sleep."
After listening to my parents' conversation, I fell fast asleep in the west room.
On the day of the housewarming party, when I stood in the car and saw the rows of neat houses, I felt a sense of grandeur and magnificence. When the family members saw the car coming, the children all ran after it.
The car stopped in front of the two courtyard gates, and Aunt Zhou said to my mother, "We have a lot of things on the outside, so we'll move ours first. Sister, you stay here and watch over things, make sure no one steals anything."
"Oh, I know, Sister Zhou."
So we started moving our luggage. Actually, it was easy. Before the move, Aunt Zhou and my mother had categorized and labeled everything, putting each item in its place and assigning ownership to each person. We weren't worried about losing things or putting them in the wrong place. We finished moving everything from Uncle Shen's house very quickly.
"Shen Nan, you're in charge of guarding the house. Don't open the door for anyone except family members, understand?" (I heard Aunt Zhou say this again.)
"Okay, Mom."
"Sister Zhou, you can't be that serious," Mom said, seeing Aunt Zhou's words to Sister Nan.
"That's not necessarily true. There are all sorts of people here, and we're new here, we don't know anyone. If someone really steals our things, we can forget about getting them back."
"Sister Zhou is right. Don't underestimate the money in the Ministry of Finance. If you lose even one thing, it won't work."
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