They were still sold individually, but the two sales before the Lunar New Year were cheaper, six for five cents each, and after the Lunar New Year they were one cent each. In total, they sold 11 yuan worth of goods.
To avoid attracting attention, I only sell eggs on Sundays. During holidays, I don't dare to go to the market to sell eggs. Selling 50 eggs a week is just right. If I went to sell eggs every day, it would definitely attract attention.
However, in order not to be noticed, when selling persimmon cakes, he made his face look sallow and had a mole. When selling eggs, he removed the mole, but raised his eyebrows and stuffed two pieces of cotton in his mouth. No one could recognize that this was the same person.
However, at the beginning of spring, I saw some chicks for sale and secretly bought ten chicks, nine hens and one rooster. A few days later, I saw some ducks for sale and bought ten ducklings, nine hens and one rooster. I even bought some white geese. Now there are finally living creatures in my space.
In 1956, there was another thing: reclaiming wasteland for farming.
Here's the thing: except when Uncle Shen was home, Aunt Zhou would take her older brother and the others back to her own home for meals. Otherwise, the two families would share their food. As for other necessities like oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar, Aunt Zhou would give my mother five yuan a month for living expenses.
But as we grew older and practiced martial arts, our physical exertion increased, and we ran out of food. The main problem was that we couldn't buy food freely starting in 1953. When my third and fourth brothers, and I were still little, we didn't notice, but one day, my sister Nan Nan and Aunt Zhou said, "Mom, my third and fourth brothers keep saying they're not full."
"What happened, Nan Nan? Tell me."
"They have martial arts practice in the morning and school in the afternoon, so I was worried they'd get hungry. I gave each of them a cornbread bun to put in their schoolbag so they could eat it when they were hungry."
"And what about you and your older brother?"
"My older brother and I are still able to put up with it; it only started recently," Nan Nan said, not daring to tell the truth.
Hearing this, Aunt Zhou knew perfectly well what was going on. They must have given the leftover food to those two. Besides, the children were all growing up, and they hadn't been able to find any food anywhere. She even remembered their mouths were chapped. Only after the mother understood what had happened did she say:
"It's my fault for not thinking of this. When I took them to that yard, I should have tidied up that vegetable patch and planted some crops. Tomorrow is a day off, so how about this: I'll take them to turn over the soil, and in a couple of days we'll go to the market to buy some sweet potato seedlings to plant. Once the sweet potato vines grow, we can eat them."
Also, starting tomorrow, after school in the afternoon, don't let Shen Xi and Shen Bei go out to play. Let them go dig for wild vegetables. It's spring now, the perfect time to eat wild vegetables."
"You're right, how could I have forgotten about that?"
"That's because you were in a hurry. If you had told me earlier, wouldn't it have been resolved much sooner?"
"Too"
"As for the grain, it's simple. We'll go to the surrounding villages and buy some from the farmers."
"Will it work?"
"Why not?"
"But we're just two women."
"We don't need to go, let Shen Dong go."
"this"
"He's a capable young man; he brought Shen Xi and Shen Bei with him when he went, so no one will care."
"Okay, let's do it that way."
"That plot of land isn't big; it can be finished in a morning. In the afternoon, have Shen Dong take his two younger brothers to several houses, sell the produce, and leave it in that yard. There's no need to rush to carry it back. After each day's practice, have them each bring back a few pounds, and they'll gradually bring it back. That way, no one will notice."
"This is a great idea; no one would have imagined that several children would have food on them."
As she spoke, Aunt Zhou took out some money and handed it to her mother.
“Our family is large, so this is 50 yuan for you, little sister. Since it's just the two of you, you only need to give us 20 yuan first.”
Mom didn't argue with Aunt Zhou, and simply said, "Okay."
Hearing this, he rolled his eyes inwardly. If it weren't for him, the grain sale would have to be done a year in advance. The family ate mostly cornbread. Over the years, he had quietly added 200 jin of cornmeal, 20 jin of rice, 30 jin of wheat flour, 100 jin of sweet potato flour, 100 jin of sorghum, and 20 jin of various beans to the kitchen.
I recently discovered that I was short of food after searching around the space. I thought about it and realized that I couldn't just eat what was in the space. I also needed to find a place to grow some. That's when I remembered that there was an empty space in the training ground. I was thinking of finding a time and a reason to talk to my mother about it. But to my surprise, Aunt Zhou spoke first and said, "Come on, no need to give me any ideas. That's great, hehe."
And so, the next day, just as dawn broke, we brought our lunch and dinner to the training ground. After practicing, we ate some dry rations.
After clearing out the vegetable garden, we realized our martial arts practice area didn't need to be too big, so we cleared out a patch of open space. As it was almost noon, we said:
"Let's eat first. After we finish eating, Shen Dong, you take Shen Xi and Shen Bei and push the cart to a few nearby villages to buy some grain. Any kind of grain will do."
The current grain prices are: rice 16 cents a pound, flour 10 cents a pound, corn 8 cents a pound, soybeans 12 cents a pound, and other miscellaneous grains around 5 cents a pound. When you go to the village and negotiate with the people, the price will increase by 2 cents per pound. They don't have it easy either, you know. This is 70 yuan. You can decide what to buy.”
In the afternoon, instead of going home, Mom took me and my older sister Nan to dig for wild vegetables nearby, and told us how to process and preserve them.
In one afternoon, the eldest brother, along with his third and fourth brothers, visited several nearby villages and bought 500 jin (250 kg) of grain. This included 150 jin (75 catties) of corn at 1 mao (0.1 yuan) per jin, 50 jin (25 catties) of soybeans at 15 mao (0.15 yuan) per jin, and 300 jin (150 catties) of sorghum at 7 fen (0.07 yuan) per jin. They spent a total of 43.5 yuan and had 26.5 yuan left.
From then on, my third and fourth brothers and I would carry baskets on our backs and go dig for wild vegetables every afternoon after school. My eldest brother and my sister Nan would stay at home and clean up the wild vegetables that we had eaten the previous afternoon, and start drying them.
Sweet potatoes were also planted in the training ground, covering about 2 mu (approximately 0.3 hectares). A small vegetable garden, less than 3 mu (approximately 0.03 hectares), was also cultivated near the entrance. Even Aunt Zhou's yard was planted with vegetables.
In this way, with the money and ration coupons they received each month, the family's food ration book, and the grain they secretly bought, they had enough to eat. But this was only when there was no famine. Now it was 1956, and 1958 was getting closer and closer. I don't know what's going on, but now my third and fourth brothers are constantly...
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