Siheyuan: Bringing Warehouses to 1959

Apart from people, the village lacks everything else, including food, clothing and daily necessities.

The last time Zeng Wangcai came back, it was spring ploughing time and the village canteen was open for business. In order to prepare for the spring ploughing, Zeng Laosan used up the stored grain so that the villagers could have a full meal with meat.

Since then, it has been difficult to even get enough to eat, let alone meat.

Who can help but feel envious when hearing Zhang Xiuzhi talking about food and meat?

In fact, there are other people in the village who have relatives in the city, but they are nothing compared to Zeng Wangcai's family.

"Look at how other people are doing. They still have meat!"

"Well, our harvest is not bad. We worked very hard this year, but our life is worse than last year."

"God, please open your eyes. The commune has too much work to do..."

Zeng Laosan listened to the members' discussion and said, "What nonsense are you talking about? You may envy me, but don't talk about the commune. You may end up in trouble."

"We are not talking nonsense, village chief." An older member complained, "The workload is heavy this year. You see, you usually think of the commune first when you have good things, but Secretary Wang doesn't appreciate your kindness at all. He just does what he wants. Now that the summer harvest is over and the grain is delivered, how are we going to survive in the second half of the year?"

"That's right, Village Chief. We have to think about ourselves. Even if we don't talk about eating enough, we have to eat until we are 70% full so that we have the energy to work, right?"

"Village head, why don't you talk to Secretary Wang and ask him to pay less..."

The members' complaints are the result of long-term accumulation, and fully illustrate the current situation in the countryside.

However, the members do not think highly of it. They are very realistic and only care about their own jobs. Zeng Laosan is different. He knows that the whole country is like this and it cannot be changed by one or two people.

"Shut up, and lock us up if you keep talking nonsense." Zeng Lao San said with a dark face, using his authority as the village chief to teach a lesson, "Be content, Zhujia Village is worse off than us... Anyway, don't talk nonsense, the higher-ups won't let us starve to death, get to work!"

In order to calm the members down, Zeng Laosan could not work any more. He came up with a sad face and saw Zhang Xiuzhi helping grandma out of the field.

Zeng Laosan saw that there were only five sweet potatoes in Grandma and Xiaohuan’s baskets, and they were not big.

"Aunt, Wangcai likes to eat roasted sweet potatoes. Just tell us and the team will give you a few. No one will say anything because Wangcai made some for the village before." Zeng Lao San said generously.

"No, you're taking something from someone!" Grandma didn't fall for it. She knew Zeng Laosan well and knew that he must have something to ask for. "My eldest grandson wants to eat roasted sweet potatoes. As a grandmother, I will get some for him. But after all, we are also benefiting from the public, so these are enough. Anything else is inappropriate."

"Aunt, what are you talking about?" Zeng Lao San begged for mercy, "I don't have any ideas... I just want to ask, when will Wangcai come back!"

He was asking Zeng Wangcai again.

Why ask Zeng Wangcai?

This story starts with Zeng Youhuo's return. Zeng Youhuo and Xiaobao had been away for several months, but they were still worried about their home, so they took advantage of the time when there was not much work to do and took the opportunity when the army had a car going into the city to come back.

When I came back that time, Zeng Laosan came to visit me specially and got some liquor for me to drink.

After drinking a little, Zeng Youhuo told Zeng Laosan about his experience helping to farm at the base. He only told him a little, really only a little, but that little bit made Zeng Laosan very envious.

Tractors are used to plow the land, and water pumps are used for irrigation. These are not worth mentioning. The key is fertilizer and there is enough fertilizer powder.

My God, what is the yield per mu?

Zeng Youhuo and Zeng Laosan both know how to farm and can judge the approximate harvest from the growth of the crops.

Zeng Laosan felt that the land at the base would definitely have a good harvest, but he didn't dare to take the food there because he didn't know what was going on between Zeng Wangcai and the military region. He just hoped that Zeng Youhuo could come back soon.

After the summer harvest comes autumn, and the game in autumn is so good...

"When Wangcai comes back, he will definitely come to see me, but we can't tell when." Grandma untied the brown paper bag from the handlebars of the bicycle, "Take this pound of brown sugar, mix it with water and give it to the members to drink. Just think of it as our family exchanging sweet potatoes and peanuts from the government."

It doesn’t matter which one is more valuable, a pound of brown sugar or a pound of sweet potatoes and peanuts.

For the Zeng family, there was no shortage of sugar, seasonings, and even cloth for clothing. What they lacked was food. Daily necessities were consumed slowly, but food was different and had to be eaten every day.

Zeng Laosan was polite at first, but finally accepted it. A pound of brown sugar is not much, but it is very precious.

When I got home, my grandmother complained, "I told you not to bring food back, why did you bring it back? I heard from Zeng Lao San that the food quota in the city has been reduced again. You don't have enough to eat, right? The countryside is short of everything except food."

Grandma's words were obviously meant to comfort Zhang Xiuzhi.

Zhang Xiuzhi put the bag into the house regardless, and fetched cold water to wash grandma's face, saying, "We live better than those in the village, so don't be reluctant to eat. Even if you don't eat, your three sisters will have to eat. Wangcai has told us to eat and drink. They are about to have a good harvest, and he said that this time we should store at least a year's worth of food for the family. When the house was being renovated in the city, we secretly dug a basement."

Zeng Wangcai did not draw a blueprint of the basement details, but told Zhang Xiuzhi about it orally.

There was already space, so a basement was unnecessary. However, Zeng Wangcai thought that since he was away from home on military duty, some things needed to be prepared secretly at home, so having a basement was convenient.

“Why are we digging holes? In the past, only rich landlords had such things…” Grandma didn’t understand and was a little worried.

"Grandma, what landlord?" Zhang Xiuzhi was amused by her grandmother. "You can't say that. It's just a place to put things. We don't have to worry about thieves stealing. We have to worry about thieves thinking about it."

"That's true..." Grandma nodded.

"Grandma, hurry up and wash. Let's go to the city and stay for two days."

"No." Grandma refused bluntly, "Why bother? If I go, I'll have to eat your food again."

"Wangcai has written back, asking you to go." Zhang Xiuzhi coaxed.

"Ah? The eldest grandson has written a letter back?" Grandma couldn't hold it in any longer and quickly washed her face. "Hurry up, Xiaohuan, wash your face. You look like a cat."

"Okay, okay..."

A few minutes later, Zhang Xiuzhi set off on her bicycle, with Xiaohuan sitting on the front crossbar of the bicycle and her grandmother sitting behind her. She first went to say hello to Ma Ping and then returned.

The whole family wants grandma to enjoy the new house.

But when they got home, grandma refused to go to the new house no matter what. As it was late, the Zeng family couldn't persuade her, so they could only give in to her and let her sleep in Xiaoqiang's room.

The next morning, Lei Daqiang came with his apprentice and brought ordinary wood and bricks.

The new house has been renovated, and it's time to renovate the old house.

Lei Daqiang and his men were pulling things early in the morning, making the sound of clanging and dinging, which was equivalent to announcing to everyone in the courtyard that Zeng Wangcai's new house was completed.

Zeng Wangcai's family was very low-key when renovating their house. Wood was too expensive, so they used all the work to make furniture in the house. Therefore, no one in the courtyard had ever seen it before. Including the deaf old lady in the backyard, everyone was very curious about the Zeng family's new house and wanted to take a look, but they never had the chance.

Early in the morning, a crowd of people gathered at the entrance of Zeng's house, some were about to go out and some were not, all watching.

Yan Bugui carried his old partner's metal bucket and fishing rod and joked, "Old Zeng, your new house is ready, are you going to have a banquet?"

"I do want to, but unfortunately there is no food!" His mother came and the house was repaired. Zeng Youqian was in a good mood and rarely responded to Yan Bugui's joke.

Seeing Zeng Youqian was very interested, Yan Bugui said further: "Well, every family is short of food these days, so we won't force it. Then let us go in and have a look, okay? Let us open our eyes."

Later, Yan Bugui will regret it. After seeing Zeng family's new house, he will feel that it is really like a knife cutting his buttocks - it will open his eyes.

Because what Zeng Wangcai designed subverted their cognition.