Siheyuan: Bringing Warehouses to 1959

Peking University is relatively better. There are fewer people on vacation now. The government is concerned about the hard times for the professors teaching there, so it tries its best to provide them with supplies.

Director Qian is in a bad situation. The purchasing station under the supply and marketing cooperative that he is in charge of can only receive garbage and nothing in terms of food and drink.

When ordinary people got some food, they either kept it at home for themselves or secretly sold it at the pigeon market for more money. Few people took it to the purchasing station and went through formal channels.

It is precisely because of this that Director Qian is extremely grateful to Zeng Wangcai for insisting on using formal channels, and he also attaches great importance to this batch of materials.

"Stop, who is selling fish? Who dares to buy fish from our supply and marketing cooperative?" Director Qian squeezed in desperately, followed by Zheng Yishan.

"Whose idea was it? Tell me, whose idea was it?" Zheng Yishan shouted, "It's speculation, right? Speculation..."

Zheng Yishan was halfway through his words when he noticed Zhang Xiuzhi standing behind Yan Bugui, who was shouting about selling fish.

He and Director Qian understood immediately that it was probably the same as last time and they needed to take care of their neighbors.

But when they saw the long line, Zheng Yishan and Director Qian's faces turned pale. So many people?

There were too many people, and more than one person had the same idea as Yan Bugui and called all their relatives over.

Seeing this, Yan Bugui was worried about something going wrong, so he thought of a solution. He walked over to Director Qian, who he knew well, and said, "Director Qian, don't worry. We have already agreed that each household will have a fixed amount of food. Don't buy too much. Fish can be bought by size, and several households can buy together. The same goes for pumpkins. Pumpkins and sweet potatoes, each household can only buy 10 kilograms at most. Do you think this is okay?"

Director Qian first went to look at the scale of the pumpkins and sweet potatoes, then looked at the crowd, which appeared to be dozens or even hundreds of families.

However, he knew that Zhang Xiuzhi still had to make the decision on this matter, so he looked at her.

"It's OK!" Zhang Xiuzhi nodded. "This is only a part. Zengzhuang still has some. When Wangcai comes back in a few days, he should have some with him. But what he brings won't be given to you."

This needs to be made clear, otherwise people will remember it.

Director Qian and Zheng Yishan had no objections and nodded at the same time.

"As it should be. These are good enough. There is always next time." Zheng Yishan, who knew more, said.

"There will be a next time?" Director Qian could sense what was going on. "Old Zheng, what's going on with Wangcai? Why are there so many things?"

Zheng Yishan thought for a moment and said, "It's okay to tell you. This is a good thing. Wangcai is farming over there and the harvest is good, hundreds of thousands of kilograms. It's because he's thinking about us, otherwise you and I would never have anything to do with this."

Director Qian was stunned. After a long while, he took a breath and said, "Brother Wangcai is awesome. Everywhere is suffering from disasters and production is reduced, but he is the only one who has a good harvest. He is an all-rounder and can succeed in anything he does."

This is because he doesn’t know the yield per mu, otherwise his jaw would drop to the ground.

Zheng Yishan naturally wouldn't say something as sensitive as this: "Hurry up, or something bad will happen!"

Director Qian nodded and went over to call the two leaders, Sha Zhu and Yan Bugui, to give instructions: "Please organize the people and make the purchases in an orderly and fast manner. Don't delay it for too long, and don't make a fuss. It will be bad if everyone knows about it."

"Don't worry, it's no problem to let us two uncles do this." Sha Zhu agreed readily. He now likes to do this kind of things that require him to do as an uncle the most.

The two men immediately split up, one in front and one in the back, to assist the people at the purchasing station to work quickly.

After a while, people who had bought fish, pumpkins and sweet potatoes in groups of three or four returned to the yard with their harvest.

"Wow, such a big pumpkin, how much is one pound?" Liu Haizhong, who was standing at the door of Yi Zhonghai's house, saw it and couldn't help but ask.

"We bought them at the purchase price, 60 cents for the fish and 1.8 cents for the pumpkin." The neighbor couldn't get rid of the smile on his face, and spoke well of Zeng Wangcai to Liu Haizhong, who was still the second uncle, "If Wangcai hadn't been farming and harvesting in the army, we wouldn't have been able to get this bargain. Look, for more than one yuan, we have food and fish. If we eat them sparingly, it's enough for our family to eat for half a month."

"Yes, it's still so cheap. They gave it to us at the price of the purchasing station. It saved our lives."

"Our child has always dreamed of eating meat, and this time he was able to do so thanks to Zeng Wangcai's kindness..."

Several neighbors who bought things together were very grateful to Zeng Wangcai.

Zeng Wangcai's reputation has risen again, and this timely help is even more significant than the last time.

Neighbors came in one after another, carrying big fish, huge pumpkins, and bags of sweet potatoes.

This kind of worldly atmosphere has not appeared in the courtyard for a long time.

"Old Yi, we can't win against him, at least not yet!" Liu Haizhong saw that Yi Zhonghai looked unhappy, so he pulled him into the house, "Listen to my advice, only money and power can get things done, everything else is empty talk, come with me to Xishan Machinery Factory."

Only if you have money and power can you get things done!

These words touched Yi Zhonghai's heart. He now hated himself for being powerless, while Zeng Wangcai was not only rich, but also knew many people.

In this situation, anyone who wants to deal with him can only be richer and more powerful than him.

Or just shut down and submit obediently.

But even so, there is no guarantee that there will be peace and stability in the future. Who knows if something unexpected will happen one day?

These were not big problems for Yi Zhonghai. The big problem was that he saw Sha Zhu happily buying fish and pumpkins together with Yan Bugui and others, and he kept saying that Zeng Wangcai was righteous and never forgot his neighbors at any time.

This is what touched Yi Zhonghai's heart. Sha Zhu was the second person he had chosen to take care of his retirement. The first one had died at the hands of Zeng Wangcai, and now the second one was going to die too?

"I want to go too, but..." Yi Zhonghai was tempted and said hesitantly, "Old Liu, you know that since Jia Dongxu was identified as a spy, I, as his master, have not been in a good situation. It's been so long, and the factory won't let me get my job back. Can I go to Xishan Machinery Factory with you? That's a military enterprise, and everyone who goes in will be examined."

"I definitely know. Don't worry. Let's take a leave tomorrow and go to my relative's house and buy some expensive gifts. What if he has a way?" Liu Haizhong carefully seduced Yi Zhonghai.

It is easy to become an official if you have connections in the court. Since you can't make it in the steel mill, you might as well change to another job.

Liu Haizhong's ambition grew. He wanted to take Yi Zhonghai, who had better skills than him, and change the track to make a breakthrough.

Yi Zhonghai was fed up with cleaning the toilet every day, so he nodded and agreed.

The next day before dawn, the two of them went out together, first went to the black market to buy the missing tickets, then waited until dawn to ask for leave from the factory, and then went to Wangfujing.

Both of them spent a lot of money this time. In terms of gifts, in addition to cigarettes and alcohol, they also bought high-quality tea.

Tobacco, alcohol and tea are all available.

"Old Yan, are these things too expensive?" Yi Zhonghai asked anxiously on the way there. "It's okay if it's just a little bit, but if they're too expensive, won't people think I made a mistake?"

"Old Yi, Old Yi, you are better than me in technology, but you are far behind in handling this kind of things!" Liu Haizhong looked around to see if there was anyone around, and said in a low voice, "This is not enough, we have to give him real money, as long as he accepts it, it proves that our business will be successful.

"As long as this is accomplished, with him helping us, sooner or later we will become leaders in Xishan Machinery Factory..."