Siheyuan: Bringing Warehouses to 1959

It’s no problem to have fish, no matter how many there are.

"Okay, no problem." Zeng Wangcai agreed readily. "There are many of us fishing this time, so we will definitely catch a lot of fish. I'm afraid twenty kilograms is not enough for you. We'll see how many we can catch. If there are any smaller ones, I'll leave some for you, and you can share some with other comrades."

"This kid is so thoughtful. It's settled." Director Zhang smiled happily. With these extra fish, other people in the street would also benefit, so no one would say anything.

He also said that Zeng Youqian returned home early, in high spirits, and urgently needed to find someone to talk to about his son, but at this time Yan Bugui, who lived next door, went fishing, and the men in other families were at work.

"Yumei, Yumei..." Zeng Youqian called his wife twice, but when he didn't see her, he went to the central courtyard, and sure enough, he found her there.

In the middle courtyard, several women were picking vegetables in the shade. They were not bought vegetables but wild vegetables they dug. They were chatting while cleaning up the day's harvest.

"Wangcai's mom, your husband is back." The third aunt, who was facing the front yard, said, "Why did he come back so early today? Look at your husband, his mouth is grinning from ear to ear, he can't even suppress it, there must be some good news."

Chen Yumei turned around and saw her husband's rare smile: "Why are you back so early?"

"Don't break the food." Zeng Youqian said happily, "Let's have something delicious tonight, grill a fish, and also have some of the pickled meat that the boss brought back last time, to celebrate."

"What are you celebrating? It can't be the boss..." Chen Yumei guessed something and looked at Zeng Youqian intently.

"Yes, it's the boss!" Zeng Youqian finally couldn't help laughing, "The boss's promotion has been confirmed, 37.5 yuan a month, not including subsidies, this must be celebrated."

"What? Thirty-seven and a half dollars a month? Didn't his uncles say the maximum was thirty?"

"The eldest is different. He was specially recruited and has special skills. He writes well."

"Haha, good, that's great." Chen Yumei got up happily and collected the wild vegetables. "Auntie, you guys take your time, I'm going to go back. Our eldest son gets 37.5 yuan a month, haha... roast fish, roast meat..."

A group of women stood there, filled with envy.

"Look how happy she is," the third aunt said sourly, "It's just thirty-seven and a half yuan a month, what's so great about it?"

Comparing yourself with others will make you feel nauseous. Her eldest son, Yan Jiecheng, graduated from a technical secondary school and has not yet been hired as a full-time employee. His monthly salary, including subsidies, is less than 30 yuan. On the other hand, he just started working and earns 37.5 yuan, not including subsidies. How can they be compared?

"Why? This is not right." The third aunt said angrily.

"What's wrong with that? Didn't people say that Wangcai has special skills?" said a neighbor.

"Writing is not a special skill. Our eldest son can write, and I didn't see him being given a higher grade when the grade was assessed."

"That can't be compared, Wangcai's calligraphy is better."

“Can good writing be used to make a living?”

"It can be used to make a living, right? Third Aunt, don't forget that Third Uncle writes couplets every year and collects a lot of fees from our family."

"Uh......"

The third aunt couldn't pick the vegetables any more. No one stood on her side. She stood up with the basket and said, "You were attracted by the fish caught by Wangcai..."

"That's right. We can't see the fish that Third Master catches, so we can't hope for more wealth, right?"

Haha, no one is easy to deal with.

At night, the Zeng family celebrated with great enthusiasm. The aroma of food wafted across several streets. The topic of the symposium in the Central Courtyard naturally focused on Zeng Wangcai.

Among the three uncles, Liu Haizhong envied Zeng Wangcai the most, because in his opinion, Zeng Wangcai had such a high starting point at such a young age, and he would definitely become a cadre in the future, and being an cadre was his lifelong dream.

In the next few days, Zeng Wangcai became a member of the steel rolling mill and went to work according to schedule, arriving at eight o'clock and leaving at four o'clock every day, never being late or leaving early.

On Saturday after get off work, Zeng Wangcai left the factory with his tool bag on his back. At the factory gate, he saw Zhang Xiuzhi and the Hubao brothers waiting for him.

"How did you know I was here?" Zeng Wangcai was very happy to see Zhang Xiuzhi.

Zhang Xiuzhi did not wear new clothes or new pants, but still wore the same set of patched clothes. Although the clothes were a bit shabby, they could not hide her radiance. Countless workers who were leaving get off work at the steel mill could not help but look at her.

On the contrary, the Tiger and Leopard brothers were wearing new short-sleeved shirts and looked very happy. If it weren’t for their tight lower bodies, they would be no different from the city people.

In just over a week, the complexions of the three people looked much better than before. It is an eternal truth that if you eat well, you will grow well.

"Brother!" Zeng Hu waved his hand. "We arrived early. Auntie said you were at work, so we came to find you."

"Let's go home and talk about it!"

"Eh......"

Zeng Hu wanted to say something else, but his younger brother pulled him away, leaving Zeng Wangcai and Zhang Xiuzhi behind.

"Haha, these two guys..." Zeng Wangcai laughed to hide his embarrassment.

Damn it, just run if you two want to. It’s okay to create opportunities, but why are you looking back every few steps and laughing so meanly?

Zhang Xiuzhi was very open about it. She waved her hands and ignored the gazes of passers-by: "I collected some things in the village, secretly, and brought them all here. You can sell them."

"Are you starting to act as a middleman?" Zeng Wangcai was speechless. "This matter can be considered a big deal or a small one."

"Zeng Laosan knows. It's okay. We don't make money." Zhang Xiuzhi looked at Zeng Wangcai with watery eyes, pleading, "The village brigade has handed over part of the grain. The rations are not enough. If we don't find a way, people will starve to death..."

The conditions in the area near Zengzhuang were better and the harvest was also better, but correspondingly, the tasks assigned by Maihe Commune were also heavy. It was normal that there was not enough food after handing over the grain.

Don't talk about the fixed number of contacts. You are in a big melting pot and it is impossible to stay out of it.

There would be no problem in selling local specialties to supply and marketing cooperatives or government canteens with purchasing targets, so Zeng Wangcai thought about it and agreed.

I asked about the situation of grain delivery in the village, and these information indirectly confirmed what Huang Liang said.

"What did you bring?" Zeng Wangcai asked.

"More than 30 kilograms of frogs. It's hard to catch frogs in the village now." Zhang Xiuzhi said, "Since we caught them once, many people are catching them now. We are almost out of them. In addition to frogs, we also caught 5 or 6 kilograms of dried mushrooms, more than 10 kilograms of dried bamboo shoots, and about 10 kilograms of vermicelli. My second uncle caught a rabbit and four pheasants.

"By the way, Zeng Lao San asked if you could bring a few big ones back to him if you catch any more fish, and he would take them to the commune."

"Give?"

"He doesn't have any money either. He said he could either write an IOU or ask... ask Second Uncle to stop working and do something else. He will still keep the cents..."

It's normal that good things will be coveted by others, but I didn't expect Zeng Laosan to do this.

Since they hunted the wild boar, Zeng Laosan tasted the sweetness of success and thought that if Zeng Wangcai could hunt it, they could too, so he organized people to go to the mountains to hunt wild boars.

They killed a wild boar, which weighed less than 80 kilograms. This pissed off the wild boar's mother, Zhu Bajie's second aunt, and she rushed madly and violently, finally breaking the leg of a member of the commune. Zhu Bajie's second aunt then ran away.

So hunting wild boars is also risky. Exchanging a leg for a wild boar kid, I don’t know whether it is a profit or a loss.

Zeng Laosan heard that Zeng Wangcai had some good catches while fishing in the city, so he mobilized the other members to go fishing in the river. The result was obvious: the villagers, who lacked tools, had very little catches.

They all lived in and outside the village. The villagers were not well fed, so Zeng Laosan turned a blind eye to the villagers selling local specialties, and even thought of letting the capable Zeng Youhuo set traps to catch wild rabbits and pheasants.

"What does second uncle say?" Zeng Wangcai asked.