Siheyuan: Bringing Warehouses to 1959

The three children ate in different ways but none of them said anything. Zeng Xiaoqiang and Zeng Laifu were the most impatient. They took a bite and held it in their mouths, stirring it slowly with their tongues over and over again, savoring the delicious taste. Zeng Xiaohuan stuck out her tongue and licked it slowly, one by one.

Soon Zeng Xiaoqiang and Zeng Laifu finished their ice cream. They reluctantly put the flat sticks in their mouths and sucked hard, trying to absorb all the remaining flavors in the wood chips.

"Brother, what kind of popsicle is this? Lai Fu has never seen it before..." The third brother stared at Zeng Wangcai with his round eyes, not at him, but at the half-eaten popsicle in his hand.

There will be plenty of opportunities in the future. Zeng Wangcai didn’t want them to eat too much, so he ate the ice cream in just a few bites. The third child’s face was immediately filled with disappointment.

Zeng Xiaohuan ate slowly, reluctant to eat. Due to the hot weather, the ice cream melted quickly, flowing down her red and swollen fingers and onto the palms and backs of her hands.

"Brother, it's melted... the popsicle has melted..." Zeng Xiaohuan couldn't lick it and burst into tears in panic, licking the popsicle in her hand while crying.

"Don't cry, Xiaohuan. Eat quickly. After you finish eating, there are some delicious foods here."

Hearing that there was something delicious to eat, the second and third brothers immediately looked at their eldest brother pitifully, and were reluctant to throw away the sticks in their hands.

After Zeng Xiaohuan finally finished eating the ice cream, Zeng Wangcai took out a wet tissue to wipe her hands clean, and told the second and third children to do the same.

After cleaning up, he collected all the evidence and threw it into the space.

Xiao Huan smelled the fragrance on her hand and found it was not the smell of ice cream. She smiled and said, "Brother, what did you do to Xiao Huan's hand? It has no smell..."

"Why are you crying? Big brother has some candies, one for each of you." Zeng Wangcai stuffed an unwrapped White Rabbit candy into each of the three children's hands. In his haste, he didn't dare to give them soft candies, mainly because the candies were too small and he was worried that they would choke.

Why do we need to package again?

White Rabbit milk candy was only released by Guanshengyuan this year as a gift to the motherland on National Day. There is not even Cuban candy on the market now, and it will not be imported until next year. Zeng Wangcai remembers that there is pagoda candy now, the kind that makes you poop worms when you eat it.

The three children, each holding a piece of White Rabbit milk candy in their mouths, were satisfied. They followed Zeng Wangcai and listened to what Zeng Wangcai told them to do.

Zeng Wangcai came out of the park with his three children, carrying empty bags. When they passed by the food station, Zeng Xiaoqiang asked him why he didn't buy meat.

As the second child in the family, Zeng Xiaoqiang also has to take on the responsibility of doing housework. He used to queue up at the food station with a small stool to buy meat.

But there is no meat for sale at this time, and ordinary people will not buy meat at this time. Why eat meat if it is not a festival? All the meat coupons should be saved for the New Year.

A family has three taels of meat coupons, which means only three pounds of meat in a year. It shows how precious meat is.

For example, in a courtyard house, among all the people in the compound, only two or three families are qualified to eat meat. One of them is Sha Zhu, who eats meat because of his job. The other is Xu Damao in the backyard. Now Lou Xiao'e hasn't married in yet, so if this prodigal son is full, the whole family will not be hungry.

As for families like Yan Fugui, as early as 1965, they could not eat meat for two months, not to mention now in 1959.

In this environment, how much is a wild rabbit weighing three or four kilograms worth?

Zeng Wangcai was determined to have a good meal for his family today, and he had already made a plan. He would go back in the afternoon to cook himself and would not go back for lunch. He would feed the children some snacks on the way, but not too much. They would eat meat at night, and snacks would not be as good as meat.

He knew that his mother would accompany his second uncle to the health center to get medicine in the afternoon, and also go to exchange some corn flour, mixed flour and other grains for his second uncle to take away. Don't even think about white flour, corn flour is a luxury.

For this purpose, he prepared five kilograms of flour, as well as some soy sauce, vinegar, etc., so that he could deal with them when he got back.

As for the rhetoric, he had also thought about it.

When passing by the food station, Zeng Wangcai glanced inside and found that the target was not there, so he did not stop, but continued walking with his three children, walking through the streets and alleys, and came to the gate of the large courtyard where his classmate Lin Huyang lived.

The original owner had many classmates and brothers, some of whom were very good friends and often hung out together. Among them, Lin Huyang was a very close buddy. The two of them were both classmates and buddies and were very close.

Lin Huyang's family conditions were pretty good. There were not many people in the family, just four of them, including his parents and a younger sister. Putting these aside, the key point was that Lin Huyang's father worked at a food station, was responsible for selling meat, and had a good relationship with the slaughterhouse.

This is Zeng Wangcai’s target.

"Yangzi, Yangzi..." Zeng Wangcai knew that Lin Huyang was at home, because he was the only one drinking yesterday and he also drank too much. It was hot at this time, so he would not run around.

Lin Huyang was indeed at home. He opened the door and let Zeng Wangcai in. He glanced at his pocket which was obviously filled with something. "What is it? Now that you are here, what else do you want to bring?"

He was just joking, but he didn't expect Zeng Wangcai to really bring something. In his pocket was a watermelon weighing about ten kilograms. This watermelon was the kind with watermelon seeds that Zeng Wangcai deliberately selected.

Zeng Xiaoqiang and the other two watched as their elder brother took out a big watermelon from his pocket like a magic trick, their eyes widened, they had never seen their elder brother buy a watermelon...

But the child had his mouth sealed after eating the snacks along the way, and remembered what his elder brother said: not to say a word about food and drink.

"Wangcai, are you sick? Why are you buying watermelons for no reason? You might as well use this spare money to buy something to eat." Lin Huyang complained.

As he spoke, Lin Huyang took out a box of Beihai cigarettes from his pocket, took out a cigarette and threw it to Zeng Wangcai. This kind of cigarette is commonly known as 2.3 cents, and is mostly smoked by children of workers. There is a saying in the old city: senior cadres smoke Mudan, middle-level cadres smoke Xiangshan, and workers, peasants and soldiers smoke 2.3 cents. Even this is a luxury. Even more people roll their own cigarettes.

Two and a half yuan is the Beihai.

Zeng Wangcai's craving for cigarettes was aroused by the cigarette. He could not help but take the cigarette and light it on the match that Lin Huyang had struck. He exhaled a puff of smoke and said, "I'm not buying this for you. I'm buying this for my uncle. Where is my uncle? I didn't see him when I passed by the store just now."

As he spoke, he took the cigarette box from Lin Huyang's hand, emptied all the cigarettes inside, leaving the box, then asked Lin Huyang for a pack and did the same thing.

This made Lin Huyang confused. He doesn’t want cigarettes, but a cigarette box?

"My dad went to the slaughterhouse. Do you want to buy meat or something? I'll take you there. He happens to be helping someone get into trouble today." Lin Huyang put away his cigarette while speaking.

This is the status of the pork boss.

To put it bluntly, in another year, there will be a shortage of meat, and you may not be able to buy it even if you have a meat coupon. And even if you can buy it, it may not be good meat.

Nowadays, when a pig is slaughtered, all its parts are reserved. Functional parts like liver and ribs are usually given to hospitals, kindergartens, government canteens, and households with relatives. As a result, there is not much meat left.

Even now, some people still want pig offal because it is cheap.

However, Zeng Wangcai's target is not these. What he wants are pig bones, trident bones, miscellaneous bones and other bones. These bones are not only cheap but also do not require tickets.

Some people still want pig bones now. In the days when there was no oil and water, they would buy them to make soup or cook wild vegetables. Some people were thrifty and would eat a pair of bones two or three times. In the end, they would send the tasteless bones to the scrap yard to sell them for money.

With Lin Huyang in tow, there was one more person in the team. When they came out and passed by the toilet, Zeng Wangcai made an excuse to go in. He came out after a few minutes, took out a box of Beihai from the canvas backpack he was carrying and threw it to Lin Huyang.

The cigarette box was open, Lin Huyang took it without hesitation, took out a cigarette and lit it... This taste is wrong, this is not the taste of Beihai brand...