Siheyuan: Bringing Warehouses to 1959

Zeng Wangcai didn't care about a few fish. If his second uncle was willing to free himself from earning work points, it would be fine for him to agree.

"He's willing!" Zhang Xiuzhi said, "There will be no work in the fields soon, and we'll just be wasting our time. It's better to go up to the mountains and set traps. After autumn, the rabbits and pheasants will be fat. With Second Uncle's skills, it's much more profitable than going out to work."

"Okay, bring a few fish back from fishing this time, and let Second Uncle go find Zeng Lao San himself." Zeng Wangcai agreed. He knew that Second Uncle would not suffer any loss, and some of the game he caught would inevitably be shared with the production team, which was as it should be.

However, the local specialties and game, combined with the fish and pigs in the space, will not appear conspicuous.

When they returned to the courtyard, Chen Yumei had already prepared dinner. Since the future daughter-in-law was here, the food would naturally be better. However, Zeng Youqian had not returned yet, so they could not eat yet.

Chen Yumei took Zhang Xiuzhi aside to talk, and her words were full of the intention of asking Zhang Xiuzhi to live in Sijiucheng.

Zhang Xiuzhi still refused, saying that it was useless for her to come to the city. It was difficult to find a job outside and it was better to stay in the countryside. One cannot just eat for free.

As they were talking, Zeng Youqian came back with a worried look on his face, looking like a completely different person from the one Zeng Wangcai had seen a few days ago.

"What's the matter? San'er beat up a customer again?" Chen Yumei asked.

San'er was the nickname of Zeng You's second former apprentice. He had a hot temper, but was a good person and knew how to protect his master. When he encountered some shameless customers who picked on his master, he would sometimes get angry and start fighting, and no one could stop him.

"It's not about the tailor shop." Zeng You went to wash his hands and eat. He wanted to drink a sip when he sat at the table, but he lost interest when he thought about it. "I heard that the food ration will be reduced next month. How can people survive?"

"This..." Chen Yumei's face froze, then she was relieved, "It won't affect our family, right? We have enough to eat, but it's the Youhuo family in the countryside that's having a hard time."

"You are confused. If the ration is reduced, the price of food will definitely go up." Zeng Youqian said in a deep voice, "It is already hard to buy food now, not to mention meat. In order to eat and drink, the people will definitely go to the black market to buy food. If the food price on the black market goes up, the price of other things will also go up. It will be a mess. We should eat more comfortably in the future."

Well, what is coming has finally come.

Zeng Wangcai had worked hard to adjust his parents' ideas a little, but now they have gone back to their original ways.

Chen Yumei glanced at the dry food dinner on the table and sighed, "We've only eaten dry food for a few days, and now we're going back to drinking liquid food? The key is that we adults don't care. The second and third children are still growing up. They've only looked better these past few days, but now they're going back to drinking liquid food..."

Zeng Xiaoqiang and Zeng Laifu looked at their father timidly; they didn't want to go back to the past.

Zeng Laifu was young and said innocently, "Dad, let's eat more dry food. At worst, Laifu won't eat meat. With my big brother here, our family won't starve, right?"

Others may not say it, but at least in the hearts of Zeng Xiaoqiang and Zeng Laifu, the eldest brother is already an omnipotent being. In the past two weeks, they are the ones who have benefited the most.

The reason was simple: Zeng Wangcai fed his two younger brothers some things that he could not take or were inconvenient to take out.

"Bullshit, if you eat everything you eat, what will happen to your grandmother? Life in the countryside is even worse." Zeng Youqian scolded.

Zhang Xiuzhi glanced at Zeng Wangcai, and seeing that he didn't say anything, she took the initiative to speak: "Uncle, don't worry about grandma, I can take care of her. This time I caught more than 30 kilograms of frogs, which can make some money. In fact, I can do more without working than with working. Besides, Second Uncle won't have to work soon. It's better to work in the mountains than in the fields. All the grain produced in the fields is handed in."

Zeng Youqian naturally couldn't scold Zhang Xiuzhi. She was just a girl with no status who said she came to seek refuge, but ended up becoming one of the pillars of the family. What else could he say?

"Kid, how can we let you do this?" Zeng Youqian said, "Will the production team agree if your second uncle doesn't work? Even if they agree, I'm afraid most of the game he gets will have to be handed over to the production team. It's better to work and at least have an easy life than to hand over the things you worked so hard to get."

These days, personal enthusiasm can only serve to provide blood transfusions to those above. Zeng Youqian realized this clearly and said what he just said.

Zeng Wangcai also understands this principle. Being in such an environment, just take it slow.

"Laifu, we will still eat meat in the future. Don't worry, we have big brother." After comforting the third brother, Zeng Wangcai began to summarize, "It doesn't matter if the quota is less. We can exchange it with other things. Xiuzhi can get local specialties in the village. These are all money that can be exchanged for food. We go fishing every week, catch more, and another thing... we can continue to hunt wild boars if we have a chance..."

"What are you saying? You can fish in the river whenever you want, are you the Dragon King? You can hunt wild boars in the mountains whenever you want, are you the mountain god?" Zeng Youqian glared at his son. "The uncle next door got lucky a few days ago and caught dozens of kilograms of fish. These days, he went there happily every day, but came back listlessly without catching any fish. He also said that the moat, the Summer Palace, and other places with water are full of people..."

Zeng Wangcai also heard about this. The people had gone crazy and were getting food and drinks everywhere.

However, verbal rebuttal was obviously not as direct as actual action. Zeng Wangcai did not continue speaking and just started eating.

Let's stop here for this topic.

After dinner, Zeng Wangcai took Zhang Xiuzhi to continue walking on the street.

The next morning, Sunday, Zeng Wangcai got up before dawn and called the tiger and leopard brothers to go out together without disturbing his parents in the south room. He washed up casually and went to the front to call Zhang Xiuzhi. Unexpectedly, Zhang Xiuzhi got up even earlier and had already packed everything.

"Let's go out for breakfast and buy some dry food to take with us." Zeng Wangcai called.

"Brother, aren't you bringing a pot this time?" Zeng Hu asked.

The two brothers could not forget the taste of the fish soup from their last fishing trip, especially the fish fillets at the end. They had never tried eating it in this way before, and they boasted about it for a long time after they got home.

"No need to bring it. We'll have grilled fish this time." Zeng Wangcai said as they walked. "By the way, everyone is going to go fishing today. Let's speed up and leave more space on the tricycle to load the fish."

He had already decided that it was pointless to pack the fish in sacks, so he would just use a tricycle and fill the truck bed.

There is a state-owned restaurant at the entrance of the alley, which was converted from a private restaurant. It is not big but is quite old. It also serves breakfast, with steamed buns, dumplings, fried dough sticks and soy milk.

Business is usually pretty good. The old people living nearby like to patronize the place. Most of these old people had a little money from their ancestors, so they can still make ends meet today. Most of the extremely wealthy old people are gone.

Moreover, these old people are now living with only a face left. Every day they just eat, hang out in teahouses, walk their birds, and go to bathhouses. No matter they are rich or poor, they have to stand up and not lose face. They always call each other "Mr." or "Mr.". In fact, there is a person in a drama who always uses his skin to interrupt others every time he goes out...

When Zeng Wangcai and his four companions arrived, the restaurant had not prepared any other food yet. Only steamed buns and steamed bread were available. Meat buns were a popular item. To buy them, one only needed money and grain coupons, not meat coupons.

Thinking about the fact that the Tiger and Leopard brothers could eat, and that there were also Lin Huyang and Huang Liang, Zeng Wangcai said while counting the money and food coupons: "Comrade, give me thirty meat buns and another thirty steamed buns."

At this time, the meat buns and steamed buns were very large in portion, about 2 taels each, and sixty of them were a lot. Zeng Wangcai planned to send a few home so that his mother wouldn't have to get up to make them.

The waiter in the restaurant had sleepy eyes and just glanced at the big customer. He showed no joy or happiness, as it didn't matter whether he sold a lot or a little.

Take the money to pack the buns and complete the transaction.

Zeng Wangcai gave each of the Tiger and Leopard brothers a bun to eat first, and then gave one to Zhang Xiuzhi. There were four other people at home, so he asked Xiaohu to take one back.

He also ate one himself. This was the first time he had breakfast outside since he came here. In the past, his mother had always taken care of everything. Few ordinary people would eat breakfast outside at this time.

"Hey, comrade, the meat buns are not right..." Zeng Wangcai took a few bites of the buns and found the problem.

Where are the meat buns with thin skin and big fillings? Where is the reality of this era?

I've almost bitten into the middle and there's no trace of the meat filling.

"Comrade, you're a black shop? Meat Buns, Meat Buns is just a nickname, right? Where's the meat?" They're playing on the wife cake joke, this is too much.

The waiter yawned and said impatiently, "If you have any questions, go to our leader. If not, you can go to the street office. Our restaurant is under the jurisdiction of the street office. This is a meat bun. Break it open and see if there is any meat."

Zeng Wangcai broke open the meat bun and laughed. Inside was a finger-sized lump of filling, which was sauerkraut filling. If you wanted to find the meat, you would probably have to dig into the sauerkraut for dozens of kilometers.

"So you're selling dog meat under the guise of mutton? You're selling steamed buns for the price of meat dumplings."

"How fresh, go ask around, this is good, you're making a profit if there's meat, understand?"

In a few words, he actually started arguing with the bun seller...