Siheyuan: Bringing Warehouses to 1959

As the saying goes, the young boys can eat their father out of house and home. There are more than thirty people, the oldest is only in his early twenties, and the younger ones are only sixteen or seventeen years old, all of them are old enough to eat.

Three large steamed buns, each weighing 2 liang of noodles. In later times, this amount would be enough for young men and women. But now, for thirty-nine people, except for Zeng Wangcai and Zhang Xiuzhi, who could not finish the food, it was not enough for everyone else, and they might not even be half full.

Zeng Wangcai took a sip of the milky white soup with wild vegetables floating on it, his eyes lit up and he said, "It's delicious, Uncle Tian's soup is delicious. Your cooking skills are wasted here making big pot meals."

"Wangcai, what you said means, do you want to steal your uncle's girl?" Zeng Laosan happened to hear Zeng Wangcai's compliment.

It’s true, Zeng Wangcai does have some small ideas, but they are immature.

Nowadays, as long as you are talented, no matter in which field, you are valuable, and it is easier to stand out than in later generations. In later generations, in addition to being a talent, you also have to be able to handle things.

Isn’t there a saying that even if Hawking comes, we have to stand up and toast?

"Uncle San, you're overthinking it!" Zeng Wangcai replied lightly, then squatted down to eat like everyone else, two bites of steamed bun and a sip of soup.

After eating one steamed bun, Zeng Wangcai broke off half of the second steamed bun and ate it, and then he couldn’t eat any more.

Zhang Xiuzhi was better than him. She ate two steamed buns and drank the soup before stopping eating.

Zeng Wangcai gave the remaining steamed buns to Xiaohu, and Zhang Xiuzhi gave them to Xiaobao.

"Thank you, brother!"

"Thank you, sister-in-law!"

The little tiger and the little leopard laughed and thanked them, then ate with big mouthfuls and finished everything in a short while.

The other thirty-five people did the same. They all ate while squatting with their legs together. After eating, they picked up the steamed bread crumbs that fell on their knees and legs and put them into their mouths bit by bit.

I don't miss the bone soup either. I even licked it after drinking it. It is so sweet and clean that I can use it directly in the next meal without washing it. There is no grease left at all.

"I'm done eating, but I'm not full!"

"If I had another bowl of soup and seven or eight steamed buns, it would be nice."

“I’m not full either…”

After more than thirty days, the business was still not over. They looked at the steamer pitifully with their bowls in their hands.

Some people may think that they are exaggerating. Just one steamed bun and two bowls of soup require a very big stomach. And they don’t look big in size, so how can they possibly eat it?

In fact, it is not an exaggeration. They can definitely eat every one of them and don’t feel full.

People who have not experienced physical labor in the countryside have no idea how much energy farmers consume, especially during the busy farming season.

Taking some places in the south as an example, during the summer harvest, farmers get up before dawn and go to work at around four or even three o'clock. They stay up until the sun comes out. When the weather is cool, they go out to do farm work and do not eat. They work until about ten o'clock. When the weather is hot and they are too hungry, they come back to eat.

At this time, they will eat dry food, a big bowl of white rice, eating dry rice early in the morning. Can you believe it if I tell you?

But they can’t bear it if they don’t eat dry food!

If you still don't understand, go to the construction site and watch how the migrant workers eat. Especially those who do heavy work. The first thing they consider when eating is whether the rice is free. Being able to eat enough is their primary choice.

Therefore, those who sell fast food lunch boxes charge the dishes by weight, provide free rice, and free seaweed egg drop soup, so that they can do business.

"You all just know how to eat. You guys are eating your way to ruin the production team." Zeng Lao San scolded him, a little against his will. "I never saw you so enthusiastic when working. Eating is your top priority."

In fact, as a village chief, or even as a rural person, many people know clearly what caused the current situation, but there is nothing they can do about it.

When working for the government, you won't move until the appointed time, and you'll have to be urged to do so when the appointed time comes; when working for yourself, you'd want to stay in the field 24 hours a day. How can there be no difference?

"Don't scold them, village chief!" Li Baotian advised, "Bald is right, they can eat it because they cooked it."

"Which bald guy said that? Why haven't I heard of it?" Zeng Laosan wondered.

"That's what Monkey King's master, Tang Guangtou, said at Gao Village." Li Baotian responded with a smile.

Zeng Wangcai almost laughed out loud. He didn't expect that Li Baotian had read Journey to the West. He remembered it very clearly that Brother Yu Di had indeed said this. This was also one of the few golden sentences of Brother Yu Di that he recognized.

"Get lost!" Zeng Lao San cursed with a smile, but he still felt bad and said with a long face, "Find them something to eat. They have to go fishing in the afternoon."

"Okay!" Li Baotian put down the big shovel, went into the house and brought out a basket with a lot of wild vegetable cakes in it.

Zeng Wangcai ate a wild vegetable cake without any additives, praised Li Baotian's cooking skills again, and got up to lead the team to go fishing.

He did not prepare a fishing rod, but he prepared a lot of fishing lines and fish hooks, as well as some things for the show. In addition to the four of him, he also called the brothers Goudan and Gousheng and the other eight or nine people, making a total of fifteen, and they headed for the river together in a mighty manner.

Our goal for this afternoon is to catch 1,000 kilograms of fish. On average, each person only needs to catch a few dozen kilograms.

Zeng Wangcai did not plan to go fishing in the afternoon. He is now a bit like a micro-businessman and has developed more than a dozen downlines, so he can concentrate on management.

Zeng Wangcai and a dozen of his men were about to leave when Zeng Laosan suddenly came over with his secret lover, Accountant Hu, to stop them.

Zeng Laosan asked the accountant Hu to get some money. He took out two fifty-cent notes from a pile of Mao bills, thought for a moment, gritted his teeth and took out another one-dollar note. He handed the two dollars to Zeng Wangcai and said, "Wangcai, I want to discuss something with you. Secretary Wang is coming to dinner tonight. Our production team's canteen doesn't have enough seasonings. Even if Li Baotian's cooking skills are great, it won't help. Uncle San will buy some from you."

"The production team is so poor that we can't even afford to buy condiments?" Zeng Wangcai deliberately complained.

"It's not that we can't afford it..." Zeng Lao San said with a wry smile, "We only need the spices, but we don't need to buy anything else. Li Baotian can find them himself, and members usually bring some back from work to exchange for work points. Besides, it's better to do something else with the money. Why buy spices? If Secretary Wang hadn't come, I wouldn't have bought any."

This is the truth. It seems that Zeng Laosan ran the production team's canteen as his own home. It was thanks to this idea that he had it, otherwise it would have collapsed long ago.

"Okay, my second uncle has some, but you're giving too much for the spices. So, I'll take this." Zeng Wangcai took out a fifty-cent note and put it in his pocket.

"Uh, you really accepted it..." Zeng Laosan's mouth twitched with pain. He thought Zeng Wangcai would be polite.

Zeng Wangcai’s idea is, why not accept it?

Things given for free are too cheap and can easily make people develop a habit of taking advantage. Today you may get a scallion, tomorrow you may get a pound of rice. But if one day you can’t get it anymore, it’s not a favor but a hatred.

"Don't want to buy it? If you don't want to buy it, I'll give it back to you!" Zeng Wangcai took out the money and handed it back, "Our spices weren't blown in by the wind."

"Village chief, what Wangcai said makes sense. It's not easy for anyone these days. We can't push our luck further." Li Baotian advised from behind.

Zeng Lao San immediately glared and said, "Do you think I am taking advantage of you, Third Uncle? I will pay you just like that."

"Well done, Third Uncle. Let's pay the money the production team owes for pork last time!"

"Well, your second aunt is here. I'm going to get some spices. I'll leave first..."

Zeng Laosan ran away in shame. This time the pork and other supplies were given by Zeng Wangcai as a thank you to the villagers for their help in the fight. The last time the fish was in exchange for his second uncle Zeng Youhuo not having to work. But the pork before and after that was on credit and there was an IOU. Zeng Laosan couldn't afford it, so he could only turn a blind eye and run away.

At this time, a group of women from the Zeng family came over under the leadership of Ma Ping. They had gone to support Zeng Wangcai before, but they had bad legs and feet and missed him. After searching for a while, they couldn't find him and grandma was almost dying of anxiety.

Ma Ping was stopped by Zeng Lao San and told about the big news. Grandma came over with a group of grandchildren.

"My dear grandson, where did you get hit..." Grandma dropped her cane and touched her grandson's body with her dry hands.

"Haha, it's itchy!" Zeng Wangcai laughed as his ticklish spot was touched, "I'm fine, grandma, Xiaohu and Xiaobao were beaten up by someone, look at them."

"Ah, Tiger and Leopard were beaten up? Where are they?"

"Grandma, we are here!" The little tiger and the little leopard who were standing next to Zeng Wangcai were at a loss whether to laugh or cry. They did not dare to complain and lowered their heads to let their short grandmother check.

"It was a donkey's ball that beat my grandson like this..." Grandma put her hands on her hips and cursed without caring about anything. She was facing the direction of Zhujia Village, as if the person who beat her was right in front of her.

Little Tiger and Little Leopard didn't dare to say a word, and did not show their bravery in the fight as before.

Zeng Wangcai gently stroked his grandmother's back to calm her down.

有老人疼爱，真好，老人这种骂人出气，比揍人还来的舒爽。

After grandma had scolded enough, Zeng Wangcai let his three worried sisters take grandma back to rest.

After finally sorting out the affairs at home, Zeng Wangcai took people to the river to fish. The sun was at its highest point and very scorching, making people sweat, but everyone was very happy and no one complained.

Zeng Wangcai noticed that Zhang Xiuzhi, who was walking beside him, sometimes moved her left shoulder, as if she was feeling uncomfortable somewhere.

"What's the matter?" Zeng Wangcai asked.

"It's okay!" Zhang Xiuzhi said nonchalantly, "I just got hit on the shoulder by a melon peel..."

This "guapi" is also a dialect, but it is obviously different from when Zhang Xiuzhi said Zeng Wangcai.

"Did you hit my wife? Let me see what happened to her. I have some medicinal wine in my bag for you to try..."

"You bastard, will you let me take off my clothes in broad daylight?"