Siheyuan Back to the 1950s

Seeing that all the rooms had been decorated, Sun Zhengguo found a rag and broom and started cleaning the rooms.

After more than an hour of hard work, Sun Zhengguo, who was sweating all over, finally finished cleaning several rooms. Seeing the brand new rooms, he went into the space to take a shower with satisfaction.

After taking a shower, Sun Zhengguo looked at his watch. It was already past 3 o'clock. It was time to go back to cook, so he locked the door and walked home.

On the way home, Sun Zhengguo remembered the money and meat coupons his mother gave him, so he took out a pound of pork from the space and prepared to cook some braised pork in the evening.

……

At the gate of the courtyard, Jia Zhang and the third aunt were discussing the issue of food rationing.

Ever since the fallout between the Jia and Yi families, Jia Zhangshi could be said to have not had a full meal for a day. The family's allocated grain was limited, and they had to rely on buying negotiated grain to survive.

If you want to have enough food to eat every day, it may be difficult with my son’s salary!

Besides, no one can spend all their money when living. One always has to save some money to prevent headaches or fevers.

It is said that when it rains, it never rains. Just this morning, my daughter-in-law was not feeling well. A check-up revealed that she was pregnant again. It won't be long before there will be another addition to the family. This made Jia Zhang very worried, so she came to ask the third aunt for advice.

"I said to his third aunt, there are six people in your family, is the ration enough?"

Hearing what Jia Zhang said, the third aunt couldn't help but roll her eyes at her. Isn't this nonsense? With this amount of quota, no family can get enough. How did you come up with such an idiotic question?

Jia Zhang didn't even need the third aunt to answer, as she knew the answer just by looking at her eyes. However, she was still unwilling to give in and continued to ask.

"Since the rations were insufficient, how did your family survive?"

It was another stupid question. Auntie Three was speechless. She was usually quite eloquent in arguments, but why was he asking such irrelevant questions? So she spoke rudely.

"How did you survive? You went hungry for nine meals out of three days. Don't you know that? I don't know what's wrong with your brain. Do you even need to ask?"

Jia Zhang's mind was instantly confused. "If I were hungry, I would still ask you. I think you are the one with a problem in your head. You deserve to go hungry nine times out of three days."

Just as Jia Zhang was complaining in her heart, Sun Zhengguo came over from a distance, humming a little tune and swinging the meat in his hand back and forth.

Jia Zhang was worrying about food when she happened to see this scene. To be precise, she happened to see the meat swinging back and forth. Her eyes suddenly lit up and her two evil eyes started to roll around.

"Two ladies are chatting."

Sun Zhengguo came to the door, greeted everyone casually, and prepared to go home.

When Jia Zhang saw someone was about to leave, she immediately stopped him.

"Aunt Jia, what's up?"

Seeing that he was stopped, Sun Zhengguo asked.

"Zhengguo, can I discuss something with you?"

Looking at Jia Zhang's expression, Sun Zhengguo knew that she was eyeing him, but he still pretended not to know and asked.

"What's up? I'm listening."

"It's like this. Your sister-in-law was not feeling well today. After a checkup, she was found to be pregnant. The doctor said that she needs to supplement her nutrition. Now, the meat coupons at home have been used up. Can you lend me some meat? I will return it to you when I have meat coupons next month."

The third aunt on the side was quite depressed at this moment. This Jia Zhang was a good-for-nothing and had taken away all the work from their family.

"Aunt Jia, logically speaking, it's not wrong for you to lend some meat. After all, my daughter-in-law is pregnant and needs nourishment."

When Jia Zhang heard this, she was overjoyed and was about to reach out to take it.

"But I can't lend you this meat today."

Just as Sun Zhengguo finished speaking, the hand that Jia Zhang extended to him stopped abruptly, and she uttered two awkward "hehe" sounds, and then said.

"Why? We are all neighbors, shouldn't we help each other? Besides, you call me aunt, so I am your elder, so I should help you even more."

Jia Zhang used Yi Zhonghai's tactics, moral blackmail and fallacies, but Sun Zhengguo didn't buy it and spoke directly.

"I won't lend you this meat because my mother borrowed the meat coupons from someone else. I bought them to nourish my brother."

"You know, my brother is about to take an exam and is still growing, so he can't lack nutrition. What if I lend the meat to your family and he fails the exam? What if he collapses from lack of nutrition?"

"No, I won't lend you all of it. How about you lend me half of it? Then your brother will have something to eat, and my daughter-in-law can also get some nutrition."

Jia Zhang was as smart as I was, and she was secretly delighted, "Little guy, you want to fight me? You'll have to drink my foot washing water! I'm going to eat this meat today, and even the Jade Emperor can't stop me."

Sun Zhengguo was also speechless. Was it not clear enough for me to explain? Jia Zhang was still pestering him, so he spoke directly and bluntly.

"As the saying goes, a young boy can eat his father out of poverty. This little bit of meat is not enough for my brother to eat alone. Why don't you go find a butcher and try to borrow half a pig."

After Sun Zhengguo finished speaking, he was ready to leave, but how could Jia Zhang let him go?

Jia Zhang walked up quickly, sat down on the ground, hugged Sun Zhengguo's thigh with one hand, pounded the ground with the other hand, and sang with tears and snot.

"Old Jia! Please come out and take a look! How long have you been dead? The youngsters in this courtyard dare to bully us orphans and widows. Please come and take them away! Old Jia! Please come quickly!..."

Jia Zhang's screaming immediately attracted other neighbors. Seeing others pointing and talking, Sun Zhengguo became angry. He exerted force on his legs, broke free from Jia Zhang's hand, took out 5 cents, and then said.

"Third Auntie, please go to the police station and report that someone is robbing people and spreading feudal superstition. This fifty cents is your reward."

When the three aunts heard this good thing, they hurried over to take the money.

But will Jia Zhang agree?

She was being unreasonable, but she was not stupid, so she quickly stood up, stopped the third aunt, and spoke loudly.

"No, don't call the police. I was just joking. Why did you take it so seriously? Zhengguo, please tell me. Auntie was just joking."

Sun Zhengguo also knew that even if someone from the police station came, they would most likely just criticize him, which would not be a big deal. He just wanted to disgust Jia Zhang, and now that his goal had been achieved, he didn't want to get entangled with her anymore, so he said.

"Are you sure you're kidding?"

"Yes Yes Yes."

"Did I bully you orphans and widows?"

"No no."

"Then who are you going to look for when you call Uncle Jia back?"

"Look for me, look for me."

"Hahaha……."

Jia Zhang's answer made the neighbors burst into laughter.

Jia Zhang, who reacted, spoke hurriedly.

"No, I'm not looking for anyone, I'm not looking for anyone."

Seeing that Jia Zhang had given in, Sun Zhengguo stopped talking and went home with the meat.

When the neighbors saw that there was nothing more to watch, they all dispersed and went home.

Only Jia Zhang and the third aunt were left at the gate. The third aunt looked at Jia Zhang and felt a little angry because she had lost 5 cents in profit.

"Humph!"

The third aunt uttered a dissatisfied sound and then went home.

After everyone had left, Jia Zhang looked at her hands and murmured.

"How can this bastard from the Sun family be so strong? My hands are still shaking."

After saying this, Jia Zhang slowly walked towards the central courtyard.