Rebirth of Siheyuan: Starting from escaping famine in 42

Time flies, and before we know it, it is the summer of 44.

That day, Li Qingfeng and Ma Baofu were sitting at a herbal tea stall drinking tea.

Li Qingfeng took out a cigarette and handed it to Ma Baofu. He also put one in his mouth. He lighted the match and lit the cigarettes for the two of them. He took a deep breath and exhaled a thick puff of green smoke before saying to Ma Baofu beside him, "Brother Ma, why is it so hot?"

Ma Baofu held a cigarette in his hand and took a sip of herbal tea before he said, "Who said it wasn't?"

As he spoke, he took out a piece of cloth from his pocket and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

Then he said, "It hasn't rained for days, and I don't know how the grain harvest will be this year."

Li Qingfeng curled his lips at Ma Baofu and said, "I don't think it's possible." He turned around and saw that there was no one around, then whispered to Ma Baofu, "Even if there is food, it will still be taken away by the devils."

He took a puff of cigarette and continued, "I think we should buy more food in advance and store it at home. Otherwise, when the summer harvest comes, the Japanese will collect all the food nearby and there will be nothing left. We will still have to eat those mixed flour foods. I've had enough of them."

During this period, due to the rapid development of the base areas behind enemy lines, many small places in North China had actually been liberated by our party and the skinheads.

The Japanese now occupy only some relatively important large and medium-sized cities. The Japanese army has obviously declined and is shrinking its forces.

Grain stores have not been able to operate normally since last year, and restaurants have been closing down one after another.

The Japanese devils and the puppet government were afraid that the people would have no food to eat and that it would cause unrest, so they concentrated all the food together. Of course, the Japanese devils only ate fine grains.

Some traitors and the Japanese puppet government would get fine grains to eat, but if there were no fine grains, they could only eat flour made from a mixture of white flour and corn flour.

Ordinary people could only eat mixed flour, such as wheat bran, acorns, corn cobs, sawdust, etc., ground into powder and mixed together, which was called "mixed flour."

The Japs ordered the puppet government to have grain stores in the city sell grain to the people according to their household registration.

Some of this mixed flour contains grain, and some even contains some tree bark.

Li Qingfeng bought some mixed noodles and took them home. After making them and taking a bite, he couldn't eat any more.

Even with this kind of mixed flour, ordinary people had to get up early and go to the grain store to queue up to buy it, and sometimes they couldn't even buy it. In order to fight for this little bit of mixed flour, the so-called food, some people even fought each other.

In the end, the situation improved only after the police and puppet troops went to the door of the grain store to maintain order. Li Qingfeng also followed the police to maintain order in front of the grain store in their jurisdiction.

After hearing what Li Qingfeng said, Ma Baofu lowered his head and thought for a while. He couldn't see his expression and didn't say anything, but just nodded.

After they finished their tea and waited until the sweat had subsided, they continued patrolling the streets.

 …

Li Qingfeng returned the gun to the armory, came to the door of the police station, saw Ma Baofu, and said to him: "Brother Ma, I'm going home first."

Ma Baofu said, "Okay, see you tomorrow."

"Tomorrow." Li Qingfeng replied, turned around and walked towards home.

After returning home, he changed into a pair of shorts and a vest, took out two big watermelons from the space, put them in the water jar, and then went to the main room to drink some boiled water.

Li Qingshan came home from school and went straight to the main room. He poured a bowl of water and gulped it down in one breath. He wiped the remaining water stains from the corners of his mouth with the back of his hand and muttered, "It's so hot."

Then he casually slumped down on the chair in front of him, in a completely relaxed posture, and said to his eldest brother in a weak voice: "Brother, let's eat something cold tonight!"

Li Qingfeng was smoking a cigarette. When he heard his brother's words, he looked up at his brother Li Qingshan's casual appearance. He felt a little helpless, but he didn't argue with him. He said, "Let's have cold noodles tonight!"

Li Qingshan nodded and said, "Okay."

"Qingshan, there is watermelon in the water tank. Eat some to fill your stomach first." Li Qingfeng stood up and said, then went to the kitchen to knead dough and roll noodles.

Dinner was ready in a short while. After the two brothers finished eating and cleaned up, they took a cold shower one after another.

Li Qingfeng went straight back to the house to rest. He had to conserve his energy as he had to trade with the people in the black market at night!

You read it right, we trade with the black market, mainly coarse grains like sweet potatoes, potatoes, corn kernels and corn cobs mixed with ground cornmeal, just these three kinds.

Li Qingfeng had done business with someone in the black market two months ago. The transaction went smoothly and there was no black-on-black behavior.

Li Qingfeng felt that the people in the black market wanted to have him as a long-term trading channel, so he didn't ask him about the source of the goods and just focused on the transaction.

After entering the space, Li Qingfeng looked at the changes inside. The small hill had become a mountain hundreds of meters high. There was also a small lake at the foot of the mountain, connected to a small river, flowing in the space.

The land in space has not changed, except that the mountains have become bigger, there is an additional lake, and the river has become wider.

Li Qingfeng came to the storage room, prepared the food for trading in the evening, and then left the space.

After finally waiting for his brother to fall asleep, Li Qingfeng walked out of the house without even changing his clothes, and climbed over the wall to leave the yard.

After dodging patrols from the Japanese and puppet troops all the way for about an hour, they finally arrived at the trading location, which was a dilapidated courtyard. Seeing that the people who wanted to trade had not arrived yet, Li Qingfeng put all the food in the yard.

Outside the yard, it was set up to look like many people were transporting grain. After everything was ready, he lit a cigarette, found a rock to sit on, and waited for the black market traders to arrive.

Before he finished smoking a cigarette, Li Qingfeng heard the sound of a cart being pulled outside. He quickly covered his face with a headscarf, leaving only a pair of bright eyes and short black hair exposed.

There were also voices of conversation: "Brother Gou, look at these footprints on the ground, it seems that they have already brought the food here."

"Well! Tell the brothers behind us to hurry up, finish the transaction and go back early, so as to avoid running into the Japanese on the way."

"Got it, Brother Dog."

After a while, a man named Gou Ge came in with two people and found the yard full of food. He also found Li Qingfeng sitting in the corner of the yard.

Gou Ge quickly walked up to Li Qingfeng, handed him a cigarette, and said with a smile: "Shan Ye, you're here quite early!"

Li Qingfeng gave this group of people a fake name, Li Shan.

Nowadays, whoever has food is the boss, so I call him Li Qingfeng the Mountain Master.

Li Qingfeng lit up a cigarette, nodded, and said in a cold voice: "Okay, Brother Gou, let's trade first! How much jade do you want to trade this time?"

Liu Ergou also lit a cigarette and said with a smile: "Master Shan, there are four large boxes of jade, and the rest are large and small yellow croakers."

Li Qingfeng looked up at him and said softly, "Okay, Brother Gou, it's the same as last time. You check the food first."

Liu Ergou felt a little uncomfortable when being seen by Li Qingfeng. He felt that there was murderous intent in this man's eyes. Although he had experienced this last time, he was still a little frightened. How many people must have been killed to have this murderous intent?

I can’t afford to offend you. I really can’t afford to offend you.