Siheyuan: Grassroots Counterattack

Father and mother Li looked at each other, then walked into the main room cautiously. Seeing that the door of their son's room was open, they walked forward and saw their son lying on the bed sleeping.

The two of them breathed a sigh of relief. Father Li took Mother Li to the yard and whispered, "My son is tired. Don't disturb him."

Mother Li nodded and said, "I'll go to the kitchen to see if there's anything delicious. I have to give my son some nourishment tonight."

Father and mother Li were busy in the kitchen, and Li Tianyi woke up in the room and looked at the clock on the wall. "I slept for so long?"

Li Tianyi just got up when he heard the noises coming from the kitchen. He walked over and saw his father and mother cooking. "Mom and Dad, what delicious food are you making tonight?"

"Oh, son, you're awake! You must not have gotten enough rest during this period. You've lost weight."

Li Tianyi didn't know whether to laugh or cry. How could he not be thin when people were not getting enough food these days?

"Mom, it's not as serious as you said. I'm just a little tired."

At this time, the bicycle bell rang, and Xiaoxue pushed the bicycle into the yard. As soon as she came in, she saw Li Tianyi standing at the kitchen door. Xiaoxue couldn't believe it until Li Tianyi walked up to her, then she came to her senses.

"Xiaoxue, what are you thinking about? Are you so happy to see me back?"

Xiaoxue's cheeks turned red at Li Tianyi's teasing words, "What are you talking about? Mom and Dad are still here."

Li Tianyi helped Xiaoxue park her bike, then took Xiaoxue's hand and wanted to go back to the house to talk, but Xiaoxue refused, "Let's talk after dinner. I have to go help mom cook first."

Li Tianyi didn't force her, so he let go of Xiaoxue's hand and watched her walk into the kitchen with a smile.

The daughter-in-law came in to help her husband cook. As a father-in-law, Mr. Li naturally couldn't stay in the kitchen any longer, so he came and sat down at the stone table in the yard.

"Dad, nothing happened at home in the past few months, right?"

Father Li shook his head. "No, it's just some bullshit."

"What's wrong? Is Yi Zhonghai up to no good again?" Li Tianyi noticed that his father was depressed, so he asked.

"Hey, he always makes trouble! A few days ago, the street office notified that the ration for urban residents has been reduced. The families in the courtyard who already didn't have enough food can no longer survive, so Yi Zhonghai called a meeting for the whole courtyard."

"He is raising funds for the Jia family again?"

“No, but almost.”

It turns out that since the ration was reduced, families with some savings would go to the black market to buy premium grain, but premium grain is expensive. Now the price of coarse grain has risen to more than 1 yuan per catty. Who can afford it?

The people in the yard were not rich to begin with, and after buying once or twice, their family savings were emptied. So this phenomenon appeared in the yard: every family relied on the labor force to eat, and the elderly and children in the family only ate half full or less, as long as they were not starving to death.

Women and children who used to enjoy the cool air in the courtyard during the day no longer go out and just stay in the house and lie down, which further reduces consumption.

But this was not a solution, especially for the Jia family. They used to have white flour steamed buns for almost every meal, but now even cornmeal dumplings were not enough, and this made Jia Zhangshi very upset.

Jia Zhang instigated Qin Huairu to go to Yi Zhonghai and cry poor, but Yi Zhonghai was not a pushover. He would not give money to the Jia family as he did before. Instead, he asked a lady to take out a few pounds of corn flour to send the crying Qin Huairu away.

Seeing that Qin Huairu was so useless that she only brought back some corn flour, Jia Zhang was so angry that she slapped Qin Huairu several times.

Qin Huairu hid the hatred in her eyes and looked at Jia Dongxu pitifully. Jia Dongxu acted as if he didn't see anything and just sat beside her to tease his son.

Qin Huairu didn't know what was wrong with Jia Dongxu. She felt that Jia Dongxu had changed a lot in the past two months. In the past, when she was bullied by the old hag Jia Zhang, he would step forward to stop her, but now he seemed like a different person and allowed his mother-in-law to bully him.

Jia Zhang thought Qin Huairu was useless, so she went to Yi Zhonghai's house by herself. It was unknown what she said to Yi Zhonghai, but that night, she called a meeting of the entire courtyard.

At the meeting, Yi Zhonghai did not openly help the Jia family. Instead, he first stated the difficulties everyone had faced during this period, and then called on everyone to raise funds collectively to buy food on the black market.

Everyone was hesitant at first. First, the price of food on the black market was too expensive. Second, if they were caught, not only would their food be confiscated, but they would also have to stay in jail for a few days.

But what Yi Zhonghai said makes sense. There are still wild vegetables in the fields now. If people have food at home, they can mix it with the wild vegetables and make do for a while. If they don’t store some food now, and food becomes more expensive in the future, what will the family do then?

Soon everyone in the courtyard agreed, and the Li family was no exception. They registered their names and handed the money to Yan Bugui.

In the late night, the adult men in the yard went out. Although they could not all go into the black market, they could meet up outside the black market. These days, robberies at night are common.

Yi Zhonghai took Yan Bugui and Liu Haizhong into the black market, but came out not long after. The three of them went back and forth twice and brought out four bags of corn flour.

Many of the people going in and out of the black market were staring at them with sly eyes. Yi Zhonghai knew something was wrong, so he quickly called out to Sha Zhu and asked them to quickly load the goods into the car and return to the courtyard.

Seeing that so many people had come, the people who were following them withdrew. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief after returning to the courtyard.

It is too dangerous tonight. If they were not so many in number, it would be a problem whether they could return home tonight.

At this time, no one in the courtyard rested. They waited for the men in the courtyard to return safely and the women in the courtyard to go out.

Yi Zhonghai wanted to put the grain in the cellar, and if anyone in the yard ran out of food in a few days, they could come to them to get it.

But the people in the yard disagreed. Everyone knew that there was a thief in the yard, and if the grain was placed in the cellar, it would be stolen.

Who will be asked to pay for the loss? In fact, Yi Zhonghai also had this idea. After all, it was not honorable for them to buy food on the black market. If the food was lost, they would not dare to report it to the street office or the police.

At that time, it can only be solved in the courtyard. In the courtyard, it is not a matter of just saying a word. This is also the solution he and Jia Zhang discussed.

But unexpectedly, the residents in the yard did not agree to do this at all. This is food. How can they feel at ease if they don't hold it in their own hands?

So after a half-hour debate, Jia Zhang was defeated, Yi Zhonghai agreed to divide the grain, and then Yan Bugui distributed the grain according to the money registered on his side.

Everyone happily took the food home, but Jia Zhang was throwing things around and muttering to herself, cursing the people in the yard and Yi Zhonghai. Although Yi Zhonghai couldn't hear what she was saying, he was sure that she was not saying anything nice.