The Beginning of Siheyuan: The Pig Killer of Qinjia Village

"Lao Yi, I went to the hospital for a checkup today and confirmed that Xiaoyu is pregnant again."

Gao Shuzhen brought the dishes to the table, sat down and spoke.

"This is a good thing. Xiaoyu is determined to have two babies in three years."

Yi Zhonghai had a smile on his face, but he sighed in his heart that the couple had not responded for such a long time.

"I'm pregnant too. The doctor said it's been over a month."

Gao Shuzhen added that she did so on purpose to see the difference in Yi Zhonghai's attitude before and after.

She went in for a check-up after Zhang Xiaoyu went in. Because no relatives had come that month, she secretly went to see a familiar doctor and didn't tell anyone.

"Really?"

Yi Zhonghai was so excited that he almost jumped up on the spot.

"Yes! But the doctor told me to be careful. I'm nearly 40 years old and I'm an elderly mother. My health isn't very good either..."

"Great, great."

Yi Zhonghai's face was full of smiles. He stretched out his hand to hug Gao Shuzhen but then retracted it. As the baby was still young, he was worried about hurting her, so he walked around the room excitedly.

"Then we'll give them the names that Master has chosen. The boy will be named Gaobao and the girl Zhenbao. Oh, and we'll also need to prepare small clothes and shoes, and what else..."

This name was chosen by someone who calculated it. It is not easy for two people to have a child. They have to be of one mind to have a chance of getting pregnant, so they gave up their previous names Jiabao and Jiabao.

Gao Shuzhen smiled with satisfaction when she saw Yi Zhonghai so excited. As expected, a legitimate child is more important than an illegitimate child.

"Old Yi, it's still early, sit down and eat first."

Yi Zhonghai was so excited that he was confused and at a loss.

"Oh, yes, food. Shuzhen, don't eat cornmeal from now on, only white flour.

We only have 26 jin, which is not enough. Yes, the old Yan family should not need so many coupons, I will go and ask. "

Gao Shuzhen stood up and pulled Yi Zhonghai, saying softly, "Old Yi, I told you to have dinner earlier. The coupons won't be available until the end of the month, so there's no need to rush."

"Yes, yes, it's my fault for being too excited and too happy. Shuzhen, since the doctor has given you instructions, you can just stay at home and recuperate. Leave all the shopping, cooking and housework to me..."

"I'm not that pretentious, and you don't have time to spare at work. I can take care of myself. Sit down and eat first."

Yi Zhonghai sat down and said after thinking for a while.

"Then I'll ask Old Yan tomorrow morning. His daughter Jie Di is old enough, and the other children are all in school. Let his wife help with the shopping and cooking, and I'll do the rest when I get home from get off work."

Gao Shuzhen was also afraid of bumps and bruises. Having a child was her obsession. Now that she finally had one, she regarded it as more precious than her own life.

"Okay, let's eat quickly, the food will get cold soon."

……

"Cousin, the flour ration is limited. We need to add more cornmeal to our staple food." Zhang Xiaoyu took a sip of porridge and said leisurely.

Originally, one acre of land in the village could produce 100 kilograms of grain if it was cultivated by others, including 30 kilograms of fine grains and 70 kilograms of coarse grains.

She and Jia Zhang, together with someone who found someone to divide the land for Bang Geng, had a total of about ten acres of land, which produced a thousand kilograms of grain a year. Every year, they had to buy another five or six hundred kilograms of white flour (only white flour, this was the operation of taking over Jia Zhang), so that the family could eat. Jia Dongxu ate at noon at the factory. Bang Geng was still young and could be ignored, but Jia Zhang had a big appetite (normally, an average adult would eat about five hundred kilograms of grain a year, and people of that era had a big appetite).

But the government asked for more grain to be handed in this year, so the corresponding amount was less, only 216 kilograms per mu of land per year. kilograms of fine grains and kilograms of coarse grains, this left a gap of kilograms. In addition, the purchase of white flour was restricted, and Jia Dongxu only had a ration of kilograms a year. The amount of fine grain he ate went from to kilograms to just over kilograms. So he could only buy cornmeal to make up for it, and the staple food would have to be mixed with more cornmeal.

Even so, Zhang Xiaoyu did not consider moving his household registration to the city. After all, there was still so much food to be obtained in a year, which was normal thinking.

"The factory also notified us that although we have issued an additional ten kilograms of flour coupons, we still need to pay an equivalent amount of flour coupons for every two kilograms of flour steamed buns we buy. We are a little short of flour coupons."

Jia Dongxu was also worried about losing his job. He was issued an additional ten kilograms of flour coupons a month, and except for the lunch at the factory, there was basically nothing left.

"How about I go to the village and exchange some flour with someone?"

Jia Zhang, who was busy eating, quickly suggested.

She didn't want to eat dry cornmeal steamed bread and flatbreads, at least two-grain flour would not sore her throat. Moreover, she was no longer the head of the family, and she was only focused on taking care of her parents, but her conditions did not improve but became worse? How could this be?

"Mom, my cousin's salary doesn't leave much after paying for firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, tea and daily expenses at home. We have to save some for Banggeng's schooling and for his future marriage. Why don't you use the money from selling shoe soles to buy flour in the village, so that we can still eat as before."

Zhang Xiaoyu knew that Jia Zhang could earn at least four or five yuan a month from making shoe soles, minus the cost. Jia Dongxu was the only one working in the family, earning about four hundred yuan a year. He had to spend a hundred yuan just on flour, and with the daily necessities, he would not have a hundred yuan left at the end of the year...

"Mom, Xiaoyu and I will take care of you in your old age. What's the point of saving the money?"

Jia Dongxu felt that his mother really should contribute a little to the household expenses. She ate too much and consumed half of the family's food by herself.

"Dongxu, you see, mom is no longer the head of the family, and your salary has been given to Xiaoyu. Mom doesn't make much money from sewing shoe soles, just a few yuan, so leave it to mom to buy some needlework and pocket money."

Jia Zhang's face looked unhappy. The last time the head of the family took over, she gave one hundred yuan out of the more than one hundred yuan she had in her hand to her daughter-in-law, leaving only a few dozen yuan on her.

Now that she had finally saved up a hundred yuan, she was asked to use her hard-earned money to buy food. How could this be possible? How could she satisfy her cravings?

There is a purchase limit on flour. I guess the price of meat buns will definitely go up in the future because there will be no flour coupons. I was thinking of buying a few more meat buns to satisfy my craving before the coupons are no longer needed.

"Mom, we are all family. You have food and drink at home, so why do you need pocket money? Everything is for this family, for your grandson. We have to be united and work together.

And I have good news for you: I’m pregnant again. I went to the hospital with my wife today to check.”

Zhang Xiaoyu tried to persuade Jia Zhang earnestly and dropped a bomb at the same time, hoping that she would submit.

"I really don't have any money anyway."

Jia Zhang stuffed the steamed bun into her mouth and ate her meal. It was absolutely impossible to ask her to take money since she already had an eldest grandson.

The young couple looked at each other helplessly. I am just not going to listen to your advice...

Jia Dongxu suddenly had an idea and said slowly, "In that case, my wife, let's learn from Uncle San's family and share the food. We don't have to learn it in such detail, just share it by the number of people, right?"

"Why! I don't agree!" Jia Zhang slammed the table and stood up.

Are you kidding? If food is distributed per person, won’t she starve to death?

"Mom, the village is three hundred kilograms short of grain. We have to spend money to buy grain to make up for this three hundred kilogram gap. My salary is not enough, and I'm going to have a second child soon, which will be another expense. What do you think we should do? Half of the food in the family is consumed by you." Jia Dongxu analyzed calmly.

"Yes, Mom, we are doing this for the good of our family. There's nothing we can do about the family's financial difficulties. We can't let your eldest grandson go hungry, can we?" Zhang Xiaoyu also agreed.

She felt that her cousin was smart this time and what he said made a lot of sense.

……

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