Siheyuan: Big City, Small Love

He Lai just found it funny. It was a bit too difficult to expect He Zhan to praise Wu Juan!

"Mom, give me another bowl. Dad seems to be drinking it so happily. I'm hungry too." He Lai said with a smile.

When Wu Juan heard this, she immediately smiled and said, "Okay, okay, mom will serve you some!"

"Don't drink anymore. The children haven't had enough yet! Just enough."

After Wu Juan handed the bowl to He Lai, she took the bowl from He Zhan's hand. Not only that, she also gave Wen'er from Qin Jingru's arms to He Zhan.

Sha Zhu and the others were all laughing secretly.

He Zhan was speechless. What happened?

Soon everyone finished their sweet potato porridge and left, leaving only the He Lai family and Yu Shui.

"Dad, the New Year is coming in ten days or so, why don't you buy some clothes for Mom?"

He Lai suggested.

"Uh, I...I don't have any tickets, Xiao Laizi, how about you give Dad a few."

He Zhan said awkwardly.

"Buy it. I don't want it. We have a sewing machine at home. If I want to, I can make it myself. Why waste that money?" Wu Juan objected.

When He Zhan heard Wu Juan say this, he breathed a sigh of relief. After all, he didn't have much private money left.

It’s a pity that He Zhan doesn’t understand women’s thoughts. The wise saying “Don’t want it or you want it” has been passed down for so many years, but there are still so many men who don’t understand it!

When Wu Juan saw that He Zhan didn't mention the clothes again, she immediately picked up Wen'er, went into the bedroom, and locked the door.

"Yushui, let's go back too. It's time to go to bed." He Lai saw that Wu Juan had left and had no intention of taking Wu'er away, so he knew that he had to take care of a child again.

"Oh." Yu Shui followed He Lai back.

When He Zhan saw that everyone had left, he had no choice but to get up and walk towards the bedroom. He pushed the bedroom door, but it didn't budge, so he knew Wu Juan didn't want him to come in.

He Zhan looked depressed, not knowing what mistake he had made. He could only warm himself by the fire, then turned and went into the room where He Lai had been before.

……

In 1961, China introduced a plan to reduce the urban population. One of the plans was for government officials. Hundreds of thousands of officials went to the countryside to participate in rural construction and their urban household registration was changed to rural household registration.

(In fact, the author believes that many of these cadres have become corrupt officials. After all, if people who don’t understand agriculture go to the countryside and give orders blindly, it will cause chaos.”

The second is the streamlining of the workforce, which refers to new workers from rural areas who have joined the workforce since 1958 (including temporary workers, contract workers and apprentices). Employees who were originally urban residents will not be reduced in number.

Employees from rural areas who have been working before and have voluntarily requested to return to their hometowns will be allowed to resign and return home.

Workers who are laid off will be treated as resigned, and will not be transferred with their wages. Instead, they will be paid the wages for the current month and a certain amount of production subsidies.

After the workers return to their hometowns, both urban and rural areas must make careful arrangements and take full responsibility. Help them solve a series of problems related to settling down and production, such as food rations, housing, seeds, and small farm tools...

When this policy was introduced, it was said to be voluntary, but in the end it was forced. Most of the people who had worked hard to move from the countryside to the city to become workers were forced to return to the countryside.

Fortunately, Dahu and the others are already regular employees, and in three years Dahu has become a second-level fitter, and Dawa and the others are also first-level workers.

Of course, because of the relationship with He Lai, the factory leaders did not send them as the only ones to be deported.

Even Jia Zhang, the only person with rural household registration, was persuaded by people from the street office to return to the countryside to work.

But Jia Zhang was very smart. When the people from the street office arrived, she lay in the house and didn't come out at all. She either pretended to be dead or pretended to be sick, crying "ouch, ouch".

The people in the subdistrict office also took into consideration that Jia Zhang had been living in the city for more than 30 years and had not worked in the fields for a long time. Also, Jia Dongxu and his wife promised to take good care of Jia Zhang, so they did not force Jia Zhang to go to the countryside.

However, this also made Jia Zhang afraid of the people from the street office. As long as someone shouted that the street office was coming, Jia Zhang would immediately run into the house, lie on the window of the kang and peek in. Only after she found out that they were not here to take her to the countryside would she dare to go out.

Therefore, for a long period of time after 1961, it became almost impossible to change rural household registration to urban household registration.

……

As the year draws to a close, factories and units across the country are starting to have headaches. After all, the end of the year means distributing New Year’s goods, but now supplies are in short supply and there is really nothing.

Li Huaide naturally turned his attention to He Lai again.

"Uncle Li, they are really gone. There are no wild boars in the middle of winter. They are all up!" He Lai also refused directly.

"He Lai, please don't, I know you get some meat and fish for He Yuzhu's canteen every month, just help Uncle Li get some, at least you get some, Uncle Li is not picky!" Li Huaide begged.

There was no other way. As the deputy director of the steel rolling mill in charge of logistics, he had to take on this task.

"Uncle Li, you are making it difficult for me. It's no problem for me to get a few hundred kilograms, but it's really difficult for me to get tens of thousands of kilograms."

He Lai didn't want to be the first to stand out.

"We don't need tens of thousands of kilograms, two or three thousand kilograms will be enough. We have to give them some meat for the New Year. Look at the workers who have been sent back one after another. The workload of the remaining workers has naturally increased. Now the workers are a little upset. If we don't give them some meat, I'm afraid they will make trouble."

Li Huaide explained earnestly.

"Well, okay, okay, I'll give it a try, but starting today, I won't come to work. I have to go into the mountains to hunt."

He Lai thought about it and decided to agree. A few thousand pounds was fine. After all, there was a lot of meat in his space, so he could take this opportunity to free time.

"Okay, okay, okay. I've approved your work outside the home. I'll talk to Director Yang later." Li Huaide immediately promised when he saw that He Lai agreed.

"I've got another truck to take away."

"OK, no problem."

"Give me a few more tanks of gas, or I'm afraid I'll run out of gas."

"Okay, I'll put the gas in your car when the time comes."

"I also want a Type 56 rifle and three hundred rounds of ammunition."

"Okay, wait a minute, I'll have someone from the security department deliver it to you."

"I also want the iron fence. You don't need it anyway, so give me both."

"Okay, okay, I'll give it all to you. Do you want me to send a few people over to help you?"

"No, I'd better go with others. I'm not used to being with them."

"Hey, kid, if your dad hears you say that, he'll beat you."

"With my mother here, he wouldn't dare!"

"Okay, okay, I won't chat with you anymore. I'll go prepare something for you."

……

When He Lai drove the truck back to the courtyard, everyone was stunned.

"Xiao Laizi, what are you doing now? Why are you driving all the big trucks out from the factory?"

Aunt Qian asked.

"Hey, Aunt Qian, you may not know this, but this is a gift from the factory. From now on, this truck belongs to me."

He Lai joked.

"Xiao Laizi, although your Aunt Qian lives in the courtyard every day, she is not stupid! This truck is probably worth tens of thousands of dollars, how could the factory give it to you? You are making fun of your Aunt Qian!"

Aunt Qian said unhappily.

"Oh, it's just a joke in the middle of winter, Aunt Qian. Here, I'll give you an apple to sweeten your mouth." He Lai took out an apple from his cloth bag, threw it to Aunt Qian, and went back.

"This child." When Aunt Qian saw He Lai throwing a big apple over, she immediately threw the broom in her hand and caught it.

"Mom, I want to eat." Qian Dandan pulled Aunt Qian's sleeve and said.

"Be good, eat in the evening, eat in the evening, wait for your father and eldest brother to come back, then we will eat together."

Aunt Qian touched her daughter's head and said.

In this winter, fruits are very precious and must be enjoyed by the whole family.