Siheyuan: Rebirth 52 years later, escaping from famine in Beijing

The 17th collective meeting held at the plenary session of the National People's Congress reviewed and approved the new policy of "Interim Provisions on Printing Rational Supply Coupons for Grain in Towns and Cities".

The main reason for its launch is that under the influence of the containment forces led by American imperialism, the country is unable to obtain foreign exchange from overseas and cannot purchase large quantities of imported materials, resulting in a shortage of domestic resources and the inability to fully supply food.

Therefore, the government decided to implement a unified grain purchase and sale policy, including a planned grain purchase and supply policy, and to regulate the exchange of materials through grain coupons to ensure that the people would not go hungry.

Afterwards, various types of food coupons were popularized in society like mushrooms after rain. The first few types of coupons implemented were food coupons, cooking oil coupons and cloth coupons. After the policy was announced, all walks of life were shocked. Long queues appeared in all places where food could be purchased. People hoped to stock up as much as possible before the policy was officially implemented. In the streets and alleys, people could be seen rushing home with large amounts of supplies on their backs, bicycles or tricycles.

In an ordinary courtyard, Jia Dongxu's slender body walked in carrying a bag of flour, and his wife Qin Huairu followed closely behind to help him relieve some of the weight.

Aunt Yan was surprised when she saw this and asked, "Dongxu, Huairu, why did you buy so much flour? How much is one pound?"

Dongxu was unable to speak freely because he was carrying a heavy load of flour, and he was still gasping for breath. Qin Huairu said with a little dissatisfaction: "This flour is really expensive, 1.9 yuan per pound! I spent a full two yuan more than usual to buy this 100 pounds of flour! I am so heartbroken! What's going on!"

Aunt Yan's eyes widened as she responded, "Isn't this flour usually only 1.6 or 1.7 cents? Now it's gone up by two cents. Why are you buying so much flour?"

"Do you think we're willing to buy like this? The country is going to implement a food coupon system. It's said that the price will be higher in the future and even if you have money but no coupons, you won't be able to buy it! When Dongxu heard about this, he immediately decided to stock up!"

At this time, Jia Dongxu, who was exhausted, became unhappy and said in a deep voice, glancing at his wife, urging her to go back quickly. "Aunt Yan, no more talking, we have to go back quickly! We also have to buy other necessities!" Qin Huairu responded and left.

Listening to the couple's story and observing others also buying supplies, Aunt Yan became anxious. She went out with the money. Seeing the long queue in front of the food supply point, she became even more nervous, repeating "It's terrible! I'm afraid it's too late!"

On her way back from street office work, Li Jing saw long queues in front of grain stores along the way and citizens rushing to buy up stockpiles. She couldn't help feeling uneasy.

After all, she also had to take care of her family, so she hurriedly sped up, intending to go home and discuss with her husband to buy daily necessities together in case of any accidents.

Li Jing returned to her home in the alley, opened the door and looked around the yard, and found that her husband was not driving. It was obvious that her husband had not returned home yet.

After parking the car properly, she quickly went into the house and saw the mother teasing her baby son. Listening to the baby's hearty laughter made the loving mother feel infinitely warm.

"Jingjing, why did you come home so early today?" Her mother asked with a smile when she saw her. Li Jing took the child and kissed her forehead gently before asking, "There was less work at work, so I came back early. Mom, have you gone out to buy things these days?"

Do you know what's going on outside? The food is almost gone. There are long queues outside all the grain and oil stores. Everyone is scrambling to buy food.

I just met Aunt Zhou. She bought a whole bag of flour and was planning to buy some more!

I had been very calm at first, but when I saw everyone was hoarding food, I started to get nervous.

What should we do if all the food is taken away?

How about we go stock up on some food?" Sister Fei was very surprised after hearing this:

"From your description, it seems that everyone in the city is frantically rushing to buy food. Isn't that a bit exaggerated? Is it because of the food stamp policy?"

"Yes! I have read the relevant documents in the company. In the future, food coupons will be distributed along with wages. Once the food coupons are used up, you can't buy food even if you have money. So everyone is very nervous."

"Everyone wants to stockpile as much supplies as possible before the ticket system is officially implemented, just in case!"

After hearing what her daughter said, Sister Fei also began to get anxious. She immediately stood up and said, "Then what are we waiting for! Let's go buy some supplies! I'll get the money and then drive to buy some!"

Soon, Sister Fei took the money, drove out with her daughter and Xiao Aimin to buy food.

Sister Fei had stayed at home for several days and was shocked when she went out to find that people were rushing to buy food. So they first went to a nearby grain and oil store, but saw a long queue and thought it might be dark before it was their turn. So they had to try the next grain and oil store.

Xiaohan returned home from school, but found that only the aunt who cooked was at home, and everyone else was gone.

Brother Weimin, Aunt Fei, sister-in-law, and Xiao Aimin, where have they all gone?

Xiao Han felt very confused and went to ask Aunt Zhang. Aunt Zhang said, "I just heard Aunt Fei and Xiao Jing say that they are going to buy something. If you don't hurry, you may not be able to buy it! I guess they are going to buy something."

After hearing what Aunt Zhang said, Xiao Han recalled the scenes he saw on the road. Indeed, there were long queues outside every grain and oil store, and people were busy stocking up on goods.

From this, it seems that Aunt Fei and sister-in-law went out shopping.

At this time, footsteps were heard in the living room. Xiao Han went out to check immediately. She thought that Aunt Fei and sister-in-law had gone home after shopping, but it turned out that they were not.

But Brother Wei Min is back.

Seeing Xiaohan coming out of the kitchen, Lu Weimin asked, "Xiaohan, why isn't the car in the yard? Where are sister-in-law and Aunt Fei? Did they go to rob things, too?"

Xiao Han nodded and said, "That's true! Sister-in-law and Aunt Fei went shopping! I just came back and Aunt Zhang told me."

The food in Lu Weimin's portable storage room was enough to last for a thousand years, so he didn't have to worry about food at all, but he forgot that his family didn't know about it, which was why he was so anxious.

After a while, the sound of a car returning was heard outside.

Xiao Han stood up immediately, "Sister-in-law and the others are back!"

"Let's go and take a look!" Lu Weimin also stood up and went out with Xiaohan.

Lu Weimin couldn't help laughing when he saw the empty car. Xiao Han was also very surprised.

Lu Weimin asked: "I heard you went to buy food?"

After hearing what he said, Sister Fei and Li Jing felt a little depressed and disappointed.

"Don't even mention it! There were too many people buying food! We went to several food stores and there were long queues. We finally separated and queued separately, but when it was almost our turn, all the food was gone! It was all in vain!"

"I can't sleep in tomorrow morning. I have to get up early and queue up to buy food." Sister Fei said.

Lu Weimin smiled and said, "No need! Leave the food issue to me! I will never let my family go hungry! We will have everything, not even meat!"

"Wei Min, can you get some food? That's great! I can continue to stay in bed!" Sister Fei looked at Lu Wei Min and said excitedly...

When Li Jing heard her husband say that he could buy food, her eyes lit up. "If my husband can buy food, I'll feel more at ease! It's great to have you around!"

Neither Sister Fei nor Li Jing doubted Lu Weimin's ability and believed that if he said he would get the food, he would be able to do so.

"Let's go inside and have dinner!" Lu Weimin carried his son back into the house. After dinner, he decided to go back to the courtyard.

Li Jing and Sister Fei carried Xiao Aimin and Xiao Han to see him off.

Lu Weimin smiled and said, "I'm just going back to the courtyard, not far away. Why do you all have to come out to see me off?"

Sister Fei looked at him tenderly: "Wei Min, don't you realize that you are the most important pillar of the family? In our hearts, your position is far beyond your imagination!"

Li Jing also nodded: "Sister Fei is right! Since my father passed away, our family has almost collapsed. Fortunately, we have you. You are really precious to us! Our happiness depends on you."

Xiao Han also said emotionally: "Brother Weimin, what they said is also what I want to say. Besides, you are the most important person to me!"

Hearing Xiaohan's words, Li Jing and Fei Jie couldn't help but look at her. Under everyone's attention, Xiaohan remained calm.

Lu Weimin was deeply moved. “Thank you for your trust and care for me! I love you very much too!”

A few minutes later, Lu Weimin drove his jeep out of his home and found that many grain stores were closed. However, there were still people sitting on stools waiting outside some stores. Did they have to wait all night?

The more Lu Weimin thought about it, the more he felt that this was the case.

It is obvious that the trend of rushing to buy supplies upon hearing unfavorable news began to form at that time and continued into the future.

In order to deliver food to his parents-in-law's house, Lu Weimin drove to the courtyard. After parking the car, he walked towards the gate. There was almost no entertainment in that era.

At night, ordinary people either went to bed early or chatted in the yard. When Lu Weimin walked through the front yard...

The yard was full of neighbors, all discussing excitedly. Jia Dongxu and Qin Huairu were also present.

As soon as Lu Weimin walked in, he knew what they were talking about, which was undoubtedly about food coupons. He happened to hear Qin Huairu praising her husband Jia Dongxu for being so smart and buying a lot of reserve supplies, while others couldn't buy them at this time.

The neighbors were all very envious. "Wei Min, you're back!"

Someone asked, "I heard that the country is going to issue food coupons, and you will need food coupons to buy supplies in the future. Many neighbors have already started stockpiling goods. How much have you stockpiled?" Although Yan Jing was wearing glasses, he was very perceptive. As soon as he saw Lu Weimin come in, he greeted him first and walked forward with a smile on his face.

Everyone was concerned about whether Lu Weimin's family had purchased supplies in advance. At this time, Jia Dongxu and Qin Huairu also turned to him.

Lu Weimin smiled and shook his head: "When my wife got off work, she saw everyone queuing up to buy supplies, so she dragged my mother-in-law along, but we were late and didn't buy anything."