sbdcsierra Chapter 124 Difficult
Chapter 124 Difficult
"That Qin Huairu, why does she wash the bed sheets every day? Women are always so fussy."
Ma Quansheng had just finished washing the dishes when he ran into Qin Huairu. He casually muttered something about it to Zhang Qin when he got home.
Jia Dongjin's new sexual practices were liberating, and Qin Huairu wanted to have a son, so she washed the bed sheets much more often than the average person, which gradually attracted the attention of those who were interested.
Zhang Qin and Qin Huairu are indeed destined to be together. They both fell for Jia Dongjin, and they became pregnant and gave birth at the same time. Now that they have both recovered and have help taking care of their children, it is the perfect time for the young couple to enjoy their married life.
Zhang Qin was already a mother, and based on her own experience and the lively conversations among the female workers in the textile factory, she knew why Qin Huairu often washed the bed sheets.
"What do you know? I also want to wash my sheets, I wouldn't mind washing them every day."
Zhang Qin felt inexplicably angry and couldn't help but retort to her husband.
"The sheets are quite clean, why are you washing them? Aren't you afraid of tearing them?"
Ma Quansheng looked at his bed sheets and asked with a puzzled expression.
"Go away, go away. Go sit by the door and think about it. If you don't figure it out, you'll sleep in the small bed by yourself tonight. Mom and I will sleep on the kang. Look at you, you silly thing." Zhang Qin said with a half-smile, pointing her right index finger at her husband's forehead.
Poor Ma Quansheng was so focused on learning the technology that he sat by the door for a long time, smoking his pipe until his head ached, but he still couldn't figure it out. In the end, he had to sleep alone in his small bed at night.
After sleeping in a small bed for three days in a row, he finally couldn't take it anymore and secretly went to consult his colleague Zhang Ming in the power department.
When Ma Quansheng first joined the power department, he was mentored by Zhang Ming, making him practically Zhang Ming's apprentice. The two had a very good relationship, which is why Ma Quansheng dared to ask for the job.
"You idiot, you don't even understand this, haha!"
Zhang Ming is 40 years old and a true veteran. He has three children and has been through many trials, so he knows exactly what's going on. He laughed so hard he almost hurt his back.
After understanding what was going on, Ma Quansheng couldn't help but smile. He went home and gave a slight hint, and soon he got the wonderful thing of sleeping with his wife.
However, he ate so poorly that the day after embracing his wife, Ma Quansheng walked unsteadily. With a slight hint from the seasoned veteran Zhang Ming, the people in the power department would laugh whenever they saw Ma Quansheng, making this otherwise excellent technical cadre so ashamed that he couldn't lift his head.
When Ma Quansheng returned to the courtyard after get off work, he looked at Jia Dongjin with a resentful expression, which made Jia Dongjin feel uneasy. He wondered what he had done to offend Ma Qianbu. Fortunately, Yan Jiecheng came to his rescue.
"Brother Dongjin, come have a smoke, this is a celebratory cigarette! I've got a job, a real job, I'm an electrician, haha!"
Yan Jiecheng passed the electrician's certificate exam and was assigned to work as an electrician in an agricultural machinery factory. He finally had a formal job, and he couldn't help but show off all over the yard. He even bought a pack of Daqianmen cigarettes, which was unprecedented for him.
"Congratulations! If the quota hadn't been reduced, you'd have to treat us to a meal."
Jia Dongjin hurriedly offered his congratulations, saying that the Yan family's escape from their predicament and the fading of the past grudges between the two families was a good thing.
If the Yan family can't survive, Yan Fugui will definitely try to take advantage of the Jia family. He might even bring his children to the Jia family for a meal. Yang Ruihua has already hinted at this to the people in the courtyard many times, so it's a done deal.
Being surrounded by enemies is never a good thing, and Jia Dongjin is also worried.
Without sufficient strength, huge compensation is not easy to obtain; sooner or later, one will have to pay the price.
Yan Jiecheng found a job as an electrician, adding a touch of joy to the courtyard. Everyone in the courtyard knew that he had been studying for two or three years. Jia Dongjin had helped him before, and recently Yan Jiecheng had been studying hard again, so it wasn't surprising that he passed the exam.
As time went on, the steel rolling mill no longer needed electricians, so Yan Jiecheng had to settle for a less desirable job and was introduced to work at an agricultural machinery factory.
Good jobs don't wait for anyone. That's how it is at the bottom of society. Besides ability, you also need to fight and have luck to get the resources to survive.
Yan Fugui's monthly salary was 27 yuan, which had to support a family of six. Everyone in the courtyard shook their heads, thinking that the Yan family was about to go bankrupt. But then, things took a turn for the better, and Yan Jiecheng suddenly became successful. People flocked to the Yan family to congratulate them, making Yan Fugui and Yang Ruihua beam with joy.
The quota was reduced again, and the impact was too great. Soon no one mentioned the fight between the Liu and Jia families anymore. Everyone was racking their brains to figure out how to get food to fill their families' stomachs.
With Qin Jingru's arrival, the Jia family's food supplies became very tight, so Qin Jingru could only stay at the courtyard house intermittently, and could not stay permanently.
On July 30, 1960, the last food supply loophole in Beijing was also closed. From then on, food coupons were required to buy staple foods in restaurants, and people no longer had the opportunity to buy expensive steamed buns.
Therefore, before this deadline, Jia Dongjin and Qin Huairu went out separately and secretly bought a lot of expensive staple food, because having food was a blessing.
The Jia family members took turns buying small amounts of expensive staple food in small quantities, until they filled four sacks. They kept two sacks for themselves and had Qin Jingru send the other two sacks back to Qin Family Village.
"Jingru, here are two bags of steamed buns and flatbreads. Take one bag to your sister's house tomorrow as well. Be a little more clever; you can secretly trade the steamed buns and flatbreads for coarse grains, which will last you longer and also help you get closer to the cadres."
Qin Jingru nodded, then asked with a puzzled look, "Brother-in-law, why did we not need food coupons to buy expensive steamed buns at restaurants before? Those officials weren't stupid; they wouldn't have left such a loophole."
"This, this is why you wanted to come to Beijing."
Jia Dongjin was speechless for a moment. The question was too pointed. He understood it in his heart, but he could not say it out loud, nor did he dare to say it.
The man's predicament was only averted when Qin Huairu changed the subject.
The food shortage was getting worse. The mutton restaurant not far from the courtyard had closed down, and the snack counter was empty, with only a few boxes of non-sale items displayed for decoration.
The impact was extraordinary. Ma Quansheng went to the pigeon market more and more frequently, and he could no longer bear to part with Daqianmen cigarettes, so he had to use dry cigarettes instead.
Similarly, Qin Huairu began to spend money for the first time. She was terrified by the news brought back by Qin Jingru and started buying expensive grain, even more aggressively than Jia Dongjin.
In 1960, people in Beijing received monthly rations of grain based on ration coupons and ration books. The rations were graded by age: 3 jin for infants, 6 jin for children, 8 jin for young children, and a maximum of 21 jin for adults.
Of these 21 jin (16.5 catties), flour accounts for only 20%, rice accounts for only 10%, and the remaining 70% is all cornmeal, sorghum flour, dried sweet potatoes, and miscellaneous grains.
At one point, 156 kinds of goods were available in Beijing with ration coupons. 68% of industrial products and 90% of non-staple foods were rationed. Grain coupons, oil coupons, meat coupons, cloth coupons, coal coupons, sugar coupons, tobacco coupons, as well as bean product coupons and non-staple food purchase certificates... The coupons that an ordinary Beijing family could receive each month could be stacked into a thick stack.
Soy products could only be purchased with food purchase coupons, including small quantities of dried tofu, vermicelli, and sesame paste; coal could only be purchased with a coal purchase book, and the quantity was determined by the number of rooms; even scallions and pickled vegetables required special coupons.
In those days, these ration coupons were truly the lifeblood of the nation.
When visiting relatives, you can leave everything else behind, but you can't forget your food coupons; when eating out, you have to pay for the meal and also pay for the food coupons. For every ounce of rice you eat, you have to pay the corresponding amount of coupons.
Every month, after receiving her receipts, Qin Huairu's first task is to take out paper and pen and carefully calculate the month's expenses, lest she accidentally live beyond her means.
Jia Dongjin had a different idea from others. He believed that simply saving money wouldn't work, so he focused his energy on increasing income. He tried every means to get meat, eggs, potatoes, sweet potatoes, etc., to make up for the lack of grain with fat, protein, and starch. Otherwise, the Jia family would definitely not be able to afford to eat grain alone.
There used to be a really mean saying that you have a face full of carbohydrates, but now you don't even have a face full of carbohydrates.
"You're lucky if you don't go hungry, you're just showing off!"
While eating her salted egg, Madam Jia stopped her youngest son from showing off. She didn't know what carbohydrates were, but she knew that Jia Dongjin couldn't produce ivory.
With the addition of protein and fat, the Jia family's need for grain decreased, allowing them to barely maintain a normal life.
He contacted a pigeon market vendor and secretly traded fish for meat, eggs, and even pig offal, while buying potatoes from the countryside. With his uncle Jia and Qin's father around, he didn't have to worry about getting sweet potatoes. Qin Huairu, on the other hand, was constantly undermining the Jia family by poaching talent from the canteen, which greatly reduced the pressure on the Jia family.
Ma Quansheng is a typical bookworm. He doesn't have Jia Dongjin's unconventional ways of doing things. Even eating fish is a luxury for him. He drinks thin porridge and eats cornbread every day. It's a miracle that he can go to work normally. He simply doesn't have the energy for marital relations, which means his wife has to wash the sheets frequently.
Data proves that these three years have seen the lowest birth rates, fully reflecting the vicissitudes of history.
Jia Dongjin racked his brains to find food so that Qin Huairu could look radiant and occasionally wash bed sheets at the tap, while Zhang Qin could only look gloomy and silently wash clothes at the tap.
The two young wives exchanged glances, but neither could say a word to the other, leaving the people in the courtyard with strange expressions, and they couldn't help but mention the history between the two women.
Life was tough, and the people in the courtyard grew thinner and thinner, but the Jia family members still had rosy complexions, especially Bang Geng, who was as strong as a calf and even had the strength to go to the Luo family to learn assassination techniques. Compared to the skinny Yan Jiedi, Liu Guangfu and other children, he stood out conspicuously.
"Huai Ru, from now on, don't wash Bang Geng's face in the morning, just brushing his teeth is enough. Before the difficulties are over, don't buy new clothes for Bang Geng Xiaodang, just use old clothes that have been altered to be smaller, to avoid causing trouble."
Jia Zhangshi, being an old and shrewd woman, actually came up with such a wicked trick.
"Hmm, I won't wash Xiaodang's face anymore, and I'll put away all the adults' new clothes."
Since her mother-in-law was experienced in dealing with difficulties, Qin Huairu naturally nodded in agreement.
The neighbors and colleagues looked increasingly grim, and their bodies grew thinner day by day. Zhang Qin, who lived across the hall, had fought with Ma Quansheng many times over food, which made Qin Huairu very uneasy.
She had no other choice but to try her best to learn from Jia Dongjin and diligently study the art of Gou Dao. Whether in the factory or the courtyard, she never stood out and only focused on undermining others and slacking off.
Fortunately, with the huge sum of 150 yuan in compensation from Liu Haizhong, and with Jia Dongjin's high salary and the Jia family being dual-income earners, their daily meals were slightly better, so no one could say anything.
But a courtyard house is a courtyard house; even a fart can be smelled by the neighbors. In this tiny, unassuming place, everyone knows exactly what delicious food someone is cooking.
As time went on, life became increasingly difficult for the people in the courtyard. The aroma of the Jia family's dishes was so tempting that it finally attracted attention.
As expected, the anticipated event still occurred.