Siheyuan: Starting from 1958

Shiniu Village is located next to Shiniu Mountain and is one of the poorest villages in Shikou Town. The average arable land per person is less than two mu, and it is all very barren dry land that can only grow coarse grains such as corn and sweet potatoes, with very limited harvests.

The villagers basically eat corn and sweet potatoes to fill their stomachs all year round, and only during festivals like the New Year can they afford to eat white flour.

As for the meat...

Under normal circumstances, we can only have this once a year during the Chinese New Year.

In this situation, in order to prevent their families from suffering and to ensure a better life in the future, many villagers went to work in Beijing to earn money. Although they were doing the most basic jobs with very low wages, even the lowest wages were better than staying in the village to farm.

A few days ago, the Li family, who live at the east end of the village, were also discussing finding work.

When the production team distributed land, our family of six only received ten mu of land, three mu of which were good fields, and the remaining seven mu were very barren sloping land.

After deducting the grain tax, a year's hard work only leaves less than two thousand catties of corn and sweet potatoes, just enough to feed the whole family.

The eldest child is about to start school, but school costs money.

If we continue to stay at home and farm, we definitely won't have the money to send our eldest son to school.

After discussing it, the family decided that the eldest and second eldest sons would go to Beijing to work and earn money.

The two elderly people, the eldest son's wife stayed at home to farm.

Just as I was about to leave for work in Beijing, the town government leaders came to the village. The leader was the town mayor. He said that a big boss from Beijing had taken over the Shiniu Mountain next to the village and wanted to build a breeding farm next to the village. He needed people to work there, and they had to bring their own food. The wages were one yuan per day.

Those neighbors who went to work in Beijing couldn't even earn a dollar a day. How is it possible to earn a dollar a day right at your doorstep?

Everyone's first reaction was disbelief, and Old Li's family didn't believe it either.

But since the mayor himself said these words, despite their doubts, everyone decided to give it a try.

Chen's two sons and their father signed up on the spot.

In the blink of an eye, five days had passed.

These past few days, the father and his two sons have been working on Shiniu Mountain, either leveling the land on the slope at the foot of the mountain or working as laborers... They work very hard every day, and even their lunch consists of two more cornbread pancakes than usual.

If they didn't earn a single penny of wages these past few days, the three of them would not only have worked for nothing, but they would also have consumed a lot more food, truly losing both their money and their effort.

"Listen up..." Just as the father and his two sons were hesitating about whether it was reliable to work here and whether they should continue working here tomorrow, a middle-aged man in charge suddenly walked up to them and shouted.

"Today is the day our boss and everyone else agreed on to pay wages..."

"The boss said that in order to let everyone leave work on time, we'll leave half an hour early this afternoon. Everyone should go to the finance office to line up and collect their wages..."

"We can go now..."

The father and his two sons instantly became excited, especially after receiving their fifteen yuan wages. Their faces lit up with joy, and they could hardly stop smiling.

Without hesitation, the father made his decision: "Second son..."

"Run faster..."

"Let's go to town now and buy a pound of pork and five pounds of flour. We're having pork dumplings tonight..."

"I heard a couple of days ago that a big boss from Beijing is going to open a large-scale breeding farm here. He will need to hire two or three hundred workers, and each worker will earn at least thirty yuan a month."

"Your brother and I will ask around later. Maybe once the chicken farm is built, you two brothers can work here instead of having to go to Beijing to work..."

Around 7 p.m., the Chen family of six finally ate their first meal of white flour dumplings this year.

After a hearty meal, the old man immediately shared the information he had gathered: "Eldest son, second son, I've found out everything..."

"The big boss from Beijing is indeed going to open a large-scale breeding farm here, and he will also recruit 300 local workers..."

"But the town also has a rule: only one person from a family can work at the farm..."

"So after more than half a month, only one of you two brothers can go to work at the farm..."

"As your father, I can't show favoritism by deciding who goes to work at the farm and who doesn't. You two have to discuss it yourselves."

The second son, who wasn't married yet, made his decision almost without hesitation: "Dad..."

“Yangzi will be starting elementary school in a few months, and my older brother is under a lot of pressure. Let him go work at the farm…”

“I’m still young, and I’m not married yet. I don’t have any ties. If I can go to Beijing and work hard for two years, I might earn more money than I would working near home.”

The father clearly thought the same thing; the second son's face immediately showed agreement as soon as he finished speaking. Just as he was about to make a decision, the eldest son, who had been silent, suddenly interjected: "Dad..."

"Let's give this opportunity to the second son..."

Seeing his wife staring wide-eyed, tugging at his clothes, and giving him meaningful glances, signaling him not to give up his job, the eldest brother acted as if he hadn't heard her and continued speaking.

"The second son isn't married yet..."

"With this job, it will be easy to find a wife."

"When I got married, I spent almost all of my family's money. I can't have all the benefits, so this job has to be given to my second son."

"Otherwise, if word gets out, people will say that you're biased, Dad, and that you only think about me, the eldest son, when there are benefits, and don't consider the second son."

“My son is already six or seven years old. My second son is four years younger than me, and he doesn’t even have a girlfriend yet. I can’t wait any longer.”

“Once he gets a job at the farm, he’ll earn more than 30 yuan a month, and then we can help him find a wife.”

"As for Yangzi going to school..."

"I also found out something at the farm..."

"The farm not only raises chickens, ducks, pigs, and goats on its own in Shiniu Mountain, but also signs purchase contracts with us, providing us with piglets and lambs, and asking us to help raise pigs, sheep, and even chickens..."

"As long as the standards are met, the farms will buy all the livestock at high prices..."

“I heard from the employees at the farm that if we plant more sweet potatoes, potatoes, and corn in the fields to feed the pigs, we can earn at least fifty yuan for feeding one pig and twenty yuan for feeding one sheep…”

"Shiniu Village has nothing else but mountains and wasteland..."

“Our family is large, but we have little land. We can raise at least six pigs and six sheep. We can definitely earn four or five hundred yuan a year, which is no less than what my second brother earns working at the farm…”

"So I want to stay home and raise pigs and sheep..." (End of Chapter)