1980: I have a spiritual spring

Chapter 11 Envy
"Second brother, what did you buy?"

When Qiao Erhe returned home carrying his load, his younger siblings gathered around and asked him questions.

Qiao Erhe looked at the two jars in the basket and said with a smile, "This is the tea seed oil I bought, a total of 20 jin, enough for our family to eat for a while."

Qiao Sanduo looked at the two jars of tea seed oil and said with a look of surprise, "That's great! We're running low on oil at home. With these 20 jin of oil, we won't have to worry about oil for the next four months."

Qiao Sihai also said happily, "With this oil, we can enjoy that delicious stewed fish."

Qiao Erhe shook his head and said, "Sanduo, this 20 jin of oil is not enough for our family to use for four months."

"Oh."

Qiao Sanduo understood and said very sensibly, "Don't worry, Second Brother, I will use it sparingly. This 20 jin of oil will last for five months without any problem."

Qiao Erhe was both amused and exasperated upon hearing this. He understood his sister's thoughts, since oil was extremely rare in those days. In some poor and backward rural areas, only one pig was slaughtered a year, and the jar of lard rendered from that pig was the family's annual consumption.

For a whole year, seven or eight people, or even nearly ten people, used only one jar of lard. You can imagine how much they had to save on oil in their daily lives.

Even urban residents only get three to five ounces of cooking oil per person per month. They don't dare to use much oil when cooking at home, because this amount of oil is really short-lived. If they are not careful, the oil will be gone in no time.

Before Qiao Erhe was reborn, his family of eight used only about three or four catties of oil a month. Qiao Sanduo initially mentioned that 20 catties of oil would last for four months, which averages out to 5 catties of oil per month. This amount is far greater than before.

Then, seeing her second brother shake his head in denial, Qiao Sanduo naturally assumed that she had used too much.

Qiao Erhe corrected, "It's not that I'm telling you to use it sparingly, but that I'm telling you to use it freely. This 20 jin of oil isn't our family's five-month supply, but two-month's supply, or rather, there's no time limit. I'll just buy more whenever we run out."

Qiao Sanduo stared in disbelief and said, "Second Brother, did I hear that right? This oil has no time limit, I can use it as much as I want?"

Qiao Erhe nodded and said, "That's right, use whatever you want. Don't skimp on the oil, and prioritize the flavor."

Qiao Sanduo was overjoyed to hear this. For a chef, being able to use oil without any restrictions was a very happy thing. She patted her chest and promised, "Second Brother, don't worry. I will definitely cook well in the future and make sure everyone eats well."

Qiao Sihai's eyes lit up when he heard this. He figured the food at home would be much better than before. Even something as simple as stir-fried vegetables would taste completely different with or without oil.

Qiao Erhe laughed and said, "Alright, stop spacing out and hurry up and move the oil back to the kitchen."

Qiao Sanduo and Qiao Sihai responded and each carried a jar of oil back to the kitchen to put it away.

Qiao Erhe put down the carrying pole and baskets, and seeing the third and fourth brothers coming out of the kitchen, he asked, "Have you fed the chickens?"

Qiao Sanduo said, "It's already been fed."

Qiao Erhe nodded and picked up a shovel to dig a trench.

Seeing this, Qiao Sanduo and Qiao Sihai didn't stand idly by either picking up hoes or shovels and digging trenches together.

As for Qiao Dajiang, the eldest brother, after having breakfast, he took a hoe and a shovel and went to the basement of the house behind to dig a trench.

While the four siblings were diligently digging the trench, their mother, Huang Hongmei, began visiting relatives. The seventh child was turning ten and they needed to invite relatives and friends over for a feast. The four older siblings, including Qiao Dajiang, had to stay home to work, and the fifth, sixth, and seventh children had to go to school. The only person at home who was free was Huang Hongmei, the mother, so it was most appropriate for her to go and notify the relatives and friends.

Huang Hongmei first notified her family.

Huang Hongmei's maternal home is Huangjiayuan in Huangyuan Brigade, a natural village named after her surname and location.

"Auntie, you're back!"

The one who greeted them was Huang Wenhua, Huang Hongmei's nephew. Huang Hongmei didn't come back empty-handed; unusually, she brought back two large carp, which, needless to say, were "caught" by her second son.

Her obese body was already more susceptible to heat than that of ordinary people. After carrying two carp weighing a total of sixteen or seventeen pounds for such a long distance, Huang Hongmei was already soaked in sweat. Panting, she handed the fish to her nephew and asked, "Wenhua, is your old man home?"

Huang Wenhua took the fish and said, "The old man went to the team leader's house for a meeting, probably to discuss the land distribution. Second Uncle went too."

Huang Hongmei nodded and said, "Wenhua, keep one of these fish for your family, and send the other one to your second aunt."

"Ok."

Huang Wenhua responded, and just then his mother heard the sound and came out of the house. He handed one of the fish to his mother, then picked up the other fish and walked towards his second aunt's house next door.

"Sister-in-law," Huang Hongmei greeted first.

When Sister-in-law Huang first married into the Huang family, she didn't have a good impression of her lazy and good-for-nothing sister-in-law. However, now that her sister-in-law has been married for over twenty years, those past grievances have long been forgotten with the passage of time.

Therefore, when she saw her sister-in-law return, Sister-in-law Huang greeted her warmly, saying, "Hongmei is back. You're all sweaty. Come inside and wash your face to cool off."

"aunt."

"Auntie."

After Huang Hongmei entered the house, her nephews and grandnephews greeted her one after another.

Under her sister-in-law's direction, the niece-in-law brought Huang Hongmei a basin of water.

After Huang Hongmei wiped away her sweat and washed her face, her second sister-in-law also came over with her nephews and nieces.

After exchanging greetings, Huang Hongmei said, "Sister-in-law, I just heard from Wenhua that our eldest and second brothers went to the team leader's house for a meeting to discuss the distribution of land. It seems that it won't be long before you will have your own land."

Upon hearing this, Sister-in-law Huang's face lit up with a smile. The land distribution to individual households was something that people in this era looked forward to very much. She nodded and asked, "Hongmei, I heard that the land in your Qiaojiawan has already been distributed. How much land did your family receive?"

Huang Hongmei replied with a smile, "Our family was allocated a total of twenty-one mu of land."

Sister-in-law Huang's eyes widened in surprise as she exclaimed, "So many?"

Sister-in-law Huang couldn't help but gasp. Their Huang family didn't have much land, only about 1.6 mu per person. Their family had a lot of people, eleven in total, but on average, they could only get about 17 mu of land at most.

However, regardless of which village distributed the land, it was not distributed equally per capita; distribution based on labor always accounted for the majority.

They have a lot of children, so if land were distributed according to labor, they would be lucky to have more than ten acres of land.

Compared to their family, my sister-in-law's family, with only eight members, was allocated a full twenty-one acres of land, which is truly enviable.

Huang Hongmei said, "Actually, our family didn't get much land; it didn't even reach the average!"

Huang Wenhua couldn't help but exclaim, "Auntie, you really have a lot of farmland in Qiaojiawan!"

“We do have a lot of farmland in Qiaojiawan.” Huang Hongmei smiled and then got to the point: “Sister-in-law, I’m here today to invite you to our house for a feast on Sunday. Our seventh child will be ten years old soon.”

"Okay, we'll definitely be there."

"In the blink of an eye, the seventh child is almost ten years old."

(End of this chapter)