59 years after its opening, people are still in Nanluoguxiang.

After helping the old man to get rid of all the fish, Chen Feng rode his bicycle to a small town a few miles away. He first used a few fish to secretly exchange for some tickets to Tianjin outside the vegetable market.

Then he took the ticket and used an empty soda bottle to go to the supply and marketing cooperative and buy three taels of oil.

On the way back, I passed the intersection of a village on the roadside and saw an aunt standing with a duck cage under her feet. It was a cage made of bamboo strips with six ducks in it.

Two children were holding her legs and a middle-aged man was squatting on the ground.

Noticing that Chen Feng was looking over here, the aunt quickly spoke.

"Comrade, do you want some ducks? My family raises them ourselves. They eat small fish and shrimps. They are all female ducks and can lay eggs."

Chen Feng asked curiously, "Does the commune allow families to raise ducks now?"

In the past few years, rural cooperatives have emerged. Not only have the fields been confiscated, but even the chickens, ducks, cattle and sheep raised by many families have become collective property of the commune.

Under such circumstances, naturally everyone would be unwilling to raise the animals privately, thus giving the commune a free ride.

The woman replied, "Of course. The order issued in June this year stated that the central government agreed that each household could raise chickens, ducks, cattle and sheep privately, and once they were well-fed, they would belong to each household and did not need to be handed over to the commune."

In June 1959, in order to alleviate the huge meat shortage in the cities, the top leaders changed many of their previous policies.

For example, members are allowed to raise poultry and livestock privately, and the income belongs entirely to the members personally; the private plot system (small pieces of collective land that members can use for a long time) is restored; products produced by members' families and individuals can be sold to supply and marketing cooperatives, etc.

However, due to the previous commune policies, many farmers were skeptical.

Anyone who dares to be the first to raise chickens and ducks is a brave person.

Chen Feng looked at the aunt with admiration. She was really adventurous.

And I'm willing to do that, because a four-month-old duck can really lay eggs.

"How about I trade you some rice?"

"We don't want rice, we just want cloth and cotton coupons." Auntie shook her head.

It is now the end of October and we will soon enter November. The temperature in the north will begin to drop sharply and gradually enter the cold winter.

This auntie sold the ducks to buy some warm clothes for her children, which was really hard work.

Chen Feng's mind turned, and he said, "Do you want some rabbit skin?"

"Yes, can it be two rabbit skins? I have two children, a daughter and a son."

Auntie's worries were gone, and she said happily, "I'll give you all six of my ducks."

"alright."

Chen Feng pretended to open his backpack, but he actually took out two fat rabbits from the space and peeled off two rabbit skins.

Because there was plenty of food and they had been growing in space for several days, the hares grew very fat, with a body length of nearly 60 cm, which was enough for the two little guys to wear warm winter clothes and have two extra pairs of shoes.

Rabbits in China still don’t grow big, unlike those in foreign countries, where Western rabbits can grow to 1.5 meters, the same size as calves and domestic pigs.

The price of two large rabbit skins should be more expensive than that of six ducks.

But the good thing is that the ducks were directly exchanged, so there is an explanation. Even if people from Zhoujiagou ask about it, there is a source.

"Give."

Seeing two complete large rabbit skins, the middle-aged man immediately stood up and took them. He took a closer look and asked in surprise, "Just peeled off?"

Chen Feng said calmly: "Yes, I just passed by a field and encountered two rabbits. I caught them."

The middle-aged man wanted to ask which field had such fat rabbits, but his wife pulled his clothes.

"Thank you. If you still want ducks, you can come to Caojiawan and find us. Just say Cao San, the duck farmer!"

"Ok."

Chen Feng picked up the duck cage in his hand and walked back holding the bicycle with one hand.

An idea struck.

We can’t raise ducks at home in the old city because we lack food and small fish, but we can at my uncle’s house.

At worst, you can catch dozens or hundreds of kilograms of small fish and shrimp to feed them.

Seeing Chen Feng carrying a cage into the village, several old men asked him a few questions.

"Cao San from Caojiawan, I exchanged it for rabbit skin."

When he returned home, he found a lot more firewood in the yard. Many children were waiting for him to come back, and they cheered when they saw his bicycle from afar.

"Brother, the candy is here."

"Here comes the sugar."

Chen Feng's face was filled with black lines.

My goodness, in your eyes, am I a walking candy man?

Zhou Dinghai and Zhou Fubao put away the picture books, and a group of five or six-year-old children were very disappointed.

"cousin."

After stopping the car, Chen Feng put down the duck cage and said, "Use some small fish to feed the duck. Use small yellow croaker instead of prawns. I want to fry some prawns tonight."

There are a lot of small yellow croakers, so you can feed them as much as you can, but there are not many prawns.

"Okay, stand still. Is this your firewood?"

"Uh-huh."

"Good, I'll give you three."

"this is mine."

"Yes, two."

Chen Feng found that he had underestimated the fighting power of these little guys. In less than an hour, they had picked up enough firewood for ten days, and many of them were even shrubs that had not withered.

When he saw the small wounds on some of the children's hands, he fell silent.

Originally, I just wanted to give them some candy and save some firewood for the Zhou family, but when I saw their little hands, I couldn't bear it.

But they were very happy.

"Come here and line up."

Thanks to the two times of giving out candies, Chen Feng gained great prestige in their eyes.

"Wait till I come out."

He went into the kitchen, filled a large bowl with well water, added some sugar into it, and took the large bowl and the ladle from the kitchen water tank.

"This is sugar water, one sip per person."

He personally took the ladle and started feeding each person a big mouthful.

"Is it delicious?" asked the kid at the back of the line.

"Delicious and sweet."

Hearing this, the people behind immediately squeezed forward.

"Line up. If anyone pushes, we won't give it to them."

Chen Feng glared at the anxious little kid and said, "If you move around, I won't give it to you."

"I'm not moving. I just want to drink some water." The little boy said aggrievedly.

Chen Feng said: "If you want to drink sugar water, stand still."

He gave the ladle to the little girl, who drank for half a minute, which made Chen Feng a little anxious.

Three sips of water, why do you take so long to drink?

Grandpa stood at the door of the main room, watching Chen Feng playing with a group of children with a smile.

My aunt feels sorry for the candy, or to be more precise, she feels sorry for the money.

"It's such a small amount of firewood. It's too expensive to send sugar. Let Dinghai and Fubo go to the back mountain to collect it themselves."

"The village is poor, so it's good to let them have a taste of sugar." Grandpa sighed.

After feeding the children a big mouthful of sugar water, they left Zhou's house happily.

There was a little left, and Chen Feng planned to feed it to the ducks to prevent them from getting sick and dying.

Zhou Dinghai and Zhou Fubao came over.

"Cousin, give me some drink."

"Go, if you want to drink, I'll make some for you later and feed it to the ducks."

"Ah, this is sugar water."

"It's just a few sips. What's the big deal? I'll make you a big bowl again."