Quick Wear: Men Farming and Women Weaving

The excitement of the New Year celebrations in the courtyard had not yet passed when a burst of laughter came from the Yi family's east wing in the backyard.

"Is Xiaobao happy today?" Aunt Yi lovingly held her son in her arms as she sat on a chair next to the dining table.

In front of him was a small cake with four candles on it. Yi Zhonghai had specially bought it from the Western-style pastry shop on East Street.

"Uh-huh"

"Mom, I'm so happy today"

Yi Yongkang was very moved when he looked at the cake. This small piece of cake cost Yi Zhonghai several days' salary.

"Blow out the candles quickly." Yi Zhonghai gently asked his son to blow out the candles and eat the cake.

Yi Yongkang took a deep breath very slowly and blew towards the candle.

The couple is happy that their son has grown another year older and is growing up healthily without any illness or disaster.

Aunt Yi specially used three taels of white flour to make a bowl of noodles and added a poached egg, some tender cabbage hearts, a few drops of sesame oil, and some chopped green onions. It was fragrant.

"Xiaobao, eat less cake"

“Eat noodles first”

Aunt Yi placed the prepared noodles in front of Yi Yongkang and put a pair of small chopsticks that Yi Zhonghai had specially made for her son into his hands.

Yi Zhonghai squinted his eyes and happily watched his son eat noodles with a good appetite.

The couple also had sweet potato porridge and steamed corn bread made of coarse grains for dinner.

Yi Yongkang was very happy eating the noodles. No matter how nice the couple was to him, it was difficult for him to eat noodles made of pure white flour.

After seeing his son finish eating the noodles, Yi Zhonghai took his son to walk in the hall to help digest the food and avoid indigestion.

Aunt Yi cleared the dishes on the table and watched the father and son communicate with a smile on her face.

Before going to bed, Yi Yongkang saw that his small bed was next to the couple's big bed, and he planned to tell his parents in a few days that he would move next door.

[When you have time, ask to sleep alone so you can have your own independent space]

【It is convenient for you to enter and exit the space】

The next morning, Yi Yongkang was woken up and heard noise coming from the Xu family across the street.

The man of the Xu family saw that his son was not doing his job all day, and he was in a bad mood and scolded Xu Damao.

"Look, even Shazhu from the Central Courtyard has started working in the factory."

"You're not home all day, wandering the streets"

"I'll get you an apprenticeship in a few days. You can learn to project movies from me."

“Okay okay”

"I've long wanted to learn how to project movies from you."

Xu Damao had disliked He Yuzhu for a long time and wanted to work in a steel factory so that he wouldn't have to argue with him in the yard and feel inferior to him.

Yi Yongkang was lying on the bed and heard his voice. He knew that he was dissatisfied with He Yuzhu, and his eyes were filled with speechlessness.

After the birthday, the Jia family in the central courtyard also welcomed a new daughter-in-law.

Zhang was not happy with Qin Huairu and did not hold a wedding banquet. She bought some loose candies and hard candies and gave one or two to each household, and notified the neighbors that there was a new person in her family.

Zhang usually had a bad face towards Yi Yongkang, but today she also got two candies.

After Qin Huairu entered the courtyard, Zhang ordered her to do housework on the first day.

Qin Huairu felt a little aggrieved, but she didn't dare to refute her mother-in-law's words. She looked at her husband with a hint of grievance in her eyes.

Jia Dongxu didn't look at her, he just packed his things, put on his clothes and went to work in the factory.

In the freezing cold streets and alleys of this cold city, people are busy discussing the new government policies this year.

The chief clerks of the street offices in each area were in the alleys notifying the people.

Courtyard No. 95 Nanluogu Lane

"Comrades, in order to replace the old currency for economic development, the first edition of RMB has begun to be issued"

"You can go to the bank to exchange old currency, 1 yuan for yuan"

The street clerk Sun explained to them in detail in the yard that the new version of RMB would replace the previous prices in the future, and that large-denomination coins would no longer be used, but RMB denominations ranging from one cent, one dime, one dollar to 10 yuan would be used.

After repeating the notice to all residents, he left the courtyard with a dry mouth and went to the next place to continue.

Every resident was discussing whether or not to exchange the money, with anxious looks on their faces.

Among them, Yi Zhonghai had no worries. He believed in the national policy and decided to exchange the money.

"Uncle Yi, what do you think about this matter?" He Yuzhu went to Yi Zhonghai for help without any opinion.

"Zhu Zi, I think the country has become more and more stable in recent years. This new version of the RMB will definitely be circulated throughout the country."

"Your father left this money with me, why don't you change it all?"

Yi Zhonghai thought of He Daqing's savings, the money he sent every month, and he gave it to He Yuzhu and his sister as monthly living expenses.

"Uncle Yi, I'll listen to you." He Yuzhu trusted Yi Zhonghai very much and his eyes were full of trust.

Say goodbye to He Yuzhu and return to the backyard.

"Old lady, have you decided to exchange it?" Yi Zhonghai went to ask her considering that the old lady had difficulty walking.

"Zhonghai, I don't dare to exchange too much of my savings over the years, for fear that I won't be able to use them when the time comes." The deaf old lady is afraid that the new version of RMB will be as unspendable as the previous one.

"Old lady, why don't you take out a little bit first and exchange it to see how the situation goes?" Yi Zhonghai also knew that the old lady was considering her future life and retirement.

The old lady also thought that the national policy would not harm the people, so she wanted to use a small portion of it for exchange to see the situation.

"Zhonghai, I'll take out 50 yuan first, and you can help me exchange it." The old lady took out a small half of her savings and gave it to him.

After exchanging 50 yuan, there was only 50 yuan left. The deaf old lady was very distressed. She had no children and only had the government subsidies, which she had saved for a long time.

Yi Zhonghai comforted the old lady with a few kind words, hid the cash and returned home.

When Yi Yongkang saw him coming back, he immediately went up to him and asked.

"Dad, do we need to exchange money too?"

"You heard it." Yi Zhonghai was not surprised that his son knew this matter. Everyone in the yard was talking about the same thing.

"How much money does our family have?" Yi Yongkang asked him curiously.

"Probably five million." Yi Zhonghai did not hide the family's financial situation from his son.

"Boss, is this new money reliable?" Aunt Yi poured him a glass of water worriedly.

"No matter whether it is reliable or not, we have to exchange some first." Yi Zhonghai sat calmly in the chair holding his baby son.

"I will go to the bank to exchange some tomorrow and get some for the old lady as well."

Aunt Yi nodded, and Yi Zhonghai was in charge of all important matters in the family.

In the following days, everyone in the courtyard was discussing the issue of currency exchange.

Yan Bugui is an elementary school teacher who often reads newspapers in the school office. He is also familiar with national policies and knows that the new version of RMB will be circulated throughout the country and that replacing the old currency is urgent.

He was the second person in the courtyard to exchange the coins, including Yi Zhonghai and He Yuzhu.

The neighbors in the courtyard saw the learned teachers and the fifth-level workers exchanging money, so they followed suit.

At the bank window, Yi Zhonghai took out 50 yuan from his pocket and exchanged it for 50 yuan from the old lady, four brand new ten-yuan notes, and some scattered coins of one cent or one yuan.

He took out 200 million yuan and exchanged it for 200 yuan.

He Yuzhu also followed behind and exchanged the whole banknotes.

Yan Bugui, who had already exchanged his money and was staring at the two of them from a distance, wanted to know how much savings they had.

Yi Zhonghai was very familiar with his behavior and had put the money into his pocket long ago without his knowledge.

He Yuzhu rolled his eyes at him and looked down on him.

"Uncle Yi, let's go to the street and see if we can spend the money?"

“I don’t think I can spend it now. It will take some time.”