Quick Wear: Men Farming and Women Weaving

Yi Zhonghai sneaked back to the east wing of his house and closed the door quietly.

Looking at the cloth bag in his arms, he anxiously counted how many people bought it. He opened the list and found that the Jia family was missing. He knew it must be the widow who interfered.

He sighed that this disciple was really useless. He was suppressed by his mother and couldn't make any rebuttal.

There were various coins and banknotes scattered on the table, and Yi Zhonghai sorted them out one by one.

The next morning, every household had a look of relief on their faces, especially those families who were almost out of food.

Yi Yongkang was woken up by his father early in the morning and urged to go to school.

When he was waiting to go home after school, he met Yi Zhonghai waiting for him at the door.

There was a hint of helplessness in Yi Yongkang's eyes.

"Dad, I can go back by myself."

"Let's go back first." Yi Zhonghai looked around.

Return to the backyard of the Nanluoguxiang courtyard.

"Have you asked that classmate how to trade?" Yi Zhonghai spoke first.

"It's hidden in the reeds not far from the suburbs outside the city and is not easy to find. You need to carry it back by yourselves," Yi Yongkang, who had already made a plan, said without thinking.

“How do I collect the money?”

"There is a small ditch not far from the reeds and a big rock across the ditch. Wrap it in cloth and throw it across the ditch and someone will catch it."

"The time is tomorrow evening at 6 o'clock"

Just tell him the time and place. It happens that he has two days off tomorrow, so he can sneak behind his father to the other side of the ditch and receive the money he has earned with great effort.

Yi Zhonghai didn't expect the other party to be so cautious, which was better than a face-to-face meeting.

The message was spread to every household in the courtyard, asking young men to help carry food tomorrow.

The men and women who were originally panicked also felt relieved.

The men who were not working the next day were resting, and the women tried their best to make sure they had enough food in the afternoon so that they would have the strength to carry things.

Those who had carts pushed them out, with all kinds of large backpack frames.

The strong young man, led by three old men, took advantage of darkness when many people were resting at home and hurried on his journey.

When they arrived at the reed area in the suburbs, Yi Zhonghai came to the small ditch and gave a secret signal, and there was also a sound from the other side.

Yi Zhonghai turned around in ecstasy and walked to the grain storage area blocked by reeds. He pushed aside the reeds and saw bags of grain piled up.

Liu Haizhong, who was impatient, walked up to the bag, opened it and saw that the potatoes were of good quality. He weighed the bag in his hand and nodded with satisfaction.

After some effort, they finally bought enough food to solve their urgent needs.

When they were moving the grain, Yi Zhonghai followed their instructions and threw the small blue cloth bag in his arms to the big rock opposite. When he heard the sound, he hurried back to help.

Yi Yongkang hid behind a rock, holding a small cloth bag in his hand, and finally caught up, panting.

Seeing that time was running out, he quickly cleaned up his traces, put on a pair of adult shoes, took another path and ran back to the city.

A group of people carried the food carefully on their backs, fearing that someone would snatch it away. They looked around and immediately closed the door when they returned to the courtyard.

Yi Yongkang, who was nervous at the moment, changed into his clothes and rushed to the front yard.

"Those whose names are called come and get the food," Yan Bugui said while crying and asking, was it right?

"Zhou Tieshan"

"Lin Hongjun"

"Zhang Wei"

"He Daqing"

When they mentioned He Daqing, the father and son immediately carried 300 kilograms of grain. He Daqing, who was still strong in his prime, even carried two bags.

He Yushui, who had just returned from school during the holidays, was afraid that his father had too much to carry, so he supported him from behind and left without even looking at his brother.

He Yuzhu smiled foolishly and followed him.

The Jia family was as quiet as a chicken at this time and place, even the most naughty Bang Geng hid behind his mother.

"My family also has this grain. No, I'll ask them for it." Zhang couldn't believe that they actually bought grain cheaper than on the black market.

"Mom, stop talking," Jia Dongxu, her son who had always been filial to her, shouted loudly, already regretting it.

"Dongxu, I'm doing this for this family." Zhang looked at her son in panic.

Jia Dongxu, who hadn't eaten enough for several days, couldn't help shouting, shouting out all the grievances and regrets in his heart.

The master no longer cared about him or concerned about him and only treated him as an ordinary apprentice.

As a second-level worker, it is hard for him to support his wife and children with just 28 yuan a month.

Sometimes he has to clean up the mess for his mother because his father died early when he was a child, and his mother relied on her to support the family and raise both mother and son, as she turned from a hardworking woman into a willful and unreasonable one. He could not refuse his mother's request and felt very conflicted.

"Dongxu, I won't go, I won't go." Seeing her son like this, Zhang comforted him with heartache.

Zhang thought that if she didn't go, she could let Qin Huairu make a fuss, and the more she could get, the better.

Seeing that his son was much better, he went to the kitchen to make him something to eat. He walked over to his daughter-in-law, pinched her hard with his hand, and signaled her to come over with his eyes.

"I don't care how you pretend to be pitiful and get food for me later." After saying that, Zhang ignored her and cooked wild vegetable porridge for her son and eldest grandson.

Qin Huairu touched her arm that was pinched purple and tears fell.

The distribution of grain has reached the final stage.

"Xu Damao, how come you buy so much food when you live alone?" He Yuzhu came back to join in the fun.

"Silly Zhu, why do you care how much I buy?" Xu Damao is no fool. He sells them at double the price on the black market. He can't finish these cheap coarse grains himself, but he has some for his parents and younger sister. Maybe he can make a net profit by reselling them.

"A Great Uncle"

"Please have mercy on our family." Qin Huairu knelt in front of Yi Zhonghai unexpectedly, hugging Xiaodang and crying pitifully.

Yi Zhonghai was startled and said, "Jia's wife, you get up first."

"We can't even afford to eat at home, and food outside is very expensive." Qin Huairu bent down to the people present with tears in her eyes, revealing her slender waistline.

The young guys in the yard were jealous.

Some kind-hearted families wanted to ask for help but were stopped by their families, and had to rely on the food to save their lives at the critical moment.

"Two thousand kilograms wouldn't be much if it were divided among the whole hospital, and your family didn't want it at that time." The third uncle raised his glasses.

"My family wasn't..." Qin Huairu burst into tears before she could finish her words.

Yi Zhonghai looked at the other two uncles helplessly.

"Since Dongxu is my apprentice, I will help him one last time."

"I will give you 50 kilograms of food."

"But this food is not given to you for free, you have to pay for it."

After Yi Zhonghai said these words, he no longer looked at her.

Finally, after Qin Huairu took these words back, Zhang had no choice but to take out the money. She had no choice but to buy it, otherwise she would starve in the end.

The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law didn't take Yi Zhonghai's words seriously at all. They thought that they would ask him for help next time when they had problems. After all, he was Dongxu's master.

With this batch of grain, the residents of the courtyard house became much better off.

It didn't take long.

Because of food shortages, the government began to intervene and control the market.

The ticket system is coming.

A ticket is a shopping voucher. In addition to paying money, you also need to pay with tickets when shopping. You cannot shop if you have money only but no tickets.

The range of tickets was very wide, including food tickets for buying food, as well as cotton tickets, cloth tickets, oil tickets, meat tickets, coal tickets, sugar tickets, flour tickets, egg tickets, fertilizer tickets, match tickets, miscellaneous grain tickets, etc. Almost all daily necessities that could be bought and sold required tickets. Food books were distributed by the street office every month, and tickets were issued by each unit along with wages.

Yi Yongkang, who had already made preparations, took his whole family on a big shopping spree when Yi Zhonghai received his salary. He bought enough for the family for two months and even took care of the deaf old lady's house.