Affection for Sidaogou during the Famine

Chapter 344: Empty

As he spoke, he took out a few fruit candies from his schoolbag and gave one to each of them.

The two older children were timid and looked at each other and didn't dare to take it. But the two younger children didn't care and snatched it, peeled off the candy wrapper and stuffed it into their mouths.

"It's delicious and so sweet! Sister, take it quickly!" Seeing that the older child didn't take it, the two children became anxious and reached out to grab the other two candies in Han Zhaozhao's hand.

The older child quickly stepped forward to stop them and apologized to Han Zhaozhao repeatedly: "I'm sorry, they are too young to understand..."

"It's okay, I gave it to you to eat. You haven't answered my question yet!"

It is easy for children to communicate with each other after sharing delicious food.

Han Zhaozhao soon learned from them that they were from the Qiujiazhuang production team at the foot of the mountain. They came to pick wild vegetables and found their tricycle. Out of curiosity, they stayed nearby for a long time, but didn't see anyone. Then, they couldn't resist the pleading of their younger siblings and carried them into the tricycle to play for a while.

Seeing that they answered all the questions honestly and were not bad kids, Han Zhaozhao and the others let the children go.

After the adults caught up with them carrying sacks of sacks, they loaded the cart and pushed it back to the city.

After walking a long way, Han Zhaozhao looked back and found that the children were hiding behind a big rock and looking around secretly.

Xiao Sanzi threatened Han Zhaozhao: "You give candy to everyone you see. They won't want to follow us home, right?"

"Don't talk nonsense! Do you think they are just like you, and will just follow you if you give them some food?"

Han Zhaozhao ignored him, but Niu Xiaoyun would not miss the opportunity to quarrel with him, and the two started making noise again.

The old lady sighed: "Children from poor families have to grow up early! It was the same when I was a child. I had to work and take care of my younger brothers and sisters.

It’s a pity that the younger ones didn’t survive, otherwise, they would be in their thirties or forties by now.”

Grandpa Guan felt the same way, "In the old society, not to mention the countryside, every family in Beijing had children who died young.

There are many births and many deaths! There is no way, some are too expensive to support, and some die of illness.

At that time, the world was in chaos! Now it is much better than before, and fewer children die young..."

Everyone nodded after hearing this. Everyone is equal in the new society. When you are sick, there are hospitals. Workers' families can receive medical reimbursement, and they can get treatment and have food to eat. Not only has the mortality rate among children been reduced, but the mortality rate among adults has also been reduced.

In the past, the lives of the poor were not worth much, not even as much as the lives of the rich people’s cats and dogs. Especially in the winter, every day there would be a lot of people lying down on the streets and being pulled out of the city.

Along the way, Grandpa Guan talked about the darkness of the old society that he had experienced, and Grandpa Niu and Grandpa Qian nodded in agreement from time to time.

They did not experience all of those tragedies, but they had seen a small part of their tail.

When they entered Beijing, liberation was almost here, and on the eve of the transition from the old society to the new one, order was even more chaotic.

The children just treated it as a story. Although people are not well fed nowadays, the society is stable and no one will be bullied for no reason.

On the production road, more and more people were walking, some carrying loads on their shoulders and some driving carts, hurriedly transporting crops from the fields to the village.

"Brother, how's the harvest this year?" Grandpa Guan talked to the old farmer driving a ox cart on the side of the road.

"Not very good! God has been blind this year and it hasn't rained much. Look, there are only a few corns growing in the fields!

Brother, are you guys visiting relatives?"

"No, it's Sunday and we have a day off. Let's go into the mountains and dig some herbs together."

The old farmer didn't get on the car either, but walked behind the old cow.

"Oh, you are a doctor? If you have the ability, you are awesome. You can even make money by digging grass from the mountains."

“I don’t have that ability, but my child is studying medicine and knows about herbs.

I couldn't count on exchanging it for money, and food was in short supply in the city. I could only dig some herbs and sell them to exchange for some food.

We city people are not as good as you rural people. We have to spend money to buy a scallion. You farmers are good. You can grow some vegetables in front of and behind your house and you will never lack food. "

Mr. Guan is very low-key when he goes out. He praises others and belittles himself. He is very good at it!

"You are kidding! You city folks earn a monthly salary and also have food supplies, but we farmers can only earn work points.

If you want to eat, you have to depend on the weather. After working for a year, there is nothing left except food rations. This year is even worse. If it doesn’t rain, I’m afraid we won’t even get food rations.”

Aunt Qian asked: "Uncle, if you encounter a disaster, the country will not ignore it and will send you relief food."

"Huh! Relief grain? Now the production team is worried about how to pay the public grain first!"

The crowd was speechless.

Isn’t it true? First, the public grain is paid, and after the public grain is paid, the remaining grain must be kept as a reserve grain for the village collective, and then it will be distributed to the farmers.

At this time, when there was not enough food, they would apply for relief food. The grassroots production teams did not directly withhold food!

It is said that no matter which dynasty or generation, farmers have always been the ones who suffered the most!

However, everyone understands this truth, but no one dares to speak carelessly.

The adults had gloomy faces and were full of worries. They didn't smile until they got home.

That evening, several families gathered at Han's house and held another small meeting.

Afraid that the children would talk nonsense, I coaxed them all out to play.

Except for Wu Ni and Xiao Liang, the other children were all very smart. Even if they were not allowed to participate, they could still guess the spirit of the meeting.

"It's just buying grain and storing grain. You want to hide it from us? Can you hide it from us?"

Niu Xiaoyun thought to herself that she was a grown-up child and was very dissatisfied with the adults' behavior.

After being slapped by Niu Xiaolian, he immediately became obedient. "The adults have their own concerns. We can't help but don't hinder them. Just be obedient."

Yes, in the eyes of adults, no matter how capable they are, they are still children, and adults have to take the lead in many things.

They did not farm this year. During the famine years, money alone was not enough, one also needed connections and means to exchange for food.

In the following days, several families pooled their money and gave it to Qian Shuangxi, asking him to bring food back home from all over the country.

In this era, the only people with real connections were truck drivers. During the two most difficult years that followed, Qian Shuangxi bought everything he could eat.

Although it was a bit troublesome, it was much cheaper than going to the black market. Other families were starving, but their families were not starving.

Occasionally, I can help relatives and friends, and my life is pretty comfortable.

As soon as winter came, Han Zhaozhao led everyone into the mountains to dig Gastrodia elata again, but they only harvested less than 200 kilograms of fresh goods.

They also went to Persimmon Valley, but found that someone had got there first. The group of people went into the mountains in a mighty way but came up empty-handed, not even getting a persimmon peel.

What a blow!

Especially a few friends, except Han Zhaozhao, all the others were so anxious that they cried!

I had hoped to make a small fortune from this crop of persimmons, but ended up with nothing. It's so disappointing!

“I should have known I shouldn’t have waited for the persimmons to ripen. I would have bought a little bit less, as long as I can eat it and exchange it for money.

We were too greedy! We should have picked them back earlier."

Niu Xiaoyun's eyes were swollen from crying. She had planned how to spend the money from selling persimmons, but now, everything was gone!