Affection for Sidaogou during the Famine

Grandma Han took a paddle and brushed off the dust on her body, then stood in the yard and talked to her granddaughter.

"Then when the fish is cooked, you can serve a bowl of fish to Grandpa Guan. He is alone, so he doesn't have to cook it again in the evening."

The old lady didn't want to eat other people's fish for free. Grandpa Guan provided the raw materials, and her family would give her the finished dish in return.

"Oh, I see! Grandma, I went to the small market this afternoon, and I happened to see some farmers coming into town to sell their food. I bought 20 kilograms of rice and 20 kilograms of flour."

Han Zhaozhao quickly reported the bill.

"How much is it per kilogram? Is it expensive?"

"It's not cheap. Rice is 2.5 cents and flour is 2.1 cents. But I saw others rushing to buy them, so I squeezed in and bought some." Han Zhaozhao saw that her grandmother was not angry, so she told her the actual price.

"Let me see, how's the food you bought?"

The old lady went into the kitchen, took out the key, opened the cupboard, and took out the food from each jar and looked at them carefully.

"The grain is this year's new grain! The price is not expensive. Zhaozhao, next time you meet someone selling grain, ask them quietly if they can deliver it to your door.

If they agree to deliver the goods to our door, tell them to deliver it to our house in the evening. We need a lot, so we will pay them for it.”

The old lady thought that her working hours were not flexible, so she could only let her granddaughter place the order and she would receive the goods.

If she were to go to the market after get off work to buy grain, she would have been gone. Farmers sell grain privately, mostly during the period after autumn.

After this period of time, it will be difficult to buy large quantities of food.

"Grandma, you have to tell me first how much food we want to buy and what kind of food we want to buy.

I think people wouldn’t want to bother with something like 30 or 50 kilograms.”

"Rice or flour is fine. Just ask. If there's unhusked wheat, millet, rice, or sorghum, we'll take it too.

If possible, have someone send us 100-200 kilograms of food first, and then talk to him properly after you meet him."

Oh, Han Zhaozhao understood that her grandma was going to start preparing to store food!

This way she will feel relieved!

The next day, Han Zhaozhao got up before dawn, brushed her teeth, washed her face, combed her hair, tidied herself up a bit, picked up her keys, grabbed two cloth bags, and went out with a bamboo basket.

When she arrived at the small market, it was just getting light. Before she even entered the market, she could already feel the crowds of people at the entrance.

There were people pulling carts selling cabbages, radishes, sweet potatoes, celery, wax gourds and pumpkins. The majority of the people were there, and the buyers and sellers were lined up in large groups.

Going further in, there are people selling soybeans, peanuts, sesame, mung beans, red beans, black beans and broad beans. They don't sell in large quantities, so they put them in burlap bags, which they stick on the ground with the bags open so that people who want to buy can see the quality at a glance.

Continuing walking, we saw people selling live chickens, ducks and geese, people selling fish, people selling chicken eggs, duck eggs and goose eggs, as well as one selling pork and one selling mutton.

They don't have meat racks, so the sliced ​​meat is placed directly on the bottom of an overturned basket and sold.

Han Zhaozhao squeezed in to take a look. There was not much meat for sale, but there were quite a few people buying meat.

Ordinary people in Beijing often praise others for their magnanimity, but in fact they are very good at living.

The meat sold in this small market is all from pigs raised and slaughtered by farmers in the countryside. Farmers usually only slaughter pigs when they have an event or a wedding banquet at home.

A pig weighs 100 to 200 kilograms, and the net meat can only make about 100 kilograms. The family uses 20 to 30 kilograms, and most of the rest is sold.

The money from the sale can be used to buy a piglet, and if there is more left, it can be used to supplement the family income.

One pound costs 1.2 yuan, no ticket is required. Compared with the national supply, it is more than 40 cents more expensive.

Ordinary citizens were really reluctant to buy more. Han Zhaozhao observed that many middle-aged people with four pockets on their clothes would only buy half a pound or a pound at most.

Old men and women buy even less, and they are willing to buy just a few taels.

Occasionally you would meet a young man who was the main force in buying meat. They would cut at least one pound at a time, and at most three to five pounds.

Han Zhaozhao thought that maybe it was not just because they were young and couldn't control their appetite, but also because they had to take care of too many people. They had to eat at home and at their parents-in-law's house as well!

When it was Han Zhaozhao's turn, she cut two kilograms. It wasn't because she didn't have money or she didn't want to, but her status was there!

It’s really frustrating. In this era when everyone is poor, if she, a little girl, wants to spend money lavishly, she will get into big trouble!

After buying the meat, she continued to squeeze in. This time he focused on the small alleys on both sides.

Finally, at the other end of the small market, Han Zhaozhao found a familiar figure. Wasn’t that the aunt who sold grain yesterday?

Sure enough, anything that says it’s only sold once is a lie!

Yesterday, she came over to collect money with such proficiency that it was obvious that she was not a novice but must be an experienced hand in business.

Han Zhaozhao struggled to push away the crowd in front of her and ran into the alley to chase after him.

The aunt was negotiating the price with a young man when she noticed someone in front of her. She looked up and saw that it was the small customer who had bought grain from her yesterday. She immediately smiled.

"Girl, what are you doing? Didn't you just buy food yesterday? Are you going to buy more today?"

Han Zhaozhao didn't say whether to buy or not, she just looked at her and smiled: "Auntie, please go ahead and do your work. I want to ask you something today.

Let's talk after this uncle finishes shopping."

The aunt looked at her deeply, and seeing that she didn't seem to be looking for trouble, she turned around and went back to deal with the young man.

Han Zhaozhao watched from the side as the young man bought ten kilograms of rice and five kilograms of flour, paid the money, picked up the cloth bag and left.

Han Zhaozhao was just about to go up and talk to the aunt when three more old ladies came from the other end of the alley.

They all held cloth bags and weighed a few pounds of flour. Han Zhaozhao leaned against the brick wall, waiting quietly. The old lady thought she was the child of an auntie who sold grain!

"Girl, why don't you lend a hand to your mother and help dig for food?"

The auntie smiled, knowing that the old lady had misunderstood, "Old lady, you misunderstood, the other child is also here to buy things, not my child.

"Can't you see? Other people's children are dressed so neatly and are so pretty. I can't give birth to such a neat-looking girl."

The old lady said: "Oh, I must have seen it wrong. I was just wondering why this child looks nothing like you!

My dear, do you also buy the flour from her shop? I tell you, among the many grain sellers in this market, the flour from her shop is the best. It is fine and chewy. It is delicious when rolled into noodles, steamed buns or dumplings.

We buy white flour from several families, and we only buy from her family."

The grain seller said: "Thank you for your support, old customers! You can eat our flour without worry, it is all ground by our own stone mill.

The wheat for grinding white flour is carefully selected by several people. It must be washed at least twice and then dried to 80% dry before it can be ground.

Not only is it chewy, but it also doesn’t leave any irritation on your teeth and is very clean!”

The three old ladies said: "Don't worry! We are your regular customers and have been eating your white flour for many years.

By the way, other people's mills have all been jointly operated by the public and private sectors, why didn't yours join in the partnership?"

The aunt selling grains suddenly became worried and said, "What's the point of joining forces? We can't afford that!"