Affection for Sidaogou during the Famine

"Who? Who is there?" Suddenly, a dazzling light shot out from twenty meters ahead.

Immediately afterwards, a man's low growl was heard.

Han Zhaozhao and her grandmother were startled out of nowhere. Grandma Han was dazzled by the sudden light and quickly turned her head to the side and closed her eyes.

Han Zhaozhao was also dazzled by the sudden light shining on her face, but she was not one to suffer a loss, so she immediately turned on the flashlight and shone it back.

"Humph! Who's afraid of who? I'm holding a three-cell flashlight in my hand!" A bright white light hit the other person's face, causing him to lower his head!

"Who are you? Do you know what's going on? Why are you shining a light on someone's face in the dark?"

"Is it niece Han? What a misunderstanding! I, the head of the family, thought it was someone else!

Dad, turn off the flashlight, it's the regular customer coming!"

The flashlight on the other side was turned off, and Han Zhaozhao heard a woman's voice. Oh! It turned out to be the aunt selling grain!

"Grandma, it's them!" Han Zhaozhao turned off the flashlight and followed his grandmother to the front.

It turned out that they had arrived at the agreed transaction location, the back door of the "haunted house".

I saw a middle-aged woman standing next to the donkey cart, and a short but strong man was accompanying her, leading the donkey.

"Auntie, why are you waiting at the back door? Didn't we agree to do the transaction at the front door?"

Han Zhaozhao asked.

“We were supposed to meet at the main gate, but when we first arrived, there were a group of kids playing over there!

We originally wanted to go back, but we were afraid that you would come back empty-handed, so we had to go to the back door to greet you.

Niece, who is this? "

After the middle-aged woman finished her explanation, she pointed at Grandma Han and asked.

Han Zhaozhao quickly introduced her: "Auntie, this is my grandma. There was too much grain, so she pushed it back after weighing it.

Is this your uncle? Hello, uncle!"

"Okay, okay, hello to you too!" The uncle leading the donkey agreed. His specific appearance could not be seen clearly in the dark, but when the light flashed just now, he could see that he had a square face. He sounded like an honest man from the sound of his voice.

But Han Zhaozhao couldn't be sure. After all, in this era, her judgment of people was not very accurate.

"Auntie, have you brought the food? Open the bag and let me see. If there's no problem, we'll weigh it and pay for it." Grandma Han put away the cart and walked to the donkey cart carrying a roll of cloth bag.

"Old lady, the food is here, please take a look! Niece, can you help me with the flashlight?"

Three women, old, middle-aged and young, gathered together, huddled in a circle, blocked the light from the flashlights, and began the transaction process of checking the goods and weighing them.

Both sides were nervous and wanted to end the battle quickly, so they quickly weighed the food, settled the money, and poured the grain into Han Zhaozhao's cloth bag.

Two bags of flour and two bags of rice, a total of 200 kilograms of food. After the food was delivered, the old lady paid.

Grandma Han turned her back, unbuckled her belt, reached into the inner pocket of her trousers, rummaged around for a while, and finally took out a plaid handkerchief.

The old lady held the handkerchief in her mouth and tied her belt, then she began to count the items under the light of her granddaughter's flashlight.

He counted out three big black tens, three five-yuan notes, and a stack of Mao Zedong's banknotes, and when he had the total, he carefully handed the money to the aunt who was selling grain.

"Her aunt, please count it. It's forty-six dollars in total. Is that the right amount?"

The aunt took the money with a happy smile, held it in her left hand, put her right thumb and index finger into her mouth, and counted it carefully twice.

Han Zhaozhao: This money tastes so good!

"That's right, exactly!"

The first transaction amount of 46 yuan was quickly settled.

The middle-aged man helped to lift the scale, pour the grain, and also helped to load Han Zhaozhao and his grandson onto the cart.

Just as the couple was about to drive the donkey cart away, they were stopped by Grandma Han.

"Auntie, my family is large and I want to buy some more whole grains. They don't need to be ground, just the ones with shells. How much can you give me?"

The middle-aged couple looked at each other, and Han Zhaozhao saw the man shook his head slightly.

Middle-aged woman: "..."

Han Zhaozhao saw that things were not going well. Her grandmother was too anxious and quickly interrupted: "Auntie, you are also a real person, and so are our family!

I know you are in a difficult situation. Do you think this will work? Please go back to the village and ask around. If there is anyone selling grain, please ask for help.

You can act as a middleman or bring the goods to us. No matter it is corn, millet, rice, sorghum or wheat, a few hundred kilograms is not too much, and a few dozen kilograms is not too little. We will definitely give you a fair price.

There are too many people in our family, and they are all strong laborers. Their stomachs are like bottomless pits, and they can’t finish all the food at the end of each month.

We have dealt with each other several times, and we have always been very happy with each other. I just want you to take care of me. I often come to the small market, so please let me know if you have any news. I will consider it as a favor that our family owes you."

Grandma Han also reacted. Things are different now than before. No one cares about small purchases, but if you really buy hundreds of kilograms of food, it will definitely not be okay if people find out.

"That's right, auntie, our two families are acquainted now. We should visit each other more often in the future. Don't worry, our family is very tight-lipped and nothing will happen!

If you have a letter, please tell my granddaughter. The little girl is young and inconspicuous, and we can do this business for a long time."

The middle-aged couple thought about it, and the man spoke, "Auntie, let's go back and ask for your opinion first. We really don't dare to agree to your request now.

As you know, now after the crops are harvested in the countryside and the public grain tax is paid, the government requires that the remaining grain be sold to the grain office as ordered grain, and private transactions are not allowed.

The little bit of food sold in the market is what ordinary people save from their food rations, and it’s really not much!

If anyone has something urgent to do and needs to spend money so they are not willing to sell their food rations, we will go back and ask for you!

If we can't figure this out, please don't blame me."

"Don't blame me, thank you so much! I was also a little anxious. There are more than a dozen people in my family, and it costs a lot of money every month just for food. I was anxious to buy more coarse grains to prepare. I will have to trouble you more in the future."

The four men separated, two of them drove donkey carts out of the city overnight, and two of them pushed four bags of grain, avoiding pedestrians and going into the alleys, and quietly returned home.

Along the way, neither Han Zhaozhao nor his grandmother spoke to each other. It was their first time to engage in such an illegal transaction, so it was impossible not to be nervous.

The grandparents and grandchildren walked like thieves on quiet and deserted paths, not even daring to turn on the flashlight. They hurried along in the dark, and after more than half an hour, they finally arrived home.

Only after the grain was pushed into the yard and the gate was closed and locked did the grandparents and grandchildren feel relieved.

"Oh my! I never thought it would be so difficult to buy food privately now!

No one cared about it last year, why is it being managed so strictly now? Zhao Zhao, tell me, is there really a disaster in some area?"

The old lady didn't really want her granddaughter to answer, she just had doubts in her mind.

"Yes! That must be the case! The government has blocked the news!" She asked and answered herself, completing a perfect logical loop in an instant.

Grandma Han picked up a flashlight and went to the west wing warehouse alone. She tinkered with it for a while before coming out and calling Han Zhaozhao for help.

Han Zhaozhao put away the hemp rope that she had untied from the cart, and she and her grandmother carried a bag of rice into the warehouse.

As soon as he entered, Han Zhaozhao was shocked!