Rebirth 1958: My Home is in Nanluoguxiang

If the drought in 59 caught everyone off guard, then the drought in 60 made everyone worried. By 61, drought had already hit large areas across the country, and people began to panic.

Fortunately, the top leaders were all strong-willed. They led the people across the country to work hard, importing food from the big brother while organizing the military and civilians to carry out large-scale water conservancy repairs while the rivers were drying up.

The situation came to 62. After the spring, a rainstorm affected most of China, injecting precious water resources into the land that had been dry for three years.

After the heavy rain, people across the country quickly entered spring farming mode.

As the rains fell one after another, everyone gradually had a feeling that the drought might be over and that 62 would be a year of bumper harvest.

It was mid-June, and with the completion of summer grain harvest across the country, the 62nd summer grain harvest was finally released, returning to the per-acre yield level before the drought!

Even because a large number of water conservancy projects have been completed, the per-acre yield in some areas has reached a new high this year due to sufficient irrigation.

When the news of the bumper harvest appeared in the newspapers, the whole country was excited and everyone's tense nerves finally relaxed.

As food supply returned to normal, the biggest change was that the supply of chicken, duck, fish, meat and eggs in the vegetable market also began to gradually recover.

One day when Chang Zhengyang passed by the Pigeon Market, he found that there were more farmers selling non-staple food.

"Oh, someone is selling watermelons, what a coincidence!"

Chang Zhengyang and his men rushed to the old man selling watermelons. Without saying a word, he picked up a basket full of watermelons and asked, "Uncle, I want this basket of watermelons, including the basket and the watermelons. The price is ten yuan. How about it?"

The old man who was smoking a pipe was stunned at first, then overjoyed, and nodded quickly, saying, "Young man, you really have good taste. My watermelon is very sweet. I'll sell it to you for ten yuan!"

"Hey, what's wrong with you? Do you want to eat alone?"

"That's right, it's great to be rich!"

Chang Zhengyang didn't care about the complaints and accusations of the aunties. He just threw down a big unity card, picked up the basket and ran out, shouting as he ran: "Uncles and aunties, if you have the mind to scold me, why don't you hurry up and grab the remaining watermelons. If you don't grab them now, there will be no more watermelons left."

The aunties were shocked when they heard what was going on, and immediately came to their senses. They took out their money, waved the banknotes at the old man, and rushed to buy the remaining watermelons.

Chang Zhengyang tied a basket of watermelons on the back seat of his bicycle and rode towards Nanluoguxiang.

After entering the alley, several acquaintances wanted to buy one, but he rejected them all.

Just kidding, no one is growing watermelons on a large scale commercially these days, so it’s hard to buy good watermelons on the market!

Sometimes you really don’t have money to spend.

"Hey, Zhengyang, where did you get the watermelon?"

When they were about to arrive at Yard 95, they found that many people had gathered at the gate of the yard. Xu Damao came out of the crowd, looked at the watermelon on the back seat, and couldn't help but smack his lips.

"Don't say anything. We don't take out anything. You can't exchange it for something. Third brother, fourth brother, you are deaf. Come here and carry the things back."

The third and fourth brothers ran out from Yard 95. They were overjoyed to see the watermelon on the bicycle and worked together to carry the watermelon back.

The two boys are twelve years old this year and will enter the first grade of junior high school in autumn. Compared with children of the same age, they are over 1.6 meters tall and as strong as little tigers. It is not difficult for them to lift a basket of watermelons together and they carry the watermelons away in a blink of an eye.

There was also the seven-year-old pig, who followed them happily, obviously intending to open a melon to taste.

Chang Zhengyang glanced at the crowd and asked, "What are you doing in your hospital? Why is there such a big scene?"

Seeing that Xigua had disappeared, Xu Damao could only say angrily, "Have you forgotten that last month our hospital held a general meeting and each household contributed 50 cents per person to raise funds to repair the water supply? The water supply plant moved the cement bricks and water pipes here this afternoon, and their technicians are now inside measuring the lines."

Chang Zhengyang suddenly realized: "Oh, so that's what happened. I almost forgot that our family has also registered for it."

This matter has to start with the construction of Miyun Reservoir. The year before last, in the autumn of 60, Miyun Reservoir was officially completed and began to store water.

This year's rainfall was sufficient, and the reservoir that had been storing water for more than a year was finally full. From then on, the water problem faced by the people of Yanjing was finally greatly alleviated.

Well, according to the spirit of our superiors, in building a modern society, we cannot do without running water, electricity and telephones!

Of course, it was not until the 1990s that every household had a telephone.

Currently, only most of the cities in Yanjing have access to electricity, and very few have access to running water.

Even if electricity is on, there will be power outages every now and then, which can only be said to be better than nothing.

Everyone would rather use candles and kerosene lamps, and few people are willing to use electric lights because electricity is expensive!

As a result, the street office often encourages alley residents to use electricity, because the power plant generates electricity 24 hours a day and the generator cannot be shut down at will, which leads to a large amount of electricity generated at night being wasted.

When Chang Zhengyang learned that they were going to install running water, he lost interest. When he returned home, he saw a lot of cement bricks and water pipes piled up in his own yard. He guessed that he would have to wait until the yard next door was installed, so he came over to install it for their family.

After he parked his bike, he went to the kitchen and saw that, as he expected, a big watermelon had been cut open and several small ones had been eaten.

Chang Zhengyang went up and slapped the third child: "Did you send it to your parents?"

The third brother didn't mind, and pointed at the watermelon on the table and said, "It's over. Big brother, this biggest piece is for you."

Chang Zhengyang nodded with satisfaction, and without any hesitation, he picked up the watermelon on the table and started eating it.

The tempting red flesh and distinct black seeds. When you take a bite, the natural fragrance of the watermelon rushes into your nose, coupled with the sweet juice, this is the best summer food to relieve the heat.

There is strength in numbers. The tap water in the next yard was installed quickly. Half an hour later, people from the water plant arrived at Lao Chang's house.

This time it was different from the courtyard next door. Courtyard No. 95 only had a pool in the middle courtyard, but the Chang family was different. In addition to building a pool at the original well, they also had running water into the house and installed faucets in the kitchen and bathroom.

There are three faucets in total, one in the yard, one in the kitchen, and one in the bathroom. Plus water pipes, cement, and bricks, the Chang family spent 180 yuan to install the tap water.

However, this is nothing to Chang Zhengyang. He is now earning a level 9 salary and the treatment of a full colonel. The monthly subsidy plus salary totals 288.5 yuan, so the cost of installing running water is not a problem.