Reborn before the famine, kicking away the scumbag's family and living a carefree life.

23. Grain Storage

"There's no way I'll remarry her. Don't bring it up again."

“I hope my sister-in-law will stop making unfounded rumors about Su Jinru’s relationship with other men. If she gets a reputation for being immoral, it will have a bad influence on the child.”

Qi Zhenglin echoed this sentiment.

"Yes! Yes! She is, after all, the child's mother. If her reputation is damaged, it will also have a negative impact on the child."

Even after the divorce, he still protects her so much, but Li Meili doesn't dare offend her brother-in-law, so she can only stomp her foot and leave.

Qi Zhengyang dug for two months and finally finished digging a cellar inside his room.

He used his two months' wages, plus fifty yuan borrowed from relatives, for a total of one hundred and ten yuan. He bought some rice, sweet potatoes, and potatoes and stored them there.

Later, thinking about the three years of famine, I decided to save as much as possible. I borrowed another fifty yuan from Du Mei and used it all to buy grain, which I then stored away.

Soon, they started eating from the same pot, and the house could no longer have cooking utensils like pots and pans. Qi Zhengyang hid a small pot in the cellar, because the cellar was not big, and it could barely hold that many things.

At the entrance to the cellar, in a corner of the room, Qi Zhengyang covered it with a wooden plank and placed a wooden box on top of it.

After doing all this, Qi Zhengyang finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Having been reborn, he could no longer let himself starve to the point of dizziness, nor could he let his older brother, sister-in-law, and their two children starve to death.

Although the stored grain was not much, it was enough to ensure that he and his brother's family would not starve.

Soon after, the practice of eating in communal canteens was implemented.

Each production team had a communal canteen. Except for the elderly and children, all young and middle-aged people had to participate in collective labor, and all members ate at the communal canteen.

This meant that every household had to hand over their individual food supplies to the collective, including all cooking utensils such as pots, pans, and bowls.

Most people handed over their food and cooking utensils, but a few kept some. The captain led the militia to inspect each household, and without exception, everything they found was confiscated.

Qi Zhengyang handed over a small bag of sweet potatoes and a small bag of rice, as well as a set of cooking utensils and five bowls.

Two months ago, when he divorced Su Jinru, Su Jinru asked to take a set of cooking utensils and several bowls with her, knowing that there were two small pots in the house.

Qi Zhengyang flatly refused Su Jinru's request, thinking that one day he would have to hand over a set of cooking utensils and keep the others for his own secret use.

Eating in the communal canteen is to save time and increase productivity. After all, after a day's work, there's no need to go home to cook; everyone can eat directly in the communal canteen, giving them more time and energy for production.

At first, everyone felt great.

In order to implement this policy, the team often organizes surprise inspections at night to see if anyone is secretly preparing special meals for others.

Or if they see smoke coming from someone's chimney, the patrol team will come to check. If they find someone cooking for themselves without permission, not only will their tools be confiscated, but they will also have their work points deducted.

Before we started eating in communal canteens, at the end of the year, grain was distributed according to the number of work points. Some families with fewer members didn't want that much grain, so they used money instead.

Now, when people eat in the collective canteen, they no longer need to be allocated grain; instead, they are paid according to their work points.

Anyone who violates the rules will be punished by having their work points deducted.

After several rounds of this, no one dared to cook for themselves, and most of the hidden cooking utensils were handed over.

The wheat is almost ready for harvest; it will be ready in about ten days.

Su Jinru knew that in the next few days, locusts would come and wreak havoc on the crops, and the wheat that was expected to have a bumper harvest would be eaten by the locusts until not a single leaf was left.

Nanyang County was the hardest-hit area in Nanshi City and the first region in the country to experience famine, where the number of deaths was also the highest.

Su Jinru thought that since she was reborn and knew in advance that this disaster was coming, she wanted to remind everyone to harvest the wheat ahead of time, but who would believe her? Not only would they not believe her, but it might even bring her disaster.

But no matter what, Su Jinru wanted to give it a try.

That day, she arrived at Jin Gui's house.

"Brother Jin Gui, I want to tell you something."

"Aru, what is it? Tell me."

“I had a dream last night that a lot of locusts came to our area and ate all our crops that were about to be harvested.”

Dingxiang laughed and said, "Aren't locusts only around in autumn? How could there be locusts this season?"

Su Jinru: "Yes! I also found it strange, but in my dream, I really saw swarms of locusts flying in, and they ate up all the crops in just one hour."

Dingxiang: "It's just a dream! It's all nonsense."

"No, Sister Dingxiang, this dream is too real. Food is our lifeline! We can't be careless. What if it's real?"

"Impossible. There shouldn't be locusts this season. Even if there were, there would only be a few. I've never heard of locusts eating all the crops."

Jin Gui: "Yes! I've never heard of locusts eating all the food. Aru, it's just a dream, don't be nervous."

"Brother Jingui, it's better to be safe than sorry. What if locusts really come and eat our crops? What will we eat in the second half of the year? Brother Jingui, let's harvest the wheat early to avoid losses!"

Jin Gui waved his hand: "We can't harvest wheat now. The wheat is still in the bud stage and not mature yet. Harvesting it now will seriously affect the yield. If our team's yield is low, being criticized is a minor matter. If it's serious, we'll be accused of maliciously sabotaging production, because any farmer who has grown wheat knows that now is not the time to harvest."

Dingxiang: "Yes! Yes! No one can bear such a responsibility. If Jin Gui dares to order the wheat harvest at this time, someone will immediately report him, saying that he doesn't know how to grow crops and is not qualified to be the team leader. That's a small matter. If he is accused of maliciously sabotaging production, we can't bear that crime."

After listening to Sister-in-law Dingxiang's words, Su Jinru realized the complexity and seriousness of the matter; she had oversimplified things.

Even if she were the team leader and had the authority to order her team to harvest wheat ahead of schedule, there was no guarantee that someone wouldn't report her for maliciously sabotaging production.

Unless she can persuade the county magistrate, but it's impossible to persuade the county magistrate just because of a dream. No wonder people would think she's crazy!

Enough, enough. What power does a mere woman have to change the fate of so many people?

You might end up losing your life.

Su Jinru secretly broke out in a cold sweat.

"I was confused. I had a terrible dream and took it as reality. Sister-in-law Dingxiang, Brother Jingui, thank you for reminding me. I almost dragged you into this mess."

"It's alright, it's alright. You were just trying to protect the collective interest!"