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

27. Arranging a marriage alliance

This locust plague has severely damaged all crops this season, including not only wheat but also some vegetables, such as newly planted potatoes and sweet potatoes, which had just sprouted some leaves before being destroyed by the locusts.

Needless to say, all that's left of the vegetables are their roots buried in the soil.

Therefore, both staple foods and miscellaneous grains suffered heavy losses.

Even worse, the locusts also devoured the rice seedlings for the next season.

The leaders who came to inspect the area said, "In order not to affect the planting of the next season, they will distribute the rice seeds as soon as possible, and there should still be time."

The leader also said that the entire Nanyang County was facing a food crisis, and the county government would request assistance from higher authorities. However, the relief supplies would not arrive for a while, so they were asked to make do and conserve their food during this process.

Jin Gui said, "The food in the collective canteen is only enough to last for a month. Even if we save every last bit of food we have, it will only last for another month."

The leader said, "The other production teams are in a similar situation to you, but they are in more difficulty. They only have one month's worth of food left."

Jin Gui: "Leaders, I hope to get your approval. This wheat that we managed to preserve is usually more than ten days away from being harvested, but we don't know if the locusts will come again. If they do, we will have no harvest at all. Moreover, the locusts have eaten all the grain of the other production teams. We are the only ones left with this little bit. Who knows when it will be stolen and harvested!"

Now the entire county only has this little bit of grain left. There are too many wolves and not enough meat. They are all around, eyeing us covetously. It's not impossible that it will be stolen.

The leader nodded: "Then you can harvest it ahead of schedule!"

If even the last remaining grain were to go missing, he, as the leader, would not be able to bear the responsibility.

So Jin Gui immediately gathered the production team members to harvest the wheat in the fields.

After harvesting the wheat, they didn't dare leave it on the drying ground at night. Instead, they brought it to the public housing and assigned two militiamen to guard it. Only then did Jin Gui feel at ease.

It wasn't until two days later, after the wheat was dried, threshed, dried for another day, ground into flour, and locked in the cabinet of the public housing, that Jin Gui finally felt at ease.

Everyone in Nanyang County is deeply worried after this locust plague.

Because there is almost no food left to eat.

After eating in the communal canteen for over a month, and having just enjoyed a month without worrying about food, the problem of not having enough to eat has resurfaced.

I heard that many places across the country experienced severe drought in the second half of last year, which is why grain prices have risen this year and the national grain reserves have been released.

I wonder how much I'll get here.

Now, even if you have money, you can't buy food.

Several village officials held a meeting to discuss how to solve the food problem. They suggested planting some short-cycle crops, such as potatoes and sweet potatoes, on the mountainside.

However, potatoes and sweet potatoes are not available on the market now. If we use the potatoes and sweet potatoes that the collective uses as food to grow them, then everyone's already meager food supply will inevitably be affected.

This concerned everyone in the entire third production team. The village cadres proposed to hold a general meeting of all members and decide by a show of hands whether to use the remaining sweet potatoes and potatoes as seeds for planting.

For farmers, growing crops to eat is an age-old principle. Now that there is a locust plague, replanting crops and being self-sufficient is a deeply ingrained concept for them.

I heard that there is a drought and food shortage all over the country. We rely on subsidies from the government, but when will that happen, and how much will we get? We are farmers, and we can't hand over our grain to the government. Instead, we have to ask the government for more. That's not fair. So, everyone agreed to save their own food rations and use them as seeds to grow sweet potatoes and potatoes.

Thus, the collective grain supply of the third production team of Daben Village was only enough to last for one month, and even during that month, it was done under very frugal conditions.

They changed from three meals a day to two meals a day, and each meal was smaller than before.

Soon it was the busy farming season. After planting sweet potatoes and potatoes, they began to plant rice.

However, all the seedlings that had been cultivated were eaten by locusts, and the higher-ups said to send them seeds as soon as possible.

The villagers of Daben Village were filled with hope during the busy farming season, eagerly awaiting the delivery of rice seeds so they could quickly cultivate new seedlings and plant them in time.

But a day passed, two days passed, a month passed, and the seedlings still hadn't arrived.

I heard that because there was no food left to eat in other places, some people even ate the seeds.

Daben Village is also facing a food shortage.

At this time, Zeng Jianming and Su Jinyu's boyfriend suddenly proposed to get married.

Liu Yulan: "It's probably a bit inappropriate for your family to bring up marriage at this time."

Mother Zeng: "Why is it inappropriate? This date was set a long time ago."

Previously, the reason why they decided to get married during the busy farming season was that Zeng's mother thought that if she married Su Jinyu at this time, she could let her earn more work points during the busy farming season. However, due to the locust plague, there was not much to do during the busy farming season, so there were not many work points to earn.

At this time, everyone's attention was focused on food and what to do next, so the wedding had to be postponed.

However, Zeng's parents thought differently. They believed that if they were to get married during this special period and keep everything simple, would the Su family waive the bride price?

Because the agreed-upon bride price was one hundred yuan.

At such a difficult time, when they were almost starving, the Zeng family still discussed the marriage of their two children according to the agreed time, without being presumptuous.

At this time, weddings are simplified and dowries are waived, which is a necessity due to the circumstances.

As for the problem of food shortage, they naively thought that this was a problem for the village cadres to consider, because they were eating in the collective canteen, and as long as others had food, their own family would have food too.

This kind of thinking is not unique to a few individuals.

Liu Yulan said, "Elder sister, at this time, we're barely able to get enough to eat. Let's postpone the wedding for now!"

"This is something we agreed on beforehand, we can't go back on our word! No matter how difficult things get, life has to go on!"

Liu Yulan: "But we have nothing now, how are we going to hold the wedding?"

"Why bother with all that formalities when it comes to daily life? Keep it simple. Let the two kids go to the Civil Affairs Bureau to get their marriage certificate, and Ayu can come directly to my house. No need for any formalities. Besides, we eat in the communal canteen now, and we don't cook for ourselves anymore. As for the dowry, we understand that you're not having an easy time, so we'll waive it. And those outdated customs like bride price should have been abandoned long ago."

Liu Yulan: "So, after the two children got their marriage certificate, Ayu quietly became part of your family?"