A nation's industrial development begins with junior engineers.

The little donkey was a bit thin, and when it started moving, it couldn't even pull the cart of pork. It turned around and looked at Jiang Xia, braying in dissatisfaction.

Jiang Xia bent down and gave the car a hard push, and it slowly started moving.

Seeing the donkey's wobbly legs, Jiang Xia gave up on the idea of ​​getting on the donkey cart.

"Let's go to Pigeon Market! It's almost noon, there are so many people coming!" Jiang Wuzhu picked a bunch of leaves from the roadside and covered the wild boar meat with them.

Jiang Xia scratched his head. Having not strolled the streets in a long time, he naturally didn't know the prices. Usually, Da Zhu and the others were the ones who went to Pigeon Market to buy things.

However, being cautious, he instinctively felt that going to Pigeon City was the worst option.

"No, this pile of stuff is too conspicuous. Besides, did you bring a scale?"

Jiang Wuzhu patted his head. Who would carry that thing around for no reason? It's not like I'm a professional.

"Then we'll have to go to the purchasing station, but Fatty Wang there is offering very low prices."

Jiang Sizhu chimed in.

"If you had ration coupons, how many cents would pork cost back then?"

Uncle Jiang watched the younger generation discussing with a smile, and when Jiang Xia asked, he explained:

"0.68 yuan, but it's gone up by 1 yuan recently. Wang Pangzi's purchase price should be 5 yuan."

"But that's the price for a big, fat pig. Our wild boar won't fetch that price; it'll probably be even lower!"

Tsk, 4 cents. I might as well just go home and eat it myself.

But there's nothing we can do. The summer grain harvest hasn't even started yet, and every household's food supplies are already nearly exhausted. If Jiangxia hadn't brought back a batch of grain a few days ago, they'd probably be eating grass roots to survive right now.

The mixed noodles that the two big shots ate were all contributed by the whole village.

So, after getting this batch of wild boar meat, the people didn't think about eating it, but rather about exchanging it for money to buy grain!

Pork costs 6 mao (0.6 yuan), and a pound of flour costs 2 mao (0.2 yuan).

That 400 jin of pork should be enough to exchange for about a thousand jin of flour. That way, the whole village can barely make ends meet until the summer harvest.

But wild boar meat can never compare to domestic pork. Not to mention its fishy smell, its meat is also very tough. Even if you stew it in a pot overnight, it will still be tough.

If it were in later generations, people would praise the meat for being chewy and delicious!

Now, people only complain that it gets stuck in their teeth.

The biggest drawback is that wild boar meat is all lean meat with no fat!

Jiang Wuzhu lowered his voice: "Grandpa, how about we go tonight? It's expensive on the black market. Pork doesn't need coupons anymore, it's gone up to 1.4 yuan!"

Jiang Xia shook his head: "Leaving aside safety issues, if this meat is left out overnight, it will probably be half-rotten."

"Forget it, let's just go back to the steel rolling mill!"

Why go back to the factory? Jiang Wuzhu looked puzzled, but since the old man had spoken, he had to listen.

The group drove a donkey cart and arrived at the back gate of the steel rolling mill close to noon.

Uncle Jiang parked the donkey cart to the side, and Jiang Xia went into the factory by himself.

Instead of going to the technical department, I went straight to the cafeteria and found Director Sun.

Director Sun was overjoyed to hear that there would be pork.

He's been racking his brains over the food supply lately. The canteen hasn't been serving much meat lately, and the workers are very unhappy about it.

As the factory's favored son, it was generally guaranteed a good supply of food. While not everyone in the factory could afford meat, they could still enjoy it every three to five days.

But Li Huaide couldn't stop causing trouble.

These past few days, Li Huaide seemed to have become more well-behaved and hadn't been causing trouble for Yang Youning. However, he had become particularly attentive to food.

Yang Youning took away most of his power, but kept the logistics department for him.

He used the factory's ingredient permits to buy a lot of delicacies. He stayed in the guesthouse, indulging in lavish meals every day. He was quite content, having forgotten all about home.

Even He Yuzhu enjoyed the good life, no longer having to cook in the canteen, but instead picking up the leftovers from Li Huaide's meals, living a life of plenty.

Even the lunchbox I brought home changed from one to two.

Today is the day some of the machinery factory's employees report for duty. Yang Youning has already given him instructions to make a good impression on the future steel rolling mill workers.

Director Sun, already overwhelmed, was caught in the middle of the bellows again.

For Director Sun, Jiangxia's arrival was like a ray of light in the darkness.

Before dinner was served, I quickly had Jiang Xia bring in the pork.

They even generously provided Jiangxia with a batch of flour at the standard 1:3 ratio.

Jiangxia also specifically mentioned that this was wild boar meat, which tastes fishy.

But Nan Yi said it was just a piece of cake, and he didn't know how he did it. One of his stir-fried wild boar meat dishes was incredibly fragrant.

The four of them ate lunch in the kitchen and then prepared to carry the flour back to the village.

Unexpectedly, they ran into Wang Tiezhu on the way.

Wang Tiezhu laughed heartily when he saw them, saying that things would be easier now.

I asked around and found out that Yang Youning had made the workshop staff work overtime yesterday. They rushed to get five hand pumps out.

That afternoon, I had Wang Tiezhu run down to Hongqi Commune and deliver the goods there. At the same time, I instructed Jiangxia to expedite the installation.

Jiang Xia was also amused; getting a thousand or so pounds of flour wouldn't be easy. It was another matter whether the little donkey could even pull it.

They just put it on the donkey cart and swaggered back.

That night, someone from another village would inevitably come crying, saying they couldn't afford food, their children were starving, and so on. Then they'd open their mouths wide and say, "Lend me some grain!"

You'll borrow it and get nothing in return. People might even call you a fool and a spendthrift behind your back.

If you don't lend it, you'll be labeled as heartless and inhumane.

After all, not every household is as united as the one in Jiangjia Village.

With the truck, things changed. They could just stuff sacks of flour into that pile of water pipes. Nobody would know what was hidden inside.

With the business finished, Jiang Xia didn't plan to report to the factory. Since it was a business trip anyway, he figured it was better to take it easy.

After helping Wang Tiezhu get on the truck, the group prepared to get back to the village.

Uncle Jiang, however, insisted on going to Nanluoguxiang.

It turned out that the old man was concerned about those few manure coupons. As he put it, since he had come all this way, if he didn't take a few big buckets back, then those coupons would be wasted!

Don't forget, the tickets have expiration dates.

Jiang Xia had no choice but to accompany the old man on the tour. After all, he already knew how to install all five pillars of a hand pump well.

If we follow the procedures, there shouldn't be any major problems.

But Jiang Xia was really worried about letting Uncle Jiang, who had never been to Beijing before, wander around alone.

Moreover, didn't Jiangxia only get 3 houses in Nanluoguxiang?

Jiang Xia hasn't been to see it in so long. If the people in the neighborhood office think something has happened to the house and just casually give it away, Jiang Xia won't even have time to cry.

Although we have already obtained the factory's certificate, we still need to register with the local street office.

So the uncle and nephew drove their donkey cart toward Nanluoguxiang.

It took the two of them an hour to finally find the street office in Nanluoguxiang.

Because Jiang Xia overestimated himself; he was a man who rarely left his home, so how could he find his way?

The only advantage Jiang Xia has over Jiang Sanshu is that he can read. He can read road signs.

But now there aren't that many road signs for Jiangxia to navigate; the alleys and lanes are like a maze.

After finally asking for directions and arriving at Gulou, I finally reached the street office with the help of a local police officer.

As a result, the street office gate was tightly closed, leaving only the gatekeeper shouting at the entrance.

I asked around and found out that everyone from the subdistrict office had gone to a meeting at the district level.

If I need to get things done, I can only do it tomorrow.

Uncle Jiang reluctantly took out his "fat money," thinking he could at least get two buckets back. The gatekeeper, who had initially intended to show off, only began explaining things to them after Jiang Xia laid out a pack of Daqianmen cigarettes.

"Forget about fertilizer, it's almost National Day. The whole district is cleaning up, and you'd be lucky if you could scoop out half a bucket of waste from the public toilets in the whole street."

"What about my few lucrative tickets?"

The gatekeeper looked at it with pity: "There's no hope. I can only come and check on it every day."

Come every day? That's impossible. Even if you're willing to come, whether the commune cadres will give you a pass is another matter.

On the way back, Uncle Jiang sighed deeply, lamenting that today's good ticket had been wasted.

Jiang Xia offered to ask the steel rolling mill, which made Uncle Jiang feel a little better.

These days, it's really tough!