Newborn 1927

Yang Jiefang, Sun Zhiyong, and Yan Donglai arrived at the kitchen, where it was already bustling with activity. Old Wu greeted them, saying, "Oh, the three of you came together. Want an extra meal? I think not today. The boss has already arranged it; we'll eat white flour today. From today onwards, you'll eat in the main hall. I've already given the order to add a few more tables there." Yang Jiefang laughed, "That's great! Manager Wu, I heard you're in charge of grinding the flour. I'd like to ask, how many kilograms of flour can you grind from one hundred kilograms of wheat?" Old Wu pondered for a moment and replied, "Generally, at a 30% conversion rate, it yields about thirty kilograms of top-grade white flour, about thirty kilograms of second-grade flour, and about thirty kilograms of bran. Why are you asking this?" Yang Jiefang said, "Our reward this time should include four thousand eight hundred kilograms of wheat. I'd like to ask you to grind it all into flour for us! To be honest, we're thinking of starting a small..." "Stove." Old Wu frowned upon hearing this, sized up Yang Jiefang and the other two, and advised, "You've just gotten a little grain, and you're already thinking of wasting it all? Take my advice, you can't live like this! You have to save for the long term..." Yang Jiefang knew he meant well, but he had his own plans, so he said, "We understand what you're saying. We've already decided to cook for ourselves. Just tell me, how much flour can we get for our 4,800 jin of wheat?" Seeing that he had made up his mind, Old Wu didn't try to persuade him further, saying, "Since that's the case, I won't take advantage of you. I'll give you 1,500 jin of top-grade white flour and 1,500 jin of second-grade flour. Don't even think about the rest of the wheat bran; it can only be used to feed the livestock, consider it payment for their hard work!"

Three thousand catties in total is a bit low, but it seems Old Wu wasn't deliberately being stingy. Using livestock to grind the flour and manually sifting it inevitably results in a lower yield. In later times, with machine grinding, the yield could reach 80%, and that would be top-quality white flour. Unlike today's top-quality white flour, which is yellowish in color.

Yang Jiefang thought for a moment, then said, "There are twenty-one of us in total. If we convert the daily food rations to flour, how much would that be?" Old Wu glared at him and shouted, "You're really good at this calculation! You want to convert it all to flour? And then eat white flour every day, huh? Humph, don't even think about it! Let me tell you, with your way of doing things, your special meals won't last long. In the end, you'll still have to come back to eat. Daily rations? Heh, how about three catties of sweet potatoes per person?" Before Yang Jiefang could reply, Sun Zhiyong couldn't hold back any longer and said, "What? Use sweet potatoes to..." "Give us some? Old Wu, you really would do something like that?" Old Wu scoffed. "I really would. Three catties of sweet potatoes per person, take it or leave it. If you want flour, get it yourself, I don't have an ounce more." Sun Zhiyong shouted, "Even if you don't have flour, you can't just give us three catties of sweet potatoes! Your canteen doesn't serve sweet potatoes every day." Old Wu agreed, "That makes sense. How about this: half a catty more per person, three and a half catties of sweet potatoes per person per day. Is that fair enough?"

Yang Jiefang and his two companions nearly fainted upon hearing this, finally understanding why Wu Laokou was called Wu Laokou (meaning "Old Stingy"). Yang Jiefang suddenly thought of something and asked, "Are there many sweet potatoes on the mountain?" Wu Laokou replied, "The land on the mountain is almost entirely sloping, and the soil is too infertile, so most of it is planted with sweet potatoes. We also intercrop some corn and sorghum in the sweet potato fields. Because we plant so many sweet potatoes, the yield is high, so we have a lot to store. Also, the villagers nearby use sweet potatoes to pay their protection money. There are enough sweet potatoes on the mountain to feed us for a year." However, people can't rely on sweet potatoes as their staple food for a long time; it would lead to severe nutritional deficiencies. Moreover, sweet potatoes don't store well; even if stored in a cellar, they would either sprout or rot by spring. The sweet potatoes in the village are mainly used to feed livestock; the people mainly eat millet, corn, and sorghum. Therefore, the lack of food on the mountain is actually a lack of staple foods for people.

Yang Jiefang said, "Since there are so many sweet potatoes, why not process them further? That way we can exchange them for money to buy grain." Old Wu asked curiously, "Process them? Oh, you mean use them to brew wine? Yes, of course we do! Isn't it just sweet potato liquor? Sweet potato liquor tastes bad, it's not high-end, and it doesn't sell for a good price." Yang Jiefang said, "Even if it tastes bad, the price is an advantage. It's suitable for mass consumption, and we can sell it in large quantities with small profits." Old Wu shook his head and said, "These days, people can't even get enough to eat, so where do they get the money to drink? They only drink during festivals or when they have a wedding. How much can that sell?" Yang Jiefang said, "You're talking about the countryside, right? What about the city? How are the sales there?" Old Wu glared at Yang Jiefang, looking at him like he was an idiot, and said, "The city? Have you forgotten who you are?" Yang Jiefang was stunned for a moment before remembering that the bandits in the mountains were most afraid of going to the city.

Sun Zhiyong quickly stepped in to smooth things over, interjecting, "Old Wu, how much flour have you ground yet? We'd like to take some home first." Old Wu hesitated for a moment, then said, "Take a hundred jin after lunch. From now on, take a hundred jin each time, and come back for more when you've finished." Sun Zhiyong replied, "That's settled then. We'll come back later." He then took his leave.

As Yang Jiefang walked, he pondered the problem. Sun Zhiyong and Yan Donglai comforted him, saying, "Little Yang, with three thousand catties of flour, it's enough for us to eat for several months. That's already very good." Yang Jiefang shook his head and said, "We can't just sit around and do nothing. We need to have some cash coming in. Three meals a day, white flour every day, and meat every few days. This is my promise to everyone, and it's also your nutritional guarantee. Otherwise, it will be difficult for everyone to endure three months of high-intensity training." Yan Donglai couldn't help but ask, "What kind of training is it? It's so intense!" Yang Jiefang smiled and said, "If it weren't intense, how could I guarantee that we'd crush the other four teams after three months?" The two were even more shocked upon hearing this.

As they spoke, the three had reached the main hall, where a considerable number of people had already gathered. Unlike the usual noisy and chaotic atmosphere, it was remarkably quiet now. The people in the hall were roughly divided into two groups: one group faced east, looking at the lyrics of "The Ballad of Heroes" on the wall; the other group faced west, looking at the lyrics of "A Man Should Be Self-reliant." They were reciting the lyrics softly, occasionally scribbling on the table with a finger. For a moment, Yang Jiefang had the illusion that he had entered a classroom, where a group of students were diligently studying. Those who spoke occasionally did so in hushed tones, as if afraid of disturbing others. When they saw Yang Jiefang arrive, they simply smiled and nodded as a greeting.

Yang Jiefang spotted Bai Lang at a glance and walked straight over, sitting down beside him. He asked in a low voice, "Brother Bai, why is it so quiet today? Did something happen?" Bai Lang pointed to the wooden board in front of him and replied, "Sister Huilan wrote the lyrics of 'A Man Should Be Self-reliant' on the board and said something when she hung it up. Except for mealtimes, this place will be used as a classroom from now on. Only those who want to learn to read can come in; those who don't want to learn to read are not allowed to come, and no noise is allowed. I threw out those who didn't want to learn to read and who came to make noise." He spoke casually, but with an undeniable air of authority. Yang Jiefang nodded and said, "I see." He counted briefly and found that there were about a hundred people learning to read here, and they were all relatively young. Yang Jiefang recognized many of them, or at least their faces were familiar. Among the four commanders, besides Bai Lang, Lin Baozi was also there. Liu Yishou, sitting next to Lin Baozi, waved to Yang Jiefang as a greeting.

Yang Jiefang was delighted and stood up, saying, "Brothers, excuse me for disturbing you all. I'd like to ask if anyone is having any difficulties learning to read here? If so, feel free to speak up, and I'll definitely help you if I can." He noticed that everyone present looked at each other, hesitant to speak. Bai Lang coughed and said, "You can speak about this; it's not considered noisy." At his suggestion, everyone began to speak. Someone said, "I can sing this song, and I recognize these characters when they're written together, but when they're written separately, I can't recognize the same characters. What should I do?" Another person said, "I recognize some characters, but I can't write them down myself. Isn't that frustrating?" Yet another said, "If only we had paper and a pen, we could copy them down and carry them with us, looking them up anytime, anywhere. That would be so convenient!" Everyone chimed in with their own opinions, offering a long list of suggestions.

Yang Jiefang listened carefully, summarized the points, and then said, “The main problem you all have is a lack of understanding of these characters. Rote memorization won't work; we need to understand their meanings to remember and master them. Take the character ‘好’ (hǎo), for example. On the left is the ‘女’ (nǚ), meaning woman, and on the right is the ‘子’ (zǐ), meaning man. See, a man and a woman, holding hands and standing together, that’s ‘好’ (hǎo)!” Everyone laughed, and the atmosphere became lively. Someone said, “Great, great, now we can remember it.” Yang Jiefang continued, “Look at the character ‘汉’ (hàn). This character originates from the Han River and is related to water. On the left is the three-dot water radical… When we learn characters, we need to break them down and look at their components. This will help us understand and remember them. I’ll explain these to you when I have time. Take it slow, and with a few more tries, you’ll eventually remember them. As for the paper and pen issue, I’ll think of a solution later.” Everyone cheered and asked Yang Jiefang to explain further.

Seeing that it wasn't lunchtime yet, Yang Jiefang didn't refuse and immediately began explaining each character to everyone, one by one. Facing a group of illiterate people, Yang Jiefang had to summon immense patience, transforming into a primary school teacher, explaining the radicals, stroke order, meaning, and word combinations of each character in detail. He didn't stop until lunchtime. Although he didn't explain many characters, everyone remembered them remarkably well. This is the benefit of having a teacher.

As expected, several more tables were added to the main hall, changing the original three rows and four columns to four rows and four columns. Yang Jiefang's team all sat in the main hall, occupying three tables. A special lunch was served: a large bowl of white noodles for each person, topped with a small spoonful of finely chopped mutton. After everyone finished eating, they went about their respective tasks.

Yang Jiefang returned to his residence and first organized his future development plans in his mind. Then he took out paper and pen and began to draft training plans, competition events, and rules. Training required training grounds, so he also needed to draw up blueprints for the construction of various training grounds.