Canteen System Assistance Notes

"Hey...it's cheaper..."

"Not cheap, not cheap anymore, at this price, I won't lose any more! Young people nowadays..." He rummaged through the small iron box next to him, found a stamp and pasted it on the paper.

"Look, this stamp is eight cents. If you bargain again, I, an old man,

There’s no food to eat!”

After much back and forth, and much arguing, Xiao Dongshun finally reluctantly took out his three-cent Guanghua coin and exchanged it for a five-cent note and his letter. He shouldered his belongings and slowly walked down the road. "Go to the fork in the road. Please walk slowly and stay for a while..."

After finishing a deal, Xu Jize collected the money and began humming the lyrics again. What should I take the two little ones for dinner tonight? He thought, how about making some porridge? I still have some five-nut sauce cubes left, and the kids ate eggs at school...

But at this time, Xiao Dongshun, who had just walked away, suddenly turned his head and came back.

His face suddenly lit up with enthusiasm: "Hey, Mr. Xu, I heard that you had the ability to summon spirits and read the precious scrolls and heavenly books before." Xiao Dongshun gestured, a little hesitant and embarrassed: "How about this, can you help me look at my birth date and time to see if it matches that of Xiu'er from the same village..."

Master Xu was taken aback. He immediately patted his robe and refused righteously:

"No, no! Marriages between men and women should be autonomous. We oppose buying and selling, and arranged marriages. If two people agree, they can get married, and no one can stop them! Feudal superstitions are unacceptable. Please don't try to harm me!"

Chapter 303: New Occupation in the Base Area (⑵) Huinong Lioness

Huaishuwan Village is a small village located in Huiyi. You probably won’t find it on the map. It is such a small village that a dirt road passes through the village. A well is across the middle of the road with a mechanical water pump installed. Then a large locust tree with branches growing crookedly in the middle of the road. The dirt road turns here, revealing a crescent-shaped flat area.

This is almost the entire village.

But things started to change a few years ago.

This small village, originally home to only a few households, was later inhabited by the Eighth Route Army's construction troops. Their noisy but orderly construction efforts left many empty houses. These empty houses were later occupied by many workers and their families, and eventually became one of the workers' dormitories in the Huinong Industrial Zone, still known as Huaishuwan Village.

The arrival of the workers brought many changes to this ancient village. For example, men no longer work in the fields, but women carry hoes; children no longer help with farming, but go to school every day... In order to popularize these new ideas, Huaishuwan Village also has a large loudspeaker. It was proposed by the village cadres, who then applied for a subsidy and everyone pooled their money to buy it.

On weekdays, this loudspeaker would announce the time, the news, play music, and relay broadcasts, making it a truly eye-catching feature in the village. This was a welcome development; everyone loved it. The Eighth Route Army's art troupe favored Huaishuwan Village as their venue for their rural film screenings thanks to this loudspeaker. It was also incredibly convenient for calling someone or discussing a matter. Even peddlers liked to frequent the area—regardless of where they came from, most people would take a second look at the loudspeaker and nod in admiration.

Zhang Shihan is also proud of this, not only because he is a former pot-maker, now a mechanical and electrician, a glorious and excellent worker, nor because he contributed to the construction of this loudspeaker, but because of his wife Zhao Huafeng - she is the manager of this loudspeaker.

On weekdays, the village broadcasts are broadcast from a loud speaker, and the voice behind the broadcast is none other than my wife! This feeling of pride in "my wife being the announcer" is a topic of conversation worth envy these days. However, Zhang Shihan's good days are coming to an end today.

Because the loudspeaker in Huaishuwan Village was broken.

How did it get bad? Because people called him bad.

Just yesterday was the weekly newspaper reading day. The loudspeaker was going to read the factory's "Blast Furnace Weekly" and the central government's "Xinhua Daily" to the elderly, children, women and men in the village. However, while reading, the radio suddenly fell silent for a few seconds, followed by the sound of nails scratching on the blackboard, rusty saws pulling the erhu, and foam cotton scraping against glass, which exploded like an explosion.

"Zhang! Shi! Han! You bastard!!!"

"Zhang Shihan! I, Zhao Huafeng, took care of your children and farmed for you. How could I have let you down?"

Early in the morning, Zhang Shihan had just returned home after finishing his night shift. He grabbed the door handle and opened the door halfway, but heard a bang and a creak. The door panels and hinges made a loud groan, which knocked him to the ground and tore his clothes.

"Thief! Thief, thief, thief!"

Before Zhang Shihan could react, a wooden basin rushed out from the door and knocked the man, who was about to get up, back to the ground. "No! No! Wait a minute!!" Before the man could finish his words, a torrential downpour of wind and rain had already hit him head on.

You've been working at the factory for a year, and you've become a phoenix, like Chen Shimei! A woman with red scissors ran out the door, her legs slung like carrots. "You don't like me! Kill me! Go find out the truth about you!" Seeing this scene, Zhang Shihan, who was still happy to get off work, suddenly slid and crawled off the ground. "Crazy woman! What are you talking about?"

The woman took a big step forward, and the lightbulb in the house behind her came on. The children, frightened by their furious mother, cried out loudly, "Run! Run! Run back to the electromechanical factory to find your vixen! Leave us, an orphan and a widow, to live out our lives in the wilderness!"

This woman was the village announcer, Zhang Shihan's wife, the mother of their two children, and the president of the Women's Association of Dahuaishuwan Village. At this moment, she was hiding on the ground with her right hand on her waist, making a banging sound, full of momentum.

"Mrs. Zhang! You're so early in the morning! You're louder than a megaphone!"

"Are you still letting me sleep?"

It was still dawn, and the woman's loud voice was incredibly penetrating, carrying far and wide. While the settlements in Huinong Village were often sparsely populated, Huaishuwan Village itself was a workers' dormitory area, with a relatively high density of houses. This lion-like roar, like a Hedong lion, pulled everyone off their kangs.

The power of morning grumpiness is immense; even the most good-tempered person would be tempted to lash out in anger. However, Zhang's wife, Zhao Huafeng, lived up to her status as both the chairwoman of the Women's Association and a broadcaster. Not only was she a formidable street-swearer, she was also knowledgeable and cultured. She stepped outside and immediately shifted her stance, plopped down on the ground, and waved the newspaper in her hand.

"It's unjust! It's unjust! Sisters! Fellow villagers!" She held the newspaper in one hand and the scissors in the other, holding them to her chest. "Come and give us some advice!"

"For so many years, I, Zhao Huafeng, have been married to the Zhang family and have been treated like a man. I have worked hard to farm for his family, and raised several children with my own hands.

As they spoke, the woman pulled Chaochao's two young boys, who had long been frightened and crying, with expressions of helplessness, sadness, pain and sorrow: "I should never have believed his lies! He said he was going to work in the factory to earn money to support his family. Who would have thought that now he's cuddling with female students and getting pictures of him in the newspapers!"

"Oh my dear Lord! I have no face to live! I'd rather die in a car accident!"

Now, Zhang Shihan, who had just gotten off work and ran to the big locust tree, was completely confused. What the hell was going on? He just went to receive an "Excellent Worker" certificate and participated in the award ceremony, but how come when he got home, his grape trellis collapsed?

It took him a while to come back to his senses. He saw more and more people around him, all looking at him suspiciously. No, if he continued like this, he would be completely embarrassed in the village. "You crazy woman, that's ballroom dancing! Ballroom dancing! I was there to receive an award, and it was an activity after receiving the award!"

"You woman, you have long hair but little knowledge. I won't bother with you!"

The people who were woken up have gathered around, some to watch the fun, some to persuade, and the whole place is talking and making it very lively.

At this moment, some people had already run to the village secretary, ready to call for help to break up the fight. However, taking advantage of this moment of gathering, Zhao Huafeng fought back without stopping, her cries turning into sobs: "It's good to be a worker! There are so many beautiful female students in the factory, so you are naturally advanced, excellent workers, and you can all dance! We don't want us old-fashioned women who can't do anything!"

She immediately became agitated again, "Sisters! Tell me, why is Zhang Shihan like this? Can you bear it?"

In a flash, the eyes of everyone present, young and old, not just the women, were instantly focused on Zhang Shihan. He felt as if he had been stripped naked and left to dry in the scorching sun, and the yellow mud in his crotch, like the photo in the newspaper, was firmly there, leaving him speechless.

Besides, this is not something that can be resolved through debate.

The other men in the village looked at each other, and no one dared to speak openly to persuade them. They could only act as peacemakers one by one.

"Mrs. Zhang, you see, your house is wired. Didn't your husband's allowance pay for the light bulbs? He is also an excellent worker. This is determined by the organization.

You give him... yes, a chance to reform, a chance to reform."

"Sister Zhao, this is really outrageous. You are a man of the Zhang family. Your wife treats you so well. How can you dance a 'social dance' with another woman?"

"Why don't you apologize to your wife?"

The clamor and the commotion of the crowd frightened the two young boys. They had no idea what was happening, they just knew that the moment their father returned, their mother, like a light switch, suddenly flew into a rage. Before that, everything had been normal; their parents had a harmonious relationship and had treated them well.

All these rapid changes were beyond the textbook knowledge they had learned in the border area primary school, which made them feel at a loss and burst into tears.

---—--—-

Oh, how could I end up with such a wife... Zhang Shihan is now like Zhu Bajie looking in the mirror, feeling miserable both inside and outside.

Looking at the mother and child huddled together in front of him, he could only scratch his head, scratch it hard, then take a deep breath and try to speak gently: "Wife, look, I'm back on vacation. It was really just an event after the factory awards ceremony. Look, after finishing the night shift, I rushed home overnight and brought some goodies. I'm not the kind of person who would be fickle... Look, the child is crying like crazy."

Zhao Huafeng rolled her eyes at him, but she stroked the child's head. "Don't cry, don't cry, dear. I'll go home and cook you some white rice porridge, the kind you can stick chopsticks into."

The village officials, squinting their eyes as they rushed over, understood the situation perfectly: this was just the daily routine of this enviable couple. Now that the couple had begun to soothe their child, the matter was over – their conflict was certainly not a genuine one, merely a tirade, requiring no conciliation. The village Party secretary laughed it off and sent everyone home, letting those who needed to rest rest and those who needed to get up get up, and everything went back to normal.

Sure enough, after a while, the sound of poking the stove was heard in Zhang Shihan and Zhao Huafeng's home, and the aroma of pickles and rice porridge wafted out. Soon, the two children had a full breakfast and went to the primary school in the factory area with their schoolbags on their backs.

After a while, the door of Zhang's house opened, and Zhao Huafeng came out carrying a big iron hoe. She no longer looked like she was crying. She had changed her clothes, her face was flushed, and she hurried to the surrounding farmland, ready to go to work in the fields.

As for Zhang Shihan, it was past noon before anyone saw him wandering out of the house, his face greasy. No matter how serious he pretended to be, he could always make people feel relaxed from the inside out, even if they had to move their hips and straighten their backs every time they walked, and there was also a kind of happy fatigue.

He just strolled out, unsteadily, enjoying his holiday.

"How long do you think we can take care of this family this time?" The village party secretary asked the village cadres while looking at the wandering family.

"Look, it's still a woman cooking. I reckon this time it'll last two and a half days, right?" the village official chuckled. "He found this wife, really..." The two smiled at each other and said nothing more. This matter seemed like a commonplace episode in the long run of life. The village secretary twisted his arm vigorously. "Come on, let's not talk about this anymore. We still have to find someone to fix the loudspeaker."

Chapter 304: New Occupations in the Base Area (3) Taihang Rain Boots Doctor

Beishi Village, Qinyuan, Taihang District.

This is a small village on the banks of the Qin River, a perfectly ordinary one.

"Two...two...two days ago. I just came back from the countryside and found this cow's belly was as big as a ball." "Doesn't your wife keep an eye on it? She just lets the cow eat like an idiot?"

Doctor Ma Shangde sighed, bent his waist and knees, and with his legs turned inward, he clamped one of the horse's legs and hammered the horseshoe with a hammer and a pick. He hammered it again and again, like a private school teacher hitting a student's head with a cane. "People will get bloated if they eat too much, but have you ever thought that cows will also get bloated if they eat too much? Your cows eat a hundred kilograms of feed in one breath, how about you try it? You used to have a few acres of land.

I've also ridden a sled and worked as a helper, so how could I be so careless?"

"Oh, I just, just... oh!" The middle-aged man next to him was about to say something, but couldn't say anything. He could only glare at his wife. The wife looked at the crowd of onlookers around her, and seeing her husband's dark face, she said nothing and went back into the house.

"Forget it, forget it, Liu Dahan, go back and comfort your wife, so that she won't—Alas! Oh, oh! Be obedient! That's right!"

Ma Shangde switched back to the large steel pliers and clamped down hard on the horse's hoof, removing the old shoe and hanging it aside. The horse shivered a little uncomfortably, forcing him to turn his toes inward again, bend his knees, and bend over to clamp the horse's leg. Glancing at the host and hostess, he suppressed his anger and soothed the horse.

You big beast, you big beast, so many people are relying on you to do your job, so please stop making trouble!

Fortunately, the older mare quickly calmed down and calmed down. Ma Shangde was quite confident in his skills and repaired the horseshoe himself.

It won't hurt the horse.

"Xiao Sun, give me the knife!"

"Hey! Master!"

Dr. Ma Shangde, a burly doctor with a muscular body, wore rubber rain boots and a leather apron. He took the hoof trimming knife handed over by his apprentice Xiao Sun, who was also burly, with strong arms and a dark but handsome face, and used it on the mare's black hooves.

It was okay, okay. No pus, and the work wasn't too hard. The only thing was the shovel was a little dirty. Dr. Ma Shangde held the hoof with one hand and scraped and scraped with the other, scraping away the worn center, revealing a new, white hoof. Next, he switched to the large pliers, tightened the handles, bit off the previously shoed bend, cut off a crescent-shaped "nail," and then used the file from his apron pocket to smooth out the uneven surface.

Nearby, his apprentice, wearing thick sheepskin gloves, was using tongs to remove a horseshoe from the small brick oven. He, too, wore a leather apron, like Dr. Ma. Little Sun asked the villager working the bellows to rest while he placed the horse's shoe on the anvil and began to hammer away.

"Teacher Ma! These horses' shoes are really economical to use! They're worn out. I can fix them and they'll still be usable!" "Oh! That's great! Then you can fix them for them."

This village still cared for large livestock. Ma Shangde finally heard his first good news of the day. He straightened his almost numb back and pounded it vigorously, stretching out his stiff muscles. The elderly mare turned her head and nudged him with her nose, clearly enjoying this "manicure" service.

"Hey, Doctor Ma, you really deserve your last name. This horse is so close to you!" The villagers gathered around to watch the fun and laughed when they saw this scene. "When she was young, she was also a good horse."

Beishi Village had three large animals: a cheated ox, a mare, and a mule, the main workhorse. Right now, the cheated ox lay sideways, panting, a large needle with a blue flame still stuck in its stomach. Two days ago, while the former rich peasant Liu Dahan was out buying groceries, the ox had been left unattended and had eaten too much alfalfa mix, suffering from rumen bloating and excruciating pain.

Today, I happened to catch up with Dr. Ma Shangde's rounds, and this happened.

The needles were deflated and the horseshoes were replaced with hoofs. The master and apprentice worked together to help "maintain" these two "large biological means of production" in Beishi Village.

Now is a critical time for planting crops. A moment's delay can cost the whole year. Dr. Ma Shangde walked over to the bull, took a look at its basic condition, and watched the gradually dying flames. The bull's bulging belly had shrunk considerably, so it should be fine.

He fished a bottle of iodine from the pocket of his leather apron and was about to say something when the sound of horseshoes clattered outside the yard. A horse neighed, and a man fell off his horse and rushed in separately. "Doctor Ma! Doctor Ma! Shen Ergou from Nanshi Village next door is dying from the fever. Please go and check on him!"

"what?"

The onlookers from Beishi Village immediately burst into a flurry of discussion, while Ma Shangde's muscular body began to move like a hare. He untied his leather apron, revealing his white coat underneath, tossed the tools on it aside, and dashed to the two-wheeled cart on the side of the road—where all his gear was laid out.

A high fever that won't go away is an emergency. If you don't get treatment, you could die! Even if you don't die, you could become insane!

Ma Shangde looked at the separated crowd, and glanced around - the separated crowd, the lying bull, the standing mare and the apprentice holding the horseshoe, and a

The mule chewing grass roots nearby. He shouted:

"Xiao Sun!"

"arrive!"

"You nail the horseshoes. I taught you that before. After the cow is deflated, disinfect it with that bottle of iodine. Also, don't let Liu Dahan get mad at his wife!" "Okay, Master!"

"Tell the Party Secretary for me to borrow the mule!"

Someone untied the mule's reins and put a saddle on its back. Ma Shangde thanked them, grabbed his doctor's hat, put it on his head, picked up the cowhide medicine box and put it on his back. He took the mule's reins, climbed on the mule, squeezed his stomach, and ran out after the horse that had just come.

After all, as a "rain boot doctor", a rural doctor who has studied the "Barefoot Doctor Manual" and basic medical courses, he has to treat the diseases of large animals and even more so, the diseases of humans.

At this moment, the strong Ma Shangde was on the saddle used to carry things.

The seat was shaking up and down, and he was galloping along the dirt road beside the Qin River, holding the horse with one hand and the precious medicine box with the other.

"Good grandson...good son...Grandpa! Don't be so angry!"

The mule, which was usually used to carry goods, was not used to having such a big man on its back, let alone running so fast. It kept trying hard to throw the "goods" off its back, forcing Ma Shangde to use his signature hoof trimmer skills and clamp his legs tightly around the mule's belly to secure himself.

Fortunately, the distance between the two stone villages in the north and south is not too far, and no matter how slow the mule is, it will arrive in a short while.

"Doctor Ma, right here, right here!"

The young man leading the way yelled at the top of his lungs: "Shen Ergou! Shen Ergou! Doctor Ma is here!"

As soon as he entered the room, Ma Shangde saw a man lying on the kang, shivering and sweating. When he saw Doctor Ma coming in, his wife and child burst into tears again, and rushed over to hug Doctor Ma's legs. "Go away! What are you yelling about? Ergou, where do you feel uncomfortable? When did you start feeling uncomfortable? Why do you feel uncomfortable?"

While Ma Shangde was asking the three questions, he reached out and lifted the child by the collar, like a cat, and placed him on a nearby wooden block. Shen Ergou, lying on the kang, uttered an incomprehensible groan and a "It hurts," clearly unable to give an accurate answer.

He reached out and touched it, wow, it was burning hot.

"Thermometer! Clamp it on him, don't crush it!" Ma Shangde took out a thermometer and put it under the patient's armpit. Shen Ergou had no way to answer the question now, so he could only turn around and ask the sobbing hostess. "Apart from the fever, is your man feeling any other discomfort?"

"It hurts, he told me it hurts, he fainted... Woohoo, Doctor Ma, you have to save him!" "Don't be afraid! Don't be afraid! Talk to me first: When did he start to feel the pain?"

"It's been hurting since breakfast."

Finally, there was some useful information. Ma Shangde took out a small notebook and wrote it down: "Where does he hurt?"

"It just hurts, he told me, it hurts, my head hurts." "I asked where it hurts in my head?"

"It's my head, it hurts... Doctor Ma, he's the pillar of our family, you have to save him!"

After a while of misunderstanding, Dr. Ma finally understood the basic situation. Patient Shen Ergou had just come back from the field this morning. After breakfast, he began to have a mild headache. A while later, he began to feel nauseous and vomit. The headache became more severe, and then a fever started. He had hoped to wait it out, but the fever got worse and worse, and he passed out on the way to the field, and was then carried back.

Ma Shangde pulled out the thermometer and saw the mercury had soared to 39.8 degrees, almost approaching 40 degrees Celsius—a high fever for an adult male. He couldn't afford to delay, so he asked someone to fetch warm water and use a damp cloth to cool her down while he began to think about the cause.