My 1978 Hotel

"Give the big fish a bigger share."

Li Feng planned to deliver clothes to Sister-in-law Da and her family later, and also bring some fish and meat with him. Although the taste of the snakehead fish was not particularly delicious, fresh meat was still much more nutritious than vegetables.

"Got it, bro."

Zhang Susu went inside and got an axe. In no time, she cut the big fish into pieces, leaving Dong Qing, Wu Yu, Chen Cheng, and the others stunned.

"What a capable girl."

Dong Qing swallowed hard. Who would want a girl like that?

"What's the big deal?"

Wu Tong and Qin Yue carried the water back together. "There is true gender equality here. Men can carry these wooden buckets, and women can carry them too."

"This wooden barrel is so big, you're not kidding us."

Dong Qing and Wu Yu stared at the large wooden tub. Good heavens, let alone filling it with water, the tub itself must be incredibly heavy.

"Why would we lie to you? We've already selected them."

"Really?"

Let alone Dong Qing and Wu Yu, even Cheng Cheng and Cheng Xue, the two girls, found it hard to believe, especially after seeing the car Wu Tong and Qin Yue drove. They were genuine rich second-generation heirs who knew how to carry water, and even how to carry these wooden buckets.

"You don't believe me, do you, cousin? You have to let them experience life in a production team."

Wu Tong called out to Li Feng and pointed at Dong Qing and the others. "Either we've come all this way for nothing, or how about this: let them handle the water-carrying work for now. They all look pretty strong to me, and with some practice, carrying a hundred or two pounds shouldn't be a problem."

"Forget it, I don't have time this time due to the tight schedule."

Li Feng said with a smile, "Let's do it next time. It's a good opportunity to work on the river. I think Dong Qing and the other person are a good match."

"Haha, I think so too."

Wu Tong couldn't help but laugh. "Did you hear that? When you go with the river workers, you won't have to worry about not losing weight or not getting any exercise."

"Don't scare them. They'll only lose 20 or 30 pounds at most, it's nothing."

Upon hearing this, Dong Qing and Wu Yu's expressions changed. They were joking, even though they were slightly overweight and needed to lose some weight, but weighing twenty or thirty pounds, this guy wasn't losing weight, he was being tortured.

"No, cousin, sister, you're joking."

The two quickly waved their hands. Chengcheng and Chengxue were both silent at this moment. This Mr. Li and Miss Wu were really scary.

"They're not even as good as us."

Qin Yue shook her head in disappointment. "You really should exercise more, exercise more."

"Don't scare them."

Li Feng waved his hand. "Just kidding. But the task of fetching water will really be yours for the next couple of days. Consider it punishment for going to the reservoir."

"Oh, there's a punishment for this?"

"What do you think? If something happens to you, I, as the person in charge, will be in trouble too."

Li Feng said, "The water at home is in your hands now. Remember to fetch a few buckets of water tomorrow morning."

"got it."

The two nodded helplessly. Chengcheng looked at them, and knowing they had gone to the reservoir to catch fish, she was actually quite worried. It was a wild body of water; what if something happened? "Serves them right."

"Come on, help me get some things, I need to go to the team."

Li Feng used bamboo strips to skewer the divided fish pieces, making seven portions in total, and then tidied up Li Ran and the other kids who were wearing sailor shirts. "Let's go."

Upon arriving at Sister-in-law Dajiao's house, Li Feng handed over the fish, meat, and clothes.

"Why are you sending clothes? I can't accept this."

Da Jiao's sister-in-law originally didn't even want the fish, but Li Feng insisted on giving her some pickled vegetables and bamboo shoots. Although she knew that Li Feng was helping her, she eventually accepted the fish. Such a big piece of fish would make a good dish for the holidays and New Year.

"This was Li Ran's instruction; he said this outfit was for Mingchang."

Other children also donated clothes.

Li Feng pointed to Dong Qing and Wu Yu holding clothes and fish pieces, then called out to his sister-in-law, before beckoning Han Mingchang over. "Mingchang, these are the clothes Li Ran gave you."

"really?"

Han Mingchang was overjoyed. The clothes were exceptionally beautiful, and he had always wished he had one. He never imagined it would actually come true. He had never owned any clothes; they were all altered at home, and he didn't even own proper trousers.

In the summer, children often go naked. These days, it's normal for teenagers, even those in their early teens, to go naked. Families don't have many clothes; one set per person is considered good. They call their wives "sister-in-law," but they only wear one set of clothes all year round.

In winter, they would stuff the clothes with cotton, pull out some cotton in spring, and pull it all out in summer. They would then remove the lining and sew it back on in winter. Even so, the clothes were still full of patches. In the entire Hanjiaba area, you probably couldn't find more than ten sets of clothes without patches.

At least eight of these sets are in Li Feng's home. This is the current situation in impoverished mountainous areas. It's very normal for poor households to not have clothes. In winter, few families go out, and some families even only have one set of winter clothes, which is worn by whoever goes out.

People rarely visit each other's homes, especially those with young women; being seen naked by someone could be quite embarrassing. Wu Yu and Dong Qing, who were with Li Feng, were unaware of all this and initially thought that Li Feng giving away slightly worn clothes was somewhat...unseemly.

They visited each household, and every single one of them was happy. After walking along the way, the two men had gained some understanding of Hanjiaba. "The families we just visited were among the poorest in the brigade," they said. The houses had mud walls, thatched roofs, and were extremely low.

Although Wu Yu and Dong Qing are not very tall, just over 1.7 meters, they both felt a bit cramped inside the house, especially when they passed the doorway, they subconsciously bent over and lowered their heads because the doorway was too low.

"Would you like to experience what people usually eat?"

Li Feng looked at the two of them. "These past few days, the food and drinks we've had have been better than those of the commune secretary, even better than those of a typical commune secretary—the standard of a county leader."

"Oh, this is it? And he's a county leader?"

"How about we wait and see what everyone is eating?"

When the two heard Li Feng say this, they figured that what he was eating must not be anything good. They only knew that black cornbread and wild vegetable soup were only eaten when there was heavy farm work. In winter or during the off-season when there was no work, they would usually eat two meals a day, mostly cornbread, and it was the kind of cornbread that hadn't been sifted.

"This is terrible."

“Where do you think this is? It’s mountainous, with only a few acres of land per person. Add to that the current crop yields, not to mention this year’s severe drought, and many villages will probably have to beg for food this winter,” Li Feng said, looking at the two men. “We’re actually doing relatively well here.”

"There's still food to eat."

"Is there still food?"

"Are there really places without food?"

"Bringing in foreign investment and foreign technology isn't a good thing, is it? Foreigners make money by investing, but much of their technology is outdated," Dong Qing muttered.

"Do you think the country doesn't know?"

“You want their money, but they want your money even more. You want to develop and need their help. If you don’t offer any benefits, who will come? As for the technology being lagging behind, that’s relative. But it’s definitely more advanced than what’s available domestically, which makes it worthwhile to bring it in.” Li Feng didn’t understand at first, but after being here for a while, he gradually came to understand.

If you fall behind, you will be bullied. If you want to develop, you have to sacrifice a lot of your own flesh, and even more of it, for others to be willing to help you. Expecting others to have a change of heart is wishful thinking.

"Stop talking about this."

The country really doesn't have much spare capacity right now; we can only rely on ourselves. After all, there's still war in the south, and the country doesn't have any surplus resources. Although things have slowly gotten back on track in the last two years and we've started to develop the economy, it's only just begun. Without a decade or two, without a generation's hard work, it's wishful thinking to think we can solve the problem of feeding the entire nation all at once.

"Let's go back and eat."

"Oh."

The two were a little downcast. When they arrived at the courtyard, they looked at each other. "Cousin, is there anything we can do for the team?"

"You studied water conservancy, right? Take a look back. The major rivers and reservoirs all need to be cleaned up. See if there are any areas that need modification and help me make a design drawing, okay?"

"It's not a big problem."

Dong Qing nodded, while Wu Yu thought for a moment. "I studied agronomy and seed breeding, I don't know how I can help."

"Think about what good seeds are available these days, and what cash crops are suitable for planting here."

Li Feng couldn't think of any way Wu Yu, this top student from the agricultural university, could help with. After all, planting and cultivation, or anything else, is not something that can be done by one person alone, nor can it be accomplished in a short period of time.

"no problem."

Wu Yu said, "If we could bring some seeds over, that would be great..."

"I thought about that, too."

"It didn't work out."

"why?"

"This world doesn't have the technology, so we can't bring it over," Li Feng said helplessly. "Of course, you can try cultivating the seeds."

"Ah, this..."

Wu Yu wasn't being self-deprecating; it was just that this was quite difficult, and it wouldn't take just a day or two.

"Think about this again."

Just as Li Feng was about to head back, he encountered Han Futian on the way.

"I've been looking for you."

Han Futian grabbed Li Feng. "What are you doing, kid? Why aren't you home?"

"I just went to call Sister-in-law and a few other families. The kids kept some clothes to give to them last time, so I went around doing that," Li Feng said with a smile. "Uncle Futian, what's up?"

"It's a matter for the commune. Come with me to Third Brother's house."

"Okay, you guys go back and eat first."

Li Feng waved to Dong Qing and Wu Yu, and followed Han Futian to Han Fuguo's house.

"Perfect, add two more pairs of chopsticks."

Just then, Han Fuguo was about to eat. When he saw the two of them coming over, he hurriedly greeted them. Li Feng realized that he had made it in time. He touched his pocket and found that there was something there. He had just brought over the red sausage that he had forgotten to give to the woman who called him "sister-in-law".

"Auntie, cut off the sausage and add a dish."

"This kid got some good stuff again."

Red sausage, this is a good thing! Shi Chunhua took it and handed it to her happy daughter-in-law. She said it was delicious even without any seasoning. Han Mingliang couldn't take his eyes off it and secretly took two pieces. That rascal!

Wang Lihong was both amused and exasperated, but the sausage was truly delicious. She pinched off a piece and put it in a bowl to give to her youngest son later. As the sausage was served, Shi Chunhua also served Li Feng and Han Futian mixed grain rice.

"Eat first."

Li Feng ate a few mouthfuls of mixed grain rice, a couple of bites of pickled bamboo shoots, and one piece of red sausage (he still had some at home). "Uncle Fuguo, how about going to this commune?"

"Sigh, things didn't go well this time."

Han Fuguo put down his chopsticks as he spoke. "The autumn harvest statistics for Ma'ya Commune have been released, and the total yield has been reduced by more than half. Several severely affected villages have almost no harvest at all. It's a sad situation."

"Well, it's not hard to guess."

Han Futian said, “We live so close to the reservoir, and even with all our hard work carrying water day and night for irrigation, our yield has dropped by more than a third. Those villages that are farther away from the water source probably have trouble even getting drinking water.”

"Yes, several villages are now facing water shortages."

Han Fuguo said, "These days we've been using an oxcart to travel more than 20 miles to fetch water."

"Why does God keep making things so difficult for us?"

As they spoke, Han Fuguo and Han Futian couldn't help but slam their fists on the table. Li Feng also sighed; what could anyone do about a natural disaster? "Has the commune said anything about a solution?"

"Secretary Gao said that the situation in the county is not good either. Now everyone should think of a solution first. If there is really no other way, we can only ask the region and the province for help. We'll ask for as much as we can," Han Fuguo said. "This year's situation is different from previous years."

"The south is not peaceful."

"I'm afraid the relief grain from above won't be much," Han Futian said.

"Could we get some food from the black market?"

"I just hope to buy more relief food."

"The problem is that the commune might not have that much money."

The government will definitely provide some support, but the local governments will still need to contribute a portion, and the villages will certainly have to pay a large part of it themselves.

"Our brigade is doing alright; this money is about enough."

In the other brigades, Han Fuguo sighed. "By the way, Secretary Gao and Secretary Wu are coming to our brigade in the next few days."

"Coming to our brigade?"

"I reported the furniture factory matter to the two secretaries."

Upon hearing Han Fuguo's words, Li Feng understood that the two men were probably quite surprised to hear that the furniture factory had sold for several thousand yuan.

"You shouldn't go out for the next few days."

"I see."

Back home, Li Feng muttered to himself, wondering if the two secretaries were after the furniture factory. Sigh, although the steel factory had advertised, the results weren't great. It seemed best to bring some furniture with him when he went to the power plant; at least he could see the actual products.

Thinking of this, Li Feng called Gao Jiu and the others over to discuss it.

"That's an idea."

"In that case, the donkey cart probably won't work."

Gao said, "We need a large cart."

"I'll let the team know when the time comes. I'm sure Uncle Fuguo will support us in promoting the furniture," Li Feng said with a smile. (End of Chapter)