Courtyard House: Purchasing Agents' Comeback from the Great Famine

It was 5:15 PM.

Qin Huairu returned to the Jia family with two lunch boxes, and Banggeng couldn't wait to open them.

When Banggeng saw that there were only two cornbread buns in the lunchbox, and no steamed buns with meat or vegetables, he shouted:

"Mom, Mom, why isn't there any white flour buns or meat? I don't want cornbread, I want white flour buns and meat."

Qin Huairu rubbed Banggeng's head, sighed, and comforted him, "Banggeng, there's no meat or vegetables being supplied at the factory right now, so just make do with what you have."

"No, I don't want to eat cornbread, I want to eat meat, I want to eat meat!" Banggeng shouted relentlessly.

Hearing this, Jia Zhangshi, who was sewing shoe soles in the house, came over and said, "Qin Huairu, tomorrow is Sunday, you should hurry up and get the IUD inserted. The quota is being reduced again and again. With your salary of 27.5 yuan, it's not enough to support our whole family."

Qin Huairu nodded: "I understand."

Now she genuinely feels that it's so tiring not having a man. The whole family depends on her, a single woman, to support them, and the pressure is immense.

Before, she had Jia Dongxu to support her family, as well as Sha Zhu, and if all else failed, there was Yi Zhonghai. Now that Jia Dongxu is dead, Sha Zhu and Yi Zhonghai treat her like an enemy and don't even want to talk to her. The burden of the family has fallen entirely on her shoulders.

Although she had made a lot of money from Wang Mazi and Li Lei during this period, it was not a long-term solution. Now that her ration had been reduced by 20%, Bang Geng was constantly clamoring for meat. Her mother-in-law could eat more than a pig, and she had no ration, did not do any work, not even housework. You can imagine the pressure she was under.

She now has a target in mind: Wang Feng.

After she had her IUD inserted, she decided to go find Wang Feng.

Before Wang Feng married Jingru, she went to Wang Feng's house to ask for meat. Wang Feng had already hinted that she should exchange her white steamed buns for the meat, but she did not agree at the time.

But now Wang Feng has become the deputy head of the purchasing department, earning a monthly salary of 87.5 yuan, and he has become such a skilled hunter that he can catch pheasants and rabbits every now and then.

As long as she gets Wang Feng under her control, she won't have to worry about making a living at home, and she can also eat meat for free regularly.

She might even be able to get her hands on Qin Jingru's salary. After all, Qin Jingru comes from the countryside, and her salary must be kept by Wang Feng. As long as she gets on Wang Feng's good side, wouldn't Qin Jingru's salary fall into her hands?

Moreover, Wang Feng is handsome, even more so than Jia Dongxu, so she genuinely doesn't dislike him.

Looking back now, she was filled with regret. If she had agreed when Wang Feng asked her to exchange steamed buns for steamed buns, perhaps Wang Feng wouldn't have married Qin Jingru, and everything Qin Jingru was enjoying now would have been hers.

She never expected that Wang Feng would suddenly become the deputy head of the purchasing department and become such a skilled hunter. At the time, apart from being a bit handsome, she couldn't see any other merits in Wang Feng, but she never expected that Qin Jingru would get such a good deal.

Hopefully, it's not too late. She's very confident in herself. Although Qin Jingru is prettier than her, how could a newbie like Qin Jingru have as much experience as her? She knows men's interests and hobbies like the back of her hand.

......

The front yard, the Yan family's house.

After Liu Yuhua returned home from get off work.

She started kneading dough and making white flour steamed buns to eat.

At noon, her father brought a small bowl of pig offal to the factory. He didn't want to eat it himself, so he asked her to bring it back for him to eat.

The factory stopped supplying meat and vegetables today, but her three older brothers work at the slaughterhouse, so getting meat or offal is relatively easy for them.

She has now completely separated from the Yan family. They eat separately, and she even buys and uses her own coal briquettes, so that no one takes advantage of the other.

Anyway, she had no feelings for Yan Jiecheng at all. Yan Jiecheng had become a eunuch, so to her, he was just a husband and wife in name only.

......

The Intermediate People's Court, the Wang family.

Wang Feng went to courtyard No. 28 at noon, had lunch with Lou Xiao'e, and then took a nap with her. Around 4 p.m., he returned to courtyard No. 95.

Qin Jingru and Lou Xiao'e's relatives haven't left yet, and he's keeping Lou Xiao'e company while she takes a nap; they're sleeping on vegetarian food.

Wang Feng was drinking tea and smoking in the room, his mind constantly racing with thoughts of how to find Chairman Chen.

When Qin Jingru returned home from get off work, she saw Wang Feng drinking tea and smiled, saying, "Brother Wang Feng, I have some good news for you."

"What good news?" Wang Feng asked.

Qin Jingru finished the tea in Wang Feng's teacup in one gulp and said with a smile, "Starting tomorrow, I can leave work at four o'clock every day again."

Wang Feng was taken aback, then asked, "Jingru, have those Soviet experts left? They don't need you to prepare the meals anymore?"

"Hehe, Brother Wang Feng, you're so smart."

"By the way, Brother Wang Feng, didn't the meat processing plant supply our factory with 1,000 jin of pork every month before? Today, Director Zhu from the canteen said that starting next month, the meat processing plant will no longer supply meat. Our factory has stopped supplying meat and vegetables today."

Upon hearing this, Wang Feng sighed: "There's nothing we can do about it. There's a famine everywhere right now. It's good enough if we can have enough to eat. There's not enough grain to eat, so where would we find enough to feed pigs?"

Qin Jingru sighed and said, "Yes, before, the meat processing plant supplied a thousand catties of pork every month. Each of our canteens would get a few catties of meat every day, mince it, and make a dish of minced pork and eggplant, which was considered a meat dish. But now, even those few catties of meat are gone every day."

"After the Soviet experts leave, I estimate that there won't be any more banquets for them for a long time."

"Hehe, isn't that even better? That way you won't be so busy. Anyway, our family isn't short of food, and you didn't bring back any meals for guests, so it's not a loss for us," Wang Feng said with a smile.

Qin Jingru shook her head helplessly: "I don't care, but the aunties and grandmas in the kitchen will suffer a big loss. Without the catering, they can't take meat and vegetables back with them. Meat is so expensive now. I heard that meat is selling for five yuan a pound on the black market. If you go too late, you won't be able to buy any meat."

"Ya Ya lost a lot of weight recently because of the reduced portion size. During this period, I took the opportunity of preparing meals for guests to cook special meals for Ya Ya every day, so that she could eat a lot of meat. Ya Ya's complexion had just started to improve, but I didn't expect the meals to end so soon."

Wang Feng smiled nonchalantly: "It's alright. Now Aunt Wu and Ya Ya get to eat lunch for free in the kitchen every day, right? We can eat more pheasant and rabbit lately, and give the chicken tails and innards to Aunt Wu. That way, Ya Ya can get some nourishment."

"Um."

"Jingru, hurry up and cook. It's already past six o'clock. It's too late to kill pheasants and rabbits today. We'll kill them tomorrow, which is Sunday, when we're off."

"OK."