Courtyard House: Purchasing Agents' Comeback from the Great Famine

After Aunt Wu returned from collecting the New Year's supplies, Lu Banxia gave her an old hen to help her kill, ostensibly to nourish Qin Jingru.

These past few days, Wang Feng's family has been killing old hens every few days, and the people in the yard haven't said much about it. After all, she just had a baby, and it's normal for her to need to replenish her body.

Moreover, with Wang Feng and Qin Jingru's high salaries, they could afford to eat meat every day, even if it meant not eating meat every day. During the month of postpartum confinement, they could even afford to have chickens slaughtered every few days.

After dinner, Lu Banxia washed Wang Feng's feet, and then the group went to bed.

Now that Qin Jingru has given birth, there's one more person in the house, making the two rooms seem a bit small.

Wang Feng had no choice but to add a small bed to the room a few days ago so that Qin Jingru could sleep in the small bed with the child, just in case they made too much noise and accidentally rolled over onto the child.

......

Early the next morning.

After finishing breakfast, Wang Feng started putting up the couplets. He hadn't lied to Yan Fugui; he had indeed bought the couplets a week ago.

He never even considered asking Yan Fugui to write couplets for him. He didn't want to let people like the Yan family gain even the slightest advantage.

After pasting up the couplets, he pushed his bicycle out the door, walking from the middle courtyard to the front yard. Most of the houses had already pasted up the couplets, making it look very festive.

Wang Feng rode his bicycle around outside for a while and then brought back a lot of ingredients, including pork, mutton, beef, fish, and a large rooster.

Lu Banxia was going to her uncle's place in the afternoon, and Qin Jingru couldn't cook, so she had no choice but to ask Lu Banxia to cook more in the morning and eat it during the New Year's Eve dinner. She could just reheat the food then.

Back in the house, he gave the ingredients to Lu Banxia, ​​who then went to Aunt Wu and asked her to kill the fish and rooster.

Around 10 a.m., the aroma of meat wafted through the entire courtyard from Wang Feng's house, making the children in the yard very hungry. Some of the children cried and fussed, demanding meat. In the end, the parents had no choice but to give their children a meal of bamboo shoots stir-fried with meat.

Each household only had half a pound of meat, which they planned to use to make dumplings for the New Year's Eve dinner. Some of the slightly wealthier families bought a chicken or a fish in advance, but most people couldn't bear to buy meat from the black market.

There's no way around it, meat is just too expensive these days, often costing over ten yuan per kilogram. Many people only earn ten yuan a month, so who can afford to eat that?

Smelling the aroma of meat wafting from Wang Feng's house, Jia Zhangshi gritted her teeth in hatred and cursed loudly:

"Damn you little brats, making meat before afternoon! All you ever do is eat, eat, eat! You'll eat yourselves to death sooner or later! Oh, I'm so hungry! Qin Huairu, let's make some meat for lunch too!"

Qin Huairu, who was wiping the table, put down the rag and said with some helplessness:

"Okay, let's cut off two ounces of meat at noon, just to satisfy our cravings."

Madam Jia frowned: "Only two ounces? That's not even enough to fill a tooth gap. There are so many people in our family, who can eat this?"

Qin Huairu rolled her eyes: "Mom, you should be grateful. At least we got two pounds of meat, plus some rabbit offal from the cafeteria. Other families only got half a pound of meat, and some people didn't get any meat at all, they just brought back half a pound of fish. We're already much better off than everyone else."

"We'll eat two liang (100 grams) for lunch today, eight liang (400 grams) for dumplings tonight, half a jin (250 grams) tomorrow, and another half jin the day after tomorrow."

"Fine, fine, I won't say anything more. You're in charge, okay?" Madam Jia said impatiently.

Qin Huairu smiled slightly and continued wiping the table.

This year is much better than last year, and ultimately it's because she has now climbed up to Li Huaide's powerful backing.

Now she's come to terms with it: what's the point of a woman suffering so much? She still has to rely on a man.

Over the past few months, Li Huaide has been quite generous to her, often bringing her meat or candy and occasionally giving her money. All in all, he has given her an average of fifty or sixty yuan a month.

Now she has another 300 yuan in savings, and she is becoming more and more confident when she speaks at home.

......

The Intermediate People's Court, the Wang family.

After having lunch at home, Lu Banxia rode her bicycle to her uncle's house.

In the morning, Lu Banxia prepared six main dishes: braised pork, dumplings, stir-fried mutton with scallions, spiced beef, braised fish, Kung Pao chicken, and a hot and sour cabbage dish.

They ate less than a third of it at noon, saving the rest for their New Year's Eve dinner.

After Lu Banxia left courtyard number 95, Wang Feng went back to his room to chat with Qin Jingru for a while, played with the child, then moved his recliner outside and brewed a pot of tea to drink.

The courtyard started to get lively in the afternoon. Many children took down some firecrackers from their homes and set them off in the yard. The sound of firecrackers could be heard from time to time.

Those with better economic conditions started killing chickens and fish in the afternoon.

Xu Damao's family was among the better-off in terms of economic conditions. Today, he was killing chickens and fish, and the people in the yard were extremely envious.

Secondly, at Sha Zhu's house, He Daqing also killed a chicken today.

He Daqing now earns 56.5 yuan a month, and he can eat a free meal in the canteen at noon. If the canteen prepares a meal for guests, he can bring back a lot of meat and vegetables.

In addition, He Daqing took all the money that He Yushui had previously deposited with Wang Feng, making He Daqing the richest man in the compound.

Two days ago, the factory slaughtered four large wild boars, as well as a lot of wild rabbits and fish. As the foreman of the third canteen and the chef in charge of preparing the banquet, he naturally received many benefits.

Yesterday, he got a whole plate of pig offal by himself, while Aunt Wu and the other kitchen helpers got some rabbit innards and the like.

Wang Feng lay by the door, finished a pot of tea, and then went to cause trouble in courtyard number 28. He still felt a little guilty for not being able to have New Year's Eve dinner with Lou Xiao'e, so he decided to go and keep her company while it was still early.

......

It was just before 5 p.m.

Firecrackers started popping and crackling in the courtyard, and Wang Feng had just finished heating up the dishes.

He took out the firecrackers he had prepared beforehand, lit them with a cigarette butt, and as the firecrackers crackled and popped, he immediately ran back inside. To prevent the firecrackers from exploding inside and to keep the smoke from drifting in, he immediately closed the door.

Wang Feng returned from courtyard number 28 before four o'clock in the afternoon, and he had already moved the table into the room.

Wang Feng served Qin Jingru a bowl of rice and filled it with vegetables, saying with a smile, "Jingru, it's New Year's Eve dinner today, eat more."

"Yes, Brother Wang Feng, you should eat more too," Qin Jingru said sweetly.

The little guy was woken up by the sound of firecrackers, but he's quiet now. He just eats and sleeps all day long; this little guy is really easy to take care of.

For today's New Year's Eve dinner, Wang Feng's family had a full six main dishes. He doesn't usually drink much, but tonight he took out a bottle of Moutai and poured himself a drink.

Qin Jingru originally wanted to have a couple of drinks with Wang Feng, but unfortunately, Wang Feng wouldn't let her.

Actually, she felt that she had recovered long ago, but Wang Feng and Lu Banxia were just making a mountain out of a molehill. She could only obey and continue to lie in bed to recuperate.