Courtyard House: Drunk and tipsy, the whole courtyard exposed at the start.

In the front courtyard, Jia Zhangshi slumped to the ground.

She hid behind the curtains and saw the horrific scene outside clearly.

The moment Wang Tiezhu was dragged away, she was so frightened that her legs went weak and her pants immediately became wet.

A smell filled the room.

Jia Zhangshi touched her return-to-city certificate, which was stamped with the official seal, with trembling hands.

She now fully understands that what Director Wang said that day was definitely not just to scare her.

If she dares to cause trouble again, she won't even qualify to be sent down to the countryside; she'll have to go directly to a labor camp to dig sand.

"I'm not causing any more trouble... I'd rather die than leave this house again..."

With her teeth chattering, Jia Zhangshi scrambled into the quilt and wrapped herself up like a silkworm cocoon.

------------

As September arrives, the weather in Beijing gradually turns cooler, but the hearts of the people are even colder than the weather.

A crisis of extreme shortage of non-staple foods has fully erupted.

The grain station posted a new notice that the rations of grain coupons, oil coupons, and meat coupons had been significantly reduced again.

城市居民口粮月均24斤、干部月均26斤，婴儿首次供应为3斤/月，成人最低21斤/月。和刘海中这种特殊/重体力工人，最高可达50-55斤，公务员/职员多数为24-29斤；

Cooking oil: 3 liang (150 grams) per person per month;

Each person receives 2 liang (approximately 100 grams) of pork per month;

Milk: Infants can have two bottles per day, half a pound per bottle, with a "milk certificate". The supply will be reduced after one year of age.

Milk substitute powder: 1 jin (500g) can be purchased per month;

Sugar: Families with infants receive an additional "infant sugar coupon" per month, which can be used to purchase 2 ounces of Cuban brown sugar. Ordinary families receive 2 ounces per person per month.

Vegetables: Residents of Beijing are entitled to 2 liang (100 grams) of fresh vegetables per person per day, provided they have a certificate.

Eggs: New mothers receive a one-time subsidy of 2 jin (1 catties), and blood donors receive a subsidy of 1 jin (0.5 catties).

For postpartum women and patients: Postpartum women receive a one-time subsidy, including 2 jin of eggs, 2 jin of meat, and 2 jin of brown sugar. Patients with edema receive a subsidy of 2 jin of fresh fish per person.

中高级干部与知识分子：自62年初开始，17级以上的中级干部，每人每月可得到补助糖1斤、豆1斤。而13级以上的高级干部，更是额外增加肉2斤、蛋2斤。

It's hard to calculate. To put it simply, Zhang Dabiao doesn't care about any of that. Two ounces of meat a month? You might as well just kill me. Even a chicken leg I'm sucking on weighs more than that.

He Yushui had enough to eat by herself after dividing the food into two portions. Qin Jingru ate and drank with Zhang Dabiao without any fixed amount of food. Mu Wanqing and Aunt Mu also had enough to eat, and Zhang Dabiao would occasionally provide some assistance.

But for the Jia family, that's not enough.

按照标準，她们家4个城镇户口1个农村户口，其中有一个一岁以下的婴儿。（1岁以内3斤、1-6岁6-8斤、7-10岁25-26斤）

也就是全家5口人一个月定量，粮食大概50-60斤、油1斤2两、猪肉8两，糖8量……

Jia Zhangshi did not provide a quantity.

Even if Qin Jingru helps raise Huaihua and Xiaodang, Qin Huairu and Jia Zhangshi, along with the pigeons, each get 20 jin a month...

On average, you only have 6 liang (6 grams) of staple food per day. How can you eat that?

This is assuming Qin Huairu has both money and votes.

Therefore, most people exchanged their meager monthly refined grain ration for whole grains and cornmeal.

Qin Huairu stood at the entrance of the grain station, looking at the few thin ration coupons in her hand, tears streaming down her face.

She returned home and opened the lid of the rice jar.

There was only a thin layer of cornmeal left at the bottom of the jar, not even enough to sweep up much of it with a broom.

Xiao Dang and Huaihua had already been picked up by Qin Jingru after school, so they could go and get a free meal. Banggeng, on the other hand, was so hungry he was rolling around on the kang (heated brick bed). He was now a teenager, and his appetite was even greater than that of Jia Zhangshi and Qin Huairu!

Qin Huairu bit her lip and went to the pool to fill half a pot with cold water.

She poured all the cornmeal in, and without a drop of oil, it turned into a pot of thin porridge so watery you could see your reflection in it.

What else can we do but wait for Sha Zhu to bring back lunchboxes? Qin Huairu had already brought over the limited rations from Sha Zhu's family, but it still wasn't enough.

------------

The Yan family in the front yard took scheming to the extreme.

Yan Bugui, wearing reading glasses, sat at the octagonal table.

There was an old newspaper spread on the table, with a small handful of sorghum rice piled on top.

He was holding a spoon and scooping rice into the scale pan, one spoonful at a time—yes, he had already started weighing the grain.

"One tael for the second son, one tael for the third son..."

"Jie Di is still young, half an ounce is enough."

Yan Jiedi heard this, but she was stunned. Then she pouted, turned around, and went out to find her sister-in-law, Yu Li.

The three women watched from the side, their hearts aching and tears streaming down their faces.

"Old man, even an iron body can't take this kind of eating."

Yan Bugui glared at her and banged his chopsticks on the table.

"You won't go poor from eating or dressing up; it's poor planning that makes you poor!"

"These days, just surviving is a victory; you expect to eat your fill?"

"What can I do? Our entire family's rations combined are only slightly better than the Jia family's, but we have two half-grown boys!"

"Jie Cheng's family has already separated, but they still have a baby. What can I do? I'm so desperate!"

The shadow of famine once again loomed over the courtyard house at No. 95.

Several elderly people and children in the facility have developed symptoms of edema.

My face was swollen like a steamed bun; pressing it left a dent that wouldn't spring back for a long time.

The pressure to survive pushed everyone to the brink of despair.

If the aroma of food wafts out of someone's house, it can attract the stares of everyone in the compound like hungry wolves.

Even Zhang Dabiao has been keeping a much lower profile lately.

------------

Sha Zhu walked out of the steel mill carrying an empty lunchbox, feeling extremely irritable.

The factory's rations were also reduced, and the workers couldn't even get enough cabbage stalks to eat. There were no leftovers left in the canteen to take home.

He was passing by the courtyard when he saw Qin Huairu carrying a pot of thin porridge into the house.

Qin Huairu's once plump figure has visibly thinned out in the past few days.

Sha Zhu felt a sharp pang in his heart; this was the woman he cherished most.

He gritted his teeth, turned around, and ran back to the cafeteria kitchen.

There was no one left in the kitchen; Director Ma had also gone home.

Sha Zhu slipped to the cutting board and picked up a sharp boning knife.

On the cutting board was a large pork bone that had just been deboned today, with not a single scrap of meat left.

Sha Zhu didn't care. He placed the bone on the cutting board and scraped the thin fascia on the surface of the bone bit by bit with the blade.

After scraping for a long time, I finally managed to scrape off a tiny bit of meat, about the size of a fingernail.

He then found a large iron hammer and smashed the pig bone to pieces.

Wash the broken bones and the little bit of meat with water, throw them into the big iron pot, scrape the cutting board properly, take out another half ounce of meat, and then fill it with water to start simmering.

It simmered for a full two hours, extracting all the marrow from the bones, turning the soup a milky white color.

Sha Zhu found a covered aluminum pot, filled it with soup, and sneaked out of the factory like a thief, tucking it into his pocket.

I've got something to supplement my nutrition today!