Double-Cut During the War of Resistance: My Wife Came from 1937

"I never imagined that in later generations, even a small county town could offer roast duck, prawns, and beef!"

Xia Weiwei looked at the dishes on the table and sighed: "In our time, only the rich could afford to eat these, while the poor could only eat sweet potatoes and corn. They drank thin soup in the morning and evening, and only ate dry food at noon."

"The food has absolutely no oil or water; it's just millet, radish strips, wild vegetables, and some coarse salt. In the summer, we'll also add some pumpkin."

In her view, even the landlords of the old society didn't eat as well as they do today.

"Times are always progressing!"

Ma Hongwei recalled, "In reality, most people across the country have only achieved the freedom to eat meat in the last ten years or so!"

"I remember when I was a child, we could only eat meat once or twice a month. If relatives suddenly came, we could at least eat meat."

"Back then, we had plenty of rice and wheat flour. We ate rice or noodles for lunch, and corn porridge with steamed buns, flatbreads, pancakes, and fried pancakes for breakfast and dinner. These were all homemade. Occasionally, we would buy some fried dough sticks and steamed buns."

"There are so many places selling steamed buns, flatbreads, and pancakes now that many families are too lazy to make them themselves and just buy them!"

"Going back a generation, when my parents were young, because they lived in the countryside, they could only eat meat during festivals. They could eat rice and wheat flour, but only a few times a month..."

"And our next generation, their lives are even better. They are also more picky about food. They won't eat white flour steamed buns. They must have bean buns and sugar triangles. In the morning, they go out to eat wontons, steamed buns, or hand-pulled pancakes, jianbing guozi, or they buy hamburgers and chicken wraps."

"Anyway, each generation is better off than the last; your generation really suffered."

The two ate and chatted for more than an hour.

The four dishes were quite a lot, and the two of them ate them all up.

Xia Weiwei said that four dishes were too many, but she ate more than Ma Hongwei.

Most importantly, the other person eats a lot, but doesn't look fat at all.

Feeling Ma Hongwei's strange gaze, Xia Weiwei said somewhat embarrassedly, "I don't know how long it's been since I've eaten so much meat."

She explained, "In the Soviet area, officers and soldiers were treated as one, everyone ate the same food, and no one ate more than anyone else."

"It is because of you comrades with faith that our Party was able to drive out the Kuomintang and imperialism, redistribute the landlords' land, confiscate the capitalists' enterprises, and enable the poor to rise up."

Ma Hongwei wholeheartedly agreed, saying, "If we don't thoroughly destroy the old world and overthrow the landlords and capitalists, ordinary people simply won't be able to live a good life!"

"You probably can't imagine that in 2026, on the other side of the ocean in the United States, the world's richest and most powerful superpower, there are still many people living on the streets, sleeping in tents and sewers."

"They can't go to hospitals or supermarkets, and they can't take a car. They have to rely on food aid to survive every day. If they get sick, they will eventually be killed."

He had just seen this information and found it hard to believe.

After all, the information he received from childhood was about how wealthy the United States was.

You can easily earn several times, even dozens of times, more than you would in China just by washing dishes there. You can eat steaks for a dollar and live in villas for a dollar.

However, ordinary Americans now say that they need to pay property tax, sales tax, income tax, property tax, cash tax, and gasoline tax, and these various taxes can take up half of their income.

These are all mandatory, just like property tax.

If you don't pay, they will auction off your house directly.

An older white man earning $40,000 a year would have to pay $8,000 to $9,000 in property taxes alone, which would take up one-fifth of his income.

A wealthy Chinese couple bought a house worth over $300 million, but repairing the balcony and steps outside the house costs $20 to $30. The cost of repairing it ten times is enough to buy another house.

In China, there has never been a property tax or anything like that.

There was also an American college student who said he took out student loans to attend college, with a principal of $80,000 and a repayment of $100,000.

It doesn't sound like much, but the amount that actually went into his account was only a little over 40,000 but less than 50,000.

In China, student loans are interest-free, meaning there's no need to pay interest at all.

Although China is not perfect, the poor at the bottom of society are not so poor that they have no place to live or no food to eat.

Some might ask, then why do all the wealthy people flock to the United States?

Rich people live comfortably no matter where they are.

But are you considered a wealthy person?

Even if you have 200 million in savings, it will only be equivalent to 29.51 US dollars in the United States.

After all, they were paying in US dollars over there.

Less than 30 is simply not enough for you to survive for the rest of your life.

The internet claims that the average annual income is one million yuan, but in reality, how many families have two million yuan in savings?

"You're saying that even now there are still homeless people in the US who need to receive food aid to survive?"

Xia Weiwei found it hard to believe.

In her mind, the United States has always been a very powerful imperialist country.

Although Britain was the world's superpower in 37, it is now extremely weak and cannot compare with the emerging United States.

In the previous European wars, if it weren't for the intervention of the United States, Germany would probably have defeated the British and French forces long ago.

That's right.

Ma Hongwei said, "Because their wealth is concentrated in the hands of capitalists and will not improve people's livelihoods at all."

"Can you imagine? They spend tens of thousands of dollars to buy a bag of screws, and the military spends more than 600 million dollars to buy a sheep."

"The Pentagon spends $14 on just over 200 donuts and $900 million a month on steak and lobster, totaling over $10 billion!"

"Currently, 1 US dollar can be exchanged for 6.78 RMB."

"Glug!"

Upon hearing Ma Hongwei's words, Xia Weiwei couldn't help but swallow.

In other words, they spent nearly 70 billion yuan on food and drink alone.

Even at the cheapest car, which costs 20,000 yuan, that's 350,000 cars being wasted.

If these cars were given to the poor...

It's utterly depraved and corrupt, just like the Kuomintang, they're inhuman.

Ma Hongwei paid the bill and came out of the restaurant with Xia Weiwei.

Xia Weiwei said, "It feels so stuffy and hot outside!"

"The restaurant has air conditioning, but there isn't outside, so it won't feel very hot!"

Ma Hongwei checked the time on his phone and said to Xia Weiwei, "Let's go, I'll take you to the supermarket!"

"supermarket?"

Xia Weiwei had never heard of this term before.

"A supermarket is a place where you buy things!"

Ma Hongwei said, "Now, besides those small vegetable shops, there are many supermarkets in the city, and young people prefer to buy things at supermarkets. You'll know once you get there."

His rural supply and marketing cooperative had toothpaste, toothbrushes, and water cups, but no towels or slippers.

Since Xia Weiwei was staying at his house, it was natural for him to prepare new towels and new slippers for her.