Courtyard House: My Wife is Xu Huizhen

Page 440

Yan Bugui asked, "Why?"

"As you all know, I made a lot of money selling braised meat a few years ago."

Everyone nodded, and Yan Bugui said, "Yes, you made a lot of money back then. Jia Dongxu even tried to sell pig's head meat."

At the time, Jia Dongxu didn't have the recipe, so he wanted He Yuzhu's recipe.

He Yuzhu gave him a fake one, which contained a pile of opium, so that Jia Dongxu went back to jail and served another sentence.

Jia Dongxu was standing right next to him when he heard Yan Bugui say that, and he was furious.

He shouted, "Third Uncle, what nonsense are you talking about!"

Yan Bugui suddenly realized his slip of the tongue, apologized, and the matter was over.

He Yuzhu said, "Ever since I had money, I've known that no matter how much money I have, it's useless. Without food, I'll starve to death. So, starting in 52, I used the money I earned to buy food and store it. There's still some stored food near Qianmen."

"You still have food reserves?" Yi Zhonghai asked, somewhat surprised.

I'd thought about it over and over again, and I'd assumed He Yuzhu had embezzled the grain from the factory by taking advantage of his position. Hmm.

Unexpectedly, He Yuzhu said he had stored grain at home.

He Yuzhu continued, "Since 1954, I have stored grain every year and then eaten the old grain and stored new grain. I have never stopped."

Everyone listened with great interest, and then Yan Bugui said, "He Yuzhu, could I borrow some grain from you?"

He Yuzhu said, "We are all old neighbors in this courtyard. If someone is really having a hard time, I can lend them some money, but there are some people I definitely won't lend to."

He Yuzhu had long since passed the initial development stage, and he not only had money and food, but also plenty of them.

Many impoverished households in the courtyard were indeed short of food, and He Yuzhu didn't mind lending them some.

But for families like Jia Zhangshi, it's out of the question; they definitely wouldn't lend it out.

Jia Zhangshi had not expected this outcome. She thought that after intimidating He Yuzhu, he would obediently hand over the grain, and then she would report him.

Then he glanced at Yi Zhonghai, who shook his head slightly, telling him not to cause any more trouble.

Jia Zhangshi might not understand, but Yi Zhonghai was someone who could. Many wealthy families would store grain for disaster relief during famine years; this was an old tradition.

If they report it without understanding the situation, it will only embarrass Jia Dongxu and his family in the end.

That would truly break off relations and offend He Yuzhu.

On the contrary, making a fuss like this is more in line with Jia Zhangshi's style, and it won't cause any problems.

"Alright, now that He Yuzhu has explained the situation, everyone can disperse. Food is scarce right now, so you might as well go back and rest instead."

Just as Yi Zhonghai said, they are now struggling to get enough to eat and don't do much in their spare time.

They just lay there, reducing their activity level so they wouldn't get too hungry.

Everyone else had gone home before He Yuzhu finally entered his house.

He Yushui then asked, "Brother, is there really no problem with the grain?"

He Yuzhu said, "There's a warehouse behind my house that holds a lot of iron, and there are piles of sacks next to it. Didn't you know?"

Rainwater tilted its head and thought for a moment, and it seemed like it had this impression.

"Is it all grain?"

"Yes, it's all grain I stored up. Besides, do you remember I have a yard outside the city where I raise pigs?"

He Yushui said, "I know that. You were even scammed back then because of the swine fever outbreak in Northeast China."

He Yuzhu said, "Yes, I later bought the whole yard and I'm still raising pigs there. The pork I'm sending you is from pigs I raised myself."

He Yuzhu kept that yard specifically for raising pigs, just to deal with the current situation.

That pig farm was kept out of the public eye and no one paid any attention to it when it was put into public-private partnership.

The pigs raised now still belong to He Yuzhu.

In the west wing, several bowls were placed on the table, containing tonight's dinner: a porridge made from cornmeal.

Calling it a paste is not entirely accurate, mainly because there was too little cornmeal; there was only a little cornmeal at the bottom of the bowl, and the rest was water.

Qin Huairu looked at the bowl of rice in front of her, sighed, and then used a soup spoon to scoop two spoonfuls of the thicker cornmeal from the bottom into Bangbang's bowl.

Jia Dongxu sighed, "When will this ever end?"

Jia Zhangshi thought to herself that if she hadn't gotten 10 jin of cornmeal from Xu Damao, they would have run out of food by now and the whole family would have starved to death.

After thinking for a moment, he said, "I think there's still a problem with Sha Zhu's food. Why don't we go and report it?"

He was somewhat skeptical of what Sha Zhu was saying, still believing in his heart that the grain was something he had embezzled.

Jia Dongxu said, "Mom, don't meddle. He's the deputy director of the machinery factory, and now he's an official. If he finds out you reported him, he'll really turn against me and tell the steel rolling mill that I'll lose my job."

Madam Jia was startled and said, "How could he have such great abilities?"

"You have no idea, the machinery factory now has more than 5000 people, and they even took over one of our machine repair shops, and Director Yang didn't say a word about it."

"Isn't the machine repair shop the place where the eldest son of the Yi family works?"

"Yes, the entire factory is leaving and will become a branch of the machinery factory."

Jia Zhangshi sighed. Although he was unreasonable, he knew what it meant to bully the weak and fear the strong, and there were some people he could not afford to offend.

Jia Dongxu advised, "Nowadays, many families only eat two meals a day, one around 9 a.m. and the other around 3 or 4 a.m. This way, they can save a meal. Why don't we do the same?"

Jia Dongxu could eat at the steel mill's canteen, although the portions were small, it was still more than what he ate at home.

If we continue eating like before, the little food we have at home won't last until the end of the month.

"It can only be the."

But Jia Zhangshi was thinking that she would squeeze more grain out of Xu Damao later.

Qin Huairu suddenly whispered, "I'm bored at home, so why don't I go work at the neighborhood committee? I heard it's easy to find a job these days."

Qin Huairu was very anxious about her family's situation. She had recently heard that a machinery factory was hiring, regardless of age or gender, as long as people could work.

Qin Huairu thought about going to work in a machinery factory to relieve the pressure at home. Of course, he didn't mention the machinery factory directly, but just said he would go to the neighborhood committee.

Jiaodaokou Subdistrict has only about 2 people in total. The main group of people who sign up are unemployed youths or housewives in this area. They will all be sent to work in the machinery factory.

Even if you can't get a permanent job, you can work as a temporary worker doing various service jobs such as moving and cleaning.

Jia Zhangshi, however, exclaimed, "No way! That machinery factory is the only factory on the street. If you go in, won't you be working under Sha Zhu?"

As the family faced increasing difficulties, Jia Zhangshi became even more wary of Qin Huairu, fearing that her beautiful daughter-in-law might be seduced by others while she was at work.

She colluded with others and cheated on Jia Dongxu.

“My family is struggling to get enough to eat, but when I go to work, I can eat at the factory. They also provide some food subsidies, which helps me save some rations for the corn cobs,” Qin Huairu explained.

Actually, she did have the idea of ​​going to find He Yuzhu, since he had kissed her twice for nothing last time anyway.

Looking back, I feel I was at a disadvantage and should have asked He Yuzhu for some grain.

If I go to him again, I can at least get a relatively easy job.

You should know that the machinery factory is now receiving subsidies because it needs a large workforce, so the higher authorities have given them an extra batch of grain so they can have enough to eat.

Jia Dongxu was somewhat tempted, but he didn't think that his wife would be seduced by other men just because she went to work. He thought it was too easy.

My mother has always been against Qin Huairu going to work, so I didn't insist before.

"Let me think about this some more."

Madam Jia was also somewhat tempted. She had indeed kept a close eye on him before, but Bang Geng was already three or four years old, and Qin Huairu had been married into the family for almost 10 years since 51.

She has always been well-behaved and has never had an affair.

There's a food shortage right now, so if Qin Huairu could go to work and eat three meals a day at the factory, it would definitely save a lot of food.

"Let's wait two more days."

Tonight is the date that Jia Zhangshi and Xu Damao had agreed upon, so they need to find Xu Damao to see if they can get more grain.

If food could be obtained every month, Qin Huairu wouldn't need to go to work in public.

After another fruitless discussion, everyone washed up and went to bed to save their energy. After some time, Qin Huairu suddenly woke up.

My stomach was rumbling, like I was about to have diarrhea.

Although there are chamber pots in the house, they are for urinating; if you need to defecate, you still have to go to the toilet.

I took a flashlight and went out of the yard to the toilet. On my way back, as I passed a small alley, I suddenly heard a crackling sound coming from inside.

It was late at night, and even the slightest sound could travel a long distance.

Qin Huairu has been married for almost 10 years, so of course she knows what kind of sounds are coming from the alley.

Out of curiosity, I wanted to see who would do something like having an affair in an alley.

To save electricity, I didn't turn on the flashlight earlier. Now, standing at the entrance of the alley, I turned on the flashlight and shone it inside. I saw two bright white pieces bobbing up and down and swaying left and right.

"who is it?"

Chapter 316 Breaking through the adultery

Jia Zhangshi was so frightened that her soul almost left her body. As the old saying goes, if you walk by the river often, you're bound to get your shoes wet.