After sending Qin Xueyi and others away, Zhou Yang immediately returned to the house and prepared to help Li Youwei clean up the dining area.
Today, several comrades from the biology laboratory are here, and there are many people eating at home.
In addition, the food we ate was mutton stew, and the bowls and chopsticks were all stained with oil.
In this era when there is no detergent, such dishes and chopsticks are very laborious to wash, and they cannot be washed clean without hot water.
"You put the dishes and chopsticks into the big basin first, and then we can wash them after I boil some hot water!"
Before Zhou Yang finished speaking, he heard Li Youwei say: "Let me wash the dishes and chopsticks. If you have nothing to do, go to the old house!"
"What are you doing?"
"Dad will come over in the afternoon and ask you to go to the old house when you come back. He said he has something to discuss with you!" Li Youwei said.
"I didn't ask what it was about. Are you in a hurry?" Zhou Yang said.
"I asked, but dad didn't go into details. He just said it was a work matter!"
Upon hearing this, Zhou Yang knew that it was serious business, and immediately nodded and said: "Okay, I'll be there right away!"
After saying that, he called Liu Yunlong and went straight to the Li family's old house.
At this time, night had completely fallen, and the lights were on in the villagers' homes.
Although every household uses small wattage light bulbs ranging from 25 to 40 watts, which are not really bright to be honest, they are much brighter than the previous kerosene lamps and plain oil lamps.
The dots of lights against the backdrop of the night give it a hazy beauty.
Since the Zhou family's new house was built at the west end of the village, and the Li family's old house was in the center of the village, the two of them basically had to pass through half of the village along the way.
As soon as I walked near the old school in the village, I saw a dozen young people walking towards me.
When I heard the footsteps, I immediately raised my flashlight and shined it, and then there was a rough and dull voice asking: "Who is it?"
Zhou Yang recognized the voice of his uncle Li Jianguo and said hurriedly: "Brother, it's me, Zhou Yang!"
After hearing Zhou Yang's voice, the team in front immediately dropped their guard and walked over quickly.
After arriving in front of Zhou Yang, Li Jianguo immediately asked: "Brother-in-law, where are you going?"
"I'm going to visit my old house. Dad asked me to go there!" Zhou Yang explained.
At the same time, Zhou Yang also noticed the dozen young people around Li Jianguo.
I saw them all standing tall and tall, carrying long rifles on their shoulders. The old-fashioned rifles and the common people's homespun clothes looked somewhat like the guerrillas decades ago.
Then Zhou Yang asked again: "Brother, are you preparing to go on patrol?"
"Well, during this period, villagers from other villages often come to our village to pick up missing "sugar pimples" (beet pimples), and some people sneak in before we have time to turn over the yam (potato) fields. We are digging yam eggs in the fields, so Party Secretary Wang asked us to pay more attention at night!" Li Jianguo said.
Zhou Yang knew that the so-called digging of yam eggs was not stealing in the true sense, but an act of picking up leaks.
According to custom, the potato field must be plowed again after harvesting, on the one hand, to prevent fish from slipping through the net.
On the other hand, I want to take advantage of the soft soil now and plow the land so that it can be cultivated next year.
In this process, the missed potatoes are often found. If you are lucky, you can sometimes harvest one or two hundred kilograms of potatoes in a day.
After the autumn harvest in previous years, the educated youth members of the village would swarm to the potato fields and dig wildly in search of potatoes.
Zhou Yang had even done this a few years ago. In this era of scarce supplies, it was neither outrageous nor shameful.
"No one in our village went to pick potatoes this year?" Zhou Yang asked immediately.
Li Jianguo smiled and said: "No, the potatoes harvested in the village this year amounted to millions of kilograms, and the beet knots were piled all over the brigade. Who would care about this!"
"No, people from other villages came over after hearing the news, digging from morning till night, and some people didn't go back at night."
Zhou Yang nodded and said: "So that's the case. If there's no problem, let them dig it. Anyway, our village is not short of some fish that slipped through the net, what do you think?"
"Secretary Wang and Dad also mean the same thing, but they are worried that some short-minded people may take advantage of our village's food supply, so they asked us to step up patrols at night!"
"Yes, then you can continue patrolling. I'll go to the old house first!" Zhou Yang said.
"Okay, pay more attention to the potholes on the road!"
"good!"
.......
Soon, the two came to the Li family's old house.
As soon as he entered the door, he startled the big yellow dog in the yard. This guy barked at the door. It wasn't until Zhou Yang shouted that the dog calmed down.
However, this also alarmed everyone in the room, and the third brother Li Jianjun immediately came out to check the situation.
Seeing it was Zhou Yang and Liu Yunlong, they immediately welcomed them in.
In the house, the eldest sister-in-law and the third sister-in-law were washing dishes and chopsticks by the stove, while the mother-in-law was coaxing the third brother's little daughter on the kang.
As for the father-in-law, Li Fengnian, he was sitting on a pony on the ground, smoking a dry tobacco pot, and watching his eldest grandson Li Hu and second grandson Li Biao doing their homework.
"Dad, brother-in-law and Comrade Liu are here!"
Hearing the voice of his third son, Li Fengnian immediately stood up from the pony, then looked at Zhou Yang and said, "Come here?"
"Here we go, Teacher Qin and the others were at home just now, so they played for a while!"
"Let's go to the third child's room to chat!"
With that said, Li Fengnian walked towards the west wing next to him, followed closely by Zhou Yang, Li Jianjun and Liu Yunlong.
After entering the door, Li Jianjun immediately poured water for several people.
Li Fengnian took two puffs of the dry smoke pot, and then asked: "How are you these days, are you busy?"
"Busy, very busy!"
"You should also pay attention to your health when you are busy. A good body is the capital of revolution!"
"clear!"
"Did you ask Wang Ping to go to the commune to carry vegetables to supplement the rations?" Li Fengnian asked again.
"Well, it doesn't matter if the commune doesn't agree. The food in our village is enough to pay for the task. Don't be embarrassed by you and Director Qiao!" Zhou Yang said.
"No problem, Director Qiao has already agreed to the village's request, but...but..."
Seeing the embarrassment of his old father-in-law, Zhou Yang immediately said: "Dad, if you have anything to say, just say it. We are a family, there is nothing else we can't say!"
Li Fengnian nodded and said, "The commune wants to discuss something with our village!"
"What's going on?"
"The commune wants the village to do a favor and transfer a batch of sugar dumplings and yam eggs!" Li Fengnian said.
Zhou Yang frowned and said, "Being a ration for the production team whose harvest is not good?"
"Um!"
Li Fengnian's voice was a little low and helpless.
"Are there big food gaps in other communes?" Zhou Yang asked in a deep voice.
"Big, very big!"
Then Li Fengnian said again: "According to the results of the survey a few days ago, there are 36,000 people in the nine brigades in the commune this year. Only 4 brigades have harvests comparable to last year, and the harvests of the remaining five brigades are not satisfactory. ."
"Among them, Fugou Brigade and Xuejiawa Brigade are in the most serious situation. The food shortage for more than 6,000 people is more than half. The situation of the remaining three brigades is not very good either."
Zhou Yang said in a deep voice: "How much ration is the overall shortage?"
"About 2 million catties!"
"Does the commune mean that the two million kilograms of food rations that are missing will be supplemented with yam eggs and beetroot?"
Li Fengnian shook his head and said: "That's definitely not possible. Although this thing is cheap, it is definitely not good for people to eat it for a long time, so the commune plans to allocate another 300,000 kilograms of emergency food as a supplement!"
"Does that mean the commune is going to let the village sell 1.7 million kilograms of yam eggs and beetroot?"
"Um!"
"What's the deal? It shouldn't be bought with money, otherwise you wouldn't be in such a difficult situation!" Zhou Yang said.
"Well, what Director Qiao means is to ask the production teams whose grain harvests have failed to exchange for firewood and straw. Five pounds of grass will be exchanged for one pound of yam eggs or sugar pimples!"
After hearing this replacement plan, Zhou Yang couldn't help but frowned!
PS: Happy New Year on the first day of the Lunar New Year, Lao Cang wishes all readers and friends good health, all the best, and good luck in the Year of the Rabbit!
