Courtyard House: My Wife is Xu Huizhen

Page 179

"That's good, but we can't eat it openly anymore."

He Yuzhu suddenly realized a loophole: currently only the purchase of wheat flour is restricted, but there are no restrictions on dried noodles or rice.

If some people can't buy flour, they'll buy noodles, and then they'll buy rice. If this happens, higher authorities will notice and restrict the quantity of noodles and other grains.

He said, "Go and buy some noodles, and also have your older brother buy some grain, especially noodles and rice."

He Yuzhu had enough food, but he still had to make this gesture; it was a normal reaction.

Xu Huizhen nodded and said, "I'll go now, what about you?"

He Yuzhu said, "I'll go and inform my master and mistress, as well as my fellow disciples."

Xu Huizhen nodded, took the money, called her assistant, and pushed the cart away.

He Yuzhu rode his bicycle to the grain store not far away, and sure enough, a notice had been posted on the wall outside in large red paper.

Starting tomorrow, the amount of flour that ordinary residents can buy each month will be limited. Below is the "Implementation Measures for Planned Supply of Flour" formulated by the capital.

Firstly, all residents living in Beijing and with formal household registration (excluding agricultural households) will be provided with 8 jin of flour per person per month.

Secondly, the monthly flour ration will be increased by 4 jin for each person, including government employees, students of secondary and higher education institutions, education and health workers, tricycle drivers, porters, handicraft workers, and all employees of companies and enterprises, bringing their total ration to 12 jin.

Third, employees of state-owned industrial and mining, transportation, and construction enterprises (excluding the banking and trading system) and employees of private industrial and mining enterprises with more than 100 employees will each receive an additional 6 jin of flour per month, which means their ration will be 18 jin.

Today, grain stores will no longer sell grain, but will instead begin issuing flour purchase permits.

This quota is just a sales permit and cannot be accumulated. It is only valid for the current month and will expire if no purchase is made at the end of the month.

By this time, the grain store had already opened, and people were already queuing outside with their household registration books to apply for flour purchase permits.

After reading the notice, He Yuzhu rode his bicycle to his master's house. His master hadn't started work yet. Upon hearing He Yuzhu's words, the master immediately took the money to buy noodles.

He Yuzhu then told Dayong to inform his fellow apprentices to store more food.

He Yuzhu arrived at the front door and asked two shop assistants to buy noodles. Then He Yuzhu went into the Xue Ru Silk Shop next door.

Chen Xueru was doing the accounts when she looked up and saw He Yuzhu push the door open and walk in. She scolded, "You even know you have another wife?"

Chapter 132 Was it because Xu Huizhen didn't feed you enough?

He Yuzhu locked the door, walked over, picked up Chen Xueru, and then leaned down to kiss her.

Chen Xueru always complained that He Yuzhu didn't come to see her, but a little comforting was all it took to make her feel better.

What she wanted was an attitude. After a moment, they separated, and Chen Xueru asked, "Why did you come over so early this morning? Did Xu Huizhen not feed you properly?"

"I have something serious to tell you. You know, starting today, the sale of flour will be restricted."

"What? We can't eat flour anymore?"

"It's not that you can't eat it, it's that you can only eat 8 jin (4 catties) a month."

He Yuzhu gave an explanation, which made Chen Xueru feel a little proud.

For ordinary people who consume little flour, this restriction doesn't have a significant impact on them.

But I usually eat rice and wheat flour, so this has a huge impact.

He Yuzhu had always thought that grain coupons would be issued next year to restrict the buying and selling of grain. He never expected that flour purchase certificates would be introduced now, and that the era of coupons would gradually begin.

Chen Xueru said, "Then what are we going to do? We can't just eat coarse grains every day, can we?"

"That's all we can do. But I've already told your guys to go buy noodles and rice. There's no limit on the amount of rice we can get now."

"That won't solve too many problems. What will we do then?"

"Don't worry, I'll take care of things from now on. I have ways to get you food."

"You're so sweet." Chen Xueru immediately gave her a sweet kiss.

He Yuzhu wanted to rehearse again, but it was already late morning. The two talked about the flour and then got up to say goodbye.

Back in the shops on Yandaixie Street, everyone was talking about the restrictions on buying flour, and then they started talking about last year's severe drought, with all sorts of opinions.

He Yuzhu chatted with them for a few minutes, and then at the back, Xu Huizhen had already bought two bags of rice and a bag of noodles.

He said, "Although they don't limit the quantity, you can't buy too much, so I only bought these."

He Yuzhu said, "You can send it to your father-in-law; we don't have to keep it."

He Yuzhu had been preparing all along, and he had plenty of flour in reserve, so he wasn't short of it. The short period of time wouldn't have a significant impact on him.

Xu Huizhen asked, "Will you still sell steamed buns in the morning?"

"Starting tomorrow, let's sell less and sell other snacks instead."

He Yuzhu is currently unaware of the policies for flour shops like his. Although it's not a grain store, he still sells a considerable amount of flour every day. If they don't supply him with flour, he'll have to switch to another business. If they restrict the quantity, he'll have to sell whatever he has.

Xu Huizhen asked, "What about breakfast at Qianmen?"

"Let's wait a bit, I'll ask Sister Tianzao later."

In the afternoon, He Yuzhu went to the neighborhood committee, and Tian Zao was also very busy, organizing people to carry out various publicity activities.

After two minutes, they explained to He Yuzhu that although shops like He Yuzhu's do not sell grain, they do sell a limited quantity of processed grain products each month, which is only 100 jin of flour per day.

As for the shops near Qianmen, there should be some, but the exact number depends on the street's arrangements.

He Yuzhu didn't delay their work. After asking, he left directly and went to the front gate first.

When He Yuzhu went to the neighborhood committee, the elderly director, after hearing his purpose, said, "Go find Fan, the cadre in charge of the street office; he's the one in charge of this matter."

"Fan, the cadre? Fan Jinyou?" He Yuzhu asked.

"Yes, it's him. He's in charge of this now."

He Yuzhu said, "Okay, Auntie, I'll go find him right now."

He Yuzhu then arrived at the street in front of Qianmen. The street was also crowded with people, mostly restaurant and wine shop owners, as well as some small stall owners.

Many people only found out today that flour will be restricted. Since most of us are in the catering industry, we need a lot of flour every day. If it is restricted, we won't be able to do business.

Many of the people here were acquaintances. When He Yuzhu arrived, he greeted them and chatted for a few minutes. Everyone was very agitated and didn't know what to do next.

Fan Jinyou, who was standing inside, found a loudspeaker somewhere, stood on a table, and began to publicize the latest policy.

In general, the higher authorities must ensure the normal production and operation of all restaurants, and the amount of flour needs to be verified every month, and then flour will be allocated according to the actual amount.

Although everyone was slightly dissatisfied, they knew they couldn't fight against the higher-ups' regulations and had no choice but to accept this solution.

Soon, the quota for each store was made public, written on a large red sheet of paper and posted in a prominent place.

Master Jiang Zhensheng gave that house as part of Xu Huizhen's dowry, which was later converted into a breakfast shop, selling various breakfast items. Currently, the ration is 100 catties of flour per day.

After looking at it, He Yuzhu left. 100 jin was already quite a lot. Although it was less than the usual amount he sold, things were difficult right now. He would just sell more steamed buns made from two kinds of flour in the future.

He Yuzhu cleverly got everyone to buy noodles and rice. Soon the grain store realized what was happening, since they used to sell less than 20 jin of noodles a day, but now they were selling 200-300 jin a day.

There's no difference between buying dried noodles and buying flour.

Soon, noodles were also sold in limited quantities, and like flour, a flour purchase certificate was required to buy them.

Then sales of rice and coarse grains surged, with people queuing up every day to buy them. Grain stores initially limited the quantity sold, and then government leaders quickly introduced policies.

All grains were included in the planned supply, which restricted the buying and selling of both coarse and refined grains.

At this point, there is no limit on the total quantity; we are only limiting large purchases and summarizing our experience before we can determine a reasonable quantity.

From initially restricting flour to eventually restricting all grains, the entire process took only one week.

The entire capital city entered a phase of unified purchase and sales.

He Yuzhu and his wife would cook separately in the backyard, even eating steamed buns secretly to avoid gossip.

"When will this ever end?" Xu Huizhen said with a sigh.

"Just get used to it first, and you'll get used to it after that."

He Yuzhu thought to himself, "This is only a short time. When grain coupons are implemented next year, this policy will be truly consolidated."

Thirty years passed in a flash. By the time the grain coupons were completely abolished in the 1990s, he had become a man in his fifties or sixties.

"What do you mean by that? Are you suggesting this will be the way things are going to be from now on?"

Many people now believe that this is just a temporary policy. After all, grain production was reduced in the previous two years. Although there was a bumper harvest this year, farmers were reluctant to sell, which resulted in a shortage of grain on the market.

He Yuzhu nodded: "Yes, in the future, it might not just be grain that will be restricted, but also pork, cooking oil, and clothing."

Where did you hear that?

That's my guess.

He Yuzhu suddenly realized he had said too much, so he stopped talking about it and asked, "How have you been feeling lately?"

"What do you mean, how?" Xu Huizhen only realized what He Yuzhu was asking after she finished speaking. She blushed and said awkwardly, "I don't feel anything. Are you in a hurry to have a child?"

Many women get pregnant within a month or two of getting married, but Xu Huizhen has been pregnant for three months and there's still no sign of pregnancy. She's very anxious, afraid that He Yuzhu will be angry.

He Yuzhu had actually used his mental power to confirm that life was beginning to grow in Xu Huizhen's belly, which was why he asked her if she had any reaction.

She quickly reassured him, "Don't overthink it. I was just asking casually. You can eat and rest normally. Don't worry, we're both healthy and will have a baby soon."

Xu Huizhen felt a little better after that. She cleared away the dishes and chopsticks, and He Yuzhu didn't let her get tired of doing it, so he took them to wash himself.

"Is Zhu Zi home?" someone called from outside the house.