Chapter 9 Return to Wangjia Village

In the next few days, I changed several places to fish, but none of them were suitable, so I could only catch fish for the time being.

This went on until the weekend, and then after a day of rest, Wang Jianfeng thought that according to the current situation, it should not be difficult to get a regular job. However, he wanted to get a promotion later, and did not want to attract attention by fishing so much, so he had to think of other ways.

A week has passed, and the house has been almost completely renovated. We should be able to move in in a few days.

In the past few days, Wang Jianfeng would come here almost every day to check on the progress of the construction. He would also say hello to the people living in the courtyard when he met them. He gradually became familiar with these neighbors, but he did not have a deep friendship with them.

It was Monday again. After checking the purchase bill, Wang Jianfeng found that he had purchased 126 kilograms of fish in the past few days.

After the meeting, Section Chief Wu assigned the purchasing tasks and asked Wang Jianfeng to stay alone to communicate. Section Chief Wu said that the task was completed and he also affirmed his ability. However, he kindly reminded him that he only purchased one category (fish meat) these days, which would not be a problem in a short time, because the amount of fish meat was seriously affected by the weather. If it rained or snowed, it would be basically impossible to purchase, so there should be some resources of other categories. He also suggested that he go to the countryside to look around, and then sent him out.

Section Chief Wu's suggestion to go to the countryside was exactly what Wang Jianfeng wanted, as he had been thinking about going back to his hometown.

The supplies Wang Jianfeng received this month are not included in the assessment. It is mainly a process of learning and accumulation.

Over the past few days, some people who went out to purchase goods came back from time to time, and Wang Jianfeng gradually became familiar with his colleagues in the purchasing department. Wang Jianfeng thought about it and reported to Section Chief Wu. He went to the countryside to purchase goods today, which was expected to take about 3-4 days, and he would not come to the steel mill in the next few days.

After returning to the guesthouse, he prepared some dry food, bought some salt, and then went to the courtyard to check on the progress of the renovation. It seemed that he could move in after returning from the purchases in the countryside. He told Captain Lei about his trip to the countryside, and then rode his bicycle eastward to his hometown in Changping.

Wangjia Village is his hometown. He has not been home since he went to technical secondary school. To be honest, although he does not have much affection for the place, he still likes the small mountain village very much. The scenery is beautiful and the people are simple. However, because he had just come here not long ago, he was afraid of being discovered, so he did not go home very often. Now, after three years of transition, many things can be rounded up.

After passing the main road, the road is difficult to walk on and the bicycle can only be pushed, which is very tiring. The village is relatively remote and some distance away from the main road. The road into the village is also very rugged. If you want to pass an ox cart or horse cart, you have to walk slowly.

From a distance, the whole village has only dozens of households, and they are sparsely distributed. The village is right on the hillside, right next to the mountain. You can't see the end at a glance, but there is a faint path on the mountain connecting the village. I don't know how many people have walked through this woods to make such a path.

After walking for more than an hour, Wang Jianfeng was stopped before he reached the village entrance.

"Who are you? What are you doing in our village?" one of the militiamen spoke up. Although most of the spies had been eliminated during this period, there were still some who slipped through the net, so most places had their own militia.

"Brother Genzi, it's me, Hu Zi," Wang Jianfeng said to the person in front of him. Wang Jianfeng's nickname is Hu Zi.

"Oh, it's really Huzi. Didn't you go to school? Why are you back?" Wang Gensheng said
"Brother Genzi, I have graduated this year and am now assigned to work in Sijiu City."

After a while, Wang Jianfeng came back riding a bicycle, and the news of his work in Sijiucheng spread throughout the village.

Then Wang Jianfeng came to his old house. Looking at the dilapidated house in front of him, he fell into deep thought. He had not been back for three years, and the house was even more dilapidated than before. This was probably the result of his uncle's family coming to help clean up. The original father was the fifth child in the family. He had two older brothers and two older sisters, and a younger brother and a younger sister. They all had their own families. The four brothers of his father had already separated from each other. The third aunt and the youngest aunt had already married, and they were both in nearby villages not far away. The second aunt had found a son-in-law who lived in the village.

After cleaning the house, soon after hearing the news, his eldest uncle's family, fourth uncle's family, sixth uncle's family and second aunt's family all came to his house one after another. His third aunt and youngest aunt probably hadn't heard the news yet because they were some distance away.

"Hu Zi, you're finally back. You've been away for so long and didn't even write a letter home. Everyone in your family is very worried about you," said his uncle in a reproachful tone after Wang Jianfeng greeted them.

My uncle Wang Xuewen was a well-educated man and graduated from junior high school. However, the world was in chaos at that time, so he did not go out to make a living and just worked as a farmer at home. However, his children were all well educated. All of his children graduated from junior high school. My uncle worked as an accountant for the production team in the village.

The funeral affairs of Wang Jianfeng's parents were mainly handled by his uncle and his cousin who served as the team leader.

"Uncle, I just started school and didn't have much money. It was too expensive to send letters. The subsidy from the state was just enough for living. I thought I could come back after I graduated and got a job, so I didn't send letters home," said Wang Jianfeng. In fact, it was not that he didn't want to send letters, but it was mainly because he had just arrived and was afraid of being exposed.

After that, everyone chatted about family matters. Wang Jianfeng gave his aunt 10 yuan and asked her to help buy some food. His aunt refused, but was persuaded by Wang Jianfeng. 10 yuan was a lot of money for farmers in that era. It could buy about 60 to 80 kilograms of fine grains and more than 160 kilograms of coarse grains. It was almost enough for an adult to eat for half a year.

The prices at that time were: refined flour 1840 yuan per catty; ordinary rice 1100 yuan per catty, good rice (No. 2 japonica rice) 2000 yuan per catty; cooking oil (peanut oil) 8500 yuan per catty; refined salt 1400 yuan per catty, granulated sugar 8400 yuan per catty, pork 7700 yuan, beef 6900 yuan per catty, mutton 7100 yuan per catty, eggs 6500 yuan per catty, cabbage 400 yuan per catty, cotton cloth 2800 yuan per foot, and laundry soap 3300 yuan per bar.

At that time, no one had enough to eat, and each household in the village did not have much supplies, but Wang Jianfeng still decided to have a reunion dinner with everyone.

Soon they brought back three chickens, a piece of bacon, ten pounds of flour, more than twenty pounds of corn flour, a few rabbits and some wild vegetables, enough for the whole family to have a full meal. Happy smiles appeared on everyone's faces, and the children were also playing happily nearby.

Soon after, the food smelled delicious. A family of more than 30 people sat together and chatted. Wang Jianfeng briefly talked about his own situation and learned about the general situation in the village. In a word, it was too hard. Basically, we couldn't have enough food. But think about the low grain production now, and the village is all mountainous, without fertilizers, and considering the population, it would be strange if we could have enough food.

The food was quickly swept away by everyone. This meal was better than any other during the Chinese New Year and everyone enjoyed it very much.

After dinner, the eldest aunt and a group of women were cleaning up, while the heads of several families were with Wang Jianfeng. Looking at these uncles and brothers, Wang Jianfeng said straight to the point.
"I am currently working as a purchaser at a steel mill in the old city. I came back today mainly to see you all, and secondly to purchase meat from the surrounding villages."

"Hu Zi can't even get enough food right now, where can I get extra meat to sell to you?"

"Uncle, I actually have some immature ideas. Only if we can ensure that everyone will not have enough food, but this method has certain risks. It requires the participation of everyone in the village to be safe."

"Please help talk to my uncle and others tomorrow, and I will talk to them." Wang Jianfeng said, not knowing that while he was thinking about finding others, others were also thinking about him.

After chatting with these uncles and brothers for a while, everyone went their separate ways, and Wang Jianfeng turned around and went into the house to rest.

(End of this chapter)