Chapter 171 Goodbye, , Hello,

Yimin Hotel.

As the waiter looked on coldly.

Wang Mengde went to the window and brought the food to the table himself.

Looking at a plate of Chinese cabbage, a plate of fried shredded radish, four white flour buns bigger than fists, and four steamed buns made of two-grain flour.

Wang Tian's face changed, and she said hurriedly: "Meng De, why don't you cook two dishes? For the three of us, one dish of Chinese cabbage is enough. Why don't you return the shredded radish?

As for these white flour steamed buns, your grandfather and I are used to eating steamed buns, so let’s change them to steamed buns.”

"Yes, Meng De, I usually eat less at night, so one steamed bun is enough. Return the steamed buns, and don't buy so many."

Wang Jinghui also echoed.

When Wang Mengde ordered food and paid with the waiter, he went near the window, so Wang Tianshi and Wang Jinghui did not hear it.

Otherwise, he would stop you when you’re ordering food.

Just now, the two of them looked around and saw that although there were many people eating around, no one ordered so many dishes and white flour buns.

Most of them were families of several people. They ordered one dish and then bought some steamed buns to share.

There were even a few families who didn't even order any dishes and just kept eating steamed buns.

You can tell at a glance that these people are people who have recently come from cities surrounding the capital to eat.

They often come with their families, with one person who has a job working locally to earn money, while the rest take their money and rent a small house in the capital, eating three meals a day in state-owned restaurants.

Most of the meals are based on staple foods, with one or two dishes occasionally coming in to supplement some oil and water.

Stay for ten days or half a month, and then return to the local area.

In this way, the family saved a lot of food, which was barely enough for the rest of the month.

If it is a normal day and there is enough food at home, they will definitely not eat in a restaurant. After all, cooking at home is much more cost-effective than buying food in a restaurant.

Nowadays, everyone’s food ration standards are being lowered again and again, and non-staple foods are in short supply. Sometimes one month’s food ration is not enough to last half a month.

Moreover, even if the locals had money, they could not buy food without food coupons.

In other words, the capital is the best place, and all major hotels are state-owned or jointly operated by the public and private sectors, and have special channels for the supply of grain and oil.

This is why there is such a loophole.

The waiter who was passing by heard that someone wanted to return a dish, and his face became even uglier.

If it weren't for the fact that Mr. and Mrs. Wang Jinghui were old, he would have used this as an excuse to beat and scold the customer.

He hasn't done anything for a long time since a slogan saying 'No beating or scolding of customers without reason' was posted on the wall.

"Grandpa, grandma, you can eat it without worry, it doesn't cost much.

Moreover, there is no way to return the food that has been served. The restaurant has regulations that they cannot take the food that has been served and sell it to others."

Wang Mengde also noticed the waiter's strangeness and quickly spoke in a low voice.

"Oh, what a waste! Normally in the cafeteria, we are lucky if we can have enough steamed corn bread to fill our stomachs. Erhe noodles are rare, and we can only have two white flour buns during Chinese New Year and other festivals."

Wang Tian had no way to retreat after hearing this. She could only grab a piece of white flour and eat it in small bites, while saying with heartache.

After the lesson of overeating in the early part of last year and going hungry in the later part, the major canteens in rural areas have finally learned the importance of saving and living frugally.

Unfortunately it was too late.

Last year's damage to the environment and the delay in farming season.

Coupled with some other disasters, a number of other factors came together to result in an extremely poor grain harvest this year.

Many caring people in the countryside already know that even if they are frugal enough, the food in the brigade will not last until the beginning of the next spring.

This year will be another hungry year.

It’s only the beginning of winter and the canteen has already started serving porridge every day.

It is beautifully called: eat dry food when you are busy, eat liquid food when you are free, and eat half dry and half liquid food when you are neither busy nor free.

"Grandpa, grandma, eat quickly. It's bad for your health if you eat it before it gets cold."

Seeing that the two people were eating with some restraint, Wang Mengde spoke again.

Half an hour later, we finally finished eating.

When she returned to her home in Yuer Hutong, Wang Tian was still feeling distressed.

"Meng De, there is a stove here. Otherwise, I can cook at home every day. The two of us can just eat whatever we want. It also saves you from taking us to a restaurant every day. It's such a waste of money."

In the morning, Wang Hao usually takes them out to eat.

Then I sent them to Nanluoguxiang and had lunch with Ran Xiaomei.

Wang Mengde was naturally in charge at night.

"Grandma, let's go to a restaurant and eat. We just need to spend money. Our family is not short of money. My dad and I make a combined salary of more than two hundred yuan a month. Add Shengnan's salary, and it's almost three hundred yuan.

But if you want to buy food, you have to use food coupons. There are only so many food coupons every month. If you have money but no coupons, you can’t buy food. If you cook at home, you won’t have enough food at the end of the month.”

Wang Mengde explained in a low voice.

Their family already has several thousand yuan in savings.

But in this day and age, just having money is not enough.

Starting from the beginning of next year, basically all daily necessities will require coupons.

This policy was not gradually abolished until the 1980s and 1990s.

"So that's what happened."

Wang Jinghui understood a little bit, and he said thoughtfully.

"Then let's go out to eat during this time."

Having said this, he stopped Wang Tian who was about to say something.

Seeing that his grandfather understood what he meant, Wang Mengde felt relieved. He changed a piece of honeycomb coal and let the stove burn vigorously. The temperature in the room quickly rose.

She massaged him for another half an hour, and waited until Wang Hao came over before she rode her bike home with a flashlight.

When I arrived at the gate of the yard, I happened to meet Sha Zhu, who was walking towards the side of the yard with his neck hunched and his hands in his pockets.

"Meng De is back."

"Silly Zhu, are you going to the toilet?"

"Yes, the factory had a special meal today. I might have eaten too much oily food, so I have a stomachache."

Sha Zhu said with a grin.

Every time the leader of the steel mill invited him to dinner, he would eat whatever the leader ate.

After all, it's public property, so he's willing to put oil in it.

The stomach and intestines can't take it when there's too much oil and water.

"Then hurry up and go. If you have diarrhea a lot, come to me and I'll prescribe some medicine for you."

Wang Mengde waved his hand.

"Hey, I'm leaving now."

Sha Zhu was about to walk forward, but after taking two steps, he suddenly remembered something and turned to Wang Mengde and said:
"Meng De, are you free on Sunday? I asked a senior brother to get me a lamb spine. If you don't have anything to do, I'll bring it back and stew it. We can have a good meal."

"Sheep spine!"

When he heard that it was a sheep spine, Wang Mengde's eyes lit up.

Isn’t this the lamb ribs that I ate in my previous life? I have been in this era for many years and have eaten a lot of mutton, but I have never encountered lamb ribs.

Now that Shazhu mentioned it, it brought back his memories and his greed.

"Okay, I have nothing to do on Sunday, I'll get a bottle of Fenjiu, and we'll eat mutton, drink wine, and warm ourselves up."

"That's settled then. I'm going to the bathroom first. I can't hold it any longer."

Having said that, Sha Zhu ran away in a hurry.

arrive home.

The girl had already fallen asleep, so Wang Mengde simply washed up, and then after exercising with He Shengnan, they lay on the bed and talked in private. "Mengde, the Jia family next door is no longer short of food."

"Oh? Besides Uncle Yi, is there anyone else who supports their family?"

Wang Mengde asked curiously.

In the Jia family, only Jia Dongxu has a ration. With five children in the family, the food gap is not a small one, but a huge one.

Who has the energy to give them so much food?

"It's not someone who supports them, it's their family. Now the whole family, except Jia Dongxu, eats out at a nearby restaurant every meal."

He Shengnan's face was as red as a peach. She put her arm around his arm and explained in a low voice.

"So that's what happened."

Wang Mengde suddenly realized.

It seems that the Jia family has also discovered this loophole. No wonder when I met Jia Zhang yesterday, I found that her originally thin face had become a little fatter.

Jia Dongxu is now a third-level fitter and earns more than 40 yuan a month.

Excluding household expenses, even if the food in the restaurant is more expensive, their family can still afford it.

Besides, if you are short of money, there is still the rich man Yi Zhonghai.

If he could use the excuse that he didn't have many food coupons, he couldn't refuse the money.

Everyone knows that he is the third highest paid person in the hospital, earning ninety-nine yuan a month, second only to Wang Mengde and his son.

Moreover, with only two people in the family to spend, it is easy to save a few hundred dollars a year.

"Also, I heard from Aunt Xue that she also accidentally heard from Jia Zhang that Jia Dongxu and Qin Huairu are planning to have a third child."

He Shengnan told another piece of gossip about the Jia family.

In the eyes of a group of aunts and sisters in the courtyard, she is a hot commodity.

In order to please the Wang family, everyone was willing to say some things to her.

Three children!

Now that we have solved the food crisis, we are preparing to have another child.

In the original drama, the third child of the Jia family, Huaihua, was also born in the past one or two years.

"Meng De, we can't let them outdo us."

He Shengnan raised her head and looked at Wang Mengde expectantly.

Although she gave birth to twin boys as her first child, two sons were still considered few for people of that generation.

Zhou Xiaoyan also talked to her from time to time.

Let her have a third child after a while, and try to give birth to a boy.

In a few years, their son Shengwu will be an adult. Judging from his current academic performance, he can barely get a junior high school diploma, just like his brother Shengwen.

At that time, I will inevitably have to talk to my son-in-law and ask him to help arrange a job.

If a daughter gives birth to another son, she will have more confidence when she speaks up.

He Shengnan didn't think so much about it. In her opinion, giving birth to a few more children for her husband was a natural thing to do.

Now with the ointment given to her by Wang Mengde, she no longer has to worry about stretch marks.

After several months of persistent application of ointment and daily exercise, her belly and other parts have basically returned to their original state.

"We want a third child too?"

Wang Mengde didn't expect his wife to be so anxious.

But of course he wouldn't refuse such a good thing.

Thinking of this, I warmed up again.

Sunday.

noon.

In the living room of Shazhu's house.

Together with He Yushui, the three of them sat at the dining table, smelling the delicious braised lamb spine and swallowing involuntarily.

After eating a few pieces of meat and drinking a few glasses of wine.

Wang Mengde slowed down, turned his head and looked at the 17-year-old, graceful He Yushui, and said with a smile:

"Yushui, you will graduate from high school next year, right? How are you going? Are you going to go to college or look for a job right away?"

"Brother Meng De, my grades are average and I won't be able to get into college. I'll get a high school diploma and find a job directly."

He Yushui glanced at him and answered calmly.

After saying this, her face turned red and her heart was beating like a deer.

This big brother next door has always been her girlhood dream.

"Well, it's not bad to just find a job. You have a high school diploma, so it won't be hard to find a job. Is there any company you'd like to work for?"

"Yushui, if you can't do that, go to the steel mill. I'll talk to the leader and arrange an office job for you. It shouldn't be a problem."

Before He Yushui could speak, Sha Zhu spoke first.

"I'm not bragging. There is no leader in the steel mill who doesn't know me."

"Silly brother, I'm not going to the steel mill."

He Yushui refused and said, "I want to go to the Qinghe Woolen Factory."

The predecessor of Qinghe Woolen Mill was Beijing Qinghe Woolen Textile Factory, which was renamed during the liberation period.

By 1962, the fine weaving workshop of Qinghe Woolen Mill was established as an independent factory and renamed Beijing Qinghe Woolen Textile Factory.

The woolen spinning department and the plush workshop were moved into the newly built factory building to form the Jingcheng Carpet Factory.

"It's not bad to go to the Qinghe Woolen Mill. I can go to and from get off work with your sister-in-law every day, and I can have someone to take care of me.

When the time comes, let your silly brother buy you a bicycle. If the weather is good, you don’t have to take the bus to go to get off work.”

Wang Mengde said in agreement.

With her high school diploma, she could get into any unit, except those particularly good ones like supply and marketing cooperatives, food factories, meat processing plants, or textile factories.

"Ah."

He Yushui hummed softly, glanced at him secretly, and her face became even redder.

Fortunately, the temperature in the room was high and they were eating braised lamb spine, so the other two people didn't notice anything unusual.

"Okay, Yushui, since you want to go to the Qinghe Woolen Mill, there is still a year and a half left. I will definitely find you a bicycle ticket and buy you a bicycle when the time comes."

Sha Zhu drank a glass of wine and said proudly.

After talking about He Yushui's future work arrangements, Sha Zhu started talking about his own partner search.

This was the original intention of him asking Wang Mengde to come over for drinks and meat today.

"Silly Zhu, since you want to find a pretty one, why don't you go to the countryside and bring back a girl."

Wang Mengde drank two more glasses of Fenjiu, glanced at him sideways and said.

Nowadays, as long as you have a city hukou and go to the countryside, there will be plenty of pretty girls willing to follow you to the city.

Even if you have physical defects or are older, there is no need to worry.

"Forget it. Sister Qin asked me a few days ago about a younger sister from her uncle's family. She's just 18 years old and pretty, but I didn't agree.

With my conditions, I have to at least find a girl who has a job in the city. Of course, she has to be pretty."

After hearing his arrogant words, Wang Mengde instantly didn't want to pay any attention to him.

A few days after we finished eating the lamb ribs, it was New Year's Day of the 60th year.

This year will be a very special year.

(End of this chapter)