Chapter 308 Bicycles Still in Short Supply
After he finished speaking, Wu Dafu looked at what He Yuzhu and the others were holding and asked,
"Yo Zhuzi, several old sisters-in-law,
Look at all the bags you have, there must be a happy event in Siheyuan today."

At this time, I heard an old lady say with a smile,

"Zhu Zi has returned from his military service, so the neighbors in the courtyard have pooled some money to give him a good reception.
As for Old Wu, he still has to go back and deal with these things, so we won’t talk to you any more.”

"Okay, Sister Yi, you guys get busy!"

When they entered the courtyard gate, the first and second aunts leaned over to look at Wu Dafu outside the door.
Then he warned He Yuzhu,

"Zhu Zi, don't be fooled by Wu Dafu. He is totally different from the one you knew three years ago."

"It's Zhuzi, don't believe his lies so easily."

Hearing what the two said, He Yuzhu looked at them with some doubts, and asked in confusion,

"No, Uncle Wu is just a water carrier. What's wrong with him?"

"What's the problem? These guys are so mean. They charge exorbitant prices for carrying water."

When Aunt Yan talked about collecting money, Auntie One and Auntie Two rarely laughed at her for being stingy. Instead, they all agreed with her.

"That's right, Pillar.

Wu Dafu and his friends were badly bullied by those water bullies in the past.

After those water bullies were shot by the Military Control Commission, it stands to reason that they should be the ones who can best understand the feeling of being bullied.

But I didn’t expect these guys to turn around and bully others now.”

"Ah~, what's going on? Aren't they just some water carriers? How can you bully them?"

Hearing He Yuzhu's question, Aunt Yan continued,
“How do you bully people?
Zhuzi, let me tell you, the Military Control Commission stipulates that the price for fetching a bucket of water from the reservoir is 100 yuan, and the price that the water carriers charge for fetching a bucket of water is also 100 yuan.

Look at how far away the reservoir is from the nearby courtyards, yet they dare to charge so much.

This is not bullying. "

"Yes, it costs 200 yuan to carry a bucket of water, but which household can afford to carry only one bucket of water a day?

The water bill alone is at least more than 1 yuan a month.

This amount of money is nothing to us. At worst, we can just queue up to fetch water ourselves, which can save half of the money.
But there are still many lonely old ladies in Nanluoguxiang. Not only do they not have the physical strength to carry water, but the relief they receive from the street government every month is also not much.

The 1 yuan or so spent on buying water is a huge amount of money for them!"

After hearing what the aunt and the others said, He Yuzhu felt that it was a bit outrageous. Those lonely elderly people only received tens of thousands of yuan in relief money every month, and were basically living below the poverty line.
If you have to spend more than 1 yuan every month just on water, it is indeed too expensive.

"Doesn't the street government know about these things? Why doesn't it do anything about it?"

"Director Li used to live in the courtyard, how could he not know about this?

But how do you let her manage it?
Firstly, the industrialization of Daxia has just started, and there are many places that use steel. It would be great if the Military Control Commission could lay water pipes from the Yongding River to the city.
If we were to lay water pipes to every courtyard, how much steel would we need? This is simply impossible.

Another thing is that there are actually not many people in Nanluoguxiang who really ask them to carry water. They only carry 5 to 60 water a day and can earn 5 to 6 yuan.

If we force them to charge less, these guys will definitely quit.”

"5 or 6 yuan a day, only 15 or 6 yuan a month, which is not much, but the key is that they only go to work for a short time in the morning, and they can do other things to make a living in the rest of the time, and the income is not small.

Calculated this way, don't you think the fee is expensive? "After hearing what they said, He Yuzhu didn't know what to say. If he really wanted to say that Wu Dafu and his men were bullying, it wasn't really true.
But most of those who need it are lonely elderly people who cannot do physical work.

This seems a bit hateful.

But this is a problem caused by Daxia's insufficient productivity, and He Yuzhu can't do anything about it. He can only wait until tap water is actually connected to every household before the problem can be completely solved.

……

Two days passed in a flash, and soon it was time for He Yuzhu to report to the militia at Fengze Garden.

As usual, after having breakfast outside, the father and son went to Di'anmen Bus Station together.

He Yuzhu recalled the coolness of Xu Fugui riding a bicycle to take Xu Damao to work just now, so he looked at He Daqing curiously and asked,
"Dad, why haven't you bought a bicycle to ride to get off work in all these years?

Look at how cool and cool Uncle Xu was riding his bike just now.

Don’t you have any ideas?”

Hearing this, He Daqing felt a little unhappy and shook his head and said,
"You think I don't want to buy a bicycle?

I've wanted to buy it for a long time.

Although the output of Fei Ge bicycles has increased significantly compared to more than three years ago, it is still not enough compared to the 6 million people in China.

In department stores, there are always only price tags, no stock in stock.

And you think a brand new Fei Ge bicycle is cheap nowadays? It costs at least 1.7 or 8.5 million.
Even if you ask Xu Fugui to buy it himself, he might not be willing to do so.

As for you, you have so many connections in all the departments in Beijing, can you use your connections to buy a bicycle?

If you can get it,
We'll buy one right away, even if it costs a little more."

From what He Daqing said, it seemed that although the production of Fei Ge bicycles had increased a lot, ordinary people like them were still unable to buy them even if they wanted to.

He Yuzhu then realized that he had been thinking in the wrong direction.

But thinking about it, it seems to be the case.

Just like the grain and cloth coupons issued under the unified purchase and sale system, was the reason for issuing these coupons to prevent ordinary people from buying grain and cloth?

Yes and no.

The reason why food coupons and cloth coupons were issued was that

It is to prevent those who have the ability to eat more from eating more, and to allow those who originally could not afford to eat to have food.
The purpose is to distribute the limited resources relatively evenly so that ordinary people will not starve to death.

For example, a severe drought a few years later,
This is in the new society.
If it happened in the feudal dynasties or the era of bald men, it would definitely be another great riot at the end of the dynasty.
As for the issuance of bicycle tickets by the Government Affairs Council in the future,

Naturally, this is also to allow ordinary people who cannot afford bicycles to have a channel to buy bicycles, so that the bicycles will not be divided up by certain people as soon as they are transported into the city as is the case now.

Although there are still some unfairness,
But the advent of bike tickets does make it much fairer than the current situation.

He Yuzhu has a stereotype that bicycle tickets are to restrict people from buying bicycles.

In fact, it comes from TV dramas that depict life 20 or 30 years later.

(End of this chapter)