Chapter 357 Production and Self-help
Hearing this, Yi Zhonghai nodded with a smile.

"Don't worry, Zhuzi. We are also in a hurry to get to work. It will only take a few minutes and will be over soon. We won't delay your work."

Seeing Yi Zhonghai go to inform other people,
He Yuzhu took Lou Xiaoe and He Ying to the middle courtyard.

As soon as I entered the door, I saw Xu Damao coming from the backyard, and then I heard him looking for trouble to make himself look good.
"Jie Cheng, I heard that you and Jia Dongxu were captured by Zhuzi and his militiamen and taken to the district government last night. Even the food was confiscated.
What is going on? Please tell us all about it."

Seeing Xu Damao trying to fool him like a clown, He Yuzhu rolled his eyes and said nothing.

This level of provocation had almost no effect other than making Xu Damao look childish.
It couldn't hurt him at all.

On the contrary, He Daqing, who had just heard Yan Bugui's exaggerated account of the incident, now knew exactly what had happened.

When he heard Xu Damao put the blame on his son, he immediately retorted.

"Xu Damao, what nonsense are you talking about?

The city leaders ordered our Zhuzi to lead the militia to cooperate with the Public Security Bureau. What can he do?
If Jia Dongxu and Yan Jiecheng were caught, it would only be their own bad luck.

What does it have to do with our pillars? "

"How come it has nothing to do with him, Uncle He? If Zhuzi had informed us in advance yesterday, wouldn't this have happened?"

"Go away, do you know what confidentiality is? Have you ever seen me showing off to you guys every time we entertain at Fengze Garden?

I don't even want to talk to you any more, just sit down and get ready for the meeting."

He Daqing and Xu Damao had quieted down, but the neighbors who had come to the meeting at the Intermediate Court had already started to discuss among themselves in low voices.

"What do you think happened to Xu Damao recently?
I used to be close to Zhuzi, but after spending the New Year at his father's house, I felt like a different person when I came back."

"Who knows what's wrong with him?

I think he might have learned it from his father. You've only moved into the Siheyuan courtyard for a short time, so you might not know that his father, Xu Fugui, is similar to Mrs. Zhang, and is a well-known troublemaker in our Siheyuan courtyard.

It is only natural for my son to learn from me!"

"Is what you said true?
Mrs. Zhang was difficult enough to deal with, but I didn't expect that there was an even more difficult person in the courtyard.
I don’t even know how you got here.”

……

Not long after, Yi Zhonghai saw that everyone had arrived and started talking directly about the issue of food.

But the people living in the courtyards were all ordinary people, and there were no comrades who had food supplies. They didn't even have enough food at home, so naturally they had no way to solve everyone's problems.

Seeing this, Yi Zhonghai did not waste any time and looked directly at He Yuzhu and asked,
"Zhu Zi, you are at a higher level than us, why don't you tell us if you have any good ideas?"

Seeing Yi Zhonghai asking him, all the neighbors in the courtyard looked over. He Yuzhu perked up a little, then smiled and said,

“Of course there is a way!

Last year, the State Council issued the "Regulations on Improving Pork Supply in Cities and Industrial and Mining Areas" to encourage everyone to organize production and save themselves.

The steel rolling mill also built a pigpen and raised its own pigs.

This month, a "Notice on Mobilizing the Masses to Actively Plant Sunflowers and Castor Seeds" was issued, requiring governments at all levels to mobilize the people to plant oil crops such as sunflowers and castor beans to increase the source of edible oil.

I see that there are so many flowers and plants planted in our courtyard.
Can we pull out all these flowers and plants and plant some potatoes and sweet potatoes?

At least we can harvest a few hundred kilograms of grain in a year, which can solve part of the food problem."

Seeing that He Yuzhu was about to pull up the flowers and plants in the courtyard, the first person who disagreed was Yan Bugui, who asked Yi Zhonghai to organize this meeting.
He thought He Yuzhu was targeting him.

After all, he was the only one in the whole courtyard who had a hobby of growing flowers and plants.

In addition to showing off his status as a cultured person, the main reason is that these flowers and plants are worth a lot of money. If his neighbors pull them out, he will lose a lot of money.

For Yan Bugui, a stingy man, this was more painful than killing him.
"That won't do.

How big is the space for the flower beds and flower pots in our courtyard?
Even if all the water is used to plant sweet potatoes or potatoes, the harvest can only reach 100 to 200 kilograms.

But there are about 100 people in our courtyard, and each person only gets one or two kilograms of sweet potatoes and potatoes in a year. These things are only worth one or two cents, what can they be used for!

Just buying some on the black market would earn you much more than growing your own crops.

Zhuzi, your suggestion is not reliable, say something else!"

When the neighbors heard Yan Bugui say that they could only get one or two kilograms of sweet potatoes after working hard for a year, they naturally did not want to pull up the flowers and plants in the yard.
They still thought that it would be best if they could buy food from the black market without taking any responsibility.

Hearing the neighbors' requests, He Yuzhu said he had no other options.

"Since you don't want to farm your own land, there's nothing I can do.
As for the black market or something like that, don't tell me. If you want to go, go by yourself. But if you are caught by the police or the street office, you just have to take the responsibility.

It’s getting late, everyone, do you have anything to do? If not, I’m going to go out for dinner, because I have to go to work later!”

Seeing that He Yuzhu was not going to care about them, Yan Bugui immediately asked,

"No, Zhuzi, we are all neighbors. Can you bear to watch us starve? Isn't that a bit too inhumane?"

Seeing Yan Bugui accusing him in various ways, He Yuzhu stopped tolerating him.
Directly responded,

"Uncle Yan, what do you mean by this?
We in Daxia now implement unified purchase and sale, and distribute different amounts of grain, cloth and oil according to the age and division of labor of the people and in accordance with the "Standards for Rated Food Supply for Urban Residents".

You are hungry, but aren’t all the people of Daxia hungry?

Not to mention the teachers in your school, even the big leaders above are hungry.
Why can't you be hungry while others are hungry?

I think you have been used to the good life in the past few years since liberation, and you have probably forgotten how hard life was before liberation.

At that time, every winter in Beijing, truckloads of people were pulled out of the city to lie down.

Who cares whether you have enough food to eat or warm clothes to wear?

Now the government is willing to take care of us ordinary people, but you are not happy about it. You are not willing to let everyone produce and save themselves. What are you thinking? "

When He Yuzhu put the big hat on him, Yan Bugui was dumbfounded.
However, by this time, the other neighbors in the courtyard had long stopped paying attention to him and were recalling their own experiences before liberation.

(End of this chapter)