National Tide 1980.

Chapter 404
From early November to mid-November, it belongs to the last beautiful season of late autumn in Beijing.

Once this period of time has passed, the trees in the capital are almost bald.

The autumn wind will blow the fallen leaves all over the ground, and the temperature will drop rapidly.

Maybe it only takes one night of strong winds to cool down, and you can cross zero in one step.

Those people can't stand it anymore with only long clothes and long trousers.

So this period of time is also the busiest time for people in Beijing before winter begins.

Every family can't stay idle, and they have to make necessary preparations for winter.

One is to prepare winter coats and quilts.

At the same time, remove and wash the old quilt covers, sheets, and pillowcases. After washing, you have to dry them and replace them.

Second, those who live in one-story houses have to take newspapers and rice sticks to seal up the windows to prevent the wind from leaking in the cold weather.

The third is to prepare the stove for heating, install the chimney, buy briquettes, and buy firewood.

The fourth is to have enough money to buy Chinese cabbage for winter storage.

Especially the last item caused the most commotion and made people enjoy it the most.

Beginning in 1959, in order to ensure the planned supply of one catty of cabbage per person per day in winter in Beijing.

Every year from November 11st to 1th, it becomes the day when the municipal government organizes the winter storage of Chinese cabbage to be listed and supplied.

The municipal government stipulates that citizens in Beijing must purchase winter-stored Chinese cabbage in a certain amount with the purchase book at designated vegetable stores for National Day.

This is the origin of winter storage Chinese cabbage.

People in this era say that Chinese cabbage is a symbol of Beijing entering winter, which is absolutely true.

Because during this period, in order to ensure the supply of Chinese cabbage, the Beijing Municipal Government will jointly set up an "Autumn Vegetable Headquarters" with more than a dozen units, and use various resources together to solve the problems encountered in the production, marketing and transportation of Chinese cabbage without delay.

One counts as one, and people really live for Chinese cabbage.

Buying Chinese cabbage has become a "people's war" in and out of the city, and the scene is extremely spectacular.

Since it is a war, of course there are strikers.

So who is the vanguard?
There is no doubt that the vegetable farmers in the suburbs of Beijing will definitely do their part.

As the saying goes, "If you don't chop vegetables in Lidong, you will definitely suffer."

Because the vegetables in the field cannot withstand the wind and cold at this time, they will freeze to death if they are not harvested in time.

Therefore, in order to prevent the Chinese cabbage from being damaged by freezing in the field, it has become the top priority for farmers in the suburbs of Beijing to rush to harvest the overwintering vegetables.

Needless to say, when the farmers are busy, the transportation company has to be busy, and the vegetable shop has changed drastically.

Just watch it, starting at three o'clock in the morning on November 11st.

There will be countless carriages and trucks pulling cabbage on the streets of the capital, and they can even pass unimpeded in front of Tiananmen Square.

The city's 100 vegetable shops and temporary vegetable sales outlets also pulled the wires outside the vegetable sheds and replaced them with [-]-watt light bulbs.

The salesperson selling cabbage put on cotton shoes, cotton coats, cotton hats and cotton gloves in advance, and waited for the cabbage to be shipped outside, waiting for the big pound.

In addition, notices were posted, recruiting people with difficulties in family life as temporary workers, and they were paid [-] yuan a day.

The content of the job is to spend the night at the vegetable station, loading and unloading cabbage at night.

Even unrelated units are affected.

Because both couples in a dual-career family have to go to work, in order to buy cabbage, they can directly ask for leave from the unit.

When encountering this reason, the unit cannot regard it as a private matter and must immediately grant leave.

Can this still not affect the work schedule and arrangement?

So the most realistic scene is when the tall horses outside the city are spraying white mist and pulling piles of cabbages.

Waiting for the first batch of grocery shopping queues in front of various vegetable stations lined up hundreds of meters early.

Men, women and children who wrapped themselves tightly with hats, coats, scarves, and masks all carried their non-staple food books and went out with their families.

People are very persistent and patient, waiting no matter how late.

However, as the cabbages were unloaded one by one, they piled up into mountains.

On the sample table of the vegetable shop, the cabbages divided into first-class, second-class, third-class and other categories were also displayed.

Everyone couldn't keep calm anymore.

Once the sound of selling vegetables and counting money by the pound was heard, the originally quiet team became restless in an instant.

People in the back line began to look ahead with anxiety, hoping that the line could move faster.

And the people at the front of the line also know that they can't procrastinate.

Amidst the urging voice of selling vegetables, they threw off their arms and worked hard to load the cabbage they had chosen on the various vehicles they brought with the fastest speed.

In this way, they were transported back one after another in the way of ants moving.

You can't feel at ease until you store four or five hundred catties, or even thousands of catties.

However, after buying and pulling the dishes back, it's not over yet.

Every household has to put Chinese cabbage all over the courtyard and window sills, and then dry them in the sun.

After the weather is cold, we need to cover it tightly with straw curtains and old quilts.

In this way, piles of stored winter vegetables and rows of pots and jars filled with pickled vegetables have become a special scenery for the capital to welcome winter.

To be honest, during this period of time, even the cabbages thrown by the vegetable stand and the residents are piled up in mountains and piles.

The open dumps outside the city, without exception, were covered with cabbage leaves.

Those who have not experienced it personally will not understand the enthusiasm of the people in the capital to buy vegetables eagerly and hoarding in large quantities.

Maybe they will be curious, why did people love winter cabbage so much?

The answer is actually quite simple.

The first is nothing more than the lack of materials and backward productivity.

Although in the 70s, Beijing already had mature greenhouse planting technology and introduced many foreign vegetables.

Unfortunately, limited by the industry, there are too few plastic films to be popularized.

Without a greenhouse, how can you "off-season"?
So many lettuces, celery, purple cabbage, lettuce, bulb fennel, and small tomatoes that are not uncommon 30 years later.

At this time, it is still a special dish that is only sold in foreign-related hotels and shops.

The opportunities that ordinary people can see are only displayed in the four major vegetable markets in the capital during important festivals to reflect the abundance of vegetable markets.

On the other hand, ordinary grocery stores that serve ordinary people often have empty shelves in winter, with only some wilted potatoes and spicy radishes on duty.

Occasionally, the "three yellows and one white" (potatoes, pumpkins, onions, and cabbage) can be assembled together, and before the truck is unloaded, there is a long queue at the door.

At the worst time, the inside and outside of the counter were as clean as if they had been "licked" by a dog.

The salesperson who sells vegetables spends all day bored squatting outside the gate basking in the sun.

Then think about it?Don't ordinary people buy more cabbage and save it?

It is okay for people not to eat fruits, but absolutely impossible not to eat vegetables.

Otherwise, there will be mouth sores due to lack of vitamins, and dry stool due to lack of plant fiber.

Second, the government subsidizes winter storage of Chinese cabbage.

Before going on the market, the Price Bureau has graded and priced Chinese cabbage.

The first-level dishes are six points and six cents, the second-level dishes are six points, and the third-level dishes are five cents and four cents.

At this price, the capital subsidy of the city government is more than double.

To put it bluntly, this is a benefit enjoyed by household registration in the capital. Buying vegetables is equivalent to government money. Can you not?Of course you want to snap up.

Conversely, if this momentum passes, the price of cabbage will be much more expensive than during the concentrated supply period.

When people go to the market to buy cabbage, the original price will be [-] cents, how many times will it increase?
The cabbage bought at this time is called "bargaining vegetables".

In the era when there were few other vegetable substitutes, it would be a considerable expense to rely on "bargain vegetables" to survive the winter.

All in all, for these reasons.

In this day and age, few people can be alone, and don't have to worry about winter vegetables at all.

Even Song Huagui, who earns more than [-] yuan a month and can only eat the "special dishes" of the Friendship Store, is the same.

Because she still has her parents in the capital after all, it is impossible for the two old people to follow her and enjoy the luxurious life of capitalism with peace of mind.

Others such as leading cadres, university professors, and well-known actors are even more so.

For example, the family courtyard of the TV station next to Zhenwu Temple, the Beijing Film Studio, and the surrounding areas of Renyi.

People who live nearby often see familiar faces wearing torn gloves and queuing up with sacks of slices in the queue to buy Chinese cabbage.

No matter how famous the actor, movie star, folk art master.

If he wants to be in Maodong in the capital, he has to line up to buy vegetables like everyone else, and then get them back by himself.

Want to go through the back door?

No play at all.

The particularity of this matter is that everything is placed under the eyes of ordinary people.

Don't say that it's useless to buy first-class dishes, but if you don't want to wait in line, or wait in line, it won't work.

No matter who you are, how old you are, whoever dares to cheat for personal gain can be drowned by the spit of the common people on the spot.

For example, the husband of the dancer Chen Ailian relied on the fact that people could not leave during the process of queuing up to buy cabbage.

In this process, he just caught up with the girl who was quite disgusted with him when he met for the first time.

Singing actor Zhu Mingying even bought [-] catties of cabbage and had to carry them upstairs one by one by herself. The feeling of climbing up and down will never be forgotten.

So if you only talk about buying cabbage.

I really have to say that compared with 90.00% of the 2 people in Beijing, the four families in Courtyard No. [-] of Fan'er Hutong are living in a honeypot.

why?
Of course, the first reason is that there is Aunt Mi in their courtyard.

Aunt Mi really didn't dare to take advantage of the convenience to open the back door for everyone, but she has inside information and knows which batch of cabbage is good.

Regardless of whether they are all first-class dishes, there is a difference, that is, the source of the dishes is different.

The best cabbage is not from the suburbs of Beijing, but from Yutian and Sanhe counties in Hebei.

The tree is big, solid in porcelain, and refreshing to eat.

Especially making dumplings and eating dumplings, the taste is absolutely positive.

Just relying on this crucial information, just relying on her being able to tell everyone that Yutian cabbage will come to the vegetable station someday.

In a spy war drama, it would not be an exaggeration to say that a character like her can win the final victory of a war.

Secondly, I have to say that the families in No. 2 Courtyard have a lot of strong laborers.

The two brothers from the Bian family and the two brothers from the Luo family are all strong and good young men in their prime.

With the four of them here, it was no problem at all to carry the cabbage weighing over [-] catties in the whole yard.

As for the power of the finale, Ding Ding's artifact is Ning Weimin's pickup truck.

With such an awesome means of transportation like him, it's all in one trip, and there's no need to grind and toss several times.

And even waiting is comfortable, you can take turns to enter the cab to listen to a little song, and smoke warmly.

It’s fun when you’re shopping for groceries.

People at the back of the row saw their carts of vegetables piled up high.

I almost emptied half of the new first-class dishes, and I was not happy immediately.

Some people who didn't know why took the lead in making trouble, insisting that the food station would open the back door for the leader.

As a result, Aunt Mi pouted at once, and asked Bian Jianjun, who was in charge of queuing, to clearly show him the book of Sihucai.

Sure enough, the procedures are complete and completely legal and compliant.

Aunt Mi fought back with contemptuous eyes and a contemptuous tone.

"What's the matter? People drive through the back door? Don't you guys like to suffer from pink eye too much? Are you capable of being a driver yourself? Your own ability is better than anything else."

Alright, a few words choked that noisy kid so much that he couldn't get off the stage, he was very embarrassing.

But just like that, the kid didn't leave in righteous indignation.

After all, food still has to be bought.

In fact, not to mention a few neighbors, even Song Huagui's parents, Director Li, Zhang Shihui, Zhang Dashao, Huo Xin, Qu Xiao, and Ning Weimin's help in buying winter vegetables.

Ning Weimin deservedly became the most eye-catching outlier in the grocery shopping queue.

I don't know how many men, women and children stared at him, and the rate of turning back was extremely high.

Those who are old are looking forward to having such a son, but they are eager to have such a nephew.

Young people are either looking forward to having such a friend, such a buddy, or they are looking forward to having such a partner, such a husband.

Ning Weimin's pickup is the most dazzling luxury car in the cabbages.

He is the prettiest boy in the eyes of everyone in the grocery shopping team.

Of course, doing too many good things will inevitably have some side effects.

Like in the middle of the month, when he went to the head office to meet with Song Huagui to report the progress of the sculpture exhibition and the latest turnover, he made a joke.

This eldest sister doesn't know if she has been abroad for too long, and she has completely forgotten the familiar taste of her hometown.Still can't react for a while.

He actually sucked his nose like a police dog, then asked him with a frown.

"What's the smell on you? Have you imitated other people's perfume?"

Ning Weimin simply pretended to be stupid.

"Elder Sister, you really are a smart person. I just sprinkled a little bit, and you can smell it?"

Song Huagui was taken aback for a moment, but then shook his head again.

"Your perfume...is very special. What brand is it? It feels like an idyllic..."

(End of this chapter)