Since 1979 I have been in the tide of the times

Chapter 2

Wang Weidong walked into the courtyard with his luggage on his shoulders, and a large group of old ladies sitting and chatting in the courtyard looked at him in unison.

Except for an old lady with gray hair and thin eyes, she stared blankly at a point in the nothingness in the distance.

Wang Weidong walked up to the old lady, carefully looked at the white things in the old lady's eyes, and called out, "Grandma!"

The white things in the old lady's eyes that gradually became bigger were cataracts, and Wang Weidong felt that they were bigger than when he left.

The old lady stretched out her hands violently to touch Wang Weidong's chest, and then groped to grab his arm.

"Dong, you are back. All the educated youths who went to the countryside in the factory have already returned, and you are the only one who hasn't come back!" The old lady said in a tearful voice.

The old ladies sitting around all smiled and said to Wang Weidong's grandmother: "The grandson is back, and the old lady is so happy that she cried!"

Wang Weidong nodded and greeted a few old ladies, then he carried his luggage in one hand and took his grandma into his arms with the other.

His family lived on the second floor. Wang Weidong walked upstairs slowly, reminding his grandmother to pay attention to the stairs and be careful not to fall down.

The old man can't see, but it's too boring to stay at home all day, it's really hard.

There were three doors on the second floor. The old lady tremblingly took out a key from her pocket and handed it to Wang Weidong. Wang Weidong inserted the key into the lock and clicked to open the door.

Two people walked into the room. This house has two living rooms, a kitchen and a one-square-meter pit toilet.In the early 50s, it was possible to build this kind of building with water and sewage, and there was only one telephone short of the bright future of upstairs and downstairs electric lights and telephones.

The old lady held her grandson's arm tightly from beginning to end, and she kept pulling Wang Weidong to sit beside her bed.

Looking at the two beds in the room, Wang Weidong asked, "You and my brother live in the same room?"

"Then what can we do? There are only two rooms, your father and mother sleep in one, and your brother and I sleep in one." The old lady replied.

Wang Weidong stood up, but grandma still grabbed his arm.

When he was a child, his grandma held him and held his little hand, but now that she is old and can't see her, she showed him the attachment of a child to an adult.

"Grandma, I'm going out to buy some vegetables and some meat." Wang Weidong said.

The old lady let go of her hand slowly and said, "It's not easy for you to save two dollars in the countryside, so don't waste money indiscriminately!"

"I finally came back, and the whole family had a meal together." Wang Weidong said.

He walked out the door and went downstairs towards the supply and marketing cooperative.

Xiangyang Chemical Factory has a total of six to seven thousand employees, plus more than 2 family members. There is only one supply and marketing cooperative, which is a department store, which sells everything from sewing machines, bicycles, cloth, shoes, hats, stationery, tobacco, alcohol, canned biscuits, etc.

Of course, pork is also sold here, but Wang Weidong does not have a meat ticket, so he cannot buy pork from the supply and marketing cooperative.

Outside the supply and marketing cooperative, there are two rows of people who sell vegetables, eggs, duck eggs and other agricultural products facing each other. They are all from the nearby villages, and they are basically women and old people. Here's a few bucks.

In the autumn, the production team calculates the labor income at one time according to the work points earned by different laborers in a year, and the amount of money each work point is worth.The daily income of farmers depends entirely on their private plots and the poultry and pigs they raise.

The people in the Northeast are bold, at least half of the pigs raised at home will be given to the whole village to drink and eat meat, and the rest will be sold for money.

Now there is a wooden table next to those vegetable sellers, and a middle-aged man is standing there with a knife selling meat.

This situation would not have been possible two years ago.

Wang Weidong first bought three catties of early beans, and then walked to the pork stall.

"How do you sell this pork?" Wang Weidong asked.

"One piece, one catty!" The middle-aged man who sold pork replied.

The pork sold in the supply and marketing cooperative is [-] cents, and you have to buy it wherever the meat seller cuts it.If you know someone with a good relationship, the knife will be cut from the rear. If you don't know it, the knife may be cut at the bloody neck, that is, the place where there are more lymphatics near the pig's neck.

"Here, cut a catty for me!" Wang Weidong said, gesturing on the pork belly with his fingers.

"Okay!" The middle-aged man said and cut off a piece of pork with a knife.

Wang Weidong could see clearly that this piece of meat was narrow at the top and wide at the bottom, that is, the skin of the meat was one finger wider than the meat on top.

"One catty and two taels tall!" The middle-aged man said loudly, carrying a scale.

"You take the scale and show me." Wang Weidong said.

The middle-aged man stared blankly at Wang Weidong, and the others paid for it when they heard him report the weight, but this man is really troublesome today!

Reluctantly, he brought the scale to Wang Weidong. The weight was indeed at the place of [-] taels a catty, but the beam could not be lifted at all.

Wang Weidong glanced under the weighing pan, fortunately there was no magnet or anything like that.Deceiving people is also a gradual evolutionary process. At this time, the people have not thought of this, and their hearts are not so dark.

Wang Weidong moved back the lanyard on the weight with his fingers, and the scale was equal to one catty and one tael.

"Brother, you made a mistake just now and calculated one or two more." Wang Weidong said.

The middle-aged people showed embarrassing expressions on their faces. If this situation happened in 30 or [-] years, those people would not be embarrassed. They might become angry and greet Wang Weidong's [-]th generation ancestors instead.

So it was this embarrassing expression that made Wang Weidong have a good impression of this middle-aged man.

He took out the money in his pocket, counted out a dime and handed it to the middle-aged man, then wrapped the meat with the paper on the case and walked back.

Wang Weidong walked into the courtyard and saw a large row of bicycles parked by the wall. People who got off work had come back, so the bicycles were parked here, and they would not be lost at night.

Wang Weidong walked to a Phoenix bicycle and looked at the bicycle for a long time, refusing to leave.

This bicycle originally belonged to his grandfather, but now it is not known whether it is his father Wang Haifu or his eldest brother Wang Xianjin riding it.

This bicycle carries many fond memories of Wang Weidong. When he was very young, his grandfather used the bicycle to take him fishing by the river not far away.

Walking back home, Wang Weidong saw that his eldest brother Wang Jinjin had returned, but the two brothers just looked at each other without speaking.

He and his eldest brother have been at odds with each other since childhood.

Walking into the kitchen, Wang Weidong started to cook. He was in charge of cooking when the educated youth ordered. His cooking skills are recognized.

Before graduating from junior high school and going to the countryside, Wang Weidong worked as a temporary worker in the canteen of the factory for a year. He helped Mr. Yang, who was in charge of cooking, who was a master cook for Soviet experts in the 50s!
In just one year, Wang Weidong learned a good skill of cooking.

Wash the vegetables and chop the meat and fry the pot. After a while, the pot of stewing meat emits an attractive aroma.

　I want to explain the eating of pork in the countryside, but young friends don't understand.

　　How to make pork fat and greasy, enough to eat a few pieces?I heard from the old man that throwing large slices of meat into the pot and then pouring cold water on the slices of meat while the fire is on, the oil inside the meat will naturally get tired after eating.

　　When entertaining guests, invite them as much as possible, so as not to offend others.There used to be a family of autumn soybeans that caught fire in the middle of the night after collecting them in the yard. Even the soybean stalks and the soybeans inside were blazing, and could be seen from a distance of more than ten miles. The result is revenge, of course there is no evidence.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)