Free Days in Siheyuan

Chapter 1319

Zhang Yu checked the things he had on hand. He had almost spent all of the more than 200 yuan he had on renovating the house.

Originally, it wouldn't cost much to renovate a house of this size, but the ceramic pipes used for toilet drainage, the kind with glaze inside and outside, were the best alternative he could find in that era, and they cost a lot.

In addition, in order to make the house structure strong, he bought a lot of good wood for support, which was another expense. Finally, he added other miscellaneous items of the best quality he could find at the moment, so all in all he spent more than 200 yuan.

As a result, he didn't have much money left, and only had money in a few passbooks, but he would not touch the money in those books unless it was necessary.

In addition, there was cash from the system sign-in rewards during this period. Zhang Yu counted it and found that there were about eighty yuan.

His current monthly salary is 27 yuan, but he receives subsidies from the sign-in system, so he probably won't have to use his salary.

I now eat with my aunt’s family, but I also cook for myself occasionally.

Before he started working, he said he had to pay for living expenses. After all, he was already working and earning money, so he was considered an adult.

But my aunt and uncle refused to agree, saying that their salaries were more than enough to support several children.

As time passed, the noise in the courtyard, the sounds of cooking, and the voices of children calling gradually dissipated and finally turned into silence.

Only a few scattered lights are left to add a little warmth to this dark world.

The chirping of insects and birds outside the window seem to provide sound for the lights, making the night outside the window less monotonous.

With the moonlight outside the window, Zhang Yu fell into a deep sleep, but he did not notice that the moonlight outside the window was intercepted when it passed through his bed.

The moonlight seeped into his body with every breath he took.

The fragments of the secret space in the body began to expand gradually under the influence of the moonlight, but due to insufficient energy, the expansion speed was very slow.

Although ninety-nine percent of the energy in the moonlight was absorbed by the secret realm, he, as the carrier of the moonlight, still gained great benefits.

These moonlights will slowly transform his body in the days to come, making his body healthier and his brain smarter.

The most important thing is that it will slowly improve his genes, making them better, and these excellent genes will be selectively inherited to improve the qualifications of his offspring.

The next day, Zhang Yu woke up early. Although he had only slept for less than five hours, he felt refreshed and comfortable all over.

The physical burden caused by poor health in the past suddenly disappeared a lot.

Although he didn't understand why all this happened, as long as the result was good, it was fine.

Zhang Yu got up, washed his face and brushed his teeth, and washed his hands carefully, hoping to improve his luck.

After all, I basically didn’t win anything in the sign-in in the previous two days, just two cents and ten buckets of cow dung.

The ten buckets of cow dung surprised him greatly. He then realized that it was true that one could win anything from the lottery. It was just that there might be certain probabilities set that he didn't know about, so most of the items drawn were items that were necessary for life in that era.

Although it's rare, there's still a chance of winning some weird things.

Zhang Yu washed his face, sat upright on the bed, and took a deep breath: "System, start today's sign-in."

"Ding, congratulations to the host for signing in successfully. Today's sign-in is critical. You will receive 100 yuan in cash, 50 kilograms of beef, 50 kilograms of apples, 50 kilograms of tomatoes, 1 pack of mixed improved plant seeds, and 10 units of plant growth potion."

Seeing this, Zhang Yu's face lit up with joy. As expected, washing hands was useful and he actually got a critical hit.

He ignored the others and fixed his eyes on the last two prizes.

After reading the introduction carefully, I found that the mixed plant seeds above are seeds that have been improved in the 21st century. There is no limit to the types, and 100 seeds are mixed in one package.

This surprised him greatly, because the country's crop yields in the 1950s and 1960s were not high, let alone compared with later generations.

From the early years of the People's Republic of China to the 80s, grain production was insufficient and farmers suffered greatly.

Now that we have these seeds, even if there are only one or two types that can be used as staple food supplements, it will greatly improve everyone's lives.

Thinking of this, he hurriedly took out the packet of seeds from the system space and carefully identified the seeds inside.

Zhang Yu felt fortunate to see these seeds. Fortunately, he grew up in the countryside in his previous life, otherwise he probably wouldn’t even be able to recognize what these seeds were.

After careful identification, Zhang Yu found that most of the 100 seeds were vegetable seeds, with only five watermelon seeds and ten pumpkin seeds.

And these ten pumpkin seeds don’t look like they are from the same variety.

When Zhang Yu saw these pumpkin seeds, he was a little disappointed because they were not staple food seeds.

But on second thought, pumpkin has a high yield, is very filling and tastes good.

Even for ordinary pumpkins, one acre of land can produce about 3000 kilograms; if special planting methods are used, such as hanging seeds on poles, the yield can even be kilograms per acre.

Moreover, pumpkins in later generations are very sweet and have good palatability.

Unlike the unimproved agricultural products of the 1950s, take sweet potatoes for example, the sweet potatoes of the 1950s were very fiber-rich and did not taste very good.

Thinking of this, Zhang Yu could no longer sit still. There happened to be two flower beds, 1 meter wide and meters long, in front of his door.

I heard from the elders in the courtyard that the reason why this courtyard is so unique has a lot to do with the warlord who built it.

The warlord was obviously a rough man, but he insisted on trying to pretend to be cultured.

He was fine with learning, but he liked to mix in his own style, and as a result, this courtyard house was built in a weird way.

Not only is it taller than ordinary courtyard houses, but the distance between rooms is twice that of ordinary courtyard houses, and there are built flower beds in front of each room door.

However, when everyone moved in, the flowers in the yard had already been destroyed.

The people who moved in later were so busy making a living that they had no time or energy to take care of the flower beds, so they naturally became neglected.

Zhang Yu wanted to plant something in it, but when he turned the soil, he was dumbfounded. How could he do it without tools?
After searching for a long time, I finally found two tools that had been piled up for a long time from Grandpa Sun.

Loosen and level the soil, spread the spinach all over, and plant three seeds of each type of watermelon and two kinds of pumpkin seeds.

The reason why I didn't finish planting was because I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to accomplish this task, so I left a few seeds as a way to have a fallback.

After watering the plants, looking at the flower beds in front of each house, Zhang Yu suddenly had an idea. He took the opportunity to discuss it with Grandpa Sun while returning the tools.

"Grandpa, are you home? I'm coming in." "Yes, is that Xiaoyu? Come in, come in."

"Grandpa, please sit down. I'm here to return the tools and to ask if we can grow some vegetables or something in the flower beds outside our houses to fill our stomachs."

After hearing his words, Grandpa Sun slapped his calf and said, "Your uncle Zhao and I have only been thinking about the lack of food and insufficient supplies. Yesterday we were discussing where to get some food. Why didn't we think of growing some ourselves? Even if it's just some vegetables!"

As he said that, he hurriedly pulled him to find Uncle Zhao and told him again his proposal.

Uncle Zhao also patted his thigh and said, "Why not? Our yard is quite big. We can grow a lot of things in the corners. I'll go and notify everyone to hold a meeting."

A meeting was held in the yard and the matter was reported to the street office for approval.

The vacant land in the yard was quickly distributed to each household without affecting traffic.

I woke up too early in the morning. Even after I had finished planting pumpkins and attended the whole hospital meeting, it was only a little after 6 o'clock, and there was still more than an hour before the 7:30 morning work start time.

There was nothing to do during this time, so he simply lit the stove and started cooking.

Prepare two meals, one for breakfast and the other to take to the factory as lunch.

I bring my own lunch not because I dislike the food in the factory. In fact, the food in the factory tastes pretty good and is much better than what ordinary people cook.

But a big stove is a big stove after all, and even in this era, it is considered to be profitable.

But Zhang Yu was not completely from this era after all. He had seen cooking in later generations, so for him, the food was still a little less oily and not quite to his taste.

I happened to sign in for beef and tomatoes this morning, and I have a few potatoes at home. I'm going to make some tomato, beef and potato stew. I'm drooling just thinking about it.

First, cut the beef into small pieces, wash the tomatoes and cut them into small pieces, peel the potatoes and cut them into small pieces for later use.

Although it was a bit regrettable that the system signed in was not beef brisket, it was good to have something to eat. Moreover, although it was not beef brisket, the meat was very good and fresh, so the blanching step was omitted.

Pour oil into the pot, add beef and light soy sauce when the oil is hot, stir-fry evenly and put into a special casserole.

Heat oil in another pan, add tomatoes when the oil is hot and stir-fry until juice comes out, then put them into the casserole.

If outsiders saw him heating up the oil twice, they would probably scold him for being wasteful.

I saw that there was less water in the casserole, so I added some more water, and added seasonings, potatoes and dried chilies.

After stewing for more than 40 minutes, you can serve.

When stewing meat, the aroma is everywhere. In order to let fewer people smell the aroma of cooking meat, he made preparations when renovating the house, and the whole kitchen was sealed tightly. In order to do the sealing work of the kitchen, he spent an extra 30 yuan to hire an experienced craftsman.

Although the price is high, Zhang Yu thinks it is worth it and there is basically no smell.

This laid the foundation for him to eat meat in the future. Although the people in the courtyard were all nice, he didn't want to test human nature. Some things were better avoided from the beginning.

Serve a bowl of freshly steamed rice, pour a spoonful of thick soup on it, and then add the stewed beef and potatoes.

Mix it, scoop it up with a spoon and swallow it in a big mouthful. The sour and sweet taste of tomatoes, the denseness of potatoes, and the softness of beef are mixed together to create a perfect taste.

He brought half of the freshly prepared dish to his aunt, who praised his cooking skills but said he was being wasteful. The meat would be enough for him to use for nourishment, so why did he bring so much?
Zhang Yu smiled, said nothing, made an excuse, and hurried back to his room as he had not finished his meal yet.

I have to say that the uncles in the yard acted very quickly. Within just an hour and a half of cooking and eating, they had quickly come up with a land division plan and divided the land fairly.

Just as he had imagined, when the land in the courtyard was divided, he was given two flower beds at the gate.

Because there were not many vegetable seeds, he planned to go to the countryside to buy some seeds.

As the house was being renovated, they wanted to have a housewarming party, so he volunteered to purchase the necessary supplies himself, and used this as an excuse to mix in some of the things he had earned from signing in.

I originally wanted to wait until the holiday to go, but I didn't expect to have an unexpected surprise as soon as I got to work today.

As soon as he got to work, Wu Ge walked to his desk and said, "Xiao Yu, pack up and come with me later. I still have some purchase tasks to complete this week. I just got a letter of introduction and will go to the countryside to see if I can buy some supplies. If you follow me, I will teach you some things you need to pay attention to during the purchase process. I will let you do some small things and I will watch you from the side so that you can practice."

"Okay, Angkor, I've packed it." Zhang Yu looked at the lunch box he brought with him and muttered to himself that he was a prophet.

The two of them got the letter of introduction and went to find a big car. Wu Chuan Xiaoyu handed a cigarette to the driver in charge of driving: "Team Leader Wang, I'm sorry to bother you this time."

"Everything is for work. Besides, aren't the materials you purchased being consumed by the whole factory? I am also using the materials you purchased." Team Leader Wang took the cigarette and put it to his ear: "Get in the car. We are free now. Let's go and come back quickly."

The group kept chatting along the way and soon arrived at a nearby village.

After handing the letter of introduction and certificate to the team leader, the team leader readily turned on the loud speaker: "Attention, members of the production team, attention, members, the buyer of the Red Star Steel Rolling Mill is here to purchase supplies."

"The purchase prices are as follows: eggs are 4 cents per pound, pork is 8 cents per pound, and vegetables are three cents per pound..." Upon hearing the news, the team members quickly ran back home and took out the eggs that had been accumulated at home for a long time.

You know, even if you run a long way to deliver it to the supply and marketing cooperative, each egg is only about five cents, and the supply and marketing cooperative only takes the big ones.

Now that people come to purchase, not only has the price increased a lot, but it is also charged by kilogram regardless of size.

"Auntie, this is two kilograms in total. This is 9 cents. Keep it."

"Auntie, there are three pounds of eggs and 20 pounds of vegetables. The eggs are 1 yuan and the vegetables are 4 yuan. The total is 4 yuan."

……

……

For the next hour or so, team members kept coming in, and Zhang Yu kept repeating the work at hand until his throat became hoarse.

I kept weighing and counting money, shouting out loud, but finally, when it was getting dark, no one came.

Looking at the harvest in the car, Wu Chuan nodded involuntarily and smiled with satisfaction: "I'm lucky this time. I didn't expect that there are so many stocks in the village. More than half of the quota for this month has been completed."

Then he turned his head and looked at the driver and Zhang Yu and said, "There is still a little time left. We still have half an hour. You can do whatever you want during this half hour."

Understanding his hidden meaning, Zhang Yu and the driver smiled and each chose a direction.

Zhang Yu came to the door of a house with a larger courtyard and asked, "Is anyone home?"

"Yes, what can I do for you?" The lady who opened the door looked over and said, "Isn't this the young man who was collecting things just now? What can I do for you?"