Siheyuan: There are three little cats at home

Chapter 538 The grain station is busy

Trucks tow people and carry food, driving in the bitterly cold countryside.

Before 9:30 in the morning, Xu Qing asked the five workers to unload a truck of grain into his own grain station in Dongdan, and stack it neatly.

At this time, there were gradually more and more people on the street.

The sun slowly climbed toward the center of the sky, and the temperature was slightly cooler than that in the early morning.

Xu Qiaoxin and Sanhuzi's daughter-in-law, Meijuan, together with Hui Lihua, Luo Hongjuan, Wu Xiuying, and Li Shuzhen came to the grain station.

Xu Xiaoya took off her light red scarf and hat, put them in the cabinet at the bottom of the counter, ran to Xu Qing and said:

"Brother, you asked someone to bring food from the warehouse in the suburbs early in the morning. You are so busy that you haven't had breakfast yet. Go back quickly. Me, Meijuan and Sister Wang will take care of you here."

After Xu Qing let the five workers go, he turned to his sister standing beside him, smiled and shook his head:

"It's okay, brother is not hungry yet. Your brother Jiefang will come too later. I think business will be better this weekend than yesterday. Let's wait until noon."

Xu Xiaoya frowned slightly, blinked her eyes and said, "Brother, if you don't eat something in the morning, you will easily starve your stomach. Just wait, I will go out and buy you steamed buns."

Xu Qing smiled and raised his hand and said, "No need!"

Hui Lihua stood aside and heard it. She took out a bag of sugar-roasted chestnuts from the lady's bag she just bought, handed it to Xu Qing and said:

"I bought it on the way back last night. I didn't eat much. I forgot to take it out when I left in the morning. You can just take it and eat it."

Xu Qing thanked Hui Lihua and grabbed a handful of chestnuts.

Hui Lihua stuffed the rest into Xu Xiaoya's brown paper bag and said:

"Xiaoya, help your brother hold it."

Xu Xiaoya reached out and brushed her black hair, and said with a smile on her pretty face:

"Sister Lihua, let me thank you on behalf of my elder brother."

Hui Lihua pursed her lips and smiled, then turned back to the counter. She, Luo Hongjuan and Wu Xiuying took off the scarves and hats and put them into the counter.

Xu Xiaoya held the brown paper bag containing chestnuts in her hand, poured all the sugar-fried chestnuts onto the lid of the stove, and let them warm up a little.

Seeing this, Xu Qing ate two of the shelled chestnuts in his hand and put the rest on the stove lid.

At this moment, not many people came in to buy grain at the grain station. After all, when Xu Qing asked workers to unload grain, the truck was parked at the door. Many people saw it and chose to come back later.

On weekends, I don’t work, so I have plenty of time.

Even if you want to finish buying food and then try your luck at drawing a prize, it would be best to be like Li Laosi, win the first prize and get a motorcycle to go back to, and don't be in a hurry.

What's more, it's only around nine in the morning, and most people have just gone out and haven't gone shopping yet. It's not that they don't have any food left at home, so they won't rush to buy it.

Therefore, when the sugar-roasted chestnuts on the stove lid were roasted, there were less than thirty people walking into the grain station to buy grain.

It's all for the lottery.

The news in yesterday's newspaper has fermented over time, letting more and more people know that when buying grain at Dongdan Xuji Grain Station, you can draw a lottery, and the first prize is a motorcycle worth more than 700 yuan.

As a result, even illiterate people came in droves to take advantage of the opportunity to buy food for their families and try their hand at the jackpot of motorcycles.

Xu Qing sat on a chair at the table next to the stove, eating roasted chestnuts with sugar and drinking hot tea poured by his sister Xiaoya, without greeting the guests.

There are not many people there now, there are seven people including Xiaoya, Sister Wang, Meijuan, and Hui Lihua, who can socialize at the moment.

But after a while, Xu Qing knew that when there were more people, he might not have time to be so leisurely. After eating some roasted chestnuts with sugar and drinking three cups of hot tea, I put the uneaten food on the stove lid back into the brown paper bag and put it away.

Just at this moment, Ma Jinghong rode a bicycle and came to the grain station with Ma Jiefang.

After Ma Jiefang had dinner at home early in the morning, he rode to the compound where Xu Qing lived, planning to come to the grain station together.

But he didn't expect that Xu Qing would go to the warehouse of the grain station in the suburbs early in the morning and arrange for someone to pull a cart of grain to the grain station.

Ma Jiefang stopped his bicycle at the entrance of the grain station, took off the net bag hanging on the handlebar, handed it to Xu Qing and said:

"Brother Qingzi, my fifth sister asked your Aunt Feng to give you specially packed sauerkraut and pork buns while they are still hot."

Xu Qing reached out and took the net bag, and Ma Jiefang said again:

"Brother Qingzi, why were you not at home so early in the morning? You caused me to be scolded by my fifth sister all the way here!"

Xu Qing heard his brother-in-law's complaint and didn't answer. He reached out and took out the lunch box from the mesh bag, opened it, grabbed a bun and bit it in his mouth, leaving the rest in the lunch box. He walked to the counter and handed it to his wife Jinghong, letting him put it away. Go under the counter and put it away before the four cats in the store smell the scent and find it.

He had just eaten some sugar-roasted chestnuts, four rather large buns, and he really couldn't eat them anymore.

Then he returned to Ma Jiefang and said:

"Your sister isn't talking about you because she wants you to live a good life in the future. Just listen."

Ma Jiefang had an unhappy look on his face, "Brother-in-law, are you still the Qingzi brother I knew before?

You can't marry my fifth sister, will you forget our previous friendship? ! "

Xu Qing couldn't laugh or cry for a moment. He bit the bun, led Ma Jiefang to the door of the grain station and said:

"What's the matter with you kid? Didn't you understand what I just said?

If your sister is here and I speak for you, then your sister won’t make trouble with me when she goes home at night! "

When Ma Jiefang heard this, he took off his hat and whispered:

"Brother Qingzi, why don't you forget that we need to unite the front? My fifth sister is getting more and more powerful now. You are used to it. She starts nagging her and is about to chase my mother. You have to take good care of her when you have time. Tube."

Xu Qing chewed the buns, rolled his eyes at his brother-in-law Ma Jiefang and said:

"Hey, if your wife hadn't complained to your sister last night, would your sister have dealt with you?"

Ma Jiefang glanced at the corner of his mouth and played with the sheepskin hat in his hand.

Xu Qing looked at the pedestrians coming and going on the street, passing by one after another, walked into his own grain station, swallowed the buns in two mouthfuls and said:

"Okay, Jiefang, let's not talk about this for now. Go back to the store to help. After this period of work is over, in a few days, you can come to the meat factory and we can have a drink."

Ma Jiefang grinned, "Brother Qingzi, this is right!"

Xu Qing took Ma Jiefang back to the grain station and loaded grain for the guests.

This work lasted until about seven o'clock in the evening, when it was dark and the street lights were on.

After sending away the last three young people who had bought food but didn't win anything, they took a rest.

Ma Jiefang slumped on the chair, so tired that he didn't even think about smoking. He picked up Xu Xiaoya's small teapot filled with hot tea and took a sip.

Xu Qing was also tired, not to mention Jinghong, Xiaoya, and Hui Lihua.

Only San Huzi's wife and Meijuan seemed relatively energetic. They had done heavy work since they were young. In the past few years, they had set up a stall with San Huzi and sold braised pork. They had suffered all kinds of crimes.

Xu Qing, Jing Hong and others were resting, but their aunt and sister-in-law were able to pick up two and a half bags of white noodles and pour them together.

Xu Qing took out his cigarettes, handed one to Ma Jiefang, and said to Sanhuzi's wife:

"Sister Wang, there is no one here now. Let's take a rest and get off work. Don't be busy with Meijuan. Let's clean up together later."

Sanhuzi's daughter-in-law was carrying a bag of flour, raised her arms that looked bloated in a cotton-padded jacket, wiped her forehead and said:

"Shopkeeper, what does this mean? Meijuan and I are working here, which is much easier than working with hoes in the countryside. You guys rest while Meijuan and I take care of things." Xu Qing could only turn to look at his wife.

Ma Jinghong walked out of the counter and said: "Sister Wang, it's been a while, let's not be in a hurry, let's take a rest first."

Only then did Sanhuzi's wife and Meijuan put down their work, leaned against the counter, and rested.

Xu Xiaoya brought two cups of tea and gave them to them to drink some water.

Hui Lihua, Wu Xiuying, Luo Hongjuan, and Li Shuzhen were exhausted for two days and were lying on the counter panting.

The four of them, like Jinghong, used to work in an art troupe, and practicing martial arts was quite hard, but engaging in art work is not as energy-consuming as working.

At this moment, they can see that the hard work they once had in the rehearsal hall is not at the same level as the people who work.

Luo Hongjuan paused for a while before saying:

"Sister Wang, you and Meijuan are really amazing. We had a tiring day yesterday and have been busy today. You are still so energetic right now. I admire you two so much."

Meijuan held a small white ceramic teapot in both hands and said: "Sister Hongjuan, there were so many people here yesterday and today to buy food. Be busy. If you say you are tired, you are not really tired. What my sister-in-law just said is right. If we were in the countryside, the work we would do every day would be several times more tiring than this."

Luo Hongjuan cheered up, her eyes widened, and she said in disbelief:

"Meijuan, farming is really more tiring than this?"

Meijuan nodded, and Sanhuzi's daughter-in-law said:

"Hongjuan, you were not born in the countryside, and you didn't catch up with the queue to go to the countryside. Otherwise, you would have known it after going to the countryside to do farm work for a month."

"Go to the fields before dawn," Sanhuzi's wife said, pointing to the door of the grain station; "It gets so dark every day, and the commune didn't say let's go back, so no one dared to leave. The production team leader held a flashlight and stood in the fields staring. If anyone dares to leave, one day's work points will be deducted immediately."

Luo Hongjuan, Wu Xiuying, Hui Lihua, Li Shuzhen, as well as Ma Jinghong and Xu Xiaoya were all stunned.

"Sister Wang, are you telling the truth?"

Li Shuzhen asked in a low voice as if she was hearing something shocking.

Sanhuzi's wife nodded, "Before it was changed, it was exactly what I said. You city people could earn a monthly salary by going to work, but we in the countryside only had work points, and they would be deducted if there was any problem. But now, Our commune doesn’t seem to be like that anymore. Every household has been allocated land and grows their own food. Although the commune is still in charge, no one seems to mention the work points anymore.”

Xu Qing smoked a cigarette and said nothing.

He knew that there was nothing wrong with what Sanhuzi's wife said.

Xu Fengming graduated from high school that year and went to the countryside to join a team. He was the eldest brother and often visited.

Regarding work points, I also have a corresponding understanding.

Before the reform, especially before the land reform, each township commune calculated the workload and labor remuneration of its members based on work points.

But now, as land reform gradually spreads across the country, the work-point system is gradually disappearing.

After all, its existence no longer has much effect.

Ma Jiefang actually knows a little bit about it, but not much. It's just a little bit more than Li Shuzhen, Luo Hongjuan, Wu Xiuying, and Hui Lihua.

It's just that at this moment, Ma Jiefang didn't care about the issue of work division or not. He put his right hand on his back and said:

"Let's not talk about those things in the past. We have been busy all day today. Let's quickly pack up and get off work."

Seeing this, Xu Qing looked at his brother-in-law, straightened his sore waist and said:

"The idea of ​​liberation makes sense. Let's pack up and go home."

Ma Jinghong responded: "Lihua, Xiuying, Hongjuan, Shuzhen, you and Sister Wang, Meijuan, get your things and get off work. The rest will be done by Brother Qing, Xiaoya and I." My brother, the four of us will do it."

Luo Hongjuan couldn't hold on any longer, so she turned around and looked at Hui Lihua, Wu Xiuying, and Li Shuzhen, and then left first with Sanhuzi's wife and Meijuan.

After a while, Xu Qing, his step-daughter-in-law Jing Hong, his sister Xiaoya, and his brother-in-law Ma Jiefang also walked out of the grain station, locked the door and went home together.

"Jiefang, don't be in a hurry to go back to your compound. Go to my house and have dinner before going back."

It’s just that Ma Jiefang was tired and had no strength left to pedal the bicycle. He had worked at the No. 3 Hongxing Steel Rolling Plant for many years, but had never worked as a coolie in the workshop. His right hand holding the bicycle handlebar shook and said:

"Brother Qingzi, forget it. I'm afraid I'll fall asleep after having dinner in your courtyard. I'd better go back to my house directly."

When Ma Jinghong saw her younger brother who was doing quite well today, she reached out and pulled the scarf covering her mouth and nose and said:

"Liberation, just listen to your brother-in-law, go to our hospital first, and then go back after eating."

Ma Jiefang glanced at his fifth sister faintly and said, "No, fifth sister, I'd better go back to my house. If you keep nagging me, I can't stand it."

Xu Xiaoya rode the bicycle that her third brother gave her as a dowry, her pretty face turned slightly red from the cold, she smiled and said nothing.

At the intersection, Ma Jiefang hurried away alone.

Xu Qing, Jing Hong, and their sister had no choice but to go back to their compound together.

Liu Jianjun went out of town three days ago. Today is the weekend and he cannot accompany Xiaoya.

Xu Aiguo went to the main factory early in the morning and went to study in other places with the directors of several other branch factories.

I can't come back tonight either.

At dinner in the evening, Xu Qing, his third brother Fengming's family, his younger sister Xiaoya, his younger brother and sister Aiqian, and his wife, son, and daughter had dinner together.

Xu Fengming came to the grain station to help for a while in the afternoon. Tang Xiujuan came over and said that her parents had come to the compound and she had to go back to the compound early.

At this time, Xu Fengming ate the pickled pork buns in his hand and said:

"Brother, sister-in-law, how much grain did the grain station sell today?"

Although Xu Qing was very tired, he said with a smile on his face:

"More than seventeen thousand kilograms, more than yesterday."

Xu Xiaoya sat aside and chatted hurriedly:

"Third brother, my sister-in-law and I are really good at it. Yesterday we sold more than 15,000 kilograms of grain, and today we sold more than 17,000 kilograms of grain. Maybe tomorrow the business will be even better."

Xu Fengming swallowed the buns in his mouth and hummed: "Awesome, Comrade Xu Xiaoya

Well, it doesn’t matter who the sister is, how can she not be awesome? ! "

"Third brother, please stop talking so much. My sister-in-law and I have been exhausted these past two days. But our eldest brother is still more powerful. If our eldest brother hadn't asked me to call someone from the newspaper to go to the grain station to draw the motorcycle jackpot the day before yesterday, Let the newspaper publish it in the newspaper, and the business in these two days may be the same as the previous days."

Xu Fengming nodded with a serious face and said: "That's right!"

(End of this chapter)