Go back to the prosperous days and become a layman

Chapter 440 439 Lies
On the morning of November 11, snowflakes began to fall from the sky again.

Nature often protests against human destruction of the environment in this silent way.

In fact, tree planting has always existed. Looking back, it was Mr. Sun who promoted it, and that’s how Arbor Day came about.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, China was short of forest resources, with forest area accounting for only 7.9% of the country's total area.

In 1955, he called on the people of the whole country to green the motherland within 12 years.

Young people across the country responded to the call and immediately launched an unprecedented tree planting campaign.

From the autumn of 1955 to the spring of 1956, 6660 million young people across the country participated in the afforestation campaign, afforesting 546 million mu of land and planting 22 billion trees.

But many times, many things need to give way to the economy, and so the trees suffered last year.

Looking further ahead, the situation was similar. Coupled with the quality problems of flood control projects, the floods caused serious personal safety and property losses to the people.

It was also from then on that the country put more effort into greening, which led to the desert being transformed into a water town in the south of the Yangtze River.

Tang Zhitong thought it was no exaggeration to call it the world's first miracle.

The school's heating was already on, so Tang Zhitong turned on the "steaming lunch" mode, placing the lunch box on the radiator in the morning and eating directly at noon.

There was nothing to do today except studying, so Tang Zhitong wrote a letter back to Shao Jianlin, saying that he had received the raisins and expressed his gratitude.

When school was over in the afternoon, the snow had stopped. Tang Zhitong went straight to the sawmill and wanted to find Zhang Bo to order a ladder and two shelves.

"Are you building a cellar?" Zhang Bo responded immediately when he heard Tang Zhitong's request.

"Brother Zhang has good eyesight and can see it at a glance." Tang Zhitong gave a thumbs up. This was not something shameful and there was no need to hide it.

"Hehe, isn't it the time to distribute cabbages this year? Many families have no place to store them, and they will freeze if they are placed directly in the yard, so many people choose to make space underground. There are quite a few people in the market who need these two things recently, and we have received a production task, so we have them ready. Come on, I'll take you to pick them." Zhang Bo smiled, explained briefly, and gestured with his hand to lead Tang Zhitong to the warehouse.

Tang Zhitong nodded. People these days are simple and honest, but they are not stupid.

Just stockpile cabbages, like the Post and Telecommunications College, just dig a hole and bury them.

Those who are thinking of digging a cellar are probably making long-term plans just like me.

Although Zhang Guifang didn't want a ladder, Tang Zhitong felt it was necessary. At a height of more than three meters, it would be no joke if they failed.

As for the shelves, Tang Zhitong still felt that they were necessary. You couldn't just pile all the cabbages together, right? With shelves, you could pick out the bad ones in time to avoid a bunch of bad ones.

In Tang Zhitong's opinion, these two are devices that should not be saved on, but sometimes the elderly will not agree with the views of the young people. They will think that anything that can be made do should not be spent on.

Based on this idea, people would heat up any spoiled leftovers and stuff them into their mouths. The consequence was that the medical expenses were enough to buy enough meat and fish for a year.

Since so much money has been spent on medical treatment, some elderly people will be reluctant to spend it, so they will be more frugal, cook more dishes and rice, and eat more in order to avoid leftovers.

Oh, so I got sick again...

There are countless examples like this, so Tang Zhitong acted first and reported later this time.

But we still have to save what we can. After Tang Zhitong selected the ladder, he asked Zhang Bo when choosing the shelf: "Brother Zhang, can we just use the shelf? I still have some partitions left."

"It's definitely not possible if others ask for it, but it will definitely work if you ask for it, brother." Zhang Bo said without any hesitation.

"Okay, thank you Brother Zhang. I want one that's three meters long and one that's two and a half meters long. They're both 1.8 meters high." Tang Zhitong said, measuring the length and height of his own cellar.

"Wow, your cellar is not small."

"Hehe, since we have to build it now, let's make it bigger. When it gets hot in the summer, I can just hide in the cellar and sleep." Tang Zhitong joked. It was three meters long and couldn't even reach the wall. His own cellar was three meters wide and four meters long.

"The cellar is cool, but it's very humid. Do you need someone to install this wooden shelf for you?" Zhang Bo asked caringly.

"No need, I can do this job myself." Tang Zhitong just looked and saw that the shelves were all in bulk, making it easy to transport them into the cellar.

The directions are marked on the wood to make it convenient for buyers to install it themselves. With so many shelves sold in a day, Tang Zhitong doesn't think the wood factory will send someone to install them. It's nothing more than a favor.

"Okay, I'll write you an order." Zhang Bo didn't force it and quickly wrote out the order and shipped the goods.

The ladder and the shelf together cost ten yuan. If Xiao Wang hadn't given Tang Zhitong two bills from his own piggy bank yesterday, he would have had no money to pay the bill today.

After paying the money and picking up the goods, Zhang Bo thoughtfully arranged for someone to deliver the goods to your door for free.

However, when Tang Zhitong was leaving the sawmill, he gave the young man pulling the cart two boxes of economical cigarettes, which made the young man very happy.

Next, Tang Zhitong went to the Housing Management Office again to pay off his debts. The account for building the cellar was settled, and he could deal with the rest slowly by himself.

"You said you didn't want to buy ladders and shelves, didn't you?" When Tang Zhitong got home, the young man had disappeared, and the ladders and wood were neatly placed aside.

"Mom, you still need to buy a ladder. It will be convenient and safe for you to go up and down. Shelves are also necessary so that bad vegetables can be found and picked out in time to avoid them rotting." Tang Zhitong comforted.

"Okay, okay, whatever you say makes sense, I'll help you press it together?" Zhang Guifang sighed. How could she not know that? It's just that the family's expenses have been a bit high recently, and she feels insecure without money.

"No need. It's pitch black down there. I have to pull up the wires and install a light bulb first." Tang Zhitong did what he said. He handed the bag to Zhang Guifang and went back to the room to get the wires.

The wires and electric lights were left over from the wiring of the wing rooms and were just right for use in the cellar.

Unlike ordinary wiring, because the cellar is underground, Tang Zhitong spent some time thinking about the wiring.

The wires were laid outside the main door, along the corners of the wall, and the part in the yard was buried deep underground. In order to prevent people from accidentally hitting their heads when turning the soil, Tang Zhitong thoughtfully put a layer of wood on top of the wires.

Taking advantage of the residual light from the cellar entrance, Tang Zhitong hammered a nail into the cellar wall, wrapped the wire with the light bulb around it, and then shouted to the cellar entrance: "Mom, turn on the switch and try pulling it."

Looking at the lit light bulb, Tang Zhitong was happy and satisfied.

With the assistance of Zhang Guifang, the mother and daughter moved the wood for the shelves into the cellar, with Zhang Guifang handing it down and Tang Zhitong receiving it below.

After putting down the wood of varying lengths, Tang Zhitong came upstairs, returned to the wing room, pretended to take out a claw hammer and nails, and then went down to the cellar again.

These nails are left over from the last time we made the small house. They are enough for two shelves.

The partitions were also leftovers from the last time we built the small house, but Tang Zhitong had no plan to put up the partitions today. He couldn't explain where they came from. He would wait until he "bought them back" tomorrow and then put the partitions up like Kong Yiji arranged copper coins.

"Brother, can I go down?"

Tang Zhitong was making some noise in the cellar when he heard Fengzhi shouting from above. He stopped what he was doing and looked towards the entrance of the cellar. AUV, this little guy was not very big but had a long neck. He was sticking his head down and looking at him upside down!

"You go up first, and then step down the ladder. I'll catch you from below." Tang Zhitong didn't dare to be mean to her, for fear that she would get frightened and slip and fall headfirst. "Okay!" Fengzhi got the permission and chuckled as she retracted her head.

After a short while, Fengzhi faced the ladder and came down step by step.

"You naughty child, aren't you afraid of falling down with your head down!" After picking up Fengzhi, Tang Zhitong grabbed her and slapped her on the butt.

"Hey, I'm holding the entrance to the cellar." Fengzhi didn't care. She patted her butt and looked around the cellar curiously.

Children's curiosity and greed are two things that must not be aroused. Once aroused, they will think about them day and night and never get tired of it.

When Tang Zhitong was a child, his family also had a cellar. When he was playing hide-and-seek with his friends, he locked himself in it and fell asleep. The elderly people in his family almost looked for him everywhere, thinking that he had been abducted by human traffickers.

There are many similar incidents. Some children fell asleep by hiding in the granary, and some children fell asleep by hiding in the haystack.

There is one thing in common at the end of these things, which is a mixed double beating from the parents.

"Fengzhi, you can't come down by yourself without an adult by your side in the future." Thinking of his own childhood experiences, Tang Zhitong warned.

"Why?" Fengzhi was confused.

"When you sleep with the quilt covering you, you feel suffocated, right?" Tang Zhitong asked an irrelevant question.

"Well, just open it." Feng Zhi answered honestly.

"It's the same with the cellar. It's stuffy down there. Once you come down and feel suffocated, it might be too late to go up. You might suffocate to death down there." Tang Zhitong tried to reason with his sister.

Fengzhi couldn't understand the knowledge that humans need oxygen to breathe and plants also consume oxygen because she was not taught in elementary school.

"Won't you feel suffocated when you come down?" Fengzhi asked curiously.

"The adults are also feeling stuffy, so they open the cellar to ventilate before coming down."

"Then why don't I open the ventilation before I come down?" Feng Zhi asked, tilting her little head.

"Hey, are you trying to trick me like this? If you don't listen, you won't be able to improve your life in the future." Tang Zhitong was amused. With such a little brain, it would be difficult for him to suffer at the hands of others.

"I'll listen, I'll listen. I promise XXX that I will never come down without the adults' consent." When Fengzhi heard this, she immediately compromised and raised her little arms to swear.

"That's good enough." Tang Zhitong touched Fengzhi's little head with satisfaction.

"Brother, the day after tomorrow is Sunday. What should we eat to improve our lives?" Fengzhi touched her belly and began to feel hungry.

"Do you want anything to eat?"

“I want to eat dumplings!”

"Okay, let's go upstairs and ask mom if we can buy meat tomorrow." Tang Zhitong touched Fengzhi's head, supported her, and sent her upstairs first, while he continued to make noises in the cellar.

"Mom, mom! My brother said he wants to eat dumplings on Sunday and asked if you can buy some meat tomorrow." Fengzhi ran into the main room happily and expressed the key points accurately, except that the protagonist was a little different.

"Let's give it a try. I'll go line up tomorrow morning." Zhang Guifang agreed without any doubt.

In the past few days, Tang Zhitong had been busy arranging for the Tang family to improve their lives every Sunday, so the Tang family didn't use their meat coupons much this month. Zhang Guifang planned to take out a few more to buy meat this time.

After hearing her mother's agreement, Fengzhi jumped three feet high and happily went to the table to do her homework.

When Xiao Wang and Feng Zhen returned home, Tang Zhitong had just finished his work and crawled out of the cellar.

Zhang Guifang had shaken off the fallen snow on the straw mat above the cellar, but because of the snow, the cement had not dried yet, so the burying of the soil had to be postponed.

Tang Zhitong covered the entrance of the cellar with a basket to prevent anyone from stepping down in the dark. He planned to nail a lid on it with a piece of wood tomorrow.

While eating, Zhang Guifang asked, "Anzi, Fengzhi said you wanted to eat dumplings stuffed with cabbage?"

"Huh? Fengzhi said that?" Tang Zhitong was stunned and looked at his sister.

Fengzhi felt a little guilty, so she pretended not to hear and concentrated on eating. After she finished the steamed corn bread, she started to eat cabbage and didn't even dare to ask for more rice.

"Huh? She lied?" Zhang Guifang could no longer help but hear it, so she asked her son.

"Come on, Fengzhi, talk to our mother yourself." Tang Zhitong was amused. He did not answer and pushed his sister to the front of the stage.

"I, I, I just want to eat dumplings. Last time I said I wanted to eat them, you didn't agree, so I asked you in your brother's name." Feng Zhi saw that she couldn't escape, so she finally confessed honestly, timidly, and a little aggrieved.

"Well, if you want to eat something, just tell me and I'll make it for you if I can." Zhang Guifang finally softened her heart and didn't blame the child, but she did add in the end: "Don't lie in the future. Lying won't make you taller."

"Yeah, yeah!" Fengzhi nodded hurriedly after hearing what her mother said.

Tang Zhitong just watched happily and didn't interfere.

People say that children don't lie, but Tang Zhitong doesn't believe it. Children also know how to seek benefits and avoid harm, and they often lie to achieve their goals.

When I was four years old: Mom and Dad, when I grow up, I will buy you clothes, a BMW, a villa, and spend all the money I earn on you.

When I was ten years old: You can lend me New Year’s money, and when you pay me back, you have to give me 100 yuan in interest in addition to the principal.

When playing games: Mom, don’t worry, I will only play for 20 minutes, I will protect my eyes.

Twenty minutes later: Give me another minute, give me another two minutes...

When doing homework: I will write after I finish eating, after I finish watching this cartoon, after I sleep for another 5 minutes...

This is true for children, and even worse for adults.

In order to buy a PlayStation, a man lied to his lover that it was a gigabit router;

In order to buy a bag, a woman lied to her lover that it was a high-end imitation;
In order to avoid socializing with people I don't like, I always find excuses to avoid them, and at the end I don't forget to add a sentence: I will definitely do it next time;
Not to mention at work, in order to avoid taking the blame, you not only have to learn how to speak, but also how to pass the blame.

Ask yourself honestly, how many of the words you hear and hear from the people you come into contact with every day are true? How many are false?

In order to avoid being cheated, you also have to learn to organize, analyze, and refine information yourself within limited information. How many people don’t feel tired?

Tang Zhitong feels that this may be one of the reasons why many people want to lie down, because too many people make simple things complicated.

(End of this chapter)