Go back to the prosperous days and become a layman

Chapter 551 550 Jam
November 1, Sunday, sunny.

The young couple worked hard for most of the night and finally finished reading the rest of the letters.

Early in the morning, Tang Zhitong got up yawning, lit the stove, boiled some hot water, and planned to let Xiao Wang wash his face.

The final exams for elementary and junior high schools are still considered to be held on Sunday, while the exams for the Post and Telecommunications College will depend on which day the classrooms are empty, so they will be held on Sunday. Tang Zhitong still has to go to school today.

"Fengzhi, I have a task for you. Take a pair of scissors and go cut stamps with your sister-in-law." After dinner, Tang Zhitong wrapped himself tightly and prepared to take the exam.

Although there is a concept of postponing exams these days, no one does it easily.

Now is the time when a university degree is most valuable, but since academic qualifications are not yet a factor in promotions, those unorthodox practices have not yet emerged.

The situation of buying academic qualifications and papers will only appear after the regulations on requiring academic qualifications and papers for promotion are issued.

"Okay." When Fengzhi heard that she would accompany her sister-in-law to work, she agreed readily. Now the person closest to her at home is her classmate Xiao Wang.

Tang Zhitong had already told Xiao Wang last night to pick out the rare and good-quality stamps to cut, and there was no need to cut off all the stamps on the thousands of letters.

Student Xiao Wang did not understand what Tang Zhitong did and asked why he did that.

Tang Zhitong evaded the question by using the excuse that it was "kept as a souvenir and a witness to history." But there was no other way. There was no concept of stamp collecting and no such way of playing it now, so of course he couldn't say it explicitly.

Tang Zhitong didn't know much about stamp collecting, let alone being a professional. This time he would just play it as a casual chess game to kill time. If a time traveler expected to get rich from this, it would be a big failure.

When Tang Zhitong went out, he took some fruit leather and hawthorn strips with him, and planned to go to Chunshu Hutong when he came back.

When he arrived at the Post and Telecommunications College, Tang Zhitong sorted out the opinions from the letters before the exam began. He breathed a sigh of relief. Now it was finally over and he was waiting for the meeting to discuss.

"Teacher Tang, the holiday is coming soon. I saw a notice posted downstairs. Students who need to go home during the holiday need to apply for a temporary transfer of food and obtain a letter of proof of going out. The notice says that the food issue must be handled by the living committee." Luo Zhiping reminded before the exam.

"Okay, thank you." Luo Zhiping didn't say clearly which department to contact. Tang Zhitong ran out to read the notice and smoked a cigarette.

Food relations are handled at the Logistics Department, and the certificate can be stamped by the department.

When they returned to the classroom, Tang Zhitong walked up to the podium and tapped the desk with the blackboard eraser: "Students, there are still a few classes left before the exams are over. The end of the exams means the winter vacation. If anyone wants to go home and needs to transfer food, please let me know tomorrow morning and I will go over to handle the procedures for everyone."

"Teacher Tang, um... we want to stay in school during the holidays, can we go home?" After Tang Zhitong finished speaking, some students raised their hands.

Although this issue has been clarified before, many students are still worried.

They have maintained communication with their families. The food rations in local areas have been severely compressed. Not to mention 32 kilograms, in some places the food ration for adult males has been reduced to 26 kilograms.

Obviously, I can eat more at school.

"Sure. This time the transfer of food relations and the certificate for going home are handled separately. Go to the class monitor to get the certificate and have it stamped by the department." Tang Zhitong nodded in confirmation. Although it was not written on the notice, Teacher Zhou had confirmed this matter a while ago.

When the classmates heard this, they couldn't hide the joy on their faces. They were all born by their fathers and raised by their parents, and they felt the same way when their families were starving. This time, they could save some food and take it back, which at least could help their families solve their urgent needs.

"Let me say one more thing." After seeing the joy of his classmates, Tang Zhitong pondered for a moment and added:
"Students who are planning to go home should get enough sleep before going home, try not to fall asleep on the way home, and keep an eye on your luggage to avoid being noticed by three hands."

"Some students may want to buy some dry food from the school cafeteria and eat it on the way. My personal suggestion is to put the dry food in the bag and don't take it out. You can buy boxed lunches on the train. Although the price is more expensive, it is still more cost-effective than the price outside."

"In short, in one sentence: pay attention to safety, safety first."

Having said all, Tang Zhitong said nothing more. At that time, there were still some classmates who did not accept the proposal to exchange carrots for food coupons. If they dug up the carrots and took them away at this time, they would be considered fat sheep in the eyes of others. Even if no one did anything on the train, it would be hard to say what would happen after leaving the station.

The trains are not peaceful at the moment, especially recently. Colleagues from the escort department have been helping the train police to guard the doors, as passengers throw things away from time to time.

After the exam, Tang Zhitong went to the cafeteria to get a dish and ate it regardless of whether it tasted good or not.

When my classmate Xiao Wang came to take me to school, he bought a lot of vegetable coupons, which I haven't spent yet. These must be spent in the second half of this year. I'm afraid I won't be able to buy vegetables with the vegetable coupons in the second half of the year.

There was no exam in the afternoon, and Tang Zhitong did not stay in the dormitory for long after dinner. He just boasted to his roommates for a few words and then walked back.

Although Ye Zhijuan had overseas remittance coupons and could buy meat, she could not buy much. She still had to show her filial piety, so Tang Zhitong also brought a piece of lard when he entered the house.

Ye Zhijuan is on vacation today, and Wang Jingying is forcing Wang Jingmin, who is on vacation, to do his homework.

"You've come at the right time. How's the letter going?" Ye Zhijuan saw her son-in-law coming over and asked directly without any politeness.

"We just finished cleaning it yesterday." Tang Zhitong handed the lard to his sister-in-law and motioned her to take it to the kitchen. Wang Jingmin secretly breathed a sigh of relief and kept winking at Tang Zhitong.

Tang Zhitong didn't know what his brother-in-law was up to, so he pretended not to see it.

"Well, the speed is not slow. The editorial team is planning to hold a meeting on Tuesday. Can you arrange the time?" Ye Zhijuan informed.

"I have an exam in the morning, so I can take it in the afternoon." Tang Zhitong was thinking about his exam schedule. He has one day of exams tomorrow, and Tuesday is the last one. After the exams, he can basically have a holiday.

Although the exam can be postponed, Tang Zhitong does not intend to do so because this matter not only involves himself, but also several other sponsored students who are waiting to be fed.

"Okay, then I'll let them open it in the morning and you can come over in the afternoon." Ye Zhijuan nodded and did not force it. Her son-in-law was originally a non-staff member of the manual. The reason why she asked him to participate in the revision was, firstly, because the letter was written to him, and secondly, if he did not participate in this matter, it would be difficult for him to claim the credit later.

"Okay, the meeting place will be arranged at the Women's Federation?" Tang Zhitong asked speculatively. "Well, the editing team does not have a special office location. The Women's Federation is in the center of the experts' residences, so it is convenient for everyone to come here. Oh, by the way, I helped the editing team apply for a digital mailbox. When the revised version is printed, the mailing address will be left on it. You can pick up your letters from here in the future." Ye Zhijuan managed things in an orderly manner.

"I don't want to receive any more letters. Reading them is too tiring. Some people also send me money and food coupons. I'm worried about what to do." Tang Zhitong said as he took out a lunch box from his bag, which contained the fruit leather and hawthorn strips he brought with him.

"Just follow the crowd." Ye Zhijuan thought for a moment and responded.

In the past, Ye Zhijuan focused most of her energy on her family, but recently she has achieved a lot and her rank has improved, so many people are jealous of her and say some sour words behind her back.

This feeling is not very pleasant.

"Hehe, I thought so too." Tang Zhitong opened the lunch box, and a sweet and sour smell immediately wafted out.

Wang Jingmin smelled the food and saw the snacks in the lunch box. He lost interest in doing his homework. He kept glancing over here, saliva was secreted uncontrollably from his mouth, and he could clearly see him swallowing his saliva.

"Didn't you bring it last time? Why are you bringing it here again?" Ye Zhijuan saw her son's little action and ignored him.

"Last time the supply and marketing cooperative increased the volume, I saw that hawthorns were not selling well, so I bought some more."

Tang Zhitong did not pretend not to see the expressions and actions of his brother-in-law and sister-in-law. He picked up two and handed them to his brother-in-law, and then gave some to Wang Jingying.

This snack made of hawthorn will form a conditioned reflex once you have eaten it, but it is not the kind of aversion, but rather the desire to eat it.

The expressions and actions of the two people can better illustrate the feasibility of their plan.

"Mom, please try it." Tang Zhitong pushed the lunch box towards Ye Zhijuan. Seeing his brother-in-law and sister-in-law eating so happily, even he couldn't help but started to secrete saliva.

"I have a childhood friend who is a chef, and I also like to cook, so when we were chatting a while ago, we talked about the differences in taste between Chinese and foreign people. Because he is in charge of external reception, his words are quite persuasive." In order to minimize Ma Kejian's responsibility, Tang Zhitong was particular about his choice of words, to show that his childhood friend did not say anything he shouldn't have, and that it was limited to the subject of food, and that they were purely exchanging technical ideas and communicating with each other as chefs.

"He said that taste differences are related to region and skin color. In Asia, except for the Indians in the south who love curry, the tastes of other places are similar to ours. A small number of white people have strong tastes and will eat a very smelly herring, but such people are only a very small minority. More white people prefer sweets, and even have to spread peanut butter or jam on bread for meals."

Tang Zhitong made up his own lies and did not mention the black race. The black race in the Americas currently does not have a high status and has limited spending power, while the economies of most countries in Africa are underdeveloped and are even worse than those in China.

"After I went back, I started thinking about these things. I had never seen jam or anything like that, and I didn't make any, but I did make these little snacks. I was thinking, since we have a surplus of hawthorns in our country, could we make some of these little things and try exporting them? If they're edible to us, they should also be edible to overseas Chinese, right? Overseas Chinese are still rich." Tang Zhitong had "reasons and evidence". The overseas remittance vouchers had already been issued, so it made sense that he knew that overseas Chinese were rich.

Ye Zhijuan nodded, looked at her two children eating happily, and said, "Maybe it's possible."

Seeing his mother-in-law nod, Tang Zhitong continued along the line of thought:

"There is also the jam that my childhood friend wrote about. Although I haven't made it, I think there should be room for maneuverability here."

"Last year, no, it should be the year before last. When I was a temporary worker at a construction site, I helped the supply and marketing cooperative collect agricultural products for a while."

"The supply and marketing cooperative has its own purchasing standards. They don't want small fruits, fruits with scars, or fruits with bumps."

"Fruit farmers can only find ways to deal with the picked fruits themselves."

"At that time, there were still markets, and even if the price was a little lower, it was not easy to sell, and in the end, the family still had to eat it all."

"I worked hard for a year, but the fruits didn't get me any money. I couldn't bear to watch it."

"Under the circumstances this year, we will not waste any food that is edible. But I wonder if we can make these inferior fruits into jam and exchange them for foreign currency, can we buy more food? This can also be considered as helping the fruit farmers, right?"

"It's a good idea, but I have to go back and ask about the sugar supply situation first. Once we start, it will be difficult to cross this hurdle." Ye Zhijuan first praised her son-in-law, and then went straight to the crux of the problem.

"Hey, I didn't think about that." Tang Zhitong touched his head embarrassedly. In fact, it's not that he didn't think about it, but he deliberately didn't mention it.

Sugar is a strategic material and has been vigorously supported since liberation.

Since 55, seven sets of advanced sugar-making technology and equipment with their own characteristics have been introduced from advanced sugar-producing countries such as Poland, East Germany and the Czech Republic and put into production. By 58, there were four beet sugar factories in Baotou, New China, Friendship and Qiqihar, and four cane sugar factories in Guangzhou, Jiangmen, Guangfeng and Guixian.

糖的产量也是逐年提高，58年、59年、60年糖的产量都在100万吨以上，61年才掉到二三十万吨的水平。

However, Cuban sugar will soon be coming in and will fill the gap slightly.

Even if there was no Cuban sugar, if one wanted to make it, one could certainly squeeze it out, because during the "high-priced candy" period, 20 tons of high-priced sugar alone were sold, and this did not include the sugar used in high-priced snacks.

Tang Zhitong felt that compared with grain, the difficulties with sugar could be temporarily overcome.

"Okay, stop eating. Be careful of tooth decay." Seeing that her son was about to reach out again, Ye Zhijuan stopped him decisively.

Market research cannot be done in vain with empty talk, there must be some tangible things to let people know what it is, and Ye Zhijuan plans to use these brought by her son-in-law as samples.

"As for the jam, I'm thinking of asking my childhood friend to make a few for me, and then putting them in the store near Jianguomen to see the repurchase rate and customer response. We can make timely adjustments based on people's tastes, so we don't have to blindly make something that doesn't suit people's habits and waste raw materials." Tang Zhitong suggested.

"Well, that's a good idea. I'll contact you later." Ye Zhijuan nodded and told Wang Jingying to get her lunch box and prepare to pour out the hawthorn strips and fruit leather.

Before leaving, Tang Zhitong dealt with the lard. Before leaving, he left Ma Jian's work unit, name, and the name of the pastry chef.

(End of this chapter)