Chapter 151: Changes in Food Ration and the Illness of Dean Lu's Friend

The fourth day of the Lunar New Year.

Because the Spring Festival falls on Sunday, and there are three days of holidays, today is also postponed as a rest day.

In the morning, Wang Hao and Ran Xiaomei took the children out to visit the temple fair, while Wang Mengde stayed at home with his pregnant wife.

"Shengnan, put these enamel pots away from now on. Don't put them on the table. They easily attract dust and need to be cleaned frequently. It's very troublesome."

Looking at his daughter-in-law washing a dozen enamel pots in the living room with a happy face, Wang Mengde persuaded her helplessly.

These enamel pots were all prizes awarded to him by the organization for winning national and municipal advanced and model awards in the past three years. Each one has eye-catching red words on it.

Since taking it back, Ran Xiaomei and He Shengnan strictly forbade anyone else to use it except Wang Mengde.

The rest were all put into boxes by the two of them. They were taken out only during the Chinese New Year and other festivals and neatly placed on the long table in the living room, with the red words facing the door to ensure that guests would see them at first glance.

"It's okay. I don't mind washing this. It's not a hassle. I'm willing to do twice as much."

He Shengnan continued to wash happily. After washing one, she would carefully look at the red words on it.

Seeing how persistent she was, Wang Mengde had no choice but to squat down and help her clean up.

After finally washing and wiping it clean, I carefully wrapped it in newspaper and put it in the box.

I have to go back to work tomorrow and there will be fewer guests at home, so it’s time to put these away.

After cleaning up, the two of them sat on chairs next to each other, drinking tea and chatting.

"Meng De, with the adjustment of the food ration this time, our family is not that well-off anymore, and we still have to send some steamed buns to our grandparents in the countryside.

Please don’t give my parents the monthly supply of high-quality cooking oil, and don’t send them food every now and then.”

Leaning in the chair, He Shengnan's round face showed a look of fatigue, and she muttered softly.

At the beginning of this year, due to various reasons, it was difficult to transfer grain. At one point, the grain stored in Beijing was only enough to meet demand for six days.

At that time, the city had a population of four million (the number of non-agricultural households enjoying commercial grain treatment). If one day, there was suddenly a situation where food could not be bought, the panic caused would be absolutely unimaginable.

Scared to think about.

Therefore, the city of Beijing followed the instructions of the state and lowered the food supply standard for residents significantly.

It was stipulated that anyone with a formal household registration in Beijing would receive food rations that varied according to age, ranging from three catties for newborns, six catties for toddlers, eight catties for children, to 21 catties for adults.

Of course, people with special identities, such as college and high school students, government officials, and those working in special occupations, have more requirements than these standards.

Moreover, the ratio of coarse and fine grains has changed from 55% to 45% to 20% of flour and 10% of rice in the total ration.

The rest are all coarse grains - cornmeal, dried sweet potatoes, sorghum flour, fresh sweet potatoes and other grains.

When Wang Mengde returned to his parents' home on the second day of the Chinese New Year, he brought a lot of gifts, including several kilograms of flour and two kilograms of lard that had just been boiled a few days ago.

These things can be considered as valuable gifts in this special period.

Especially the two kilograms of lard, which made her feel distressed.

Because pork requires tickets, every household cannot buy too much even if they have saved up meat tickets for several months during the Chinese New Year.

Only my husband, who has connections outside, bought seven pounds of pork fat.

A small half of the lard was given away at once.

At the same time, I am also worried that because I send too many things to my parents’ home, my husband’s family will not have enough to eat.

"Shengnan, we have no shortage of food, don't worry.

Your mother's family has three half-grown boys, and they are now at the age when they can eat. There is already a shortage of supplies and insufficient nutrition. If they don't eat enough, it will be bad for their health."

Wang Mengde held her hand and comforted her with a smile.

Starting from the past few months, he would take out some white flour and corn flour from the space from time to time and mix them into his own rice jar.

As a result, there was always a lot of food left over at home every month, which made Ran Xiaomei suspicious for a while.

Later, the cause was not found and the case was left unresolved.

"But..."

He Shengnan showed an embarrassed look on her face. She felt that she was already married and a member of Lao Wang's family, but she was still always sending gifts to her parents' home, which did not feel right.

Even though her parents-in-law and her husband never said it, she still felt a little uncomfortable in her heart.

"No buts, we have enough food at home, and the ones sent over are surplus.

Besides, you're pregnant again. In a few months, after you give birth, you'll have to trouble your mother to help take care of the child."

Wang Mengde interrupted her and said forcefully.

"Okay, I'll listen to you then."

He Shengnan felt sweet in her heart and leaned her head on his shoulder.

After sitting quietly for a while, Wang Mengde accidentally noticed that she was not wearing a watch on her wrist, so he asked curiously: "Shengnan, why don't you wear a watch?"

"Ah, I left my watch on the bedroom cabinet last night and forgot to take it with me this morning."

Touching her wrist, He Shengnan said somewhat embarrassedly.

After she got pregnant with her second child, she became a little forgetful.

Often loses things.

"By the way, Meng De, thank you for giving me the watch. In our courtyard, besides mom, only Lou Xiao'e and I in the backyard wear watches.

Didn’t you see that a while ago, my neighbor Qin’s wife saw me wearing a watch and was so envious that she even asked me how much I paid for it.”

"It's useless for her to ask. The Jia family can't afford a watch."

Wang Mengde said with a smile.

Since 59, with the implementation of several types of coupons, the Jia family, which was not well-off to begin with, became even poorer.

Especially with this adjustment in grain rations, the Jia family’s life will become even more difficult in the future.

In the past, we could still make deals with others and exchange white flour for corn flour, and with the help of Yi Zhonghai, the family of several people could barely eat enough.

Now everyone has less food, and I guess no one will give them any relief in the future.

It is said that this Spring Festival, Jia Zhang had diarrhea for two days because she had not seen oily food for a long time and she ate and drank too much.

"Also, my mother took the watch you gave her, but she never wore it once. She said she would put it away and give it to her daughter-in-law when Shengwen gets married."

He Shengnan thought about her mother's behavior when she returned to her parents' home and told it as a funny story.

"Wait till Shengwen gets married, that will take another four or five years, don't let it go bad, go back and persuade mom."

Wang Mengde said with a helpless smile.

In this era, every household has the habit of hiding things.

All the good things we think of, we want to pass them on to the next generation.

But items like watches will break down if you don’t wear them for a long time, so it’s better to wear them.

"Well, then wait for her to come home in a few days and I'll tell her quietly."

the next day.

Early in the morning, Wang Mengde got up carefully, took a washbasin and a toothbrush and went to the yard.

Then I saw several people gathered around the pool.

"Aunt Xue, what's going on?"

"Meng De is here and the faucet is frozen." Aunt Xue said with a bad look on her face.

She got up early today and prepared to fetch water to go home and cook, but found that the faucet was frozen solid.

Now there is no water, and the whole family will have no breakfast, and the men in the family still have to go to work.

Even if you can buy some breakfast outside, it will cost a lot.

"How come it's frozen?"

Wang Mengde asked curiously.

Every night, the neighbors in the yard take turns turning off the water meter, but the faucets in the yard haven't been frozen for a long time.

"Humph, I didn't turn off the water meter last night."

On the side, Aunt Zhang said angrily.

Her little son has to go to school early soon, and now there is no water, which will delay things.

"It was the Jia family's turn to turn off the water meter yesterday, so I went to knock on their door."

As they spoke, Aunt Zhang and Aunt Xue walked angrily to the door of the Jia family and started knocking hard.

After a while, Jia Zhang came out with a messy hair and a bad face. She rolled her eyes and said angrily, "What are you doing? You're smashing our door so early in the morning."

"Ms. Jia Zhang, did you leave the water meter off last night?"

"what?"

Being questioned loudly by the two people in front of her, Jia Zhang was a little dumbfounded.

She had severe diarrhea these past two days because she ate too much oily food, so she forgot about it last night.

Seeing her expression, Aunt Zhang was too lazy to argue with her, so she hurriedly said, "Hurry up and get your hot water and run the faucet. Everyone is waiting for water."

Jia Zhang knew she was in the wrong, so she turned back to the house and told Jia Dongxu, who was woken up, to quickly take the hot water from the stove and run to the faucet. As for herself, of course she continued to lie in bed to recuperate.

Next to the sink, Jia Dongxu was so anxious that sweat was almost coming out of his head, but there was still no water coming out of the faucet.

More and more people gathered around. After Wang Mengde finished brushing his teeth and washing his face, he couldn't help it and said, "It's frozen inside. Hot water doesn't work. Let's light some firewood and warm it up."

"Yes, yes, Meng De still has the idea."

Liu Haizhong, who had his hands behind his back and was giving instructions, quickly nodded in agreement when he heard this.

Then he told his two children to go back and get some firewood for starting the stove, and then light it and burn it under the water pipe.

While Jia Dongxu was turning the faucet, he bent down and turned his head to look inside the faucet's spout.

Suddenly, a hissing sound came out of the water pipe, and everyone started talking: "It's almost there, it's almost there, the water should be coming out soon, Dongxu, get out of the way."

Jia Dongxu glanced at the person who told him to get out of the way quickly, and then thought to himself: I will just get out of the way slowly, what can happen?

At this moment, there was a sudden explosion sound from the water mouth, followed by a strong stream of water gushing out.

"Ah~~~"

Jia Dongxu let out a heart-wrenching scream.

The steaming water from the pipe poured all over his face and head.

on Monday.

The Lantern Festival just passed yesterday. According to the old Beijing people, this Chinese New Year is over.

Wang Mengde rode his bicycle to take his wife to Deshengmen bus station, then turned around and rode south.

When I arrived at the Chinese Medical Research Institute, before I had time to sit down in the office, I was called away by the staff around President Lu.

On the way, when we were almost there, the staff member smiled and said:

"Comrade Wang Mengde, President Lu wants you to come over today. In addition to providing health care for President Lu, I would also like you to provide health care for a few other people. These are all old friends of President Lu."

Wang Mengde nodded and said nothing.

He was full of anticipation, secretly wondering which famous people he would meet today.

Still in the same room, this time, after he had been massaging for nearly half an hour, Dean Lu fell into a deep sleep again and slept for more than twenty minutes.

After waking up, Dean Lu felt as if he had lost several pounds. He gave a thumbs up and praised:
"Comrade Wang Mengde, the two times you gave me massages were the best sleep I've had in over a month. If I hadn't been worried, I would have slept for a whole day and night.

Later, I will have to trouble you to use your best skills to give the other two a massage so that they can also have a good sleep. "

"President Lu, please ensure that the task is completed."

Wang Mengde assured with a serious face.

“Haha, don’t be nervous, just do your best.

These two are my friends. They both have old injuries and other diseases, so they haven’t had a good night’s sleep for a long time.”

Dean Lu said with emotion.

After chatting for a few words, Wang Mengde followed the staff to another place nearby.

Wang Mengde was very excited when he saw the man in front of him, who was probably in his sixties, wearing glasses and looking at him with curiosity.

He had seen the person in front of him in the newspaper. Mr. Huo was also a famous Chinese medicine expert in Xinglin. He usually stayed in the southern region, but he didn't expect to come to Beijing.

"Are you the Doctor Xiao Wang that Xiao Lu praised so much?"

Mr. Huo looked at Wang Mengde and asked with a smile.

Without waiting for Wang Mengde to speak, he stretched out his hand and beckoned, "Come, come, let's take a look first."

Knowing his temper in his previous life, Wang Mengde didn't hesitate to sit down opposite him and took his pulse.

At first, Wang Mengde was very casual, but gradually, his brows began to frown.

"Doctor Xiao Wang, how am I feeling?"

Mr. Huo asked quickly when he saw him frowning.

"Mr. Huo, did you suffer from chest pain some time ago?"

Wang Mengde asked.

Although it was a question, the tone of the words was affirmative.

"Huh!" Mr. Huo looked at him in surprise, then turned to look at the staff next to him, wanting to know if it was his good friend Dean Lu who said that.

The staff shook their heads slightly, indicating that this matter was not disclosed by them.

After receiving this information, Mr. Huo stopped joking.

You know, only a few people knew about his illness. Unexpectedly, the young man in front of him revealed it when they met for the first time.

"Doctor Wang, isn't my illness cured now?"

(End of this chapter)