Chapter 237 Mid-Autumn Festival and Farmers
September 13, 1962.

Thursday.

The annual Mid-Autumn Festival is here again.

Early in the morning, Wang Mengde led his four children to do a few rounds of boxing. Then after breakfast, they hurried to the grocery store in Nanluoguxiang.

A few days ago, he specifically told Fatty Guo in advance to help save some good ribs and pick them up this morning.

When I got to the grocery store, I found that there were a lot of people there today.

Come to think of it, when the Mid-Autumn Festival comes, even the poorest families will try their best to buy some good things for the sake of liveliness and good luck.

In addition to mooncakes, eating meat during festivals has also been a habit that the public has developed.

This resulted in grocery stores being packed with people inside and outside.

Moreover, at every moment, people were rushing over from all directions. When Wang Mengde saw this scene, he quickly stepped forward and lined up behind the team.

The grocery store was crowded with people, and everyone was eager to try, waving grocery books or various tickets in their hands.

Fatty Guo and two other colleagues who were temporarily transferred here to sell meat together, while cutting the meat, weighing it, and collecting money, they shouted loudly:

"Come one by one and line up. No one is allowed to cut in line. If anyone cuts in line, we won't sell to them."

They were not just trying to scare people. Some people had previously relied on their strong bodies to squeeze from the back of the team to the front.

As a result, the salesperson simply refused to sell the meat to him and even threatened him that if he dared to cut in line again, he would never be able to buy meat again.

The man's face turned red, but he dared not say anything. He had to go back to the end of the line and queue up again in shame.

In the middle of the line, Yan Bugui tightly grasped the meat ticket and money in his hands. He stood on tiptoe, stretched his neck, and stared through his glasses at the meat on the small plate woven with bamboo strips on the meat counter.

Since the supply of pork was resumed at the beginning of this year.

Due to the shortage of pork, the meat was sold out soon after the store opened every day.

This led to strong dissatisfaction among later people and even caused quite a stir.

So, various food companies and grocery stores started thinking and came up with a solution.

That is, the pork is divided into 2.5 liang (25 cents) portions, served in small bamboo plates, and each person queuing to buy is only allowed to buy one portion.

More people were able to buy meat, but it was only 25 cents per ounce. And in the end, many people still couldn't buy it.

In this situation, food companies and grocery stores are powerless. In an era of material scarcity, if you don't get up early and queue up, you deserve not to eat meat.

Soon, it was Yan Bugui's turn.

His little eyes moved back and forth between the small bamboo plates on the counter.

Then, under the impatient urging of the salesperson, he said loudly: "Comrade, I want this plate.

By the way, my family is large, can I buy an extra plate? I have meat tickets."

As he said this, he pointed directly to the plate at the back and waved the pork tickets and money in his hand.

"Each person can only buy one plate, and you can't choose. You have to take them in order."

The salesperson said impatiently, "Do you want it or not? Hurry up and leave. Don't delay the people behind you from buying meat."

At this time, the people queuing behind heard this and started to make a noise.

"The guy wearing glasses in front, are you going to buy it or not? If not, get out of here and don't waste everyone's time."

"Yes, hurry up, we'll be busy when we get back later."

"If you don't leave, we'll take you out."

Everyone threatened at once.

Pushing the frame of his glasses, Yan Bugui was not at all panicked by what others said because he had an acquaintance.

"Xiao Guo, Xiao Guo."

He shouted loudly to Fatty Guo who was busy cutting meat.

When Fatty Guo heard someone calling him, he immediately stopped what he was doing, then raised his head and took a closer look. He found that the skinny middle-aged man in front of him looked very familiar.

After a brief recollection, he remembered that it was the neighbor of his good friend Wang Mengde.

I used to often go out with Wang Mengde, and as time went by, I got to know a lot of people in Yard 95.

He was deeply impressed by this person.

"Uncle, hello."

Fatty Guo greeted them and prepared to continue cutting the meat.

Because it is Mid-Autumn Festival today, there are extra many people coming to buy meat. The superiors have taken this situation into consideration, so they have sent twice as many pigs.

He and two other colleagues started working at four in the morning.

"Well, Xiao Guo, can you let me buy an extra portion of meat? I'll give you a meat ticket."

Seeing him lower his head, Yan Bugui spoke hurriedly.

This time, the other two salesmen behind him saw that he was familiar with Fatty Guo, so they stopped urging him.

"Haha, uncle, today is a festival and everyone is here to buy meat. We may not even have enough pork. I'm sorry."

Fatty Guo felt a little annoyed, and if there weren't so many people around, he would have almost turned his lips in front of them.

The two of them didn't have much interaction before. At most, when he went to Wang Mengde, they would meet and take care of each other.

Moreover, he felt a little unhappy that such a request was made in front of so many people.

After saying a few casual words, he pretended to be busy, turned around and started to clean half a rack of ribs.

The salesperson who was temporarily seconded was also a shrewd man. Judging from the situation, the two of them were probably just nodding acquaintances at most and did not have much friendship.

So he continued to urge: “Hurry up, buy it or not.”

"I'll buy it. I'll buy it."

Seeing that Fatty Guo was no longer paying attention to him, Yan Bugui hurriedly counted the ticket and money in his hand carefully three times, and then, under the angry glares of the people behind him, he squeezed out with the piece of meat weighing two taels and five cents.

Looking at the people flowing in and out of the store, if I don’t buy it this time, I probably won’t be able to buy even the bones later.

Wait until Wang Mengde queued up and entered the grocery store.

The pork happened to be sold out.

Although the most difficult three years have passed, the impact it caused cannot be eliminated in a short period of time.

Even though there are a little more supplies on the market this year, the population base is there, and if you average out one point, there won't be much left.

Take pigs raised in rural areas as an example.

Because the social workers were not allowed to raise pigs privately, the part raised by the commune team was completely a drop in the bucket.

In addition to the lack of feed, many wild grasses and vegetables have been eaten up, which has also resulted in the pigs not being able to gain weight and meet the standards for being slaughtered.

Therefore, although the country has been making its best efforts to adjust the supply, there is still a severe shortage of pork on the market.

"The pork is sold out, don't queue up."

Putting the last piece of lean meat into a small plate woven from bamboo strips, Fatty Guo shouted loudly to the team.

After hearing his words, the people who had formed a long queue behind him but had to go back empty-handed felt very unwilling and dissatisfied.

There were immediate protests.

All kinds of nasty words came out.

We can’t buy meat at this time, so today on Mid-Autumn Festival, the family can’t eat meat.

Thinking of the elderly and children at home who were looking forward to it, many people even started cursing.

Seeing that the people in the queue did not leave for a long time, he cursed himself instead.

Fatty Guo, who was standing by the butcher block with his chest and back exposed and looking arrogant, suddenly became unhappy. He threw the butcher knife in his hand onto the butcher block with a "clang" and shouted loudly:
"You keep swearing, keep swearing? If you keep swearing, I'll tear your mouth apart!"

"I'm going to scold you! Where did the meat go?"

"Where did the meat go? I ate it! I ate several pigs by myself! What do you think? If you have the guts, jump to the sky. If you have the guts, go and curse me!"

Seeing the quarrel, many people who were buying other things in the grocery store also gathered around. They probably knew that quarreling would not help, and they also understood that the lack of meat was not Guo Pangzi's fault.

After a few words, most people left with sad faces.

They were all thinking about where to get some meat so that they could celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival.

When almost everyone around had left, Wang Mengde slowly came to the butcher shop. He said to Fatty Guo, who was still angry:

"Fatty, don't be angry. It's not worth it."

"Hey, Meng De, you are here."

Fatty Guo, who was originally angry, immediately smiled when he saw it was him.

He quickly took off the apron hanging around his neck, put on some clothes at random, and then whispered a few words to the other two people.

Then he winked at Wang Mengde and walked out of the back door of the grocery store.

Wang Mengde also received the signal, walked quickly out of the grocery store, and went to a small alley on the side to wait.

Less than a minute later, Fatty Guo appeared in front of him.

He was holding a bag in his hand.

"Meng De, here are three pounds of prime ribs. I picked them off a fat pig early in the morning. There's still a lot of meat left."

"Thanks, Fatty."

Wang Mengde reached out to take the bag and said casually.

After saying that, he opened the bag and looked inside, and saw that the prime rib had been chopped into small pieces.

Moreover, the meat left on top is almost the same as in the previous life.

This is a very rare thing.

You know, there is very little meat on the ribs these days.

Generally, it will be cleaned thoroughly. To put it in an exaggerated way, if a fly stands on it, it will slip.

It is because of their relationship that Fatty Guo left so much meat on the ribs.

"Meng De, I can actually save two pounds of top-quality pork belly for you."

Fatty Guo said in a low voice.

He thought Wang Mengde didn't ask for pork belly but pork ribs, and he didn't want to make things difficult for him.

"Haha, Fatty, I have pork belly at home, but I've been craving for spare ribs lately. Next time I need meat, I'll come to you."

Wang Mengde said with a smile.

Then, he carefully took out a few bottles of 'Palace Emperor Pills' from his pocket.

"Fatty, tell Uncle Guo about these medicines and use them sparingly. In two months, I'll give you a few kilograms of tiger bone wine."

"Tiger bone wine? I'd really like to have a taste of it."

When he heard that Wang Mengde had made tiger bone wine, Fatty Guo's eyes lit up and he quickly spoke.

Back to the courtyard.

At this time, every household is preparing tonight's meal in advance.

The children were also playing happily in the yard and alleys, each holding a rabbit doll in their hands.

"Meng De, why did you buy so many ribs? You can't finish them in one meal."

Seeing him coming back with a bag, He Shengnan opened it and said in a low voice.

Now, she is no longer surprised that her man brings back some good things from time to time.

But it is mid-September and the weather is still a bit hot. If you buy pork and cannot finish it in one day, it will go bad the next day if you don’t store it in a refrigerator.

"Shengwu will come over in a while. I'll ask him to take half of it back. Oh, and I'll also give him a few of the mooncakes I brought back two days ago."

Wang Mengde also said in a low voice.

"Half is too much. I think I should just give him one pound."

He Shengnan said with some heartache.

These ribs are different from the ones people usually buy. There is a lot of meat left on them.

"It's okay. There are a lot of people over there. Give them half to satisfy their hunger."

"Okay, I'll divide it up in advance."

Seeing that Wang Mengde insisted, He Shengnan agreed.

She took a small bamboo basket, divided the ribs into halves, wrapped them in oil paper, then took out a few mooncakes from the cupboard and put them together.

Although this amount of stuff may not seem like much, if someone gives it as a gift, even if it's given to the future mother-in-law's family by a date, it will definitely be very popular.

night.

A table full of sumptuous meals, as well as moon cakes, five-poison cakes, and rose cakes, made the children eat so much that their mouths were greasy and their bellies were full.

Not only Wang Mengde's family, but most families in the capital city try their best to eat well and have enough food today.

Some families even prepare two or three months in advance. In order to have more meat to eat, they save the meat coupons until now.

the next day.

As soon as I arrived at the Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine, I was notified that the superior leader was coming and would go to the conference room for a meeting.

Wang Mengde felt a little strange, wondering if the leader came here at this time because of some important matter.

He hadn't heard of any major events in the research institute in the past few days, and apart from his recent research on a way to treat butterfly sores, he had no other new results.

In the conference room.

After everyone arrived.

The superior leader looked at Wang Mengde deliberately, and then said with a smile:
"Comrades, this time I came here mainly to visit the institute for research, and by the way, I want to have a discussion with you."

"We welcome leaders to come to our institute to guide our work."

Dean Lu continued with a smile.

We chatted for more than an hour and had already drunk two cups of tea. The leader ended the investigation after asking about everyone's work and difficulties.

Out of the conference room.

At this time, the leader was only accompanied by a few deans and vice deans, as well as Wang Mengde.

"I came here this time for another thing, which is to inform everyone of a good news.

You also know that the 'Palace Emperor Pills' developed by Comrade Wang Mengde are very popular abroad.

However, due to problems with raw materials, production has not been able to increase.

Three years ago, after coordination from higher authorities, many traditional Chinese medicine growing areas increased the proportion of their business households.

By this summer, the problem of raw material shortage was finally solved to a large extent.

Although only a third of the month has passed, the sales of 'Gongting Emperor Pills' are almost on par with last month."

The superior leader said happily.

In fact, this is the main purpose of his visit this time.

This era.

Farmers in rural areas are called "agricultural households" and residents with urban household registration are called "supply households."

In rural cash crop areas, since they do not produce grain, they also need to buy their food rations at grain stations and will be issued a supply card different from that of urban households.

Just don't call it a 'business farmer'.

'Economic farmers' are actually half a level higher than 'agricultural households' and have more protection.

(End of this chapter)