Chapter 66 He Shengnan's Concerns
time flies.

It has been two months since the implementation of the food coupon policy. At present, except for a few families, this policy has not had much impact on most families.

Of course, the time with the greatest impact is the early morning of the 24th of every month.

Since the monthly ration of food would basically run out by the end of the month, after the food coupons were issued, almost every family would go to the food store early on that day to queue up to buy food.

On January 1, around four in the morning, it was freezing cold.

At this time, at the door of the grain store in Nanluoguxiang, Wang Mengde wrapped his cotton coat around himself, tightened the flour bag in his hand, and yawned loudly.

In front of him stood Sha Zhu and Xu Damao. It was a rare sight for them to stand together and they didn't start fighting.

Behind him, Yan Bugui and Jia Dongxu, their faces turning blue from the cold, squatted on the ground, nodding their heads in sleepiness. Behind them, many neighbors in the yard were also queuing up.

Originally, Wang Mengde could buy food in the space, so he wouldn’t have to queue up in the cold winter.

But he remembered a news report he had read in his previous life, in which a spy was reported by the masses because he used different toilet paper than others. So he had no choice but to follow the crowd and follow the people in the yard to the door of the grain store to endure the cold.

Finally, it was almost six o'clock.

Although it was still dark, the staff at the grain store had already started work early.

The Nanluoguxiang Grain Store is responsible for the sale of grain to more than 2,000 households and tens of thousands of residents in the area. It has a total of ten employees, including a director, a register clerk, two cashiers, and six grain payers.

The director used the key to open the door of the grain store. Wang Mengde and others lined up at the front and followed him into the house.

In the grain store, there is a row of counters, and behind the counters are a row of noodle cabinets or rice cabinets, as well as cabinets for coarse grains such as cornmeal.

Several staff members hurriedly changed into white coats and began standing behind the counter to prepare to sell grain.

Wang Mengde took out the grain book from his cotton coat and handed it to the registrar, asking the registrar to check whether it was from this area and how much grain could be purchased according to the book.

After the registrar has verified that everything is correct, he will write down in the grain book how many kilograms of grain were purchased on a certain day of a certain month of a certain year, and record in detail the ratio of coarse and fine grains.

After writing, Wang Mengde handed the grain coupons and the money he had counted in advance to the cashier, and finally came to the grain payer, waiting for the grain payer to help him weigh the money.

The grain payee would use an iron dustpan to scoop grain from the cabinet according to the type of grain he wanted to buy, and then put it on the scale to weigh it. If there was too much or not enough, he would use a small iron scoop to add or subtract grain from the dustpan.

"Comrade, quickly take a bag of flour and put it under this funnel. Be careful not to let go." After weighing the flour, the grain payer pointed at the iron funnel on the cabinet and said to Wang Mengde.

"Okay, please wait a moment." Wang Mengde said as he hurriedly opened the flour bag and placed it under the funnel.

Seeing that he was ready, the grain payee poured the weighed flour into the funnel, and then tapped the funnel gently to prevent the flour from sticking to the wall of the funnel.

Wang Mengde had just tied up the flour bag when he heard a loud "bang bang" sound coming from the side.

When he turned around, he saw Jia Dongxu, holding the flour bag with one hand and hitting the funnel hard with the other hand.

"Stop it, you broke the funnel."

On the other side, the grain payee saw that the funnel was dented by the blow and looked distressed. He grabbed Jia Dongxu's arm and yelled.

"Let go quickly. It's obviously your funnel that is not strong enough, but now you blame me." Jia Dongxu's face turned red, and he tried hard to shake off the grain payee's hand, but unfortunately he failed.

"Hey, you still want to deny it. If you don't compensate us for the funnel today, your family will never be able to buy food in the future."

Seeing that he wanted to deny it, the grain payer threatened him directly.

"You..." Jia Dongxu wanted to argue, but thinking about having to buy food every month, he dared not to be stubborn. He whispered, "I don't have money. I just bought food." At this time, Yi Zhonghai, who was not far behind him, stepped forward and said with a smile, "Comrade, I'm sorry, he broke the funnel. I will help him pay for it."

As he said this, he reached into his pocket and took out some money.

At the same time, he began to show a bit of hesitation in his heart, wondering whether investing in Jia Dongxu was the right choice. Unfortunately, the hospital had not found any other better candidates for retirement care.

Seeing that someone was willing to compensate, the grain payer put down his hand. He took the money and said, "It's a bargain for you. I only ask you to pay for the funnel, not the loss of work."

After all the neighbors in the yard had bought food, they all walked out of the grain store with their bags on their backs.

When he went out and passed by the long queue outside, Wang Mengde heard someone muttering from time to time: We have to get up in the middle of the night to queue up in the future.

It seems that it will be difficult to buy grain on the 24th in the future. In the end, maybe some people will line up at the door of the grain store after dinner the night before.

He hurried to Yuer Hutong, divided half of the grain into the flour jar, and then hurried back to No. 95 Yard.

It was already around seven o'clock, and He Shengnan had already gone out to work. There was breakfast left for him in the pot on the stove.

In the evening, after dinner.

Wang Mengde told her what happened in the grain store this morning.

"Jia Dongxu is really stubborn. He causes trouble and has no ability to solve it." He Shengnan shook her head.

"They brought this upon themselves. Don't be too sympathetic." Seeing his wife's face full of emotion, Wang Mengde quickly warned her.

"Don't worry, how could I possibly sympathize with them? Jia Dongxu and his mother deserved their bad luck." He Shengnan said with a smile, and then she said with a look of disdain:

"Sister Qin gave birth to a daughter last month. Although her mother-in-law didn't say anything in front of others, she looked frighteningly ugly every day, and her usual behavior also reflected her attitude.

On the second day after giving birth, she actually bought three taels of sesame oil. I heard that after the confinement period, there was still more than one tael of sesame oil left, and this was the result of her whole family eating it.

Even eggs, I only cook two or three for Sister Qin every day, and I don’t feel guilty about it.”

After saying this, he still looked indignant.

"It's no surprise that the Jia family would do such a thing," Wang Mengde added.

The two chatted for a while, and seeing that it was getting late, Wang Mengde held her hand and said, "Don't talk about other people's affairs. We should do something big."

He Shengnan rolled her eyes at him, knowing what he was talking about, and quickly went into the bedroom and started making the bed.

More than an hour later, He Shengnan smelled a fishy smell in her mouth and couldn't help but dry heave.

"Shengnan, what's wrong with you?"

"I don't know, I just feel a little nauseous." Then he began to dry heave again.

When she finally stopped retching, Wang Mengde's heart was pounding. He took his wife's hand and began to take her pulse.

Slowly, his expression began to become uncertain.

"Meng De, am I okay?" He Shengnan was startled. She looked worried and asked hurriedly.

Wang Mengde didn't say anything, but shook his head, then nodded, and continued to close his eyes and take his pulse.

(End of this chapter)