bestfiction Chapter 226 "He Yuzhu" 30
Chapter 226 "He Yuzhu" 30
After the families in the courtyard received food, the people in the courtyard all looked better. It was impossible for them to return to normal, but they were no longer as thin as "paper dolls" and had more energy when they spoke and did things.
The changes were most noticeable in Jia Dongxu because he had the weakest constitution; even a slight increase in his intake resulted in immediate effects.
After hearing He Yuzhu's words that day, Jia Dongxu dared not neglect himself anymore. He became more careful at work every day. He couldn't afford to get into trouble. If something happened to him, the Jia family would be in real trouble.
For most of the nights in 61, He Yuzhu used his spiritual power to wander throughout Beijing. When he encountered families who were truly destitute, he would use his spiritual power to secretly leave some corn kernels and sweet potatoes. The families who received the gifts would only secretly thank the gods and Buddhas and their own ancestors, and no one would say a word about it.
Wangjia Village didn't have to worry. Since the famine began, the village militia guarded the entrances to the mountains surrounding each village. After sweet potatoes and potatoes were discovered on the mountains, the village chief required that new ones be planted every year after the mature ones were dug up. Sweet potatoes, in particular, could be planted by inserting vines. So, although there wasn't enough to eat, the people of Wangjia Village didn't starve to death, and the surrounding villages were in similar situations.
He Daqing and Wang Dahe would occasionally send some fine grains back, so the Wang family's life wasn't too difficult.
In 62, Qin Huairu gave birth to a small, thin baby girl in the hospital. Because it was springtime when locust flowers were in full bloom, she named her Huaihua (meaning "locust flower").
This year's weather is not like the previous years. The weather has become noticeably more favorable, and even the wild vegetables in spring are much more plentiful than in the past two years. People are hoping that God will be kind to them and that this year will be a bumper harvest.
After the autumn harvest, market supply began to recover slowly, and people's smiles became more frequent. Although they were still as thin as "matchstick figures," their spirits were different. Now, people's eyes were no longer lifeless, but full of hopeful light.
The sounds of children playing and adults scolding each other echoed through the courtyard once again.
Thanks to that batch of grain, Jia Dongxu safely survived his "death calamity." After the grain supply was restored, Jia Zhangshi also returned to her lazy and gluttonous nature, and even more so. By the time of the Spring Festival in 63, she had gained dozens of kilograms in just a few months and became the most "prosperous" person in the courtyard.
The second one is Liu Haizhong. He is very muscular, but he has gained weight in middle age and has some extra fat. However, he is still strong overall.
Yushui will be a senior in college this fall. She's a tall and thin girl, and during the most crucial years of her development, she encountered those kinds of circumstances. In recent years, she has also been living at school from time to time. The little nutrition she gets at home is used up after just one week at school, and she's grown as thin as a stick.
Fortunately, she's about to start her internship, and He Yuzhu decided to give her a good make-up exam after she starts. Yushui majored in accounting in college, and after graduation, she will most likely be assigned to work in a government-related unit.
College graduates are a scarce resource these days, and most are assigned to work in their hometowns after graduation. Before graduation, employers in various regions communicate with schools in advance to recruit them, and teachers also communicate with students beforehand to arrange suitable placements.
As for the treatment of college graduates, it goes without saying that their internship salary was higher than that of many frontline workers upon retirement. Not to mention that after becoming a full-time employee, their salary would increase year by year with seniority and position, and they would sit in an office every day with relatively easy work. In that era, getting into college was truly like "a carp leaping over the dragon gate."
When Yu Shui was admitted to university, even though it was 59 and resources were scarce, He Daqing still used all sorts of connections to get ingredients and held a banquet in the courtyard. This was definitely "bringing glory to the ancestors". Judging from He Daqing's state, He Yuzhu didn't dare to stop him at the time!
Now, everyone in the entire Nanluoguxiang neighborhood knows He Jiayushui. They use him as a role model when educating their children and chatting with relatives and friends. This has become something that Nanluoguxiang residents can brag about.
Fortunately, people's attention shifted to food later on, and Yushui also started living at school. Otherwise, Yushui would have been restless at home for a while. Every day, people from the neighborhood would come over to chat and ask Yushui to touch their children, saying that they wanted to get some "literary star" luck. This was part of the reason why Yushui often lived at school throughout his university years.
During the worst of the famine, many students stopped attending classes. At the worst time, primary and junior high schools were closed. The He family had Wang Dahe, He Yuzhu, and Yushui who came back every week to keep an eye on things, so they didn't lose their knowledge.
The other children in the orphanage were not so good. This group of children had problems with their knowledge from the very beginning. The children who came after them didn't last long. Starting in 66, learning depended entirely on self-discipline. Teachers dared not criticize the students. Apart from a very few studious children, the rest were really left to fate.
Xu Damao only switched jobs with Xu Fugui this year. His wife gave birth to a son as their first child, and the name she gave him was very down-to-earth, Xu Zhuang. Originally, Xu Damao wanted to switch jobs with Xu Fugui, but later, due to the problem of food supply, there was no surplus grain in the countryside.
Xu Fugui had been working in the countryside for so many years and knew the people there better. In order to ensure that his eldest grandson had a better food supply, he endured the hardship for a few more years. Only when things got better this year did he switch jobs with Xu Damao.
No one knows what connections he used or how he did it, but after changing jobs, just like in the TV series and fan fiction, he was allocated another house and moved there with his wife and Xu Xiaoling, leaving only Xu Damao's family of three in the courtyard.
As long as there are no major grudges between neighbors, life goes on peacefully, with the most common occurrences being someone's unlucky child getting into a fight or making a fool of themselves, and time flies by.
Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, it was 65 years. Yu Shui met a boyfriend at her workplace. He was from a working-class family, similar to the He family. He had two brothers; his father worked in a textile factory, and his mother worked in a supply and marketing cooperative. Her boyfriend was the second son in his family. The eldest son worked in the textile factory's transportation team, was already married, and had two sons.
At the time, the groom's family was considered to be better off than the He family. However, He Yushui was a college student, which made her far superior to other girls. In addition, she was beautiful and tall. The He family was also well-off and would not be a burden to her. The groom's family did not have any ambition to marry into a higher social class. Since their daughter-in-law worked at the same company as their son, it would be easier to arrange housing in the future. Therefore, the groom's family was very satisfied with Yushui.