Chapter 306: Government Distributes Soybeans

After Factory Director Hu brought Lao Huang and his team to the office, they quickly got down to business.

The leading man promptly spoke up, “Factory Director Hu, we’ve come to the steel plant this time with a mission: we need your plant to produce special-grade steel that meets specific requirements.”

As soon as Factory Director Hu heard “special-grade steel,” he understood the seriousness of the matter. Still, he was quite confident in the plant’s technical capabilities, so he immediately said, “Comrade, not to brag, but our steelmaking here is among the best in the country.”

The leader didn’t stand on ceremony either. “Special-grade steel has high demands — we need high strength and excellent corrosion resistance.”

The more Hu listened, the more shocked he became. Steel of that strength wasn’t something any plant in the country could just produce. To be honest, he couldn’t guarantee that his plant could take on the job.

“This kind of high-strength steel? Our plant can’t produce it right now. If we were to try, it would take a period of trial and error to develop it.”

Lao Huang and the others understood the difficulty of producing special-grade steel. They were split into multiple groups, and this plant wasn’t the only one. Several of the top steel factories in the country were also receiving visits.

They didn’t plan to stay long here and were getting ready to leave. After all, solving the issue with the magnetoelectric sensor was already a big hurdle.

When Factory Director Hu heard they were preparing to leave, he was overjoyed. If they stuck around long-term and it turned out the special steel could be produced, he’d constantly be on edge, afraid they’d snatch away Zhou Yimin.

After successfully developing the magnetoelectric sensor, Zhou Yimin didn’t stay on at the plant. He hadn’t even returned to the village to visit his grandparents — the rest wasn’t his concern anymore.

Upon returning to the village, Zhou Yimin heard that soybeans were being distributed for free. Starting the next day, the commune would be sending people to distribute them to the villages under its jurisdiction — no need to go to the commune to collect them.

Zhou Yimin was surprised.

What was going on?

Something this good — soybeans handed out for free?

Given how tough things were across the country, with the national grain reserves already tight… even if soybeans weren’t a staple, they were still food!

As everyone knows, soybeans originated in China and are cultivated across the country, as well as widely around the world.

They’re rich in dietary fiber, which helps with digestion, stimulates bowel movements, prevents constipation, and speeds up the expulsion of waste from the body.

The old man was curious too. “Yimin, why do you think the government is distributing soybeans? Doesn’t seem all that useful. Wouldn’t distributing other coarse grains be better?”

Although soybeans are a type of grain, they’re not something you can really eat as a meal. How many soybeans would it take to fill someone up?

Zhou Yimin replied, “Actually, they’re quite useful. Soybeans promote bowel movements. Right now, there are a lot of people across the country barely surviving by eating Guanyin clay. But long-term consumption of that stuff causes constipation — some people end up dying from it, literally holding it in.”

“And those who are already too weak from hunger, lying in bed waiting to die… if they have soybeans ground into soy milk and drink it for a few days straight, they can come back from the brink of death,” he added.

He had just learned this from the old village secretary when he returned. At first, Zhou Yimin was confused too, unsure of the reasoning behind it all. But after the old secretary explained, he quickly understood.

The old man nodded slightly. As someone who had farmed all his life, how could he not know the uses of soybeans?

It’s just that in recent days, under the care of his eldest grandson, the Zhou family in Zhoujiazhuang hadn’t had to eat dirt or face starvation.

So he hadn’t realized how bad things were elsewhere.

In fact, no one in Zhoujiazhuang had thought about going hungry.

They couldn’t say they were eating well lately, but at least they weren’t starving.

Early the next morning, Zhou Yimin saw the villagers lining up to collect soybeans. As soon as people heard something free was being given out, they tried to bring every container they had at home, hoping they could get a little more.

Even though Zhoujiazhuang wasn’t lacking grain, free stuff was always appealing.

It wasn’t just Zhoujiazhuang — other villages were the same.

In Qingxi Village, not far from Zhoujiazhuang, the entire village initially surged forward in a frenzy. It wasn’t until commune workers shouted at them that they started lining up properly.

The first person in line held four or five burlap sacks.

A commune worker asked, “What’s your name? How many people in your household?”

“I’m Wang Damin. There are six people in my household,” he answered honestly.

The worker took a bamboo scoop and dug about six scoops from the sack of soybeans. The scoops weren’t large — one scoop was roughly a jin, so six scoops meant six jin.

“Next!”

Wang Damin didn’t even have time to react before he was pushed aside by the person behind him. Only then did he realize bringing all those sacks was pointless — who could six jin of soybeans possibly feed?

Some people, seeing that each person only got a jin, started thinking of ways to lie about the number of household members to get more.

When it was Wang Daan’s turn, he spoke before the staff could even ask: “I’ve got twelve people in my household.”

But in truth, he only had eight — he just wanted to lie and get more.

Others in the line didn’t expose him. They were curious if it would work — if it did, they’d try it too.

However, the commune staff checked the records and immediately called him out: “Wang Daan, your household has only eight people. Where’d the twelve come from? What, is your wife suddenly pregnant with quadruplets?”

“If you try this again, your portion will be halved.”

Then they scooped him six portions and sternly said, “Next!”

Everyone else who heard that immediately dropped any sneaky ideas they had. They were afraid that lying might mean they’d only get half as much.

Zhoujiazhuang villagers were more disciplined — maybe because they’d been doing relatively well recently.

No one lied about household size. They lined up and collected their soybeans in an orderly fashion.

Only Zhoujiazhuang and Shangshui Village had good order.

Then came Shuangtian Village — though some people there still lied about numbers. Understandable though; after all, not every household in Shuangtian Village had someone working in Zhoujiazhuang or at the commune. Those who did could at least feed themselves.

In some other villages, fights broke out over soybeans — but were quickly shut down with scoldings.

(End of Chapter)