Chapter 73 – Other People’s Children

Zhang Jianshe strapped the basket of eggs to the back of his bicycle and placed the pork on the front handlebar, then carefully made his way to the research institute.

Even though the basket of eggs was cushioned with straw for shock absorption, he didn’t dare to let his guard down.

These were all for the comrades’ nutrition!

Inside the research institute, everyone was still waiting and hadn’t gone home yet, looking forward to Zhang Jianshe’s good news.

“Old Zhang’s back.”

“Quick, go help him.”

They saw Zhang Jianshe returning with goods through the window, and immediately knew it was meat and eggs. Everyone was overjoyed and rushed downstairs to welcome him.

“Careful, those are eggs,” Zhang Jianshe reminded them.

Once they heard that, everyone immediately moved carefully and gently.

They carried the meat and eggs back to their research room, closed the door, and then opened the bags and lifted the cloth covering the basket. The pork looked very fresh, mostly fatty cuts, which made them all quite excited.

As for the eggs—some of them were touching so many eggs for the first time in their lives.

“Let’s divide them up evenly! I’ll return any extra money to you. Originally, the meat and eggs cost 75 yuan, but I gave 80,” Zhang Jianshe explained to everyone.

If they didn’t want to split the extra 5 yuan, he didn’t mind covering it himself.

Sun Guowei spoke up, “Alright, let’s split it evenly.”

Of course, they wouldn’t let Zhang Jianshe pay for it himself. The extra 5 yuan made sense too. These days, meat at 1 yuan per jin and eggs at 5 cents each were expensive, but still very hard to buy.

Their salaries weren’t low; they could afford it.

“Yes! We should definitely split it evenly.”

Everyone present was an intellectual. None of them wanted to act petty. All were understanding and reasonable.

So, they began portioning the meat. They even had a knife ready.

Each person received about 4.2 jin of pork and 40 eggs, with any leftovers given to those with larger families. No one had any objections to this distribution plan.

After everyone happily took the meat and eggs home, Sun Guowei offered Zhang Jianshe a cigarette and asked, “Old Zhang, whose connection did you use? Will we be able to get more in the future?”

“Old Zhou’s son, Yimin. He’s working in procurement now. Don’t go spreading it around.”

Sun Guowei froze, completely surprised that it was Old Zhou’s son who had gotten them the meat and eggs.

Old Zhou used to work with them but had been discreetly transferred out recently due to organizational needs. They hadn’t asked where exactly, but could more or less guess.

“I remember he got in the newspaper recently for digging a pressure well,” Sun Guowei said.

“He might end up in the paper again in a few days.”

Sun Guowei was shocked and confused. “Why?”

“He’s come up with another invention. It’s called a solar stove…” Zhang Jianshe gave him a rough explanation.

After listening, Sun Guowei was convinced that the solar stove was totally feasible.

Other people’s kids, huh!

Thinking about how his own son couldn’t even pass his exams, Sun Guowei felt really depressed. How could the gap be so big? He and Old Zhou weren’t that different, yet their sons were worlds apart.

“If I remember correctly, isn’t Old Zhou’s kid dating your daughter Yanzi?”

Zhang Jianshe chuckled slyly.

“Damn it! You lucky bastard,” Sun Guowei cursed.

He had a daughter too—just one year older than Zhou Yimin.

They say an older girl is like a brick of gold. What’s one year?

Looking at Zhou Yimin’s two inventions, both seemed to have been created with his grandparents in mind. Clearly, that kid was filled with filial piety. With a character like that, never mind other abilities—just that alone would win over many elders.

…

That night, Master Gu brought two men to move several antique furniture pieces to the gate outside Courtyard No. 56.

“You two wait here. I’ll go find him,” Master Gu said.

“Alright, go ahead!”

The middle-aged man felt a bit dejected. At first, when he heard the buyer was a procurement agent, he had set a ridiculously high price, just waiting for the buyer to haggle.

Who knew the buyer wouldn’t even bargain and simply walked away.

As time passed, he couldn’t hold out any longer—his household was running out of food.

Taking these items to a consignment store would mean a huge loss, so unless absolutely necessary, he wasn’t willing to do that. Besides, he didn’t want money—he wanted food.

“Master, master…” Master Gu knocked on the door.

Zhou Yimin opened it, carrying a sack of sorghum over his shoulder and a small cloth bag in hand. Inside were five jin of cured sausage. He said to Master Gu, “Master Gu, please help me carry the other sack.”

“Alright!”

Eighty jin of sorghum, eighty jin of corn, and five jin of sausage—he traded them for six pieces of huánghuālì wood furniture.

Outside, the two men were waiting eagerly and rushed over as soon as they saw him.

“Comrade, may I take a look at the grain first?”

Zhou Yimin nodded. “Go ahead.”

The man opened the burlap sack and stirred his hand through the contents. He quickly assessed the quality of the corn kernels—very good. The man clearly hadn’t been cheated with inferior goods.

He did the same with the sack of sorghum.

Very satisfied.

As for the five jin of sausage, just one look and he quickly tightened the sack, afraid the aroma would escape.

“Thank you, comrade.” The father and son each shouldered a sack of grain, picked up the sausage, and snuck away stealthily.

“Master, want me to help carry the stuff inside?”

Zhou Yimin shook his head. “No need. Thank you again, Master Gu. I’ll prepare a small gift for you tomorrow. Please don’t refuse it.”

“Master, you’re too kind.”

After a pause, Zhou Yimin added, “Master Gu, would you mind calling over Brother Liáng and the others? I’ll have your grain ready tonight—no need to deal with crowds tomorrow.”

Dozens of yuan worth of grain was no small amount!

That’s right—the labor fee was paid in grain. The remaining hundred yuan was for materials, which he paid in cash.

The wages were paid in food.

All of it—sweet potatoes, potatoes, and sorghum. Quite a lot.

“Alright! I’ll go right away.” Master Gu hurried off.

As he watched Master Gu leave, Zhou Yimin immediately stored the furniture into his shop backpack.

He went back inside and sat for over half an hour before coming out again, bringing out five sacks of sweet potatoes, five sacks of potatoes, and two sacks of sorghum.

A while later, Master Gu returned with four laborers.

“Master Gu, here’s the 100 yuan—please take it.”

“Alright! Thank you, master.”

Master Gu didn’t even bother to count it. He trusted him completely. Besides, with his experience handling money, he could tell just by the feel—it was about right. No need to count in front of Zhou Yimin.

Their attention was all on those twelve sacks of grain.

“Each of you take a sack of sweet potatoes and a sack of potatoes home. Come to my place tomorrow to get 20 jin of sorghum,” Master Gu told Liáng Kuān and the others.

With those two sacks of food, if rationed wisely, they could last until the end of the year.

They all trusted Master Gu, and helped lift the two sacks of sorghum, plus one sack of sweet potatoes and one of potatoes, onto the cart.

“Master, I’ll help you push it.”

Master Gu waved him off. “You all just get yours home first. Don’t worry about me. I’ve got a cart—it’s much easier for me.”

This grain was much more expensive than market prices, but still far cheaper than on the black market. At least it was within their acceptable range.

(End of Chapter)