I Have A Store C13

Chapter 13: The Sika Deer

Zhou Yimin thanked the neighbors in the courtyard and then went home to fetch 20 pounds of sorghum for Second Aunt. In addition, he also brought out the remaining eggs and the cabbages that had been stored at home.

Master Gu and his team consisted of five people. Since they were doing heavy labor, they had to be well-fed.

According to the current food rationing system, a heavy laborer needed about a pound of grain per day. But in these times, getting a full pound of grain to eat was nearly impossible.

Even Third Uncle in the backyard, who swung a sledgehammer every day, at most got 8 ounces of grain per day. If he ate more, what would the rest of the family eat?

In reality, if they could eat as much as they wanted, they could easily consume two pounds a day, not to mention just one. In this era, food lacked oil and fat, so people naturally ate more. Unlike later generations, where many people would feel full after just a small bowl of food.

Since Master Gu and his team only ate one meal at noon, Zhou Yimin allocated half a pound of grain per person—very generous and practical.

“You’re feeding them this well?” Second Aunt exclaimed in surprise.

Although sorghum wasn’t as good as rice, it was still a decent grain that was filling. Zhou Yimin was giving each renovation worker half a pound per meal, plus eggs and cabbage?

Even her own family didn’t dare to eat like that!

She was almost tempted to send her eldest son to learn renovation work.

Zhou Yimin laughed, “I have to at least make sure the workers are full, right?”

Twenty pounds should be enough—four pounds per person, half a pound per day, enough for eight days. In eight days, the work should be about done. He would check with Master Gu to confirm.

Before long, Master Gu arrived with his team, carrying tools and some materials.

Zhou Yimin went up to greet them and handed out cigarettes to each of them.

“Master Gu, I’ll be counting on you guys. You’ll be eating at Second Aunt’s place at noon. It won’t be anything fancy, but I’ll make sure everyone gets enough to eat. And once the job is done, I’ll treat everyone to some meat.”

Master Gu and his team all smiled. “As long as we get enough to eat, that’s good enough. Thank you, Boss!”

In these tough times, just being able to eat enough was already a luxury—who expected anything fancy? Besides, their employer had even promised to treat them to meat after the job was done.

Meat!

Just the thought of it made some of them swallow their saliva. It had been a month or two since they last had any.

This boss was truly generous, unlike some stingy employers who even counted out pickled vegetables by the piece, acting like giving an extra one would cost them their life’s savings.

“How long will the work take?” Zhou Yimin asked.

Master Gu thought for a moment. “About a week, no more than ten days at most.”

Zhou Yimin nodded in understanding.

After exchanging a few more pleasantries, Master Gu and his team got to work. Zhou Yimin watched for a while before stepping aside to avoid disturbing them.

At noon, Zhou Yimin took his ration coupons and went to eat at a state-owned restaurant, skipping the factory cafeteria.

He didn’t travel through time just to eat coarse grains and suffer—he would enjoy life where he could, as long as he didn’t go overboard.

Just as the rumors said, the restaurant staff had a completely indifferent attitude. If this kind of service existed in later times, the restaurant wouldn’t last two months before going out of business.

But Zhou Yimin didn’t see the legendary sign that read: “Do not assault customers without reason.”

In reality, that phrase became popular in state-owned restaurants in Beijing and Tianjin during the 1980s.

At this time, fights between restaurant staff and customers were still common.

After the founding of the country, social classes were reshuffled, and with the people now in charge, the service industry was affected. As a result, service attitudes tended to be poor.

For example, if you couldn’t find chopsticks, the staff wouldn’t hand them to you. You’d have to ask politely, “Excuse me, where are the chopsticks?”

If a customer acted arrogant just because they had money, they might not even get to eat—the meal could turn into a brawl involving waiters and even the cooks.

Meanwhile, at Second Aunt’s house, Master Gu and his team were eating, praising their employer’s generosity.

“Everyone, make sure to do a good job,” Master Gu reminded his workers.

“Master, you don’t need to say it—we know what to do.”

A boss this generous wasn’t easy to come by.

After eating, Zhou Yimin returned to the courtyard just in time to run into Third Uncle, who had just come back with the metal parts he had forged.

“Yimin, here’s what you asked for. Check them over.”

Zhou Yimin inspected the parts and found no issues.

“Thanks, Third Uncle. I forgot to ask Master Chen whether he wanted fresh or dried meat.”

“Either should be fine. At this point, having any meat at all is good enough—who can afford to be picky?” Third Uncle chuckled.

“Third Uncle, wait here for a bit—I’ll be right back.”

Thinking about how much people craved meat, Zhou Yimin decided to buy two and a half pounds of fatty pork from the store, with a higher fat content.

He didn’t keep Third Uncle waiting long and soon returned with the meat.

Seeing the thick layers of fat, Third Uncle couldn’t help but feel envious.

This was the dream “meat” for many people.

Taking the meat, Third Uncle hurried back to the steel factory and handed it to Old Chen.

Old Chen was overjoyed at the sight of the two pounds of meat, grinning so much that wrinkles formed on his forehead.

His family hadn’t eaten meat in nearly two months. He was lucky—yesterday, the cafeteria had some wild boar meat. Even though he only got a few shreds, it was still something.

“Old Yang, if you come across another deal like this, don’t forget me.”

Third Uncle rolled his eyes.

Meanwhile, Zhou Yimin, who had just gotten his hands on a hand-cranked water pump and drill rod, was about to head back to Zhoujia Village when he spotted a few young men from the village. Some were driving ox carts, others pushing wheelbarrows, acting very sneaky.

“Wangcai, what are you guys doing in town?”

“Sixteenth Uncle, we caught a deer! Look…”

Zhou Yimin glanced over.

Goodness! A sika deer!

If this were the modern era, these guys would be looking at a solid ten years in jail.

The deer weighed over a hundred pounds—a full-grown adult.

“Where are the antlers?” Zhou Yimin asked.

The blood was gone—that was expected. After killing the deer, they had to drain the blood quickly. Deer blood was highly nutritious, a real shame to lose it.

Besides the blood, deer antlers were valuable medicinal ingredients. Had they chopped them off?

“The antlers didn’t fit in the bag, so we cut them off. They’re at my house. Sixteenth Uncle, do you want them?”

“Of course! I’ll pick them up when we get back to the village. By the way, what happened to you guys?” Zhou Yimin noticed their bruised and swollen faces.

Did they really get beaten up while hunting a deer? Were they that incompetent?

Zhou Dafu and the others looked embarrassed.

“Our families did it,” they finally admitted, hesitating.

When their families found out they had gone into the mountains, they were beaten without question.

Zhou Yimin: “…”

The silence was deafening.

After a moment, he asked, “Are you looking to sell the deer for cash, or do you want food in exchange?”

He certainly wouldn’t turn down anything that benefited Zhoujia Village.

“We want food, but not just sweet potatoes this time. Is there anything else?”

Before they left, the village elder had specifically instructed them to get food.

If they had hunted the deer in secret, they could have split it among themselves. But since others knew about it, it had to go to the collective—no room for discussion.

“Potatoes,” Zhou Yimin suggested.

Potatoes were cheap, slightly pricier than sweet potatoes at 2 cents per pound. For this sika deer, he could exchange it for 4,000 pounds of potatoes.

“Alright, potatoes it is.”

Eating nothing but sweet potatoes made them fart too much.

(End of Chapter)