1980 My Entertainment Era

Chapter 12 The Sun Sets

There were many people in Dachun's courtyard, so it took some time, but soon Old Sun arrived at Xia Tian's house.

He scribbled on Xia Tian's grain book and wrote something in the same handwriting as the doctor's prescription, then counted out the grain coupons and handed them to Xia Tian.

"You're home alone again today?"

"My parents haven't gotten off work yet. How's your health lately?"

"It's OK, everything is fine..."

After chatting for a while, Old Sun left.

Xia Tian just did some homework and started cooking.

After a while, both parents came home from get off work.

Because she lives close to home, Xia's mother rides a Fei Ge bicycle to and from get off work every day. This bicycle is made by a factory in Tianjin.

As for Dad Xia’s bicycle, he usually rides it in the summer when he has nothing to do.

Dad Xia works at Shougang in Shijingshan, which is a bit far to get there by bike, so he got a monthly bus pass for 5 yuan.

Dad Xia looked at the food coupons and praised Xia Tian.

Mother Xia uses a small notebook to record the family’s food situation.

You really have to count your food these days. If you eat too much, you might have to eat porridge at the end of the month.

The family conditions are pretty good in the summer, but the material supplies available are not very sufficient.

In order to cook an egg for Xia Tian every day, Dad Xia has tried every possible means.

As for ordering milk and the like, it's a bit difficult.

Early the next morning.

Dad Xia took Xia Tian and pushed their bicycles to the nearby grain store to buy grain.

The grain store in the city was a very busy place. At the end or beginning of every month, citizens who had run out of food at home would line up in front of the grain store early.

Usually people start queuing at dawn!

After waiting in line for a long time, it was finally the father and son's turn. They first went to the ticket window to check the grain book, then paid the money to get the "grain delivery slip", and then went to a large room where grain was stored and waited for the grain seller to call their number to buy grain.

In the grain store, large wooden cabinets were lined up, filled with white flour, corn flour, brown rice, etc.

When buying food, you must hand the food book and food coupons respectfully to the salesperson.

Nowadays, salesmen are also called "bosses"~what about their service attitude!

There is a saying of "eight major members" these days, and there are many versions, but every version involves a salesperson.

Salespersons in grain stores, grocery stores, supply and marketing cooperatives, etc., have hidden benefits and very high social status.

"Zhang Hua was admitted to Yenching University; Li Ping entered a secondary technical school; and I worked as a salesperson in a department store: we all had bright futures." - Examples of sentences about colons from the 1998 revised edition of the Xinhua Dictionary.

This was no longer applicable in 98, but it is true now.

After collecting money and food coupons, the salesperson would open the notebook and write down strange numbers that most people could not understand.

Then, he skillfully scooped up the grain with an iron dustpan and placed it on the scale.

He shouted as usual: "Hold your sack tight! Pour it out!" Then he shook the iron dustpan just right and began to pour the grain through a large funnel.

Dad Xia tied the pocket carefully and handed it to Xia Tian.

Xia Tian carried a large bag of food and went home with the neighbors looking at him indifferently.

In addition to the grain book, every family also has a non-staple food book. But in reality, it can only be used to buy a few taels of peanuts, melon seeds, two catties of tofu, etc. during festivals.

As for meat tickets, they are even rarer.

In the summer, their family was already well off, as they could eat meat less than once a month. They were considered lucky if they added an extra spoonful of oil to the dishes.

The oil ticket is half a pound per person per month~
In recent years, grain, oil, meat, eggs, fish, bean products, etc., all require coupons, and the rations are small. Only green vegetables and Chinese cabbage do not require coupons, but they are difficult to buy.

Often, Xia Ma has to think about what vegetables to buy the next day and prepare the corresponding tickets and vouchers. Basically, every time she goes out to buy vegetables, she brings all the tickets with her, so that if one item is sold out, she can make an emergency adjustment.

Just think about it, it is an unimaginable miracle that we have been able to develop to the current level in forty years under such difficult circumstances!

Even if Xia Tian told others about this kind of thing, who would believe it? !
-

As time goes into September, the weather is getting hotter and hotter.

The huge sun hung in the sky, shining on everyone on the earth.

It's another weekend, and Xia Tian plans to go to Shougang for a meal.

After all, workers are now in the position of big brothers, and given the importance of Shougang, they are well treated.

In the summer, I can use Dad Xia’s meal tickets to improve my meal.

When I think of this, I feel my mouth watering. Life is really hard these days! I have to think of ways to improve it!
If you keep being so greedy, won’t you go crazy?

In order to have a meal, I rode my bike for 20 kilometers to Shougang in the summer.

Many people in the factory also know Xia Tian, ​​after all, Xia’s father is the head of the Propaganda Department.

Plus, Xia Tian was really eye-catching, about fifteen or sixteen years old, with handsome features that made people happy, and dazzlingly white skin, not at all like those boys nowadays who are tanned.

In the No. 6 canteen at the East Gate of Shougang, the chef gave Xia Tian two full spoons of vegetables. These days, shaking hands is not allowed. If you do that, you will definitely get beaten! As for why the canteen aunties have this problem later, it may be because they will deduct wages if they serve too much food.

In the summer, I made a full plate of dishes and a small bowl of rice.

The chef who served the food laughed at him: "My God, if this were an ordinary family, they would be bankrupt just by raising you~"

There were even several female comrades who were watching Xia Tian eating from a distance, as if they were watching animals in a zoo.

"Ah! I really ate them all!"

“You’re such a big eater!”

"Xiaotian is so white!"

"Now I can see it with my own eyes, it's even more delicious than the rumors say~"

Xia Tian: I am here to perform a big eating contest for you guys. Have you bought your tickets?!
-

"Hey, Brother Tian!" A voice suddenly stopped Xia Tian who was about to leave after dinner.

He was a boy of about thirteen or fourteen, and there were five or six people around him, all of the same age.

These are all children of Shougang workers. If Xia Tian hadn’t gone to Shougang Children’s Primary School for personal reasons, he would have been their classmate…

No, Xia Tian looks older than them, but actually he is several years younger.

Anyway, after a few "exchanges", Xia Tian changed from "that kid" to "Brother Tian".

A group of boys called Tian Ge all the time and were very well-behaved.

Mingming was very unruly two months ago. A group of people surrounded Xia Tian and wanted to see his Kung Fu - they heard that the silly child of the Xia family was learning martial arts in the Children's Palace, and Xia Tian's outstanding appearance made it easy for him to be isolated.

Xia Tian satisfied them very enthusiastically and let them have a good experience.

Then, someone called more people to come and see it, more than thirty people in total.

In the summer, he introduced them one by one, and finally five or six of them together. He easily got along with everyone and won the friendship of many Shougang players.

Fighting was not a big deal these days. Even in the summer when they were learning new skills, three groups of adults would cheer them on: "Good! That's a good fight, very neat. Oh, you're not good enough, old Li boy~"

"What are you doing here?" Xia Tian asked.

"Let's take a bath~"

"Take a bath? Or swim?" Xia Tian asked again.

Shougang is a place where steel is made, and the output is huge. Steelmaking requires cooling, so there is a huge cooling lake in the factory!
In response to the elderly's call to "swim in rivers, lakes and seas", a drying pond was turned into a swimming pool. Every summer, it is bustling with people. However, the water in the drying pond is about two or three meters deep, so children cannot use it.

The so-called swimming naturally means swimming in the lake.

"We're going to take a shower..." several people answered.

Workers at Shougang do heavy physical work, which is tiring and dangerous, but they also receive many benefits.

One of the benefits is that after get off work every day, you can take a shower in the factory’s bathroom before going home.

At that time, no one had a shower at home, and bathing was just washing in a basin. In addition, in the north, people were used to going to a bathhouse to take a bath.

Because of this free convenience, many children of the factory would sneak into the east gate of the factory after school in the afternoon when the security guards were not paying attention, and then go to the bathhouse to take a hot bath.

After washing, you can go back to the workshop and fill some soda in a lunch box or glass bottle to take home.

This soda is a cooling drink for workers. It has a lot of carbon dioxide in it, so it is packed in a steel bottle. After taking a sip, you will burp and feel refreshed. It tastes very good.

Because it tastes good, many people bring bottles into the factory to fill them, and when they leave the factory, they have to cover it up to avoid being checked. This is a kind of hidden benefit.

Most factories make their own soda in the summer, and workers can take some home. At this time, factories and state-owned enterprises are more responsible for employment, production and maintaining people's livelihood.

In the summer, I already have a meal in the cafeteria, and the chef in the cafeteria even gives me half a spoonful of extra food. I don’t need to go to the socialist bathhouse and drink soda.

"You guys go wash up. I'm not going anymore. Let's go home!"

...

Although life is a bit hard, there are no other worries and no need to think about anything else!
I am only eleven years old now, and it is time for me to grow up obediently and step by step, and then talk about it in a few years.

But perhaps it was because summer had become accustomed to the scorching sun every day, and suddenly this day came and woke summer up.

Everyone feels confused and anxious about where we should go in the future.

The sun rises in the sky, but our sun sets...

Many years later, on the title page of Xia's father's diary, it was written: Be determined, fear no sacrifice, overcome all difficulties, and strive for victory.

Summer was also in chaos in this turbulent situation, but a melody came to mind.

He climbed up to the roof for the first time in a long time and played the harmonica.

It kept blowing and blowing until late at night.

This song has a name - "The Sun Also Rises".

This was the most difficult battle among the countless hardships and obstacles he faced in his life.

The opponent is a former comrade-in-arms, a spiritual shackle that mankind has never escaped from, and a natural law under dialectical materialism.

He was willing to do it even though he knew he would be torn to pieces, and even left a backup plan so that when he was gone, those descendants he had served all his life would wake up.

There is no more magnificent chapter in human history than this!
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(End of this chapter)