The ups and downs of life in the Siheyuan

After the prototype car was manufactured, Li Yuan completely relaxed and went home early in the afternoon.

As soon as I entered the house, a half-grown civet cat came meowing over.

He circled around Li Yuan's feet and rubbed his head affectionately against Li Yuan's trousers.

He bent down and picked it up, stroked it hard a few times, kissed it on the forehead, hugged it with one arm, and hung up the backpack.

Lying on the newly made lounge chair, "Little Huahua, are you hungry?"

After saying that, he took out a small fish and put it in a small basin on the ground.

The civet cat struggled to break free, jumped to the ground, and ate quickly.

Xiaohua was the civet cat that followed him. After feeding him for more than a week, he no longer rejected Li Yuan.

Li Yuan took him into the house and made a cat house for him.

One person and one cat live under the same roof, and petting the cat every day has become Li Yuan's greatest pleasure.

Perhaps because she has experienced too much hardship, Xiaohua behaves very clingy once she recognizes Li Yuan.

Li Yuan made dinner, then separated a chicken leg from Xiaohua, and one person and one cat started eating.

In this difficult period, if others see Li Yuan having such a luxurious dinner, they will be jealous and crazy.

It is now late October 1959, and the weather feels even colder than last year.

It had been several months since I had seen any rain or snow fall.

In such weather, the air seems very dry and cold.

With Li Yuan's physique, he just wants to stay at home.

In the past, when Li Yuan didn't want to cook, he would sometimes go to a state-owned restaurant to have a meal.

Don't even think about it now. All state-owned hotels in Kyoto are now overcrowded.

Due to a serious shortage of supplies, restaurants in surrounding towns around Kyoto took the lead in implementing a system of collecting food stamps for dining.

In addition, local residents have low food ration standards and are in short supply of non-staple food. In addition, only restaurants in Kyoto do not accept food stamps for staple food. Many residents from other places have flocked to Kyoto.

Suddenly, unprecedented long queues appeared in front of large and small restaurants in Kyoto, and the crowds were flowing all night long.

Often multiple members of a family take turns to join the queue, and at the same time a large number of local residents also join the queue.

The queue starts in the evening (breakfast the next day), the lunch queue starts after breakfast in the early morning, the dinner queue starts after lunch, and the breakfast queue starts after dinner the next day.

Back and forth.

Of course, some top restaurants still only charge money but not tickets.

But because the price is too expensive, ordinary people dare not go there to spend their little money.

Li Yuan's abilities are limited, and he doesn't want to get into trouble, so he just needs to close the door and live his own life.

Now he is lying on the recliner, with the little flower nestled on his chest, holding a book in his hand, reading leisurely.

Suddenly a knock on the door broke the silence in the house.

What greeted him was Chen Bing, who was carrying a cold wind.

"You don't sleep at night, why do you come to my place?"

Chen Bing and Liang Zhixiang are completely different types of people. This guy can't really care about his work.

But the leader can see the work in his eyes, and he does it very well.

If the leader doesn't pay attention, or if the work is dispensable, this kid just wants to be lazy.

I am very familiar with the director of the assembly workshop, and he also helps to organize the workshop very smoothly.

Of course, this kid would always approach Li Yuan for sex and give him something for the holidays.

Anyway, things are going well, but not much better.

"Hey, Brother Yuan...".

"Stop it, I'm not older than you, don't call me old."

"Hey, the master is the best, don't mess with this with me. I have something to ask you today, good thing!"

"Tell me..."

"Brother, I know a few noble people, and my family is rich. Isn't there a shortage of goods in the market now? We can't bear it.

Although I can go to a few high-end restaurants every day to enjoy myself, I am afraid that I will be left in vain.

It's okay to go there occasionally, but I can't bear to go there every day.

Not to mention the worry of being targeted by someone with bad intentions, life is really miserable! "

"No matter how miserable it is, how miserable are the ordinary people?!"

"Hey, brothers think so too. No, I've found a way to retaliate against them."

After saying that, he poured hot water for himself, took a sip, and peeked at Li Yuan's reaction.

"Don't look at me. Just say whatever you want. I may not be able to help."

"Hey, they want to buy meat and fine grains at high prices."

Li Yuan immediately sat up and said with a serious expression: "Chen Bing, you can't take some money!"

"Relax, relax. I know all these things, and as long as they don't go too far, I will turn a blind eye to them.

The superiors have always been relatively tolerant towards these people.

I was just a middleman, earning some middlemen fees, and also found a few people with connections.

If you have a way, then join in and take advantage of the opportunity to make a profit."

Li Yuan's heart moved. These guys usually have good things in their hands.

He is not short of money, but he can exchange it for some antiques or something.

Antiques are the least valuable nowadays. If there are good things, it’s better to keep some.

"I don't want money. If they have good things, I can think of a way."

"That's right. Don't be soft when it's time to collect the wool. Those guys must have a lot of good things in their hands. I'll go and ask."

Chen Bing drank the water in his glass in one gulp, stood up and left. When he reached the door, he suddenly remembered something.

"Brother, what can you get?"

"Pork, chicken, mutton, white noodles, apples, but the quantity is not large."

"Oh my god, you can even get apples! This is settled."

Chen Bing said goodbye in surprise and left.

Li Yuan thought about it, he also saved a lot of good things in the space, and occasionally gave some to people close to him, but he didn't dare to give too much.

They probably didn't dare to ask for too much.

So if you can exchange for some good things, it can be regarded as keeping them in the country.

How to deal with it in the future is also a matter of the future.

The next morning, after breakfast, Li Yuan was getting ready to go out when Chen Bing hurried over.

"My brother, you are going out, why can't you wait for me?"

He hurriedly squeezed into the house wrapped in a cotton-padded jacket.

The cold wind rushed in and woke up Xiaohua who was napping next to the stove. He jumped up and rushed to the second floor.

"Xiaohua, remember not to go to bed, just stay in your nest."

Li Yuan shouted loudly upstairs.

I could only hear a cat meowing from upstairs.

"No way, your cat can understand human speech?!"

Li Yuan smiled and did not explain, "What do you mean, it's so early and things are clear."

Chen Bing pushed the door back and pulled out a scroll from his cotton coat.

"I've looked at the good stuff from the Song Dynasty. In previous years, it cost at least 200 yuan in exchange for only 10 kilograms of pork."

Li Yuan took it over and gave it a rough hug. Although he didn't quite understand it, he could still get a general idea.

It is indeed a good thing, but he has to take the initiative on the price and cannot let them come at will.

"Five pounds, if you want to do it, keep it and I'll get it for you. If you don't do it, forget it."

"Yes, you are also a cruel person.

I’ll take the things away first and I’ll get back to you in the evening.”

"No problem. No matter what, we are considered middlemen. If something goes wrong, I won't admit it."

This matter must be explained in advance to give Chen Bing an attitude.

"Don't worry, this is the rule. Whoever should be unlucky will be unlucky, everyone knows it."

The two walked out of the compound together.

Chen Bing went to discuss with the seller, and Li Yuan rushed to the library.