Siheyuan: Bringing Warehouses to 1959

When Zeng Laosan heard that Zeng Wangcai wanted to turn all the land in the village into experimental fields, he was obviously frightened.

"Xiuzhi, how can this be possible? There are more than 380 acres of paddy fields and dry land in our village. What kind of experiment do we need so much land? Missiles?" Zeng Laosan almost made Zhang Xiuzhi laugh when he heard the word "missiles".

Zeng Laosan had seen many experimental fields, including one in Zhujia Village, Zengzhuang's arch-enemy.

Zhu Laojiu showed off to Zeng Laosan more than once about how good the yield of the experimental field was, and how their village would benefit from it, and how glorious it was, and how they would get benefits.

"Don't worry about it. Just tell me whether you agree or not." Zhang Xiuzhi held back her laughter. "Wangcai is doing this for the good of the village. Turning all the land into experimental fields will save us from having to worry about food and drink."

"I know that, there are government subsidies." Zeng Laosan obviously didn't dare to think about it, his face had a complicated expression, yearning and entangled, "But, this is unlikely, other people's experimental fields are only a few acres at most, if we plant three or four hundred acres, if something goes wrong, who can bear the responsibility?

"Our commune has a heavy task to accomplish, and it all depends on the village by the river. I really don't dare to tell Secretary Wang about this, and I don't think Secretary Wang will agree."

Zhang Xiuzhi didn't expect that Zeng Laosan would refuse to do it.

After in-depth communication, Zhang Xiuzhi finally realized where the root of the problem lies - responsibility, or accountability!

In the era when the whole country was launching satellites, Maihe Commune was one that followed suit. At that time, it was not led by Secretary Wang. Later, when the bubble burst, Secretary Wang came to power and reorganized the situation. No one dared to falsify production, and they hated falsification.

Responsibility means that Maihe Commune bears the heavy responsibility of handing over grain, and responsibility means that no one dares to take on the responsibility of such drastic changes.

Even though Zeng Laosan is always thinking about how to flatter his superiors, he actually has no other choice but to loosen up the village.

Zeng Laosan was smart and had a very good grasp of the commune leaders' thoughts, so he knew the general outcome of the matter without even going there.

In fact, when Zeng Wangcai asked Old Man Yang to do this, the resistance he encountered was similar to this.

After figuring this out, Zhang Xiuzhi thought that she had to go anyway, no matter whether it would succeed or not, she had to talk about the matter.

She said, "Village head, please go to the commune. Wangcai said that reporting one mu of yield is equivalent to signing a military order. The dry land is calculated based on an average of 3,000 kilograms, and the paddy field is calculated based on 1,000 kilograms..."

"Wait a minute, Xiuzhi, let me figure it out!" Hearing this yield per mu, Zeng Lao San was completely stunned. "Three thousand catties per mu of dry land is not bad. According to the pumpkins and sweet potatoes you planted, mixed with some corn, it should be possible. This is scary enough. The highest yield per mu of grain in our village is no more than one thousand catties.

"The paddy fields are even worse. Six hundred and fifteen kilograms is the record yield per mu of rice in our village."

In Zeng Laosan's opinion, it is easy to produce 1,000 kilograms per mu of paddy field, but it is impossible, absolutely impossible.

Zhang Xiuzhi also knows how to farm, and her hometown is mainly paddy fields, so she naturally knows how much rice can be produced per acre. Under normal circumstances, a yield of 600 kilograms is very high, 700 kilograms is rare, and 500 kilograms is the norm.

Zeng Wangcai asked for a thousand kilograms as soon as he opened his mouth. She didn't understand, but she believed that Zeng Wangcai could do it.

"Village chief, don't you know what Wangcai is capable of? Let's not talk about anything else. Just go there and it doesn't matter what the result is. We can talk about the rest after Wangcai comes back. Okay?"

"Okay!" Zeng Laosan thought about it and agreed with gritted teeth. At most he would be scolded, but in exchange he would gain Zeng Wangcai's favor. This deal could be done.

He left without delay. Zeng Laosan arranged for his men to follow Zhang Xiuzhi's orders, and he went back alone by bike to the commune.

Everyone in the village mobilized and passed the pumpkins on to the village's small rice field, and the militia company sent people to guard it.

The second brother carried the pig to the pigpen next to the village canteen and raised it.

In addition to these, the good car was reloaded, mainly with things for Zheng Yishan and the fish that had been turned over.

"Sister Xiuzhi, there are too many dead fish." Zeng Niu and Goudan finished loading pumpkins and sweet potatoes, and asked while pulling the waterproof cloth, "Do you want to spread the cloth? It's useless if you spread it."

Zhang Xiuzhi looked at the field and roughly estimated that at least half of the fish were dead, weighing several hundred kilograms, or even two thousand kilograms.

It's so hot today, it will definitely break after tonight.

"Let's not spread the cloth anymore, just load it onto the truck." Zhang Xiuzhi looked at the villagers who had been busy for half a day and took the initiative to say, "Let's leave twenty pieces and have Uncle Youtian make them tonight as a treat for everyone."

"Hey, hey, hey, let's load the truck first, load the truck first..." Zeng Niu and Goudan were overjoyed and immediately told the villagers the good news.

The villagers were naturally happy because they hadn't eaten meat for such a long time.

The villagers clamored for Li Youtian to make fish stewed with tofu to reminisce the taste of last year.

Li Youtian cooked twenty big fish, weighing nearly 200 kilograms. Even if he couldn't feed everyone, at least he could give everyone a good meal.

The loading was completed quickly and they were ready to return to Sijiu City. Lin Huyang and Huang Liang followed the car.

Zeng Youqian and his wife returned to the city, and the little one stayed in the village.

The co-pilot Zhang Xiuzhi let Zeng Youqian and his wife squeeze in, while she got on the rear cargo bed. The cargo bed was only loaded with materials for Peking University, so it was much emptier and very convenient to sit in.

Seeing that Zhang Xiuzhi was about to leave, Hu Guangyong, who had something on his mind, climbed up begging her to do so, saying that he had something to discuss.

Zhao Hongqing was a good man. He was worried that Zhang Xiuzhi would suffer a loss, so he ignored the car and climbed onto the truck and sat in the bed.

As the train started, Hu Guangyong started talking: "Hey, Chief Zhang, it's my fault. I didn't understand the facts clearly, and it was wrong to make random guesses."

Hu Guangyong has lost all his face after slandering others and admitting his mistake right away.

"What? Do you know you're wrong? I've already told you that Zhang Xiuzhi would never do this, but you just don't believe me." Zhao Hongqing was even happier than Zhang Xiuzhi when he saw Hu Guangyong give in. "Go back to the factory and explain the matter to the director."

"Hey, hey, sure, sure!" Hu Guangyong casually replied to Zhao Hongqing, and then said to Zhang Xiuzhi with a dog-licking smile, "Comrade Zhang Xiuzhi, you have so many fish. The dead fish are worthless, and you can't eat them all. Why don't you sell some to the steel mill? I will purchase on behalf of the steel mill and give you the price of live fish. What do you think?"

This guy was very thoughtful. He thought that buying the fish would help calm the workers' anger.

Zhang Xiuzhi propped up her chin and let the summer wind blow her bangs: "If you say so, should I still accept your kindness?"

"I'm not being appreciative, no!" Hu Guangyong continued, "Look, you have several thousand kilograms of fish here, but they're all dead. It doesn't matter who we sell them to. Our steel mill also has unplanned purchase quotas, so we can't let outsiders get away with it, right? You're also from the steel mill."

The moral blackmail has begun!

God have pity on us. At this time, there is no such thing as dead fish or live fish. It’s good enough to have fish to eat.

Hu Guangyong was just playing tricks, using the same tactics he used against others to deal with Zhang Xiuzhi.

Zhang Xiuzhi would never fall for his tricks, so she said directly, "No, you can get off the bus when we get to Sijiucheng. I'll talk about stealing pork later when I'm done."

Hu Guangyong's heart skipped a beat, realizing that his apology just now had not fooled her and Zhang Xiuzhi was targeting her.

When we arrived at Sijiucheng, it was almost dark and smoke was rising from every house in the alleys.

Zhang Xiuzhi found a random place for Hu Guangyong to get off, and then let the car go to Siheyuan first. The things could not all be given to Peking University, and some had to be left for Director Qian of the purchasing station and Director Zhang of the street office, so they had to unload the car in Siheyuan.

The car stopped at the gate of the courtyard. Lin Huyang went in and prepared to ride his bike to find Director Qian. Zeng Youqian and his wife followed him in.

"Hey, Lao Zeng, why are you back today?" Yan Bugui and his family were eating at the door. When they saw Zeng Youqian, Yan Bugui politely greeted them, "You haven't eaten yet? Come and have a bite. We have fish today..."

This is a common polite remark among Chinese people, and no one takes it seriously, especially at this time.

If anyone really sits down and takes a bite, that person is ignorant. If you take a bite, others will eat one bite less.

"No need!" Zeng Youqian couldn't hide his happiness on his face and said happily, "Our Xiuzhi is back, and we have fish too..."