HLnovel Chapter 67 Grain Distribution
Chapter 67 Grain Distribution
What is there to say?
As long as you're willing to endure hardship, there's no end to the hardships you can face.
Lu Yuanqing sat expressionlessly at a table in front of a pile of grain. The table was covered with notebooks filled with writing, and the work recorder was standing next to him.
"Hehe, Yuanqing, it's my turn. Let's see how much grain my family will get this year."
It was Li Daniu, who was with his parents and their five- or six-year-old son.
After Lu Yuanqing looked up to confirm the person, he took out his notebook, which contained various statistics compiled by family unit.
"Li Daniu, you've taken five days off. You've worked a total of 360 days, earning 265 full workdays and 9 work points... Li Gui has a total of 1123 work points... After deducting the food allowance, you'll receive... The rest will be 7 yuan in cash. You can take your food today, but you won't get the money until before the Lunar New Year!"
Lu Yuanqing, like an emotionless robot, rattled off Li Daniu's work points, the grain he received, and the amount of money he had converted into for the remaining work points.
"If there are any problems with your work points, you can check with the work recorder. If there are no problems, just put your fingerprint here and go to the brigade leader and deputy leader to collect your grain!"
Li Daniu beamed with joy, "No problem, no problem, it's exactly as I remember it, I'll put my fingerprint on it!"
Li Daniu was overjoyed, and his father, Li Gui, who came to help him move the grain, also had a big smile on his face.
How could I not be happy to receive so much grain this year?
They happily pressed their fingerprints, happily went to the brigade leader to collect their family's share of grain, and happily carried the grain back and forth again and again.
There are quite a few people like Li Daniu.
"My God! There's less food available, so why are we getting more food than in previous years?!"
"Tsk, so that's how it is!"
"What's going on?! Tell me already! Why are you keeping me in suspense?!"
"What's the rush? Think about it! Right now, the food rations are only 30% of the population and 70% of the work points. We all thought that if we changed this, we would get less food."
"Isn't that obvious? Otherwise, why would everyone have made a fuss back then? It was all for the same reason!"
"But you've forgotten that when 70% of the population had food, each of us didn't have as many work points as we do now. But now we have so many more work points. Isn't that because everyone knows that 70% of the work points are for food, so we have to work hard every day to earn more work points?"
"By working harder and taking better care of the crops in the fields, the yield naturally increased. With the increased yield, there was more grain than before, and therefore more grain was distributed among the farmers."
"The captain is doing this for our own good! We've wronged him!"
"That's right! Look at you, when the food rations were only 70% of the population, many people didn't work hard and just did their jobs perfunctorily, thinking that the food rations they received were enough to barely survive. They were too lazy. Now they are so enthusiastic about working!"
The commune members, who were standing in line, were talking amongst themselves.
After enduring months of cold shoulders, Zhao Zhongcai suddenly found that the villagers were becoming more friendly towards him, and when they came to collect their grain, they even thanked him for taking care of them.
what happened?
The situation changed drastically in an instant?
Regardless of the villagers' sudden realization of Zhao Zhongcai's goodness, and regardless of Zhao Zhongcai's near-tearful emotion, Lu Yuanqing was on the verge of collapse.
After working non-stop for so many days, he was already feeling hopeless. Every day, he would regularly regret why he had even bothered to take the accounting job.
He was already so busy he was about to give up, and then someone caused trouble, delaying his eagerness to leave work on time!
"Zhao Wen, the work points are correct. You can put your fingerprint here and then go to the brigade leader to collect your grain. If there is a problem, go to the side and check with the work recorder."
After a busy day, everyone happily confirmed the details and then went to collect their food.
Even if there were one or two problems with work points, they would calmly walk to the side and check their work points with the work recorder. No one stood in front of Lu Yuanqing, blocking his way and wasting his time.
"You little brat, what kind of accounting are you doing? How could my family only have a thousand catties of grain? There are fifteen people in my family! You must have made a mistake!" Zhao Wen pointed at Lu Yuanqing and questioned him.
Lu Yuanqing glanced at him impatiently and said, "I'm just doing a tally. The specific work points are recorded by the work recorder. I told you, if you have a problem, go to the side with him, take the work record book and check the accounts. Don't waste time standing here. The people behind are waiting to get their grain!"
"Yes! Zhao Wen, just listen to Yuan Qing, step aside and let me go first."
"I already told you to check the accounts over there if there are any problems. Why are you standing there and making things difficult for Lu Yuanqing? Get out of here!"
“I remember your family borrowed grain from the brigade several times. I thought you had just received your grain this year and were just paying it back to the brigade! I never expected you to get another thousand catties of grain. What a surprise!”
Everyone was waiting to receive their food as soon as possible, but Zhao Wen, instead of going to the side to resolve his problem, insisted on standing in front and blocking them from getting forward, which immediately aroused the dissatisfaction of the people behind him.
Hearing the villagers' jeers behind him, Zhao Wen felt utterly humiliated. With a loud 'bang,' he slammed his fist on the table in front of him. "You've miscalculated with my family! It can't be this little bit! Recalculate it for me, or else..."
"What else do you want to do?" Lu Yuanqing looked at him with icy eyes.
Zhao Wengang's anger dissipated by more than half in an instant.
"Get out of my way!" Lu Yuanqing said without any politeness! He was in a bad mood and wouldn't give this kind of person any face.
"You..." Zhao Wen was furious and wanted to hit him.
Upon seeing this, Zhao Zhongcai immediately walked over.
He took the notebook from Lu Yuanqing's hand, looked at it, and said, "If it weren't for the decent harvest this year, and the high work rate your family had during the autumn harvest, I think the work points your family received this year wouldn't even be enough to pay back the brigade's grain. Zhao Wen, you should look for the reasons within yourself."
"So, do you still have any questions?" Zhao Zhongcai stated the facts calmly. "If not, leave your fingerprints here and come over to collect your grain. If you do, get out of my way. If you dare to delay the distribution of grain again, you'll be the last one to arrive, and I'll give you a good talking to about your family's work points!"
Zhao Wen immediately deflated, "...No problem, I'll put my fingerprint on it right away!"
Zhao Zhongcai did not leave, but waited until he had pressed his fingerprint on the document before taking him to collect the grain.
“You have so many people in your family, yet you live such a miserable life. Instead of wasting your time thinking about this, you should work hard and earn more work points!” Zhao Zhongcai said.
They all share the surname Zhao, and although they are not related by blood, they are still relatives and from the same village. As the brigade leader, Zhao Zhongcai has some things he may not want to say, but he will say them anyway.
"I understand!" Zhao Wen didn't have much confidence when facing him.
Zhao Zhongcai said, "You better stop bullying Yuan Qing from now on. Don't underestimate him just because he's young. He's much more capable than you. If I ever see you bullying him because of your age, you'll see!"
Zhao Wen: "..."
Who exactly is your relative?
This year, the village decided to distribute grain to each person according to the standard of 400 jin of grain.
But it all depends on work points.
A family works hard all year and earns enough work points to exchange for 400 jin of grain; that's the standard.
Some families have more able-bodied men and more work points, so they still follow the same standard. However, the extra work points are kept in the account and converted into money to be distributed before the Lunar New Year.
During the Lunar New Year, pigs are slaughtered, and after crops such as peanuts are harvested, they are sold to the government. With the money received, the villagers are used to purchase some hard-to-find items, which are bought with the remaining money.
However, not all families in a village can be self-sufficient; after the grain is distributed, there is still some left over.
There are many families like Zhao Wen's.
The brigade would first repay the grain they had borrowed for a year, and then convert it into grain based on their remaining work points.
The only good thing is that at least we didn't end up owing the brigade money after working for a year.
The vast majority of families can still guarantee 400 jin of grain per person.
Of the 400 jin of grain, only about one jin was millet, which is considered a refined grain. The remaining 399 jin were all coarse grains, such as sweet potatoes and potatoes.
As for the other grains and beans, they will have to be distributed later.
Lu Yuanqing had calculated all of this, and each person would only receive a maximum of ten jin.
Lu Yuanbo and his family came to collect their own grain.
The brigade leader took care of him and even lent them an oxcart, which Lu Yuanbo hauled home in one load.
It wasn't until almost dark, around 7 p.m., that the village's flurry of grain distribution finally ended. The last family carried their grain away, and Lu Yuanqing and the others breathed a sigh of relief.
"Come to my house for dinner tonight to celebrate!" Zhao Zhongcai laughed heartily.
"Haha, thank you for your hard work, sister-in-law!" Zhao Lide said with a smile.
"You've all worked hard, you've all worked hard. Your sister-in-law has already cooked. Let's pack up and head over!" Zhao Zhongcai patted him on the shoulder, then walked over to Lu Yuanqing.