1968: At the beginning, the beautiful sister-in-law came to borrow food! Chapter 203

The brothers chatted and laughed, finally finishing up the house measurements.

However, the timing wasn’t right; construction couldn’t begin until at least mid-April.

Once it started, they’d have to finish quickly, within half a month.

Otherwise, it would interfere with the spring plowing.

This year, Li Yunfeng was specifically driving a tractor to earn work points.

He’d heard from Donkey’s grandpa that Li Yunfeng could earn twelve work points a day.

Don’t underestimate those twelve work points.

In those days, if you could consistently earn twelve work points,

it wasn’t an exaggeration to say you could easily support a family of five.

You might even have some left over!

“Alright, I won’t keep you.”

“Let’s get things ready these next couple of days. Once the ground thaws, we’ll start breaking ground.”

After eating their fill, the brothers got up, and Li Yunfeng didn’t try to make them stay.

They’d all had enough to drink, and after such a long period of recuperation,

Li Yunfeng and Donkey’s injuries had mostly healed.

Of course, both of them had only drunk a little bit of alcohol.

They hadn’t drunk too much!

Meanwhile, while Li Yunfeng and the others were resting at home,

Li Yunfeng’s mother and eldest brother had already returned to Sijiucheng.

They were currently riding a pedicab home.

When the two of them arrived home with their large bags and sacks,

all the women in the courtyard who weren’t out working gathered around.

They wanted to ask how Li Yunfeng was doing in the Northeast, where he was sent down to the countryside.

What was the exact situation there?

Because their own children would soon be going to the countryside.

Rather than going to an unfamiliar place, they might as well ask about Li Yunfeng’s situation in the Northeast.

If things were good in the Northeast, they would also send their children to the Northeast.

“Mom, Yun Dong, why are you carrying so many large bags and sacks back?”

At home, Li Yunfeng’s sister-in-law’s belly was already bulging.

She was currently holding her belly with both hands, slowly walking out of the east wing.

As for the west wing, that was Li Yunfeng’s territory!

But now that Li Yunfeng had left, it had become his two younger sisters’ territory.

Originally, the two sisters’ room was an ear room.

But now the ear room had been rented out.

“Hahaha, Xiujuan, you don’t know about your little brother-in-law’s life in the Northeast!”

“It’s much more comfortable than our life in Sijiucheng!”

“Your little brother-in-law has a few sworn brothers there, brothers who would die for him.”

“Those guys, they hunt in the mountains and fish in the water!”

“You wouldn’t believe what we ate there!”

“Tiger meat, black bear meat, moose meat – they call that the ‘Third Immortal’.”

“Your little brother-in-law said there’s also Northeast stew made with tiger meat, sika deer meat, and red-crowned crane meat.”

“But they don’t have red-crowned cranes there, so we didn’t get to eat that dish.”

Mom happily told her daughter-in-law about Li Yunfeng.

Her youngest son really brought her so much face!

When other people’s children went to the countryside, they didn’t bring things home;

it was already a blessing if they didn’t ask the family for money.

She never expected her own son to be so amazing!

“Yes, that’s right! Come, come, everyone!”

“This is the meat my brother brought back for us.”

“Everyone take some, one catty of meat per family!”

Currently, there were more than twenty families living in the courtyard.

One catty of meat per family meant more than twenty catties of meat, which was about a quarter of the hundred-plus catties he brought back this time.

The key was that this meat could be openly eaten.

There was no need to secretly buy meat tickets at the black market,

nor was there a need to buy from the risky black market.

“Oh my, thank you so much, Comrade Yunfeng!”

“Yes, that’s right, although we haven’t met Comrade Yunfeng, a comrade who can achieve a first-class merit for the country is definitely a good comrade!”

“Oh, by the way, didn’t the neighborhood committee come two days ago and say something about electing three managing elders?”

“I heard other courtyards have this too.”

“Yes, yes, we’ll elect Comrade Wang Chunhua as the First Elder!”

“Exactly, exactly, those men are all working, how can they manage us women?”

“Isn’t that the truth? The Great Leader said that women hold up half the sky!”

A group of people, while dividing the meat, chattered about the task the neighborhood committee had mentioned two days ago: electing a managing elder for each large courtyard.

This position of managing elder had been popular since 1952.

At that time, after the military control ended, the neighborhood committee was established.

To prevent various saboteurs, the position of managing elder was created.

Later, the neighborhood committee found that the managing elder was indeed quite useful.

Although the managing elder didn’t have much power,

those who became managing elders were generally people with good reputations and high prestige!

Such people had no problem mediating neighborhood disputes.

Just like in “Love in a Courtyard.”

Those three managing elders, though none of them were perfect,

were all quite prestigious.

An eighth-grade fitter, a seventh-grade forger, and a people’s teacher.

Here, after the crowd excitedly divided the meat,

they carried it back home.

Today, the people in the courtyard had finally gathered.

Everyone was preparing to hold the first full-courtyard meeting!

To discuss the position of this managing elder.

This position would only last for another ten or so years.

By the 1980s, the managing elder would basically be a titular position.

At that time, managing elders would no longer manage anything.

It would basically just be an honorific or a customary way of addressing someone.

“Xiujuan, look what this is?”

“Our brother brought this back for us!”

Li Yun Dong, after bringing his mother and wife back home,

looked carefully outside, confirming no one was watching.

Only then did he pull three large gold bars from his personal underwear!

In this era, many people’s underwear had sewn-in pockets.

They even had zippers!

Many people would put money in plastic bags.

Then they would put it in this pocket in their underwear.

Money kept there was basically safe from being lost.

“No, Yun Dong?”

“Are you sure our brother went to the countryside?”

Seeing these three large gold bars, Xiujuan was completely bewildered. Good heavens, they couldn’t even earn this much money in Sijiucheng!

The Li family did have money, but they had to keep a low profile now.

Everything was public-private partnership, so they couldn’t even get their hands on it.

They had money but didn’t dare to spend it lavishly!

“Our brother said about these gold bars,”

“One is for our parents, to help the old couple improve their lives.”

“The remaining two, we’ll share with our sister.”

“When we sell it for money, our sister’s share will be her dowry.”

“As for our share, after we convert it to money, our younger brother said you should use it to go to the hospital when you’re close to giving birth!”

“Giving birth in a big hospital will be much safer!”