area51novel Chapter 134 Buying Cabbage
Chapter 134 Buying Cabbage
That day, Wu Juan came back from get off work and brought back a big bag of things, which should be the factory's New Year's goods.
"Xiao Laizi, Yushui, our steel rolling mill will be on holiday tomorrow, are you happy?" Wu Juan put down the bag, took off her scarf and hat and hung them on the hook.
"Mom, is this true? Your factory is so kind that they actually give us four days off for Chinese New Year? Before, we had less than three days off! It's half a day for Chinese New Year and half a day for the third day of the Lunar New Year. It's really a deduction."
He Lai looked at Wu Juan with surprise, as if he couldn't believe what he heard. Yu Shui was also very happy.
"You kid, you can't say such things. You can't take a holiday during this holiday.
Tomorrow is the weekend, so the boss might think it’s better to give us one more day off. Look, all the New Year’s gifts have already been distributed.”
Wu Juan said this with a smile and placed the New Year goods distributed by the factory on the table, among which the two kilograms of pork were particularly eye-catching.
By the way, I held the rain water and warmed myself by the fire.
He Lai's eyes lit up and he continued, "Mom, let's go out for a walk tomorrow. I heard that Wangfujing is very lively right now. How about taking Yu Shui, Zhu Zi and the others with us?"
He had already begun to look forward to this rare moment and was wondering where to go for dinner with Wu Juan.
Wu Juan looked at her son's happy expression and laughed too, but it was a pity that he couldn't play because he had important things to do.
"Xiao Laizi, tomorrow I can't. Mom has to get up early with the others to buy cabbage. The country now has unified purchase and sales of cabbage. I didn't get any last time. This time I have to queue up earlier. Otherwise, it will be hard to buy after the Chinese New Year."
When He Lai heard about buying cabbage, he immediately remembered the time when Wu Juan and Sha Zhu went to buy cabbage together.
We got up at 3am, and when we got to the end of the queue, only the worst cabbage was left. This made everyone very angry.
"Mom, I'll go and queue up this time. I'll go to sleep after dinner and get up at 1 a.m. tomorrow. I don't believe I won't be able to buy this crappy cabbage!"
He Lai secretly vowed that he must buy it once. Even though he didn’t eat it much, he had to participate.
"Okay, when the time comes, wear more clothes. Yu Shui and I will bring you food." Wu Juan was happy to see He Lai wanted to help.
"Yushui, go tell Brother Zhuzi that Huzi and the others are going together. It's one o'clock in the morning!"
He Lai then ordered the rain to come.
"Okay." Yu Shui ran out.
"No, I have to inform everyone."
He Lai thought about it and decided to call more people, and then he ran out.
"Brother Damao, are you going to buy cabbage tomorrow?"
"Why do you want to go? Then I'll go with you to take a look." Originally, it was Aunt Xu who went to queue up in Xu Damao's family, so Xu Damao and his son could just pull them back.
"Okay, one o'clock in the morning." He Lai agreed and immediately ran to the next one.
"What! A little bit! Are you crazy? Is it worth it just for a little cabbage?" Xu Damao was also shocked.
Soon Liu Haizhong's family also sent Liu Guangtian, and Li Dawa's family also sent Li Dawa. More people bought it last time.
He Lai went to bed after dinner, thinking about getting up early tomorrow to buy the best cabbage.
I thought I would need to get a small stool, otherwise I would get tired if I stood for too long; I would also need to get a thermos to drink some hot water when it gets cold; I would also need to get a flashlight, otherwise I would not be able to see the road; I would also need to wear a thicker coat, a hat, and gloves...
……
"Bang bang bang" the knock on the door sounded.
"Little Laizi, get up quickly."
He Lai opened his eyes, rubbed them, took out his pocket watch and saw that it was a little past 1 o'clock. He quickly came to his senses and put on his clothes.
"Coming, coming." He Lai quickly put on his clothes and opened the door.
"Xiao Lai, let's go quickly. We've been waiting for you." Sha Zhu picked up He Lai's hat and gloves and drove He Lai out.
He Lai was still a little confused and let Sha Zhu pull him.
I slowly put on my clothes and came to my senses. I didn't bring anything I thought about last night.
"Brother Zhuzi, can I go back and get something?" He Lai said a little embarrassedly.
"How dare you say that? We've all gotten up, except you, the initiator! Come here, Xu Damao, take him away." Sha Zhu grabbed his arm even tighter.
"You, now you understand. You can't brag about it being one o'clock in the morning. If my mother hadn't called me, I wouldn't have gotten up! We have been waiting for you for a long time." Xu Damao also held He Lai.
Everyone laughed.
"Uh." He Lai stopped talking. He felt a little ashamed. He didn't know why his mother didn't call him. Oh, the difference between mother and mother? Forget it, forget it.
"Come on, brother. It's okay. I brought hot water." Liu Guangtian said.
"Well, Guangtian is still sensible." He Lai was very satisfied.
"Brother Lai, I brought it too." Hu Zi also echoed.
"Not bad, not bad, you are worthy of being my younger brother!" He Lai was no longer worried now.
……
"Brother Zhuzi, hold me for a while. I'm a little cold." He Lai couldn't stand it anymore and squeezed into Sha Zhuzi's arms again.
The weather is so cold that my nose is running. I came at one o'clock and there are still many people in front of me.
He Lai and Sha Zhu squeezed on a small bench.
Most people huddle together for warmth.
"Here's the candy for you, Brother Zhuzi. Take it and share it." He Lai was so cold that he didn't want to talk anymore. He took out a handful of candy and gave it to Sha Zhu, then he opened the candy wrapper and put the candy in his mouth.
Fortunately, there was some hot water, so I simmered it slowly.
……
The team finally started moving, and it seemed like they had started selling.
He Lai took out his pocket watch and looked at it: 5:30. Not bad, not bad. It was only four and a half hours! He Lai swore that he would never come so early again. Whoever wants to eat the broken cabbage can eat it!
Wu Juan and others also came over with their carts. When they saw He Lai and others, they quickly handed over the hot food.
"You must be frozen." Wu Juan looked at her son with concern, while He Lai was eating hot steamed buns.
"It's okay, I'm not cold at all. Brother Zhuzi is holding me!" He Lai smiled.
Soon the team became very lively.
There were all kinds of noises. After all, some people were making noise because they were cutting in line, some people were gathering together to gossip, and of course there were more people running to the front to inquire about the progress, for fear that they would not be able to buy cabbage.
Finally it was He Lai's turn. There were piles of cabbage in front of the warehouse. Several teams were vying to buy them, and everyone had a smile on their face.
One by one, they took out their grain books, paid, weighed, and moved the cabbages.
There is no other way. Cabbage is too cheap, 2 cents per pound. Buying pounds is only yuan. And there is plenty of cabbage!
He Lai and his family all bought 200 to 300 kilograms of rice. Two carts were used to carry the rice back and forth, and the rice had to be stored in the cellar.
After several trips, everyone was very tired and we were busy until 9 o'clock.
He Lai lay down in bed after he finished his work. What’s so delicious about this broken cabbage? I will definitely not buy it next time.
He Lai wondered if there was anything that could replace cabbage. After thinking for a long time, it seemed that there really was nothing! It was too difficult. In this era, cabbage really saved most of the country.