Era: Retired from the army at the beginning and returned home - Chapter 5 Seven Big Steamed Buns

In this era, it is difficult for many people to have enough to eat without disaster. Food output is low and there is a lot of wasteland. This is a problem that is difficult to solve in a short time.

The era Luo Cheng is facing now is that with low production capacity, most cities have experienced continuous droughts. In the south, you can grow two crops of food a year, but in the north, you can only grow one season. If there is a drought, your ability to withstand a drought is simply not comparable to that in the south.

There were seven steamed buns in Luo Cheng’s bag. When he was discharged from the army, each veteran was given ten. The soldiers in the army steamed them themselves, so they were relatively large. Yesterday they were relatively soft, and Luo Cheng managed to eat three of them. Today they were hard, and the steamed buns had no taste. Luo Cheng also plans to go home and improve the food.

But what Luo Cheng didn’t expect was that the two younger sisters at home were still waiting to improve their food for the white-flour steamed buns he despised. They secretly calculated that their eldest brother Luo Cheng was back. There were seven people in the family, seven steamed buns, and one big steamed bun for each person. It was beautiful to think about.

However, even though the children of the poor have already taken charge of the family, it doesn’t matter if they let Luo Shishi and Luo Xiaoyu do housework or even work in the fields. But the worldly wisdom still needs to be tempered.

How could it be possible for each person to share seven white-flour steamed buns like this? Luo Cheng’s father, Luo Wen, also has two brothers and two sisters. That is, Luo Cheng’s uncle and aunt, in this day and age, to be honest, they can’t control each other for that long. They can really live day by day and help each other.

Both aunts were married nearby, so a trip to the city these days would be considered a long trip. In rural areas, the best way out for a girl is to marry into the city, usually in a nearby village.

So the general situation is that uncle and aunt each have steamed buns, which can be regarded as improving the food.

The premise is that Luo Cheng agrees. Luo Cheng is educated, has served as a soldier, and is the eldest son of the family. At home, although Luo Wen has always been in charge, before Luo Cheng went to serve as a soldier, the whole family would try to follow Luo Cheng’s opinions.

Luo Cheng is the eldest son, and now he has returned from the army. Sooner or later, he will be the head of this family. And this steamed bun was also Luo Cheng’s. Luo Cheng’s mother just thought that way, but she didn’t dare to make such arrangements without asking Luo Cheng.

And Luo Cheng finally returned from seeing Qin Lan off. In this era, he had to rely on his legs to go out, which was really too much for him.

Ngee Ann is just a small city in the south. In big cities these days, having a bicycle in a household is a big deal. Not to mention small cities, Longyang Town is a town after all, so there are only bicycles in some units in the town. I personally own very few bicycles, and there are no bicycles for sale in the town. I have to go to the city to buy one.

“Brother, when you come back, the quilt has been laid out for you. If you want to rest, you can go into the room to rest. But mom said that if you come back, go to her room.”

Luo Cheng was discovered by his sister Luo Xiaoyu as soon as he came back, and Luo Shishi also expressed her gratitude, saying that his backpack and luggage had been put away for him.

To be honest, Luo Cheng really wanted to lie down immediately. Yesterday’s train ride was always unstable. The trains in this era were not very fast and were a bit shaky. So I couldn’t sleep well on the train. Today I walked so much. Luo Cheng, who didn’t have much physical fitness, really felt a little unbearable.

But my mother said she wanted to see him if she had something to do and she didn’t care about this moment if she wanted to rest.

The earth-tile house has windows covered with window paper, so even in broad daylight, the room is a bit dark. The size of the room is less than thirty square meters. Not only does it have a living room for eating, but the sleeping area is also separated by two wooden boards and has two beds, one for my parents and one for my grandma.

There is a chamber pot in the room, and the large ones have to go to the toilet not far outside. The small ones usually use a chamber pot and a urine bucket. Without food, people in these days would have to go to bed only once every few days. I really couldn’t help but carry a kerosene lamp to the toilet outside at night. Flashlights are not available in every household now.

“Mom, grandma, I’m back.”

“My dear grandson, come and sit next to me.”

There are tables and benches in the room. There are only two benches and two ordinary stools. But in this case, if there are guests or everyone is there, there may not be enough stools to sit on.

In some places, it is a bad custom that women are not allowed to eat at the table, but this is not the case in Ngee Ann. They usually eat together.

But in this day and age, if guests come for dinner, women and children will not come to the table. This is not a custom. One possibility is that there are not enough stools, and the other is that the children eat without scruples. Don’t try hard to prepare something to entertain guests, and the children will be devoured in a few seconds.

“Mom, tell me if you have anything to do.”

Luo Cheng didn’t have any barriers to his grandma and sat directly next to her. He was much closer than the two suddenly extra sisters.

“Hey~~, it’s about those steamed buns in your bag. Your sister ‘accidentally’ saw them when she was helping you sort them out~~~.”

My mother, Wang Ling, sighed first. Some words seemed to have to be sighed before she could say them out. Then he heard what Luo Cheng was going to do with the steamed buns, and also talked about how the two uncles and aunt had taken care of each other in the past few years.

Although there are not many steamed buns, they are made of fine grains. Boil one steamed bun in water, add some wild vegetables or something, and you can make a pot of thinner batter soup. Although I can’t help those uncles and aunts much, it still means something. He also told them that Luo Cheng had returned from the army and that it was impossible to entertain him in person. At least sending him a steamed bun would be considered a courtesy.

“Isn’t it just a few steamed buns?”

Luo Cheng thought in his heart, feeling a little hard to explain. He didn’t want to eat the steamed buns yet, but he didn’t expect that his family would take him so seriously. And a few steamed buns are like this, so what kind of life does the family usually live?

Another point is that not only is he no longer an only child, but his father’s biological siblings have also changed. Father Luo Wen is not an only child. He has a younger brother and a younger sister. The younger brother is Luo Cheng’s uncle named Luo Wu, and Luo Cheng’s aunt is named Luo Juan.

But now I learned from my mother that my father has an extra brother and sister in this world. As for what they were called, my mother didn’t tell them, and it was hard for Luo Cheng to ask them. He simply said that he didn’t know what his uncle and aunt were called. Anyway, the name will be known sooner or later, Luo Cheng is afraid that he will not recognize him when he sees him.

“Mom, I think it’s better to forget it. When I was discharged from the army, the army also gave me retirement pay and some food stamps. I don’t have food at home. How about I buy some food tomorrow and call my uncle and aunt? Let’s get together, I haven’t seen them in a few years, I have to see them when I come back.”

Luo Cheng felt that it was too shabby to give a steamed bun as a gift, but he cherished a steamed bun so much. Thinking about it, he probably didn’t have much food at home. When the troops came out, each veteran was given a lot of national food stamps. After all, if you don’t work immediately after you retire, you can at least buy some food. In addition, even if you go to a restaurant to eat now, you need food stamps, and it is useless to pay for military service.

In this era, those who work in the fields may not necessarily get anything to eat. However, due to famine, rural people basically do not work much. Lying still to save energy is the best way.

So in this era, many villages are lifeless, with few pedestrians on the roads. Those who fled basically lay down in a certain place and didn’t move much. They stayed there and then never moved again.