Chapter 15: Scarcity of Cloth Zhou Yimin returned to the courtyard and brought the bottle of Moutai that his father had treasured and a bottle of Fenjiu to his grandfather. The packaging of Fenjiu in the 1960s continued that of the late 1950s. The label of this wine used pink to mark the map of China, with the Chinese characters "Fenjiu" printed on the globe. Like Moutai, Fenjiu is also one of the eight famous wines today. Then, Zhou Yimin bought a roll of cloth at the store for 30 yuan. The material was quite good. The price of this kind of fabric in the cloth store was similar to that in Zhou Yimin's store. The only advantage is that you don’t need cloth coupons. You have to know that cloth coupons and cloth are very rare nowadays, and many families cannot buy cloth even if they have money. In fact, since the founding of the People's Republic of China, our country's cotton cloth resources have been very tight. my country's industrial and agricultural foundations were weak, and everyone wore cotton clothes. The limited land was only enough for food (growing grain) but not for clothing (growing cotton), so textiles were extremely scarce. Six years ago, in 6, the country started to implement the planned ration supply of cotton cloth. Localities issued cloth coupons per capita in installments, and all cloth, ready-made clothes and bedding could be purchased with coupons.
In 1956, the country suffered from floods, cotton fields reduced production, and the supply of textiles became increasingly tight, so the "buying cloth with coupons" measure had to be strengthened. Three years ago, the country issued a call to the people of the whole country to "overcome difficulties, be thrifty and save cotton cloth." Even the capital city announced its cotton cloth supply plan for the year. The annual cloth coupon quota for urban residents and college and high school students was reduced from 36 chi to 24 chi. What is the concept of 24 city feet? It takes 7 feet 5 inches of cloth to make a shirt, and 16 feet of cloth to make a cotton coat... There were not enough cloth coupons and money was not enough, so people had to be thrifty and frugal in their clothing. In addition, pure cotton clothing is easily damaged, so wearing patched clothes and protective sleeves has become a symbol of this era. A roll of cloth is about 34 meters long and can be used to make a lot of clothes. Nowadays, people buy cloth in units of feet. How can you buy a piece of cloth directly? You don’t have that many tickets, and even if you do, it’s hard to buy that much. So, on average, it is about 1 yuan per meter of cloth. 5 bags of milk powder, 2 kilograms of brown sugar, and 20 kilograms of rice. Milk powder is nutritious, but I don’t know whether my grandparents will drink it. After being fully prepared, Zhou Yimin set off on his bicycle, trying hard to catch up with Chow Tai Fook and others in front of him. Soon, Zhou Yimin caught up with those guys and saw them resting on the side of the road, exhausted from hunger. These guys hadn't eaten since they left the village. Zhou Yimin finally reacted and pretended to take out a bag of things from the shopping basket on the back of the bicycle. There are big meat buns in the bag. Zhou Yimin bought some extra for breakfast these two days and put them in his backpack at the store. They are still hot! "Come here, take two each." When Zhou Dafu and others saw that it was a big meat bun, they drooled, wiped their hands quickly with their clothes, walked forward carefully to take one, and then tasted it in small bites. Someone just said that! Why didn’t Uncle Sixteen treat them to noodles, rice or something like that this time? Who would have thought that Uncle Sixteen did not forget, but bought them a big meat bun, which was still hot. "Uncle Sixteen, one is enough for us." Chow Tai Fook said.
"Just take it if you're told to! What are you talking about?" "Thank you, Uncle Sixteen!" The other one was not eaten by anyone, so they planned to take it back for their family to try. They had not tasted meat buns for a long time and almost forgot what it tasted like. Then, Zhou Yimin gave them another cigarette. Happy as a god! After returning to Zhoujiazhuang, Zhou Dafu and his companions dragged potatoes and went straight to the canteen to find the old Party secretary. They also told Zhou Yimin that the pieces of iron would be delivered later. When the old lady saw her grandson coming back, she quickly threw away the wild vegetables in her hand, for fear that her grandson would see them. Zhou Yimin could only cooperate and pretend he didn't see it. "Grandma! It's so hot, don't come out to bask in the sun!" The old lady smiled and said, "No, I just came out to digest the food. Your grandfather and I ate white flour buns today and we were too full." Zhou Yimin didn't expose her. Then, the old lady shouted into the house, "Old man, what are you lying in there for? Come out and help Yimin carry things. All you do is eat and sleep." "Grandma, I can do it myself. It's not heavy." As he spoke, Zhou Yimin took down the entire shopping basket and walked into the house. The old lady had already seen the roll of cloth in the shopping basket and was very surprised. so much? Mr. Zhou ran out with a smile on his face, without even putting on his shoes. He is happy as long as his eldest grandson comes back. "Yimin, have you finished your work in the city? Come, let grandpa help you. Wow! Such a big piece of cloth?" The old man was also surprised when he saw the cloth. People in the rural areas know best how rare cloth is. Some children were even naked and had no tattered clothes to wear. In some remote areas, a family may only have three or two sets of clothes, and only those who go out to work are qualified to wear them. Those who stay at home can only lie naked in bed. "I'm done with my work for now. I should be able to stay for two or three days when I come back this time. This is a product consumed internally by the textile factory. I bought it with my own money, and I don't need the cloth coupons, so it's not a loss." When the old man and the old woman heard that their eldest grandson would stay for two or three days, they were very happy. "Not a loss, not a loss!" the two elders quickly agreed. As long as you can get this kind of good cloth, it will definitely be worth spending a little more money. People without connections may not be able to buy it even if they have money! Zhou Yimin took the cloth out and gave it to his grandmother for safekeeping. "Let Third Aunt make two sets of clothes for you for hot weather, and Lai Fu and the others should also make one set. We'll see how many are left and then we'll talk about it. When it gets colder, I'll ask my friends." Zhou Yimin said. The old man said, "I should make you two sets first." The old lady nodded: "That's right!" Zhou Yimin waved his hands: "Grandpa, grandma! I have something better. I asked the tailor to make a Zhongshan suit for me."
Because leaders like to wear Zhongshan suits, Zhongshan suits are also called leadership suits. They are very popular among young men and are also very popular at present. However, not everyone can afford them. Zhou Yimin said this on purpose, otherwise, his parents would definitely ask his third aunt to make clothes for him first. Of course, Zhou Yimin was not trying to fool his grandparents. He really planned to get two sets of Zhongshan suits to wear. "The Zhongshan suit is good, the Zhongshan suit is good!" This time, the old man and the old woman no longer forced it. The old lady quickly took the cloth away and put it away, and asked Xuqiang's wife to come over later. "Grandpa, these two bottles of good wine are for you. Don't drink too much. Drinking too much is bad for your health." The old man saw that it was Maotai and Fenjiu, and he loved them very much. His eldest grandson was filial, unlike some bastard who didn't know to honor them with good things. "Okay, I'll just drink a little to satisfy my craving." The old man quickly assured. Then, Zhou Yimin took out milk powder and brown sugar from the shopping basket and handed them to the grandmother who had just put the cloth in place. "Grandma, this is milk powder. You and my grandfather can drink some when you have time. Give one or two bags to my aunt's family so that Lai Fu and the others can get some nutrition. They have become so thin." There are cloth, wine, milk powder and brown sugar, which are all rare good things in the countryside. Could this be moving all the belongings in the city back? "Grandpa and grandma don't like to drink this, Yimin, you take it back to the city." Zhou Yimin pushed it over again: "I have more over there, my friend has the channel, you can drink it without worry! I've also asked someone to renovate the house in the city, and when it's finished, I'll marry your granddaughter-in-law and give you a few great-grandchildren to take care of." (End of this chapter)
