Chapter 61

Du Family

It is dinner time now. If there are outsiders here, they will definitely think that the family is having dinner happily, but this is not the case.

While Du’s mother was chewing the steamed bun in her hand with no appetite, her eyes were fixed on the basket where the steamed buns were placed. The steamed buns in the basket were disappearing at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Her eyes fell on the fourth brother’s mouth again. The fourth brother was eating with relish. He only took four bites of a steamed bun and the bun was gone. He lived up to his ranking.

Then her eyes fell on Lao Wu’s mouth. Very good, this child eats even better. He finished a steamed bun in three bites. His little mouth was still chattering. I wonder if he had chewed it thoroughly or not?

Seeing the children eating so happily, as a mother, she should be very happy, but her brows became more and more furrowed until the basket of steamed bread was gone. At this moment, she felt her heart was empty.

The ration has started to decrease again, and the half-grown boys are eating me to death. What should I do?

Some people say that having many children means more blessings, so should we give this blessing to him?

If I cut off her flesh and feed it to these boys, I don’t know if it will be enough for a meal?

“Mom, this steamed bread is too irritating to my throat. How about you put more fine grains in it next time?” Lao Wu swallowed the last bite of the steamed bread, and finished a bowl of corn porridge in one breath before he swallowed the steamed bread that was stuck in his throat.

Looking at the basket of steamed bread, which was empty, he wiped his mouth with regret. He was not full…

Suddenly, he felt a chill in the air and subconsciously shrank his neck. As expected, when he turned around, he met the murderous gaze of Du’s mother.

His mind was working fast. He finished his homework as soon as he got home, and he didn’t get into any fights or make any trouble at school today. Great, he didn’t make any mistakes today, so why did his mother look at him like that?

“I think you are just dreaming. The ration has been reduced again. The food you have is only enough for you to eat for a few days. Are you going to starve for the remaining 20 days?” Du’s mother snorted coldly.

If the northwest wind could drink enough, every time they eat, their whole family will stand in a row behind the house with their mouths wide open…

“Why is the food being reduced further? I’m never full to begin with. Are you trying to starve me?” Lao Wu said with a look of despair on his face. What he looked forward to most every day was eating, but now that the food was reduced again, his only joy was gone.

No one answered him, and everyone was silent. Du Yimeng didn’t speak either. She did have a lot of food in her space, but she couldn’t tell anyone, so she could only find a way to get it out later.

She also knew that the situation would become more and more serious as time went on, and in the end, she would not be able to buy food even if she had money.

Du Weihai’s eyes swept across the children and finally fell on Du’s mother. This reminded him of the disaster more than ten years ago, when Daming was only three years old and Xiaodong was only one year old.

At that time, they were almost starved to death, but fortunately they survived. He thought that would never happen again, but looking at the situation now…

Some people say that we should believe that man can conquer nature and not just leave everything to fate. But sometimes God doesn’t give us food to eat, and we can’t do anything about it!

The negative emotions soon disappeared. He was the head of the family and he had to shoulder his responsibilities. Compared to the past, their family conditions were much better now.

“Tomorrow is the day for buying fixed quantities. Our family will go to line up in advance to avoid not being able to buy anything then.” Du Weihai said. As usual, the day for buying fixed quantities is a day off.

The benefits of having a large family can only be realized when buying a fixed amount of food. For example, in the past, when buying a fixed amount of food, people had to line up in the early morning, and they only had to change people once before it was their turn.

However, in order to avoid any unexpected situations, they decided to line up in the middle of the night. Du Weihai and Du Yidonggang were in one group. After dawn, Du’s mother and Du Yimeng took over. The third and fourth brothers acted as liaisons, and the fifth brother stayed behind.

Du Weihai thought that Director Yu had not returned yet, and his so-called “second sister” was the one who didn’t like to go out. Section Chief Yu alone was too busy to handle it, and he didn’t know what the Yu family was planning?

He looked at Du Yidong and thought of this brat. Every time he saw Section Chief Yu, he acted like a mouse seeing a cat. If you didn’t know, you would think he had been punished by Section Chief Yu.

Du Yidonggang: I did, and he fell to the ground in an instant, and he was unable to resist.

“Da Meng, go and ask the Yu family what’s going on?” He decided to leave this matter to Daming!

As soon as Du Yimeng left, Du Weihai called Du’s mother into the room.

“Look at how much money you have left at home, and take out more than half of it and buy all the food.” Du Weihai said. If you lose the money, you can save it again, but if you lose a person, you will have nothing.

As for why he didn’t take out all the money, people will subconsciously leave a way out for themselves, and the money left behind is their family’s retreat.

“If we buy more, the price will be high.” Du’s mother also knew that food was the only thing that mattered to people’s survival at this time. What if the situation got better in the future?

“The higher-ups even dare to reduce the rations of our machinery factory, which shows that the food shortage has reached a very serious level. I don’t understand what the big principles are, but we have been through a lot,” said Du Weihai.

He was worried that he would not be able to buy food on the black market even if he paid a high price in the future, and that would be the most terrifying thing.

As for taking the money back to their hometown to buy food, that is impossible. They at least have a quota. Even if the grain has just been distributed in the countryside, the remaining grain will have to be eaten until next year, and this year’s grain production has decreased.

Maybe life in his hometown is not as good as theirs. Xiao Lei said last time that everything was fine in his hometown. I wonder if that kid only reports good news and not bad news?

“Okay, I’ll listen to you.” Thinking of her sons at home, Du’s mother nodded in agreement.

“Thank you for your hard work over the years!” Du Weihai held his wife’s hand and said seriously.

“I know… I know… let go… I want to go see how much money I have.” Du’s mother shook off Du Weihai’s hand, and then pushed him to the side with disgust.

What are you doing here? You’re blocking her way.

Du Weihai: Where is the girl who used to blush when he touched her hand?

Du’s mother: They have five children and they are an old couple. She must be sick and that’s why she blushes.

“How come there is so much extra money at home?” Du Weihai asked with a puzzled look on his face. Although the financial power of the family was not in his hands, he could still calculate how much money there was at home. It was obviously dozens more!

“Da Meng brought back several pieces of cloth some time ago. I made two pieces for Dameng and made the rest into clothes in exchange for money, plus the wages I earned from making clothes for the street office.” Du’s mother said proudly. She can now easily earn 10 yuan a month, while before she could only make a few yuan at most by working hard to paste matchboxes.

Du Weihai nodded. In his opinion, as long as he could fill his stomach, it didn’t matter even if his butt was exposed. Don’t say he was shameless, he was just afraid of being hungry.

Only those who have been hungry all the time will understand the importance of food. Those who have never been hungry will never feel it.