The breakfast shop, the only one in Longyang Town, is located across from Longyang Middle School. Nearby are several government offices.

It’s a ten-minute walk from home to here.

The shop doesn’t have a proper storefront. In fact, if you don’t look closely, you wouldn’t even realize it’s a breakfast shop. It’s just a house with a sign reading “Breakfast” hanging from the window, and even if you saw it, you wouldn’t think it was a breakfast shop.

Not even in TV dramas would you find one like this.

At the entrance, there’s someone sitting. Before you can buy breakfast, they check if you have food coupons. If you do, only then are you allowed inside to pick your meal.

This isn’t the fault of the breakfast seller, though. These are famine years, and many people are starving. Before they died of starvation, they all want to have a bite to eat.

In the town, any place selling food has been taken over by those desperate from hunger. Some people go to buy breakfast, grab something to eat, and then admit they have no money or food coupons. If you report them to the police, what can they do? They don’t resist.

Fortunately, the breakfast shop is state-run. If it were privately owned, it would have closed down by now. There’s no choice, though. They no longer serve food openly; buying breakfast requires first verifying your food coupons.

If you’re upset and feel offended by the suspicion, you can leave without buying. The breakfast shopkeeper isn’t worried about unsold food. Anything that doesn’t sell is given to some organizations, who treat it as a work meal.

“National food coupons? You’re not from here, are you?”

The shopkeeper asked after noticing the national food coupon in Luo Cheng’s hand, as Luo Cheng spoke in Mandarin.

“This is my brother, he just came back from the military. He’s used to speaking Mandarin outside. He’s local, so you shouldn’t count my brother’s food coupons separately,” Luo Xiaoyu quickly answered for Luo Cheng.

After hearing Luo Xiaoyu’s reply, the shopkeeper nodded. It’s impossible to count extra food coupons, but since Luo Cheng is from the local area and just returned from the military, the calculation would be different.

For an ordinary breakfast, one or two coupons are enough. Since Luo Cheng used a national food coupon, the shopkeeper could give him more for the same amount.

After asking about the price, it turned out to be quite cheap. Especially the flatbread, which was gray and unappealing to Luo Cheng. But it was huge—he thought one piece would be enough to fill him up. It only cost five cents.

As for the steamed buns and dumplings, they were much larger than what Luo Cheng was used to. The buns weren’t as white as the ones he brought from the military, and the dumplings were also grayish-white.

The buns and dumplings were three cents each, a price that had been the same before the famine.

Someone might wonder if food prices rose during the famine. Actually, the prices didn’t increase, at least not at the grain station or the supply cooperative. But the rations for city people were reduced, and they couldn’t get as many coupons each month.

Without food coupons, even with money, you couldn’t buy food at the grain station or supply cooperative. At the black market, food prices had increased many times over, but if you had coupons, you could still buy food at regular prices.

Currently, rice and flour were still 16 cents a kilogram, corn was 10 cents, pork was 60 cents, cornmeal was 5 cents, and sweet potatoes were even cheaper.

A large flatbread at the breakfast shop weighed about half a jin, and it was thick. But anyone who knows about grains would recognize it as something made from cornmeal. Two flatbreads exceeded a jin, costing only one dime, but you could buy two pounds of cornmeal for a dime.

Those who know how to manage would calculate this. So, anyone who could afford to eat breakfast outside was indeed from a fairly wealthy family. Eating breakfast outside was something they could boast about in front of their neighbors. Going to a restaurant was even more impressive.

For a few cents, with a grain coupon worth more than a jin, Luo Cheng bought a huge breakfast. Based on the weight of the food, it was definitely more than a jin, but since Luo Cheng paid with a national food coupon and the flatbread was coarse grain, it couldn’t be counted as fine grain.

The breakfast shopkeeper was fair, knowing Luo Cheng was a local who had just returned from the military, and didn’t charge him extra for the coupons.

After buying the breakfast, Luo Cheng and his sister headed home. On the way, he took a bite of the flatbread. His brow furrowed immediately. If this were in the future, he wouldn’t even eat it if it were free. Not only did it have no taste, but the texture… well, let’s say it was hard to swallow and rough on the throat.

After one bite, he threw the flatbread to Luo Xiaoyu and shishi, who didn’t mind at all. To them, there was no issue with eating it after Luo Cheng had bitten it. Compared to steamed buns, this flatbread tasted much better.

Luo Cheng didn’t like eating steamed buns either, but the vegetarian dumplings at the breakfast shop were quite tasty. He finally found something he liked. However, the flatbread and steamed buns were the most bought, mainly because Luo Xiaoyu advised him to get them. The veggie-filled dumplings were good, but vegetables weren’t as valuable as flour.

Buying the steamed buns and flatbread would please their parents, but the veggie dumplings, though tastier, weren’t as cost-effective. The only reason he bought some for his grandmother was to give her a little treat.

When they returned, their father, Luo Wen, had also returned from the brigade. It wasn’t far, and buying food was a big deal, so it wasn’t uncommon for a few people to go together for safety. The brigade had no objections and let him leave.

“Dad, do you want steamed buns? There aren’t many veggie dumplings. Sister didn’t let me buy more.”

“What steamed buns? Just give me a flatbread. It’s good you didn’t buy more veggie dumplings. Not worth it. The price is the same as the steamed buns. I like the flatbread. It’s chewy.”

By the time they arrived home, their father was squatting by the door. Their mother had already told him they went to buy breakfast. Before they returned, Luo Wen had been chatting with their mother, saying their child was capable but spent money too freely and didn’t know how to manage money, so in the future, he needed to find a wife to take charge of things.

But once he saw Luo Cheng, Luo Wen didn’t say anything else. Just like Grandma said, his eldest grandson was capable. He came back and could eat white steamed buns and veggie dumplings. As for you, his father, you’re good at managing, but why didn’t you bring some white steamed buns for your wife?

It was taboo to speak ill of Luo Cheng in front of Grandma. She had a special affection for him. Luo Bing was never to her liking, and the two younger sisters were just little girls who would eventually become someone else’s. Only Luo Cheng was truly treasured.

To be honest, Grandma had prepared herself for the worst, thinking she wouldn’t survive the winter. But after just one day, she felt like she could still live.

In big cities like Beijing, the situation might be better, but in famine years, it’s mostly the same.

When people were starving to death, would they still care about morality? Many people ate raw rice directly. No one truly wanted to die, but if they had to, they just wished they could eat one last bite before they went.