The plan to marry off the eldest daughter was temporarily put on hold by the eldest uncle. At the very least, the matter wouldn’t be discussed until after their visit to Luo Wen’s family.

Bringing stools and tableware to a meal was common practice in rural areas at the time. In cities, wealthier families followed the “36-leg rule,” which referred to one table and eight stools.

Ordinary families, especially in the countryside, didn’t have many tables or chairs. Sometimes, even large families didn’t have enough furniture for their own use, let alone for guests.

When asked to bring stools, it usually meant just enough for people to sit during the meal. At Aunt Luo Juan’s home, which had several children, they couldn’t bring stools for everyone. At most, they brought one or two, and others either stood or squatted while eating.

At the younger aunt Luo Hong’s house, their situation was slightly better than the eldest aunt’s. This was because her husband was the eldest son in his family, and his parents provided some support. However, as the saying goes, every family has its difficulties. Luo Hong’s husband’s parents had other children to support, and she herself had siblings.

Any available grain was prioritized for immediate family needs, much like in Luo Cheng’s household. Even before the autumn rations were distributed, they were already discussing whether to assist others.

Although they earned work points, they could barely keep from starving. Helping others would mean having only thin porridge to drink during the New Year. Eating a bowl of dry rice would be a luxury.

When people said Luo Hong’s situation was better, it only referred to periods after the rations arrived. In the interim, their circumstances were much the same as Luo Juan’s—surviving on thin porridge. The only difference was that Luo Hong’s family had slightly more sweet potatoes, which made their porridge a little thicker.

When Luo Bing arrived at Aunt Luo Hong’s house, her husband had already left for work. Although they couldn’t grow grain, they could still plant other crops. Luo Hong was at home because her three children, two daughters, and one son, were young, and someone needed to stay behind to take care of them.

After informing her about the lunch invitation, Luo Bing didn’t stay for water. Instead, he grabbed half a white radish to snack on as he headed back home.

After finishing breakfast, Luo Cheng didn’t sit idle. The family’s water tank was running low, and due to the drought, wells in some areas of the town were dry. Even wells that produced water often had murky water. After drawing water, it needed to be left to settle, so the sediment could filter out before being poured into the tank.

Fortunately, the need to filter the water prevented Luo Cheng from revealing his physical strength. The shared well had a communal bucket tied with a rope. While the bucket wasn’t too large, it wasn’t light either. People brought their wooden buckets to collect water, but they didn’t need to bring their own ropes. However, not all wells had communal ropes; some still required individuals to bring their own.

Without modern plastic buckets, wooden buckets were quite heavy. Luo Cheng, his sisters, and their father all went to fetch water together. To make the task easier, they decided to have two people carry one bucket using a yoke.

In the past, one person would typically carry two full buckets of water on a single yoke. While it was labor-intensive, people of that era didn’t think much of it.

Luo Cheng and Luo Xiaoyu carried one bucket together, while their father and Luo Shishi carried another. Despite this shared effort, Luo Cheng felt exhausted, whereas Luo Xiaoyu and Luo Shishi seemed unaffected. Luo Cheng had no choice but to pretend he was just as capable.

The need to filter the water. Otherwise, their father, Luo Wen, would have had them return for another round of water-fetching.

But their grandmother intervened, saying, “How can we let the eldest grandson do this kind of work? He’s going to get a proper job and live off commercial grain in the future. This kind of chore is always handled by the younger grandson, Luo Bing. These two buckets will suffice for now. When Luo Bing returns from buying grain, he can fetch more water.”

Hearing this, Luo Cheng couldn’t help but feel amused.

All grandsons are not treated equally. I’m pampered as the eldest grandson, while Luo Bing is treated as a laborer!

That said, their grandmother wasn’t entirely biased. She set aside two flatbreads for Luo Bing, while everyone else only had one. Even Luo Xiaoyu and Luo Shishi benefited from Luo Cheng’s reluctance to eat his flatbread earlier, each getting one and a half flatbreads.

Just as they were discussing him, Luo Bing returned. Excited about the trip to buy grain, he had hurried through his errands at his uncles’ and aunts’ houses without wasting any time.

After the water had settled for about ten minutes, it was poured into the water tank. Luo Bing arrived just as the task was completed.

“Here, these flatbreads are for you, bought by your big brother. Eat them so you’ll have the strength to carry the grain later,” said Luo Wen as he handed Luo Bing the flatbreads.

The boy was the most active and capable worker in the family. However, in such times, it was hard to tell whether this was a blessing or a curse. Being strong and hardworking was good, but a large appetite meant he was always hungry—a challenging trait during famine years.

“Dad, Big Brother, have you both eaten already?” Luo Bing asked.

“We’ve eaten. These are specifically for you. We waited for you to eat before heading out to buy grain,” Luo Wen replied.

“Then let’s go! I can eat the flatbread on the way,” Luo Bing said cheerfully, taking a big bite of the flatbread. He ate with such gusto that it seemed delicious.

Even Luo Wen’s way of eating the flatbread made it look appetizing, leaving Luo Cheng wondering if he had eaten it incorrectly earlier. Why did it taste so unpalatable to him?

The flatbread, weighing over half a jin, disappeared quickly in Luo Bing’s hands. He took large bites, devouring nearly half in one go, barely chewing before swallowing. If this were modern times, Luo Bing could easily become a popular mukbang streamer.

They brought several cloth bags because they wanted to purchase different types of grain. Luo Cheng and his family had never used national ration coupons to buy grain before. Even local ration coupons were rarely used by farmers, as they had limited access to such resources.

While local ration coupons weren’t common in their household, they had heard of them. Local coupons were divided into coarse and fine grain categories. Urban residents, particularly those relying on commercial grain, had ration books. These allowed them to purchase grain directly or exchange the books for ration coupons.

Urban residents were allotted limited quantities, determined by various factors. Workers in heavy industries received higher allocations, and some workplaces provided supplemental rations. Leadership positions also came with slightly higher rations, though the differences weren’t significant.

Due to the famine, urban rations had been reduced over the past two years. Rations were categorized by gender, students, and children, each with specific standards.

Even with rations, city residents often struggled to have enough food. Families with children and elderly members found it particularly challenging to survive on the standard allocation of around 30 jin (15 kg) per person per month.

In times of scarcity, a pound of grain per day barely sufficed, let alone less. People often felt perpetually hungry.

Ration allocations were typically based on fine grains. A pound of fine grain rations could be exchanged for three pounds of coarse grain. There were limits, though; one couldn’t exchange all their rations for coarse grain or purchase only fine grain.