Chapter 7

In the summer of 1958, after the Central Committee convened the Beidaihe Conference^[1]The Beidaihe Conference is an informal, secretive annual meeting of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership, typically held in Beidaihe, a seaside resort town in Hebei province, China. The … Continue reading, a call was issued to establish people’s communes and set up communal canteens across the country.

This sparked a widespread and vigorous movement towards collectivization.

In Yunshui County, the People’s Government was renamed the County Party Committee Compound, and the area was divided into over twenty communes, both large and small.

The steel factory’s communal courtyards were merged into Yunshui County’s Second Commune.

Residents of the neighboring Guihua Alley were assigned to the Third Commune.

Starting next week, the communal canteens would be up and running, and every household would go to the canteen for meals. Director Ge mentioned that the canteen food would be excellent, with braised fish, white rice, and plenty of steamed buns every day!

Once everyone started eating at the canteen, there would be no need for individual households to use their iron pots.

The authorities encouraged the people to bring their old and unused iron pots, hoes, and other items to the street, to donate to the country and support the national steel production.

Zhang Cuilan returned home and whispered to Lin Yao, “Yao Yao, the higher-ups are asking us to donate iron for steel production. Our family has two iron pots, one new and one old. The old one has a hole in the bottom and hasn’t been used in ages. Should we just donate both?”

Gu Chunmei, who was in her room combing her hair—she had just gotten a perm at the barbershop and was admiring her new curly hairstyle in the mirror—overheard and added, “Mom, just donate them. We’re going to be eating at the canteen from now on, so we won’t need our pots anymore.”

Alarm bells went off in Lin Yao’s mind. “Sister Chunmei, that won’t do”.

The communal canteen won’t last long.

Soon after, there will be a once-in-decades drought in the countryside, compounded by the fallout from the Soviet Union split, which will lead directly to three years of hardship…

Lin Yao couldn’t help but feel grateful that her space-time supermarket was stocked with tons of rice and flour, stacked as high as small mountains. With that much food, not only would she be fine for decades, but even the five members of the Gu family could eat for years without worry.

But to cook rice and flour, you still need an iron pot!

She quickly offered her suggestion, “Auntie, as the saying goes, ‘It’s better to be safe than sorry.’ Let’s donate the old pot and keep the new one. It’s a good pot, and food cooked in it is so much more fragrant.”

Zhang Cuilan thought about it and agreed. She rummaged through the house, grabbed the old iron pot with a broken handle, along with two rusty unused axes, and took them to the commune.

Uncle Mancang was at work at the steel factory, and that brat Dongzi had already run off somewhere. Lin Yao sat quietly in her room, reading a book and thinking about knitting wool gloves for everyone in the family when the weather turned cold.

Gu Chunmei continued to fuss with her new curly hair.

Not content with just her own hair, she enthusiastically tried to drag Lin Yao along to get a perm too.

Lin Yao’s lips twitched, and she immediately bolted out the door.

That evening, the commune secretary and other leaders held a passionate mobilization meeting. Uncle Gu Mancang, as an outstanding old employee of the steel factory and head of the Gu family, was given the honor of speaking on stage.

Gu Mancang was stunned when he heard the news. He was born in the old society when Grandpa Gu was fighting Japanese soldiers with a rifle on the battlefield, and Grandma Gu was struggling to raise her son at home.

Back then, the Gu family was so poor that mother and son would cry as they gnawed on wild vegetable cakes and tofu residue to fill their stomachs.

Gu Mancang had hardly spent any time in school. After liberation, when the street set up literacy classes, Uncle Mancang wanted to progress together with the younger workers at the factory.

Grandma Gu was still alive at the time. When she heard this, she banged her cane on the ground and pursed her toothless mouth, “What nonsense! You want to go to those literacy classes?”

Gu Mancang nodded earnestly.

Grandma Gu smiled so wide that her gums showed, “Alright, let me ask you a question: What happens when a carrying pole falls over?”?”

Gu Mancang was stumped.

What happens if the carrying pole falls over?

Isn’t it still a carrying pole even if it falls over?

What else could it be?

It can’t be a golden shoulder pole, can’t it?

Just then, Zhang Cuilan returned from the pig farm, and Grandma Gu asked her daughter-in-law the same question.

Zhang Cuilan dismissed it disdainfully, “A shoulder pole that falls over is a one. Even a five-year-old knows that. Which idiot can’t answer that?”

Foolish Gu Mancang: “…….”

Uncle Mancang thought his mother was right. He was just a thick-headed guy. His sole focus should be being a good Level 5 fitter, not doing leader stuff or giving speeches.

Gu Mancang shook his head like a rattle drum, refusing to agree to the speech.

The young cadre sent to inform him was so anxious that he scratched his head.

“Uncle, giving a speech on stage is such an honorable thing! Why don’t you want to do it?”

“Director Ge said that if one person goes on stage, the whole family will be honored!”

“Auntie, you said what? Is there a reward for giving a speech? Of course, half a pound of brown sugar.”

Zhang Cuilan’s eyes lit up, and she made the final decision, “We’re going! This is an important task from the Party, and our Gu family is devoted to the country! For half a pound of brown sugar, we’ll definitely go. Xiao Ding, you can go back now. Your Uncle Gu will certainly attend.”

Cadre Xiao Ding: “…….”

Alright then, as long as Auntie Gu agreed.

He could also give the director an explanation when he returned.

The young official Xiao Ding wiped his face, his back appearing especially weathered against the setting sun, despite being only in his twenties.

Lin Yao sympathetically watched Xiao Ding leave. The poor guy had really had a rough day.

Gu Mancang wanted to try negotiating with his wife again. He rubbed his hands together and began cautiously, “Cuilan, I have something to say…”

Zhang Cuilan immediately shot him a glare, “What could you possibly have to say! Whatever it is, swallow it back down! What’s the big deal about giving a speech? You can’t write a speech? That’s no problem—our Yaoyao is educated. Let her write a speech for you. You just have to memorize it word for word. Yaoyao, can you do that?”

Lin Yao, who was suddenly named: “…It’s not that I can’t, but will Uncle Mancang agree?”

Zhang Cuilan declared that if Comrade Mancang didn’t agree, she’d make sure he understood why the flowers are so red!

“…”

Comrade Gu Mancang had no desire to find out why the flowers are so red.

Lin Yao quickly got to work, writing a concise speech. Gu Mancang memorized it word for word and even grabbed his youngest son to act as an audience for practice.

Lin Yao taught Uncle Mancang a trick: when he gets on stage, imagine the audience as a bunch of mute pumpkins. If he’s nervous speaking in front of the commune members, maybe he won’t be so scared talking to pumpkins.

As a result, that evening’s mobilization meeting was particularly successful.

Director Ge started with a rousing introduction, saying things like, “The People’s Commune is good. Happiness lasts forever!” and “Eat without spending money, work hard to produce!” The members in the audience responded with thunderous applause.

Gu Mancang was the first to give a speech. Although it wasn’t as eloquent as Director Ge’s and he stammered a bit, it was concise. In those days, most people hadn’t had much schooling, so the later speakers’ verbose speeches just made everyone’s heads spin.

What nonsense were they even talking about? No one understood a thing!

Everyone gave Director Ge and Uncle Mancang five stars for their speeches. The applause for the others was sparse, just for show.

In the end, the mobilization meeting was a great success.

Director Ge was very pleased, especially with Uncle Mancang. He even gave the Gu family special recognition.

The Gu family’s reward was also better than others—a half pound of white sugar.

That day, the Gu family was as joyful as if it were New Year’s.

The next morning, Zhang Cuilan surprisingly decided to be generous for once. She went to the supply and marketing cooperative and bought a cut of fatty pork. She had initially planned to bring some meat home from the pig farm. The pigs there were well-fed and much better than those raised in the countryside. They were fed bean dregs and cakes, making their meat especially tasty.

Unfortunately, her timing was off. The pig farm had slaughtered two pigs a few days ago, and the meat had been snatched up before it even had time to cool.

So, Zhang Cuilan had to get up early and stand in line at the supply and marketing cooperative to buy meat before rushing off to work.

Gu Shidong put the meat in the well to keep it fresh. Near lunchtime, Lin Yao called him to retrieve it. Together with Gu Chunmei, they cleaned the pork, chopped it finely, and mixed it with wood ear mushrooms and dried shiitake mushrooms sent by Uncle Zhang from the countryside last year. They soaked and blanched everything, then mixed it with washed spinach to make a filling. They stir-fried it with sweet bean paste, green onions, and ginger before wrapping the filling into a bamboo mat full of fragrant shiitake mushroom and pork dumplings.

In these times, when ordinary people bought pork, they preferred the kind with lots of fat. A single cut of fatty meat, oily and jiggly, could be rendered into lard. The leftover lard was stored in jars.

When the housewives of the courtyard fried rice, they would dip a cloth into the lard jar and then wipe it across the pan. This counted as using oil. However, the dishes fried this way tasted no different from boiled vegetables—bland and flavorless, but still edible.

No matter how tasteless, they had to eat it.

Everyone was poor, and if they didn’t eat this way, they would starve.

As a result, whenever people had meat coupons, they preferred to buy fatty pork—it was more practical.

Although Lin Yao herself preferred lighter foods, she knew the Gu family liked richer flavors, so she added a spoonful of lard to the dumpling filling.

The big pot in the Gu family’s kitchen steamed for a few minutes. By the time the steel mill’s workers finished their shifts, the aroma of the shiitake mushroom and pork dumplings had wafted far and wide.

While the steel mill workers earned good wages, they couldn’t afford to eat meat dumplings unless it was a holiday or New Year’s. What’s more, the commune’s cafeteria was about to open, so many people were just waiting to eat public meals.

Which family had lost their mind to make such fragrant dumplings, and meat ones at that? Were they just wasting money?

In the courtyard, Zheng Dacheng’s wife, Liu Laidi, carrying a basket, walked home with a sullen expression.

The vegetables she bought that day weren’t fresh, and she had been scolded by her boss. To make matters worse, she failed to smuggle any steamed buns from the factory cafeteria, leaving her in a foul mood.

As soon as she entered the courtyard, the aroma hit her. Liu Laidi sniffed the air, then spat on the ground, “Pah, what a show-off! Only your Gu family has meat coupons to buy meat. You are just a poor fifth-level fitter. My Dacheng is the master chef in the factory cafeteria. Tomorrow we will eat pig’s trotters behind closed doors!”

Because the street committee’s cafeteria was opening the next day, Gu Mancang came home earlier than usual.

Gu Shidong couldn’t stop drooling over the pot of meat dumplings.

Just as the Gu family was about to sit down for dinner, the steel mill’s gatekeeper suddenly came to their house.

“Mancang, there’s a phone call for your family—from the army!”