Volume 1 Chapter 0077 People's Hearts Are Not the Same
The seventh day.
Nan Yi took Nan Ruoyin for a walk by the river and actually saw something new - Xian Yaodong was washing clothes at the pier.
Well, what was new wasn’t the laundry, but the clothes he was wearing.
Looking at the clothes on Xian Yaodong, Nan Yi walked up to him with a big laugh, "Uncle Xian, don't the members of the brigade recognize you as the brigade leader? Do they want you to wear your high-end pants?"
"What's so funny? A mouse got into my closet and ate several of my clothes. I could only sort out my clothes and wash them. After washing them, I have nothing to wear. What else can I wear?"
Xian Yaodong glared at Nan Yi in annoyance and scratched the three words "Japanese Product" on his chest with his hand.
Nan Yi walked around Xian Yaodong and carefully looked at the high-end pants he was wearing, which he had only heard of but never seen before, also called cadre pants.
In the early years, there was a saying: When cadres meet, they first compare their high-end pants. The front is made of Japanese products, the back is urea, and the crotch weighs "25 grams".
There are many such rhymes, which are widely circulated and have many versions, but they are basically the same.
These urea pants may seem funny, but there is actually a sad story behind them.
Before the emergence of artificial cotton and Dacron, the domestic cloth supply was quite tight. New cloth lasted three years, old cloth lasted three years, and then patched cloth lasted another three years. In the 1950s and 1960s, this was not a celebration of thrift, but a kind of helplessness.
Even if you have money, you can't buy cloth. If the old cloth is worn out and not repaired, you will be left with nothing. There is no way you can get new cloth.
Especially in the north, where the weather is cold and the summer and winter are distinct, more clothes need to be prepared. At the beginning, when the supply of cloth can still keep up, the cloth coupons will be used up in an instant.
Later, the supply could not keep up and people could not buy anything even if they wanted to. As time went by, the original stock was so rotten that only a pair of things that looked like pants were left.
This thing is probably made up of scraps of cloth from many pieces of clothes and pants.
Therefore, a family would be so poor that they only had one pair of pants left, and whoever wanted to go out would wear it while everyone else would stay on the kang. This situation also occurred in that era.
For a while, matchmakers used the following lines when trying to trick women: "Let me tell you, the young man I'm introducing has six people in his family, and each of them has a pair of pants with no more than three patches on them.
If your daughter gets married, her family said they would make her a new pair of pants out of cloth."
When the girl's mother heard this, her eyes would surely light up, and she would raise two fingers, "My daughter is very virtuous. Look at this big butt. She can give birth... We want two."
It was in this historical context that my country normalized its diplomatic relations with Japan and imported a limited batch of urea from Japan, which was distributed to various parts of the country.
When the locals saw the urea bags, they were shocked. They felt as .
As a result, urea bags became a scarce resource circulated in a small range, and were purchased internally at a price of 80 cents per bag. Don't think it's expensive, as ordinary people are not eligible to buy it.
Thus, the jingle about cadre pants was born.
Nan Yi didn't expect that Xian Yaodong also had such a set of cadre pants. It should not be difficult to get some cloth here since it is close to Xiangkeng.
"Uncle Xian, tell me, where did you get these cadre pants?"
Nan Yi looked at Xian Yaodong with curiosity, waiting for his answer.
"What are you talking about? In 1973, the commune gave out awards to commend us. That year, Wenchangwei ranked first in grain production in the entire commune."
"Oh, I see. I'll go get you a new set of my clothes so you can exchange them for the ones you're wearing."
"What do you want to change? I'll change my clothes and send them to you after they're dry. I don't understand you. You still want to keep this broken thing?"
"Yes, I have to keep it. I guess there are only a few sets of this kind in the whole country. In a few years, I will show it off and say that this is the cadre pants worn by the wealthy Xian Yaodong. Tsk, tsk, how much do you think it will sell for?"
"Just make fun of your Uncle Xian." Xian Yaodong laughed bitterly.
"Forget it, forget it. I won't tease you anymore. I really like what you're wearing. It's a sign of an era. I plan to keep it well."
"Okay, okay, I'll give it to you."
"Then it's settled. Ruoyin, say goodbye to Grandpa Xian, and we'll go take a walk around the front."
"Goodbye, Grandpa Xian!"
"Hey, goodbye Ruoyin."
After saying goodbye to Xian Yaodong, Nan Yi came to the tidal flats, the farthest part from the village, and he didn't see any chicken coops or duck coops. But just now when he stood by the river, he saw a lot of ducks playing in the river.
Obviously, no one paid any attention to the rules that Xian Yaohua announced in the summer broadcast, and the members still did things according to their own ideas.
Nan Yi curled his lips and smiled, thinking to himself: "This is good. The street lights are on every day, and no one will think they are important . Only when they break down one day and a few people fall while walking on the street at night, will pedestrians know their importance.
My street lamp will probably be out of service for a while, so I plan to make some minor adjustments, and this year’s focus will be on foreign investment.”
"Dad, what are you laughing at?"
"Nothing to laugh at, Dad is just thinking about something."
"What are you thinking about?"
"My daughter Ruoyin has grown taller. She must be 1.1 meters tall now."
"Yeah, my great-grandmother just measured me not long ago, 109.2 centimeters."
"Haha, then let your great-grandmother take you to the hospital for a checkup someday to see if you are developing early or will become a tall man in the future."
Nan Ruoyin just turned five years old after the Chinese New Year, and her height is now approaching the normal height limit for her age.
"Dad, I'm not sick. I don't want to go to the hospital."
When Nan Ruoyin heard the word hospital, a hint of fear appeared in her eyes.
"Okay, it's okay, just go get a checkup, no injections or medication."
"Oh, no injections?"
"Do not hit."
"Okay then. I'll go."
"That's how you behave. Come here, little pig girl, daddy will hold you." Nan Yi clapped his hands and opened his arms to Nan Ruoyin.
After carrying her home, Nan Yi let Nan Ruoyin play by herself, and he and Fang Mengyin hid aside and whispered to each other again.
"Grandma, it's time to find someone to remove the golden nanmu wood in the house. After it's removed, find a truck to help me transport it to the capital. I plan to dig a cellar in your courtyard and hide the wood there first."
"No need to dig. I already have a basement in my yard. Judging from the amount of wood, it should be able to fit in the basement."
"Wow, grandma, you have a basement in your house, and you never told me?"
Fang Mengyin glanced at Nan Yi and said, "Don't talk about you. I didn't even tell your grandfather. Before you put the wood away, put away the box inside. In the box is the Fang family's genealogy and ancestral tablets."
"Grandma, within two years, I will definitely buy the Fang Mansion in Shanghai back for you. When the time comes, you can bring the tablet and family tree back to Shanghai."
"Okay, okay, my dear grandson. Grandma is counting on you." Fang Mengyin said excitedly.
