Monday, October 17, was Xiang Xin’s first day back at work.
In the office, Xu Dong took the gift from Xiang Xin and asked with a smile:
"It's so tightly packed, what's inside?"
"Two silver bracelets. Brother Xu, don't you have two daughters? One for each of you." Xiang Xin said politely.
Xu Dong opened the package and saw two exotic bracelets in front of him. Even at the current price of silver, they were not considered expensive gifts.
However, it is very suitable as a souvenir.
"The bracelet is very beautiful. I would like to thank the eldest and second child in our family." Xu Dong thanked with a smile.
Xiang Xin waved his hand, "It's just a small gift. The silver price in Jinglong is so cheap that it's not worth much."
Next, Xu Dong inquired about the current situation in southern Xinjiang, and Xiang Xin did not hide anything and told everything he knew.
"It's a pity that Xiao Wang is gone, otherwise I could go to Jinglong to find a wife." Xu Dong sighed.
Xiang Xin's face turned red, and he said angrily: "Brother Xu, why do you have such dirty and bad ideas? This is taking advantage of others' danger and disrespecting women..."
"Okay, I'm just saying that. You are being more serious. Are you worried that He Jian can't control himself?" Xu Dong teased.
Xiang Xin's face turned red, he turned around and took his people out for patrol.
…
Turning his attention back to the courtyard, Xu's mother was looking for the household registration book in the bedroom.
Just a few days ago, the Daxia Congress officially passed the "National Food Rationation Supply Act", which caused a sensation across the country.
This bill further clarifies the principle of unified purchase and marketing of grain in terms of policy, and establishes the basic national policy of rationing supply based on registered population.
To put it simply, in the future, the production and sales of grain will be 100% monopolized by the state, somewhat similar to the tobacco monopoly system.
For a time, many people exclaimed that the era of food stamps was coming back again!
Of course, according to the current level of technology, it is impossible for food stamps to come back.
After all, the management methods were too extensive, and they were replaced by a more advanced ration card system.
The so-called food card is roughly similar in function to food stamps, serving as a voucher for purchasing food.
It is a chip card issued by the National Bureau of Statistics and entrusted by the four major state-owned banks.
Theoretically, each household is required to have one card.
Every month, every week, or even every day, the Bureau of Statistics will use big data technology and combine it with national grain reserves to uniformly distribute food rations to all families.
Compared with food stamps, food cards can be accurate to the age of each person, thereby establishing the ration standards for each family. They are also more flexible and avoid one-size-fits-all.
For example, Xu Dong’s family consists of seven people, but they have five children, three of whom are babies.
This is a special family.
Therefore, big data will definitely reduce the quantity of rations, but it will also increase the proportion of refined grains accordingly. It can be said that there are half pros and cons.
At this moment, Yang Lina came in with her household registration book: "Mom, have you found it here?"
"Found it."
Xu's mother held up the household registration book and said, people's memory deteriorates when they get old, so it took them a long time to find it.
"Then let's set off quickly. There will definitely be a lot of people later."
Today is the first day to apply for a food card.
I don’t know where the news came from, saying that the higher the ration card number is, the greater the advantage when distributing rations. That’s why Yang Lina and her mother-in-law are so anxious.
"Go, go, don't forget the bottle."
Xu's father and Xu's mother belong to an independent household. The family needs to apply for two food cards. Yang Lina and Xu's mother need to go there in person. Considering that there is no one to take care of the triplets, they can only take them with them.
The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law took the triplets and took a taxi to a nearby bank. There was already a long queue in front of the bank gate.
"Lao Zhang, this way." Lao Qian from the square dance troupe waved his hand.
Xu's mother replied: "Well, you came quite early, Laoqian!"
"Good morning, Aunt Qian!" Yang Lina also nodded towards the other party.
Xu's mother held Dabao in her left hand, Erbao in her right hand, Yang Lina held Xiaobao in her arms, and they walked to the back of the line.
"It's not that early. I was only ten minutes earlier than you."
"Dabao, Erbao, this is your grandma Qian, please say hello to grandma."
"Milk...milk is good!" Dabao shouted loudly.
Dabao is the liveliest of the triplets. He usually listens to Ma Xu and is not very afraid of people.
Lao Qian looked at the triplets with envy: "We haven't seen each other for only a month, but Dabao and the others have grown so big. Look at each of them, they are white and tender. They are so cute."
"Children grow up very fast," Xu's mother said with a smile.
Yang Lina took out her parasol, asked the three little guys to stand under the umbrella, and applied sunscreen on them.
On the other side, Xu Ma and Lao Qian started chatting about the food card.
"Lao Zhang, your family is going to suffer a big loss this time."
Xu Ma's face tightened and she quickly asked: "How do you say it?"
"I heard people say that in the future, food will be distributed according to age. Your triplets are too small. Together, they will only be divided into a dozen kilograms per month at most." Lao Qian said regretfully.
"Oh, there's nothing we can do about it. If we don't have enough food, just eat less. It'll be enough."
Xu Ma sighed, but she didn't feel much disappointed. She had sufficient food reserves, so a little less wouldn't have much impact at all.
Lao Qian comforted him: "That's right. You have a good attitude. My family has been running to Panjiayuan every day these days. We haven't bought much food. I have caught a cold."
"Is it serious?" Xu Ma asked with concern.
"Fortunately, it's just a minor cold. I'll probably be fine after taking medicine for two days."
"It's okay. By the way, what's the price of food now in Panjiayuan?" Xu's mother asked curiously.
Lao Qian lowered his head and replied softly: "Rice costs more than 130 yuan per catty, flour costs more than 100 yuan per catty, and the cheapest corn costs more than 80 yuan."
"So expensive?"
Xu's mother was shocked. She had not paid attention to the food prices on the market for a long time.
"It's still expensive. Nowadays, even if you have money, you can't buy food. Fortunately, Lao Sun warned me early, and with the two bags of rice I bought from you, our family finally managed to stock up on several hundred kilograms of rice."
Lao Qian said happily.
"Someday, find an opportunity to ask Lao Sun out and let's get together again." Xu Ma suggested.
"Okay, Lao Zhang, how much rice does your family have?"
Xu Ma shook her head: "There wasn't much rice left in the store at the beginning, only more than three hundred kilograms, maybe not as much as yours!"
"Almost, almost the same!" Lao Sun said awkwardly. Speaking of it, he had taken a huge advantage from Lao Zhang's family.
After queuing for more than an hour, the food card was finally processed. Yang Lina looked at the food card in her hand and felt that it was not much different from an ordinary bank card.
The front of the card is printed with the national emblem, country name, issuing unit, and a string of thirteen-digit card numbers.
There are some precautions printed on the back of the card, such as the function, scope of use, loss report instructions, service hotline, and official website address of the food card.
There is also a warning text at the bottom, to the effect that stealing someone else's food card is a serious crime and starts in ten years.
In addition, it should be noted that every time you "swipe the card", you need to enter a password or fingerprint authentication.