[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-siheyuan-food-love-and-family-in-1960s-beiji":3,"chapter-the-siheyuan-food-love-and-family-in-1960s-beiji-the-siheyuan-food-love-and-family-in-1960s-beiji-chapter-53":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","The Siheyuan: Food, Love, and Family in 1960s Beijing",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2314103,4526,"Chapter 53: Chapter Fifty-Four: Special Review","the-siheyuan-food-love-and-family-in-1960s-beiji-chapter-53",53,"\u003Cp>The workers at Hongxing Rolling Mill came from diverse backgrounds.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Some were urban residents, others were farmers relocated due to land requisition.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Urban residents lived within the city; newly hired workers resided in the factory dormitories or family quarters.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Housing conditions within the factory compound were average, but the landscaping was well done.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The rolling mill handled component design, casting, machining, profile steel processing, transportation, and sales, placing it in the mid-to-lower stream of the steel industry.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After the merger, the rolling mill became large in scale, with many personnel and comprehensive functional departments; with more departments came overlapping responsibilities.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Security Department had one duty: escorting shipments.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There were two ways to ship components out of the factory: one was via a dedicated railway spur connecting to the main line.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For rail transport, three security personnel were typically assigned as escorts.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The other method was road transport; the mill maintained a fleet of over twenty trucks, serving as a supplement to rail transport, usually for short distances.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For reasons that cannot be elaborated upon, it is not appropriate to further explain why security escorts were required.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Xuewu had just returned from running drills when he received a call from Dong Wenhua at the gatehouse, instructing him to go to his office.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Upon entering the office, Li Xuewu saw Dong Wenhua sitting with two middle-aged cadres dressed in military green on the sofa.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Dong Wenhua waved him over and said, “Xuewu, these two are Comrade Liu and Comrade Yu from the Armed Forces Department. They’ll be reviewing your personal background—cooperate fully, don’t feel pressured.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though Li Xuewu didn’t know what was going on, he could only comply obediently.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Comrade Liu and Comrade Yu stood up and shook hands with Li Xuewu. Comrade Liu greeted him: “Comrade Li Xuewu, don’t be nervous—it’s just a routine visit.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Xuewu nodded calmly and replied, “I will fully cooperate with your work.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Once Li Xuewu sat down on the sofa, the questioning began.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Comrade Liu asked the questions, while Comrade Yu took notes, starting from elementary school all the way to before enlistment, then from demobilization to the present.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Xuewu didn’t understand the purpose—the questions lacked logic, even probing into his ancestors three generations back. He knew his great-grandfather was a TCM practitioner, his grandfather was a TCM practitioner, and his father was too… but none were renowned.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He was then asked about his personal relationships. He didn’t hide anything—it was normal. Such questions were standard during enlistment, employment, promotion, and organizational interviews, serving as a key indicator for evaluating cadres.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing Li Xuewu frown, Comrade Liu shifted to lighter topics, until he asked about Li Xuewu’s views on the current social situation—only then did Li Xuewu sense something was off.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though aware of the current social conditions, history had its inevitability and correctness, which could not be reversed. Li Xuewu had read many alternative interpretations of this era in his past life, but he couldn’t mention them now.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Xuewu stated firmly: “I was once a soldier—I followed the Party’s directives. Now I’m a security cadre—I still follow the Party’s directives. That has been my lifelong pursuit and goal.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Comrade Liu stopped asking and had Comrade Yu take out a camera to photograph Li Xuewu.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This left Li Xuewu bewildered—he’d never heard of photo sessions being part of such reviews.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sitting posture, standing posture, reading, writing, full-body shots, upper-body shots, close-ups of the face…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Was this some kind of artistic portrait session?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though he cooperated, Li Xuewu was internally confused. He glanced at Dong Wenhua, but the man merely sat silently, expressionless, saying nothing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After finishing the photo session with Comrade Yu, Dong Wenhua finally spoke.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Xuewu, tonight you’re on a mission—go to Jilin Province, escort a train carrying components, then escort a shipment of steel back.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only now did Li Xuewu realize this was due to the escort duty—but even for a special mission, why such strict review? Artistic portraits… what did that have to do with escorting?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He couldn’t ask, so he stayed confused inside but answered promptly: “Yes, I’ll guarantee completion of the mission.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This mission was originally assigned to Wang Jindong, but since he’d been unexpectedly incapacitated, Li Xuewu was naturally chosen to lead it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These components were processed and transported in secret; the railway only handled transport—the escort had to be handled by the factory’s Security Department.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Xuewu’s mind immediately lit up—business trip! Trading goods across regions! He began thinking how to make money on this trip.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He spent the morning pondering in the office, then in the afternoon arranged for eight security team members to report to the street at 7 p.m. on bicycles. He called Dong Wenhua to say he was going home early to pack and left work.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Xuewu rode his bicycle straight to Wen San’er’s house, pushed open the gate, and entered the courtyard.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The stove and large iron pot were still there, but the fire was out; the butchery traces had been cleaned up—some brains left, at least.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>yawenba.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Inside the house, Wen San’er and the others were asleep; even the sound of Li Xuewu opening the door didn’t wake them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Xuewu tapped Wen San’er’s head lightly. When Wen San’er finally struggled to open his eyes, Li Xuewu said, “Uncle San, wake up—there’s something to do.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wen San’er blinked sleepily, glanced at Li Xuewu, then sat up.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Xuewu, you scared me! Ah～～～—I didn’t sleep all night, busy with that pig.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Xuewu watched Wen San’er yawn, tossed him a cigarette, and sat on top of Lao Biao, who was still snoring.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Did you sell it all?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wen San’er caught the cigarette and sniffed it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Damn, Li Xuewu only smoked good cigarettes—this Da Qianmen was a scarce item at the Supply and Marketing Cooperative. Why? Three jiao seven fen a pack—nobody could afford it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Xuewu was single and didn’t care about the cigarette money; he didn’t smoke Zhonghua just because Da Qianmen didn’t make him cough.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He struck a match, lit the cigarette, and took a deep drag to shake off the drowsiness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Of course I sold it all—not a single pig’s foot left! Damn, it was chaos!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Xuewu asked: “How’d you sell it? All gone in one night?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wen San’er grinned: “Any ticket would do—convert to cash, subtract one jiao. Then convert to meat tickets, add one jiao five fen. If no tickets, pay cash—add three jiao extra. Even then, people fought over it. I’ve got a whole little notebook of names.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Xuewu realized this meant a net profit of two jiao five fen per transaction—three jiao if paid in cash.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Holy hell—the price of pork was seven jiao six fen per jin, but he was selling it for over one yuan and one fen.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The high price was due to four reasons: first, pork stored well in winter, so people dared to buy; second, you had to queue for pork and got whatever was left—you couldn’t choose; third, meat tickets were required; fourth, Wen San’er accepted other tickets as substitutes, and even allowed cash payments with extra fees.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Xuewu listened without comment—he knew Wen San’er and the others had been through this before and knew how to handle it; no reminders were needed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wen San’er grinned broadly: “Another advantage—we take anything. If you’ve got nothing, you can trade goods. Many street vendors came and traded items for pork.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Xuewu knew Wen San’er was showing off, so he happily praised him to keep him motivated: “You’re a seasoned pro—you know this game inside out. You’ll definitely nail the pricing.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wen San’er boasted: “Of course. I’m no Zhou Bapi, but I deal fairly—old and young alike. Even when trading goods, there’s always room for negotiation, right? I always give the lowest price minus two jiao five fen.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Xuewu teased: “Are you obsessed with two jiao five fen? Why is it always that amount?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ps: Temporarily resuming two updates per day. As you’ve all seen, the author strictly controls typos and plot coherence—six revisions already—so I can’t post large volumes. But I guarantee at least 4,000 words daily, with quality assured.\u003C\u002Fp>",1357,"2026-06-20T13:46:54.288Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","e27c875a6132f4a34119a549a1cf110de5ec80ea527e0f48a95e3edb1e014b8e","the-siheyuan-food-love-and-family-in-1960s-beiji-chapter-54","the-siheyuan-food-love-and-family-in-1960s-beiji-chapter-52",1000,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-siheyuan-food-love-and-family-in-1960s-beiji-cover.jpg"]