Chapter 412: Food and Migrants
After calming Leifeng back down, Xiaoyun decided to bring up an issue he had seen earlier.
"Leifeng, you came up with the plan to feed them with porridge? Is the food situation here that bad?"
"It's still manageable for now as long as we do the bare minimum. The food we got from Foshan had helped a lot, but it's still a little short."
"By how much?"
Leifeng fell into silence as he seemed a little hesitant to tell Xiaoyun the answer, but he eventually gave in.
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"We only have enough for a week. If we recruit 200,000 people out of the city, then we have enough for a month instead."
"That's actually better than I thought... I'll tell Yuqi to send more over. Just make sure no one died from starvation."
With a nod, Xiaoyun left Leifeng's office and headed back to the front of the building.
The line for both unemployed aid and people signing up for the military was just as long as earlier.
He could see the expressions of the people lining up, some looking hopeful while the others seemed almost dead inside.
It was almost like watching a corpse just walking to get the porridge and sitting nearby to eat it.
If it wasn't for the police armed with rifles at the scene, he could already imagine someone fighting another person for more.
Still, there was not much he could do staying here.
He headed back into his car and began driving back to Luoping, stopping his car at the outer zone this time.
As he walked down the trading zone, people were already standing there, setting up their early morning shopping stalls.
Some were selling various kinds of items, most of them in bulk. But not a single person was selling anything related to food.
After walking for a bit, he arrived at a giant government-run grocery store that just opened.
The moment he walked in, he could see the security camera signs right next to the door.
"Welcome——Um, M-Mr.Mayor?"
The cashier seemed a little shocked when he noticed that it was Xiaoyun who had entered the store.
"Just pretend I'm a normal custom."
"Ye sir."
As Xiaoyun began walking down the aisle, he could still see most of the food grown in Luoping and Qijing in stock.
Rows of canned food were still available, albeit at a large price increase that's offset by the 50% off if paid with an empty can to the cashier.
But next to the price board was a word that said, 'Ration now is better than starvation later.'
After picking a few vegetables and a small bag of rice, Xiaoyun began heading over to the cashier.
"Mr.Mayor, do you really want me to treat you as a normal customer?" The cashier nervously asked.
"Of course. Just imagine if I'm just another citizen who came here to buy food."
After a short silence, the cashier finally spoke up again.
"Mister, you can't buy over ten pounds of food unless you have at least a household of five. I need to see your ID, please."
Xiaoyun handed his ID over, which seemed to confuse the cashier after he scanned the card.
"Um, Mister, do you have a household of 12?" The cashier nervously asked.
Xiaoyun didn't say anything back, but it was enough to make the cashier hand the ID card back and put the food into a reusable bag.
"It will be twenty food stamps, mister."
After handing over the food stamps, Xiaoyun held onto the bag as he got a little curious about something else.
"How often do people shop here?"
"Um, almost every day... Freezers are expensive on top of the electric bills, so they usually just use the store as a communal freezer."
Xiaoyun nodded in acknowledgment as he moved on to the next question.
"How many customers come here? And are you the only one working here?"
"No, there's usually fifty other cashiers and staff. I'm just early since it's my morning duty day.
And there are over a hundred thousand people who shop here. Usually, the peak hour is in the evening, right after work."
"I see... Thank you for answering my questions."
As Xiaoyun left with the groceries, the cashier let out a sigh of relief. He couldn't help but feel a little nervous the whole time.
---
When Xiaoyun arrived back home, it was already almost eight o'clock.
No one was in the living room, but the loud exhaust hood was already running, indicating someone was in the kitchen.
"Who's there?" Leyan's voice appeared.
"It's me."
As Xiaoyun walked into the kitchen, Leyan was already cooking breakfast for everyone.
Yongyi was in his baby seat, reading a book of some sort in silence.
"You came back so early. Did you already finish your business in Guangzhou?"
Leyan curiously asked as she turned the stove off, carrying the breakfast over to the table.
"I have to go back probably later this evening... Yanyan, how often do you buy groceries?"
Xiaoyun curiously asked as he loaded the food he brought into the fridge.
"About every Wednesday and Friday... Look at you, actually went out and bought groceries today?"
Leyan was a little shocked when she saw the reusable bag that she had always brought with her for grocery shopping.
"Just decided to check out the whole rationing thing," Xiaoyun replied as he put the bag of rice onto the countertop.
"That's good. Never be out of touch with the public experience... Anyway, did you get a little nervous after they scanned your card?"
Leyan asked as she put a bowl of noodles in front of Xiaoyun before putting one down for herself.
"What? Why would I be nervous over that?"
"Because having someone ask if you really have 12 people in the household."
"Okay, and? I am actually proud of it. It's only a matter of time before that number gets to 18."
"Now you want us to get all pregnant. Looks like someone was really just faking it when they said they don't want kids."
"I... You got me."
Xiaoyun jokingly raised both of his hands into the air, surrendering right in front of her.
"Hmph. You're lucky we are all willing to get pregnant for you. Or else we would have you wear protection for life."
Xiaoyun didn't say anything back this time as he started digging into the bowl of noodles with his chopstick.
"Mommy! What is protection?" Yongyi suddenly asked, making Xiaoyun almost choke on the food.
"It is something you will learn in the future, okay? You must be hungry. Let me feed you right now."
As Leyan forcefully changed the topic by pulling Yongyi out of his seat and beginning to breastfeed him, Xiaoyun couldn't hold in his laughter.
"Shut up, stop laughing at me. This is all your fault." Leyan blamed it as Yongyi silently suckled on her nipples.
"My bad, my bad——"
"Good morning everyone..." Yuqi interrupted as she walked in with Lianrong in her arms.
"Good morning... You okay? Why do you look so sleepy today?" Leyan asked as the two of them sat down together.
"I just couldn't fall asleep last night... Anyway, Xiaoyun, have you already gone to Guangzhou?"
"Yeah. I did... Leifeng actually requested me to send more food over." Xiaoyun brought it up.
"Deal with it yourself. I only have a spare food stamp left. I got no food to direct to Guangzhou."
Yuqi grumpily replied as she yawned out loud, trying to wake herself up more as Leyan headed up to get Yuqi her breakfast.
"I know. I'm going to direct some of the food I made over to Guangzhou later."
As all three began eating breakfast in silence, Lianrong was constantly trying to take Yuqi's shirt off.
"Mommy, milk!"
"Just wait a minute, okay? Let Mommy finish one more bite first."
After Yuqi finished eating half of the noodles, she finally unbuttoned her shirt and pulled her bra aside.
Lianrong finally calmed back down and peacefully suckled onto Yuqi's nipple, drinking the milk as Yuqi continued to eat her noodles.
Just as Xiaoyun was about to finish, all of the girls finally came downstairs to eat as well.
All three of the girls also came out of their guest room to eat, causing Leyan to walk back and forth to get their breakfast.
When Xiaoyun offered to help, she instantly rejected it and did it all by herself with Yongyi still in her arms the whole time.
"Good morning everyone." Shuli and Wuli waved as they were the last ones to come down.
"Good morning. What made you guys come up so early today?" Leyan curiously asked as the two usually wake up super late.
"Because somebody has been acting up all morning," both girls complained as they rubbed their bellies.
"Really? Hey, you two, stop kicking your mommy."
Xiaoyun's knock on their belly seems to have worked, as both of them look a little relieved.
"Wow, you can talk to babies like that? Why have you never told me that before?" Wuli asked in shock, with Shuli just as shocked as well.
"It's just a coincidence. That kind of stuff doesn't exist."
Yueyue pointed out as she unbuttoned her clothes to breastfeeding Qiaolan.