Although Lin Lan didn’t care about them, she realised that the family’s labour force was too small, and if the work points were not enough, there was going to be a shortage of food.
Previously, even though the family wasn’t separated, Han Qingsong still earned 10 work points per day. After he changed jobs and split up from the main family, his work points were gone.
Hence, his rations could only be bought with money.
In addition, Lin Lan got 6 to 7 points a day at work, sometimes more when Han Qingsong returned to help her out. Dawang also earned 6 points whereas the other children only contributed to 3 or 4 points on average. Since they have to go to school, the amount of work points they were able to earn would be lesser.
This was due to the fact that the rations were divided into a 4-6 concept. 40% of the earnings was determined by the amount of family members in the family and the remaining 60% was determined by the work done. This was the government’s welfare towards the members of the Commune.
If they were to count by the amount of family members in the family, they would have sufficient work points for food. However, due to the fact that things depended on the workforce, the points that Lin Lan’s family obtained were lesser.
That way, her family’s work points were not enough, so it depended on Han Qingsong’s salary to buy food.
To her, there was nothing wrong with it. Erwang became anxious at first, yapping all day about how little food there was in the food tank and constantly asking when the sweet potatoes would be distributed.
Lin Lan felt that although Han Qingsong earned enough wages, his children were all going to school and he had to spend money to subsidise the lack of work points to buy food. Hence, their family was not rich.
It was still far from the well-off life she requested.
Even so, it was not easy to make money. This was the 70’s and the factories in the city were all state-owned, so there was no such thing as private ownership.
Even in the communes and rural areas, they were all collective, so there were still no privately owned ones. Besides, the products were all handmade agricultural products, so the income was very low as well.
Small private businesses would be selling eggs, vegetables and grains as it was one way to exchange them for money under dire circumstances. If they were to resell industrial products, they would be labelled as illegal resale.
At this time, even if she had the money, she couldn’t do much. That was why Lin Lan used the money she had to improve the basic necessities of life.
Unless they were senior workers or high-ranking cadres, even governmental workers would earn about 30 Yuan per month. Han Qingsong’s 70 Yuan monthly wage was already considered very high, so it wasn’t going to be easy if she wanted an increase.
It seemed that all the ways to make money were basically blocked as the most urgent thing she had to do now was to improve one’s ‘cultural quality’. She was going to find an opportunity to vie for a certain job; at least some extra wages could be earned to subsidise the lack of work points.
In this way, at least she wouldn’t need to spend extra money on her own rations and have the opportunity to earn her children’s shares of rations.
She felt that she still had to take the road of propaganda to see if she could start with Han Yongfang. If Han Yongfang agreed, then Dong Huaihua would probably follow suit as well.