How much is a catty of tomatoes in Beijing?

Beijing, a winter day, the weather is warm. Many old people are chatting and sunbathing in the garden of the community. During the conversation, they unconsciously turned to the price of vegetables. Everyone seems a little angry and says noisily; "When we were young, the price of vegetables was much cheaper than now. At that time, tomatoes were a pile of fifty cents (at least two or three Jin) and a pinch of ten cents (at least ten Jin with a wicker dustpan). Now there are more than two pieces of tomatoes in a catty. In the past, I bought a few baskets of red tomatoes. " Everyone thinks this is the case here, but there seems to be a problem. "At that time, how much was a catty of tomatoes around the Spring Festival?" Unexpectedly, the audience was silent, and dozens of old men's wives were stunned for seven or eight minutes, but no one could answer. Finally, people's eyes turned to Lao Zhang's head and asked him for advice. "Lao Zhang, your old man was a professor of economics before he retired, and your old man was a vice minister when he retired. He thinks his old man is the first secretary of our district. At that time, he was the richest man in our region, but he had the biggest official and the highest salary. Tell me, how much is a catty of tomatoes before and after the Spring Festival? " Hearing this, Lao Zhang seems a little angry and loudly says; "My dad is the first secretary of our district. When he retired, he was indeed a deputy ministerial level, but at that time he lived on wages. My dad is a cadre at 13 level, with a monthly salary of 154 yuan 15. If you don't believe me, you can check the file. There are four buddies and six parents in my family. My grandmother lives with my brother-in-law. My father gave my grandmother ten yuan every month (at that time, the per capita living standard was eight yuan per person per month). This income is certainly better than ordinary people. But I haven't reached the level of eating fresh tomatoes during the Spring Festival. Every autumn, I don't snap up Chinese cabbage and store radishes in winter like you do, nor do I eat ketchup in winter like everyone else. " A word made everyone nod frequently. In fact, at that time (before 1980), it was the season to eat fresh tomatoes from the end of July to the end of August every year. Only in those days are tomatoes so cheap. After these days, I have hardly seen fresh tomatoes all the year round. If you want to taste tomatoes, you only have ketchup. Please be careful not to confuse ketchup with ketchup, which was not available at that time. When it comes to ketchup, everyone talked a lot. The conversation seems to be an exchange meeting on ketchup production experience. To make ketchup, we should first find a bottle of 500 ml glucose injection (at that time, it was a great good thing for anyone with relatives and friends in the hospital to find a bottle), and also have the kind that can turn over the rubber plug, preferably a few needles of waste syringes. The key to making ketchup is to choose eight ripe tomatoes, which should be even, without cracks, mildew and scars on the skin, and the words "clean" and "dry" should be written on the back. Cleaning means washing bottles, corks and needles, then heating them in a cold water pot until the water boils, and cooking for another 20 minutes. After the water cools, take out the bottle, control the water downward, and then sun the bottle mouth upward for a few minutes to let the water vapor in the bottle disperse. Cut the tomatoes into strips (as long as they can fit into the bottle mouth) and cook them in a pot until they are 70% cooked. After cooling, put the cooked tomatoes into the bottle with clean chopsticks and cover them with rubber plugs. It is best to stick them on the rubber stopper with a needle and let them breathe for more than ten seconds (otherwise the bottle will easily explode). The process is not complicated, but every step is the key. If that step is not in place (contaminated by hands and other things), all previous efforts will be in vain. The most ridiculous thing is; If you don't make ketchup, you can't throw it away quietly and let others know. Of course, you won't encounter this problem if you don't make ketchup, but when you don't pick it up, it's just dry to see people eating tomato noodles. Adults can bear it, but what can children do? Good ketchup is not to say that everyone is envious. If you don't do it well, the exposure rate will be absolutely 100%, which will become a joke to your neighbors. Why at the end? At that time, most people lived in bungalows, one after another, close to each other (that is, if anyone's ketchup exploded, the neighbors upstairs and downstairs could hear it). Every year 1 month to the end of August, all the ketchup is ready, usually in their own shed. Whether the tomato sauce bursts at this time is the key to the success of tomato sauce production. From/kloc-0 to 3 o'clock in the afternoon, it is the hottest time. The yard is very quiet, and you can often hear a bang. "Ha ha, Wu Dong's second brother's ketchup has burst, so it's strange if it doesn't!" Then a series of "bang, bang, bang" explosions; "Hey, there are not many bottles of ketchup left in Master Wang's house this time!" At that time, everyone laughed and commented on the fun of making ketchup. Finally, Lao Zhang said it well; "I can't eat fresh tomatoes in winter, and I can eat fresh tomatoes all year round. The living standard has really improved many times!"