novelraw Chapter 222 - 218: Pleased and Satisfied
Chapter 222 - 218: Pleased and Satisfied
"Yes, Brother!"
After exchanging a few words with Lin Guoliang, Li Xiangyang ignored the protests of both brothers, took off his jacket, and pitched in.
On his way, Lin Changyou ran into Zhang Xiuqing leading Little Douzi home. He told her to take the bike to the Yu family’s place to buy fish. Hearing this, Little Douzi excitedly tagged along.
When Lin Changyou reached the foot of the hill, he saw that Li Xiangyang looked like he knew his way around farm work, which made him incredibly happy.
In the countryside, when a new son-in-law came to visit, he was expected to help his in-laws with chores. Everyone would secretly be watching and comparing, seeing which family’s son-in-law was a steady worker with some real muscle.
He had always hoped his Little Lan would find a steady, reliable man—not some guy like that Yang Lao Yao, whose eyes were always shifting and whose mouth was full of empty talk.
"Guoliang, how could you let Xiangyang do this kind of work? Look, his pants are all dirty." Lin Changyou said, looking at them with a smile so wide the crow’s feet by his eyes bloomed. "Xiangyang, that’s enough. Let Guoliang and Guodong finish up. You come with me to the pig farm and take a look at the pigs."
"It’s alright, Uncle Lin," Li Xiangyang said. "There’s just a little left. We’ll head over together as soon as we’re done piling this up."
Lin Guoliang laughed. "That’s right, Xiangyang. We can trade some pig-raising tips later."
Li Xiangyang nodded. "No problem!"
Before long, they had finished piling the compost. They gathered their hoes, pickaxes, shoulder poles with baskets, and manure buckets, and headed to the pig farm.
In a corner of the pig farm’s courtyard, Li Xiangyang noticed a bamboo pipe running down from the mountain. A stream of spring water flowed from the pipe into a large vat, which then overflowed into a small ditch.
Lin Changyou bustled inside and came back out with a long bench. He said to the three young men, "Hurry and wash up. Put your shoes, socks, and jackets back on before you catch a cold."
Lin Guodong laughed. "We’re not that delicate. I’m still sweating."
Lin Changyou shot him a glare. "By the time you feel cold, you’ve already caught it."
’Lin Guodong seems a bit reckless,’ Li Xiangyang thought, ’while Lin Guoliang is much more level-headed.’
After washing themselves at the vat, they quickly put their shoes, socks, and jackets back on. Then, Lin Changyou and his two sons cheerfully led Li Xiangyang to the pigpens.
They exchanged a few tips on raising pigs, then Lin Changyou pointed to a dozen or so big, fat hogs in the pen. "A few of these have to go to the supply and marketing co-op," he said. "The rest have been spoken for by private traders."
"It’s better to sell to the traders. The co-op pays too little." Li Xiangyang paused in thought before adding, "If you want to maximize profits, I still think Little Lan’s idea is best: open a shop for local specialty goods. You could make cured meats and sausages and sell them in East Market."
Lin Changyou mulled it over for a moment. "Maybe next year. I only set aside half a pig for our own use this year."
As they left the pig farm, Lin Changyou pointed to a patch of cleared mountain land behind it. "Next year, I’m planning to go into the mountains and dig up some canna lilies to plant here. The yield is high, the stalks can be used as pig feed, and if you cook the roots for the pigs, they fatten up quickly."
Li Xiangyang said, "Oh, canna lilies. I only knew them for their pretty red flowers. If Qiaohui hadn’t shown Little Lan those starch noodles yesterday, I would’ve had no idea you could make them from the plant."
He paused, then continued, "And if you can make starch noodles from them, that means the starch content must be quite good. High-starch feed is the best thing for pigs."
Lin Changyou nodded and sighed. "Canna lilies are easier to grow than taro, and the yield is good. Little Lan’s aunt plants them all around her house. Back during the famine, people in the mountains survived on things like canna lilies, sweet potatoes, and taro."
"Little Lan mentioned she wants to take a trip into the mountains while we’re here," Li Xiangyang said. "She wants to buy some of the local dried mushrooms, black fungus, canna lily starch, and other mountain products to sell in East Market before the New Year."
Lin Changyou nodded. "Alright. If you’re going, I’ll have Guoliang borrow a couple of mules from his in-laws. He can accompany you two first thing tomorrow morning. If you wait another half a month, the heavy snow will block the mountain paths, and you won’t be able to get through."
The four of them chatted as they walked back. Along the way, they passed some other commune members coming down the mountain after cutting firewood, all of whom stared curiously at Li Xiangyang.
An older woman sized up Li Xiangyang before turning to Lin Changyou. "Accountant Lin, this must be your Lin Lan’s boyfriend from the city, huh? He certainly doesn’t look like one of us villagers."
Lin Changyou’s eyes crinkled with a smile. "He’s alright."
When they returned home, Zhao Xiaohui was there. She immediately started showering Li Xiangyang with effusive praise.
’The wives of the two Lin brothers couldn’t be more different,’ Li Xiangyang thought. ’The older one is a woman of few words, while the younger one’s chatter is a little overwhelming.’
Seeing Li Xiangyang blushing beet-red, Lin Lan was so amused she couldn’t stop grinning.
Seeing how uncomfortable he was, Lin Changyou found an excuse to send Zhao Xiaohui away. The rest of them then went into the main room to talk business.
"Xiangyang, Brother Yong mentioned that things are a bit unstable with the new ’opening up’ policies. Is that true?"
Li Xiangyang thought for a moment. "I’ve been reading the papers. Since the start of the year, the coastal cities have begun issuing ’business licenses’ to entrepreneurs and vendors. You’re only considered a legal business if you have one."
"If you operate a stall without a license, you could get hit with a fine, or worse, have your goods confiscated and your business shut down. I already asked Dongzi to look into the application process. I should have news on that when I get back."
’I can’t believe he’s already paying attention to this stuff,’ Lin Lan thought. ’A smart person really can thrive in any era.’
"Good. Hearing you say that puts my mind at ease." Lin Changyou then turned to Lin Lan. "Little Lan, so you want to go to your aunt’s on Stone Mountain to check out those mountain products?"
Lin Lan nodded and laid out her plan. She told them she wanted to go into the mountains and see for herself what kinds of products were available.
Once she had a clear idea of the varieties available, she planned to purchase some key spices that weren’t available locally. If she could find a stable supply chain and stock a full range of products, they could open the specialty shop in the city.
"In the future, more and more people will be opening restaurants. The demand for spices, wood ear fungus, dried mushrooms, kelp, and dried shrimp is only going to grow. A little dry goods shop like this might not seem like much, but it’s a business that can be very profitable."
As she spoke, Lin Lan thought about the future. ’Things won’t always be like they are now, where every family makes their own chili bean paste when the peppers are in season.’
’Every household knows how to make fermented soybeans, pickled greens, and all kinds of other preserved vegetables. If you could produce and sell those on a larger scale, there’s a lot of money to be made there, too.’
’But canning and sterilization equipment is impossible to find right now. I’ll have to take it slow. Maybe that’s a project for later. Can’t get fat off one bite.’
Lin Changyou looked at Lin Lan. "Your two brothers and I have already talked it over. We want to expand the pig farm next year, which will make us even busier here. Regarding the shop... we don’t know the first thing about running a business. We haven’t even heard of some of those spices you’re talking about."
"So here’s our plan. We’ll leave the shop for you to manage. We can set it up with shares, just like we did with the pig farm. We’ll handle preparing the cured chickens, cured ducks, pressed ducks... all the mountain products. We’ll get it all ready and send it to you in the city. You just pay us our share of the profits each year. How does that sound?"
Lin Lan had never run a specialty dry goods store herself. She had only gotten along well with the proprietress of a shop she partnered with, and through her, she knew a bit about sourcing inventory.
Seeing the hesitant looks on their faces, she thought for a moment and said, "Dad, how about this? I’ll help you get the shop set up and off the ground. Once business picks up, the family can send someone to take over and run it."