Chapter 49: Chicken Collection

On this evening, the village cadres and team leaders in Red Star Township were busy running around.

Although it was night, Red Star Township became lively.

In Bridgehead Village to the south, the atmosphere was heavy at Jiang Dahe’s home.

They had previously bought a hundred chicks, but during the raising process, over a dozen died, leaving around eighty. These chickens were ready to be sold, but the price of chicken meat kept dropping.

Jiang Dahe really wanted to smoke, but seeing the continuous losses at home, he couldn’t bring himself to spend money on cigarettes.

“Dahe, how about we go to Jiang Lame’s house again?” Jiang Dahe’s wife suggested.

They had approached Jiang Liyun before, wanting to sell the chickens to her, but she didn’t need them.

“No one wants them,” Jiang Dahe sighed. “She has pre-ordered chickens that will be sold out in about half a month. We can’t keep raising these eighty-something chickens for half a month, right?”

How much feed would they need for so many chickens in half a month?

While they were discussing, someone knocked on the door.

Jiang Dahe opened the door to see their production team leader.

The team leader immediately said, “Dahe, the township has arranged for a wholesaler from Shanghai to buy our chickens. It’ll take a few days to start collecting. Are you interested in selling your chickens?”

Jiang Dahe was thrilled. “Yes!”

The team leader had expected their choice: “Then register with me. Bring the chickens over in a few days. Oh, by the way, this is organised by Jiang Lame’s son and another guy from the brick and tile factory’s transportation team. If you sell the chickens, be sure to thank them.”

Jiang Dahe quickly inquired, and the team leader explained the events of the day in the town.

Gratefully, Jiang Dahe said, “The price they offered is good; we really have to thank them.”

At the same time, in the He family.

Chunlin’s younger uncle and aunt came to borrow money from his father to buy feed for the chickens they were raising.

Although the He family had switched to raising ducks following Jiang Liyun’s advice, He’s younger uncle still raised chickens.

When Jiang Liyun advised the He family not to raise chickens, He’s younger uncle’s chickens had already been raised for a month. They couldn’t just abandon them.

He’s uncle’s wife wiped away tears. “What do we do now? We started raising chickens to earn money for our eldest to get married, but now we’ve lost all the money. We can’t even afford to buy feed. How will our eldest get married now?”

His younger uncle was also feeling particularly distressed.

After Sun Jinshan returned home today, he kept boasting to his parents with a sense of accomplishment. However, what he didn’t expect was their response.

“Dad, Mum, what do you mean by saying I’ve finally learned to do things properly? I found the market for white-feathered chickens!” Sun Jinshan protested.

Sun’s mother said, “This wasn’t your idea. Didn’t you tell us before that this was Jiang Lihai’s sister’s money-making idea?”

Sun Jinshan: “…”

Jiang Liyun had nothing to do with the purchase of white-feathered chickens. She had her own business to attend to and was not involved in the chicken collection.

The next day was Sunday, and Jiang Lirui didn’t have to go to school.

Jiang Liyun had asked her a day in advance if she wanted to go to the town, and since Jiang Lirui agreed, Jiang Liyun woke her up early, and they set off together on the bicycle to the town.

“Is this your sister? She’s quite cute.” A customer buying pan-fried dumplings remarked upon seeing Jiang Lirui.

“Yes, she’s my sister! Zhang Laoshi, how many pan-fried dumplings would you like?” Jiang Liyun asked.

“Give me five for fifty cents,” Zhang Laoshi replied.

Jiang Liyun packed the dumplings for her and then greeted the next customer, “Li Jie, is that a new dress you’re wearing? It looks really good on you!”

After being praised, Li Jie was happy and bought one yuan worth of pan-fried dumplings.

Having set up her stall in the town for over two months, Jiang Liyun, after becoming familiar with people again, could now call out the names of the majority of her customers.

The current Jiuyu Town was still a society where everyone knew each other. Those who got acquainted with her tended to buy pan-fried dumplings from her more frequently.

The director of the chemical fibre factory, Director Liu, particularly liked having breakfast with Jiang Liyun. In the evening after work, he would ride his bicycle to the kindergarten area to buy fried chicken legs from Jiang Liyun.

Whether he had guests at home and needed to treat them, or his wife was unhappy and needed to be appeased, or he just had a craving, he would buy fried chicken legs from Jiang Liyun at least twice a week.

Today, as usual, he came early to the pan-fried dumpling stall, poured vinegar on the dumplings, and as he ate, he asked Jiang Liyun, “Liyun, do you know about what happened with the Yang family who used to compete with you for business?”

“What happened?” Jiang Liyun asked curiously.

Director Liu chuckled, “Nothing much, just that their son ran away!”

Director Liu, full of gossip, shared the story of the Yang family with Jiang Liyun.

Since the Yang family moved their dumpling stall to the junior high school area, Jiang Liyun hasn’t paid much attention to them. Now she has finally learned about the aftermath.

After relocating to the junior high school area, the Yang family’s business was initially fine, but it gradually declined. Yang’s father and mother started quarrelling with their son, Yang Haitao, over the business.

As for the reason… Selling pan-fried dumplings was Yang Haitao’s idea, but since the capital came from Yang’s father and mother, they had always assisted in the stall, and in the end, the entire business was controlled by Yang’s father and mother.

Facing declining business at their own pan-fried dumpling stall, Yang Haitao worked hard to find the reasons and hoped his parents could improve their dumpling-making methods.

However, when Yang’s father and mother felt they were not at fault, they couldn’t tolerate being pointed out by their son.

Instead of improving the dumpling-making methods, they even added variety to the fillings by using cheap and inferior meat to make more money.

As a result, their business became even worse.

After the business declined, Yang’s father and mother blamed Yang Haitao in turn.

Naturally, Yang Haitao was angry and chose to leave home, finding work elsewhere.

Hearing this continuation, Jiang Liyun found it unsurprising.

After all, in her previous life, Yang Haitao didn’t stay in the town.

Moreover, Yang’s father and mother were quite adept at making trouble. In her previous life, Jiang Liping shared some stories about Yang’s mother. According to Jiang Liping, the children of Yang’s family were all disgusted with them, and no one was willing to live with them.

“They are still selling pan-fried dumplings, but now it’s Old Yang making dumplings, his daughter wrapping dumplings, and his daughter-in-law selling dumplings,” Director Liu said.

The one selling dumplings had changed to Yang’s mother? Jiang Liyun couldn’t help saying, “This business might get even worse.”

Pan-fried dumplings are relatively expensive these days. Junior high school students probably only dared to spend money on them if their family circumstances were particularly good.

However, these people had high demands for their food.

If it wasn’t delicious, they would go buy something else!

Moreover… If the quality of the meat used by Yang’s family was not good, Director Liu knew, and others would know too. Once people knew, they wouldn’t buy from them anymore.

In a small place, having genuine and quality ingredients was crucial for business.

After hearing the gossip, Wu Xiaochun was quite happy. “It’s karma for her.”

“So, when we do business, we must do it well,” Jiang Liyun praised Wu Xiaochun. “Mum, you’re completely different from them. The dumplings you make have thin skin and big filling, and the customers love them.”

Wu Xiaochun smiled and became even more focused when wrapping dumplings.

This day, when they returned home at noon, they didn’t see Jiang Lihai. It wasn’t until they were having dinner in the evening that Jiang Lihai returned.

As soon as he came back, he scooped a bowl of rice from the pot, took a big bite, swallowed the rice, and said to Jiang Liyun, “Liyun, Secretary Lu went to the brick and tile factory today. They discussed it, and starting tomorrow, they will begin purchasing the white-feathered chickens from our commune. The day after tomorrow, the brick and tile factory’s ship will set sail for Shanghai.”

Originally, the brick and tile factory had planned to set sail for Shanghai on New Year’s Day.

However, after Secretary Lu and the people from the brick and tile factory had a chat, they changed the date.

Starting on December 28th, they would start collecting chickens, and on December 29th, which was the day after tomorrow, they would set sail for Shanghai. This way, the commune residents wouldn’t have to feed the chickens for a few days, allowing them to recoup their investment as soon as possible.

“We previously rented a ship from the brick and tile factory, and we already paid the rent, right? Secretary Lu said we’re doing this for the people of the commune and asked the brick and tile factory to refund the rent to us.”

“You can’t take that rent,” Jiang Liyun said. “Although it’s linked to the commune, fundamentally, you’re doing business, and the rent has to be paid.”

If they didn’t pay the rent for the ship and later made money, could they still take it in good conscience?

“That… Sun Jinshan has already taken it,” Jiang Lihai said. Sun Jinshan had privately complained to him, saying that the money they had given to the leaders of the brick and tile factory couldn’t be retrieved.

“Then you can use this money on Secretary Lu and them. Later, you can also mention to Secretary Lu that many factories have sales commissions when they receive orders,” Jiang Liyun suggested.

The commune could get involved in this business, but it shouldn’t end up being controlled by the commune. If it did, she wouldn’t get a share of the money!

“I’ll talk to Sun Jinshan about it tomorrow!” Jiang Lihai said.

“Okay, he should handle it well.” Jiang Liyun trusted Sun Jinshan.

After Jiang Lihai finished talking about this matter, he started rambling about what happened today, such as how everyone was grateful to him and so on.

By the end, Jiang Lihai felt a bit embarrassed and said to Jiang Liyun, “I actually didn’t do much. It was your idea.”

Jiang Liyun didn’t expect it to turn out this way either. She just wanted to make some money.

But it turned out fine now.

She wouldn’t stay in Miaoxi Village forever, nor would she stay in Jiuyue Town.

This place was too small.

In her previous life, she encountered a lot of troubles and became paralysed, so she stayed in Jiuyue Town for many years. But after she made money from her online store, she actually moved to the city, and her company was also located there.

Whether it was logistics or anything else, it was more convenient in the city.

In this life, she had a better starting point, and it was even less likely for her to stay in the countryside forever.

But her parents, as well as Jiang Lihai and the others, were probably going to stay here. Having a good reputation was quite beneficial for them.

Of course, thinking about this is a bit distant now.

A lot of things would happen in the coming year, and she wouldn’t leave temporarily. She would first accumulate the capital for doing business.

The next day, the entire Red Star Township was filled with the sound of chickens crowing.

In Bridgehead Village, where the Jiang family lived, there used to be a small temple.

Later, due to the changing times, the statues inside the temple were removed.

In the 1960s and 1970s, this place was always used by the village collective to raise silkworms. Later, when collective silkworm farming was discontinued, it was converted into a warehouse for the village to store tractors. It no longer resembled a temple.

Nowadays, this is the place where their production team collects chickens.

After selling pan-fried dumplings in the morning and returning home, Jiang Liyun took the opportunity to go over and take a look.

After the task of purchasing white-feathered chickens was allocated to various production teams, it wasn’t as crowded. For example, in their production team, there were only eleven households raising chickens.

Among these people, there were only six households that currently had chickens ready for sale, totalling about six hundred chickens.

Among these chickens, two hundred belonged to the Feng family.

Jiang Liyun didn’t have a favourable opinion of the Feng family, but in times like these, personal grievances couldn’t outweigh the need for the Feng family’s chickens.

Moreover, when they purchased the Feng family’s chickens, the Feng family would be at a loss, while Jiang Liyun could make a profit.

Initially, Jiang Liyun thought that helping to sell the chickens might earn her two or three thousand. However, looking at it now, perhaps she could make even more.

If she took a forty percent share… Just by talking and negotiating, she could easily earn over a thousand. It was indeed not bad.

When she first started her second life, Jiang Liyun thought it would be good if she could save around two thousand by the end of the year. But now, considering it again, the money she would save wouldn’t be just that little.