Chapter 60: Borrowing a Venue

Sun Jinshan briefly described his plight in the county, emphasising how pitiful he was. 

Jiang Liyun felt somewhat helpless. Sun Jinshan’s predicament was somewhat related to his own actions. If he hadn’t boasted and bragged about being more cautious while sleeping at night, such incidents might not have occurred.

In an era without surveillance and with plenty of thieves around, street robberies were not uncommon. In her previous life, when she first started a business in town, alone with a child, her house had been broken into.

Back then, she was awake but dared not speak, pretending to sleep until the thief left. Then she got up to check things. Fortunately, she only lost some money, and the loss wasn’t significant.

In this day and age, it’s crucial to keep one’s wealth discreet, or you’ll attract unwanted attention.

“Nowadays, the locks at those inns are old; experienced people can pick them with a wire. When you stay in inns, make sure to put a chair behind the door, and on the chair, place some items,” Jiang Liyun advised. “If you’re taking a train, be even more careful; keep your money close.”

Sun Jinshan said, “I had no idea about this before. That thief was really outrageous!” He hadn’t stayed in inns before, even when he went to big cities with a boat, so he genuinely didn’t know about these things.

In rural areas, during times when the population flow wasn’t significant and many people lived in one house, thieves usually didn’t target such places. Sun Jinshan grumbled angrily.

Jiang Liyun could understand his anger, but she didn’t add to the conversation. The money was already lost; there is no use in blaming. Just be more careful next time.

Jiang Liping, in a gentle tone, echoed Sun Jinshan, “That thief was really over the line.”

Hearing Jiang Liping’s voice made Jiang Liyun uncomfortable. Jiang Liping was skilled in using foul language; when her first love moved to the county, she cursed his entire family for days.

However, this time, she didn’t utter a single swear word, appearing unusually gentle.

Thinking about it, Jiang Liyun remembered that Jiang Liping was the same in front of her first love.

Jiang Liping had a long relationship with her first love. Although his parents disapproved, he genuinely liked Jiang Liping. Once, when Jiang Liping took him to town, they met her first love, who even bought buns for her.

Then Jiang Liping praised him softly, expressing gratitude.

Sun Jinshan felt like he found a sympathetic listener and said to Jiang Liping, “The thief not only stole my money but also ruined my suit. I really liked that suit. Now, I can’t wear these clothes anymore.”

“This outfit might still be salvageable. I can make clothes, and I can help you fix it,” Jiang Liping suggested.

“With the sleeves cut off, how can it be fixed?” Sun Jinshan wondered. The thief even took away the sleeves that were cut off!

Jiang Liping said, “If you trust me, let me take it and make some adjustments.”

Although the suit was quite expensive, it was already damaged.

Sun Jinshan had no qualms, so he handed the clothes to Jiang Liping.

Jiang Liping took the clothes and left.

After Jiang Liping left, Sun Jinshan called Jiang Liyun aside and shared various experiences he had in the county after going there.

Jiang Liyun had to admit that some matters were better handled by Sun Jinshan.

“Now that you’ve sorted things out, you can take a trip to Shanghai next and explore the market. Once the market is established, we can start purchasing white-feathered chickens.”

Sun Jinshan replied, “The factory is heading to Shanghai the day after tomorrow. I’ll tag along then.”

Even though he had resigned from the brick and tile factory, they wouldn’t refuse him if he wanted to join for a trip. Bricks weren’t valuable items, and there was no need to worry about theft.

“Great, thank you.” Jiang Liyun expressed her gratitude.

“No trouble at all. It’s all for making big money in the future!” Sun Jinshan thought about his unfortunate suit. “It’s just that I don’t have any decent clothes to wear for this trip to Shanghai.”

At this point, Jiang Liyun spoke up, “Sun Jinshan, since you’re leaving the day after tomorrow, why not go and purchase some chickens today and tomorrow? Get them slaughtered and packaged. Then, inform the manager of the food factory and store the products in their cold storage. Many chickens are ready for market these days, and the local chicken farmers are getting anxious.”

“Freeze them now? What if people in Shanghai don’t want frozen chicken? What do we do then?” Sun Jinshan asked.

Jiang Liyun responded, “If they don’t sell, keep them for my use, or I can take them to sell.”

In just a day and a half, they could at most purchase a few hundred chickens. Once these chickens were processed and frozen, even if she couldn’t use them immediately, they could be sold in the town during the Chinese New Year.

Many people preferred buying ready-to-cook chicken rather than dealing with the process of slaughtering themselves.

“Alright!” Sun Jinshan agreed.

“When you collect the chickens, get someone to help with the slaughtering and then uniformly divide them. How about this? I’ll join you!” Jiang Liyun thought about it, packed her things, and decided to join Sun Jinshan and Jiang Lihai in dealing with this matter.

In the past few days, there has been a lot of work in the shop, and she has been quite busy. However, now everything was on the right track!

Although some tables and chairs still needed painting, it wasn’t urgent, especially since Gu Dafa and Feng Qiufeng could handle it.

This task was actually something a carpenter should do, and she was just trying to save money and time by helping out.

As for selling fried chicken in the afternoon, Feng Yi could handle the preparation work and on-site frying.

During the stall setup, Feng Yi might need someone to help sell pickled snacks, so Feng Qiufeng could assist with that.

Feng Qiufeng, accustomed to a repressive environment, might be a bit slow in her movements, but she was meticulous and could easily help with selling pickled snacks.

Jiang Liyun informed Feng Yi and then rode her bicycle, following Jiang Lihai and Sun Jinshan back to the village.

She had a lot to do today, including negotiate with people.

Jiang Liyun specifically went home, changed into the new clothes she had bought earlier, and put on new shoes.

Although Feng Yi hadn’t finished knitting her red and white sweaters, he had completed the black sweater intended for Jiang Lameizi. It happened to be finished yesterday but hadn’t been given to Jiang Lameizi, whose physique was relatively small.

Jiang Liyun put on this sweater as well.

Black pants, a black turtleneck sweater, black leather shoes, and a dark blue woollen coat. Jiang Liyun gave herself a high ponytail, looking at herself in the mirror with satisfaction.

People judge by appearances, and dressed like this, she appeared quite capable!

If she went to negotiate wearing old clothes, people wouldn’t trust her. However, dressed like this, people would surely be willing to believe her.

While Jiang Liyun was changing clothes, Jiang Lihai had already made some pancakes with flour and eggs.

These days, rural people cook every meal at home. Children watch adults cook every day, so they generally learn to cook, at most struggling with controlling the heat and occasionally burning the food.

Jiang Lihai was smart, and after watching a few times, he could cook.

Even Sun Jinshan knew how to cook, but he didn’t want to.

The three of them had some egg pancakes to fill their stomachs, and then they set off together to prepare for chicken collection.

They had previously recorded the time when the chickens from the local chicken farmers were ready for market. Jiang Liyun checked and, with Sun Jinshan and Jiang Lihai, went to those who currently had chickens ready for sale.

“We’re buying chickens here, but it’s different from last time. You know I’m selling fried □□, right? There are shops like that in the city, and they need chicken meat. They asked me to buy on their behalf. They want chickens that are already slaughtered and divided, so let’s freeze them in the cold storage first. Once the quantity increases after some time, they’ll come and take them away… So, for this purchase of white-feathered chickens, the money will only be settled at the end of the year.”

Jiang Liyun spoke cheerfully with the chicken farmers and added, “This time, I’ll also hire someone to slaughter the chickens. If anyone in your family is available, they can come and help me slaughter the chickens. This way, you can earn some extra income.”

Besides the residents of Hongxing Township, there were also people from other townships who had been raising white-feathered chickens that year, so white-feathered chickens were still unsalable.

The price Jiang Liyun offered was acceptable, and these chicken farmers readily agreed.

They trusted Sun Jinshan and Jiang Lihai as fellow villagers.

Someone curiously asked Jiang Liyun, “Is your fried chicken really from abroad? Do they sell it in big cities?”

“Yes, they do. People in big cities also have shops selling fried chicken,” Jiang Liyun replied.

“I see. I must try your fried chicken one day,” the person said.

Jiang Liyun had been selling fried chicken in town for a long time, but rural people rarely bought it. After all, it was not cheap, and they didn’t often go to town.

But now, hearing that the fried chicken was really from abroad… They wanted to try it.

Of course, they would wait until they received the money from Jiang Liyun for their chickens.

“Alright then, tomorrow morning, bring the chickens to the temple gate, and I’ll collect them there.” Jiang Liyun finalised the arrangements with the chicken farmers and then went back to the village.

She needed to borrow a scale from the village and also wanted to borrow the abandoned temple used for storing tractors in the village. She planned to slaughter the chickens there tomorrow.

With so many chickens, she couldn’t slaughter them at home!

The village’s office space was quite run-down at the moment.

Jiang Liyun hadn’t visited this place since her rebirth, but now she entered without any fear.

Sun Jinshan followed behind Jiang Liyun, feeling a bit bewildered.

Although Jiang Liyun was a young woman, being with her made him feel strangely shorter.

The village cadres also found it a bit strange.

When they saw Sun Jinshan and Jiang Lihai, they immediately stood up, wanting to chat with them and express their gratitude.

After all, these two had helped the village a lot by purchasing white-feathered chickens before!

But now, seeing them with Jiang Liyun, it seemed like Jiang Liyun was the one in charge.

Let a young girl in her twenties take charge. Isn’t that absurd? Hasn’t Jiang Liyun never even been to the county? What can she do?

Although the village cadres thought this way, their gaze uncontrollably focused on Jiang Liyun and they couldn’t move away.

At this moment, Jiang Liyun spoke up, greeting the village cadres with a smile and then saying, “I came here this time to share some good news with all of you.”

Good news? What is the good news? The village cadres were curious, and then they learned that Jiang Liyun wanted to borrow things and borrow space for free.

Everyone: “How does this count as good news?”

However, Jiang Liyun was very confident: “Village head, I’ve arranged for people in our village to handle the chicken slaughtering. This is to increase income for our villagers! After slaughtering, I don’t need the chicken feathers, blood, or heads. These will be distributed to the villagers, improving their lives! If our village doesn’t lend it, I’ll go to another village. By then, people in our village probably won’t be pleased.”

That makes sense. Although chicken blood, chicken heads, and such aren’t worth much, people at this time won’t reject them!

The village cadres looked at each other and quickly agreed, agreeing to lend the space to Jiang Liyun.