Chapter 76: Broadening Horizons

During this trip to Shanghai, Jiang Liping also wanted to come along, but Sun Jinshan strongly objected, saying it wouldn’t be good for her reputation and that his parents might have objections to it. In short, under Sun Jinshan’s eloquent persuasion, Jiang Liping didn’t come.

Jiang Liyun felt that Sun Jinshan wasn’t really concerned about Jiang Liping’s reputation; he simply didn’t want her to see him sleeping on the ground or to witness the untidy appearance of the other crew members, including Jiang Lihai.

Sun Jinshan used to be like this before.

“We cook with water straight from the river, and we pee and poop straight into the river too!” Sun Jinshan had had enough sleep. He sat cross-legged on the ground, telling Jiang Liyun about his life on the boat before: “It’s a good thing Liping didn’t come. Otherwise, if she saw it, she’d definitely find it disgusting.”

Indeed… Not to mention Jiang Liping; even she found it disgusting to hear.

Fortunately, she brought some food with her this time and wouldn’t have to cook on the boat.

Their village is currently getting piped water. Before they had piped water, they used well water for drinking and daily use, usually avoiding direct use of river water.

“Is the port here particularly big? Have you seen those ships over there? Those are ocean ships, aren’t they huge?” Sun Jinshan proudly looked at Jiang Liyun.

Jiang Liyun said, “They’re not that big.”

Sun Jinshan pointed to the ship he showed her, which she really didn’t find big.

In her past life, she had seen much larger ships.

Sun Jinshan thought Jiang Liyun must have been shocked by the sight before her, so he felt she was just putting on airs.

The first time he came here, he was dumbfounded too!

“Sister Liyun, are there even bigger ships in this world?” Feng Yi didn’t think Jiang Liyun was lying and asked curiously.

Jiang Liyun said, “Of course, some ships are two to three hundred metres long.” Before her reincarnation, there were ships over four hundred metres long and sixty to seventy metres wide, with a total tonnage of over two million tons. Of course, those were mainly used for transporting oil. Although there were container ships over three to four hundred metres long, the common length was between one hundred and two hundred metres.

The ships they saw now were all less than a hundred metres long. Although they were gigantic compared to their boat, they weren’t particularly large in Jiang Liyun’s eyes.

Feng Yi was somewhat surprised. “That long?”

“Yes,” Jiang Liyun said.

Feng Yi looked into the distance again, deeply shocked.

He used to be just an ordinary worker at a brick factory, not in the transportation industry.

He had grown up without leaving Red Star Township and Jiuku Town. He hadn’t even been to the county seat.

What he saw now was something he had never seen before, and he even found it hard to imagine.

Jiang Liyun noticed Feng Yi’s expression and softened it.

Bringing Feng Yi out this time was the right decision; it could broaden his horizons.

This era has changed too fast, especially in recent years.

But the countryside is a bit behind the times, so it’s really good to come out and see.

“Do you know? Every household here has a television now. And when they buy TVs, they don’t buy black and white ones anymore; they want colour TVs! Everyone here also has bicycles, and many people have cars. They even have refrigerators, washing machines, and rice cookers at home! That washing machine not only washes clothes clean but also spins them dry. And the rice cooker, just press a button, and the rice is done.” Sun Jinshan kept talking.

What he said is indeed true. At this point, there are already many appliances, and wealthy people in the city even buy imported ones.

But in the countryside… They are relatively better off; some impoverished areas still lack electricity.

Jiang Liyun has seen it all, so Sun Jinshan’s descriptions don’t amaze her, but it’s different for Feng Yi.

Listening to Sun Jinshan, Feng Yi feels like he’s entered a completely new world.

“Let’s go!” Jiang Liyun looks at Sun Jinshan. “We still have some time; let’s contact those who want to buy chicken.”

“Let’s go!” Sun Jinshan immediately responds.

Sun Jinshan and Jiang Liyun first contact the people here who specialise in the frozen chicken business, selling chicken breasts, internal organs, chicken frames, and the like. Following that, they contact restaurants, selling chicken legs, chicken wings, and so on.

In this busy period, they work for several days, finally selling all the chicken before it spoils.

During these days, they did face some problems, but fortunately, they were not difficult to solve.

For the restaurants that tried to make things difficult during procurement, a discreet red envelope resolved the situation. After talking with the selective frozen goods wholesaler, attitudes took a complete one-eighty turn.

Jiang Liyun isn’t particularly suited for market development; being a young woman, sometimes people don’t give her the opportunity to speak.

However, with Sun Jinshan having already made contacts everywhere, she can fully unleash her abilities.

They arrived in Shanghai on the 5th evening and spent that night contacting people. Now it’s already the evening of the 7th.

During these days, Jiang Lihai stayed on the boat, guarding the chicken. Feng Yi, Sun Jinshan, and Jiang Liyun stayed in a small hotel near the dock.

They booked two rooms; Jiang Liyun stayed alone, while Sun Jinshan and Feng Yi shared a room.

Now back at their accommodation, Jiang Liyun takes out a notebook. On this notebook, she has recorded many names and phone numbers, with various annotations indicating the person’s identity. This is the information she collected over the past two days, and she plans to gather more in the coming days.

Things like chicken legs are indeed needed by some canteens, and they also want chicken breasts…

“I’m almost exhausted these days…” Sun Jinshan sits on a chair, looking lazy.

Jiang Liyun is tired too. For the past few days, she has been sleeping only five to six hours a day, and during the day, she has to make trips. Now, she’s especially tired, but she keeps pushing through.

In her past life, she experienced much more hardship and fatigue.

“Hard work comes before comfort. Once we develop the market, we can raise chickens peacefully.” Jiang Liyun speaks, then asks Feng Yi, “Feng Yi, are you tired?”

Feng Yi has been with them all these days, even spending last night on the boat with Jiang Lihai. He hasn’t rested much.

“Sister Liyun, I’m not tired.” Feng Yi smiles at Jiang Liyun.

Seeing Feng Yi’s radiant smile, Jiang Liyun feels her exhaustion dissipate. “Feng Yi, we might work hard now, but there will be good days ahead! By then, we’ll buy a few houses here!”

If they could buy several houses in Shanghai before property restrictions, it would be a huge profit!

“Okay,” Feng Yi agrees.

After organising today’s acquired information in her notebook, Jiang Liyun starts to do the accounting.

This time, she insisted that buyers pay the full amount upfront, even if it meant lowering the price a bit. At this point, she has quite a bit of cash on hand.

Jiang Liyun counts everything and finally says, “After deducting various expenses, the nett profit is probably around $5,000.”

“We agreed on giving me thirty-five percent. How much do I get? About one thousand seven?” Sun Jinshan perks up.

In the past few days, Jiang Liyun has discussed the allocation of company shares with him, even though they haven’t officially started the company.

They decided that if they did open a company, Jiang Liyun would have 60%, Sun Jinshan 35%, and Jiang Lihai 5%.

During the company setup, Jiang Lihai, though seemingly unimportant, actually did a lot of work.

Apart from this, in the future, when Sun Jinshan negotiates business and finds sales channels, he can also receive commissions.

Initially, Sun Jinshan was a bit reluctant, but Jiang Liyun explained her method of sidelining him.

All the previous contracts were signed by Jiang Liyun, and this time in Shanghai, she contacted all the customers herself, making it easy to sideline Sun Jinshan.

He would end up doing all the work for nothing.

Sun Jinshan: “…”

Jiang Liyun is too terrifying! He has no choice but to agree.

Actually, he doesn’t mind Jiang Liyun getting more than him, but he thought he could at least get 40%.

Jiang Liyun says, “This money is for capital; let’s not divide it for now.”

Sun Jinshan sighs, “I’m getting married after the New Year, and there are many expenses.”

“The money for your wedding should have been prepared by your parents long ago,” Jiang Liyun says.

Jiang Lihai couldn’t get married because their family didn’t even have a house, but the Sun family had already built a house.

As for other expenses, they shouldn’t be particularly large.

Sun Jinshan sighs again: “I want to buy a TV, washing machine, rice cooker.”

Jiang Liyun: “ThThese appliances are overpriced right now. Spending money on them, in her opinion, is not cost-effective.

Of course, sometimes she’ll have to spend, like when she has enough money, she’ll probably spend several thousand to install a telephone.

In any case, she won’t be dividing the money.

In the coming year, Jiang Liyun plans to make a significant effort.

With White Feather chickens ready for market in around 40 days, she can earn quite a bit of money within a year!

As for appliances… Jiang Liyun thinks for a moment and says, “Sun Jinshan, do you know where I can buy used TVs? I want to buy a second-hand black and white TV.”

Washing machines and such can wait, but a TV is actually quite essential.

With a TV, she can watch the news, and Feng Yi and others can learn about the world through it.

Thinking about this, Jiang Liyun adds, “I also need to buy a recorder, get some cassette tapes, and buy some books.”

She wants Feng Yi to read, but in Jiuku Town, there are very few learning materials available, and English cassette tapes are hard to come by.

Since they are in Shanghai now, she plans to buy more of these things!

In Shanghai at this time, there must be places selling English cassette tapes.