25

Du Xun had been staying in the town for several days. The machinery was all set up, and Du Xun’s highly capable secretary had just arrived at Fangping Town. She quickly drafted the equity documents, operational plans, employee management, and division of responsibilities… and even successfully rented a house. She had also made connections with the relevant departments in the town, and in half a month, all the paperwork would be completed.

Under her leadership, the two sides had a brief discussion. Lin You and Bo Chuan would bear the cost of raising cattle and milking, while Lin You also needed to put a sales link for the products in her live stream. Du Xun took charge of all the remaining trivial matters and offered to purchase milk at ten yuan per kilogram.

It was quite a spectacle because, constrained by Lin You’s rule that the selling price couldn’t exceed five times the cost, Du Xun, showing her business acumen, skillfully persuaded Lin You to raise the price of the milk, suggesting that it should be as high as twenty yuan per kilogram. The higher the purchasing price, the more expensive the biscuits could be sold, right?

However, after considering various factors, Lin You ultimately settled on a middle ground, choosing a price of ten yuan per kilogram for the milk. For remote areas where transportation was inconvenient, it was considered quite expensive, but compared to imported milk, it was still cheap.

Once this price was decided, Du Xun also arranged for packaging for the biscuits. Each package contained half the amount of biscuits that Lin You used for her giveaways, and after calculating the costs, it was set at twenty-five yuan per package.

There was a small incident in the middle because Du Xun was superstitious about Lin You’s choice of ingredients for the biscuits. She strongly suggested Lin You expand into raising chickens to supply eggs. She was willing to buy the eggs!

Lin You was scared and quickly shook her head. Good heavens, if she followed Du Xun’s idea, wouldn’t she be turning from a farming blogger into a rural entrepreneur? Raising a few chickens for self-sufficiency was one thing, but raising a whole flock of chickens? That would take up all her time except for the three daily meals!

However, Lin You did mention that the chickens in her house were from Hong Po’s hatchlings, and the eggs used were purchased from the villagers. With the intention of helping people in the village earn a bit of extra income, Lin You connected a few families in difficult circumstances with Du Xun to discuss how many eggs Du Xun would need. These families could raise chickens in the spring.

As a result, Lin You’s reputation in the village grew even better. Even Yao Jiu secretly complained, saying that if there were a public election now, Lin You would most likely become the head of Lianhua Town.

After finalizing the details for the biscuits, Lin You went to find Aunt Chunling and her husband.

She thought that while Bo Chuan could handle raising the cattle, milking the cows was a time-consuming task, especially with so much milk to supply daily. One person couldn’t manage it alone. It was better to find two people from the village to help. She discussed this with Bo Chuan, and they both thought of potential candidates.

The most experienced people in the village who could help with raising cattle were definitely Aunt Chunling and her husband.

When Lin You approached Aunt Chunling, she immediately agreed without hesitation.

“Don’t laugh, but after raising cattle for so long, you kind of get attached to them…”

The calves, from birth to raising them, sometimes felt like taking care of children. Recently, Aunt Chunling had secretly gone to the temple to check on the calves, worried that Bo Chuan might not take good care of them.

Now, Lin You had asked them to look after the cows, with food and housing provided at home. The burden was lighter, and Lin You would pay them a salary.

Aunt Chunling was deeply grateful to Lin You and kept praising her to Yao Yun.

Yao Yun replied, “…That’s really great.”

Her parents didn’t have a pension, so at their age, having a stable salary, no matter how small, was a comfort.

Yao Yun didn’t beat around the bush this time and directly explained her purpose to her mother.

“I came to ask her about buying vegetables. As long as it doesn’t exceed our kindergarten’s budget, we can accept the higher price. But if it exceeds, that won’t work…”

Yao Yun, unusually, didn’t make any excuses and explained the reason behind her actions, though she felt a bit uneasy.

“It’s just that the vegetables she grows are really good, and the kids at our kindergarten love them. So I’m here to negotiate.”

However, Aunt Chunling immediately waved her hand. Yao Yun thought her mother was bothered by what she had done before and felt flustered.

“Lin You won’t agree to it.”

Aunt Chunling said, “You haven’t seen the land that Lin You grows her vegetables on, right? She only plants a little bit of each type of vegetable. Some vegetables, she only plants a single row. Even if she has extra vegetables to sell, it’s only a small amount. Most of it is for her own consumption.”

Yao Yun felt a bit disheartened. Was it really impossible? It seemed so, since last time Lin You only sold vegetables after a long wait, and it wasn’t something she did every day.

“…Mom, I still want to try and find Lin You,” Yao Yun said, biting her lower lip. “It’s fine if she can’t supply consistently. If she has extra vegetables, no matter how much, I’ll buy it all.”

She couldn’t accept giving up without trying.

Aunt Chunling carefully looked at her daughter. The recent hardships had worn her down, but her eyes were unusually bright, no longer calculating, but filled with persistence.

“Then go ahead… Take this too. Your father and I can’t eat so much. No matter if she agrees or not, just be polite about it.”

Aunt Chunling didn’t listen to her daughter’s refusal and insisted on putting the meat and fish in her three-wheeled cart.

“As long as you’re doing well, your father and I will be happy. Xiao Yun, I’m really happy now. You’re doing much better than before. But take care of your health. Don’t push yourself too hard. If you can’t handle it, don’t force it…”

Yao Yun felt a lump in her throat, making her voice sound hoarse.

“Okay, Mom… I’ll go.”

With half a pig and some fish in tow, Yao Yun headed to Lin You’s house. When she arrived at the door, she couldn’t help but smile self-deprecatingly.

It hadn’t even been a month, and her mindset had changed completely from the last time she visited.

Lin You was also surprised by Yao Yun’s sudden visit. After listening to her sincere explanation, she immediately agreed.

“Extra vegetables? That’s fine, but as you can see, there are only three of us here, plus the cows and chickens. There probably won’t be much left.”

In fact, Lin You couldn’t bear to sell any vegetables that could be stored. The satisfaction of eating her own produce was unmatched. Plus, she still had to take care of the cows and chickens!

Yao Yun: “…”

The vegetables that nearly caused a few teachers at the kindergarten to get into a fight, and now they were being used to feed cows…

Still, the recognition of her vegetables made Lin You feel good. After agreeing to Yao Yun’s request, she sincerely gave her some advice.

“I think the vegetables turn out well probably because I use a lot of cow manure.” She hadn’t been very successful at growing vegetables before, but after coming here, she suddenly excelled. She had concluded that the fertilizer provided by Bo Chuan was the key.

“By the way, you might not know this, but a lot of people in our village have started collecting cow manure to fertilize their land. The vegetables that have recently grown in the village are doing great. When harvest time comes, you should buy some and try them.”

Speaking of the cow manure, the villagers laughed whenever they saw her. Even the seasoned gardeners said that they had never seen such dense vegetables before. The soil had become thinner over the years, and without pesticides or chemical fertilizers, the vegetables didn’t look great. But this batch of cabbage was strong, fresh, pest-resistant, and high-yielding.

Lin You even went to check on the crops of others. While their vegetables didn’t grow as thick or fast as hers, they did look good.

Yao Yun listened, but wasn’t impressed.

The cows were sold by her family, and despite using cow manure to fertilize the land, her own vegetables hadn’t turned out much better!

“Alright, I’ll give it a try.”

Next, Lin You took Yao Yun to the field to harvest a new batch of cabbage. Lin You kept a portion for herself, and sold the rest to Yao Yun. As they were leaving, she noticed the chives had grown back, so she harvested a bunch and sold that as well, along with a few bunches of spring onions.

Yao Yun didn’t expect to gain so much in one visit and thanked her repeatedly.

Lin You waved her hand, “You gave me that half pig, so this little bit of vegetables is nothing.”

She didn’t refuse the gift, marking an end to the previous misunderstandings between them. People couldn’t be judged by just a small part of their character, didn’t people grow and improve over time?

Yao Yun left, and Lin You cracked her knuckles in front of the half pig.

With so much pork, it wouldn’t stay fresh for long if left as it is, so she might as well process it all.

One portion of the pork was chopped into minced meat, shaped into small meatballs, and deep-fried. These crispy meatballs could be frozen for a long time and wouldn’t go to waste. The fatty pork from the abdomen was cut off, and a pot of snow-white lard was rendered.

The pig’s trotters were chopped and placed in the braising pot to cook, and once they were nearly done, they were taken out and placed in a clay pot with a handful of soybeans and peanuts to continue simmering, ready for dinner.

The leg meat was cut into thick slices, first pan-fried and then boiled, making a small pot of braised meat that would last for several days.

The remaining pork was divided in half: one half was minced to make dumplings, while the other half was prepared to be taken to the butcher shop in town the next day to make sausages.

The half pig kept Lin You busy all afternoon. By the time Bo Chuan came down the mountain in the evening, he could smell the strong aroma surrounding the house.

Fried meat, stir-fried meat, stewed meat…

His steps involuntarily quickened.

Dinner was pig’s trotters stewed with soybeans and peanuts, cold cucumber salad, steamed locust flowers, and a bowl of dried scallop and minced pork soup. The main dish was corn and pork dumplings.

The soybeans and peanuts were soft and creamy, and the pig’s trotters fell off the bone with just a light touch. The cucumber was topped with a layer of Chinese catnip, which helped cut through the greasy taste. The dried scallop soup was exceptionally fresh, and the pork dumplings were juicy, with a hint of sweet corn.

After dinner, Lin You went to feed the cows. Mengmeng’s meals were never lacking, and in addition to the half bucket of milk Lin You gave her daily, she also got various vegetables. Occasionally, Lin You would let her taste the day’s meal.

The well-fed cats were sprawled out on the stone table in the yard, with Yao Jiu brushing its belly while scrolling through her phone.

Suddenly, the door was knocked on, and Lin You went to answer it.

It was Aunt Wang, sweating profusely, clearly having run here.

However, she wasn’t looking for Lin You, but for Bo Chuan.

“That young man, you helped call Yao Yun’s child’s soul before, right? Come quick and help us, little Shitou in our village seems to have had an accident too!”