Chapter 5

Many people in Zhou Ping’s village were deceived by this scam in her previous life.

There is indeed a market for earthworm farming, but most of the ones that are advertised at the market are scams. If they can make money, why don’t they make it themselves? Why are they so kind as to help strangers get rich?

No, no, no, that’s a trick. They just want to get the money out of your pocket.

As expected, Zhou Pingguo heard the smiling promoter say through a small loudspeaker, “Our company is Global Biotechnology Company. Our chairman is from Puxi Town. In order to give back to our fellow countrymen, our chairman specially sent us here to teach everyone the technology of earthworm breeding.”

“Moreover, we provide one-stop service.”

“We provide seedlings and provide follow-up guidance throughout the process. Once you have raised the earthworms well, we will buy them back. You don’t have to worry about the whole process. You just need to raise the earthworms well and make them fat. You can make a lot of money at home.”

…

People these days are simple and honest, and with the advent of the market economy, seeing that the lives of people with a monthly income of 10,000 yuan are thriving, everyone’s minds have also become active. In addition, the shills hired by Global Biotechnology Company have joined in the fun, and the atmosphere on the scene is very lively, and the small stall is surrounded by people.

Zhou Ping sighed. She had always been a solitary person, but perhaps influenced by Zhou Pingguo, she had softened her heart recently. She couldn’t bear to see these simple folks being cheated. So she squeezed to the front of the stall and pretended to be very interested, “Excuse me, how can I raise earthworms?”

“Pay 50 yuan, this is the deposit, and it will be returned to you later.” Seeing that the fish has taken the bait, the publicist of the “biological company” explained happily, “Don’t worry, we are a big company, we will not swallow your small amount of money. This newspaper has a photo of our chairman and the municipal party secretary attending the ribbon-cutting ceremony together. It’s Jiangcheng Daily. We can’t lie to you.”

The onlookers nearby believed it even more after reading the newspaper and nodded their heads. Suddenly, more people came to get the brochures.

“Well, I don’t have fifty. Can you give me some seedlings on credit first? I’ll grow them and give half of the money I make to the company.”

“Yes, yes, the little girl has a point.”

“That’s the deposit to ensure you have the ability to raise the fish. It can’t be less. Our seedlings are very expensive. Who knows if you will resell them? This is a must.”

“Ah, I want fewer seedlings.” Zhou Pingguo said pitifully, “Please.”

“Our company is a formal large company with its own rules and regulations. We can’t do this. Little girl, you look young and you are not suitable for this. Go and have fun.”

“I really want to raise one.” Zhou Pingguo said, “Well, then I… I’ll go back and try to raise money. Where should I go to find you guys then?”

“This has our company’s address on it.”

“It’s such a long way. We all live here. How could we possibly run so far to find you? Don’t you have an office or something in town?” Zhou Pingguo continued to ask.

“It will be set up later.” This person began to feel overwhelmed and started to play it safe.

How could Zhou Pingguo let him go at this time? Of course, he had to take advantage of the victory and chase him. “Then how do we know you set it?”

“What if I can’t find you after I raise you?”

“How is that possible? If I say I can set it up, then I can set it up.”

“There’s no guarantee. Fifty dollars is not a small amount of money. If you run away with the money, who will we cry to?”

“Who said we would run away? You just keep raising them and we will collect them later. You don’t know how big the market is for earthworms. Our company’s annual output value is over 6 million! And it’s still growing. If your 50 yuan is dropped on the road, our chairman won’t even bother to pick it up.”

“The market is so big, why don’t you tell us what the earthworms are good for, so we can open our eyes.”

“You just raise them and we’ll take them in. What use they have for us is a trade secret, so I can’t tell you.”

“But at least I know that earthworms are medicinal materials and can be used as medicine. I also know that earthworms are high-quality protein and can be used as feed. Earthworm feces are very good fertilizer. You can’t even tell me this. Are you a liar?” Zhou Pingguo was not annoyed by what she said, and she slowly explained the uses of earthworms. “Then let me ask another question. What is the price you will pay for them?”

“It will depend on the market conditions at that time.” The propagandist was already very impatient.

“What if the purchase price at that time is not as high as the price of your seedlings?”

“Also, what is the standard for purchasing? If the ones we raised meet the standard, you raise the standard and say you won’t buy them anymore.”

Zhou Pingguo asked questions one after another, which slowly cooled down the heated atmosphere. Although the people here were still quite isolated, a small number of them had left the mountains and went to Dongzhou City to work. After coming back, they would tell everyone about what happened outside. On the one hand, it was to show off, and on the other hand, it was to remind everyone not to believe everything people outside said. The world is different now. There are so many scammers and thieves, and you may be defrauded of everything if you are not careful.

After Zhou Pingguo asked the questions, more and more people asked their own questions. Zhou Pingguo took advantage of this opportunity to crouch down and squeeze out of the crowd.

If she asked so many questions and still got deceived, I would be like Hua Tuo shaking my head – there’s no hope for her.

They also deserve to be beaten up by society.

However, this stall business did remind Zhou Pingguo that the family has a large yard and many rooms. With children at home, it is not suitable to do breeding, which is too dirty and smelly. It is okay to grow some small greenhouse vegetables. It is not good to be without green leafy vegetables during the New Year. If you can grow more, you can take them to the county to sell.

I heard that a Red Star Hotel opened in the county last year and its business was extremely good, putting the state-owned hotels out of business. We’ll see if we can sell it to them then.

Anyway, their village is close to the coal mine and the price of crushed coal is cheap, so there will be no problem burning the stove. She will give it a try on a small scale first, and if it works, she will expand the scale.

The more she thought about it, the more feasible it seemed to her. When she first tried it, she didn’t want to do anything difficult, but she also wanted to make it highly profitable, so after much deliberation, she decided to grow leeks.

In fact, bean sprouts are the easiest to make, but because they are too easy, many people can do it themselves, so they have no competitiveness in the market. However, leek greens are different. Nowadays, many people eat leeks, but I guess many people have never heard of leek greens, let alone eaten them. They are especially suitable for those who want to show off and go to a big hotel to order a plate of them.