He Tiantian treated everyone around her with a grateful heart. However, reaching middle age, she discovered she had been living inside a full-bodied lie.
Returning to the year 1970, He Tianti...
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The two little ones were laughing and giggling outside.
"Don't be naughty." He Tiantian quickly stopped her, and in the blink of an eye, five or six bricks had already been thrown in.
When Huo Ruimin saw her mother scolding her, she took her younger brother's hand and wobbled over to look at the chicks and ducklings.
"I'm sorry, the kids are naughty," He Tiantian said apologetically. Ever since a few bricks were thrown in, the piglets inside had been grunting and squealing, clearly frightened.
"It's alright, he's just a kid. He's never seen anything like this in the city before, so he just finds it amusing," Wu's mother said with a smile, showing no anger.
He Tiantian took her child to play in the countryside, stayed overnight, and will return to Nanshi tomorrow morning.
Tomorrow is Monday, and I should have class, but it's in the afternoon. If I leave early in the morning, I won't miss the afternoon class.
The children were playing in the village, with He Tiantian and Huang Jingli following along.
Huo Yingjie was discussing business with Wu's father and Wu Youfa. They agreed on the quality and price, wrote two simple contracts, and signed and pressed their fingerprints on them.
While strolling through the village, He Tiantian discovered that every household raised pigs to supplement their income. Selling a pig could earn them a considerable amount of money, equivalent to half of their family's savings.
Some women are very hardworking and raise more than one pig, which increases their income. However, it's tiring for both adults and children, as they have to gather pig feed everywhere.
"Aunt Wu, is everyone raising pigs, chickens, and ducks at home these days?" He Tiantian asked. If that's the case, then she wouldn't have to worry about her supply.
“Yes, every household raises them,” said Wu’s mother. “Before, we weren’t allowed to raise them, so we didn’t dare to. At most, we would keep two hens to lay eggs and exchange them for oil and salt. Now that we are allowed to raise them, everyone does. As long as you work hard, you can earn a good income throughout the year.”
“Now that the land has been distributed to individual households, we have enough grain to eat, and there’s even a surplus. If we raise chickens, ducks, and pigs, we can save a lot of money every year,” Huang Jingli said. “It’s still better this way. As long as you’re willing to work hard, you can live a prosperous life.”
"That's great," He Tiantian said. Ordinary people are not afraid of being tired or suffering, but they are afraid of being tired and suffering, and still not having enough to eat or save money.
In the evening, Wu Youfa killed an old hen, cleaned it, and brought it over for his aunt to cook and serve to He Tiantian and Huo Yingjie.
When Wu Youfa heard that his second uncle wanted to go into business with him, of course he was willing!
Buying goods in the countryside and then selling them in the city, finding customers—if this business is done well, it can be much more profitable than farming in a year.
The next day, after breakfast, the group returned to the city.
I went back and secured the supply.
Half a month later, everything was in place, and the shop was completely renovated, exuding a rustic charm. The old-fashioned dark brown signboard had three characters written on it: "Sanfeng Bridge".
Because it hasn't opened yet, the signboard is covered with a red cloth.
People passing by would stop and look, wondering what they wanted to do!
The sixth day of the fourth lunar month is auspicious for opening a business, purchasing property, and moving.
It was the weekend, and also the big day for the opening of Sanfengqiao.
Two days ago, Sun Sihao went to the supply and marketing cooperative and placed an order for 20 jin of meat, three chickens, and three ducks every day.
Sun Sihao originally wanted to order more, but the supply and marketing cooperative refused, so he had to give up.
The price is higher than what is purchased from outside, and the quality is not necessarily better.
Sun Sihao decided that if the external supply could be stabilized, he would no longer order from the supply and marketing cooperative. Buying things at high prices meant having to be at the mercy of others.
Wu Youliang's father, Wu Youfa, drove an oxcart and delivered four pigs over two consecutive days, enough for four days.
When we first opened, we slaughtered one pig, five chickens, and five ducks a day to test the sales volume.
Qian Shikun's house is being renovated, so he will stay at home tonight to oversee the materials. Sun Sihao and his wife, Aunt Qin, can start braising the meat tonight.
He Tiantian and Huo Yingjie were also there, teaching Sun Sihao how to do it and how to control the heat.
As for the ingredients in the pot, just add oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar according to the correct proportions, then throw in He Tiantian's secret seasoning packet, and you can stew it directly.
The stove was specially designed by Huo Yingjie based on the characteristics of braised meat. It uses coal, which consumes little coal, and also has a range hood.
What the workers liked most was the feather removal machine made by Huo Yingjie. After bleeding the chickens, they would throw them into the machine, let it spin a few times, and the feathers of the chickens, ducks, and geese would be removed.
Then use tweezers to pluck out the small hairs in some nooks and crannies; it's very time-saving and labor-saving.
What excited He Tiantian even more was that Huo Yingjie had actually transformed a four-square-meter room into a freezer. Although it wasn't quite at minus tens of degrees Celsius, it was enough to ensure that meat that wasn't sold during the hot summer days wouldn't spoil inside for several days.
It wasn't that Huo Yingjie lacked ability, but rather that there was a shortage of materials.
If he had the materials, Huo Yingjie could build a high-end freezer, but he simply didn't have enough.
These were the parts that Huo Yingjie obtained from some factories, and some parts that he asked others to help him buy. He also bought some key parts that were discarded by factories and manufactured the freezer with Wu Youliang.
"Brother Yingjie, you're amazing!" He Tiantian said. Selling braised meat means it will spoil if it's not sold out, especially in the summer.
This freezer is great. If we can't sell everything, we can put it in the freezer, boil it the next day, and it'll be just like before.
“The material isn’t thick enough right now. If I had more, I could make something better. For now, we’ll just have to make do with what we can,” Huo Yingjie said, doing what he could to help.
If they can build anti-tank missiles, then a freezer is certainly within their capabilities.
On the first day of opening, we're having a grand opening sale with free samples.
Today, a pig, two ducks, and two chickens were all cut into small pieces and placed on different plates, to be offered to passersby later.
This is a relatively new promotional method.
Early in the morning, Wu Youliang, Huang Jingli, Cui Ying, and Hua Shan came to help.
At 8:08 a.m., after two strings of 10,000-shot firecrackers exploded, the red cloth on the plaque was torn down, revealing the antique-style plaque with three large, golden characters written on it: "Sanfeng Bridge".
After opening, each person held a small plate in one hand and a toothpick in the other, offering samples to passersby.
Sanfengqiao is a place with a very high flow of people. People come and go, some going to work and others going out to run errands. There are also several large residential areas around it.
Everyone loves things that are free or don't cost money!
"Auntie, come and try some of our new braised pork from Sanfengqiao," Huang Jingli said, using a toothpick to give an elderly woman, about the size of a finger, a piece of meat.
The older woman looked at Huang Jingli warily and said, "I don't have any money to buy it!"
"It's free! Grand opening special, free samples!" Huang Jingli explained. "Come on, try it. If you like it, you can buy it from our store next time you want to eat it."