“But before, in the city, we could secretly do laundry and mending for others to supplement our household income. Now that we’re in the countryside, we’re relying entirely on our youngest son. How can that be? Besides, he still needs to study.”

Yu Wenjiang said, "How about I ask Sister Yuyao? The medicinal herb project needs a lot of people right now. Let's see if she can help arrange some."

“If Xie Zhiqing doesn’t have a suitable one, you can ask Brother Li,” Yu Wenbo added.

His words were met with opposition from Yu's mother: "It's better not to trouble Li, the educated youth. It's not easy for him, an educated youth from outside the village, to lead a collective factory."

"Then I'll go ask Sister Yao Yao." After saying that, Yu Wenjiang was about to run out the door.

Yu's mother quickly stopped him: "Wait! We can't come empty-handed. I'll go to the mountain tomorrow morning to pick some mugwort and make some green rice dumplings for her to try."

The next evening, Yu's mother and Yu Wenjiang set off together, which led to the scene in the backyard of the educated youth compound.

Upon hearing what Yu's mother said, Xie Yuyao quickly replied, "Aunt Yu, of course I know you're not that kind of person. There are several main divisions of labor related to medicinal herbs: land reclamation, planting, purchasing, harvesting, and processing. Which one would you like to join?"

She knew that during the few days that Yu's mother had been in Qingshan Village, she hadn't rested at all. Whenever she had time, she would help Professor Feng and his wife take care of the old ox. She was a grateful, diligent, and optimistic person.

Upon hearing this, Yu's mother and Yu Wenjiang were excited. Yu Wenjiang pressed on, "Sister Yaoyao, are you short-staffed for the preparation?"

“Yes, we want to train more professional processing workers. If Aunt Yu is interested, she can join us,” Xie Yuyao said with a smile. “I also suggest that she work in processing, as it requires some technical skills. Other jobs are either hard or risky, and purchasing work requires frequent travel. Processing is the most suitable job.”

Mother Yu quickly said, "I want to learn how to process medicinal herbs. I really don't know how to thank you."

"How about you make some snacks for us when you have time? We don't have that skill," Xie Yuyao said with a light laugh, glancing at Yang Shumei.

Yang Shumei smiled and nodded, "Aunt Yu, just tell me what ingredients you need and I'll go buy them."

"Okay, okay, I'll go back and think about what else we can make." Mother Yu said happily.

He thought to himself: These two girls are such good people!

On the way back, Yu's mother instructed Yu Wenjiang: "Don't take Xie Zhiqing's kindness for granted. Her willingness to help our family is out of kindness. We should repay even the smallest kindness with the greatest gratitude, and her kindness to our family is as deep as a mountain. We must repay her properly when we have the chance."

Clearly, she was dissatisfied with Wenjiang's attitude.

Yu Wenjiang was both amused and exasperated. He explained, "Mom, I know. You taught us siblings to be grateful from a young age, and it's ingrained in my bones. Xie Zhiqing doesn't expect repayment for small favors. She pointed me to a bright future. As long as I work hard, I can repay her when I'm more capable."

"But you can't treat her like she owes you something. Besides, who knows what will happen in the future? You have to express your gratitude, not just spout empty words," his mother scolded him.

“I understand, so I help carry water and chop wood whenever I have time, doing what I can right now.”

After hearing her youngest son's words, Yu's mother finally let him off the hook: "In short, you must remember that you should repay kindness as early as possible, at least by showing your attitude openly and actually doing it, rather than just talking about it."

"I know!" Yu Wenjiang smiled as he listened to his mother's nagging.

The next day, Yu's mother received a notice that she had become a member of the preparation team, and she started working the following day in the backyard of the clinic.

Now that the medicinal herb business has taken off, the brigade leader waved his hand and designated a large area behind the clinic as a backyard, specifically for processing medicinal herbs.

There were four other people in the same group as Yu's mother. They had all been vetted by Xie Yuyao and were found to be of good character. Yu's mother quickly became familiar with her group members. She was hardworking, meticulous, and had a good memory. She soon stood out and was appointed as the group leader by Xie Yuyao, becoming a small leader.

In addition to the income from work points, the leadership also received monetary subsidies, which motivated Yu Mu to work even harder.

A month later, the Qingshantun herb-gathering team had collected and purchased a considerable amount of medicinal herbs.

Secretary Liu selected a quick-witted young commune member to be in charge of delivering the first batch of medicinal herbs. Secretary Liu personally led the commune member to the provincial capital to deliver the herbs.

A few days later, Secretary Liu and his companion returned. The factory's purchasing manager was very satisfied with the quality of the medicinal herbs and readily completed the transaction. Secretary Liu also brought back a substantial sum of money.

After several more deliveries, the medicinal herb project received its first batch of dividends. On that day, everyone in Qingshan Village was overjoyed, receiving varying amounts of money.

The news spread like wildfire, and the nearby villagers were incredibly envious. They wanted to go up the mountain to collect herbs and cultivate the land, but even though they were hardworking and diligent, without connections with factories, they could only sell to Qingshan Village.

Even though the purchase price offered by Qingshantun was higher than that offered by the pharmacies in the county town, some production brigades were not happy and organized people to go to the pharmaceutical factory in the county town to talk to the factory director about cooperation.

The factory manager greeted them warmly on the surface, but behind their backs he sneered, "They can't even process herbs properly, yet they want to supply them."

Even if the production teams could handle the processing and delivery, the factory manager was unwilling to make purchases. This was because they all had stable partners and, without increasing business or sales, had no need to expand their procurement.

The production brigade had no choice but to give up and rack its brains to come up with other ways to generate income. After trying a couple of times, they all ended in failure. As long as they remained quiet, they could only try to get a share of the profits from Qingshan Village.

Production brigades with connections to higher levels reported the matter to the commune leaders, falsely accusing Qingshantun of hoarding resources and exploiting members of surrounding production teams.

When this accusation was leveled against them, Liu, the Party Secretary of Qingshantun, was furious. He went directly to Director Cao, the highest leader of the commune, and complained bitterly, asking Director Cao to teach them a lesson for their jealousy!

After learning about the specifics of the project and finding that the acquisition price was within a reasonable range, Director Cao severely criticized the production brigade secretary who had made the report.

Behind the scenes, he also told Secretary Liu that if other production brigades could also cultivate medicinal herbs, it would be a good way to increase income.

Party Secretary Liu cautioned, "With the current planned economy, if no unit takes over their medicinal herbs, all their efforts will be in vain."

Director Cao rolled his eyes at him: "What's the situation with your pharmaceutical factory in the provincial capital?"

"We only managed to reach an agreement because of Honghui's relationship with Xie, the educated youth. Moreover, Xie gave up the right to use several patents, which allowed the factory to have a new production line, thus increasing the demand for raw materials," Secretary Liu explained with a bitter face. "It's not that I don't want everyone to live a good life, but our Qingshan Village has made a huge investment, acquiring a lot of mountain land to grow medicinal herbs. If we can't recoup our investment, it will cause public resentment, which would be bad."