"Ideals and Youth" - It turns out I also had a youth (November 11...)

Ye Xiqing had been preparing for this day for a long time.

First, try to purchase greenhouse planting technology from the system. If you dare to say that this technology is beyond the reach of the world, I'll kill you.

system:……

The system painstakingly produced greenhouse planting technology. Ye Xiqing was no longer a farming novice; with practical experience, she could easily understand the knowledge from books.

Dig frost protection ditches around the greenhouse in advance, fill them with reed stalks to keep them warm, and prevent the heat accumulated during the day from dissipating from the ground.

For the rest, just use the standard greenhouse method; there's no technology that can make it work.

In those days, all that was needed to set up a greenhouse frame was simple bamboo poles. Of course, Ye Xiqing couldn't do it all by herself; she still needed to find someone to help her.

Before this, the villagers were very curious about the two long cages and had no idea what they were used for.

Now Ye Xiqing took out the large roll of plastic sheeting and asked everyone to help her cover it up. After seeing the greenhouse made of tubes, she finally understood. So that's how it is!

Once the greenhouse was covered, everyone could guess that it was an insulated structure. A group of people followed them inside for a tour, and someone asked, "Does this thing work?"

Since the mask hadn't been applied yet and wasn't showing any effect, Ye Xiqing decided to wait a few days before everyone came back.

Wait a few days, let the sunlight shine for a few more days, and warm up the greenhouse.

Ye Xiqing watered the plants again, but the water vapor couldn't escape and dripped down from the roof.

As soon as everyone entered, they all exclaimed "Oh!"

It was hot and humid, like being in a steamer!

Sensing the warm and humid environment, the chives thought summer had arrived and quickly sprouted green shoots, even when it was still freezing cold outside.

Wu Guiyun then realized what Ye Xiqing was planning to do; she was surprised to learn that he had such a scheme!

Looking at this groundbreaking new technology with extreme shock, he quickly thought of something and pulled Ye Xiqing aside: These two sheds must have cost a lot of money, right?

Of course, the two sheds cost more than eight hundred.

Wu Guiyun almost jumped up. Eight hundred?

The employees only earn about 40 yuan a month, and less than 800 yuan a year.

Where did you get 800? Do you make that much money selling sesame salt and sieves?

No way. Selling sieves and sesame salt only earns you a meager living. If you could earn 800 yuan in three years, everyone would do it. There's no technical difficulty involved.

Wu Guiyun asked in confusion: "Then where did you get the money from?"

Ye Xiqing: I borrowed it.

Not surprising, but who would lend you 800 yuan these days?

Ye Xiqing: Bank.

Wu Guiyun: ...

Are you taking out a loan?

People in this era are terrified when they hear about someone taking out a loan, just as they were in ancient times when they heard about someone borrowing money at exorbitant interest rates.

In the eyes of country folk, only dishonest people would take out loans.

But Wu Guiyun also had some common sense. Ordinary people don't dare to take out loans, and banks won't lend money to ordinary people casually. So how did Ye Xiqing manage to get the loan?

Ye Xiqing honestly replied, "It was mortgaged with my house."

Wu Guiyun: ...

I never imagined that the land she worked so hard to acquire would be used for this purpose. But is your house worth eight hundred?

There was nothing inside except a few tanks. Even when the court came to enforce the judgment, they couldn't get anything out of it.

We can't just tear down the soil on the wall, can we?

Ye Xiqing wholeheartedly agreed, but someone vouched for her.

Wu Guiyun immediately became interested: "Who?"

Ye Xiqing smiled and said, "Guess why my sister-in-law didn't come to my house this year."

Wu Guiyun: ...

You should ask your older brother to vouch for you!

Ye Xiqing smiled and said, "Otherwise, who else can vouch for her?"

In this era, being the first to build greenhouses and be a pioneer is definitely a good way out.

But why isn't everyone pursuing a good path? Because good paths all require capital.

No matter how worthless eight hundred yuan becomes in the future, in this day and age, if you say you can't come up with it, you really can't.

Fortunately, Ye Xiqing was a time traveler. She knew this was a stable and good opportunity, and she also knew that it wasn't difficult to borrow a thousand or eight hundred yuan, so she went to borrow it.

Even though she wanted to borrow, the bank was hesitant to lend to her. The loan officer reviewed her application several times and found a guarantor before she was finally able to borrow 1,000 yuan.

Ye Xiqing had estimated the cost and it shouldn't be as high as a thousand. She also had some savings, with two or three hundred in her savings account, which she used to prepare the transaction record for today.

But since it's not easy to borrow money now, we should borrow as much as we can. It's not easy to borrow such a large sum of money again, so we should improve our ability to withstand risks.

If a borrower is unable to repay their debt, the bank will seek repayment from a guarantor, which carries a significant risk, and most people would not sign such a guarantor's agreement.

But they are all siblings. It's one thing if they won't lend money, but they can't bring themselves to sign anything. Brother Bao just can't bring himself to do it.

He signed it on a whim, but Yang Shufen was furious. If it were just a matter of a few pounds of rice or flour, she wouldn't have cared.

They can sign anything for a thousand dollars? Can our family afford that?

So Yang Shufen, who had known him for three years and whose relationship had grown closer, and who had visited him every year before the Lunar New Year, didn't come at all this time.

Ye Xiqing, the culprit, tried hard to suppress her laughter. Since she had already borrowed the money, she might as well pay it back properly.

After the shed was covered, Ye Xiqing built a small wall and a kang (a heated brick bed) inside to make it easier for her to keep an eye on the shed.

They also kept a dog next door, which barked at the slightest noise.

It's not that I'm afraid someone will come to the shed to steal the chives, but I'm afraid someone is just being malicious, wanting to harm others even if it doesn't benefit them, and will take advantage of the night to tear down her shed. If it freezes overnight, everything will be gone.

Ye Xiqing had a dark side and was always suspicious. In the first year of operating the greenhouse, she couldn't accept any losses.

Of course, sheds don't need to be lifted by someone; a strong wind can easily lift them, especially in the north where the winter and spring winds are strong and frequent.

Whenever there was a strong wind, Ye Xiqing would keep watch day and night with a flashlight.

It's a bit better during the day; as soon as she lifts the awning, someone notifies her so she can deal with it quickly.

At night, when they are oblivious and the temperature is extremely low, they suffer the most and must be watched constantly.

During the day, the greenhouse accumulates light and heat through the transparent plastic film. At night, when there is no sunlight, it needs to be covered with straw curtains to prevent the daytime temperature from dissipating too quickly, so there is always something to do.

Seeing her like this, Grandma Wang and Wu Guiyun didn't know what to say. "With this kind of effort, isn't it more strenuous than planting corn?"

Ye Xiqing, who had patrolled several times during the night, just wanted to take a nap during the day because she was too tired.

To her best friend and biological mother's questions, Ye Xiqing could only say that she wasn't building greenhouses for an easy job, but to make money.

...

Hard work pays off. Even the heavens must have been moved by Ye Xiqing's dedication, and the seedlings in the greenhouse are finally ready to be harvested.

When the first batch of chives comes out, let the villagers come and harvest them first. They can come and harvest them anytime they want. We're all from the same village, so don't be shy. This will raise the level of psychological darkness.

After all, we're from the same village, so the moral cost is high. If it gets out, we won't be able to live in the village anymore. Don't take the risk for something like this.

As for the people from other villages, when they have money in a few days, they'll raise more dogs, tethering them from head to tail, with a guard every three steps and a sentry every five.

I don't want to be treated like a dog anymore. From now on, I won't go out except on windy days.

Chives grow very quickly, taking about a month to fully mature. However, the cold weather in the north is very long, with winter and summer almost consecutive, making it impossible for any non-cellar-grown vegetables to survive.

So when they saw these fresh chives, everyone was extremely excited and happily went to cut several bundles.

Of course, the gift wasn't given away for free. Ye Xiqing started looking for people in the village to harvest chives, offering them wages on credit until the chives were sold.

Previously, the wages for setting up the greenhouse and the chive fields were paid off together with the cost of the chives.

Otherwise, it would be quite disrespectful to let her harvest all the crops in these two large greenhouses by herself.

She still has to go to three markets to sell chives.

Xiao Ying also wanted to sell chives with Ye Xiqing, but the weather was so cold that she got sick, and the cost of medical treatment was no less than the cost of selling chives.

Ye Xiqing left her mother at home to look after the children and the shed, while she and Wu Guiyun, one pushing the cart and the other pulling it, went to the market to sell chives.

When Ye Xiqing arrived at the market, she rented a fixed stall to sell chives. In those days, the rent for a stall at the market was quite cheap, only 50 cents per square meter.

Their little vegetable stall didn't take up much space, but when they lifted the blanket and displayed several bundles of chives on it, everyone couldn't help but gather around.

Chives? Chives? There are still chives at this time of year?

As soon as the stall was set up, everyone passing by in the market had to ask, "How much?"

Ye Xiqing smiled and agreed, "One yuan per pound."

If it weren't for the crowd outside, Wu Guiyun behind her would have almost let out a sharp bang. One yuan a pound! Almost the same price as pork, which at most costs two yuan!

Ye Xiqing just smiled and didn't say anything. So what?

Those who can't afford pork won't buy out-of-season chives.

Those who can afford off-season chives won't feel bad about spending a single yuan.

This explains why Ye Xiqing only started covering the sheds after not paying the grain tax. Not paying the grain tax not only shows that the market economy is becoming more and more free, but also that there are more and more wealthy people.

There has to be someone who can afford dumplings even outside of holidays for people to buy off-season chives.

As a meat substitute, she sells it for less than meat.

Wu Guiyun followed Ye Xiqing to sell chives with trepidation, never expecting that at one yuan per kilogram, there would actually be buyers, and quite a lot of them.

Where did all this money come from?! Does she really have to be so careful with every penny she has?!

Of course, even if someone comes to buy chives, there will inevitably be bargaining, but Wu Guiyun has no experience and doesn't know how to bargain.

Ye Xiqing chimed in, "No bargaining. It's not easy for us to get these chives at this time of year, so we'd lose money if we bargained."

"These leeks that sell for one yuan are all carefully selected good ones. The rest of the less desirable ones have been picked out. They're cheap, only 80 cents a pound."

"If you really want it, I'll give you an extra 80 cents, but you can't bargain."

In this day and age, there's no such thing as not haggling.

It's not that customers are picky; it's just that in a market with opaque pricing and inadequate market supervision, there's no business that doesn't try to cheat people.

It's common for people to be selective in their food offerings; even vendors selling chives will bundle weeds and inferior seedlings inside to deceive customers.

I wonder if this little bit of head covering can really make a lot of money?

The thought that "every penny of mine was earned through hard work" made Ye Xiqing want to laugh.

Ye Xiqing really didn't want to get into this mess, so when she was cutting the seedlings, she told the women not to do it.

Good seedlings should be bundled together, and less desirable seedlings should be bundled together. Seedlings that are too small to be bundled should not be bundled. If anyone wants them, they can take them home.

Now the sisters-in-law who were cutting seedlings had a better chance of choosing, because Ye Xiqing would take some from the next bundle and give them to them after each harvest.

The second bundle is related to their interests, so they will naturally choose carefully.

The selected chives were bundled together with sickle rope and reed stalks. Ye Xiqing divided them into two piles and loaded them onto the truck. There was no bargaining; it was a fixed price: one yuan for a good bundle and eight mao for a lower-quality bundle. The price was the same everywhere and for everyone.

If you think it's too expensive, you can buy the cheaper ones. The second-bundle ones just don't look very appealing, but they all taste the same once they're chopped up.

Anyway, you'll just chop it into filling after buying it, so even if it doesn't look very appealing, it'll still taste good.

Off-season chives were a concept that the locals had never seen before. It was so novel that many people bought a bunch just to eat something so fresh.

People were buying both pre-bundled and semi-pre-bundled leeks, it all depended on their mindset. After one market day, a whole truckload of leeks was sold out!

Ye Xiqing counted the bag of money and paid Wu Guiyun her wages on the spot. "You've worked hard. I'll treat you to a meal of dumplings later."

Wu Guiyun felt both joy and unease upon seeing the money in her hands.

She was happy to be earning her first salary, but she also felt uneasy because the amount of money in her hand was far less than the amount in Ye Xiqing's bag.

With mixed feelings, she didn't even refuse Ye Xiqing's offer to treat her to dumplings, so she should be taken advantage of!

Ye Xiqing took Wu Guiyun to the bank to deposit the large bag of money, keeping only some change, as she was not comfortable carrying so much money around.

After depositing the money, Ye Xiqing took Wu Guiyun to a restaurant. Seeing how they were dressed, the restaurant staff didn't seem to care much about their hospitality.

Ye Xiqing slammed the money on the table and said, "Give me two catties of chive and egg dumplings!"

When the restaurant staff saw her slapping the money, they realized she was genuinely there to eat and immediately started to serve her attentively.

But where can you find chive and egg dumplings at this time of year?

Upon hearing the shop assistant say that they didn't have chive and egg dumplings, Ye Xiqing immediately shook her head and clicked her tongue, saying, "Backward, backward, they don't even have chive and egg dumplings."

But there's no need to worry about falling behind; there's always a solution. Why?

Because she sells chives.