After Li Dahui and Lin Yuan left, Lin Yu taught the workers at the vermicelli workshop how to dry scallions, so that she could free her hands.
The county town is not very big to begin with, and in just a few days, the sweet potato vermicelli found a market.
These days, staple foods are quite popular. Sweet potato vermicelli can be eaten as a staple food or used to make vermicelli soup.
Some people even made bone broth and then cooked glass noodles.
The vermicelli soaked in bone broth, slurped up with gusto, the taste is simply divine.
In short, customers have come up with new ways to enjoy sweet potato noodles.
Lin Yu originally thought that the workshop could stop producing the seasoning packets for hot and sour noodles.
Unexpectedly, when it came time to deliver the next batch of seasoning packets, Manager Wu requested that even more packets be ordered.
It is said that many people like the sour and spicy flavor and will use the seasoning packet of hot and sour noodles to cook noodles or soup.
But they couldn't recreate the flavor themselves, so the seasoning packets unexpectedly became very popular.
This was an unexpected surprise.
After all, there is a profit margin in making seasoning packets, and the ingredients are all available in the brigade, except for Sichuan peppercorns.
Since we will continue to produce seasoning packets in the future, we need to consider the source of Sichuan peppercorns.
After listening to Lin Yu's words, Lin Aiguo said confidently, "The Dongfeng Brigade grows a lot of Sichuan peppercorns. If we need them, we can directly contact them for cooperation."
Lin Yu's eyes lit up. It would be better to cooperate with the local brigade than to buy from the supply and marketing cooperative.
Moreover, they can strengthen their connections with surrounding brigades, which will give the workshop more leverage.
Clearly, Lin Aiguo had also thought of this, so he made a quick decision and called on several brigade members to go to the Dongfeng Brigade together.
The Dongfeng Brigade is located on the other side of Daqingshan Mountain, but it does not require crossing the mountain to get there.
It's not far; you just need to walk along the main road from the foot of the mountain.
Unlike the Lotus Brigade, their brigade was situated on a flat, undeveloped area.
The terrain of the Dongfeng Brigade is mountainous and the land is relatively barren, so most of the crops planted are pepper, tea trees, and fruit trees.
They don't produce food; they need to harvest these crops each time and hand them over in exchange for grain to distribute to the brigade members.
In later generations, the economic benefits of growing these crops would certainly be better than those of growing grains.
But in this day and age, the situation is different.
During the famine, other brigades could secretly save some food to eat, but they could only sigh at the things in the fields that were neither edible nor drinkable.
Therefore, when the Lianhua Brigade asked for their Sichuan peppercorns, Brigade Leader Huang Shanhe readily agreed.
Why would he hesitate to exchange these peppercorns, which are neither edible nor drinkable, for money or grain?
He felt only gratitude, thinking that the Lotus Brigade was taking care of their brigade.
Therefore, Huang Shanhe made a decisive move and signed a supply contract with Lin Aiguo.
Lin Yu went to the Dongfeng Brigade with him. Huang Shanhe treated her like a child and even gave her some of the fruit grown by the brigade.
"Uncle Huang, this pear is delicious. I've never seen such a good pear at the supply and marketing cooperative."
Without exaggeration, Lin Yu felt that the pear was more juicy and sweet than any she had eaten in her later life.
However, when she visited the supply and marketing cooperative before, she only saw wrinkled fruit that didn't look to be of good quality.
Huang Shanhe said helplessly, "The roads here are too difficult to travel. By the time we get the pears out, they'll all be smashed."
But the land here can only grow these things, so we kept them for our own consumption.
If you like, let Little Tiger take you to pick some; our brigade has planted a lot.”
Lin Yu really thought it was good and was thinking of taking some home for her family to eat, and then paying Captain Huang for it later.
So he went to the orchard with Little Tiger.
Little Tiger lived up to his name, being a lively and energetic boy. He led Lin Yu through the orchard, jumping and playing, and they picked a lot of fruit.
Lin Yu picked and ate as she went, and her stomach was already full before she even left the orchard.
"Little Tiger, is it alright for us to eat like this?"
Lin Yu felt a little guilty eating so much fruit; it was almost unbelievable how people were living in this era.
The little tiger monkey pawed at the tree, saying dismissively, "What does it matter? These fruits will rot if we don't eat them. A lot of them rot every year."
Lin Yu frowned, feeling a real pity.
An elderly woman from the village was also picking fruit with her child nearby, and she said, "Young lady, are you related to Tiger? Let me tell you, you can eat as much of these fruits as you want, you won't be able to finish them all."
Lin Yu didn't mention that she wasn't Hu Zi's relative, but only asked, "Auntie, can't you take the fruit out to exchange for grain? Like peppercorns and tea leaves."
The old woman sighed and said, "We can't get our fruit out of the market. They've all been smashed. We can exchange some of the ones that aren't smashed, but out of ten truckloads we manage to get out, only one truckload will actually be usable."
Although labor is worthless, this calculation makes it really not worthwhile.
The manpower and resources required to transport the fruit out were too great.
So in the end, the brigade decided to keep the fruit for themselves.
Lin Yu felt quite sad after hearing this. No wonder there's a saying, "If you want to get rich, build roads first."
The road is too rugged and uneven, so even good things can't be transported out. People outside can't get any, and people inside can't finish eating them all.
The Dongfeng Brigade didn't have much income, so as Lin Yu looked around, all their houses were small and low mud-brick houses.
Although most houses in Lianhua Brigade are made of adobe, there are occasionally a few families with many able-bodied men who can build tiled houses.
The adults and children of the Dongfeng Brigade did not have the same positive and upbeat attitude as those of the Lianhua Brigade.
Some people even became so hungry that they were emaciated.
No wonder Captain Huang was so grateful when he heard that they would exchange grain and money for their Sichuan peppercorns.
After settling the matter of the Sichuan peppercorns, Lin Aiguo immediately exchanged the grain he had brought for the peppercorns and took them back with him.
Lin Yu quickly followed, feeling very upset the whole way.
"Uncle, the Dongfeng Brigade is so poor."
Lin Aiguo said to her, "Yes, their land can't grow grain; it can only grow things that won't feed them enough."
That's why when you said you wanted to change the Sichuan peppercorns, they were the first company I thought of.
Lin Aiguo could only offer them the help he could, providing them with some food and ensuring the workshop had peppercorns—a win-win situation.
Lin Yu sighed, "Yes, it's really difficult. If only the road could be repaired."
"Our country is developing, and it's quite difficult right now, but things will get better in the future."
This is what Lin Aiguo firmly believes.
Lin Yu nodded. It was because of the unwavering belief of generations of people that the country was indeed getting better and better, and in later generations, almost everywhere you went, there were smooth roads.
Lin Yu followed Lin Aiguo back to Lianhua Brigade and took the Sichuan peppercorns to the vermicelli workshop.
The workers had been waiting for a while, and when they saw the peppercorns arrive, they started making spice packets again.
During this period, Manager Wu placed several more orders, and the workshop never stopped operating.
Becoming a worker in the workshop is now the biggest wish of the team members.
Some people have even started looking for alternative ways to recruit workers for the next round.
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