Uncle Li Jiu had nothing to say after hearing this. Under his leadership, the village's distillery closed down, which was his dark history.
But he was still very unconvinced. He didn't believe that Luo Jingyan, a girl of eighteen or nineteen, could make wine that tasted better than his.
He said stiffly, "In that case, I'll provide the sorghum for this brewing experiment. I'll see if she can actually brew good wine, or if what she brews is vinegar instead of wine."
His words drew laughter from those around him. Luo Jingyan said, "I can brew good wine and good vinegar. I wonder which one you prefer?"
This clearly indicates that Uncle Li is jealous of someone else, and that he got jealous because he saw the brigade leader strongly promoting that person.
The captain laughed and said, "Even if we manage to brew vinegar, that's a skill. We don't sell wine, so why can't we sell vinegar?"
"Ha ha ha ha."
Uncle Li's lips trembled with anger as he shook his arm, preparing to leave.
"I won't say much to you, I'll just wait and see if you can brew the wine."
He's waiting for Luo Jingyan to slap herself in the face.
The captain, fearing that Luo Jingyan would be angry with Uncle Li Jiu, advised, "Uncle Jiu is just a stubborn old mule. Don't take it to heart. Let's just do what we need to do."
"Uncle Captain, he's old, I won't stoop to his level."
This little incident passed quickly and did not have a significant impact on the scene. The captain then continued the previous topic of discussing the experimental brewing.
Zhao Wensong stood in the crowd, watching Luo Jingyan on the stage, full of confidence, answering everyone's questions fluently. Plus, she was the most outstanding among them, standing there like a dazzling star, making it hard to ignore her brilliance.
He increasingly hated his past ignorance and resented his blindness and shortsightedness. Otherwise, even if he couldn't stay in the city, he could at least have a good partner like Luo Jingyan.
Lai Chuncao came with him today and stood next to him. When she noticed him staring blankly at Luo Jingyan, she reached out and pinched his waist hard.
"What are you looking at? Your eyes are practically flying off the stage."
Zhao Wensong looked impatient but dared not lash out, "No, it's nothing."
He's been feeling very inferior lately because of his health condition. Even though the Lai family has lost its standing in the village, he still has to try and please Lai Chuncao.
Because conducting the brewing experiment required a small investment, the team leader said to the members, "Today I'd like to discuss something with you. To be fair, we'll vote. If everyone agrees, each person needs to contribute two jin of sorghum as the material for the experiment. If the majority agrees, we'll begin the experiment. If it's successful, we won't need to sell our sorghum to others; we can brew our own wine and generate our own income. The money we earn will be ours."
Of course, those few who disagree can choose not to participate in the brewing plan; whether the distillery makes money or not is none of their concern. And those who agree to participate, regardless of whether the distillery makes money or not, you cannot blame me or Luo Zhiqing. Of course, if the majority disagrees with this project, then we won't do it.”
The brigade leader has been wholeheartedly devoted to the villagers over the years, which is much better than the previous Party Secretary Lai. The villagers still have a high level of trust in the brigade leader.
But no matter when it's set, there will always be troublemakers.
Among them was Aunt Hu's family. Because of the downfall of Party Secretary Lai, Aunt Hu always thought that the brigade leader was behind it all. She believed that the brigade leader had reported Lai Chunyang, and she was very dissatisfied with the brigade leader. Her daughter-in-law had a grudge against Luo Jingyan, so naturally she would not be satisfied with Luo Jingyan either.
Du Yinan tugged at Aunt Hu's sleeve: "Mom, I'm against participating in this. I'm not participating in my share anyway."
She had never had a say in the family. Normally, Aunt Hu would not listen to her and might even scold her for disagreeing with her. But since the mother and daughter's decisions did not conflict, she agreed.
"Yinan, this time I'll listen to you, we won't participate."
Du Yinan was flattered and overwhelmed. "Yes, Mother."
Aunt Hu immediately expressed her stance to the brigade leader: "I'm afraid that if Luo, the educated youth, fails the experiment at such a young age, then all the sorghum we brought out would be wasted. To be on the safe side, our family will not participate."
Some people mocked her, saying, "Each person only contributes two catties of sorghum. Your family only contributes a dozen catties of sorghum in total. If it succeeds, you can earn a lot in the future. You're really stingy."
"You're stingy, your whole family is stingy, your ancestors for eighteen generations were all stingy ghosts."
"Hey, you surnamed Hu, are you looking for a beating?"
"Come on! Come on! Who's afraid of you?"
Aunt Hu was not someone to be trifled with. She jumped up high and immediately assumed a fighting stance. Fortunately, someone nearby pulled her back, preventing a fight from breaking out.
The other neighbors whispered among themselves, "Look at her, it's like when her child's uncle was the Party Secretary, she doesn't know how to behave herself."
The brigade leader didn't force her: "Your family doesn't have to participate, but if the experiment is successful and our collective winery opens, you won't have the right to participate anymore."
"Me," Aunt Hu pouted, "I won't participate then." She silently prayed that Luo Jingyan wouldn't succeed.
The captain then looked at the others: "Who among you doesn't want to participate? Speak up."
Liu Aiguo and his mother from the Liu family attended the meeting. Li Hongying was unable to attend because she was at home recovering from childbirth. Liu's mother was frugal and worried that Luo Jingyan might ruin the food, so she raised her hand to indicate that her family would not attend.
Besides their two families, Lai's family and nine other families also said they would not participate, fearing that Luo Jingyan was just being silly and wasting their food.
The entire brigade has a total of eighty households. Excluding the twelve households that did not participate, there are still sixty-eight households, which means that the majority of them are willing to participate.
Except for Zhuang Feifei and Lin Shanshan, all the other educated youth expressed their agreement.
The captain said, "I will have someone register the names of who is participating and who is not. We agree that no matter how well or poorly the distillery is run, no one will be allowed to have a chance to back out."
Another round of discussion erupted from the audience. Then, the team leader asked the accountant to register the households. The registration results showed that two households that had previously agreed to participate withdrew, while two households that had previously not planned to participate now wanted to participate. So, in the end, the registration results showed that 68 households still agreed to participate, and 12 households disagreed. Among them, the Liu family, the Hu family, and the Lai family did not change their minds.
Lai's daughter-in-law, Fan Jinglan, also attended the meeting. Since it was chaired by the brigade leader, none of the Lai family members wanted to participate, but she did.
She had had enough of Lai Chunming's torment these days, but because her family owed money to the Lai family, she had no way to leave.
If she had the money to pay off that debt, she could escape from the Lai family's den of wolves.
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