Chapter 87 Export Trade No matter how good foreign products are, they can't compare to our new...
Ji Yu concluded about Wen Xuyan: "He's wasted the good name his parents gave him."
Despite being considered quite talented among his peers and often referring to himself as a literary genius, he always does things that are beneath him.
He has been taken to the police station several times before for similar reasons, but he still doesn't know how to repent.
Chen Mian nodded thoughtfully. No wonder no one sat next to him in class today.
While subtly criticizing Wen Xuyan, Ji Yu didn't forget to pat herself on the back, saying, "I've been paying a lot of attention in class lately, and even the instructors have praised me."
"Instructor?" Chen Mian asked.
“Mmm,” Ji Yu nodded smugly, pulled her arm out of Chen Mian’s embrace, and instead put it on Chen Mian’s shoulder. It was still so comfortable.
“We have to do physical training every day. I dare say there’s no one in the entire department who can beat me.”
"Really? How are you so amazing, Ji Yu..."
After finishing their hotpot meal, Ji Yu, as usual, took Chen Mian home.
Inside the Chen family courtyard, several people were busily stuffing sausages.
Chen Yongliang was strong and was in charge of chopping the meat filling. Lin Huijun and Lin Qiaofang were responsible for stuffing the meat filling into sausage casings, while Zhijiayi poked holes in the already stuffed sausages and put them into the pot to cook.
Chen Mian: "Your family started making sausages so early this year?"
She recalled that in previous years, her family would only start making pork sausages in the twelfth lunar month. Some were smoked, while others were simply boiled in a pot, each with its own unique flavor.
Why did they start making it in May this year? And the sausage looks different from usual, it seems much shorter.
Lin Qiaofang looked up at her cousin, her lips twitched a few times, then she swallowed her words and turned to her aunt for help.
"This child, is she embarrassed?" Lin Huijun tied a knot in the sausage she had just made and handed it to Zhijia. "You've been so busy lately, you don't know. The farm has been raising more and more chickens, and it's not convenient to catch them and sell them in the city. Making them into big plate chicken is too common, so Qiaofang thought of making chicken sausages to sell in the store."
After Lin Qiaofang came to the store, Chen Mianmian and her father would occasionally go to the store to keep an eye on things at first, but as Lin Qiaofang gradually got the hang of things, she took over the management completely.
She observed that there was a school near the restaurant, and every day after school, many students would pass by the store and often go to the convenience store next door to buy some snacks to eat on the way.
Lin Qiaofang used to secretly buy snacks with her classmates after school, enjoying the spicy strips that cost only a few cents a bag. Day students often had to bring things for their boarding classmates.
With the farm having an abundance of chicken, she's been thinking about how to turn it into snacks and sell it to the students.
Lin Huijun: "Qiaofang is very clever. She made us make two kinds of sausages, one with more chicken and one with more starch, and sold them at different prices. She said that this way students would have a choice and everyone could afford them."
Chen Mian nodded, "That's a really good idea. Our Qiaofang has grown up and can be her own boss now."
Lin Qiaofang lowered her head shyly, her neck turning red, clearly uncomfortable with Chen Mian's praise.
Chen Mian also suggested a new way to attract customers to the small restaurant: "We can brew a pot of milk tea every day, add seasonal fruits, and give away a free cup of milk tea if you order two dishes."
Chen Mian often enjoys experimenting with different recipes when she's at home. Last time, she accidentally added pears to her stew, which made the meat taste sweet and refreshing, and the meat wasn't greasy at all.
She wondered if adding fruit to the milk tea would have the same effect. She tried adding pears and watermelon, and it tasted pretty good. She even added cucumbers and lettuce, and the taste was just as refreshing.
When Lin Qiaofang heard Chen Mian's idea, her eyes lit up, and she looked up at her cousin earnestly.
Chen Mian: "What's wrong? Did I say something wrong?"
Lin Qiaofang shook her head and whispered, "I just think you're amazing, cousin. No wonder you're such a big boss."
“If you study more, you can be like me.” Chen Mian took the opportunity to warn Lin Qiaofang, “After you work in the shop for a while longer, go home and study. It’s not too late to become a boss after you graduate from university.”
A struggle flashed in Lin Qiaofang's eyes, but she still turned her head away stubbornly and said, "I don't want to. I don't want to go to school. I just want to work in the shop for the rest of my life."
Chen Mian exchanged a helpless glance with her mother. "Alright, let's get to work."
She deftly rolled up her sleeves, washed her hands, and joined the work.
Late at night, Chen Mian squeezed into Lin Qiaofang's room, carrying a pillow and a quilt.
"Come on, tell me why you don't want to go back to school."
Lin Qiaofang moved closer to the wall, making room for Chen Mianmian. "It's nothing, I just don't miss it anymore."
Chen Mian raised an eyebrow. "Really? I don't believe it. Maybe I should call your school tomorrow and ask."
"No, don't call." Lin Qiaofang sat up in bed and timidly tugged at Chen Mian's clothes. "Sister, please don't call, I beg you."
"Then you should honestly explain why." Chen Mian adjusted the position of her pillow, slowly lay down, and prepared to listen to a bedtime story.
Lin Qiaofang: "Can you guarantee you won't tell anyone else?"
"Can you just tell our family?" Chen Mian added, "They are all very worried about you."
Lin Qiaofang knelt against the corner of the wall, her hands constantly rubbing her clothes, her eyes hesitant. "At most, I can only tell my aunt and cousin Muhe."
“Okay, I promise.” Chen Mian raised three fingers to swear.
Having received assurances, Lin Qiaofang slowly began to recount what had happened six months prior.
It was a Monday in math class, and the teacher had assigned several proof problems on the blackboard. She was focused on answering the questions on her scratch paper.
Teacher: "Time's almost up. I'll randomly call a few students up to write their answers on the blackboard. Li Dong, Liu Huimin, Lin Qiaofang..."
When Lin Qiaofang heard her name called, she hesitated and glanced at the blackboard. She had only solved half of the problem assigned to her, and had no clue about the other half.
With that thought in mind, she still got up, took the half-finished draft paper with her, and walked towards the podium.
Lin Qiaofang continued her calculations in front of the blackboard, but the classroom suddenly became noisy, as if people were whispering and discussing something.
The math teacher, an older man, tapped his pointer on the desk. "Quiet! Have you all finished the problems? Stop yelling."
A mischievous boy shouted, "Teacher, Lin Qiaofang wet her pants!"
Lin Qiaofang was taken aback. She turned around with her back to the blackboard and secretly touched her pants with her right hand. They were red and had a rusty smell.
She suddenly got her period, and menstrual blood soaked through her underwear and dark blue jeans, leaving a dark stain on her back.
Lin Qiaofang felt embarrassed, her eyes gradually welled up with tears, and she covered her face as she ran out of the classroom.
She didn't know, nor did she want to know, what her classmates were talking about in the classroom afterward.
Lin Qiaofang had nowhere to go, so she hid in the toilet. Later, a new female teacher at the school tied her coat around her waist and took her to the teachers' dormitory to change her pants.
Six months later, Lin Qiaofang still vividly remembered the events of that day. She choked back tears, saying, "Sister, I really don't want to go back to school. Just thinking about the way they'll look at me..."
Chen Mian also sat up, hugged Lin Qiaofang, and comforted her, "But you still have to study. So much time has passed, maybe they've already forgotten about it."
"Or how about we ask the school to change your class?"
Lin Qiaofang: "You don't understand, they will spread this everywhere, everyone will know that I peed my pants, and they will all laugh at me."
There was a boy at the school who was laughed at because he had diarrhea, and eventually he couldn't stand it and transferred to another school.
Chen Mian tentatively asked, "Then we'll help you transfer to another school?"
"No, I really think things are fine as they are now." Lin Qiaofang shook her head. "Once I've saved enough money, I'll open my own shop, and I can bring Grandma here with me in the future."
"Besides, going to university is useless. You'll just end up working for someone else anyway, so you might as well be your own boss."
Chen Mian: ...
.
"Students, why do we go to university? It's so that we can become better bosses and earn more money in the future."
The professor from the agricultural university was giving a passionate lecture on the stage. This course was specifically for people like Chen Mian who came to pursue further studies.
"I believe that everyone who chooses to study here realizes that the days of making money just by talking and being loyal are over."
In the 1990s, what we needed was the vision to choose investment directions and the wisdom to manage employees.
People only see the endless stream of people going abroad to make money, but few see that exporting our own products overseas is the real money-making opportunity in the future.
The professor picked up the teacup on the lectern and took a sip. "No matter how good foreign products are, can they be as sweet as the melons and fruits from Xinjiang? Can they be as big as our goji berries? Can they be as comfortable as our long-staple cotton blankets?"
"They don't have any of these things. What we need to do is find a way to send our good products abroad and earn money from foreigners..."
The professor's words were like a drop of water poured into a boiling oil pan, instantly plunging the entire class into a heated discussion.
Some people ask, what if you can't speak the language when doing business with foreigners?
Some people say that foreign countries are so far away that the fruit would rot long before it arrived.
Some people say that foreigners are physically fit and don't need blankets to sleep.
Chen Mian thought of the No. 5 flat peaches in her orchard. When the No. 5 flat peaches are freshly picked, the flesh is still crisp and hard. It can take up to half a month for them to fully ripen and soften.
In these two weeks, if we were to transport goods outwards, where would we be able to get them?
Or, are there other ways to extend the shelf life of peaches?
I've heard that money is worth much more abroad than in China, and things are more expensive there too. If only our peaches could be sold to foreigners…
Chen Mian wrote a few lines in her notebook, intending to ask Professor Shen for advice before returning to school after his inspection of the farm.
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Author's Note: Ah, it looks like my July goals are about to fail again [crying emoji]
This guy is such a low-energy rat! He even brought his laptop on his business trip, planning to write on the way, but he just passed out on the way. [crying emoji]
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