Inside the supply and marketing cooperative, Chen Gang squinted his cold eyes:
"impossible."
When Chen Gang heard the village chief say he wanted to take away the two donkeys from the production team, he immediately refused.
But at the same time, Chen Gang rarely showed up in the village because he was quietly making a small fortune.
While managing the supply and marketing cooperative from behind the counter, there were also several baskets placed under the counter.
The baskets were either filled with shelled pine nuts or with pine cones waiting to be shelled.
The village chief, with his sharp eyes, had already spotted what he was up to.
Now everyone in the village sells their pine nuts to Xu Zhenting, but Chen Gang is not only principled, but also has an unyielding backbone.
Even though he could earn more than 50 cents per pound by selling to Xu Zhenting, he didn't sell to Xu Zhenting, but continued to sell to the village chief.
The village chief knew perfectly well what he was thinking.
"The pine trees are past their season, and you haven't finished peeling them yet?" the village chief asked casually, but was actually laying the groundwork.
"That's all left. What, you're not buying anymore now that it's past season?" Chen Gang asked without looking up.
"It doesn't matter if you don't accept it. I'll keep it for my wife. She likes it. It's sweet, and my daughter likes it too."
Don't be fooled by his nonchalant attitude; Wu Fengshou knows his family's situation very well.
His five-year-old son still needs his wife Liu Danshuang to take care of him every day, while his eldest daughter is already seven years old but has not yet started primary school.
Everyone faces similar pressures, mainly caring for the elderly and raising children.
"Yes, of course we'll accept it," the village chief concluded, laying the groundwork for the argument.
"But after you've peeled all these, you won't have any other ways to make money this winter. You're not going to fish, and you still have to raise rabbits until spring."
"Give me two donkeys, and I can give you another way to make money."
Chen Gang raised his head and stared at the village chief, his eyes cold, but a hint of wavering flickered within them.
The village chief added, as if considering the situation carefully:
“This opportunity isn’t just for you, it’s for the whole village of Laoshu.”
"Oh right, I heard that the county's Revolutionary Committee has been disbanded. We don't know what the production team will be like next year."
"We don't even know if the higher-ups are looking out for us, so we have to take care of ourselves."
Chen Gang was somewhat surprised to hear this news.
The Revolutionary Committee has been dissolved? Does this mean that restrictions on people's activities have been lifted?
In addition, he had seen it on TV earlier, where they talked about a commodity economy.
"Just two donkeys, is that enough? If not, I'll go and do something else for myself." After laying the groundwork, the village chief finished with a feigned impatient urging.
Chen Gang thought about it and realized that the village chief made sense.
"...Alright then."
...
At the Lin family home, Lin Mo was inside with two childhood friends, chatting and peeling pine nuts to pass the time.
He kept glancing out the window, wondering when the village chief would arrive.
Good things often come with difficulties; I just wanted to go on a long trip, but I kept getting delayed.
After a while, when Lin Mo looked up at the window again, he suddenly saw the village chief leading two donkeys, walking silently into the yard with a bright smile on his face.
Those two donkeys were still carrying a wooden cart.
Wow! They actually brought a donkey!
Miao Qingsong and Miao Wang exclaimed in surprise.
This donkey was brought in for their exclusive use; they've never had a donkey of their own before.
The two were so excited that they dropped the pine cones they were holding and ran outside as fast as they could.
One of them had bronze-yellow fur all over its body, except for its big white belly; the other was a black donkey, except for the white ring around its mouth and the ring around its two big eyes.
The male had a bristle on its neck, which looked like a long brush.
The two brothers liked it more and more the more they looked at it.
"Village chief, is this a loan or a gift?" Lin Mo was happy, but he needed to make things clear:
"Donkeys are meant to be used long-term. If we have to take them away after using them for a while, it will probably delay our business."
"We originally planned to buy it in the county."
The village chief waved his hand and said with great pride:
"Use it for as long as you want, and make sure you won't be forced to leave halfway through."
"That's good……"
"However," before Lin Mo could finish his thanks, the village chief abruptly changed the subject:
"The pine trees are past their season, the rabbits will have to wait until spring, and as for fish, it's so cold now that not many villagers can stand the cold, so they don't go fishing much anymore."
"The connections you have inside your house..."
The village chief hesitated for a moment, but his words were quite blunt.
He was directly asking Lin Mo for ideas on how to make money, relying on the influence of the two donkeys.
Lin Mo had anticipated that the village chief might pull this stunt, so he wasn't surprised.
However, the pine cones inside the house were not so simple. It wasn't that Lin Mo wanted to hide them and make a fortune in silence:
"Don't even think about the inside of the house. Even if I told you, the villagers wouldn't be able to figure it out. It's too dangerous."
"We'd have to cross four mountains. Besides, it's the dead of winter. If we had to walk in, what if we froze to death in the mountains? That would be a huge problem."
Upon hearing this, the village chief's eyes briefly went blank.
"oh……"
Lin Mo saw that his two childhood friends had already divided up their donkeys and were happily getting acquainted with their own:
"You two unload the car, then ride it and practice. Riding a donkey into the mountains will be faster."
"Alright!"
The two of them led the donkey out and rode around the village to get familiar with the donkey riding style.
Lin Mo stood at the doorway, watching from a distance, and the village chief followed him out.
Meanwhile, some villagers who came from their homes to watch TV at the store also saw it. It was rare to see people riding donkeys in the village, unless it was someone of Chen Gang's or the village chief's rank.
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