The Party Secretary of Huangjia Village was very enthusiastic, since they would have to give the village money if they came to borrow breeding pigs.
Who wouldn't be enthusiastic about something that brings in money?
“These pigs in our village have many offspring from all around, and they’re very good at breeding. If you bring your old sow over, she can breed with you in one go.”
As Secretary Huang walked, he boasted to Zheng Xu and Bai Jiaojiao about his own pig.
Zheng Xu didn't say anything, just waited to go over and see the actual product.
The pigsty in Huangjiazhuang is not even as good as the one in Shili Village. It doesn't even have a decent yard. The warehouse next to it, where things are piled up, looks like Bai Jiaojiao's kitchen, with drafts coming through on all four sides.
The facilities are inadequate, but the pigsties in Huangjiazhuang are spotless, clearly well-maintained.
"Look, these two, and that one, are the best. Take a look."
Secretary Huang spoke with great pride, as if introducing his own chubby son.
When Zheng Xu looked at the three breeding pigs, he realized that they were indeed better-looking than the other pigs and stronger than the castrated pigs in their village. No wonder they could be kept as breeding pigs.
"Xiaobai, what do you think?"
Bai Jiaojiao subtly raised an eyebrow when she heard Zheng Xu address her.
"Captain, I think we can choose two. These three pigs are all about the same, but my suggestion is to choose the younger ones."
Bai Jiaojiao felt that it was already quite an achievement for the breeding pigs to have grown to this size at this point. Moreover, it was difficult to find places that specifically raised breeding pigs these days. Otherwise, one would have to go to a meat processing plant, but those plants probably wouldn't bother with them.
With Bai Jiaojiao's words, Zheng Xu had a better idea: "Brother Huang, how big are your three breeding pigs?"
"Our village only started raising these pigs in the last two years. They're all two or three-year-old piglets. This one is a bit bigger, but it's only been about half a year," Secretary Huang said.
The younger the breeding pig, the stronger its physique, the higher the quality of its sperm, and the stronger the piglets it will produce.
Bai Jiaojiao then asked, "Have any men come to breed recently?"
"Yes, these two are a match."
Secretary Huang could tell from Bai Jiaojiao's question that she was an expert.
He was initially puzzled. It was one thing for the village chief to be young, but why did he bring a young girl along? Although she was pretty, it wasn't something that needed to be presented in a grand manner.
It turns out it has real, high-quality ingredients.
Secretary Huang assumed Bai Jiaojiao was a sent-down youth, having heard that some educated sent-down youth could provide valuable guidance to the village. His gaze towards Bai Jiaojiao changed instantly.
"Captain, let's choose one of these two," Bai Jiaojiao whispered to Zheng Xu.
Zheng Xu looked at the size and pointed to one: "This one, plus the one that hasn't been bred in the last couple of days, just these two. How is the price calculated for breding? Is it guaranteed to mate, or is it calculated per mate, and if it mates, then forget it?"
"Don't worry, with a ten-yuan wallet, how could we possibly cheat you? You guys are already a bit late to the game when it comes to pairing pigs. If you want to pair them, hurry up and come."
Secretary Huang is also very confident in his family's pig breeding.
"Okay, then we'll bring the sows over tomorrow. The two I'm pointing to."
Twenty yuan is a sum that even a brigade leader can decide.
Secretary Huang was overjoyed that things went so smoothly and the village had income again.
Twenty yuan is neither a lot nor a little for Shili Village, but it is a considerable income for Huangjiazhuang.
When seeing Zheng Xu and Bai Jiaojiao off from the village, Secretary Huang said, "If these pigs have too many offspring for you to raise, you can sell them to us."
Zheng Xu came here and took a look at the pigs in Huangjiazhuang. He thought to himself that if they could raise them so well, Shili Village must be much richer than Huangjiazhuang. If they really put their heart into it, they could definitely raise them even better.
He became a bit more audacious in his speech: "We just want to raise a lot of them on a large scale, that's why we came here to borrow seeds. Of course, the more seeds we have, the better. We don't have any extra for you."
Zheng Xu couldn't wait for each of the two old sows to give birth to ten or eight piglets, so that next year he could raise twenty big fat pigs and let the villagers of Shili Village eat so much meat during the Spring Festival that their mouths would be covered in oil!
Secretary Huang was extremely envious, thinking to himself that the young brigade leader's thinking was so advanced, unlike the old-fashioned people in his production team.
If he could team up with this brigade leader, Huangjiazhuang would have risen up long ago.
There's a reason why a village is poor. In Shili Village, there's one Li Lide, and in Huangjiazhuang, everyone is a Li Lide.
On the way back, Zheng Xu was more excited than he had been on the way there: "Xiao Bai, you saw the pigs they raise in their village. Do you have the confidence to raise them like that?"
"What's that? We'll try to get them ready for market in ten months. If each one doesn't weigh at least 200 jin, we'll take them from my carcass."
"You little girl, you're just bragging. How much flesh could you possibly cut off from yourself?"
Zheng Xu said this, but he couldn't hide the smile on his face at all.
Judging from his reaction, Bai Jiaojiao knew that Zheng Xu would definitely support her pig-raising strategy from now on.
Zheng Xu added, "I've already asked the neighboring villages to send some wheat sprouts over. The chickens and pigs in those villages have been overfed these past few days. They were going to be overturned anyway, so I bought a whole bunch for just a few dollars."
"That's good. Feed those two sows more these next few days to help them recover."
“You’re right, those two old sows in our village are so skinny, it’s embarrassing to even drive them into other people’s pens.”
Zheng Xu was still thinking about the pigs in Huangjiazhuang pen, wishing they were his own right now.
"Hey Xiaobai, didn't you say yesterday that you were going to send a message to Jiancheng's wife? How could you forget?"
Zheng Xu slapped his forehead, surprised that he still remembered this matter.
Bai Jiaojiao smiled wryly: "Sister Meijuan said there's nothing I need to bring."
"Her mother-in-law is the same," Zheng Xu's attitude towards Bai Jiaojiao has now completely changed, and he even talked to her about the gossip in the village. "Normally, the eldest son takes over the family business, but I don't know what happened to their family, they let the second son take over. Their second son, Jianye, had a bad reputation back then, but look at him, as soon as he took over, he found a wife from the town."
"Maybe it's to find him a wife," Bai Jiaojiao said.
"That's pretty much it. Their dad definitely retired early, probably so his second son could have a job to support himself and find a partner. Since his dad doesn't work after retirement, his mom stopped working too. Even though they have pensions, look around the village, how many people don't work..."
As Zheng Xu spoke, he glanced at Bai Jiaojiao and said, "You don't count, I wasn't talking about you. You and Shen Heng are both willing to hit each other, I don't care."
Bai Jiaojiao gave an awkward laugh: "Captain, please don't joke with me."
Zheng Xu chuckled twice: "I'm telling the truth. If you can use your brain, what's wrong with doing less work?"
"So, Meijuan's mother-in-law is now going to the city to take care of her second daughter-in-law, and it's not just for the money, is it?"
"They cherish this second son the most. They say the eldest grandson and youngest son are the lifeblood of the elderly, so it's not surprising."
Bai Jiaojiao pouted: "Sister Meijuan gave birth to the eldest grandson."
"I don't know about that. It must have been tough on Jiancheng's wife. But Jiancheng is a good guy. Nobody in our village has a bad word to say about him. He's honest, and his wife is doing alright with him. It's much better than that Yu Wenli... Ugh, I don't even want to mention him."
Upon hearing Zheng Xu mention Yu Wenli, Bai Jiaojiao seized the opportunity to say, "Captain, speaking of him, I have something I want to tell you."
"What? Bai Jiaojiao, you can't retaliate maliciously!"
The transformation from "Xiaobai" to "Bai Jiaojiao" demonstrates Zheng Xu's attitude.
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