Once all the procedures were ready, the village officially got busy.
Now is the time when wild fruits in the mountains are ripe. The wild fruits that were only favored by children in previous years are now in trouble. The children who often go to the mountains are hired as guides in the village at the price of two pieces of fruit candy a day to take everyone to places where wild fruits are found.
Originally the group of little ones were quite happy, as this was the first time they had earned candy for themselves. In the past, when they went to play in the mountains, they would always be scolded if they came home late. If they were unlucky and their clothes were damaged, it would be even worse, as they would definitely have to eat a meal of bamboo shoot fried meat.
This time, a group of children walked in front with their heads held high and chests puffed out, not caring about their relatives. From time to time, they gave orders to the adults following behind them, looking very arrogant.
Until... wherever the group of adults behind them went, they left no fruit behind, not even a single ripe fruit. They also cleared the weeds around the wild fruit trees and built wooden fences around them.
The children were completely dumbfounded. It turned out that adults were the best at deceiving children and had no moral ethics!
Some of the younger ones couldn't hold back their tears and started crying. "Waaaaah, my uncle is so mean, my aunt is so mean, they picked all the fruits for me, I don't want to lead the way anymore, I won't leave, I won't leave, you picked them all, what are we going to eat in the future, ahhh...hate it, hate it all."
Several adults who were working hard looked at the children rolling on the ground. They didn't feel embarrassed at all, but laughed instead.
"Hey, Zhuzi, Amu, Xiaoqin, quickly pull your son up and comfort him... Hahahaha"
The men who were named were a little embarrassed, so they pulled their children to the side and said, "Go ahead and beat them." But since the children were so young, they still couldn't bear to do it, so they could only promise them a good fight.
"Son, listen to what I'm telling you. These fruits are all going to be used to make money. When we make enough, I'll ask your mom to buy you some candy. Buy you lots of candy, okay? Don't cry anymore. I'll give you credit for making money, and you can have as much candy as you want..."
"Yes, yes, yes. I'll also buy you peach cakes, egg cakes, and canned food."
"I'll also buy you some meat."
After hearing this, the children stopped making a fuss and just stared at their old father.
"Dad, you really didn't lie to me. You really managed to convince my mom to buy me candy..."
"Promise me that if my mom doesn't buy me candy, you'll buy it for me."
"Don't say you have no money, I saw it all, our family..."
Several men quickly covered their sons' mouths. They turned their necks several times, but didn't see their wives. They were so scared that they almost broke out in a cold sweat. "Okay, okay, don't say anything. Dad promises to buy it for you. Remember, we don't have anything at home. If you let it slip, you won't be able to eat any candy in the future."
The little brother looked at his father, speechless. They were not fools. If their father's private money was gone, he would be the one to suffer, okay?
It took the adults three full days to find all the wild fruit trees in the back mountain. It has to be said that children are very sensitive to food. They usually don’t notice things when they go up the mountain, and they don’t know what is growing in some corner or creek, but these children can find them.
Wild grapes, blueberries, wild strawberries, raspberries, stinking plums, hawthorns, schisandra chinensis, etc. The mountain is simply a treasure trove. All the ripe fruits are picked, those that need to be dried are dried, those that need to be soaked in wine are soaked in wine, and those that are not of good quality are distributed to the children in the village.
Shen Anning and her friends left in mid-August. She didn't expect to stay in the Northeast for more than a month. Sometimes it's like this. Once she starts doing something, she refuses to give up halfway. She helped the village contact saplings, contact production machines, train management personnel... These things are many and complicated, and she is often busy all the time.
This also made the two children, Xixi and Erbao, have fun like crazy. They became several shades darker, as if they had just crawled out of a pile of coal. They didn’t have such an opportunity in Beijing. On weekends, they would just go to the park at most. How could they be as happy in the mountains!
This time when Shen An Ning left, he took everything with him, such as dried fruits and fermented rice from the mountains. They couldn't be sold at a high price in the Northeast, but he could get a good price in Beijing. Scarcity makes things valuable. It's just an extra shipping fee, so it's still worth it.
In mid-July, when the college entrance examination results came out, Geng Ziwei lived up to everyone's expectations and was admitted to the Beijing University of Technology. During the more than one month in the Northeast, he and Shen Anyu would go to the train station when they had nothing to do during the National Day holiday, helping the villagers to open up channels for transporting goods. Although they could also ask the crew to carry the goods privately, the village's mountain-holding business is a long-term business, so it is better to use regular freight cars.
A total of more than 800 kilograms of dried fruits and 30 jars of 50-kilogram wine were all loaded onto the train.
Before leaving, Shen Anning discussed with the village cadres. They all said that if they wanted to get rich, they had to build roads first. Now that there were few things, they could use ox carts and tractors to pull them. In the future, as the economy developed better and better, large trucks would be needed sooner or later. Originally, the villagers were a little uncomfortable about going out to build roads, but after listening to Shen Anning's analysis, they also thought it over. They also asked Geng Chengyi to send a few smart young people to the county to learn how to drive.
Because they called in advance, the car that picked up the goods was from the factory. Qin Wan had no objection to Shen Anning helping the villagers sell goods. In her opinion, it didn't matter if she managed one stall or two stalls. Moreover, their family ran a food factory, so there was no pressure to digest these things.
What Shen Anning least expected was that the dried fruits he brought back would be bought by his uncle's food factory before they could even be sold. Less than a week later, they launched a cheese and dried fruit bread that became a huge hit with children. The whole loaf was cut into two continuous halves, the center and ends smeared with lightly salty cheese, then topped with various dried fruits, and finally covered with a layer of milk powder. The appearance alone attracted many people, and even at a hefty price of fifty cents each, demand still outstripped supply. (I borrowed a similar recipe from Xinjiang pine nuts; I was obsessed with it for breakfast.)
Moreover, the food factory has its own direct sales store. They sell their products to department stores and supply and marketing cooperatives, and also in their own stores. For the same price, 800 kilograms of dried fruit may seem like a lot, but in fact, it only makes more than 8,000 loaves of bread. The new product was out of stock in three days, and adults and children who only bought it once or twice went to the store more than once to ask when it would be back in stock.
When Shen Anning sent a remittance slip for 600 yuan to the Northeast, the ten village cadres who received the telegram in advance were still a little unbelievable. Although they were busy for nearly a month, it was only 600 yuan! Not 60 yuan. Things in the mountains are almost free of cost.
In the largest room in the village office, the village chiefs and party secretaries of the two villages rubbed their eyes, confirmed several times, and stared at the 600-yuan draft and the letter sent by Shen Anning.
"Even now, I still can't believe it. Those things really sold for 600 yuan."
"Why don't you believe this? Didn't you read the letter sent by Shen Zhiqing? This is even minus the shipping fee. Our two villages finally have a chance to rise."
"Yes, we must remember the Shen family's kindness and have a good talk with the villagers. We must not forget our roots..."
That night, the villagers of the two villages all went to bed with smiles on their faces. Even the lazy guys began to secretly vow to work hard in the future and began to look forward to life.
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