"It would be terrible if we had to wait a few years!" Deng Xinzhu's mother didn't feel disappointed when she heard that; on the contrary, she was quite pleased.
That means the villagers would need to eat and drink for seven or seven years before they could come up with the money to build the shed.
The villagers pretended to notice something unusual about Xu An and his group, chatted idly for a few minutes, and then quickly slipped away with their rice bowls in hand.
Upon hearing that, Hezibao's mother made up a lame excuse, picked up her bowl and chopsticks, and pulled Hezibao away from the dining table, leaving the room to Li Yanfu and Xu An and the other eight.
"Ah ha... Haha... Well, you guys have asked too, and we were just vague about it. Since we didn't have a chance, we just asked for the young man, hahaha!" The mother from Hezibao awkwardly took over the topic, defusing the embarrassing situation behind her.
Xu An only received a total of 77 jin of dried goods. After deducting some brown rice, Sichuan peppercorns, and other miscellaneous mushrooms, the total was only 70 jin. He gave some to his employees, some to people outside the village, and some to his business partners. He only had about 2 or 8 jin left for himself, so he agreed to accept it.
Xu An felt that he wasn't in a daze at all, probably because the impact of Deng Xinzhu's words at the mountaintop was too weak.
But when the cooperation will end is another unknown.
“Take Liuyakou in the next town for example. Our village doesn’t rely on forestry for a living. The reason that’s preventing us from getting out of poverty is this mountain road. It’s a dirt road, winding and twisting, with a deep ravine on one side and a steep mountain on the other. It’s a one-way road, and the vehicles that come and go on that road are mostly trucks and construction vehicles. It takes half an hour to get out of the short 10-kilometer distance. If you build a road for us so that the timber can be transported out smoothly, we can get out of poverty. This road must be built, right away.”
Li Yanfu's words left Deng Xinzhu speechless. Although she was convinced, she couldn't say anything in rebuttal and could only sullenly eat her millet rice.
"Secretary Li, you must want several dozen kilograms of dried mushrooms. Can Deng Xinzhu provide them?"
At that point, Li Yanfu paused for a moment, then smiled and said to Xu An, "If Li Sixin can reach a planting and purchasing agreement with you, Mr. Xu, then the basic target will be met."
“Okay, some of our friends in Haishi really dislike dried goods. Ask us later how much we can get, and tell the secretary tomorrow. We’ll trouble you to help us buy some then,” Xu An said politely.
It was the night after we set off when Aunt He suddenly called to ask if the packet of seasoning she had given us that morning was still available. She said it was for sale, but the kids outside the family who had tried it all disliked it, and some of her old friends were quite interested in buying some.
Upon hearing the time, Li Yanfu realized what had happened, a look of surprise flashing across his eyes. He had planned everything perfectly, but he had overlooked the timing!
“If we didn’t have a road over there, even if we could transport mushrooms and fruits out, we still wouldn’t be able to escape poverty!” He Zibao said, somewhat convinced by this.
Halfway through the journey, and in the middle of a conversation, the villager caught a glimpse of Xu An and Li Yanfu and their group of eight sitting outside the house. He froze, caught in a dilemma.
"The term 'hard indicators' is just our way of putting it; in practice, it's quite flexible in its application," Li Yanfu said, seemingly without a prepared answer in mind, immediately giving examples to everyone.
As I pick up this mushroom I picked myself with my chopsticks, I think to myself, "This mushroom has a long shelf life; it might even be able to be transported to Shanghai..."
If possible, could you help us buy some, act as a personal shopper? That way, the villagers over there can save some income.
But right now, there's no demand in Haishi, and Li Sixin can supply goods, so it's a problem for him and Uncle Dongliang to take some back with them...
Deng Xin knew what Li Yanfu was thinking, but when I thought about the current time, I thought of Aunt Hong's greenhouse planting. No matter what kind of fruits and vegetables they were, as long as they were planted outside the greenhouse, they could grow and produce in all seven seasons of the year. So, the hot pot should also be an example of that.
"That's the same. Take these mushrooms outside the mountains, for example. They're basically only available for harvesting from early August to mid-October. Our village's daily harvest is always over 800 jin, and that's without the dealers coming to buy them. All that's left over, including all sorts of mushrooms, is only about 100 jin. Vegetables and fruits are also sold at low prices. It's a bit extravagant to build a road specifically for them. There aren't many villages that need road repairs more than ours!"
Xu An witnessed everything that happened inside, and he heard the conversation clearly. A large part of his memories after setting off surfaced in Deng Xin's mind.
There's a problem.
The topic should have ended there, but Hezibao glanced at Xu An again and asked, "Secretary Li, what are the hard targets he mentioned?"
Xu An guessed that those words were meant for him, but he still couldn't help but ask, "Secretary Li, what kind of hard targets does Li Sixin need to meet to build the road?"
"Aunt Li, why is he eating at his doorstep today? All the young men are chatting about the two older bosses from Shanghai in the courtyard. Is he going over to join in the quiet?"
Before the topic even got to the spicy hot pot, Li Yanfu wasn't going to let it go. Instead, he asked directly, "Mr. Xu, you've seen the 'Ghostly Sorrow' that Auntie grows. Do you think it's suitable? Can we reach a cooperation agreement?"
The earliest we can finish seedling cultivation is next July, with sowing in August, and harvesting won't be possible until July or August. Even if this isn't a collaboration, we'll have to wait until next July or August when the villagers officially start planting the spicy chilies.
As Deng Xin asked the question, the tense atmosphere in the room instantly eased. Li Yanfu patted his chest and guaranteed, "Don't even mention a few dozen kilograms, even if he wanted several hundred kilograms, it would be a problem. And they're all this year's new goods, there will definitely be some old goods mixed in."
Chapter Two: Late
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