Chapter 136 Two Hundred Thousand Jin
"Do you feel it?"
"Business at the supply and marketing cooperative has improved," the deputy mayor poured a cup of tea. "There are many people doing business in the town secretly now. They have made some money, but the villagers nearby are the ones who spend the most money."
"Only if you have money in your hands will you be willing to spend it," the village chief took the tea, "but I don't know what the higher-ups mean. The villagers are still somewhat worried about this matter."
"Are you worried? You've been selling things for three years now," the deputy mayor glanced at her. "The situation in the past two years was not as good as it is now. I don't see you care."
"That's different. The first two years were also special cases," the village chief laughed dryly and immediately changed the subject. "Seriously, what exactly happened? How do you put it?"
"Same old," the deputy mayor sighed, "the country is also moving forward by trial and error. We can't take big steps at once. We are taking one step at a time. Now we are turning a blind eye. Don't you think this is also part of the policy?"
"That's what I said," the village chief took a sip of tea, "but the current situation is like a boot hanging on our heads. No one knows whether the boot will fall on our heads or on the ground. Everyone is still worried."
"What can I do? I can't do anything," the deputy mayor shook his head and looked at the man in front of him. "I'll inform you in advance, but I don't think the villagers will arrest you."
"Then just arrest those people." The village chief pursed his lips.
"That can't be helped. But if there really is a change, those people won't be slower than me in knowing it. Besides, those people probably made a lot of money from tea trading. If it was a few years ago, it would be real speculation. You can't forget the situation a few years ago just because the situation has changed a little now," the deputy mayor said, raising his eyes, "You can't do anything rash."
After saying this, the deputy mayor felt something was wrong and asked cautiously, "What exactly are you doing here today?"
The village chief took another sip of tea and coughed: "Well... there are a lot of edible things in our mountains, why is there no one to collect them, don't you think?"
The deputy mayor narrowed his eyes and asked, "Send someone to collect the things and provide cover?"
The village chief smiled.
"In addition to fungi, what we have here is also available in other places, and the production volume is even higher," the deputy mayor said directly, "The production volume of tea and coffee is OK, but it can't fill people's stomachs, and I guess no one wants it."
I specifically mentioned tea and coffee as a reminder and also as a warning.
"Then..." The village chief put down the cup in his hand, "Can we go buy some food? Although the conditions here are good, we are still short of some staple foods. By the way, ask if there is a need for mushrooms outside. The mushrooms here are the best in the whole country."
The deputy mayor knew what she meant and sighed, "No one in the town is reporting your problems."
"But what if that happens? There must be a reason that the warehouse is full of goods," the village chief looked at the deputy mayor, "It may not be implemented, even if it is just posting a notice to purchase mushrooms, right?"
The tea in the warehouse is shipped every day. Even though the warehouse is a bit remote, it would be inappropriate if it were noticed by someone one day.
In this matter, it would be best for the town not to get involved if possible.
But the warehouse where the grain is stored belongs to the town government, so it has already been mixed in.
"I can help contact state-owned restaurants in the city or province and ask them if they need mushrooms," the deputy mayor took a step back, "but if the notice is sent, you have to find time to pick them, at least in sufficient quantities."
"Will the people in the town be willing to go and pick them?" asked the village chief.
This is a town, but there are mountains all around. Almost every household has fields, but the quantity is not as much as in the mountains. Moreover, the environment in the mountains is naturally suitable for growing tea and coffee trees. These things still exist in any place that is not suitable for growing grain.
Also, because there are many trees in the mountains, people usually need to chop firewood, so other trees can be picked. Naturally, coffee trees and tea trees were left behind and allowed to grow freely.
The villagers already live in such an environment and have the habit of drinking coffee and tea on a daily basis. They have quite a bit of experience in how to make coffee beans and roast tea, which is why they were able to seize such a good opportunity.
The situation in the town was different. Not only were there few farmlands, but there were also several small factories. Although not every household had someone working in the factories, there were always relatives working there. Moreover, the fields around the town were relatively flat and suitable for growing crops, so people did not pay much attention to tea and coffee that could not fill their stomachs.
Later, if the town wants to harvest mushrooms, it will be a different matter as it can make money, and the villagers in the town will definitely go to pick them.
"Are you trying to lure them to pick mushrooms? To distract them from paying attention to you delivering tea?"
"Where fungi grow, tea and coffee trees are not suitable for growing. If they are not in the same place, they will not interfere with each other," the village chief said seriously. "If this works, it will be good for everyone."
The deputy mayor thought about it for a while, and finally felt that this made sense.
She was also worried that the noise from harvesting tea leaves would be too loud and would attract too much attention, but if she added the matter of harvesting mushrooms, it would naturally divert the attention of the town's residents.
The whole country is trying to figure out what the situation is. At this point, it is very likely that the more you do, the more mistakes you will make, the less you do, the fewer mistakes you will make, and doing nothing will be the best.
But... the deputy mayor took out the business list of the supply and marketing cooperative that he had obtained before. In the past few months, the sales volume of the supply and marketing cooperative was the sum of the previous two to three years. Many things that did not require tickets were sold.
It’s not that the villagers are unwilling to spend money, but that they have no money to spend. Now that they have finally earned some money, they are finally able to step into the supply and marketing cooperative.
She could imagine how the villagers happily bought what they needed from the supply and marketing cooperatives, took them home happily, and either ate them, used them, or placed them somewhere in the house. Just one look at them would make them feel happy.
The village chief took a quick glance and saw the words "supply and marketing cooperative". He immediately understood what it was and was inspired: "Even if they catch them, they can't catch them here. Shouldn't they catch them where they sell? If they don't catch them in other places, it's because they don't have the ability. What does it have to do with us?"
The deputy mayor looked up and glared at her: "You are just making excuses."
The village chief smiled.
The deputy mayor closed the supply and marketing cooperative's account book and chose to compromise: "I'll go ask about the mushrooms, but don't hold out too much hope. There are mushrooms everywhere in Yunnan Province. There are plenty of places in the city and the province to supply them. They may not accept the ones we send to them."
"So..." The village chief thought for a moment and suddenly raised his eyes, "Can we sell it to the villagers? If everyone pays a few cents and buys some mushrooms, isn't it okay? Everyone is busy picking tea leaves these days and has no time to go into the mountains. I'm sure they're all craving it."
Fearing that the deputy mayor would bring up speculation again, she took the initiative to say, "Mushrooms are not food, so they are not considered speculation. They can be sold at the market, but the quantity may not be large. Otherwise, I can ask those people, maybe they will want them."
Both of them knew who those people were.
If the mushrooms can be sold, it will also bring in a lot of income for the town.
The quantity of this stuff won't be as much as tea, so a small amount is fine.
Finally, the deputy mayor nodded again: "Okay, that's settled."
The two made a decision, and the deputy mayor quickly went to ask the state-owned hotel in the city. The situation was better than the worst expected. They wanted mushrooms, but only some rare ones. They didn't want the rest.
At the same time, the village chief asked about the mushrooms, saying that they could be bought, but not rare ones, only common ones that were 100% non-toxic.
The two of them worried a lot, but in fact the residents of the town did not think so much. Reselling was restricted these days, and who would have thought that the things in the warehouses were not bought openly but sold secretly.
Before they could think about it, the notice of mushroom harvesting made the residents of the town focus all their attention on the mountains, and they went to pick mushrooms with great interest.
Within two days, not only did the town receive a bag of mushrooms, but Tang Yuan also saw several bags of mushrooms in the warehouse, and they were indeed common non-toxic mushrooms as she had requested.
She was very strict when making her demands. Not only did she require the mushrooms to be non-toxic after being cooked, she also required them to be non-toxic before being cooked.
After all, the whole country knows that the hospitals, big and small, in Yunnan Province are world-class in treating mushroom poisoning.
The major restaurants here do not provide chopsticks before the meal starts, for fear that some customer will use chopsticks to stir the food in the pot, and then start slurping the food before it is cooked and loses its toxicity.
But the various types of mushrooms in Yunnan Province are indeed fragrant.
Tang Yuan returned to the only body "Tang Yuan" where he could eat as much as he wanted. He cooked mushroom soup hotpot several times and enjoyed it very much every time.
She gave the extra ones as gifts to her friends, and they were all very satisfied with the food.
She gave the extra ones to Zheng Man and asked her to find a vegetable market to sell them. It would not take long to sell them all without affecting her daily business.
Fortunately, they were all common mushrooms. The supply in Hong Kong was small, but not completely unavailable. Zheng Man had no doubts at all. Sometimes Tang Yuan put the mushrooms in the warehouse in advance, and she would take them out to sell, and then put the money back into the warehouse after selling them.
For two months, the amount of tea leaves was enough to fill up a warehouse every three days. Only when all the villages around the town were plundered did the warehouse no longer feel full.
But at this time, it is time to pick summer tea leaves.
There is less tea leaves in summer and they need to be picked one by one. The amount of tea leaves in the warehouse every three days is obviously different from the amount of old tea picked by a handful. She will not put these tea leaves in the storage compartment, but take them to Hong Kong and continue to let Zheng Man take people to sell them in Hong Kong.
She would not mix the tea leaves that can be sold at eight Hong Kong dollars per pound with the old tea. Even if she could sell the old tea at one dollar per pound, that would be five Hong Kong dollars, leaving her with a profit of three Hong Kong dollars.
While the summer tea leaves were being picked, Mirabelle had finally mixed the flavors of milk tea and tea drinks, and specially invited local people to go there with Tang Yuan and Lola. As long as they could get the majority's approval, these two tea drinks could be officially launched on the market.
At this time, more than 200,000 kilograms of tea leaves were stored in the storage cells of Tang Garden.
She hoped that the market for these two types of tea would be good, otherwise she had more than 200,000 kilograms of tea in her hands and she really didn't know when she would use them up.