"Haha, he also said that this preserved vegetable is used by farmers to feed pigs, and asked if my family was going to raise pigs. If we raised a lot, he would send another truckload over another day."
Grandma Jiang was taken aback at first, then she laughed too.
"For feeding pigs? No wonder I've never heard of anyone drying dried gongcai (a type of dried vegetable)."
Lin Han came downstairs and heard the two grandmothers chatting happily in the yard. She went over and asked what had happened.
She was somewhat surprised to learn that in those days, the tribute vegetable was used as pig feed in the rural areas near Kyoto.
In the 21st century, Lin Han liked to add dried gongcai (a type of dried vegetable) to hot pot or snail rice noodles, so she made a special effort to learn about the history of gongcai.
Gongcai (贡菜) is actually a specialty of the Huizhou area. It was very popular in the past, but during the revolutionary period, it was not widely circulated among the common people and was mostly exported to Southeast Asia.
Because of excessive reliance on industrial processing, and the fact that industrial capacity at the time could not keep up, the amount of exports was very small.
Unexpectedly, due to industrial development and regional influences, tribute vegetables in the Kyoto area were not considered one of the vegetables used daily by ordinary people.
Instead, they would be regarded as insignificant crops.
Lin Han had an idea and asked Grandma Li.
"Grandma Li, how much of this kind of tribute vegetable can your son get his hands on?"
Grandma Li didn't take it seriously, thinking that Lin Han wanted to dry more dried vegetables to store for winter consumption.
"From what he said, you don't need to buy these things. You can just pick them from the fields around the farmers. If you want a lot, you can probably pick them for a little less money."
Lin Han told Grandma Jiang that dried lily buds could be made into export products.
Grandma Jiang seemed to be deep in thought.
"You mean you want to buy all these tribute vegetables, process them yourself, and sell them as export products?"
Lin Han nodded, but she wasn't sure if such a thing was allowed at this time, so she asked Old Madam Jiang for her opinion.
After thinking for a moment, Grandma Jiang realized that exports are now under the unified control of the state, and local governments and enterprises cannot engage in foreign trade independently, let alone individuals.
All exported goods had to be handled and monopolized by state-owned foreign trade companies, with priority given to ensuring foreign exchange needs.
However, it's not impossible for Lin Han to do this if she wants to. She can help contact the head of a state-owned foreign trade company. As long as the products are legal, compliant, of good quality, and all the procedures are complete, there will be no problem supplying goods to the foreign trade company.
"Hanhan, what scale do you want to make it into? Grandma can help you pull some strings."
With Grandma Jiang's words, Lin Han could now confidently unleash his full potential.
If we're going to do foreign trade exports, then we definitely need to scale up the scale.
It would be a waste of the channels and connections that Grandma Jiang had specially helped her to make.
“Grandma, I have an idea. Let’s get the unemployed military dependents in the family compound to do some side jobs. They can earn some income by doing handicrafts, which can also boost the production and sales of surrounding farmers.”
Lin Han didn't just make a rash decision on a whim. After she told Grandma Jiang her idea, if Grandma Jiang thought it was feasible, she would do it; if Grandma Jiang thought it was too risky, she would give up the idea.
She didn't want to cause trouble for the Gu family because of her own actions.
After listening to her, Grandma Jiang felt that Lin Han had the potential to be a leader, as her overall planning and coordination were very well organized.
“Since you want to do it, Grandma will be your support.”
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