pjbooks Chapter 12 The Party Secretary Visits
Chapter 12 The Party Secretary Visits
From the outside, Deng Jian's house looks like a small courtyard, not even half the size of the supply and marketing cooperative, but inside it is a completely different world, with all sorts of things piled up like a small supermarket.
There were plenty of cloth, tea, oranges, and other goods, many of which were high-quality items from the south.
"Weigh it first, let me see how much I can sell it for." Shan Yaowen really needed to carefully calculate the money he had.
After all, the village secretary had already said that he would save up money to buy the ranch and the cattle and sheep, and he would probably start herding life starting in winter.
If they can hunt more game and save more money during the winter, they might be able to make a fortune during this year's snow disaster.
"Come on, bro, give me a hand, let's weigh it all at once."
After chatting for a while, Deng Jianguo's assistant started to get a little overwhelmed.
After all, it's not easy for him to weigh about 200 pounds of meat by himself.
At that time, there were no convenient and advanced electronic scales like those in later generations. They used the kind of scale that was hand-held and had a weight, and this scale alone weighed more than ten kilograms.
Deng Jianguo took a carrying pole and passed it directly through the large iron ring on the top of the scale. Shan Yaowu and another staff member each stood up and lifted the sacks of meat onto one side.
Deng Jianguo pulled the weight to the very end of the scale, and after the scale was level, he noted down the final weight and showed the scale to Shan Yaowen.
"It weighs a total of 204.8 jin, but how about 205 jin for you?"
Shan Yaowen glanced at the position of the rope holding the weight, and it was indeed that number.
"OK."
"I haven't seen roe deer many times this year, and since this is your first time here, I'll give you a good price, how about 1.8 yuan?"
Shan Yaowen nodded. This price was two cents higher than that of the purchasing station, and there was no need to grade the meat according to different parts; all the meat was priced the same.
As for other offal and furs, they were all bundled together and given to Deng Jianguo.
The meat cost 369 yuan, and with other miscellaneous items, it came to about 390 yuan. Deng Jianguo gave a round number, 400 yuan.
"Boss Deng is generous; no wonder he can run such a big business."
Once he got the money, Shan Yaowen started showering him with compliments without hesitation, since it was free anyway.
"No problem, brother. If you have any other good stuff, feel free to come to me. The price will definitely satisfy you."
After saying that, Deng Jianguo handed each of the two brothers a bag of Daqingshan grain coupons, saying, "I don't have many grain coupons here either. Since you need coupons, you must be going to buy grain. How about you buy the grain directly from me? You don't even need coupons."
"Sure, I'll buy it from Boss Deng. And get me some oranges too."
Shan Yaowen had long had his eye on those oranges from the south, so he bought a pound of oranges first.
Shan Yaowu originally wanted to stop his younger brother from spending money, but after eating an orange, he immediately changed his mind and asked for three more jin.
"Big brother, is it delicious?" Shan Yaowen said with a grin as he looked at his older brother who was still buying more.
You used to lecture me, and now you've changed your mind, haven't you?
"Sigh, I was thinking that my family hasn't eaten yet, and we can't just go out to eat something nice and ignore our family," Shan Yaowu weakly defended himself.
"By the way, do you have a flashlight here?"
After buying rice and weighing oranges, Shan Yaowen suddenly remembered that when he was hunting roe deer, he almost couldn't get down the mountain.
At that time, he was thinking about getting a flashlight.
"We don't have that; we'll have to check with the supply and marketing cooperative," Deng Jianguo shook his head.
"Okay, then let's get some more potatoes and cornmeal."
"..."
After the transaction was completed, the two brothers drove their horse-drawn carriage to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy flashlights and the salt they had requested for the Lin family, and then went straight back.
Fearing that his younger brother might want to spend more money, Shan Yaowu rushed back to the village without stopping.
After they returned to the village, before they even got home, they ran into the village secretary, Li Baoguo.
"Perfect timing, Yaowen, I was just about to come find you." Seeing the two brothers driving the carriage, Li Baoguo quickly called out.
Shan Yaowu pulled the reins, and the carriage stopped. He looked at Li Baoguo curiously, "Secretary, what's the matter?"
Shan Yaowen had guessed it; it was probably related to the ranch he had inquired about that morning.
"Um, Yaowen, I specifically asked about your matter. The town will be coming down to each village and pastoral area before winter to handle the contracted pastures. All those willing to contract will finalize the deal on-site and sign contracts."
"Around when?"
"It's not confirmed yet, but it should be soon, at the latest in half a month."
Seeing the snowflakes starting to fall again, Shan Yaowen moved aside for the village secretary, saying, "It's cold outside, Uncle, come inside and sit down."
When I got home, my younger sister practically ran out to greet me.
"Second pot~ Big pot~"
As before, the little guy still preferred his second brother and rushed into Shan Yaowen's arms. As for his eldest brother, he simply greeted him and then looked curiously at Li Baoguo behind him.
He spun the little one around in his arms to dissipate the force of her charge. The little one had been eating well lately and was growing quite sturdy. He felt that if she got any bigger, she might even knock him over.
"Eat an orange." Shan Yaowen casually took an orange out of his pocket and stuffed it into his sister's hand.
"Secretary, come in and sit down." Shan Yaowu gestured to the secretary.
"Dashan, how's your recovery going?" Li Baoguo asked Shanfu as soon as he entered.
Mr. Shan was lying in bed bored and decided to help with some chores around the house. He had just taken out the leather he had collected in the fall when he heard a commotion outside.
He was about to ask who had come when he saw the eldest brother lift the curtain and lead the Party Secretary in.
"Oh, Baoguo, what brings you here? Please have a seat."
Li Baoguo smiled and said, "I came to see you and also to answer your questions."
"Sigh, it's just a small matter for the second son. You could have just told him directly. Why make a special trip?" Father Shan swept his belongings into the bag, struggled, and sighed. "I can't get up right now. I apologize for not being able to entertain you properly."
"It's alright, we don't need that." Li Baoguo pulled up a chair and sat down on the edge of the kang (heated brick bed). "Given your condition, will you be able to work in the fields this year?"
"It's unlikely. Even if I can get out of bed, I can't work. I'm lying here all day like a useless person. I can only do some manual labor, and I can't do that for long. My hands hurt after a while."
"It's alright, you have two sons at home, you can rest and be fine."
Upon hearing this, Shan Dashan wanted to criticize his second son, but seeing that his son's behavior had indeed changed these past few days, he stopped himself.
Shan Yaowen originally wanted to pack his things with his younger sister, but he didn't expect to be called in.
"What's wrong?" Shan Yaowen casually placed the oranges he had just bought on the table and said to Li Baoguo, "Uncle, have some oranges."
"We're having a meeting today, in front of the Party Secretary," said Father Shan, tapping the edge of the kang table with his pipe. "It's about our second son contracting the ranch."
"You all know what Baoguo just said, and the second brother also mentioned his thoughts earlier. What about you?"
Father Shan looked at the other family members, mainly the eldest son.
The family matters were basically decided by the father and son. In the past, Shan Yaowen's opinions were probably not as important as those of Shan's mother and Shi Fang.
"I think it's okay, second brother..." Shan Yaowu had just finished speaking when Shi Fang pulled him back.
Shan Yaowu frowned and glanced at his wife. "Stop pulling me, get to the point."
Shi Fang's original intention was to refuse; in her view, wasn't the second son just making a fuss over nothing?
He acts on a whim, and if he's lucky enough to make some money hunting, he'll mess around. Running a ranch and hunting are not the same thing.
However, with the Party Secretary present, she couldn't refuse her second son's request, so she could only hint to her man in this way.
When Shan Yaowen saw this, he knew that his sister-in-law still didn't believe him, but there was nothing he could do; it was all his own doing in the past.
"How about this, let's go check out some places first, you can choose one, then we'll get a price estimate before deciding, okay?"
Li Baoguo realized that the Shan family still had disagreements, so he didn't let them make a decision now.
"Alright." Mr. Shan nodded, and Shi Fang did not object further.
After the agreement was made, the Shan family and the Party Secretary went together to the grassland on the east side of the village, near the mountains and forests.