My 1978 Hotel

"If I had known, I would have waited until now to build the house."

The timber used for the roof beams was nowhere near as high-quality as these large logs. "These must be logs stored up by our ancestors, right?"

"Absolutely, top-quality coffin board material."

I really don't know how they could be willing to sell these big pieces of jade. But considering the current situation, even eating is a problem, so what's there to be reluctant about? "Give me a little more money, and I'll take these pieces of jade."

"It's a good time to order some furniture."

This material is excellent. Although Li Feng doesn't know much about wood, he can tell that this material is top-grade. It's better than jujube wood or locust wood. Li Feng even doubts whether this material is locally sourced.

There are indeed some timber materials in southern Anhui that come from other places. Back in the day, wealthy Huizhou merchants bought a lot of high-quality timber. Keeping them is definitely a good idea, and Li Feng plans to make furniture or transport them back to his guesthouse.

Several large logs were carried into the courtyard. Li Feng touched them and found the quality to be quite good, though they were rather old. "They do resemble nanmu wood. I wonder if they grew locally or were bought from elsewhere."

Nanmu trees used to grow in southern Anhui, but they are less common now, and in a few decades they may become a rare species. "If they were nanmu, a few of these big logs could fetch at least tens or hundreds of thousands of yuan."

When Gao Jiu and Gao Cheng returned and saw the nanmu tree in the yard, they were quite surprised. They learned that Li Feng had bought it. "This is probably wood from the Dabie Mountains. Such a large nanmu tree is quite rare nowadays. Boss, you've really struck gold."

"It's alright, I like it when I see it, I haven't thought about making money or not."

It really is Phoebe zhennan wood. Li Feng thought to himself that his eye for quality was pretty good, and he wondered how he was going to get rid of it. Such a large piece of wood was really hard to just move. "What do you think of this wood for making furniture?"

"That would be great."

Nanmu furniture is not much worse than mahogany furniture; just compare it to Gao Cheng furniture.

"That's enough to make a set of modular furniture."

"Let's build the desk first."

Li Feng wasn't interested in modular furniture. After all, he'd seen all kinds of furniture in his later years. With such good wood, he could make a desk, a bookshelf, an eight-immortal table, and a long table, and make it look artistic. Whether placed in a county town or a guesthouse, it would exude an artistic vibe.

Li Feng shared his thoughts with the two men, and Gao nodded in agreement. They said they would leave it to their boss and didn't care.

"Hey, why are there a few pieces of wood in the yard?"

Dong Qing, Wu Yu, Cheng Cheng and the others came in and saw several large logs in the yard, and they muttered to themselves.

"wood?"

Wu Xun came in and saw them too. After examining them carefully, he waved to Cheng Xue and Mu Yang and asked with a smile, "What do you think of these pieces of wood?"

"Sister Xue'er, you even know about wood?"

This surprised Chengcheng and the others. They didn't expect someone who was a designer to know about wood. Even Li Feng was a little surprised.

"Nanmu wood".

Cheng Xue took a look. "It's probably from the Dabie Mountains. It's been logged for years. It's quite rare to find one this thick."

"I share this view."

Mu Yang nodded. "Judging from the surface, it was probably placed in a rather hidden place; it has a bit of a dusty smell."

"You're all right."

Wu Xun nodded. "These materials were probably meant for building a house, but I don't know what happened, these large pieces of wood were never used and have been sitting there for many years. Where did you get them?"

"It was sent from Wangjiazhai."

Li Feng said with a smile, "I was planning to get a desk made, and I bought it when I saw one that I liked."

"It's a bit of a shame to break the desk."

Wu Xun glanced at the few large pieces of wood. "Sigh, what a pity, there aren't enough. Otherwise, we could have built a pavilion."

"Building a desk wouldn't be a waste."

"I'll see if I can get some good timber later. I'll need Professor Wu's help with the design then," Li Feng said with a smile.

"That's no problem."

After they finished speaking, the group moved from the logs to the hill where they had recently returned to the county town. Professor Wu had almost finished organizing the materials, so there wasn't much for them to do here.

"How about this, we can go to pick up the previously placed order tomorrow."

The deposits have been received, but we've been busy supplying the steel mill lately and haven't had time to deliver the furniture. We plan to deliver the previous orders to the county town this time. Li Feng told Han Anmin that they wouldn't be sending the furniture to the steel mill for the next few days; they'd go to the county town first.

This time, however, Li Feng planned to cover it up with some meadow grass to avoid attracting attention. Each day the county furniture factory found out later meant one more day of good market opportunities. "We'll head back to the county early tomorrow morning; we'll be back in the next couple of days anyway."

"However, Dong Qing, you'll probably have to come here again."

"no problem."

Dong Qing and Wu Yu nodded without hesitation. They were now employees of the Li Group, practically half-employees of Li Feng, since even Li Muchen, the young master of the Li family, listened to Li Feng. "Alright, when you go back this time, buy all the equipment you need."

"We will try to develop a chainsaw as soon as possible so that our furniture factory can be electrified sooner."

Li Feng said with a smile, "I'll increase your bonuses later."

"That's a deal."

Dong Qing perked up and said with a smile.

The bonus is real money; just bringing it back will earn you a lot. Not to mention what Chengcheng said about buying rare stamps or exchanging them for rare currency and items to take back, that's all money!

Their families are of average means. If they can use this opportunity to raise money to buy a house, things will be much easier. At the very least, they could get a car. It's a rare opportunity for them, especially since they've just graduated.

In fact, agricultural college students like Dong Qing and Wu Yu can only be considered excellent. In today's highly competitive environment, being able to enter the Li Group would be considered extremely lucky. Now that they have this opportunity, it's as if their ancestors' graves are emitting auspicious smoke.

Neither of them are stupid. They've already jumped on the bandwagon of time travel. As for the extra effort, they're perfectly aware that if it means buying a house in a first-tier city, they'd be happy to put in the extra work.

"Don't worry, Mr. Li, we already have a plan. We'll just go back and make an order to buy it."

"That's great."

This is a great achievement. Li Feng and the others don't know much about this kind of thing. It would be better to have a few level-eight fitters, but for now, let's use Dong Qing and the others. After dinner, they rested early and set off in an oxcart around two o'clock the next morning.

Because we needed to get to town quickly, we had to speed up. We encountered several groups of militiamen along the way, but luckily we knew them all. After leaving Ma'ya Commune, we hurried along and arrived at the small courtyard in the county town around eight o'clock. After that, we delivered the modular furniture and desks to each household according to their addresses and collected the money.

Having made a considerable sum this time, Han Anmin didn't linger a moment longer, taking the money and heading back to Hanjiaba, leaving Li Feng and the others behind. "Come on, it's my treat." At the state-run restaurant, Han Anmin and the others only had breakfast and were heading back early, missing out on the braised pork for lunch.

"This meat is delicious."

"Right, pork does smell better now."

Li Feng said with a smile, "They're not easy to buy normally, otherwise I was planning to bring some back to the guesthouse. I'll buy more for the New Year and give some to everyone to take home and try."

"Thank you so much, Mr. Li."

"Professor Wu, you're too kind."

On his way back after dinner, Li Feng went to find the fisherman and asked him to bring over the loach, fish and shrimp he had caught. It was pretty good; this time there were more than 20 catties of loach, more than 10 catties of small miscellaneous fish, several large fish, and turtles.

He had everything planned out and was going home that evening, but unexpectedly, Li Feng took some time in the afternoon to go to the pig farm.

"What's the matter?"

"It's settled, work? What's going on?"

Good heavens, Li Feng thought to himself, you must be joking. Zhang Susu got the letter of introduction he gave her, but she never expected that her sister-in-law would come and make a scene just two days after she got the job, because she wanted the job too.

"How dare you," Li Feng thought to himself. He had initially thought Zhang Susu was a kind and pitiful person, so he decided to help her out. As for the five hundred yuan Zhang Susu mentioned, Li Feng had inquired and found out that it was roughly the amount of money a full-time job would require.

He agreed at the time and even received an IOU from Zhang Susu, but he just tossed it aside. He wasn't afraid that Zhang Susu would go back on her word; that would only offend him for nothing, and he was afraid that even if he stayed at the pig farm, things wouldn't be easy.

Unexpectedly, in just a few days, my sister-in-law Zhang Susu has caused trouble. "Where is Zhang Susu?"

“She was dragged home by her sister-in-law and older brother yesterday.”

"Her sister-in-law came over early this morning and said that she would take over the work at the pig farm from now on," said Huang Chengxiang, deputy director of the county pig farm.

"You didn't agree, did you?"

"of course."

Huang Chengxiang said with a smile, "I've seen this kind of thing many times. Without you, this job wouldn't change me."

"Thank you very much."

What a bizarre pair! This brother and sister-in-law are truly despicable, and the problem is they're not exactly smart either, acting like they're getting their jobs for free. "Director Huang, thank you for what you did this time, but please still deduct the wages that should be deducted these next few days. We can't break the farm's rules."

"This girl too."

Li Feng was somewhat disappointed in his son. He had given him a few words of advice upon his return, but it seemed to have little effect. Just then, a commotion broke out at the door. Li Feng went out to see what was happening, and sure enough, there he was.

Zhang Susu's hair was messy. A young woman was pulling at her, and a young man was talking to her next to her, looking quite unhappy. The young woman was also cursing under her breath.

"We'd rather not have a brother and sister-in-law like that."

Li Feng sighed. Fortunately, the girl didn't give in, otherwise Li Feng wouldn't have bothered with it. Judging from the situation, Zhang Susu didn't want to give up the job. Her brother and sister-in-law tried to persuade her but failed, so they scolded and beat the girl.

They even locked Zhang Susu in the house today, but she managed to escape by knocking on the door. I don't even know what to say about this. This brother and sister-in-law are truly shameless.

"elder brother?"

Zhang Susu looked up at Li Feng upon hearing the familiar voice, and tears immediately streamed down her face.

"She even cried."

"Okay, you can take care of work. Try to stay home these next few days."

Li Feng didn't bother to look at Zhang Susu's brother and sister-in-law, let alone their aggressive behavior.

“What brother? Your brother is right here. Don’t tell me he’s some random older brother you found somewhere. He looks old, but he knows how to pick up sluts.” As soon as Zhang Susu’s sister-in-law said this, Li Feng was truly astonished.

“Susu, you’re still young, let your sister-in-law take over this job.”

"Hehehe."

Li Feng couldn't be bothered to talk to this kind of person. "Director Hu, how can we let these Tom, Dick, and Harry into the pig farm?"

"Old Zhang, didn't you hear that?"

Huang Chengxiang immediately called for his men to come over. Before Zhang Susu could even speak, several men and women grabbed the two of them and headed towards the gate, chasing them away. Talking to such people was a waste of breath.

"Don't go back for a while."

"Yeah, I'm not going back. I'll never go back again."

Zhang Susu's eyes were red. "Brother, what brings you here?"

"I was worried, so I came to check on you. I never expected to run into this mess."

Li Feng said, "You too, you're back now, why bother telling them anything?"

“I didn’t say anything. I just ran into a neighbor the day before yesterday and they found out.”

Zhang Susu was actually worried because her brother and sister-in-law were making a scene. She just didn't expect that her sister-in-law would actually want her job, and even went so far as to kidnap her at the pig farm.

"Just stay at the pig farm and don't leave. I'll tell Manager Huang to have someone accompany you, and your brother and sister-in-law can call the police to have them arrested," Li Feng said with a smile. "Don't worry, just focus on your work. I'm waiting for your paycheck."

"I know, brother."

Zhang Susu wiped away her tears and grinned. "Alright, I'm going back now. If you don't have anywhere to go on the weekend, you can go back to Hanjiaba, or I can go back to the courtyard."

"Ah."

Zhang Susu knew the location of the courtyard. Li Feng didn't say much, but left some fruit, two red sausages, and some White Rabbit candies. "You can share these candies with everyone later, and also give some of the fruit and red sausages to Director Huang."

"Got it, bro."

Zhang Susu nodded vigorously, her eyes reddening again.

"Why are you crying? Alright, if you need anything, go back to the courtyard. If I'm not here, go back to Hanjiaba."

"Ah."

As Li Feng left the pig farm, he turned around and saw Zhang Susu still waving. "This girl, go back to the courtyard and tell everyone."

"Is there such a thing?"

"I've seen shameless people, but I've never seen anyone this shameless."

"Yes, Susu is so pitiful."

"Luckily, I met you, boss."

Stop flattering me.

However, Zhang Susu was quite lucky. Li Feng didn't consider himself a saint, but compared to many people nowadays, he was already considered lucky. Ordinary people might not even encounter this kind of job in their entire lives.

"Let's pack up, we need to go back."

This time when I go back, I'll be working on woodworking equipment like motors, and also preparing food, supplies, and souvenirs for a symposium in a couple of years. People from the province will be coming this time, and there will probably be quite a few from other regions as well. I don't know how many people there will be, so Li Feng plans to prepare a lot of things.

After settling in and having dinner, everyone chatted for a while before returning to their rooms. Around nine o'clock, when everything was quiet, the group finally went back to the guesthouse's video room.

"Are you really back?"

Looking around, Dong Qing and Wu Yu, who were visiting the site from 78 for the first time, were amazed. "It's truly a journey through time, it's incredible!"

"Everyone, stop reminiscing. It's getting late, let's get some rest."

About ten days have passed since then, and it's almost 1:30. Everyone tidied up and went to bed early. The next day, around 8:00, Li Feng got up, washed up, and went downstairs for breakfast.

"boss."

"Have you packed everything you brought back?"

"Yes, we didn't bring back one-fifth of the items this time."

"That's okay."

One-fifth, normal expenses, Li Feng asked Gao Jiu and Gao Cheng to calculate. "Coins, some old furniture, porcelain, etc., are probably two or three million, but the price of alcohol and medicine is hard to calculate."

"This time we brought back five bottles of Wuliangye and three bottles of Moutai. If we were to judge them by market prices, these bottles of wine would be quite expensive. However, since we brought them back directly, the packaging hasn't changed much, and the wine itself probably hasn't changed much either. I'm afraid that if someone who knows about wine and liquor comes across them, they might mistake them for fakes."

"Then let's leave it for now."

Li Feng chuckled. "I wasn't expecting them to make money anyway. Just drink them yourself; maybe they'll taste even better after this trip." (End of Chapter)