Training the Heavens

Chapter 220 The more the better
Fatty pork, shiny blue banknotes, pearl-like quail eggs, and clucking live chickens were placed in front of everyone. Everyone looked at them happily, with excitement on their faces.

Whoever's name Xu Lingjun called out would go to collect his or her share of the dividends, which included a stack of banknotes, a few pieces of pork, a basket of quail eggs, a basket of chicken eggs, and a few live chickens. They needed the help of their family members to take it away.

After receiving the dividends here, they turned around and went to the temporary New Year's goods store nearby. Xu Lingjun took people to drive a tractor to the county department store in advance and bought a lot of things, including firecrackers, wine, snacks, vegetables, lanterns. Everything needed for the New Year.

Xu Lingjun did not raise the price, but just recorded the round-trip travel expenses in the account expenses and sold them to them at the original price, which could be regarded as a benefit for the team members; this saved them from making another trip to the county town, and most of the dividends just distributed were recovered.

They also bought a bunch of red paper, pens and ink, and asked those in the team who could write calligraphy to write Spring Festival couplets for them for free. Everyone lined up and asked others to help write festive couplets for them to take home.

These are given to all the team members who participated in the labor. After distributing them, Xu Lingjun then distributed performance dividends. This showed the gap. Some people got more, and some got less. The gap was not big, but it also inspired everyone's fighting spirit. Many people were thinking about performing well next year and striving to get more dividends.

Finally, there is consolation money for the elderly and New Year's money for children. In addition to cash, there are also some food, candies and other things that they like. Even those children who are still in school are very happy to receive exercise books. It is not easy to buy a few exercise books these days.

Moreover, their parents have been instilling in them the importance of studying hard, and most of them have listened to them. Children from poor families are sensible at an early age, and they know how rare such conditions are, and other students in the school want them but don't have them yet.

Finally, Xu Lingjun announced the arrangements for the New Year. From now until the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the feed factory will temporarily stop production. Everyone only needs to do some simple work according to the duty roster to maintain the normal operation of the pig farm, quail farm, chicken farm, etc. The rest of the time is at their disposal. Those who want to rest at home can rest at home, and those who want to visit relatives can go and visit them.

"Okay!" Everyone cheered and called their familiar relatives and friends to go to their home for a drink. After being busy for a whole year, they can finally enjoy themselves. So shouldn't they drink quickly?
Almost every family wanted to invite Xu Lingjun to their home for a drink, but Xu Lingjun declined with a smile. If he agreed to all of them, he would not be able to do anything else from now until the 15th, and he would have to drink at least three times a day.

Others quickly found Guo Xizi to borrow a tractor. The New Year's goods purchased by Xu Lingjun did not include clothes or anything else. They also wanted to go to the county town to buy some new clothes for their families. Now that they had money in their pockets, they no longer looked down on the clothes sold in the supply and marketing cooperative and had to buy good ones.

"Okay, just give the gas money to the team when you come back." Guo Zizi took out the key directly. Because not every family would go into the city, it would be better to collect money.

"Okay, how much is it? I'll give it to you now!" Everyone had money in their pockets and didn't care about this, so they agreed readily.

After finishing his work and returning home, Xu Lingjun felt relaxed. He could take a break, teach Qingqing to recognize words, give Li Xiuzhi extra lessons, and work hard in the evening. He planned to have another child before the policy came out, preferably a girl, so that he would have both a son and a daughter.

In his first life, he hadn't dared to think about having two children, let alone getting married. The thought of all the expenses after marriage was overwhelming. Now that he was in this world, he finally didn't have to worry about money, so he definitely wanted to have two more. Given the choice, most people still wanted children. The low fertility rate in later generations must be due to the excessive pressure.

As the Spring Festival approaches, the team members have begun visiting relatives and friends. Some go out to visit relatives and friends, while others entertain guests at home. Dong Kuan had just left the house when he met his cousin Dong Yougen, who came to wish him a happy new year. He quickly greeted him and shouted as soon as he entered the house, "Yougen is here! Hurry up and cook two dishes. I'll have a drink with Yougen."

Yougen tried to be polite but couldn't resist Dong Kuan, so he pulled him to the stove and chatted about each other's recent situation while warming himself by the fire. Soon the dishes were ready. Dong Yougen was shocked when they were served on the table. There was a bowl full of big fatty slices of meat, a whole fish, and a plate full of quail eggs. Wasn't this a bit too rich?

He didn't know how to pick up his chopsticks. These days, when visiting relatives, you dare not eat the hard dishes directly. Take this piece of fatty meat for example. Maybe this family depends on this bowl of fatty meat for the New Year. If you eat it, what will others eat?
So most of the time the host will urge you to eat, you will be polite and finally take a small piece with chopsticks to taste it. This way when the next wave of guests comes, they can put some radishes underneath and it won’t be noticeable. A bowl of fatty meat slices can last you through the entire Spring Festival.

Dong Yougen understood all these principles. When he went to other relatives' homes for dinner, he had to fill his stomach with potatoes, radishes, cabbages and the like. But Dong Kuan's table was full of hard dishes. What should he do?
"Eat, our team is doing very well this year, this is nothing!" Dong Kuan naturally understood, so he picked up a large piece of fatty meat with chopsticks and put it directly into Dong Yougen's bowl.

He then took another bite with his chopsticks and started eating. Only then did Dong Yougen believe it was true and quickly started eating. In fact, he had been greedy for a long time. How many people don't like to eat big fat meat these days? He was just being reserved because he was embarrassed.

After three glasses of wine, Dong Kuan still hadn't finished eating the fat meat, so he picked up another piece of fish meat with his chopsticks and gave him all the good meat on the belly of the fish.

Dong Yougen enjoyed the meal very much, but he started to have a headache after he finished. He had eaten so well here, so what should he treat Dong Kuan with when he went to his house?
Before he could think it through, Dong Kuan asked again with a smile, "Next year during the Spring Festival, do you want to eat some big fat meat like me and buy new clothes for your family?"

"Who wouldn't want that!" Dong Yougen blurted out. Only a fool wouldn't want to live a good life. "I just don't know how to make money! We only have so much land at home. Even with the household contract responsibility system, we can only fill our stomachs. It's hard to even buy new clothes for our children."

"It's a simple matter. After the 15th, come to me again and I'll take you to the team to buy some quails. You can take them home to raise them and sell them to us when they lay eggs. You can earn a lot in a year. At least it will be enough for the children to go to school." Dong Kuan said, pointing to the quail eggs.

This was also what Xu Lingjun told them, asking them to take advantage of the New Year's visit to relatives to attract more people to raise pigs, chickens, and quails. The more people willing to raise them, the better.

"Will this work?" Dong Yougen asked.

(End of this chapter)