I was reborn without dreams

Chapter 111 The Matter of a Phone Call
The impressive school displayed on the small cards is also a topic of conversation. During the Spring Festival, when everyone is in the village, chatting and catching up, there are bound to be people showing off, as well as those seriously discussing matters.

It's hard to say about other situations, but everyone agrees that a grand school is a good thing.

The fellow villager's thinking was quite simple: since it wasn't built with my money, it's always good for my child to go to school in a grander style.

Several substitute teachers at the village primary school also became people who could find out things. Whenever there was any news, the parents would bring some corn or sweet potatoes, which was like carrying something with them.

Because of the need for centralized training, many substitute teachers frequently travel to and from the town. The former township grain station has been converted into a training ground, where the substitute teachers are temporarily trained.

The surveyors planted colorful flags and surrounded the area on the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month, officially securing the 500 mu of land.

Two rows of prefabricated houses were erected early on. The nearest village, Guoji Village, recruited two old men whose sons had died young to come and oversee the construction site.

The two old men each have a grandson, one eight years old and the other ten years old, who are also school-age children.

Setting the price at 300 yuan a month caused quite a stir; at least a thousand or two elderly men and women went to town to inquire whether they still needed someone to watch the construction site…

One of the former brigade leaders who used to push wheelbarrows even brought out the rifle that someone had given him, saying that having this weapon was better than an old man who was empty-handed.

Then the rifle that the old man planned to take to his coffin was confiscated.

Paying 300 yuan a month to watch over a construction site might not seem like a big deal, but it's significant because it means the village can see a return on their investment.

It's not like some official suddenly jumped out and took pity on you by paying out of his own pocket; it's not like that at all.

With reason, evidence, and explanation, this is how to assess wages at a construction site.

The contract is still a while away, so it's just an agreement to sign, but the signing and fingerprinting are witnessed by local officials from Chenzhuang Town, so it's a done deal.

Later, we heard that the cadre named Zhang Zhengdong was still in Fengyi County. Several villagers from Chenzhuang Town shared a farm vehicle and went to the county on the 29th of the lunar year.

The road wasn't easy to travel; it had snowed, so it took us two or three hours to finally find Zhang Zhengdong, who was making hot pot, at the county guesthouse.

Dog meat hot pot...

During the Lunar New Year, eating dog meat hot pot is not appropriate even for the poorest families in the countryside. You are a cadre, so what's wrong with cutting off two pounds of pork?
It seems this cadre surnamed Zhang really enjoys eating dog meat.

Originally, it was fellow villagers who came to bring some frozen cabbage, pickled vegetables, sweet potatoes, potatoes, and radishes, but in the end, Zhang Zhengdong added twenty pairs of chopsticks for them.

These fellow villagers were quite capable; they managed to cramm eighteen adults into the truck bed, not even counting the several large baskets of vegetables that took up space.

The wind has been blowing all the way here.

To be honest, it was a little embarrassing, but Uncle Zhang was worried about the quiet New Year. He had slightly adjusted his plans and was too lazy to go back to Shazhou.

Before the Lantern Festival in the first month of the lunar calendar, he planned to visit all of Chenzhuang Town to see what local products could be produced.

If you really don't have any, just do it yourself. The Academy of Agricultural Sciences can bring over a few scholars to give you some pointers, and it shouldn't be a big problem.

There's no need to consult with my nephew.

After all, my good friend Liu Yuanshan once said that even if you're just selling long beans, eggplants, and chili peppers, you can still create a local specialty.

Uncle Zhang thought his best friend was absolutely right!
"Just eat, just eat! I bought a whole leg of lamb and hung it up. I was originally planning to barbecue it, but I just cut it up and used it for hot pot. And radishes too, perfect! You guys bringing over big radishes is a real lifesaver. Radishes are great for absorbing flavors..."

The dog meat hot pot with mutton didn't have any off-flavors, because the dog meat was marinated with onions, pepper, and Sichuan peppercorns by a chef at a dog meat restaurant, so it didn't have any strange taste at all.

Uncle Zhang couldn't really tell what kind of marinade was added; he just thought it tasted good.

As long as it tastes good, that's fine.

"Director Zhang, why aren't you home for the Chinese New Year?"

"Work is about to start. I'm going home for the New Year. We'll start work on the seventh or eighth day of the Lunar New Year. What if something goes wrong? We need to make sure the work starts first. We can get through the New Year anytime. Besides, I have family members. The elderly are healthy, and the young ones are also... healthy. There's nothing to worry about."

"Director Zhang, would you like a drink?"

"Since you still have a driver, we won't drink. Safety comes first."

"Okay, I'll do as Director Zhang says."

I brought two jars of sorghum liquor. It wasn't homemade, but rather from the town-run sorghum liquor distillery in Chenzhuang Town. They sell bulk liquor to local residents, and occasionally, when production is high, they sell the base liquor to distilleries in Pengcheng or even further afield in the Jianghuai Province.

Without sufficient volume, you won't earn much money in a year.

Zhang Zhengdong then started chatting with them about what they could get from the ground, but after a while, he was completely speechless.

“Plant sorghum? Ugh, no way. Sorghum isn’t a staple food, so there’s no way to increase yield.”

Is it a lack of fertilizer or pesticides?

"We need to ensure food supplies, besides what we eat ourselves, there's also the grain to be distributed to the government. The purchase price is fixed, but the yield is capped, and the county also has quotas. Of course, it's definitely better than before, at least we have money. It's just that we can't save much."

“Growing rice on the sandbar doesn’t earn much. In our brigade, each household has about three mu of paddy fields. If we don’t manage them much, it’s just enough to feed the whole family. If we sell the rice, we can’t earn more than a thousand yuan.”

“Wow! You can still make a thousand! Not to mention the county, even in Peicheng, if you cultivate fifty mu, you can make a little money. Less than that... won't do.”

A middle-aged man from Guoji Village was an agricultural technician at the agricultural technology station in his younger years. He had some education, but not much; he also had some technical skills, but not much.

However, he has a wealth of experience in farming and knows exactly what local specialties are available in the area.

He waved his hands repeatedly, picked up a piece of dog meat, stuffed it into his mouth, nodded repeatedly, swallowed it, and then sipped his hot tea, just to satisfy his craving for alcohol. He continued, "This fertilizer is really expensive... really expensive, really expensive. And the pesticides too, good heavens, those bugs that can be killed this year, if you don't apply the dosage next year, they'll dare to crawl around right in front of you. It's not easy to deal with."

“A few years ago, some big farmers wanted to grow sorghum, but they all eventually broke up. Growing a little bit is fine, but growing too much sorghum is not an option. Only what you actually eat counts. Now, who eats sorghum anymore? Everyone uses it to make wine. Wine isn't considered grain.”

"Director Zhang, if we really had to pick a well-known brand in our county, the only one left is the Da Sha He white pear. However, there aren't many old trees left, so we can't produce enough. Also, this brand isn't well-known outside the city. If we buy the white pears and try to sell them in Jiangning, nobody will buy them."

The rambling complaints were harmless enough, but Zhang Zhengdong's mind raced as he listened. After thinking it over, he put down his chopsticks and pulled out his beloved Motorola.

One advantage of staying in a guesthouse is that the signal is excellent.

"Wait for me to make a phone call. I don't believe we can't dig up something edible and sellable from the ground. Wait, I'll ask my 'Wenquxing' (a nickname for a child) for advice."

The reason I didn't call my best friend Liu Yuanshan was because Liu Yuanshan was probably also in the countryside conducting some special research. Without going to the front lines, you can't get a grasp of the situation.

Liu Yuanshan faced far greater challenges than Zhang Zhengdong, so his personal research was much more detailed.

Because we'll need to recruit people from the grassroots level to work, it's impossible to bring them all from Jiangning. Bringing two or three people on one boat will be enough. We might also need to bring along two or three people who need to travel through the Youth Development Foundation.

"Director Zhang, do you still have a 'Wenquxing' (a type of ancient Chinese dictionary) in your family?"

"Then I won't hide it from you. My nephew was the top scorer in the national science college entrance examination the year before last, the top scorer in the provincial arts college entrance examination last year, and the top scorer in the middle school entrance examination in Wudu City the year before that. If he's not a 'God of Literature,' then what is?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

The men who delivered the local specialties were completely bewildered and didn't understand at all.

No?

Is this even human language?!
The villagers only knew that the two top scorers in the college entrance examination donated a "Zhang An Hope Primary School," but no one said that these two top scorers were Director Zhang's nephew.

real or fake?

So they ate and listened at the same time, and some people were curious about the Motorola phone, thinking it was an extremely valuable item.

Once the call connected, everyone stopped listening and obediently ate their meat.

There's nothing I can do; I can't understand it.

Uncle Zhang and his good nephew speak in their local dialect.

To the villagers of Fengyi County, it sounded like gibberish or something like Alibaba's chatter; they simply couldn't understand it.

"What? Are you planning to have me send a Mercedes-Benz to pick you up and take you home for the New Year?"

"Go back home, I need to start work here on the seventh or eighth day of the lunar new year. What's the point of going back home?"

"Then call me?"

"I wanted to ask what kind of business to start, something that can be eaten, something that can make a small fortune."

"Baijiu (Chinese liquor) is guaranteed to sell well now that the real estate market is booming and construction sites are springing up everywhere."

"We can't manage it. We can't let them plant too much sorghum; we need to ensure our food supply."

"What kind of rule is that?"

"It's probably a crude method, a mix of coaxing and deception."

"What are the specific local regulations? I mean, the amount of sorghum allowed is not permitted."

"Locals say that alcohol doesn't count as food; only food that can fill your stomach counts."

"That's easy, just build a greenhouse."

Zhang Da'an was enjoying a maid massage on the other end of the phone. The Russian maid outfit wasn't the kind that showed off thighs or milky white breasts like in anime; it was a proper maid outfit, full of functional little pockets.

So it's impossible to see any scenes that require censorship.

However, to prove that she was still growing up, the maid "Little Xi Shi" changed her neckline to a V-neck so that Coach Zhang could see the milky white snowflakes.

It has to be said that it's much bigger than the oranges we had before; it's at least the size of a large citron. Whether it can be turned into a pomelo remains to be seen.

Starting with the fleshy arms of "Little Xi Shi," her figure gradually became rounder, and there was indeed some hope.

Zhang Da'an was very interested in this explosive expansion.

He knew that there were people in the world who grew 20 centimeters in height over a summer vacation, but he had never seen anyone whose chest circumference increased by 20 centimeters in half a year.

He was very curious!
Shi Yelu, who was massaging Zhang Da'an's legs, occasionally needed to adjust her posture because her shoulders were sore, but for her, this was great news.

Reaching out to pat the nanny's hair, Coach Zhang continued his conversation into the receiver, "Uncle, if you're worried about problems, you can first use the name of Hope Primary School to contract the adjacent farmland and convert it into greenhouses. Just secure the first quarter's output. If you want a market all year round, then just grow mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, and oyster mushrooms. One 40-ton truck will be enough. Just haul them directly to the Mazhou branch school, and then distribute them across the three campuses—more than enough."

Zhang Da'an hasn't mentioned any other government-enterprise procurements yet. He only considers "Zhang'an Education" as an example. He can secure all the mushroom production from the pilot greenhouse without any problems.

Strictly speaking, "Zhang An Education" itself is also a case of economies of scale.

Of course, the miniature version.

"Zhang An Education" itself is a market, not just the three campuses, but also the "Zhuangyuan Street semi-closed economy" derived from the three campuses.

All agricultural and sideline products, light industrial products, and fast-moving consumer goods that we use for eating, drinking, defecating, sleeping, etc., can be internally replaced.

Uncle Zhang and his fellow villagers felt it was difficult because they didn't have the comprehensive, efficient, and rapid-response resources. Besides funds and technology, Zhang Da'an himself controlled a small, fixed market. Taking care of one or two specialty industries, especially at the county or township level, was no big deal for him.

The experience of talking on the phone with my best friend Liu Yuanshan is completely different from talking on the phone with my good nephew Zhang Da'an.

Uncle Zhang can learn useful knowledge and gain confidence from Liu Yuanshan.

Uncle Zhang always felt that he was being looked down upon by his nephew.

After hanging up the phone in a sullen mood, the villagers noticed that Director Zhang's expression seemed unpleasant and that he appeared quite down. Just as they were about to offer some words of comfort, they heard Director Zhang sigh, even though it was the New Year, "Sigh, he's managed to smooth things over again. He said we can build greenhouses to grow mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, and oyster mushrooms, and the sales will be very stable."

"what?!"

"what?"

"What?"

"..."

No, isn't this a good thing?

Director Zhang, why are you in a bad mood?

(End of this chapter)