In 1959, what's wrong with me pedaling a tricycle?

The factory manager, surnamed Yang, was a middle-aged man who looked to be in his forties. He warmly shook hands and greeted Wang Xingguo.

Wang Xingguo, sitting across from him at the desk, didn't waste any words and went straight to the point: "Director Yang, I'm asking on behalf of a relative in the countryside. They'd like to exchange live pigs for your corn inventory. I wonder if you think this is feasible?"

Factory Director Yang said with a smile, "Young comrade, don't tell me you were the one who helped arrange that batch of pigs the First Brewery got, were you?"

Wang Xingguo was taken aback, not expecting that Director Yang even knew about this. He nodded with an embarrassed smile and said, "Oh dear, I didn't expect Director Yang to be so well-informed. It was indeed I who helped make the connection."

Factory Director Yang laughed and said, "That's ten pigs! How could we possibly hide it? Old Liang has been bragging to me about it several times already. I'm really annoyed by him. It's all your fault, young comrade. Why didn't you come to us first to discuss this matter of allocation? You know, our Second Brewery is actually the unit that most often supports our farmers. All the lees from the First Brewery are donated to state-owned farms, while we donate half of our lees to pig farms in various communes."

Wang Xingguo thought to himself, "Who knows about your wine lees? Besides, not a single grain of those lees was donated to Gaobeidian Village in our clan..."

Wang Xingguo knew that the lees were very effective at fattening pigs, but the amount of lees produced by each winery was allocated according to regulations.

He could get some of the extra grain from his stockpile, but things like distiller's grains were basically in fixed quantities and not so easy to obtain, so he didn't have the inclination to use distiller's grains to feed pigs.

However, he wasn't without options. Once the sorghum and sweet potatoes in his space matured in large quantities, he could hand them over to the clan to be brewed into wine. The clan had its own small distillery, and the wine they drank was all sweet potato liquor brewed in the village.

Wang Xingguo said with a forced smile, "It's just that I'm too young and don't understand these things. If I had known earlier that our Second Brewery was also supporting the commune with brewing tanks, I would have come to find you immediately."

Factory Director Yang smiled noncommittally, then asked, "Young comrade, how many kilograms of corn did you and Old Liang exchange for the pig?"

Wang Xingguo's eyes darted around. It seemed that Director Yang's words implied that he didn't know the proportion between himself and the First Brewery.

After thinking for a moment, he said, "Director Yang, they exchange ten catties of grain for one catty of live pig. Do you think it would be alright for us to follow the same ratio?"

Upon hearing this, Factory Director Yang frowned, and after a long pause, he finally spoke: "Old Liang and his team actually have so much corn? Ten pigs weighing over 150 jin each, that's at least 15,000 jin of corn, isn't it? He couldn't possibly give you all the corn he's saved up over the years, could he?"

Unexpectedly, his attempt to deceive him failed. Wang Xingguo realized that ordering ten jin of corn was a bit too much, so he quickly corrected himself, adding, "Director Yang, it's not all ten jin of corn, it's four jin of corn, two jin of japonica rice, and four jin of barley."

Factory Director Yang suddenly realized, "That makes sense. I was wondering how they could have emptied all of their corn reserves at once, with a maximum of 20,000 jin in stock over the past few years."

Wang Xingguo quickly asked, "Director Yang, what do you think of this ratio?"

Factory Director Yang nodded and said, "This is feasible, but transportation is a problem. We don't handle transportation, and the procedures for transporting grain out of the city are very troublesome. I'm worried that we won't even be able to keep five pigs after we get them, which would be a huge loss."

Wang Xingguo said awkwardly, "Um, Director Yang, I think I already said that there are only two pigs this time..."

Upon hearing this, Factory Director Yang's eyes widened, and he said with great dissatisfaction, "What's wrong with you, young comrade? You got ten pigs for Lao Liang and the others, but we only got two. Do you think that's fair? I don't care about your complaints, but you should at least exchange them for twelve pigs weighing over 150 jin each. If you don't have that number, Lao Liang and the others will laugh at me for exchanging them, so it's better not to exchange them at all."

Wang Xingguo felt his teeth were about to ache. He wanted to get more pigs to exchange for grain, since the ratio here was so good, and there was even a pound more grain than at the First Brewery.

But pigs aren't like cabbages; the pigs in the brigade and village are still far from meeting the standards. They need to be raised until at least the end of December, and some may not even reach the standard until mid-to-late January.

The tribesmen have already gone to great lengths to bring these pigs back, and now they need some time to persuade people from other brigades before they can bring the pigs back.

There are still six pigs in the space, and he needs to keep at least one to sell in a couple of days, so he can only offer five pigs in exchange.

but……

They probably aren't in a hurry to get everything done all at once, right?

Thinking of this, Wang Xingguo tentatively asked, "Director Yang, twelve pigs are no problem, but it will take some time to get so many. How about I send five to the factory first, and deliver the remaining seven later?"

Upon hearing this, Factory Director Yang nodded and said, "We'll exchange them in two batches, right? That's not a problem. But don't drag it out too long. I'll wait until all twelve pigs are ready and then call Old Liang over to take a look. That way, he won't keep nagging me all day long. That bastard is so annoying."

Hearing that the exchange could be done in two batches, Wang Xingguo breathed a sigh of relief and smiled, saying, "Alright, shall I start delivering the pigs now?"

Factory Director Yang asked in surprise, "Have they already brought the pigs into the city?"

Wang Xingguo nodded and said, "Originally, we wanted to take them directly to the First Brewery, but we were worried that since they had already exchanged so many pigs, they would lower the prices for the farmers. So I came to ask you first. If you don't want them here, we will take the pigs directly to the First Brewery."

Factory Director Yang stood up and said, "Let's go, I'll arrange for someone to prepare food for you right now."

Wang Xingguo naturally had no objections and followed Factory Director Yang outside. After a short while, he arranged for someone to handle things at the warehouse. Only then did Wang Xingguo ride away on his tricycle to rent a freight tricycle.

He delivered five pigs to the First Brewery in two trips, and then he kept hauling grain until all the grain was gone.

It was already four o'clock in the afternoon, and Wang Xingguo was exhausted. He rode his tricycle back to the field and arranged for someone to make him a bowl of noodles to tide him over.

The door was already open, and most people were waiting for customers to come and sell their goods, while a small number of people were still in the courtyard smashing snails with stones.

There are so many of these things in the river, because there aren't many fish that can eat snails, and people in the capital don't eat them. Plus, raising chickens and ducks in the city isn't allowed anymore, so nobody bothers to collect snails.

Wang Yongchang asked cheerfully, "Xingguo, where have you been? You look exhausted, like you're finishing work in the village."