Reborn in 1994: Starting from the Autumn Harvest

Tang Xiuyun nodded; in fact, she knew more about the board factory than Chen Mian did.

Henan has more land and more people, so village officials often help villagers find work across provinces. Liushui Town has many brick kilns, plywood factories, and infrastructure projects, all of which have been connected with people from other places.

With so much land on our own, we really can't manage it all. Picking cotton can't be delayed, otherwise it could easily lead to accidents. We definitely need to hire a few people to help.

Locals are busy with their own affairs, and skilled workers are busy with their own land, so their wages are high.

Inexperienced people are prone to damaging the cotton when picking it, so hiring skilled workers from Henan would be a good option.

"When you go visit your grandma, buy her some things. Be careful when you ride your brother-in-law's motorcycle, don't look like a bandit."

Chen Hongguo, who was standing nearby, reminded her, "Go to the supply and marketing cooperative and buy a few pounds of pig's trotters. Your grandma loves to gnaw on those things."

"I know."

……

Liushui Town and Lianhua Township are about 20 miles apart. Although they both belong to Fengyuan County, the local customs and traditions are quite different.

Lianhua Township has a lot of land and is more agricultural, while Liushui Town has little land and is more industrial.

Various factories, such as board factories, plastic factories, kilns, furniture factories, and parts factories, along with a variety of small shops, support the town's economy.

It reached its peak after 2000, but later, due to changes in the economic climate, the entire town's economy suffered a severe blow, with businesses either going out of business or changing their business models.

It rises with the tides of the times, and it fades with the trends of the future.

As Chen Mian traveled, he looked around and noticed that the biggest difference between towns and county seats was the architecture. Although Liukou Town was also prosperous, it was mostly made up of single-story shops and factories with a white signboard and black lettering outside.

A few of the high-rise buildings belong to government departments, among which the two-story building of the supply and marketing cooperative is particularly eye-catching and impressive.

Inside, a row of glass cabinets stood clean and bright, but the sales clerks looked to be over forty years old, making Chen Mian unable to bring herself to call them "little sister," a term she had been preparing to use.

"Hey ma'am, do you have any lean meat or pig's trotters?"

The sales clerk could tell from Chen Mian's accent that he wasn't from the town. He glanced at Chen Mian's polyester shirt and blended fabric straight-leg trousers, and noticed that he was covered in sweat and looked quite rustic.

He glanced at the red motorcycle parked at the door again; it just didn't look right. Besides, the Happiness 520 wasn't expensive, so it might have been borrowed.

He then said casually, "We're out of lean meat, and pig's trotters are 5 yuan a pound, not much left."

Chen Mian hesitated for two seconds. The lean meat was boneless pork leg meat, which was indeed rarer than ribs and pork belly. It was understandable if it was not available. Then she thought about whether to replace the lean meat with ribs or pork belly.

However, at that moment, a well-dressed mother and daughter walked to the other end of the counter a few meters away.

"Sister Liu, do you have any lean meat today?"

"What a coincidence! There are exactly three jin left. I knew you were coming, so I saved them all for you. Wait a bit."

"That would be great, thank you so much, Sister Liu."

Chen Mian frowned and looked back, but the saleswoman showed no embarrassment or shame. Instead, she raised her head, held her chin, and asked matter-of-factly, "Are you going to buy or not? If not, don't dawdle."

There's only one supply and marketing cooperative in the town. The village's general stores are unlikely to have pork trotters and ribs, because it's only early autumn and the weather is still a bit dry. If these kinds of meats aren't sold, they'll spoil easily.

Chen Mian was completely helpless against the sales clerks of the supply and marketing cooperatives these days. As for the mother and daughter on the other end, they were clearly not ordinary people, so it was reasonable for them to take advantage of them.

He said helplessly, "Take all the pig's trotters, and five pounds of spare ribs too."

"How much is the roast chicken?"

"Eight yuan each, one and a half jin."

"Give me one, and get me a bigger bag."

"Five catties of pig's trotters, totaling 58 yuan."

Chen Mian took out a blue 100-yuan bill and handed it over. This was the money she had just earned from Zhuang Changhe this afternoon. She lost more than half of it after going to the supply and marketing cooperative, but she didn't feel bad about spending it on things for her grandma and uncle.

The sales clerk casually took money and gave change; she'd seen this kind of person buy a few dozen yuan's worth of goods all the time, so it wasn't worth paying special attention to. However, taking an extra bag didn't bother her.

After Chen Mian came out, she hung the bag on the motorcycle handlebars and then quickly stepped to the back of the motorcycle. A canvas bucket with a mandarin fish inside was tied to the end of the back seat.

This is specially for my uncle. He'll probably need the help of the plywood factory owner this time, so he should give something in return. This mandarin fish is a rare treat, so it's appropriate.

He glanced at the mandarin fish, its body arched, its gills moving rhythmically with each breath. He immediately felt a sense of relief and murmured, "This fish-bowing technique is indeed quite something..."

"Hey, mandarin fish!"

A sudden remark startled Chen Mian from her reverie.

Turning around abruptly, I saw a girl standing a meter away, wearing a long-sleeved shirt and a pinafore dress, with a sun hat on her head. It was none other than the girl who had just bought lean meat at the supply and marketing cooperative. I thought her name was He Qing.

"Mom, look! It's a mandarin fish, and it's alive!" He Qing exclaimed excitedly, calling out to her mother who was still chatting away inside the house.

"Why is your fish like this?"

"Because mandarin fish are prone to dying after being taken out of the water, they need to be preserved using special methods for long-distance transportation. This is called the 'bow fish technique'..."

The bowfish technique is an ancient method that involves fixing the fish in the water for a period of time to allow it to acclimate before removing it and wrapping it in a fine layer of aquatic plants, which can greatly increase its survival time.

Ordinary people generally don't understand this kind of technology. This girl looks about the same age as me, so it's normal that she doesn't know it either. Chen Mian doesn't mind explaining the fishing expert's knowledge to her.

"Oh, I see." He Qing's eyes widened in surprise. She turned to her mother, who had just arrived. "Mom, isn't this just a ready-made mandarin fish?"

"Young man, are you selling your fish?"

Chen Mian shook her head: "I'm not selling it. I'm giving it away as a gift."

"You still won't sell it even if I offer more money?"

"Auntie, I transported this fish from over 20 miles away. It's not a matter of how much money it cost."

Seeing Chen Mian's determination, He Qing and her mother couldn't help but feel a little disappointed, but they could also sense the importance of the fish from her words.

Chen Mian was packing up to leave when she saw Sister Liu, the saleswoman who had come out with her, lean forward and grab the handlebars.

"I just heard you were looking to buy lean meat. You sell this mandarin fish to them, and I'll go find you some lean meat later."

Sister Liu's confident and assertive discussion made Chen Mian laugh.

"You really think your lean meat is like Tang Sanzang's flesh, that eating it will grant you immortality?" Chen Mian shoved her aside, straddled the motorcycle, and started it up. "I'm not selling to you guys."

Watching the red motorcycle speed away, the salesperson was so angry that he jumped up and down and cursed in the street.

He Qing was stunned. It was the first time she had ever seen someone dare to lose their temper with a supply and marketing cooperative employee. This person was too tough.

……

Chen Mian rode his motorcycle straight to "Weiqiang Board Factory," where the large red-letter, white-background signboard on the wall was particularly eye-catching.

Even before entering the door, you can smell a strong odor of wood mixed with sawdust, which inexplicably makes you feel choked.