1988: Back to the human world for a few years

Chapter 180 Xia Liu
Xialiu Village is a very strange village.

Since Yang Mo was reborn, if we talk about the village with the most self-built supporting facilities, Xialiu Village is undoubtedly ranked first;
毕竟光凭全村已经实现道路水泥化这一点，在整个临邑县就属于蝎子拉屎独一份；更别提他们还拥有3个中型厂房和若干条生产线之外，还拥有2个中型仓储库、1个汽修维修点、1个应急发电室、3个小型储水窖、1条小型农田灌溉水渠、1个种苗室、1支由四辆古董卡车构成的运输队了。

But when it comes to the economic conversion ratio of infrastructure, Xialiu Village is not at the bottom of the county, but it definitely has a place in the top ten.

If other villages had such a production line and such good infrastructure, not everyone would live in a small Western-style house, sleep on Simmons mattresses, and watch a big color TV, but at least everyone should wear new clothes, have meat for one meal every three days, and fish for one meal every five days.

But what about Xialiu Village?
Although it has the best infrastructure in the whole county, or even in DZ city, the whole village is filled with dilapidated mud walls and houses with various slogans painted on them.

Most of the villagers who appear in your sight are not only wearing very old ant blue clothes, but also, if you walk into any yard, the dinner on the table is most likely sweet potato porridge or multi-grain pancakes.

Are the villagers of Xialiu Village lazy?
No.

To be fair, the villagers of Xialiu Village are among the most hardworking people Yang Mo has ever seen in his two lifetimes. The phenomenon of lazy people and vagrants that is often seen in rural areas is almost extinct here. Even at noon, it is rare to see villagers sleeping soundly in their beds... More than 80% of the people are busy working overtime in their respective positions.

Students from the south may not understand this, but in the north where people have the habit of taking naps, especially in rural areas of the north in the 1980s and 1990s, this was a hard thing to imagine.

But what always made Yang Mo feel a little creepy was...

If it were an ordinary person, facing such a huge disparity between the village's glitz and glamour and its rottenness, he would have already started a commotion.

Even if things don't get awkward, negative emotions are inevitable. After all, that's human nature. "What's worrying is not the lack of wealth but the inequality of wealth" does not only apply to relationships between individuals, but also between individuals and the collective... After all, everyone knows why Xialiu Village has such a huge gap between the inside and the outside.

However, one rarely sees any negative expressions on the faces of the villagers in Xialiu Village, from the old man in his sixties or seventies who holds a basket and sews shoe soles at home, to the man sweating profusely at the door of the warehouse, and even the women who are still winnowing grain under the scorching sun; their black and red mottled faces show not only meticulous expressions, but more of a tenacity that seems to come from faith.

That feeling...

(Hundreds of words are harmonious here)

………………

In the village collective canteen with a strong sense of history.

Dun~
Sun Jian squeezed through the bustling crowd and placed a pot of bean buns on the table.

"Come on, Master Xiao Yang, have a try. This is what I call purple sweet potato, preserved vegetables and sticky bean curd dumplings... Hehe, this is the most popular dish in the club right now. It tastes amazing when paired with fermented tofu!"

Yang Mo was carefully studying the square pieces of suspiciously grey moldy tofu in the bowl in front of him. Bai Mengmeng, who was sitting next to him, couldn't help but open her mouth and said, "Is this the purple sweet potato and preserved vegetable sticky bean curd? ... Manager Sun, are you sure this is for eating?"

This may sound very rude at first, but everyone present would definitely not think that it was a criticism of the food, but only a compliment.

There is no other reason, it’s just that the shape of the sticky rice dumplings in front of me is so exquisite.

The skin is yellowish...that's no problem, the skin of sticky rice dumplings is made of yellow rice flour.

It is said to be sticky bean buns with purple sweet potato and preserved vegetables, but there is not a trace of purple on the outside... That's okay, after all, bean buns are just a general term in Qi and Lu, and they are essentially steamed buns. It is normal to use purple sweet potato and preserved vegetables as fillings inside.

Logically speaking, due to the limitations of food processing, before the introduction of cassava flour and ice skin fabric, bean buns could not be described as exquisite. After all, the limitations of raw materials were there.

But the shape is unique!
The sticky rice dumplings in this pot are in various shapes. Some have a touch of rouge on the top to look like fairy peaches.
Some people add spinach dough on top and shape it into an eight-sided pumpkin.

Some are directly shaped like corn cobs, with each kernel distinctly separated;

Some of them directly create the look of fried chicken legs, except that the chicken legs are coated with a little more paste;
The most outrageous thing is the bean curd piled on the edge of the basin, which is actually made into the shape of a yellow croaker... Although there is still a big difference between this bean curd and the real yellow croaker in terms of color and shape, it has all the fish eyes, gills, fins, and fine scales. I don't even know what method was used to render the transitional color of the fish body from yellow on top to silver on the bottom.

If you hold this thing a little further away, it might be mistaken for a real yellow croaker.

To some extent, in this era, if the shaping is done to this extent, even a bowl of ordinary sticky rice dumplings has gone beyond the category of ordinary food and risen to the level of art.

Although Bai Mengmeng has lived in the Tongren compound for ten years, white rice cakes have never been popular in Guizhou. How could he not be surprised when he saw such a bowl of exquisitely shaped sticky rice dumplings?
In fact, let alone Bai Mengmeng, even Yang Mo, a local, was shocked by the pot of sticky rice dumplings... Although he always knew that Qilu was a province with strong traditional white pastry, and many places had the tradition of shaping pastries, but before 2015, the people in Qilu could only shape longevity peaches and some small animals. How could they be so particular about the details?

………………

Seeing that everyone was shocked, Sun Jian couldn't help but look a little proud: "The food budget in the commune has always been limited, and everyone eats very simply, basically either steamed buns or rice porridge and pancakes;"

"Later, the chef of the cafeteria told Mr. Yan that although he couldn't eat anything good, it was still okay to give everyone a feast for the eyes and comfort himself; so he started to think about some pastry shapes;"

"At the beginning, we made some shapes like chicken legs and pork trotters to make everyone laugh, but later we found that everyone liked these things, so the canteen chefs started to work hard in this area, and the shapes became more and more detailed. Even some female members like to come to the kitchen to show off their skills after busy farm work, which can be regarded as a way to relieve stress... So the shapes of these bean buns became more and more varied, and finally became what they are today!"

Passing the most exquisitely shaped yellow croaker bean curd bun to Yang Mo, Sun Jian chuckled, "Although everyone likes to hang out in the canteen kitchen, it's really hard work to make these shaped bean curd buns. Only about a hundred can be made in a day."

"In the past, these shaped bean curds were mixed with ordinary bean curds and sold in the order of the steamers. Whether you could buy one depended entirely on luck, and even Mr. Yan and his team were no exception;"

"Today, it is thanks to you, Master Yang, that when the chef in the back kitchen heard that there were distinguished guests coming today, he waved his hand and directly reserved 30 shaped bean buns for the guests... Otherwise, how could there be so many on a normal day?"

Hearing this, Yang Mo turned his head and glanced at the villagers who were eating and bragging in the room. He chuckled and followed Sun Jian's instructions without any hesitation. He smeared some moldy tofu on it with chopsticks, then put the uniquely shaped bean bun in his mouth and took a bite.

It is a little different from what I imagined, perhaps because no sugar is added. Although the filling of the bean bun is made of purple sweet potato, it does not have much sweetness. This slight sweetness is stimulated by the saltiness of the pickled mustard greens, and it actually has a strange glutinous and fragrant feeling, which is quite refreshing... Of course, all this is based on the premise that it is not dipped in moldy tofu.

With a bitter face, Yang Mo felt the strange sour and mellow taste of fermented beans and the spicy taste of chili skin on the tip of his tongue. He looked at the wild panda in front of him speechlessly...Brother, are you really not afraid of killing someone by eating this kind of dark cuisine combination?
Thinking of this, Yang Mo suppressed the churning in his stomach and turned to look at other members in the cafeteria. He saw that many of them were eating the same combination of food, and they all ate it with relish.

amount……

Well, I am narrow-minded. As long as you are happy, I'm sorry that I can't accompany you any longer.

While picking up some vegetables and eating some porridge, Yang Mo quietly moved the earthen bowl of fermented tofu in front of him towards his little apprentice...

………………

Just as Yang Mo was chatting with Sun Jian at the dining table, there was a sudden commotion in the cafeteria. Yang Mo turned his head and saw Li Shihai and others walking in with a heroic and high-spirited look in the expectant eyes of the members.

"Accountant Wang, Accountant Wang, keep the accounts! Keep the accounts!"

Li Shihai and his group squeezed to a table in the corner. While shouting and grinning, they slyly took two bean buns from the bowl in front of an old man with black-framed glasses and started to share them.

Accountant Wang, who was already over fifty, looked at these brats trying to take advantage of him with some helplessness. He held the last bean bun in the bowl tightly with his left hand, and glared at them unhappily: "Why are you keeping accounts while we're eating? Besides, who keeps accounts in the cafeteria?"

Li Shihai showed no signs of the rebellion and ferocity he had shown in front of Yang Tianxing this afternoon. He took out an account book and a large stack of money from his bag with a wicked smile, "Accountant Wang, you said at the beginning that the accounts would not be kept overnight... We have been selling things on the street all afternoon today. If we don't start keeping accounts now, I'm afraid that I will break your rules!"

As he spoke, Li Shihai glanced at the remaining bean bun in front of Accountant Wang, then pointed at the briefcase on the chair beside him and said, "Besides, everyone knows that you always bring your food with you wherever you go... How about this, we will distribute your food to you, and then help you clean the table, and you can just work on the table, how about that?"

Turning his head to look at the peeling leather briefcase on his stool, Accountant Wang glared at Li Shihai fiercely... These rascals have been thinking about taking advantage of me, an old man, all day long. They are just a few bean buns. They have work tickets. Why don’t they go to the kitchen to buy them?
Just when he was about to open his mouth and teach these wolf cubs a lesson for taking advantage of his two bean buns, he saw the group of young men behind Li Shihai took out account books and cash from their bags in unison, and then threw them on the table, looking at him with a grin.

hiss~!

so much! ?

Looking at the bundles of cash tied up with rubber bands, Accountant Wang gasped: "Did you sell so much today?"

Looking at the gasping members who gathered around him, Li Shihai said proudly, "Today, my stall alone sold 84 pressure cookers in Xinglong Town... In addition, I also developed three downstream customers who are willing to purchase in small quantities and try to sell these pressure cookers in their own villages!"

"Here, the total amount of money including the deposit is 1048 yuan. Here is the customer list. Accountant Wang, please count and check!"

"I'm telling you, it's because we didn't have enough goods to sell this afternoon, otherwise the money I would have taken back would be at least this much!"

After showing off with a "two" gesture, Li Shihai chuckled, "Even so, the three subordinates were willing to pay the deposit before they had any stock... Or maybe it's because our sales agency has a strong reputation. If it were another company, who would be so stupid as to pay the deposit before seeing the goods?"

Li Shihai pushed his account book and the pile of business money mixed with bills of various denominations in front of Accountant Wang, and touched the earthen bowl with bean buns with ill intentions: "Hehe, just for the fact that I can sell all the goods today... Accountant Wang, I deserve a bean bun from you, right?"

Seeing Accountant Wang blinking his eyes and about to loosen his hands on the earthen bowl, the others immediately stopped.

"Hey~!~ Shihai, why are you so arrogant! Didn't you just sell goods worth more than a thousand yuan? This little money is nothing. Accountant Wang left the bean bun to me. I sold nearly sixteen thousand today!" "Bah! Song Qiang, you have the nerve to ask for a reward? Aren't you just relying on the high price of your tape recorders... Let me ask you, have you sold out all those tape recorders today?... Hehe, no?... In my opinion, you should have the bean bun. I was the first one to sell out the more than one hundred iron pots on my stall today!"

"Tsk~! Erdao, you want to compare the quantity of goods sold, right? Then I really tell you, this bean bun is definitely mine today... I sold more than 200 pieces of the more than 300 pieces of clothes on my stall in one day, and the payment was more than 3,000 yuan... With this sales volume and this payment speed, who here can compare with me?... Accountant Wang, you have to be fair in your work. No matter from which aspect, you should give me this bean bun, right?"

Seeing this group of young people proudly taking credit for their achievements, the other members in the cafeteria also started to make a noise.

"That's right, that's right, what Hu Zi said makes sense, Accountant Wang, I think you should treat Hu Zi to a bean bun!"

"That won't do! In the past, we could only sell half of the goods at most at a time. Today's results are so good, Accountant Wang must pay for a meal for everyone... I think two trays of sticky bean dumplings are not too much, right?"

Watching the group of people instigating him, Accountant Wang took out a few work tickets with great distress, and then watched Li Shihai and others shouting and rushing to the kitchen with the work tickets.

Zhang Lin and others who were watching from the side suddenly found it interesting: "Manager Sun, didn't the work point system get abolished a long time ago? Why do you still keep that big pot?"

Sun Jian laughed: "How can that be possible? The cooperative has had financial difficulties in the past two years. Sometimes we couldn't even pay the members' salaries. But everyone needs to eat, and it's not right to keep owing them meals."

"So after consulting everyone, President Yan came up with an idea... As long as they are willing, part of everyone's salary can be converted into work tickets, and with these tickets, they can eat in the village cafeteria. After all, we are an enterprise in which the whole village has invested. Although the money and food left by the village are not much, it is enough to ensure that everyone has enough food and clothing for a period of time;"

"In this way, at least when wages cannot be paid, everyone will not starve to death; when the financial situation of the cooperative improves, everyone can decide whether to exchange these work tickets for wages according to their own wishes."

At this point, Sun Jian said with some amusement: "In fact, this was originally an emergency measure. Mr. Yan originally planned to cancel the work ticket when the time was right;"

"But first of all, you Qilu people are not very good at cooking. The food you make at home is far less delicious than what the chefs in the village canteen make;"

"Secondly, eating in the village canteen not only saves the effort of washing dishes and cleaning up, but also because all the meals in the canteen are provided at affordable prices, eating here for a long time is even more cost-effective than some people cooking at home;"

"So, the work ticket was retained, and the village cafeteria became the favorite place for everyone to gather and chat and have fun... If you don't believe me, just wait and see. After dinner, at most half an hour, these kids will start to make a fuss here... If you're lucky, you can even see them practicing, wrestling or something like that."

He turned his head to look at Accountant Wang, who was lying on the dining table with a sad face, doing accounting and reconciliation. He then turned his head to look at Li Shihai and his group of young people who were eating and competing with each other and boasting. Finally, he set his eyes on the men in the cafeteria who had finished their meal but refused to leave. Bai Mengmeng suddenly felt extremely curious.

Of course she knew that there was not much entertainment in the countryside these days, and everyone liked to get together and play chess after dinner.

But in Guizhou, people usually get together in groups of three or four to chat. It's not like here, where over a hundred people get together to brag.
and……

Wrestling?

Isn't it the best time for young men to chase girls and fall in love at night? Is there no young girl in Xialiu Village? Why are all these guys gathered here and making random gestures to each other?
The little girl, who felt the huge difference between the north and the south for the first time, was confused for a long time, and finally could only attribute it to the prevalence of martial arts in Qi and Lu in those years.

Cut~!

No wonder I heard that in Qi and Lu, one has to rely on matchmakers to find a wife!

With the character of guys like you, if there were no such thing as a matchmaker, you would probably be single for the rest of your lives!
A little girl from Guizhou who was used to seeing young men and women being affectionate with each other under the moon in the mountains thought so.

........................

But unlike Zhang Lin, Bai Mengmeng and others who were curiously staring at the members in the cafeteria, Yang Mo keenly noticed a hint of worry between Sun Jian's brows.

"Old Sun, what happened? Why do you look so unhappy?"

Quietly moving closer to Sun Jian, Yang Mo asked in a low voice.

Sun Jian looked at him in surprise: "How could it be? The goods are moving so smoothly today. As a business manager, I can't express how happy I am!"

Yang Mo sneered: "Old Sun, I treat you as a friend, and you are fooling me like this?"

As he spoke, Yang Mo looked around the huge canteen: "Don't think I have never seen a village canteen. Generally speaking, even the village canteens built in the 1s and 3s, its saturated customer capacity is generally only about 100/ of the total population of the village... With the scale of your Xialiu Village, it can accommodate about people;"

"If you look at it from the perspective of an ordinary person, there is nothing wrong with the number of people in the cafeteria today. After all, there are at least over a hundred people in this room. "

"But have you forgotten that you just said that since the work ticket system is very popular in your Xialiu Village, most members will come to the cafeteria to eat;"

"Then here comes the question... Even if we exclude those shy girls who don't like to see people, and those elderly people with mobility problems, the number of people in your village cafeteria during dinner should be close to 200... So where are the other dozens of people?"

At this point, Yang Mo looked at Sun Jian, whose expression was already starting to look unnatural, and sneered, "I am not bragging. Even if what you said this afternoon was just to fool me, and President Yan didn't really consider me a friend, but with my current status as the deputy director of the special working group, when I arrived at your Xialiu Village, Old West Yan should come out and say hello to me, right?"

"So...where is your Mr. Yan?"

Looking at Yang Mo's seemingly teasing eyes and the curve of his mouth, Sun Jian moved his mouth a few times, but in the end he did not use words like "Mr. Yan is out looking for supplies" to deal with the task.

He knew long ago that although the young man in front of him was only in his twenties, if you dare to fool him like a newbie, you will definitely suffer the consequences... No matter how stupid he was, he knew that it would not be so easy to deceive such a person who had no background but could move around among the senior executives of the drilling company.

Without making a sound, Sun Jian glanced at Zhang Lin and Bai Mengmeng who were watching Li Shihai and the others bragging and talking nonsense with great interest. Then he glanced at Accountant Wang who was carefully checking the accounts. He then sighed imperceptibly and leaned his head towards Yang Mo: "Master Yang, since you have figured it out, I will not hide it from you."

"To be honest, in the past, the more goods Xiao Li and his team sold, the happier I, as the business manager, would be."

"But now... to be honest, seeing how fast they are shipping the goods, my heart is trembling!"

Yang Mo frowned: "Oh? Why?"

Sun Jian gritted his teeth and said in an inaudible voice: "Because we are running out of stock... If Xiao Li and his team continue to ship out goods so quickly tomorrow, I will have to force them to rest for a few days the day after tomorrow!"

Yang Mo looked at him incredulously: "These days, we're always afraid of not being able to sell our products, but you're actually afraid of running out of stock? If you don't have any, just buy more. Didn't you say that Boss Yan helped you find a lot of high-quality sources of goods?"

Sun Jian's face showed a strange look of annoyance and worry, and a fierce aura emanated from the wild panda unnaturally: "That's the problem!"

"In fact, we had already paid the manufacturers more than a week ago, and according to the feedback over the phone, they did deliver the goods on time as per our requirements;"

"But the day before yesterday, we suddenly received a call from the truck driver..."

"Those two trucks of merchandise were robbed!"

As he spoke, Sun Jian's expression darkened. "On the day I received the call, President Yan took some members of the commune and drove the only two trucks left in the commune to the scene of the accident to negotiate! ... If it weren't for this incident, how could I have been so obedient and submissive today and promised that guy that I would never set foot in Xinglong Town again?"

Yang Mo suddenly realized that he meant that this guy's reaction this afternoon was inconsistent with his impression of Xialiu Sales Agency's behavior, and the reason for all the fuss was because something happened in the rear.

However, sports car drivers are very cautious these days, and both cars were confiscated... Has the situation of car robbery become so serious?

"Where did it happen?" Yang Mo's expression was a little serious.

Those who need Yan Laoxi to bring dozens of good people over for "negotiation" are certainly not ordinary people.

But Mo Mo Bai Zha now has its own delivery fleet, and its delivery range covers the three provinces in the Central Plains. It is really beneficial to know some high-risk areas in advance... These days, those who block the road are not as polite as those in movies and TV shows. They even dare to move trains. What does your fleet, a subsidiary of a central enterprise, count as!
When Sun Jian heard Yang Mo ask this, his expression suddenly became strange. He was silent for a long time, then he sighed: "Master Xiao Yang may have heard of this place... It is the place where the conductor warns passengers not to open the window after the train arrives at the station."

amount……

Yang Mo understood immediately.

Then he looked at the guy in front of him with some surprise.

Does the transportation route need to pass through the teacher’s hometown?

There are countless manufacturers hungry for food in the three provinces of the Central Plains. As long as you have distribution capabilities, what price and product standards can’t you negotiate?

To purchase goods from Xialiu Sales Co., Ltd....do we need to travel so far?

(End of this chapter)