My 1978 Hotel

Chapter 134: Convening a Writers' Tea Party Recommended Under the Desk
The little black donkey was lost and registered. Chen Daguo and Huang Shengnan even searched around on a three-wheeled motorcycle but found no trace of it.

"Oh, that's troublesome."

Li Feng sighed. It must have been stolen. Maybe it was hidden or killed directly. Alas, poor little black donkey, it died within a few days.

"What are you talking about?"

Chen Daguo didn't expect Li Feng to be so easy to talk to, but when he thought about the fact that Li Feng was a great writer, he was afraid that the matter of the missing little black donkey would not be resolved, and it would be even more difficult to deal with it now. You said you wanted to make a fuss, and it would be easier to talk about it later.

He's not crying or making a fuss, so it's easy to talk to him. But when he's writing the article, what's your excuse? He's like, "Isn't his little black donkey lost? You can't find it." This is a difficult matter. I have to tell the director when I get back."

Chen Daguo glanced at Huang Shengnan. This director's daughter was not a worry at all. He had just given her several signals but it was of no use.

"Then I'll take you back."

Huang Shengnan turned to Chen Daguo and said, "Team Leader, I'll use the motorcycle to take Li Feng down."

"Okay, okay, you can use it. Comrade Li Feng, don't worry, we will definitely send more people to search around carefully, and notify you as soon as there is any news." Chen Daguo still wanted to fight for it. It would be best if it didn't appear in the newspaper or in the article.

Especially since it was negative news, Li Feng forced a smile. "Then I'm sorry to bother Team Leader Chen. I should have asked you guys to go back and have a chat, but this happened."

"you are too polite."

Well, the more polite he was, the more uneasy Chen Daguo felt. He hoped that Huang Shengnan would have a good talk with this person. After all, if the article was really written, the matter would become a big deal. But he couldn't talk to him in person, because he had lost a black donkey after all.

Li Feng was actually just a little depressed. He wasn't really angry. It was just a little black donkey. If it was lost, it was lost. After packing up the letters and parcels, Li Feng got on a three-wheeled motorcycle and rode all the way back to Hanjiaba.

"what?"

Wu Tong and Qin Yue, who were busy collecting firewood in front of the yard, saw Li Feng coming back on a three-wheeled motorcycle. They were quite puzzled. He went there on a small black donkey, so why did he come back on a motorcycle?

"Come here and help me."

Li Feng got off the motorcycle and called two people to come over to help with the letters and parcels. There were a lot of things, and some of them were scattered, making it difficult to sort them out.

"So many letters?"

"I can't help it. There are too many readers who like me."

Li Feng's words made Wu Tong and Qin Yue roll their eyes. How dare you? You plagiarized the article. But I never thought that readers these days have the leisure to write letters to the author.

"Where are these?"

"A package. Maybe some specialties like cookies."

As for the registered letters, Li Fenggang had already sorted them out and put them in his pocket. There were not many registered letters, and they were usually used to send bills, etc. Of course, the most likely ones were national food coupons. After all, unless the readers were local, food coupons sent from other places would be of no use.

Generally speaking, young literary and artistic people have a fairly high level of education and are familiar with things like food stamps.

After the letters and packages were packed up, Wu Tong and Qin Yue remembered to ask about the little black donkey.

"lost."

"lost?"

Wu Tong was shocked. "How did it get lost?"

"No way, the little thief is watching."

Li Feng spread his hands. It was normal to lose things these days since there were no cameras. It was just that he had been influenced by future generations and had not paid attention to it before. This time he had learned a big lesson.

"This thief is too abominable."

The little black donkey was the only means of transportation for the family. Now it's lost. We're afraid we can only walk when we go out, or borrow the team's ox cart.

"Can you find it again?"

"I'm afraid it's going to be difficult."

Li Feng said, "Huang Gongan just helped to search everywhere, but he couldn't find any trace of them. I'm afraid they've hidden themselves. Maybe they've been killed by now."

"That's too cruel."

"It's normal these days."

Li Feng whispered. "We were too careless before. This is a lesson for us. We should be more careful when we go out next time. A donkey is nothing. Don't let people get stuck in it."

"No way?"

Wu Tong and Qin Yue were shocked. They thought that if they were caught in this day and age, they would be helpless.

"Don't worry too much, everything will be fine in Hanjiaba."

Li Feng said, "Be careful when you go out, don't go out alone, and it will usually be fine."

"Okay, we'll be careful."

Really, Wu Tong and Qin Yue looked at each other and thought to themselves that they would go back and ask their grandparents if they did as Li Feng said.

"Almost forgot."

Li Feng left the yard with an embarrassed look on his face. "Huang Gongan, please come in and have some tea. Thank you for making this trip."

"It's nothing. Besides, it's what we should do. After all, the little black donkey is missing, and we are also responsible." Huang Shengnan did not hesitate to go into the house for tea. "Little black donkey, we will do our best to help you find it, but you have to be mentally prepared."

"I see."

Huang Shengnan and her colleagues are very busy now. In a disaster year, there will be more cases of theft and robbery. In addition, some people have been transferred to help fight drought and disaster reduction and protect leaders, which makes the already limited manpower even more stretched.

This is also one of the reasons for the increase in theft, but there is no good solution. We were planning to hire some temporary workers, but the county did not agree. It is a poor county itself, and this year's autumn harvest is likely to be ruined. The county has no extra money or grain.

There's no other way, Huang Shengnan and the others can only trouble themselves. Fortunately, state-owned enterprises all have their own security departments, so the problem is not big. As for the countryside, the problem is not big either. After all, villages generally have the same surname, and if something happens, everyone will help.

Generally, petty thieves don't dare to cause trouble in villages, and at most they steal. This is unavoidable now. We can only do a good job of publicity, have each production brigade do more publicity, and organize militia to increase patrols at night.

Huang Shengnan saw that Li Feng was in a good mood and didn't say anything more. "I'll come and let you know as soon as I have any news."

"Thank you very much, but I'm sorry for making you run a few more times."

"I think I'll go back first and see if I can ask more and find some clues."

Huang Shengnan stood up and greeted Wu Tong and Qin Yue.

"Walk slowly."

Li Feng saw Huang Shengnan off and returned home, asking Wu Tong and Qin Yue to help unpack the package. "Put the letter aside for now, and open the package first. There might be some food inside, so don't let it spoil."

There were some food inside, mainly biscuits and some pastries, which Li Feng put aside.

"And those who send books?"

Qin Yue held up two books and handed them to Li Feng to read.

Li Feng took it and was a little confused. What does this mean? This is a magazine. "There's also a letter."

"Oh, let me see."

Li Feng opened it casually. Okay, it's a commissioned article, which is new. "Let's put it aside for now." After opening it, there was nothing new, so Li Feng took out the letter.

"Food stamps?"

It was really a surprise. The first one contained five kilograms of national food coupons, which was a good start. Then I opened some industrial coupons, some small-weight food coupons, and cloth coupons. There were more than twenty kilograms of food coupons in total.

They are all national food coupons, which is really awesome. I have to say that these readers are true fans, so awesome.

"It's not a big deal to sell these food coupons for around ten yuan."

There is no shortage of food at home, so Li Feng plans to sell it. Now the price of food coupons on the black market has increased, especially the national food coupons.

"Isn't it a bit of a loss to sell it now?"

Qin Yue said in a low voice.

"You did remind me."

Li Feng slapped his lap. "Let's keep these food coupons. We'll have to go to the city to buy furniture later, and these food coupons will really come in handy."

"Then keep it."

Li Feng put away his food coupons and grabbed some biscuits. "I'm going to go to the grain warehouse to see how everything is going?" Arriving at the warehouse, the Gao Ju brothers, Uncle Wu, Aunt Wang, and Li Muchen were all there, along with Aunt Chunhua, a few other women, and a group of children. Daya and Erya were also there.

After all, cleaning and tidying up are not considered heavy work and any child can do it. Children all come to get these work points. Although the earnings are not much, it is better than nothing.

"Aunt Chunhua."

"It's Daya's father."

Shi Chunhua wiped the sweat from her forehead and looked up at Li Feng. "Take a look, is this area clear?"

"pretty good."

Li Feng saw that the house was completely empty; the fodder for the livestock had been carried outside. "I'm afraid the wall needs some work. It's a factory after all, and it wouldn't be nice to have a half-finished wall. It looks a bit ugly."

"This needs to be done after I finish this part."

"to make."

Right now, drought relief is the top priority, and everyone's hoping for a miracle. After all, food is everyone's lifeline, and the furniture factory is just another outlet. The brigade won't invest too much; a dozen or so people are considered lucky. The bulk of the effort still goes into drought relief and tree felling.

"Auntie, does our brigade have any ready-made wood now?"

Li Feng planned to ask the Gao Ju brothers to make a few desks and set them up during the tea party.

"Yes, there is wood. There is still a lot of wood in the warehouse."

"Use it now?"

"Yes, use it now."

Li Feng said, "I'm planning to gather some writers from our area for a visit in a few days. I'll put the finished furniture on display, which will serve as a bit of publicity. If anyone needs it, they might be able to order it right away."

"That's great."

"I'll go find the boss right away."

Shi Chunhua slapped her thigh and thought that intellectuals were smart. She thought that all the intellectuals coming from the city must be quite rich, and maybe they could order more furniture at that time.

"Or, I'll go find Uncle Fuguo."

"I'll go. It's only a few steps back and forth."

"OK then."

Li Feng had originally wanted to let Shi Chunhua rest for a while; the area was clean, and only some finishing touches remained. However, since Shi Chunhua wanted to leave, Li Feng didn't stop her and escorted her out of the yard. He turned and returned to the granary yard.

"Uncle Wu, Aunt Wang, thank you for your hard work."

"It's nothing, I just haven't worked in a few years, so my body is a little stiff."

Everyone sat down, and Li Feng waved to Daya. "Daya, come here. Dad brought you some cookies. Share them with everyone."

"biscuit?"

Wow, a group of little kids with shining eyes gathered around.

"Uncle, what kind of biscuits are these? Why do they have sugar in them?"

Han Mingliang stared at the eldest brother, smacking his lips at the biscuits with white sugar. The other kids were not much better, drooling all over.

“Get in line.”

Li Feng smiled and took out a few biscuits. He handed the rest, along with the wrappers, to Daya. "One for each of you."

"Ah."

Daya took it with some reluctance, but as her father said, she just remembered secretly that each person could only get one piece and no more.

"Uncle Wu, Aunt Wang, the eldest and second sons, you can try some of these cookies sent by readers. I just had one and it tasted pretty good."

"I haven't seen this kind of old-fashioned biscuits in years."

Wu Zhenhua took a piece, broke it open, and handed half to Wang Yin. They were both older and couldn't eat much sweet food, so they just tried it. Gao Jue and Gao Chengjiu weren't so particular. They clapped their hands and each took a piece.

"Don't mention it, it smells really good."

Gao Jue said with a smile. "I don't feel hungry normally, but after finishing work, I'm really a little hungry. A few cookies are perfect for me."

"No."

"Second brother, how is your research with the eldest brother going?"

Li Feng patted the cookie crumbs off his hands. "What do you want to design the desk for?"

"We've researched it and discussed it with Professor Wu, and we've come up with a preliminary design for you to take a look at." Gao pulled out a piece of scratch paper. "You see, our design is relatively compact, referencing later-era desks while incorporating some current designs."

Li Feng took a look and thought, isn't this the desk he used to have when he was a kid? It's not bad. "That's it, let's do two first, quickly."

"Row."

Working overtime, it wouldn't take long. The two brothers, plus the few people sent by the brigade, would be almost done in a few days. As they were talking, Han Fuguo, Han Futian, and Shi Chunhua returned together.

"So, have you sent out the letters?"

“It has been sent.”

Li Feng said with a smile. "I think I'll get a reply in two days. I plan to wait until next Sunday." With about ten days, it would be just the right time to make more furniture.

"Okay, I'll have An Min drive over to pick you up when the time comes."

"When the time comes, I'll go with you."

Li Feng said. "By the way, Uncle Fuguo, here are the lumbers. Look."

"Your uncle Tomita has the key. You can follow him. Tell him what wood you need. If you don't have enough, go chop more."

However, the newly cut tree may not be usable immediately. Of course, there is a way. You can roast it over fire and use it after it is dried.

Arriving at the warehouse, there was quite a bit of lumber, in the yard, behind the house, and inside. "Why don't we just move all this over there? It'll save us a lot of trouble later."

"Row."

Han Fuguo called for more people, and after more than ten people made several trips back and forth, they finally moved the wood to the granary. "Can we cut the wood now?"

"open."

Over the next few days, Li Feng was busy learning how to make big pot dishes while weaving bamboo, and occasionally visiting the furniture factory. Gao Ju and Gao Cheng, along with the other five or six other men in the team, worked incredibly fast.

The desk was delivered to his home within two days. Li Feng was impressed. It was really nice, well polished, and made of pure wood, just oiled. As for painting, forget it, the team didn't have any. "Good. Have you made the matching chairs yet?"

"beated."

Gao then brought over a chair, and Li Feng sat down to try it out. "Not bad, very good. How much wood did you use for this set?"

"How much does it cost? Is it worth it?"

"It's hard to calculate the cost. After all, the wood comes from the mountains and doesn't cost anything. The only cost is labor."

"Let's say the cost is twenty-one sets."

Li Feng thought about it. "How about selling it for fifty when the time comes?"

"I'm not sure about this."

This question stumped Gao, as he didn't know much about prices these days. Wu Zhenhua, however, listened and said, "It's a bit high, maybe 30 or 40 yuan. If it's any higher, I'm afraid not many people can afford it."

"That's true."

The monthly salary is only this high now. If it were higher, I wouldn't necessarily be willing to buy it. "Okay, let's set it at 40 yuan for now and discuss it later."

"Now do a few more sets."

“And small bookshelves.”

The small bookshelf is about half a meter wide and about one and a half meters high. This kind of bookshelf can only be used as a toy rack for children in the future, but now it is very suitable for many literary young people to show off.

(End of this chapter)