My 1978 Hotel

"Stinky boy."

Li Feng really wanted to give Li Ran a few slaps. He even stopped calling Lao Deng "Uncle Feng" because he didn't even want to call him that. "Stop hitting the horse's hooves. Hurry up. I'll take everyone to dig the manure pile. Have you all seen the fertilizer pile?"

"It's only been three days. Didn't you say five?"

Li Ran didn't even raise his head as he continued to pick the horse hooves from the soil. Because of the drought, even the paddy fields closest to the river had dried up, and the horse hooves he picked out were only the size of small peanuts.

"It's hot, three days will be enough."

Li Feng took two water chestnuts from Li Ran's hand. The head was really small. I'm afraid it must be dry and taste bad. "It's this small, can you eat it?"

"Of course you can eat it."

Li Ran snatched the horseshoe from Li Feng's hand. You know, it took him a long time to pick four or five of them, so he couldn't let Lao Deng take them away for nothing.

"Uncle Feng, you can eat it."

Han Mingchang was quite obedient. He deducted four for himself and gave three directly to Li Feng.

"Mingchang, you eat it yourself. Uncle won't eat it."

Li Feng waved his hand and glanced at Li Ran. Li Ran rolled his eyes and said, "Why are you looking at me? An unkind father means an unfilial son."

"This naughty kid."

Li Feng was helpless. You said to fight, forget it. He didn't make any mistakes of principle. Besides, he was the one who tricked him into this, so he felt a little guilty. "It's getting dark, stop scratching."

"understood."

Li Ran stood up and brushed off the dust on his butt and pants. "There weren't many to begin with. I spent a lot of time collecting them to get these. Let's go. Mingchang, I'll take them to Auntie to cook."

"Cooking?"

"So what do you think?"

Li Feng was so angry that he couldn't help but rub Li Ran's head hard a few times, making Li Ran puff up his lips. "Dirty."

"Hahaha."

"Go ahead. After you send the horseshoes off, remember to go to the grove and dig up the manure."

"got it."

Li Ran waved his hand.

Li Feng smiled and shook his head as he watched Li Ran, Han Mingchang and the other kids running away. This kid has been having a lot of fun recently, but he still needs to remind him later not to just focus on playing and forget about studying.

"These two kids took half a day to rub the horseshoes and only managed to rub a dozen or so."

Li Feng searched around but couldn't find a stick. These days, unlike later times, people would rush to sweep up leaves and take them home. How could a small stick, such good firewood, fall to the ground? "Forget it, I'll just use my hands to dig it out."

After trying for a long time, Li Feng looked at the lonely horseshoe in his hand speechlessly. What a guy, he only broke a small one after trying for a long time.

"Hey, Uncle Feng, what are you doing?"

Ah, Li Feng thought to himself, who is that? He looked up and saw it was Han Mingliang. Li Feng clapped his hands and stood up. "Nothing."

"Uncle Feng, you're digging pears."

Han Mingliang got closer and laughed. "Uncle, this place won't work at all. There's a patch over there on the other side of the river. They're bigger and easier to dig."

"Really."

Li Feng thought to himself, "Damn, this is a bit embarrassing." "I'm just taking a look. Oh, by the way, why haven't you gone home yet?"

"Nothing."

Han Mingliang retracted his hand as he spoke. What did this kid catch and why was he afraid of being seen?

"Then go home quickly, it's time for dinner."

"Ah."

Han Mingliang ran off, saying as he ran, "Uncle Feng, if you want to dig ground pears, you should go to Dahewan. There are a lot easier ones there, hahaha."

"That stinky boy."

Li Feng smiled helplessly, patted the dirt off his hands, and thought, forget it, I won’t knock it off. He returned home, and not long after, Wu Xiaotian, Li Ran, Zheng Guanwen brothers, Chen Zian brother and sister, and Zhang Xiaole came over.

Several children each took a small wooden board. Li Feng asked and found out that it was made by the furniture factory. "Hey, did you make this?"

"Made of scrap."

"That's pretty good."

Li Feng saw that the front of the small wooden board was shaped like a shovel and had rake spikes on it. It seemed to be suitable for turning the manure pile. Looking back, Chen Long, Wu Jing, and Liu Wen each had a large number of wooden boards in their hands.

"Cousin, do you want it?"

Liu Wen waved the wooden rake in her hand and asked Li Feng with a smile.

"Okay, you give it to me."

"That won't work."

Liu Wen quickly put the wooden rake behind her and joked that she just wanted to see Li Feng make a fool of himself, but she had no intention of borrowing the wooden rake. It would be best if the big devil Li Feng turned the manure with his hands.

"Okay, let's go, finish it quickly and don't delay your sleep."

Arriving at the grove, Li Ran and his companions came to their own small pile of manure. "Feel it first to see if it's hot."

"Oh, and with your hands?"

Liu Wen and the others, who had picked up the wooden rake and thought they would never use it, were dumbfounded.

"Of course, try the temperature first. Generally, it's okay to turn the manure only when the temperature is above 55 degrees and it's hot to the touch after three days. Otherwise, it won't work if the temperature is not high enough." Li Feng set an example by trying the temperature first. It was ok, the temperature was high enough.

The weather was hot, and it was done in about three days. I dug out a small piece of mud shell. "Because it's my first time turning the manure, I don't need to peel off all the mud shells. Otherwise, it will be difficult to seal them later."

"understood."

Li Ran curled his lips. "We're not stupid."

This kid, Li Feng saw Liu Wen and the others laughing secretly, so he gave Li Ran a glare and continued to turn the manure pile. "Everyone, watch out, the humidity is a little dry, we need to sprinkle some water later."

"Do you remember what I told you about humidity a few days ago?"

"Remember, hold it so that no water comes out."

"That's good."

Turning the manure pile was not bad, increasing the completion rate by nearly ten percent. It seemed that the children were all doing well in their studies. Li Feng only then took a closer look at the children. It had only been a few days, but their skin had darkened.

Although her appearance has not changed much, her mental state is different. When she first came, she frowned and Chen Jingyi wiped her tears from time to time. Now she is completely different. The little girl not only learns to carry water, but also knows how to cook and collect firewood.

They can dig the ground, break up clods of earth, pick pears from the ground, and catch fish. They've become increasingly close to Zhaodi and her sisters. Although the food isn't great, they're quite happy. Of course, if they were asked to go back now, they would definitely go without a second thought.

The main reason is that the food is too bad. After all, work is very tiring. It’s just better than a few days ago. I’m used to it. I can even eat the steamed buns that cut my throat by pinching my nose.

"Tomorrow, I'll go buy some meat for you. Remember to let me know when you get back."

"Really?"

Li Ran and his companions were full of surprise. They ate steamed buns and drank potato porridge every day without a drop of oil. The guy Li Ran and his companions, who originally disdained pork, now drooled at the thought of braised pork.

“That’s fake.”

Li Feng said with a smile, "But you can't buy much meat with that little money."

"It's one dollar and fifty cents for me. Don't lie to us. I've already asked. A pound of meat is only seventy-eight cents, and fat meat is only eighty-five cents. I can buy at least more than a pound." Li Ran didn't want to be polite with Li Ran.

"You forgot, you need meat coupons to buy meat now, and a pound of meat coupons costs at least fifty cents."

"what?"

"Okay," Li Ran said helplessly. "Then I'll buy a pound, okay?"

"Okay, but haven't you thought about making some money in recent years?"

Li Feng saw that Li Ran was a little unhappy and asked with a smile.

"No, we originally wanted to follow Han Mingliang to catch snakes."

"What's the matter?"

Li Feng glared at the boss. He thought, "Han Mingliang, this brat, I'm going to teach him a lesson later. He was joking about catching snakes."

"Catching snakes, but it seems that snakes are hard to catch recently. Han Mingliang said that we should set traps to catch weasels later."

Li Ran said, "Han Mingliang said we could catch rabbits and pheasants, but now the pheasants and rabbits have been killed, so it's hard to catch them."

"Why don't you guys catch fish?"

"Han Mingliang had caught all the fish in the puddles. He had been planning to take us to the big puddle near the reservoir, but his dad saw us and gave us a beating." "Serves him right."

Big Puddle, that guy is not a place for you little brats to go. "Don't follow Han Mingliang in everything."

"If we don't learn, how can we make money?"

Li Ran muttered that there was no way to make money here.

"How about you go to the furniture factory tomorrow and polish the furniture? I'll pay you ten cents a day."

Li Feng said with a smile.

"Lao Deng, you're so shameless! Only a dime a day, that's not how you exploit child laborers."

Li Ran rolled his eyes and refused. The others all shook their heads. Good boy, these kids are so clueless. "Okay, then, I'll give you an extra ten cents, twenty cents a day. That's a lot."

"Is fifty cents okay?"

Li Ran thought about it and raised his hand.

"Get lost."

Li Feng didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "You think fifty cents is easy to earn? It's twenty-five cents at most."

"If it weren't for the recent surge in orders, it would be difficult for you to make money."

Li Feng rubbed Li Ran's head.

"Got it, Lao Deng, bye."

Li Ran avoided Li Feng's hand and liked to rub his head every day.

"Then tomorrow morning you will all follow Uncle Brother to the furniture factory. I will give each of you four days' salary."

Li Feng said with a smile, "This way, you can buy more meat."

"Thank you, Uncle Feng."

"Thanks, Lao Deng."

"This shit kid."

There was no one else around, so Li Feng could only sigh. "Let's go back and eat."

"Boss Li, your Li Ran is so interesting."

Liu Wen covered her mouth and laughed, and Li Feng was helpless. "It's all his mother's fault, kid. Forget it, eat."

For dinner, I steamed multi-grain buns, stewed small fish, stir-fried some vegetables, and cooked rice porridge. This was already the best food in Hanjiaba. Just as I was about to eat, there was a knock on the door.

"An Bing, what's wrong?"

Li Feng opened the door and saw that it was Han Anbing coming again.

"An Da invites you to dinner."

"Uncle Fuguo, okay, I'll tell him." Li Feng said to Li Muchen and others and followed Han Anbing to Han Fuguo's home.

"Uncle Futian, Uncle Fuqiang, you are all here."

"Here I am, Fengzi, come and sit down."

Li Feng smiled and sat down. "Aunt, add another dish."

"Red sausage, it's good stuff."

Han Futian and his friends have eaten it several times. It is delicious. How can anything made with meat not be delicious?

"A reader sent it to me a few days ago."

Li Feng took out another bag of fried peanuts. "Auntie, get another bowl for the peanuts."

"You kid, you have a lot of good things."

Han Fuqiang patted Li Feng's shoulders twice. If it had been like before, Li Feng would have grimaced, but now Li Feng felt much better and didn't feel much pain.

"Of course not. Now we have all the snacks and drinks."

There was a small bowl of red sausage, a small bowl of peanuts, and a bowl of pickled bamboo shoots.

"You guys eat first."

As she spoke, Shi Chunhua brought a bowl of scrambled eggs and asked everyone to eat first.

"Come, An Bing, pour some wine for your uncle and Fengzi."

After filling the wine bowl, Han Fuguo invited everyone to drink.

After taking a sip of wine, Li Feng pinched a piece of sausage. "Uncle Fuguo, what's the matter with you calling us here?"

"I have something to discuss with you guys."

Han Fuguo ate a peanut and said, "I've discussed the expansion of the furniture factory and hiring that you mentioned this afternoon with Uncle Futian, and he thinks it's a good idea."

"This is the matter."

Li Feng agreed to Li Ran's request. "Uncle Fuguo, that's perfect. I have something to say as well."

Wu Jia didn't hide the fact that he was hiring Li Ran and his kids from Han Fuguo. "Polishing furniture doesn't require much skill, and any kid can do it. I think we could hire some kids from our village, too."

"This way, we won't have to delay the dredging and can help the furniture factory share some of the work."

After Li Feng said this, Han Fuguo and the others really thought about it. "Can these kids succeed? Besides, isn't 25 cents a day too much?"

"Not only children, but also the elderly and even women."

Li Feng thought about it. "Uncle Fuguo, we have a lot of orders right now. If we keep doing it at this rate, who knows how long it will take to finish them. We should add some apprentices and some temporary workers. Children, women, and the elderly can serve as temporary workers."

"That's true. We can accommodate them as apprentices, but we can't have too many. We need to clean up the silt and the riverbed," Han Fuguo said. "We can't put too many laborers in the furniture factory."

"Then let's do as Fengzi said and find some temporary workers."

Han Futian said, "It's just that 25 cents is a little high."

"Uncle Futian, we still have orders worth nearly three thousand yuan. This little money is nothing. The most important thing is to complete the orders quickly." Li Feng said. "Otherwise, it will be difficult for us to accept orders now."

"Can you still get orders?"

"That's for sure."

Li Feng told the others about the upcoming seminar on his work. "When the time comes, I'll try to get it to my courtyard in the county town. Then, I'll have the furniture factory make a few sets of furniture as soon as possible."

"When the meeting starts, I think our furniture will be very popular as soon as we put it on display."

Li Feng pinched a handful of peanuts in his mouth. "By then, there will definitely be another wave of orders. If we haven't completed the orders yet, it will be a waste of time."

"That's true."

Han Fuguo asked Han Anbing to pour the wine.

"Come and have a drink."

"Ah."

Li Feng took a sip of wine and ate a bite of eggs. It must be said that the eggs fried by Aunt Chunhua tasted really good.

We ate and discussed at the same time, and didn't finish dinner until after eight o'clock.

"Uncle Fuguo, Uncle Futian, Uncle Fuqiang, I'm going back first."

"Slow down, do you want An Bing to escort you?"

"It's okay, I didn't drink too much."

Li Feng waved his hand. He was fine after drinking less than two taels of wine. He returned home, washed up and went to bed early. The next day, there was a constant knock on the door.

When I opened the door, I saw that Li Ran, Wu Xiaotian and others were all there.

"What are you doing?"

"Old Deng, why haven't you gone to buy meat yet?"

Li Ran muttered. "Really? I don't know. If you go too late, you won't be able to buy good meat."

"Okay kid, I'll get up right away."

Li Feng was speechless. A group of children came running to him and shouted at him to get up. What else could he say?

"By the way, you will follow me to the furniture factory later and learn from him carefully. Especially Li Ran, don't make any trouble for me." Li Feng said while brushing his teeth.

"I know." (End of chapter)