1980: I have a spiritual spring

Chapter 3 The next generation is terrible
It's the end of the seventh month of the lunar calendar, and the weather is still very hot. Because of her obesity, Huang Hongmei is more afraid of the heat than ordinary people. She was already covered in sweat when her fourth brother urged her to go home.

Huang Hongmei wiped her sweat with a towel, looked at her four children in the room, and asked, "Why did you call me back in such a hurry?"

Qiao Dajiang, the eldest son, spoke up: "The village has already distributed the land. Our family received a total of 21 mu of land. In addition to planting wheat, we also plan to buy some laying hens to raise. So I wanted to ask how much money you have on hand?"

Upon hearing the word "money," Huang Hongmei immediately became alert, her eyes darting around as she said, "You all know the situation at home; I don't have much money on me."

Qiao Erhe, who possessed memories of his past life, knew his mother's personality best. Without wasting words, he said directly, "Egg chicken farming is the key to our family's ability to escape poverty and become wealthy. So stop hiding it and give us 300 yuan!"

Upon hearing this, Huang Hongmei jumped up as if she had been pricked by a needle: "300 yuan? Where would I get 300 yuan? 30 yuan is more like it."

The Qiao siblings knew their mother's character well. Qiao Dajiang's face darkened, and he said, "This is for serious business, not for squandering."

Although Huang Hongmei was somewhat intimidated by her eldest son, asking her to produce 300 yuan would be tantamount to killing her. She denied it, saying, "Eldest son, I really don't have that much money on me."

Qiao Erhe said calmly, "You can fool outsiders with this, but there's no need to fool your own children with it, is there? You said you were going to find a wife for your older brother, but if you don't even have 300 yuan, what's the point of finding a wife for him?"

Huang Hongmei looked somewhat displeased and said to her eldest son, "That's money saved for you to get married. If you take it and can't get married, don't blame me."

Qiao Dajiang said without hesitation, "Then give me the money. When I get married, you won't have to pay for it."

Seeing this, Huang Hongmei was still heartbroken, but since things had come to this point, she had no choice but to give the money.

So she went back to her room, and a few minutes later she came out with a stack of money, put it on the table and said, “This is 300 yuan. You can do whatever you want with it. But if you lose it, then you’ll have to figure out how to get a wife yourself, eldest son.”

Qiao Dajiang and Qiao Erhe exchanged a glance, then each picked up the money on the table and began counting it.

Perhaps Huang Hongmei was too heartbroken to take out so much money at once. While her two sons were counting the money, she left with a stern face, wanting to avoid seeing it.

After counting the money and confirming that there was 300 yuan, Qiao Dajiang looked at his second brother and said, "Now that we have the money, what should we do next?"

Qiao Erhe said, "Before we start sowing wheat, we need to fence off our homestead with bamboo fences or wooden fences, and build some simple chicken coops to shelter us from the wind and rain. Only after we have done all that can we buy the chicks to raise."

Qiao Dajiang said, "Such a large area needs a lot of timber and bamboo to be fenced off. Where are we going to get so much timber and bamboo?"

The Cenhe area is a plain, and farmers only plant a few trees in front of and behind their houses, unlike the mountainous areas where timber and bamboo are plentiful.

Qiao Erhe thought for a moment and said, "Brother, why don't you go to the brigade's forest farm and ask about the prices first? See if the purchase price of timber and bamboo is expensive. If it's cheap, we can buy it directly from the forest farm. If it's expensive, then forget it."

Cenhe Commune established its first forest farm in 1958, and then various production brigades followed suit and established their own forest farms, so Hongshan Brigade also had a forest farm.

Qiao Dajiang asked, "Second brother, if the price is high, what should we do? Should we continue raising these laying hens?"

Qiao Erhe laughed and said, "Of course we have to raise them. How can we get out of poverty and become rich if we don't raise them?"

Qiao Dajiang frowned and said, "There's no way to fence off this plot of land. How are we supposed to raise these laying hens?"

Qiao Erhe said, "I have my own way of dealing with this, but let's go ask about the prices of timber and bamboo first. My method is useful, but it's a last resort. We still need to build the wall once we've made some money."

Qiao Dajiang nodded and said, "Okay, I'll go to the brigade's forest farm and ask."

……

While his elder brother went to the brigade's forest farm to inquire about timber and bamboo prices, Qiao Erhe was also busy; he went to the commune's poultry and egg factory.

The poultry and egg factory in Cenhe Commune was established in 1971. It is mainly responsible for hatching chickens and ducks, processing poultry eggs, raising chickens and ducks, etc. Naturally, Qiao Erhe came to inquire about the purchase price of chicks.

Upon arriving at the poultry factory, Qiao Erhe asked the gatekeeper, "Comrade, is your factory manager here?" The gatekeeper glanced at Qiao Erhe and, instead of answering, asked, "Comrade, who are you? What do you need our factory manager for?"

Qiao Erhe said, "My surname is Qiao, and I am from Qiaojiawan Village, Hongshan Brigade. I have a business to discuss with your factory director, and I would appreciate it if you could inform him of it."

The gatekeeper observed him carefully and realized that Comrade Qiao was probably not joking with him, so he nodded and said, "Okay, then wait here for me for a moment, I'll go and tell the factory manager."

Qiao Erhe responded and then began to examine the poultry and egg factory.

Although the poultry and egg factory has been established for nearly ten years, its development was not fast in the 1970s, and it currently only has two buildings with 26 rooms each.

Soon, the gatekeeper led a middle-aged man out of the house.

"Factory manager, this is Comrade Qiao. He said he has some business to discuss with you."

The gatekeeper introduced, "Comrade Qiao, this is our factory manager, surnamed Yang."

Qiao Erhe immediately greeted him, "Hello, Director Yang."

Factory Director Yang greeted him politely, "Hello, Comrade Qiao, please come in."

The two exchanged pleasantries as they walked, and once they entered the factory director's office, Qiao Erhe got straight to the point: "Director Yang, I've come here to purchase a batch of laying hens from your factory. I wonder how much each laying hen costs?"

Factory Director Yang said, "Our factory sells these chicks for 12 cents each. I wonder how many your production team plans to buy, Comrade Qiao?"

Qiao Erhe laughed and said, "Director Yang, you may have misunderstood. I am buying the chicks on my own behalf, not on behalf of our Qiaojiawan production team."

Factory Director Yang was taken aback for a moment upon hearing this, then asked with some disappointment, "Comrade Qiao, how many do you plan to buy?"

Qiao Erhe didn't waste any words and held up one finger, saying, "I want to buy 1000 of them. I wonder if you, Factory Director Yang, could give me a discount?"

Upon hearing this, Director Yang looked at Qiao Erhe in disbelief: "Comrade Qiao, did I hear that right? You said you want to buy 1000 chicks?"

In this day and age, there were no individual farmers in the entire Cenhe Commune. So when one suddenly appeared and started raising thousands of chicks, it was hard for Director Yang not to be shocked.

Qiao Erhe smiled and said, "Yes, I do want to buy 1000 chicks. And this is just the beginning. If the breeding goes smoothly, it would be normal to buy 3000 or even 5000."

If others follow suit and start raising them, the number of chicks needed will be even more staggering.

Therefore, I hope Director Yang can give me a reasonable price, which will definitely bring huge profits to your poultry and egg factory.

Factory Director Yang was thrilled and immediately made a decision: "Comrade Qiao, I am willing to sell you the chicks you need for one cent each. I hope you can promote our poultry and egg factory and let other villagers come to our factory to buy chicks and ducklings. We also have other chicks and ducklings."

Qiao Erhe laughed and said, "Helping with publicity is no problem. My farm is not yet ready, so I'll pay the deposit first. I'll pay the rest in a few days after the site is ready. I hope your farm can help with the transportation then, otherwise I won't be able to get so many chicks back."

Factory Director Yang readily agreed, "No problem."

With the deal finalized, Qiao Erhe didn't linger and immediately got up to say goodbye and leave.

Watching Qiao Erhe's departing figure, Director Yang couldn't help but sigh, "Truly, the younger generation is formidable!"

……

P.S.: I saw many familiar IDs. Thank you all for your continued support. I hope this work can bring you some enjoyment. Thank you!

(End of this chapter)