Back to 1984: I built a chicken farm on a barren mountain.

Chen Youwei asked Accountant Wang to recount the events at the village committee that afternoon.

Regarding Han Laosi's desire to rent the old brick factory, Accountant Wang only briefly mentioned it to the village chief. At that time, the village chief's stomach was rumbling, and he was only thinking about having a big pot of stew for dinner. He also wanted to listen to the story with Chen Wenfeng that night.

Accountant Wang knew Chen Youwei's temperament; he was usually very patient, but deep down he had a fiery temper.

Today, Han Laosi came to the village committee and really angered him. He was very depressed and a little regretful. Why didn't he shut Han Laosi up right then and there?

This attitude is incredibly disrespectful and shows a complete disregard for the village accountant!

He has a mild personality and is not good at arguing with others or confronting them head-on. But he is not stupid either. If he were stupid, could he have become the village accountant and controlled the village's finances?

Since Han Laosi has really angered him, then fine, we can't let him be the only one who's angry; the village chief has to be angry too!

Accountant Wang truthfully recounted to Chen Youwei and Chen Wenfeng what Han Laosi had done that afternoon.

He emphasized Han Laosi's words in detail, and even used the expansion method he used when writing essays in school:

Han Laosi was planning to rent the land from the old brick factory, but he didn't say what he wanted it for; perhaps the village accountant didn't think it was worth telling him.

Han Laosi said that the land was useless, and he was determined to get it. As for the rent, he would just give him a pittance.

Han Laosi said that it didn't matter whether the village chief was there or not, and it didn't matter whether the village accountant's word was law or not.

Han Laosi smoked and spat in the village chief's clean house;

In short, Han Laosi didn't take the village chief seriously.

Chen Wenfeng understood.

Chen Youwei understood.

Chen Wenfeng understood: Han Laosi wanted to rent the old brick factory.

Chen Youwei understood that Han Laosi not only wanted to rent the old brick factory, but also looked down on him.

Chen Youwei had added some more vegetables and meat from the large basin on the kang table, but as he listened, he couldn't eat anymore.

Seeing that Chen Youwei was also getting angry, Accountant Wang picked up his chopsticks, took some meat and vegetables, and started eating.

Really fragrant!

Accountant Wang's anger, which had been building up all afternoon, vanished at this moment.

It turns out that not only can happiness be transferred, but unhappiness can also be transferred.

Chen Wenfeng saw through Accountant Wang's little scheme and found Accountant Wang to be an increasingly interesting person.

"Uncle Youwei, Han Laosi is really like a toad—he doesn't bite, he just annoys people!"

Chen Youwei remained silent for a long time before finally speaking:

"Wenfeng, what do you think about this?"

"Damn, a leader is a leader, he's really calm." Chen Wenfeng seemed to hear a familiar voice, "Yuanfang, what do you think...?"

"Uncle Youwei, I reckon that Han Laosi's sudden request to rent that old brick factory isn't for the place itself. His soy sauce factory is quite large now, enough for him to do whatever he wants, so there's no need to find a new location."

"That makes sense. Since we're all here, let's figure out what he's after. What's so fascinating about that old brick factory?"

Chen Youwei's words make a lot of sense. Han Laosi is the kind of person who won't do anything without a profit. Even if the rent is cheap, he'll still have to pay out of pocket. If there's no benefit to him, he definitely won't do it.

"Uncle Youwei, wait a moment, I'll go get a piece of paper."

After saying this, Chen Wenfeng jumped off the earthen bed and went to the inner room to find paper and pen.

He went back to the outer room, pushed the bowls and chopsticks on the kang table aside, and then spread the manuscript paper out flat.

Using the incandescent light from the roof, Chen Wenfeng sketched the approximate locations of the soy sauce factory and the old brick factory on a piece of paper with a pencil.

He didn't know the specifics of the brick factory, so he handed the pen to Chen Youwei.

Chen Youwei took the pencil and wrote "Soy Sauce Factory" on the soy sauce factory page.

They also wrote "Brick Factory" on the old brick factory site.

After some consideration, I added parentheses after the words "brick factory" and wrote in the parentheses: "Former production team".

After finishing writing, Chen Youwei handed the pen back to Accountant Wang and said:

"Draw a picture of what's inside."

I go!

Chen Wenfeng was shocked by Chen Youwei's actions. Village Chief, Uncle Youwei, if you don't know how to draw it, can't you just admit it? This is too much!

Accountant Wang didn't show any surprise, perhaps because he was already used to Chen Youwei's occasional childish behavior.

After all, a man is a boy until he dies!

Accountant Wang moved the paper closer to his position, picked up a pencil, thought carefully for a while, and began to draw at the location of the old brick factory.

Walls, roads, brick kilns, factories, dormitories, open spaces, abandoned equipment, deep wells...

Deep well!

Chen Wenfeng's eyes lit up; he immediately guessed Han Laosi's intentions.

At this moment, Chen Youwei was holding the manuscript paper that Accountant Wang had finished drawing, lost in thought.

"Uncle Wang, what is that deep well?"

"The wells in the village are all shallow, usually seven or eight meters deep, and the water is already very sweet. This well was originally used as a machine well, and it was drilled very deep, but I don't know the exact depth."

"Is this well still usable?"

"It hasn't been used for a long time, but there's definitely water in it, and the water quality is pretty good. After all, it's deep!"

"Now I know why Han Laosi wanted to rent the old brick factory!"

Why?

Chen Youwei and Accountant Wang raised questions at the same time.

"He did it all for this well."

Chen Wenfeng answered affirmatively.

When Han Laosi first started his soy sauce factory, Chen Wenfeng sent Hou Laizi to infiltrate it—in modern terms, to be a corporate spy.

According to Zheng Erli's original plan, the soy sauce factory would need to dig a well, but in order to save money on well-drilling, Han Laosi ultimately used water from a reservoir. However, the reservoir was not large, and its storage was greatly affected by the seasons, so Chen Youwei knew that Han Laosi would definitely have trouble with the water.

Now that it's winter and the river is frozen, Hou Laizi recently reported to Chen Wenfeng that the soy sauce factory is having some trouble getting water. Sometimes they have to go to the reservoir to get water, but the water is covered in ice, and they have to wait for the ice to melt before they can use it.

Although most of the soy sauce produced in winter is from existing stock, it still inevitably contains water.

Even when sales are good, it takes time to build up the business.

Han Laosi's soy sauce is selling well now, so he inevitably needs water.

This deep well must have been his dream.

Chen Wenfeng briefly explained his judgment and reasoning to Chen Youwei and Accountant Wang, but omitted the fact that Hou Laizi was a commercial spy.

"Wenfeng, what you said makes sense, or rather, it's pretty much right."

Accountant Wang listened to Chen Wenfeng's analysis and also felt that it made a lot of sense, or rather, that it was the most reasonable guess.

This kid's got some skills.

"Wenfeng, what do you want to do?"

Chen Wenfeng thought to himself, "I've already used up a lot of brain cells analyzing this; you guys should give me some ideas too." He answered honestly:

"Uncle Youwei, I haven't figured out what to do either!"

At this moment, Accountant Wang suddenly realized and said:

"Village chief, you just said that Wen Feng's guess is pretty much right, and this Han Lao Si also says he's pretty much guaranteed to take over the old brick factory!"

Chen Youwei was truly angry this time, and in his fury, the village chief had a brilliant idea...