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

When Chen Wenfeng rushed back to Jiming Mountain from the county town, it was already completely dark. Zhou Zhiming, Niu Dan and Niu Er had already started a fire and were chatting around it.

During his trip to the county town, he inquired about Xuexia's breakfast, Zhang's noodle shop, and Li's mutton soup.

Xuexia's breakfast is a given; she won't use eggs from other places unless there are special circumstances. Even though Li Ji's mutton soup offended Chen Wenfeng last time, she won't have any other thoughts.

Zhang's Noodle Shop said that some people in the town also wanted to supply eggs, but the quality of the eggs wasn't very good and the price wasn't cheap, so they still wanted to continue cooperating with Chen Wenfeng.

Based on this analysis, Chen Wenfeng concluded that his three regular customers were all fine, and other restaurants in the county also had their own supply channels, so Han Laosi's main sales channel would be Qiwang Town.

"Brother Feng, I went to the west of the town to collect eggs today. I usually finish collecting them in half a day, but today it took me until after lunch to collect enough. Some villagers there said that other people from our village also went to collect eggs, and they were charging half a cent more per egg than we were charging. But no one was selling them, and then the price went up to one cent more per egg than we were charging. I just heard Zhiming say that it was Han Laosi from our village."

Niu Er poked at the fire with a stick, explaining the situation to Chen Wenfeng. Chen Wenfeng asked:

"Based on your analysis, if we don't raise prices, will it affect the number of eggs we collect?"

"It doesn't matter. Although some people are willing to sell to Han Laosi, many fellow villagers have always supplied us. They think we are reliable. As long as the price difference isn't too much, we can just get supplies from a few more suppliers."

Chen Wenfeng thought for a moment and then said:

"That's good. Make a list of those who have been consistently supplying us, and try to get them to sell eggs that are neither too big nor too small. If they are on the larger side, give them a little more money. In principle, we make two cents per egg. We brothers work hard all day and only earn a meager living. If Han Laosi doesn't extend his reach to the county town and only sells his eggs in the town, the price won't exceed the county town's price. After all that fuss, he can calculate that he can only earn a maximum of one cent per egg, or even less."

Niu Da, who lived next door to Han Lao Si and knew his background, interjected:

"Brother Feng, I have a feeling that Han Laosi might be trying to steal our business."

The campfire illuminated Chen Wenfeng's face as he slowly spoke:

"It's possible that Han Laosi is trying to squeeze us out. Right now, he's competing with us for supplies, and I suspect he'll also try to take over our sales channels. My suggestion is that we protect what we have first, see what Han Laosi is up to, and then we'll deal with whatever he says. I'll go over the egg collection process now, and we must strictly follow this from now on."

After saying that, Chen Wenfeng explained in detail to the three of them the process of cleaning, inspecting, labeling, and classifying the eggs.

This increased the workload, but it ensured the quality of the eggs. It's just that these days there are no cell phones or QR codes. If there were, Chen Wenfeng would even like to put QR codes on the eggs for traceability; a simple scan with a phone would reveal which hen the egg came from: which village, how old the hen was, what color it was, and so on. That's called visible quality.

Finally, Chen Wenfeng gave the following instructions:

"From now on, we'll follow this standard when collecting eggs from each village. If we deliver to the county town, we'll keep an eye out for any issues. We'll meet up on the mountain every night from now on."

......

At Han Laosi's house, Han Laosi's wife, Li Dahua, stroked the newly collected eggs and complained:

"Honey, the price we pay for eggs here is one cent more than Chen Shouyi's eldest son's, which means each egg is 11 cents. The restaurants in town will only pay 12 cents at most, and they'll be picky and round it down. We're not making any money this way, so we're just working for nothing."

Han Laosi, holding his pipe, slowly took a puff, exhaled a cloud of white smoke, and said:

"Women are all talk and no action. Why are you in such a hurry? This is the first time we've done business. He's not even fully grown yet, what are we afraid of? Let's take over all the restaurants in town first, then go to the county town and poach Shouyi's son's customers. If he buys eggs but has no market, his business won't last long. If he quits, we'll have a ready-made solution."

"I heard that Shouyi's nephew is quite capable; didn't he take care of Chen Laosan?"

"What skills does he have? That's Chen Laosan, a good-for-nothing. All he knows how to do is seduce women. What can he possibly accomplish? He doesn't want his brother Chen Shouyi to have a good life. I suggested he deal with his nephew first, but instead, he not only failed but also got beaten up. He's utterly useless!"

When Han Laosi spoke of Chen Shouyi, he sounded vicious, and Li Dahua couldn't help but say:

"I think it's not Chen Laosan who doesn't want Chen Shouyi to have a good life, but you!"

"What nonsense are you spouting now!"

"What nonsense are you spouting? Everyone in Chenjiazhuang knows you used to have a crush on Wang Guizhi, but her family never even looked at you. All these years later, you still can't let it go, you're holding this grudge..."

Snapped!

Han Laosi slammed his pipe on the ground and cursed:

"You stupid woman! It's none of my business who I take a fancy to. You've been living the high life since you came with me. What is Chen Shouyi anyway? A penniless pauper. What makes him think he can compare to me, the first person in Chenjiazhuang to earn ten thousand yuan! Wang Guizhi's father looked down on me back then because he was blind. Go take a piss and look at yourself in the mirror. Go burn some incense. If Wang Guizhi had come with me, would you be living the life you have today? If you've had enough of this good life and you're still spouting this useless nonsense, then go back to your parents' house!"

Seeing that her husband was angry, Li Dahua didn't dare to say anything more. She carefully picked up the pipe bowl and felt very distressed to see that the brittle jade mouthpiece was broken.

Wang Guizhi and Chen Shouyi were a thorn in Han Laosi's heart, a thorn that had been deeply embedded for so many years. He thought he had concealed this knot in his heart very well, but in the end, he could not escape the eyes of Li Dahua, who shared a bed with him every day.

Seeing that his wife was silent, Han Laosi felt that it was unnecessary to suddenly get angry, so he calmed down and said:

"That happened so many years ago, let's not bring it up again. Get me some money ready, I'll pack up in the next couple of days and make a special trip to the county town to win over Chen Shouyi's son's clients. What's the name of your uncle's shop again? We haven't been in touch much all these years. As the saying goes, 'If you don't visit for three years, even relatives aren't close.' I need to prepare some things to ask him for help!"

"I told you before that you look down on him. I visited my uncle during the Chinese New Year. He's getting old, and my older cousin took over the shop he used to run."

"Nonsense, he looked down on me back then too. Anyway, let's not talk about that. What was the name of his shop again?"

"It's an old brand, now it's moved to Dongguan in the county town, and it's called Li Ji Lamb Soup."