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

Chen Wenfeng took Niu Da and Niu Er to the village to collect mushrooms. They had already set up their stall when he suddenly slapped his forehead and said:

"I forgot something important."

Niu Da and Niu Er hurriedly asked:

"Brother Feng, what's wrong? Is something important?"

Chen Wenfeng said:

"What's a reasonable price range for fresh and dried mushrooms?"

Upon hearing Chen Wenfeng's question, Niu Da and Niu Er were instantly at a loss. Niu Er thought for a moment and said:

"Brother Feng, there's another problem. Fresh mushrooms are hard to preserve. If they're not dried properly, we'll suffer huge losses."

"You make a good point, but fresh mushrooms aren't a big problem. I'm worried that things might get complicated if we wait. Although we're not afraid of troublemakers like Han Laosi, it's always troublesome if someone causes trouble. Besides, Han Laosi's new secretary isn't exactly easy to deal with either. Let's keep them for now and take them when Han Laosi comes up with something."

"Brother Feng, I have an idea that can keep Han Laosi quiet for a couple of days," Niu Er said with a wicked smile.

"If he stays quiet for two days, we'll have almost finished harvesting the mushrooms."

"Oh? What's your plan?"

Seeing Niu Er's confident demeanor, Chen Wenfeng knew he was up to no good. Niu Er simply said:

"Brother Feng, you don't need to worry about this. I'll talk to Hou Laizi and make sure Han Laosi suffers for a couple of days. You'll find out the details later."

"Alright!" Since Niu Er had given his assurance, why wouldn't Chen Wenfeng agree? Among Zhou Zhiming, Niu Da, Niu Er, and Hou Laizi, Niu Er was the most resourceful.

"Niu Da, go to the supply and marketing cooperative and ask about the purchase price of pine mushrooms, both dried and fresh. We'll use that as a reference," Chen Wenfeng instructed.

After hearing Chen Wenfeng's instructions, Niu Da took off running towards the supply and marketing cooperative.

Chen Wenfeng told Niu Er to continue tidying up the stall, while he went into the village committee's courtyard. Village chief Chen Youwei was not there, and accountant Wang was in the house keeping accounts.

"Uncle Wang, I'm busy!"

"Wenfeng, come in quickly, the village chief has gone to a meeting in town."

"What kind of meeting is this, in this thick fog?"

"He was told he wouldn't go out this morning because of the heavy fog, but now that the fog has cleared, he got a call from the town and rushed over."

"Uncle Wang, please make a broadcast for me, I want to harvest mushrooms."

"Okay!" Accountant Wang put down the ledger in her hand and immediately went to the microphone in the conference room.

He wasn't as familiar with broadcasting as Chen Youwei, and it took him a while to get it working. He then tested the microphone and said:

"Feed, feed him..."

Seeing Wang the accountant's earnest yet clumsy manner, Chen Wenfeng couldn't help but think of Li Cuie and Chen Shouxin. Wang the accountant was such a good person, and handsome too, so why couldn't he control his own wife?

He even impulsively wanted to tell Accountant Wang to pay more attention to his wife, but he didn't know how to bring it up.

To tell him or not to tell him, that is the question.

Forget it, let's wait until the right time.

After Accountant Wang finished setting it up, he began broadcasting:

"Hey, hey, hey! Attention villagers, attention villagers..."

During the broadcast, Accountant Wang confirmed the information with Chen Wenfeng several times. Chen Wenfeng sighed, saying that good people don't get good rewards, while bad people leave a legacy of harm for thousands of years.

As Accountant Wang helped promote the event over the loudspeaker, people gradually dug out dried mushrooms from their homes, and many others took advantage of the fog to pick fresh mushrooms from the mountains.

Niu Da also inquired about the price of mushrooms from the supply and marketing cooperative, and rushed back, panting, saying:

"Brother Feng, I've found out."

"What are the prices at the supply and marketing cooperative?"

"Dried mushrooms are 3.2 yuan per jin, and fresh mushrooms are 0.45 yuan per jin."

"Are these all the prices for this year's matsutake mushrooms?"

"Yes, I asked about the latest purchase price carefully. Their requirements are quite high. They said dried mushrooms must be completely dried and free of insects. Fresh mushrooms must not have insects, dirt, or open caps."

The supply and marketing cooperative is indeed very experienced in purchasing mountain products. Mushrooms are prone to having insects. Many mushrooms look fine, but small white insects appear during the drying process. If there are only a few insects, they will dry along with the mushrooms, leaving some insect holes. If there are too many insects, they will eat the whole mushroom until it is completely damaged before it is dried.

As for fresh mushrooms, if the cap has opened, meaning the mushroom spawn has grown too mature, it will easily rot and cannot be dried in the sun.

In addition, according to the supply and marketing cooperative's price, dried mushrooms are seven or eight times more expensive than fresh mushrooms. However, five or six catties of fresh mushrooms can actually produce one catty of dried mushrooms. The supply and marketing cooperative set the price in this way to take into account the loss of fresh mushrooms during the drying process.

Chen Wenfeng thought about it carefully for a moment and said:

"We'll also collect them according to the standards of the supply and marketing cooperative. We'll be more careful this time. Mushrooms are too delicate, unlike climbing plants."

Upon hearing Chen Wenfeng mention Dengdaoshan, Niu Er chuckled and said:

"Brother Feng, do you know how many people died last time Han Laosi gave us the 'Mountain Climbing' technique?"

"I'm not sure about that. Weren't you supposed to be in contact with Han Laosi?"

"You were too busy back then, and I forgot to tell you. Han Laosi arranged for Hou Laizi to work with me. Hou Laizi killed a lot of the dead 'Dengdaoshan' when he was collecting them, so many of them didn't count. Han Laosi was annoyed by the sight of those dead 'Dengdaoshan', so he gave them to us for free. We fed the 'Dengdaoshan' that we picked out to the chickens."

"Hahaha, you guys have all been corrupted by dealing with Han Laosi."

Niu Er then said:

"Brother Feng, how much money are we planning to allocate for mushroom harvesting?"

Chen Wenfeng said:

"High quality, high price. We offer 3.5 yuan per jin for dried mushrooms and 0.5 yuan per jin for fresh mushrooms. We need to offer more than the supply and marketing cooperative for people to be willing to supply us!"

Niu Da and Niu Er both agreed after hearing this. They found that although Chen Wenfeng was very good at doing business, he was willing to offer high prices whenever it came to purchasing goods in the village. He would make money for himself and also help the villagers make more money.

For this reason, Chen Wenfeng has always had a good reputation in Chenjiazhuang. His mother, Yang Xiuhua, is very proud that Niu Da and Niu Er are working with Chen Wenfeng and wants the two brothers to take Chen Wenfeng as their role model.

These two brothers are honest and stubborn. Since they followed Chen Wenfeng, they always considered Chen Wenfeng's needs. For example, when dealing with Han Laosi, Chen Wenfeng was sometimes too embarrassed to take action, so they were happy to come up with some ideas to teach Han Laosi a lesson.

Niu Er seemed restless and stammering next to Chen Wenfeng. Chen Wenfeng knew what Niu Er wanted to do, so he said:

"Go and fetch Zhou Zhiming. He's good at buying and selling, so you don't need to stay here and keep watch. Go find Hou Laizi. But you can make a fuss, just don't do anything out of line."

Upon hearing Chen Wenfeng's words, Niu Er felt as if he had been granted a pardon. His heart had already flown to Han Laosi's soy sauce factory. He assured Chen Wenfeng:

"Don't worry, Brother Feng, I'm just going to disgust him and make him shut up for a couple of days. I won't do anything else!"