A small plot of land in a mountain village

On the way back, Zhang Niu discovered that the mulberries in the bag, which had only been there for a short time, had already crushed many of the purple mulberries at the bottom, causing them to leak purple juice.

As soon as he got home, the village chief was sitting in the main hall, eating zongzi (sticky rice dumplings), and smiling as he watched Zhang Niu walk in.

Could it be that the workshop project might actually work out? Upon seeing the village chief, this thought immediately came to mind.

"Village chief, you're all smiles, does that mean it's actually done?"

"That's right, that's why I wanted to discuss the specific details with you." The old man couldn't hide his joy.

"No, I only heard about this from others, and I just wanted to tell you on a whim." Chairman Zhang suggested this idea, and he thought he was just a helper at best.

"Now everyone knows your family is doing well. Look at all those cars coming and going at the resort, who wouldn't be envious?" he said, staring at Zhang Niu.

Well, this made Zhang Niu feel embarrassed. His family wasn't even well-off yet; their house hadn't been rebuilt and was still a mud-brick house.

The father, smoking a cigarette nearby, was quite surprised to hear the conversation. He wondered what idea his son had proposed to the village chief. He watched the two talk and occasionally chimed in with a word or two.

"The village committee has already convened, and many people have agreed, but they still don't understand how to implement it. That's why I asked you to explain it to them and see if you can come and take a look." It seems they really need Zhang Niu's help.

"My friend went back recently. He'll be back in a few days. I'll get his contact number, and we can go there together to take a look. I'll also teach a few of the smarter young men in the village how to do it." He quickly came up with a plan.

After all, we need to bring back the master craftsman to this bamboo workshop, otherwise we might not be able to afford to set it up.

"That's a good idea. It would be best if someone could come and give us some guidance." Although there are many things we don't understand, with an experienced master's guidance, many problems can be solved.

The village chief's words showed that he had considered things quite thoroughly, much better than Zhang Niu.

It took my dad a long time to understand that the village was planning to fund the establishment of a bamboo workshop. This was a great idea, as Zhangjia Village had plenty of moso bamboo. Unfortunately, every year they only cut down moso bamboo to sell, and no one had considered this. They had plenty of moso bamboo growing on their own bamboo mountain, which was being wasted.

Zhang Niu and the village chief had a long talk, during which they were both smiling.

In the following days, Chairman Zhang returned from the provincial capital with a cycad that truly impressed the members of the association. The chairman was indeed the chairman; he could even bring back a flowering cycad.

Everyone wanted to find out where the iron tree came from, but Chairman Zhang simply said it was a gift from a friend, dispelling their hopes. If it were anyone else, these guys would have gotten the information they wanted long ago.

The fragrant cherries I brought back were given to Secretary Zhu. After tasting them, he realized that they were the famously expensive milk-fragrant cherries that had caused such a stir. He was very satisfied to learn that they were grown by a young man named Zhang Niu. He thought that this young man was really capable. If these cherries could be promoted throughout the city, he wondered how many people would benefit.

This idea was quickly dispelled by Old Zhang's words. The problem with this type of cherry was still the geological conditions in his area. Even Zhang Niu didn't understand how these cherries could produce such a fragrance, so there was no point in trying to promote them.

This answer was actually something Zhang Niu made up.

These words made Secretary Zhu sigh with regret.

Before leaving, Chairman Zhang asked if they wanted a flowering cycad to place in a pot in the courtyard.

The cycad blooming pleased Secretary Zhu greatly, and he instructed him not to forget to bring a pot next time.

After Chairman Zhang returned, Zhang Niu mentioned that the village was preparing to set up a bamboo workshop and hoped to introduce some friends who run bamboo factories.

The village was planning to set up a bamboo factory, which surprised Chairman Zhang, who had only casually mentioned his idea.

"Let's go!"

"Hurry up, what are you dawdling for? This car won't wait for anyone." The village chief stood at the entrance of the village and shouted at the young man who ran out, quite dissatisfied. He was only coming out now, didn't he know that people were waiting for him?

Early in the morning, the bamboo factory drove over to pick up the villagers. Zhang Niu and Chairman Zhang naturally went along. The village chief was dressed quite formally today; he really didn't hold the position for nothing.

A white van led the way. Chairman Zhang followed at a distance in his car, traveling along country roads, so he wasn't worried about losing track of the vehicle.

After driving for more than an hour, we turned into the mountains.

The lush trees and chirping birds in front of me show that the owner of this bamboo factory really knows how to choose a location.

After passing a large bamboo forest, a spacious open area came into view, with a large pile of bamboo piled up. The sounds of machines cutting the bamboo and water being sprayed filled the air.

Not far away was a white pond, with a large iron frame standing beside it, upon which a large round plate was placed. It swayed up and down, making a sound like bamboo joints hitting each other, and white water occasionally spilled from the large plate. Now I knew why the pond had turned white.

"The chairman is here." Chairman Zhang had just stepped out of the car.

A man with a square face, large eyes, and thick eyebrows walked up.

"Junior high school student, didn't you bring your friend to study here?"

Earlier in the car, Chairman Zhang had mentioned this boss, who was a former member of his company. He had a good eye for business, and many of his photos had won awards. Now he runs this bamboo manufacturing factory.

Chairman Zhang led the village chief and Guozhong in shaking hands, and everyone became acquainted.

They have very outgoing personalities, making communication easy.

"Come on in, have a seat. I've already had tea prepared." Leading Chairman Zhang, they walked towards the three-story building in front of them.

The village chief sent the young man from outside to learn from him.

The first floor is a large room of four or five hundred square meters. A large group of women are standing in front of a large table, piecing together sections of bamboo mats. A little further away, many people are holding bamboo poles and cutting them into sections.

The situation on the second floor was similar to that on the first floor, except that there were no bamboo sawing machines on this floor, and it was quiet.

This layer has excellent sound insulation; unlike the lower layer, where the cutting noise is really annoying.

Junior high school led everyone to the third-floor reception room.

"Come, sit down, don't be shy." He gestured to his assistant to bring over some tea.

On the glass table, there was a stack of books about bamboo products. The restless Zhang Niu picked one out. It was full of various styles of bamboo mats, with many exquisite patterns.

"Everyone here was introduced by the chairman. All the bamboo products on this table are from my area. You can take a look and get an idea of ​​what they are."

The idea is good. The village chief looked through the products with colorful pictures, and they were quite attractive.

The village chief's impression of the junior high school improved considerably. Chairman Zhang really had a lot of influence; the bamboo shop owner had already arranged the materials well in advance.

Seeing everyone flipping through the pictures in the book, the junior high student said in a calm and composed voice, "These bamboo products are actually very simple. What you see here is actually my branch factory, which specializes in making bamboo mats and similar products."

I didn't expect this to be a branch factory that produces bamboo mats. This boss really has a lot of factories.

"Speaking of bamboo mats, business is very good in the height of summer, but we have to stop production in the fall. I want to make that clear to everyone in advance."

The village chief had done a lot of research before we arrived, so he had a fairly clear understanding of the situation, which was better than being completely clueless.

"I know, who sleeps on bamboo in winter?"

"It's good to know. Bamboo mats are produced in the height of summer, and bamboo charcoal can be considered in winter. However, I don't approve of burning bamboo charcoal, as it's a waste of such good bamboo."

Chairman Zhang greatly admires this aspect of Guozhong. He owns three or four bamboo processing plants, but he resolutely refuses to produce bamboo charcoal, believing that the high price of bamboo charcoal is a waste of bamboo.

Burning bamboo charcoal? Not only would the village chief not agree, but many people in the village share the same idea: a ton of bamboo charcoal is expensive, but who knows how much bamboo would be burned.

"Yes, that's right. We don't approve of burning bamboo charcoal in our area either." The village chief strongly agreed with this statement.

Guozhong nodded in satisfaction. Society has changed. Merchants are now all about profit, selling watered-down pork, dyed black rice, and so on—it makes you feel like merchants aren't as good as they used to be.

"Since this is your first time opening a workshop, I can send a few masters over to give you some pointers. The patterns for these bamboo mats are quite simple, and the masters will teach you these techniques. Your mountain village has better resources than mine, so you can weave bamboo products in the winter and sell them to other provinces."

In addition to explaining, the junior high school student also took everyone to the warehouse, opened up the bamboo mats for everyone to see, and introduced each bamboo mat of different colors and qualities.

The village chiefs had their eyes opened; the northern version was made of reeds, while theirs was made of genuine bamboo.

Half a day passed very quickly. After touring the warehouse, we were taken downstairs and given explanations of the various tools. If you wanted to buy anything, you could recommend someone you knew, and the price would definitely not be high, plus the quality was guaranteed.

Time flies by. The young man is quite eager to learn. He asks questions whenever he doesn't understand something and always gets a satisfactory answer.

"Then we'll head back now." In the afternoon, everyone began preparing to go home. They had really learned a lot that day.

With a smile, Guozhong said, "When you're ready to open a factory and have all the equipment purchased, you can call me, and I'll send a few experienced technicians over to give you some pointers."

"Thank you so much." The village chief shook hands.

The bag was full of documents; these were bamboo mat materials that the junior high school student had asked the village chief to take back and review before leaving.

"How was the harvest?" Chairman Zhang asked, who was driving.

"You've gained a lot; I must thank your friends, and you as well," the village chief said with a smile.

"It's just a small favor, why bother? You should plan this workshop as soon as possible. If things go well, it can last for two or three months. There are many people in the village, so we won't have to worry about finding someone to make bamboo mats."

Yes, it's already the beginning of June. We need to hurry, or this deal will fall through.

The village chief plans to go back and hold a village committee meeting to discuss this matter properly; it cannot be taken lightly.

Back at Happy House, we saw Liang Shan holding a little rabbit and walking towards the pond.

"Liang Shan, what are you doing?" Zhang Niu asked immediately.

"You're back. It's because your barbed wire wasn't properly secured, and quite a few rabbits escaped." He led Zhang Niu to the repaired area.

He scratched his head and said, "The internet was good that time, and I didn't check carefully. I didn't expect to have such a big problem. Luckily, it's not too late to fix it now."

Puzzled, Zhang Niu was baffled. He had checked the area several times before, and everything was solid; how could such a large hole have appeared? He truly couldn't understand it. (To be continued. For more chapters and to support the author, please log in and read the original version!)