Volume 1 Chapter 28: Liangzi's Summary

  From the 23rd of the lunar calendar to the eve of the Spring Festival, people call this period 'Welcoming Spring Day', also known as 'Dust Sweeping Day'. As the Spring Festival is approaching, every household needs to clean furniture, wash bedding, sweep away dust and dirt, clear garbage, and thoroughly clean up to welcome the new spring.

  On the twenty-third day of the twelfth lunar month, we worship the stove god. On the twenty-fourth day of the twelfth lunar month, early in the morning, after eating the shrimp dumplings, egg yolk burnt buns, cha siu bao and glutinous rice chicken made by Fang Murnan, as well as millet porridge.

  They ate until everyone was full and round, contentedly rubbing their bellies. After cleaning up, Grandma handed things to Dad and Mom for them to take a trip back to the city, to give New Year's gifts to her in-laws. This time she finally had the chance to show off in front of her relatives, proudly. It was too cold, so Grandma didn't let them bring the kids.

  After seeing them off, Grandma took Xiaoyi to start sweeping the house, doing a thorough cleaning in preparation for the New Year. Fang Mò Nán took Mò Běi with him and didn't go disturb the adults from working.

  They had been busy all morning without a break. Just before noon, Old Man Lin brought someone to their house.

  "County Magistrate Wang, how did you come?" Xiaoyi's face was covered with a dustpan, holding a broom in her hand, shaking off the dust, looking at them with embarrassment and hiding behind their backs.

  "Look what you said, if I'm not working at the county committee, I won't be able to come here." County Mayor Wang said with a warm smile. Yesterday, his family received those vegetables and he couldn't help but wonder in his heart. This is a poor and remote countryside, it's not like Beijing where they can be airlifted from the south, how could there be fresh green leafy vegetables? After asking around, he found out that they were sent by the Mo family. He suppressed his thoughts and spent a sleepless night, bringing his questions with him when he came today. On the way, he didn't expect to meet Old Man Lin, who knew the ins and outs of the situation. He deliberately came to take a look at the 'big greenhouse', which led to this outcome.

  Little aunt went to call grandma over to entertain, "Elder sister-in-law, it seems that the color is not bad, made some money?" Grandma was originally nervous in her heart, how did the county magistrate come to their house. After hearing his words, she felt a 'thud' in her heart. "No... no money, just barely making ends meet." She forced out a smile that was uglier than crying and replied reluctantly.

  "How could you serve me such expensive dishes? This isn't quite right," said County Head Wang with a straight face.

  "That wasn't bought, that's what we grew ourselves..." Grandma hastened to say, this big hat was pressed down on her and made her a bit afraid.

  "Alright, stop teasing Mo's big sister." Old Man Lin interrupted. "Hurry up and take our County Chief to visit the 'big greenhouse' now."

  "Oh!" The old lady was confused by their teasing, but she also figured out that the county head was just joking around. They were fine. Today, the county head had only come to see how they were doing with their vegetable garden and then took them to the backyard.

  County Magistrate Wang looked at it and exclaimed in surprise, as if he had seen a treasure. He nodded his head and said, "This is really good stuff. Our county is an agricultural county. If this can be promoted throughout the county, farmers will have a considerable income every year."

  County Head Wang is also in his thirties, tall and strong, with a flat head, a square face, big eyes, full of spirit, very capable. Listening to him talk, it's not hard to see that he's a pragmatic person who gets things done.

  "It's this idea, but we need to think it over carefully. We have to consider it on the basis of completing our annual grain tax task. Also, technically, someone needs to guide us. After the new year, you can try going to the Agricultural University in the provincial capital and find some technical experts there to listen to their opinions. After all, each profession has its own expertise." Old Man Lin suggested.

  County Magistrate Wang listened and said, "That makes sense." This matter couldn't be rushed for the time being. He furrowed his brow and left, wanting to go back and think it over carefully.

  Fang Mo Nan was nervous, frowning in displeasure. She wasn't worried that someone would learn the secrets of her "greenhouse vegetables", but rather that someone would come back to investigate and experiment, after all, she had used some of the space's soil and water quality, and the seedlings had even sprouted in the space before being transplanted.

  After seeing off the county head, Fang Mernan's heart was temporarily put at ease. She didn't think about embezzling either. It seemed that her relatives in the countryside could still make some extra money by relying on this, with the county taking the lead, which was better than small-time squabbles. She thought it over and decided to take the initiative, writing a complete plan book.

  Before writing the plan book, Fang Mo Nan first inquired about the character of this county magistrate. Since Lin Lao Ye Zi brought it personally, his character should not be bad.

  "Old Master Lin, this County Magistrate is from the capital city, isn't he?" Fang Mosou said with a smile.

  "Huh? How did you know?" Old Man Lin asked with interest after sending off the county head and returning to hear her question.

  His Beijing accent is unmistakable, and it's clearly different from our local dialect.

  "Oh yeah! Our Nannan really knows a lot." "That's right, he came from the capital city." Old Man Lin said succinctly.

  "Grandpa Lin, is this county magistrate the kind of upright and just official that's talked about in operas?" Fang Mo'nan asked with wide eyes.

  "Oh! The Qingtian Dàlǎoyé in the play, why is he called Qingtian Dàlǎoyé?" Old Master Lin asked with interest, his head lowered.

  "When officials don't work for the people, they might as well go home and sell sweet potatoes. Isn't that what 'The Seven-Grade Civil Servant' said?"

  "What is a bad official?"

  "When in office, serve the people; when at home, sell sweet potatoes."

  "Haha......" After laughing, Old Master Lin felt a bit heartbroken. Two similar sentences with completely opposite meanings, revealing the various appearances of officialdom, between superiors, promotion and the common people.

  "What do you think of our county magistrate's character?" Old Man Lin continued to ask.

  "It's hard to say for now, but time will tell a person's heart. However, from what I saw earlier, thinking of promoting 'greenhouse vegetables' throughout the county and increasing farmers' income, at least he can be considered a good official!"

  "Ah! The third son of Old Wang's family has grown up so big!" Mr. Lin muttered to himself. He used to hold him in his arms, who would have thought that in the blink of an eye, he would be governing a region?

  Hehe... Old Master Lin thought to himself: As soon as he saw County Head Wang, he knew they were old acquaintances. The resemblance to his father was striking, like two peas in a pod. Who would have thought that after getting to know each other, they would become close friends despite their age difference.

  Greenhouse vegetables began in the Western Han Dynasty. Later generations had off-season vegetables everywhere, but now they are still scarce, so it's better to be rich for three days than others for ten years.

  Fang Mo Nan wanted to write a detailed plan in the space tonight, with the county's ability to make it big and strong, and first occupy the market. In this way, 'disaster water diversion' as long as no one comes to inspect her land is fine.

  As the sky turned dark, Fang Mo Nan told his grandma and went to play at Liang Zi Ge's house. "This child, it's almost dark, what is he going to play at Liang Zi's house?" Grandma muttered to herself.

  When Fang Mo Nan arrived at Liang Zi's house, the three of them were already sitting on small stools waiting for her. The room was filled with swirling smoke, and she slightly furrowed her brow.

  Liang Zi and others saw her coming in and quickly extinguished the cigarette in their hands.

  The thin monkey extinguished the cigarette and went to lift the door curtain again. When he came back, he saw the fat man still puffing away, so he stepped on his foot. "What's wrong? Stepping on my foot!" The fat man said discontentedly, seeing that they had all extinguished their cigarettes, he dryly laughed and also extinguished his.

  Fatso didn't bother with the pain in his foot, and brought her a small stool. Fang Mo Nan sat down, took a look around Liang Zijia's home, which was much better than the last time he came, at least the living room had added some tables and chairs, and even lit up a big fire stove, making the house warm and cozy. "This is what a home should be like."

  "Heh heh...... Finally, there's a place to sit. The house looks like something now, much better than before."

  The thin monkey and the fat boy were still nervous, they didn't have as much contact with Liangzi as she did.

  "This is the list and money of Skinny Monkey's trip to the provincial city." Liangzi handed her the bundle.

  Fang Mo Nan carefully looked over it and found that the records were very detailed, following Liang Zi's accounting format, with neat handwriting like a primary school student.

  "Hmm! I didn't expect sales to be so good, at this rate of inventory, it won't take long to sell out." Fang Mo Nan was calculating the quantity with the list in hand. The goods brought by Liang Zi were sold out more than half in less than a month, especially the electronic watches, which were selling extremely fast.

  "Yes! They're almost all sold out, especially in the city. I've already sold out and people are still chasing me to buy." said Liang Zi.

  The thin monkey also nodded, "The situation in the provincial capital is about the same."

  "It won't work if we estimate it a year ago, and we can't come back to pick up the goods. Let's spend the New Year in Yangcheng and then go get the goods! I'll notify them in advance to prepare the goods." Fang Mo Nan said. "We can also try selling some of the clothes produced by Cheng Shi Gui and his team."

  Li Zhe furrowed his brow, somewhat hesitant. Seeing Fang Mo Nan's encouraging gaze, he spoke up, "I'm afraid our people won't buy them. Most people either cut and make their own clothes at home or ask relatives and friends to help. Few people buy clothes to wear. Moreover, the clothes are too expensive, I'm also worried that they won't sell."

  "It doesn't matter, we can try and see if it sells. We'll just get some cheaper ones, they're not high-end clothes anyway." Fang Mo Nan said, looking at Liang Zi's change with more relief.

  Next, Fang Mengnan quickly settled the accounts and in less than a month, they made a profit of over 60,000 yuan. Under her strong advocacy, Liangzi and the other two each received a dividend of 6,000 yuan. If it weren't for the Chinese New Year, they would have gone from being extremely poor to becoming members of the "10,000-yuan household" in one go.

  "What a flavor, so fragrant, it's the smell of roasted sweet potatoes." Fang Mo said with a delicate sniff of her nose.

  "Your nose is really sharp, the smell of roasted sweet potatoes, we put them on the stove to roast before you came." Fatso said with a silly smile.

  "It's done, have one." Liangzi took out two from the oven and wrapped them in paper for her.

  Fang Mo Nan took the roasted sweet potato, "Alright, I'll be here, you all won't feel at ease either. I'll just leave, you can go wild as you want. Just one thing, don't cause any trouble."

  "Liáng Zǐ will close the shop tomorrow and come to my place for a visit, something's up." Fāng Mò said with his back turned to them, waving goodbye.

  Liang Zi and the others watched her walk away with the roasted sweet potatoes in her arms, all of them letting out a sigh of relief as they exchanged smiles.

  Fatso said, "When I was caught by the police, I didn't even dare to breathe loudly." He suddenly laughed and said, "This money is really attractive." 'Mmm...mmm...' He kissed the money hard to express his joy.

  "Hehe... Nannan may be small in stature, but he's not to be underestimated." Liangzi reminded Pangzi, "Pangzi, don't let your tail get too high just because you have money, it'll only lead to trouble."

  "I knew that, when I got home, I gave all the money to my mother. Also let her be pleased." said Skinny Monkey with a worried tone.

  "Ah! Ah! I'll give it to my mom too, she's still relying on medicine!" Fatso hastily said.

  The "Greenhouse Vegetable" plan was a matter that should be done sooner rather than later. The next day, Fang Mo Nan handed over the complete plan to Old Man Lin.

  "Vegetable basket project", Old Lin glanced at it casually, and looked at the little man in front of him with surprise, "This... is a heavy gift!"

  "This makes me hand it over to the county magistrate." Old Master Lin asked uncertainly, "Actually you can do it yourselves, just like Dachengzi and his men."

  "Hmm! I know this gift is heavy, it's better to have the county take the lead! However, this gift isn't given for free, just don't let those hoodlums come and cause trouble at Grandma's steamed bun shop." Fang Mo Nan said, raising her small nose as she thought of what happened a few days ago.

  Fang Mernan and others are now more focused on building connections, who let this country be an official-oriented country! It's not too obvious yet, everyone is poor, officials don't know the benefits of power in their hands, until later generations, even small officials will be arrogant. If you don't build connections now, when will you?

  It's great that everyone can get rich, why not? Fang Mo Nan has made a lot of money now, and there are already over 40,000 yuan in his bank account.

  In the early 1980s, there was a severe shortage of goods, and solving the problem of urban residents' food and vegetable baskets became a major event for governments at all levels, which was grasped as an "engineering" project. The "vegetable basket project" was indeed a solid achievement, and many officials were promoted because of this solid achievement.

  Mr. Lin read it over and made some minor revisions before copying it out again.

  "Those who know me, call me Old Lin!" Fang Mo Nan said with a smile.

  "Alright, stop flattering me, I don't even know you, what are you looking for me for?" Old Man Lin affectionately ruffled her hair.

  Fang Mennan went to the post office after Old Man Lin left, and sent a letter to Cheng Shigui and others, telling them that Liangzi would return to Yangcheng again after the New Year.

  Mr. Lin took the plan book to the county committee and found the county magistrate, handing over the plan book to him.

  County Magistrate Wang picked it up with a puzzled expression, the more he looked at it, the slower he went, his eyes widening. The plan book said that food and clothing were the greatest needs of people's lives, especially eating. Only by solving the problem of eating first can there be subsequent economic activities. Therefore, out-of-season vegetables have a huge market. With the reform and opening up, the living standards of urban residents are improving, and the market is getting bigger and bigger, with more varieties. If they can take the lead and establish their brand, they will not worry about making money.

  Inside, it elaborated in detail that the temperature of the greenhouse vegetables should be noted, the thickness of the plastic film, if the outside temperature is too low, the vegetables inside will also freeze to death... Also, pest control and so on. The county established a specialized agricultural products supply and marketing company, production and sales are integrated, and the specific implementation is very detailed. According to the implementation situation, slight changes can be made. It wrote out the estimated prospects, which are reasonable and well-founded, and also drew a simple vegetable greenhouse diagram.

  Of course, Mr. Lin added more profound content, this supply and marketing company must prevent someone from taking advantage of the opportunity to be corrupt and bribe, take care of both public and private interests, cheat farmers, and benefit at the expense of others.

  Although these are hard to avoid, human nature is like this, but in all things, think ahead, act ahead, and prevent problems before they arise, it's always better than dealing with the problem after it happens.

  Finally, in bold handwriting: No agriculture is unstable. Seriously, the notice was written to closely observe market trends and remind the government not to hurt farmers when grain prices are low. The "Food and Goods Chapter" of the Book of Han says: "When grains are very expensive, it hurts the people; when they are very cheap, it hurts the farmers. When the people are hurt, they disperse; when the farmers are hurt, the country becomes poor."

  County Magistrate Wang looked at it carefully twice, after the initial excitement period, especially the old Lin's added emphasis, he thought more. He also began to consider specific deployment issues, it seems that this is another practical thing, not satisfied with the superficial formalism.

  "Technical issues can be found in Nongda, based on this, I estimate there are no difficult problems, the remaining is just funding issues. Let's take a look at the cost calculation, the county should be able to afford it." County Magistrate Wang quickly thought through it in his mind.

  "Uncle Lin, this plan is simply great. I don't know what to say!" County Magistrate Wang's face turned red with excitement.

  "Heh heh……you can look at it as you like. To be honest, just don't let those second-rate kids and hoodlums come to my doorstep. Just take care of Old Lady Mo's business a bit more." Mr. Lin said opportunely.

  "It's simple."