Woodworker Li and his brothers left happily. Before Lin Lan could even go inside, Li Guizhi arrived. "Little Lin, Zhang Yazhen says it’s your family’s turn to raise the cow today."
Lin Lan stared at Li Guizhi in surprise. "I said the other day that I’m not raising the cow and won’t be using it in the future. This has nothing to do with , so why am I being told to raise it now?"
After the brigade distributed the fields, the draft cattle in the brigade were also assigned by drawing lots among the households. Each cow was to be raised by about ten households in rotation, and they would also take turns using it for plowing the fields.
Accountant Jin had calculated the headcount and gathered everyone from each small group. Lin Lan was in a group with Li Guizhi, He Cuicui, and several other families.
At the ti, Lin Lan had made it clear that she didn’t know how to plow, so she wouldn’t raise the cow or use it in the future. Li Guizhi, He Cuicui, and the others had all agreed.
Xiong Jianjun and his wife hadn’t said a word at the ti, so Lin Lan had assud they agreed. Now, they were suddenly saying it was her turn to raise the cow. ’Is there sothing wrong with that couple?’
Li Guizhi pursed her lips. "We said that too—that with one household dropping out, there’d be one less household using the cow. But Zhang Yazhen said the brigade assigned the cow to our group to be raised jointly.
If one household drops out, the rest of us will have to care for it for more days than other groups. And if the cow gets sick, the cost we have to split will be higher. She won’t let you back out."
Today, Li Guizhi tried to take the cow to Zhang Yazhen’s house, but they wouldn’t accept it, saying Li Guizhi’s turn was over and it was supposed to go to Lin Lan’s family. Li Guizhi felt Zhang Yazhen was deliberately picking a fight and argued with her for a few monts, but the other woman simply refused to take it. Now, she was in a very awkward position.
"Were their ears not working when Accountant Jin held that eting?" Lin Lan said after a mont’s thought, seeing Li Guizhi’s predicant. "If she won’t agree, just go to the brigade and talk to the leaders."
Li Guizhi felt that was the only option. "I’ll go to the brigade leaders and have them sort it out."
"Alright. Just give a shout if you need ."
"Right." Li Guizhi nodded, her brow furrowed as she headed back to discuss going to the brigade leaders with the other families involved.
Lin Lan took stock of her dry goods, planning to find a pushcart to move them to the upstairs space next to Zhou Xiaohong’s place.
Li Xiangyang entered the courtyard and saw Qiaohui hanging up laundry. "Qiaohui, where’s your cousin?"
Qiaohui pointed to the storage room. "She’s in there taking inventory of the goods."
Lin Lan and Lin Yuezhen walked out, carrying a sack of wood ear mushrooms. "You’re here!"
"What are you moving this out for?" Li Xiangyang hurried forward, taking the sack from them and setting it down.
Lin Lan wiped the sweat from her brow. "It’s damp on the ground here. I want to move the dry goods to that upstairs space to keep them from getting moist."
Li Xiangyang agreed. "Should we tie it to the back of a bike, or take it over with a pushcart?"
"I’ll go borrow a pushcart from Sister ihua. We should be able to get it all over in one trip."
"I’ll go with you."
"It’s fine, I can go by myself. You can bring the other sacks out from inside."
"Alright!" Li Xiangyang took off his jacket and headed inside.
Lin Lan went to Yang ihua’s house and found the couple sitting on low stools, peeling potatoes. She smiled and asked, "Sister ihua, are you open for business?"
"We are." Yang ihua stood up with a wide smile, wiping her hands on her apron. "We’ve been set up for two days. Not many custors the first day, but more ca to eat yesterday. The young won from the silk factory say they get full just by buying a few potatoes. All told, we can make more than ten yuan a day."
She was exhausted after only two days, but seeing the money in her pocket made her feel it was worth it. She had to keep the business going. Relying on what they could dig from the soil—farming—could only fill their stomachs. It wasn’t a long-term plan.
"Making that much a day right from the start is already great," Lin Lan said. "Take it slow. The word will get out and more people will co. I’m here to borrow your pushcart."
He Xianghua stood up with a smile. "You two talk. I’ll pull the cart over for you."
Yang ihua brought a chair out, had her sit, and asked, "Lin Lan, what else can I fry besides potatoes?"
Lin Lan thought for a mont. "Dried tofu, stinky tofu, garlic chives... those would all work. You’ll need to skewer the garlic chives on bamboo sticks to fry them."
"Garlic chives? That’s easy!" Yang ihua pointed to her vegetable patch. "That whole row is full of them, and I have more in the plot an elderly aunt gave ."
Lin Lan smiled. "You could skewer a few dozen bunches and see how they sell."
Yang ihua nodded eagerly. "Okay, I’ll try frying the garlic chives, and then I’ll go to Liying’s to buy tofu to fernt for stinky tofu."
He Xianghua pulled the pushcart into the courtyard and said to Lin Lan, "I pumped up the tires, so it should be a little easier to pull."
"Thank you." Lin Lan took the cart, then paused and said, "A mont ago, Sister Li ca looking for . She said Zhang Yazhen refuses to let my family opt out of raising the cow. I told them to take it up with the brigade leaders."
He Xianghua thought for a mont. "But I rember everyone agreeing when Accountant Jin said you were backing out of your group!"
"Exactly! Zhang Yazhen and her husband didn’t say a word back then. But now that it’s supposed to be their turn, they’re claiming it’s not, and that my family should be raising the cow."
"Just ignore them. We can deal with it after they’ve gone to the brigade."
"Okay, I’m heading back now."
Lin Lan started to leave, pulling the pushcart, and Yang ihua walked her to the courtyard gate before turning back.
Back ho, Lin Lan loaded the goods onto the pushcart, grabbed the keys, and said to Qiaohui, "When Woodworker Li and his brother arrive, tell them to co find us at the storefront near the south city gate."
"Okay!" Qiaohui replied.
Lin Lan and Li Xiangyang pulled the pushcart to the storefront on Limin Road. They had just unlocked the door and carried one sack of goods inside when their next-door neighbor, Chen Dongming, heard the noise and ca out.
Seeing Lin Lan and Li Xiangyang moving things, he ran over to help.
After they had moved the goods upstairs and put them away, the pair thanked Chen Dongming. Li Xiangyang looked around the storefront and asked, "Little Lan, where are you planning to set up the clothing shop?"
Lin Lan smiled. "The clothing shop won’t be next to Sister Zhou’s place anymore. I’ll open it in that storefront you bought. As for this place, what do you think if I partition one section to sell pastries and use the other two to sell small ho appliances?"
Li Xiangyang nodded. "That sounds good. Dongzi also said it’s best not to go too big at first. With the new policies, so people are for them, and so are against them. It’s a power struggle. In the end, as they say, it’s either the east wind prevails over the west wind, or the west wind prevails over the east wind."
Lin Lan said, "It’s better to be safe than sorry. You can’t get fat from a single bite. We’ll start small and expand once the policies have stabilized." ’Of course, she already knew the outco,’ she thought. ’The policies of the Reform and Opening-Up would only get better and better.’
’In the early years, she had still been young and her family had only run a small business, so they hadn’t been affected by the initial turmoil. She vaguely rembered her parents saying that so shop owners had complained the taxes and fees were too high—that what they earned wasn’t even enough to cover the costs, so they all just closed up shop.’
Li Xiangyang agreed. "If the pastry shop is in the city, it’ll be inconvenient to make everything in Lexing and transport it here. What’s your plan for that?"
"I’ll open the pastry shop right there at the south city market. I plan to find that man who builds ovens and have him build a bigger one. This ti when I go to Yangcheng City, I’ll buy a couple of thermoters to get better control over the temperature."
"Aren’t you going to use the electric oven? It’s supposed to arrive in two more weeks!"
"The electric oven is good for things like pumpkin cakes and bread, but you really need a proper hearth oven for mooncakes." Lin Lan paused for a mont. "When Woodworker Li and his brother get here later, you can take them to buy the glass."
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