Chapter 911: The Village Banquet (Part 1)

When Li Yi and the others returned home, they found that the front gate and the house doors were all locked, and not a single person was there.

Realizing everyone must have gone to the school for today’s communal lunch, Li Yi and his group hopped back in the car and headed for the Central School.

As soon as they arrived and saw the school before them, Li Yi couldn’t help but be impressed.

He knew that this village school had been built with donations from Huang Lixing, and that Chen Chuying had personally overseen the construction from the village, taking over a year to complete.

Initially estimated to cost 100,000 yuan, the final actual cost reached 138,000 yuan, making it by far the most heavily funded and largest school in all of Qingshan County.

Although Li Yi had known about this beforehand, this was his first visit since the school’s completion.

It must be said that the more than 100,000 yuan spent was well worth it.

The first impression of the school was one of grandeur, especially the three-story buildings, which truly stood out like a swan among chickens in the village.

Moreover, Li Yi had heard from his father that due to the substantial investment, large scale, and comprehensive facilities, the county’s Education Bureau had closed all village-run primary schools and central schools in the surrounding townships and communes after the school’s completion. All teachers and students were consolidated at Lixing Middle School in Nianzishan Village.

Although the school hadn’t started yet, aside from the children from the village itself, there weren’t many students to be seen.

But once the school year began, the student body swelled to three thousand—more than any school in the county seat.

By the time Li Yi arrived, a crowd had already gathered on campus—men, women, and children of all ages.

He first drove the car over to the cafeteria, then got out.

As soon as he arrived, he saw everyone bustling about: the men were cutting up pork and lamb at the cafeteria entrance, while the women were cleaning the offal.

Meanwhile, inside the cafeteria kitchen, dozens of women were hard at work, and the aroma of stewing meat filled the air both inside and out.

Seeing Li Yi arrive, Feng Kai, Zhang Tongfu, and the others immediately came over.

“Xiao Yi, I heard you went to the county seat early this morning?”

“Yeah, just got back!” Li Yi said with a smile.

“If I’d known you were going to the county seat today, I should’ve asked you to bring back some things!” Feng Kai said.

“What do you need? If it’s a problem, I can go back again—I’ve got a car anyway!”

“Nothing much—just a few bottles of liquor, and some candy or snacks for the kids…”

“Uncle Feng, haven’t you always been against drinking and eating together like this? Why did you suddenly decide to buy everyone some liquor today?” Li Yi asked with a smile.

“Well, I’m in a good mood today. It’s a rare chance to have some fun. Having meat without alcohol just feels a bit lacking. Two or three ounces per person shouldn’t be a problem…”

Before Feng Kai could finish speaking, Li Yi chimed in with a laugh, “If it’s about the liquor, I’ve already bought it!”

“You bought some?”

Feng Kai and Zhang Tongfu instinctively looked at the Jeep behind Zhou Yang. In their view, if Li Yi had really bought it, it should be in the car.

“Uncle Feng, Uncle Zhang, the liquor isn’t in the car—it’s on its way. Besides the liquor, I also bought cigarettes, malted milk powder, and orange powder. I should be back in a little while!” Li Yi said.

“Hahaha, you’re always so thoughtful, kid. How much did it cost in total? I’ll have Old Chen reimburse you!” Feng Kai said.

“No need, it wasn’t much at all!” Li Yi said with a smile.

“That won’t do…”

Before Feng Kai could finish, Li Yi cut him off and said, “Please don’t mention it. I definitely won’t take the money. If I’m treating you uncles to a drink, there’s no need for the village to foot the bill!”

Then Li Yi changed the subject and said, “By the way, Uncle Feng and Uncle Zhang, there’s something I’d like to discuss with you!”

“What is it? Go ahead!” Feng Kai said.

“When I went to the supply and marketing cooperative today, someone recognized me. They said Director Qin from the cooperative is interested in partnering with me to sell liangpi…”

Li Yi then recounted the saleswoman’s words in detail to Feng Kai and Zhang Tongfu, before sharing his own thoughts.

“Yi, are you suggesting the village set up a dedicated liangpi workshop to supply the Supply and Marketing Cooperative?”

Li Yi nodded and said, “It’s not just about supplying the Supply and Marketing Cooperative. After I left, the supply to the state-run restaurant was cut off, but we can resume that. Plus, places like the sugar factory, textile mill, parts factory, distillery, soy sauce factory, vinegar factory, and schools all have canteens—we can partner with them too!”

“I reckon if we run this business right, it could bring in at least 50,000 yuan in revenue for the village every year!”

Li Yi knew the appeal of liangpi. Anyone who’d been to Qin Province or the Hetao region knew that this dish was sold everywhere—from big cities to ordinary towns and rural villages—and generated untold revenue every year.

Not to mention, what they’re doing now is an exclusive business. As long as they can improve their skills and are willing to put in the hard work, making money is a sure thing.

“F… fifty thousand yuan… Good heavens…”

After the initial excitement subsided, Feng Kai looked at Li Yi and said, “Yi, with a business this profitable, why don’t you stay and run it yourself? Our village only needs these few farms!”

Zhang Tongfu chimed in, “That’s right, Yi. Life in our village is so much better now than it used to be—there’s no reason for us to keep taking advantage of you!”

Li Yi smiled and said, “No need. I’m heading back to Beijing in a few days; I won’t have time for this. If you guys don’t want to do it, then the deal’s off!”

“Come on, we’ll do it. Tomorrow I’ll find a few sharp guys to learn from you. How does that sound?” Feng Kai said.

“Alright, clear out the old house at my place tomorrow. I’ll go over there to teach them!” Li Yi said.

“Alright…”

Just then, Li Yi saw Liu Darei and the others driving a cart loaded with soil back, and they immediately started mixing mud by the wall on one side!

Curious, Li Yi asked, “Uncle Feng, what are Lei Zi and the others doing over there mixing mortar?”

Feng Kai smiled and said, “Well, on our way over just now, we saw that quite a bit of the whitewash had fallen off the west wall of the school, and some of the floor tiles in the courtyard were cracked. So Lei and the others figured they’d take advantage of the good weather today to help fix things up!”

“This school was built for us with money from Mr. Huang, a good-hearted man. We can’t just wait for him to handle even these little repairs. If we can fix it ourselves, we should do it ourselves!”

“Uncle Feng’s right. We shouldn’t wait for others to handle these little things. I’ll go help out!”

With that, Li Yi started to head over.

“No need. You shouldn’t get your hands dirty with this muddy, wet work. You’re a whiz at stewing meat, kid. If you really want to help, why don’t you stew these few sheep for the village?” Feng Kai said with a laugh.

“Alright!”

Li Yi then walked over to the group of veteran butchers preparing the mutton and asked, “Old Chen, how many sheep did you slaughter today? How much did they weigh?”

“Ah, it’s Yi-kid. We slaughtered two in total. Not counting the heads, hooves, and offal, the meat and bones together came to 188 jin!” Chen Wugye said as he deboned the meat.

“Wow, those sheep are quite big!” Li Yi said with a smile.

Two sheep weighing 188 jin with bones means each live sheep weighed at least 110 jin—these were definitely some hefty sheep.

“You’re right. But they’re all old ewes—they haven’t had any lambs and have just put on fat. These sheep aren’t much use; the longer you keep them, the more money you lose!” Old Chen said.

Hearing this, Li Yi was taken aback for a moment, then asked, “Why not sell the old ewes to the shop along with the lambs?”

“Old mutton has a strong gamey taste and isn’t very good. Kai (Feng Kai) said that your restaurant is frequented by wealthy customers and people from government agencies, so serving old mutton could damage your reputation. That’s why all the older sheep are kept in the village—the ones we send you are all one-year-olds!”

As he spoke, Old Chen’s hands never stopped moving; his boning knife flew up and down, and one by one, the bones were stripped clean.

Upon hearing Old Man Chen’s words, Li Yi was instantly moved by the villagers’ sincerity.

He had only been kind to them to make up for the debts of his past life, yet they treated him like a god, obeying his every word and following his every suggestion—he couldn’t bear to profane their trust.

“Actually, there’s absolutely no problem with taking sheep like these back to make hot pot. After all, our village hasn’t been raising sheep for very long, so there aren’t any particularly old ones. Three- to five-year-old sheep actually have a better texture when you eat them,” Li Yi said.

“You’re right. But there aren’t many old ewes that don’t produce lambs anyway, so don’t worry about it, kid!”

Before they knew it, Old Chen had finished butchering the two sheep.

Then, everyone pitched in to carry several large basins of lamb meat into the kitchen inside the canteen, after which Li Yi transformed into a chef and got busy in the kitchen…

………

PS: Chapter 2 will be a little later!