After the meeting, Li Yi didn’t go home right away; instead, he called Feng Kai and Zhang Tongfu over.
In the brigade headquarters’ makeshift office, the three of them sat across from each other at a desk that was missing a leg and propped up with a brick.
No sooner had they sat down than Feng Kai asked in a grave tone, “Xiao Yi, with over six hundred yuan a day, can your family manage?”
Li Yi nodded and said, “It should be enough. Uncle Feng, you know I set up a stall every day to sell liangpi and mountain produce—I actually make a decent income from that, so we should be able to manage!”
“Hmm. If you can’t make ends meet, just lower your prices a bit!”
“Not for now. Two mao per jin isn’t low, but it’s not high either!”
Li Yi knew full well that this winter, the price of dried goods would skyrocket from last year’s 60 cents per pound to 1.80 yuan, and during the Spring Festival, it had even reached 2.40 yuan at one point.
And five pounds of fresh mushrooms yield about one pound of dried mushrooms—meaning that a cost of one yuan now would double by year’s end.
That kind of profit—you couldn’t make money that fast even if you were robbing people!
“As long as you can hold out, that’s fine. If you run into any trouble, just let Uncle Feng know—I’ll definitely help if I can!” Feng Kai said.
“Uncle Feng, Uncle Zhang, there’s actually something I need your help with!” Li Yi said without hesitation.
“What is it?”
“I’d like to buy two head of livestock from the brigade!” Li Yi said.
The agricultural cooperative hadn’t been dissolved yet, so all means of production were collectively owned, including all the large livestock.
Whenever villagers wanted to get something done, they had to borrow livestock and vehicles from the production team.
However, Li Yi might have to make daily trips to the county seat in the future, and constantly borrowing from others simply wouldn’t work.
Besides, the autumn harvest was just around the corner, and by then the production team wouldn’t have enough draft animals to spare—let alone lend any out!
So, Li Yi decided to buy them!
“You want to buy that big red mule and that big black horse?”
“Yeah, Uncle Feng, you know our situation. We need the mule cart almost every day, and it’s not good to keep borrowing from the team!” Li Yi said.
“Sure. Anyway, the mules and foals left over from last year have all grown up, and I was just planning to sell them. If you buy the big red mule and the black horse, I won’t sell those younger ones!” Feng Kai said.
Zhang Tongfu, however, asked, “I’ll sell them to you, but the price has to be based on market value—we can’t let the other members talk behind our backs!”
“That’s a given. Right now, a mule or horse goes for 250 to 300 yuan. The big red mule and the black horse are both in their prime—I’ll pay six hundred yuan!” Li Yi said.
“Deal!”
“Uncle Feng, I’ll buy the animals now, but I’ll pay the team later. I can write you an IOU!”
“Alright then!”
Feng Kai wasn’t worried that Li Yi would cheat him; if it came down to it, he could just lead the animals back to the production team—no real loss.
“Then it’s settled!”
“Mm-hmm!”
With the business settled, Li Yi didn’t linger any longer. After exchanging a few words with Feng Kai and Zhang Tongfu, he left the village office.
Watching Li Yi’s retreating figure, Zhang Tongfu remarked with a touch of emotion, “That kid’s like a completely different person—he’s really changed a lot!”
“Heh, men are like that—once they get a wife, they’re bound to change a bit!”
“By the way, Old Feng, do you really think Yi can come up with six or seven hundred yuan every day to buy mushrooms from the members?” Zhang Tongfu asked again.
“It shouldn’t be a problem. You know he’s made quite a bit of money lately!”
“But six or seven hundred a day…”
At that moment, Feng Kai glanced around to make sure no one else was nearby, then said, “Do you know how much those mushrooms he sends to the county seat go for per pound?”
“How much?”
“70 cents!”
“How much?”
“70 cents—not a penny more, not a penny less!”
“Old Feng, who told you that?”
“Heh, Director Liu from the county-run restaurant told me himself. I was sitting right next to him at Xiao Yi’s wedding the day before yesterday!”
“If that kid’s shipping hundreds of pounds to the county seat every day, doesn’t that mean he’s making several thousand yuan?”
“You bet!”
After the initial shock wore off, Zhang Tongfu frowned and said, “That doesn’t add up. I remember city folks don’t really like mushrooms. Even if they do buy them, they usually don’t pay more than 20 cents a pound!”
Feng Kai smiled and said, “That’s where Xiao Yi’s genius lies. The county-run restaurant usually buys mushrooms from outside suppliers for 40 cents a pound, but Xiao Yi’s mushrooms sell for 50 or 60 cents—and later even went up to 70 cents. That’s something no one else can envy!”
“Why is that?”
Feng Kai didn’t know the exact reason, but he could guess it had something to do with Old Master Wang—after all, his eldest son was the top official in the county.
But he couldn’t discuss this with Zhang Tongfu, so he just smiled and said, “I don’t know about that, but all we need to know is that the kid can help the villagers make money!”
“You’re right!”
After that, the two chatted for a while longer before heading home.
………dxmbang
As for Li Yi, after riding his bicycle back home,
Figuring the kids would be back soon, he immediately harnessed the big red mule and drove the cart toward the back mountain!
Sure enough, on the dam of the reservoir behind the mountain, Dongzi and the others had already packed up their mountain produce and were sitting there chatting.
However, the kids didn’t look very happy today, and the atmosphere was a bit gloomy.
Feng Qian and the others noticed something was off with the kids and immediately asked, “Dongzi, what’s going on? You all look pretty down.”
Dongzi glanced at Feng Qian and replied, “We’re all worried that Brother Yi won’t take us out to make money anymore!”
“Why? What exactly happened?”
At that moment, Qiangzi chimed in, “My grandpa said Yi Ge promised the villagers he’d take them out to make money together. When that happens, the whole village will be picking mushrooms for him—he definitely won’t need us anymore!”
Feng Qian furrowed her brow and asked, “Is that true?”
“Yeah. Around noon, my grandpa said he was going to talk to Yi about it. I don’t know how that went!”
Sun Lu thought for a moment and said, “Knowing Li Yi as I do, even if he’s helping the other villagers make money, he definitely won’t abandon you guys!”
“Really?”
“Why not just ask him yourself to find out!”
Just then, a child suddenly shouted, “The big red mule! It’s Brother Yi!”
Everyone looked toward the village and sure enough, they saw the familiar big red mule.
Then, organized by Dongzi, the children carried the mushrooms and other wild produce they had gathered and set off toward the main road below the reservoir.
Soon, the big red mule cart caught up with the children.
After loading all the mushrooms onto the cart, Li Yi distributed the money earned from yesterday’s mushroom picking to the children and the few female educated youth, and was just about to leave.
But just then, Sun Lu suddenly said, “Wait a minute!”
Li Yi stopped immediately and asked, “Is something wrong?”
“Well… the kids have something they want to ask you, but they’re too shy to speak up, so I…”
Li Yi turned to look at Dongzi and the others and noticed that something was indeed off with them.
He reined in the mule cart and called Dongzi, Shitou, Qiangzi, and the others over!