Chapter 435: Villagers Running Out of Food!

Nianzi Mountain Village. The Li Family Ancestral Home!

After driving for over six hours straight, combined with plowing the fields most of the night, even Li Yi—who usually considered himself as strong as an ox—was feeling a bit tired.

So, after a quick bite to eat, he went to the west room and fell fast asleep!

He didn’t know how long he’d slept, but in his daze, Li Yi faintly heard the sound of men talking.

A little while later, Li Yi slowly opened his eyes and climbed out of bed.

Glancing out the window, Li Yi saw that it had grown completely dark outside.

He checked his watch—it was already around eight o’clock. He had slept for over three hours.

Just then, Li Yi heard a burst of hearty laughter suddenly coming from the main room next door; by the sound of it, it seemed to be Uncle Feng’s.

Immediately, Li Yi got off the kang, put on his shoes, and pushed open the door to head toward the main room.

Sure enough, when he arrived in the main room, he saw Feng Kai, Zhang Tongfu, and the village accountant Chen Wanzong all gathered there.

Some were sitting on stools by the stove, others were squatting on the floor leaning against the large red cabinet, and still others were perched on the edge of the kang, all listening intently as his father recounted his experiences in the capital.

Whenever he reached a particularly amusing part, they would burst into hearty laughter.

Seeing Li Yi push the door open, Feng Kai immediately asked with a smile, “Yi, are you awake?”

“Uncle Feng, Uncle Zhang, Uncle Chen, what brings you here?” Li Yi asked with a smile.

“We heard there was a car parked in your courtyard, so we figured your dad and mom must be back. We just came over to check!” Feng Kai replied.

Li Shankui, standing nearby, chuckled at this, then turned to Li Yi and said, “Don’t listen to Old Feng’s nonsense. He didn’t come to see me or your mother—he came to find you!”

“Looking for me?”

Feng Kai smiled and said, “Yeah, we’re here to discuss the matter of selling the village’s sheep with you!”

“Are the village sheep ready for market?”

“They are. We had someone inspect them, and most of the rams can yield fifty to sixty pounds of meat—they’re ready for slaughter!” Feng Kai said.

Hearing this, Li Yi’s heart skipped a beat, and he immediately asked, “How many sheep are ready for market right now?”

“Over five hundred!”

Li Yi thought for a moment and said, “Here’s what we’ll do, Uncle Feng. Tomorrow I’ll get in touch with the folks in Beijing. If everything goes smoothly, I’ll send the sheep there! As for payment, I’ll settle up with the village at market price.”

“Alright! You’ll only need to pay the village half of the total; the other half is yours!”

“Hmm, by the way, Uncle Feng, how’s that batch of cattle coming along? When will they be ready for market?” Li Yi asked again.

“The cattle aren’t ready yet. Those things grow too slowly—I reckon we’ll have to wait at least another year!” Feng Kai said.

“Does our village have that much fodder?” Li Yi frowned.

“The back mountain is so vast, with steep slopes and dense forests full of leaves. We don’t really need to worry about fodder, but it takes over a dozen strong laborers just to tend the cattle and sheep every day!”

Feng Kai continued, “Plus, most of the educated youth have left. The village has suddenly lost a lot of strong laborers. I don’t know if we’ll be able to handle all the crops this spring!”

Li Yi thought for a moment and said, “Uncle, actually, I think if we can’t manage it, we should just plant some low-maintenance crops—like corn, yams, or sugar beets. We shouldn’t bother with things like wheat, millet, flax, or beans, which are both troublesome and don’t yield much!”

“If we don’t grow these grains, what will the villagers eat?” asked Zhang Tongfu, the production team leader, with a puzzled look.

“Heh, if we grow sugar beets, we can raise sheep and cattle. Once we have cattle and sheep, we can sell them for money. With money in hand, why would we worry about not being able to buy these grains?”

“Yiwa is right. Our village has a small population, and with a shortage of manpower, we can’t keep planting everything like we used to.”

Feng Kai then added, “We’ll discuss exactly what to plant and what not to plant when we get back. The immediate priority is to sell off the rams that are ready for slaughter and replenish everyone’s dwindling food supplies!”

“Oh, how many households in the village are running out of food?” Li Yi asked in a grave tone.

“More than half the households. Some are even surviving on bran—otherwise, we wouldn’t be in such a rush to sell those rams!” Feng Kai replied.

“Is it that bad?”

“Yes. Last year, our village’s per capita grain ration was less than 300 jin. On top of that, the grains were shriveled and shriveled, so when ground into flour, there was more bran than flour—it’s simply not filling at all,” Feng Kai said with a sigh.

Zhang Tongfu added, “Right now, not only are the members struggling to put food on the table from one meal to the next, but with spring plowing just around the corner, the village still doesn’t have enough seeds. It’s truly distressing!”

“You’re absolutely right. The entire production team has less than three hundred yuan in the bank—we can’t get anything done!” Chen Wanzong said with a sigh.

Li Yi also realized the gravity of the situation and nodded. “Uncle Feng, don’t worry. I’ll handle this as soon as possible so everyone can get their share of the money to buy food!”

“Alright!”

After that, Feng Kai, Zhang Tongfu, Chen Wanzong, and the others stayed for another half hour before leaving the Li household.

After Feng Kai and the others had left, Li Shan Kui, Li Yi’s father, couldn’t help but ask, “Xiao Yi, that’s over five hundred Khet sheep. What do you plan to do with them?”

“Of course, I’ll send them to the capital!” Li Yi replied.

“With so many sheep, where are you going to put them in the capital?”

“I had Third Brother look into this earlier. There’s a large state-owned cold storage facility on the outskirts of the capital. I plan to transport these sheep to the capital, have them slaughtered, and store them all in the cold storage, then supply them to the shop gradually!” Li Yi explained.

“With the transportation costs and the cold storage rental fees, aren’t you going to lose money on this?” Li Shankui asked with some concern.

Li Shankui had no objection to his son helping the villagers, but only on the condition that his son didn’t end up losing money.

“No, Father, you don’t know the situation. The beef and lamb we currently use in our shop have to be purchased at a premium. Market price for lamb is 1.9 yuan per jin, but we have to pay 2.5 yuan—that’s an extra 60 cents per jin!”

“An extra 60 cents per pound?” Li Shankui was slightly taken aback.

The rest of the family was also taken aback by Li Yi’s words. After all, in their area, a pound of top-quality pork cost only about one yuan, and less desirable cuts like heads, hooves, and bones went for just 60 to 70 cents a pound.

They never imagined that at Li Yi’s shop in Beijing, lamb would cost so much more per pound—it was practically as if buying a pound of lamb cost as much as a pound of pork.

“That’s right, it’s that expensive—and I don’t even have a choice!”

Li Yi continued, “When business is slow, the shop goes through over 200 pounds of lamb a day, and when it’s booming, it can reach 500 or 600 pounds. That adds up to a lot of money wasted every day!”

“If we use the sheep we raise in our village, not only is the quality guaranteed, but the price is much lower—it’s a surefire win!”

Hearing this, his father immediately sighed with relief and said, “As long as we don’t lose money, that’s fine. We’re happy to help others, but we shouldn’t let ourselves get taken advantage of!”

At that moment, his mother, Zhang Yuehong, chimed in, “Your father’s right. It’s fine to help others, but don’t try to be a hero!”

Li Yi nodded and said, “I understand!”

Just then, his second older sister, Li Lan, suddenly spoke up: “Xiao Yi, do you think we could set up our own cold storage facility in Beijing?”

“Second Sister, what made you think of that?” Li Yi asked with interest.

“I’ve been thinking about all the cattle and sheep left in the village, and your shop in Beijing goes through so much meat every day. We’ll definitely need a steady supply from the village in the long run. If we had our own cold storage, it would make things so much easier!” Li Lan explained.

Li Yi really hadn’t expected his second older sister to think so far ahead. He smiled and said, “Hehe, I’ve actually already been planning this. But the process—from securing the land to construction—takes quite a while. For the initial phase, we’ll still need to rent a state-owned cold storage facility for a while!”

“Oh, so we’re on the same page then?” Li Lan said happily.

“Yeah, that’s what you call great minds thinking alike!” Li Yi said.

Hearing this, everyone in the room couldn’t help but laugh.

For a moment, the entire Li family’s old mansion was filled with hearty, joyful laughter!