Chapter 44: Inspecting the Village

The veteran Party secretary's Russian handwriting was still quite impressive.

The characters were compact, the strokes were forceful, and the overall appearance was as concise as a general's command.

Moreover, his writing speed was extremely fast. In just a short moment, he translated the original label and made a rubbing of it onto oiled paper.

The printing personnel placed the oiled paper into a wooden box, one meter square, used for printing test papers, covered it with pink blank paper, and rolled the cylinder. A batch of pink-backed labels with black lettering was instantly produced.

Then came the cutting, sorting, and adhering to the gift boxes with transparent tape...

"Gorgeous!" The veteran Party secretary admired his masterpiece with immense pride. "With this Russian handwriting of mine, even the Russians would mistake me for one of their own."

Yu Yang originally intended to offer some flattery and place the old gentleman on a pedestal.

Suddenly, however, he remembered that his own home had a computer and a printer.

He strode into the brick kiln office, located the newly purchased computer, connected the various cables, and hooked it up to the printer.

He turned on the power, lit up the screen, created a document, edited the font, proofread the layout, saved the file, changed the computer settings to Russian, and rebooted.

Once it powered back on, he opened the document and printed it directly.

The veteran Party secretary stared at the printed Russian labels with a head full of question marks.

Yu Yang lit a cigarette and leaned back slightly, saying, "Old man, the times have changed!"

Unwilling to admit defeat throughout his life, the veteran Party secretary found a flaw to pick on. "You translated this word for word. The grammar is wrong."

"Can you understand it?"

"Certainly."

"Well, isn't that all that matters? What does Russian need grammar for?"

"..."

At that moment, the second older brother dashed out like a wisp of smoke, then dashed back in clutching a Subor learning machine, full of anticipation.

"Big Boss, can you change my computer into Russian too?"

"..."

"If you can't change it, that's fine. Can you help me connect the printer?"

"..."

"Big Boss?"

"Second Brother, to be honest, my level is limited. You'd better call customer service at the manufacturer; they'll teach you."

"Got it!"

...

Early the next morning.

The somewhat unhappy second older brother lit a string of firecrackers and double-kick firecrackers.

Twenty-four Steyr semi-trailer trucks, fully loaded with bean sprouts and gift boxes, formed a long, dragon-like procession under the cameras of the television station, driving from the brick kiln path onto the provincial highway.

Then, at the small foreign-style villa, they pasted the transit passes jointly issued to Yu Yang by the road administration and highway management, and headed straight onto the expressway.

The county director who followed behind grew tired and fell asleep.

He only woke up when they reached the expressway.

"Did we really get on and off at the Quanpu expressway interchange just like that, and drive all the way here?"

"Yes, Director," the secretary replied.

"Having an entrance and exit right here is indeed quite convenient."

Unfortunately, this expressway in Xiliang was dominated by Dongshan Province, funded by various cities along the route, and subsequently managed by those respective cities.

As a mere county director, he had no say in the matter whatsoever, let alone the power to set up an expressway interchange for Xiliang Camp.

...

For this northern expedition, Old Han led the team, Zhang Hai accompanied them, and the county director and the county armed forces department provided an escort.

After sending off the fleet, Yu Yang and Yue Donglai returned to Yu Family Village together.

The two men chatted idly for a long time at the Sihaitongda Agricultural Produce Company, finalizing the future supply quantities and formulating the charter for the establishment of a vegetable vendors' association.

After eating lunch...

Yu Yang returned to the small foreign-style villa feeling slightly intoxicated, looked around to the left and right, and felt he had nothing to do.

So he simply tucked his thermos cup under his arm and went to inspect his domain.

A week had passed, and under the guise of strength in numbers, the parking lot's surrounding wall had already been built, leaving only a northern and a southern gate.

Stepping across the road ditch from the provincial highway, he entered the southern gate.

In the open space about 300 meters long and 200 meters wide, a row of 20 folk houses sat on the western side.

Some were used for offices, while others were leased out for auto repair, fast food, and lodging.

The eastern side also featured 20 folk houses, all converted into dormitories.

Some were allocated to employees, while others were leased to outsiders.

In the middle was the parking lot.

This included an agricultural machinery parking area, a private car parking area, a large semi-trailer parking area, and a temporary vehicle parking area.

Stepping out of the northern gate, Yu Family Village lay directly ahead.

The courtyards on the western side were subleased to vegetable vendors for shared living and office use.

The courtyards on the eastern side were temporarily left in the hands of the villagers; otherwise, people would have nowhere to live.

Along both sides of the main thoroughfare, many storefronts had sprouted up.

General stores, boiled noodles, thick steamed bun stalls, steamed bun shops, mutton soup restaurants, hardware and electrical appliances, steel and electric welding, private gas stations, wheel hubs and tires, air pump and tire repair, bearings and V-belts, farm machinery and tools...

One could even vaguely spot a Shaxian Snacks shop, though nobody knew when it had moved in.

With increased income, the consumption level within the village had also risen accordingly.

At least the spendthrift sons of Yu Family Village had grown wealthy enough to stop cooking for themselves.

Moreover, they handed out cigarettes to everyone they met—the minimum being ten-yuan-a-pack Taishan, Yizhiwen, or Little Panda.

"You can't keep cooking oil cakes in a dog kennel!"

Although Yu Yang muttered curses inwardly, he felt quite gratified.

Because only consumption could drive the economy.

If everyone hoarded and hid their money away, who would come to Yu Family Village to do business?

Without people doing business, various aspects of life wouldn't flourish.

Thinking as he walked all the way, he unconsciously reached the easternmost end of the village.

In the muddy alley, the village chief's paternal cousin was holding a pack of twenty-yuan-a-pack Soft Xiahua-brand cigarettes, greeting a group of vegetable vendors and inviting them into his home to pick up goods.

Back then, when the Yu Family Village collective invested in the bean sprout industry, some villagers opted for convenience by handing their heated brick beds over to Sanyuan Agriculture, collecting a fixed monthly income while their entire families busied themselves running plastic greenhouses to earn multiple streams of revenue.

Others kept the bean sprouts in their own hands, paying only a 1,500-yuan technical support fee before contacting vegetable vendors to sell the produce themselves.

Consequently, the village chief's cousin started a secondary vegetable-vending business.

For instance, if a certain vegetable vendor urgently needed a large quantity of bean sprouts but had to wait in line for two days to get goods from the Sanyuan company, what could they do?

The village chief's cousin would find them, confirm the quantity, and reach an agreement with a markup of five or even ten yuan per crate.

He would then acquire the goods from villagers who had remodeled their heated brick beds but were unwilling to ship through the company, thereby pocketing the price difference.

However, this was merely the embryonic form of a secondary vegetable vendor.

Once this person accumulated a certain amount of capital, he would likely take over the village's heated brick beds from Sanyuan Company, setting up a model of his own.

Then, he would wholesale loose bean sprouts from plastic greenhouses and crisp fresh-keeping boxes from plastic factories.

After transporting them home, men, women, young, and old would pitch in to tear the bean sprouts into smaller portions, apply their own labels, and resell them at a markup to vegetable vendors in urgent need.

Though somewhat exhausting, it yielded higher profits.

This was one of the reasons why Yu Yang was determined to establish a vegetable vendors' association.

After all, the more profitable a business was, the more likely people would be to take desperate risks.

Sanyuan Agriculture's fresh-keeping boxes were one-third smaller than the crate-packed specifications.

The secondary vegetable vendors' fresh-keeping boxes would probably be half the size.

If a little more time passed, who knows—they might even dare to mix wild weeds into the fresh-keeping boxes.

Therefore, it was necessary to establish industry standards and norms.

Strict regulations needed to be imposed on the color, quality, and specifications of the bean sprouts, as well as the soybean seeds, cultivation processes, and types of pesticides used.

This was not to restrict the development of one's own business, but to restrict the development of others.

Of course, Yu Yang welcomed and supported the actions of the village chief's cousin.

Because this was no different from Maotai Town.

Yu Yang walked from the eastern end of the village along the dirt road, which had been widened to six meters, back to the small foreign-style villa.

He checked the time.

It was 3:00 PM.

Just as he intended to sleep for a bit, the veteran Party secretary, who was basking in the warmth within the courtyard, shouted out that a guest had arrived.

Yu Yang stepped outside to take a look and was surprised to see a completely bald man.

The man was dressed in a Western suit and tie, slowly rolling a string of glossy, brightly polished rosewood beads between his fingers.

"Boss Yu, wishing you booming business."

"And you are?"

"This humble person does business over in neighboring Nanhe. It just so happens I have a few storefronts and restaurants in my possession, and my hometown of Fan County is quite close to here, so I intend to regularly wholesale some bean sprouts from you."

"Ah, so it's Boss Fan."

"Oh my, for my humble surname to reach Boss Yu's ears—how extraordinarily fortunate I am!"

Reading the man's expression and demeanor, Yu Yang understood that he must be a major underworld figure from the Nanhe side. "Since we're friends, things are easy to talk about. As long as your people don't block my trucks, and don't target our wheels, our fuel, or our drivers, we can do business."

"Naturally, naturally. Everything we do is proper, upright business; helping each other out is only right. Rest assured, if any trouble arises, come find me."

With that, the bald, plump man waved behind him.

His two subordinates hurriedly lifted a massive two-and-a-half-meter-long, full-meter-wide solid wood tea table out of the pickup truck bed.

Judging by the grain and material, it looked remarkably like ebony.

"Boss Yu, a grand opening gift, arriving a bit late—please don't mind."

Yu Yang similarly waved his hand, and his young cousin immediately led people forward carrying five newly crafted gift boxes of hot pot vegetables.

"Take these back to taste; if they're to your liking, we can take advance orders."

Peering through the transparent plastic on the front of the gift box, the bald, plump man clearly saw the vegetables neatly arranged inside their fresh-keeping containers. "Oh my, Boss Yu, these really are rare delicacies."

"As long as you don't dislike them."

"Then we'll be in touch later."

"I won't see you out."

The eldest cousin had already asked around among the vegetable vendors to ascertain the identity of the bald, plump man. Watching the man depart, he hurried to Yu Yang's side.

"Third Brother, this is Fan Tao, who operates in Puyang. He has four brothers in his family involved in all sorts of industries. He owns three hotels and two large shopping malls in Nanhe. In his earlier years, he was quite the prominent figure, though he's washed his hands of that life now."

"Even if he's washed his hands clean, he can't shed that bandit aura. Look at me—how upright am I?"

"Your body is leaning to the side."

"I'm perfectly straight!"

"Seriously, you're leaning left."

"I think your eyes are failing you."

Yu Yang lit a cigarette, likewise watching the Nanhe boss depart, while seriously searching his memory from his other life to recall whether he had ever crossed paths with the Fan brothers.

At that moment, his mother called.

"Sanyuan, your dad is about to be released."

"Then I'll make a trip to the county seat and bring you both back."

Regardless of what the Fan brothers were up to, Old Yu absolutely could not get mixed up with Dong Jian.

Otherwise,

he could gladly do without a father like that.