bookrebus Chapter 232 What are Brother Song and his wife doing?
Chapter 232 What are Brother Song and his wife doing?
Li Ju'an entered the county town, first riding a bicycle with his younger sister Li Xiao on the front bar, and went to Song Desheng's house.
Last time, when he brought the bear he hunted to the forest farm, Leader Chen gave him the money, and he had to go and settle the accounts with Song Desheng. Song Desheng had moved to a new house, living in a dormitory-style apartment building allocated by the textile factory. His wife was a teacher in the city.
The tenement buildings from the early 80s were old red-brick houses. Even today, they retain their original appearance, exuding a strong sense of history. The windows are wooden lattice windows, and the red-brick exterior walls and dilapidated windows all bear witness to a bygone era. The walls of these buildings must be at least a meter thick.
Li Ju'an entered the Song family home and was warmly received. He noticed that the Song family home had double windows with a wide gap between them, and there was also a jar of pickled vegetables. The house was warm and cozy, and he could take off several layers of clothing after entering.
Li Xiao stared wide-eyed with curiosity and asked, "Brother Song, your kang (heated brick bed) is so warm!"
The Song family laughed and said that this was called heating, and there was a radiator under the window. In the early 80s, there was no centralized heating in the family dormitory buildings. The units burned their own fuel, and the indoor temperature could reach the standard. If the house was small, the neighbors all had heating, and people could even sit inside and eat ice cream.
School was still on holiday, and Song Desheng's wife was inside distributing steaming hot sesame cakes to the children. The children were elementary school students at her school, and they didn't like staying at home during winter break, so they would visit their teacher's house just to read a few comic books.
Everything about the Song family in the county town was new to Li Xiao. The aroma of the sesame seed cakes made by Song's mother, and the stack of comic books on the table, made Li Xiao's mouth water. But the girl was very sensible; she took out a cornbread from her pocket, put it in her mouth, and chewed it with relish.
Song Desheng's wife looked up and saw Li Ju'an and Li Xiao arrive. She quickly greeted them and stuffed the two largest hot sesame cakes into their arms.
"This child is so lovable. Come and sit down, little sister. Take whichever book you like and read it."
Li Xiao's eyes widened, and she obediently responded, finding a corner to sit down quietly and reading the comic book. She was reading "Red Jade," a newly published illustrated comic book from last year.
Li Ju'an glanced at Li Xiao, then started chatting with Song Desheng.
Song Desheng said that now that the land in the village has been distributed to individual households, he can't stay idle and is thinking of ways to earn more money. "Brother Li, I'm thinking of finding a place to buy goods, like collecting some and going to the west of the city, which is 20 kilometers away, to sell them. The prices at this market are high, the cost of buying them is high, and there's not much income from selling them."
Li Ju'an took the cigarette offered to him, lit it, took a deep drag, exhaled a smoke ring, and said, "It'll work. There are many factories in the west of the city, so we'll go there to sell our goods. There's a cement factory over there. We'll head there early in the morning, and it should be almost 11 o'clock by the time we get there. We'll sell right at the entrance of the residential compound; it's still quite easy to sell at 11 o'clock."
After the land was distributed to individual households, every family had land. With a good harvest, they needed to find ways to sell their produce. If there was a vendor near the entrance of a residential compound, they would almost always attract a crowd. And since there weren't many vendors in that area, it was quite remote. So, when they went to a residential compound, they could just call out a few times, and people would come out.
Song Desheng seemed more energetic and asked him, "Brother Li, what are your plans for the future? There's so much land in the village, and not everyone has the time to go back and farm it."
The land was indeed distributed, but many villagers moved to the county town. The elderly were getting old, and the young people didn't know how to farm. As a result, a lot of land was left uncultivated, overgrown with weeds.
Li Ju'an said, "Rent it."
"Rent it? What will you grow?"
"Tree."
The Xingan Mountains are home to black soil and a cold climate. The soil is well-aerated and well-drained, preventing waterlogging, making it suitable for planting cold-resistant fruit trees. These trees can adapt to the Xingan Mountains' climate and also have high economic value.
Most importantly, Li Ju'an knew that more than ten years later, the forestry economy would experience a boom. At that time, many big bosses from the south would contract mountain areas to develop forestry, investing decades of time in order to obtain high returns.
Song Desheng thought for a moment and said, "Isn't this exactly the work of the forest farm? Brother Li, can you really compete with the forest farm for jobs?"
Li Ju'an laughed and said, "It depends on when the policy is released."
He knew that the winter temperatures in the Xingan Mountains region could drop to below -50 degrees Celsius. Under such harsh conditions, a large number of state-owned forest farms were established, providing a large amount of timber for national construction. However, in the mid-to-late 80s, mature forests were almost completely logged, and several major forest fires further depleted the resources of natural forests.
The income of forestry workers in the Xingan Mountains was much lower than that in other southern regions. Taking the Shibazhan Forestry Bureau as an example, the average monthly salary for general staff and ordinary employees in the 90s was only 800-900 yuan. At that time, even local division-level cadres only earned 1400-1500 yuan per month.
There are many historical sites in the local mountains. If local tourism resources are developed based on forest resources such as mushrooms, fungus, and medicinal herbs, and with proper management, a lot can be accomplished with the initial capital gained when policies are relaxed.
Song Desheng laughed at him: "The policies are made by the higher-ups. How can we ordinary people think about that? We should just honestly sell fruit and be done with it. We don't even think about making big money. We'll just make a little money to buy some milk powder and canned food for our kids."
After he finished speaking, he stubbed out his cigarette, stomped on the ground twice, then bent down to pick it up and threw it into the wastebasket. He led Li Ju'an back into the house. The group of children had already put down their comic books and started talking loudly. One would say something from Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and the other would say something from Water Margin, making the two of them grin from ear to ear.
Li Ju'an also reached out to look at the comic books, longing for those bygone days. Comic books from the 80s, depicting his hometown with its stone mill, oxen pulling plows, and horses pulling flower-wheeled carts. His old home in the mountains holds so many memories.
Thinking no one was paying attention, Song Desheng reached out and pinched his wife's buttock as he passed by. After being slapped and glared at by his wife, he still acted like a slut, hugging his wife's waist and asking for affection.
Suddenly, Li Xiao opened his eyes wide and asked, "Brother Song, what are you doing?"