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Before dawn, the men and women of Zhoujiatun gathered at the dam. Horse carts, ox carts, and donkey carts were loaded first, while the remaining rice was handled by a transport team made up of enthusiastic villagers from Zhoujiatun.
The villagers carried two hundred pounds of rice each on their shoulders, winding through the mountains. Leading the way was One Gun Brother, who boisterously sang mountain songs that echoed loudly in the quiet night. Some strong men hummed along, while those with less stamina felt invigorated by the uplifting melodies.
Yezhi rode a folding bike alongside Xiao Fang as they followed the group. When One Gun Brother started singing, Xiao Fang eagerly recorded everyone's rustic tunes. It was no wonder Xiao Fang was so motivated; Great Music Cultural Media had offered six million for the mountain songs, who wouldn't be tempted? Yezhi even thought about recording popular songs to sell for money!
Everyone trudged along the mountain path for five or six hours before finally reaching the highway as dawn broke. Big Zhu and One Gun Brother organized a break for everyone. Yezhi sped ahead towards the Commune Acquisition Station. At this moment, Village Uncle drove the cart and skillfully arrived at the Acquisition Station. He jumped off the cart and excitedly ran inside to find an employee, asking, "Comrade, we are from Zhoujiatun. Can I ask how much rice is per pound?"
The employee in a blue work uniform glanced at Village Uncle and replied, "Rice? Where would we get rice!" Village Uncle proudly said, "We grew it ourselves, several tens of thousands of pounds!"
The employee thought Village Uncle was joking and replied curtly, "What nonsense! Several tens of thousands of pounds? We don't even grow rice here!"
"Comrade, I really came to sell rice! I've brought it all!" Village Uncle insisted, pulling the employee out of the Acquisition Station. The young employee looked outside and saw more than ten fully loaded carts parked there. He smiled at Village Uncle and said, "Uncle, your carts are all filled with rice!" Village Uncle nodded, and the employee kindly told him to wait while he went to call his supervisor.
Soon after, a middle-aged man with a small mustache came out, introducing himself as Director Wang from the procurement department. He warmly shook hands with Zhou Village Head and said, "Comrade, I heard you are here to sell rice. May I take a look?"
Zhou Village Head led Director Wang to the front of the leading cart and untied a burlap sack. The plump, translucent grains of rice glistened with a hint of green. Director Wang's eyes lit up; although he had seen little rice in his life, he could still discern quality.
"Comrade, this rice is top-notch, but the flavor..."
Zhou Village Head took out a green rice ball from his bag and handed it to Director Wang. "This rice smells wonderful! How can it be so fragrant and moist, smooth yet elastic..." Director Wang closed his eyes in astonishment as he savored the rich sensations brought by the rice.
"Comrade, this rice is amazing!" Director Wang exclaimed, giving a thumbs up. Hearing someone praise the rice, Zhou Village Head's face lit up with a smile. "Our Zhoujiatun has good mountains and good water, and the 'Bilo' rice we produce is even better!" Zhou Village Head remembered what Yezhi had said earlier about brand awareness. He didn't quite understand it, but Yezhi mentioned that everyone should know that the rice from Zhoujiatun is exceptional. Whenever people see 'Bilo', they will think of the beautiful mountains and waters of Zhoujiatun, which makes him feel proud!
Director Wang appeared very excited. "This rice is called 'Bilo', what a great name! Comrade, we’ll buy all this rice at seven cents per pound. What do you think?" Seven cents! Yezhi, who was eavesdropping nearby, almost gasped in shock—exploitation! Who would have thought that in today's socialist society, someone would dare to exploit so openly?
Zhou Village Head calculated in his mind: seven cents per pound means 60,000 pounds would amount to 4,200 yuan. The Cart Master was secretly pleased, while Yezhi looked furious. She couldn't understand why Village Uncle and the Cart Master were smiling so broadly; this price for the rice was too low and deeply discouraged her enthusiasm for farming.
All the employees at the Acquisition Station came out to help weigh and store the rice. The empty carts—horse-drawn, donkey-drawn, and ox-drawn—were hurriedly turning around to pick up One Gun Brother and his team.
After all the rice was stored, Director Wang led Zhou Village Head back to the office behind. "Xiao Liu, settle the accounts for this Farmer Brother!" Director Wang handed Zhou Village Head a receipt. "Brother Zhou, the total for 'Bilo' rice is 60,036 pounds, which comes to 420,252 yuan." After shaking hands with Director Wang and receiving the heavy stack of cash, Zhou Village Head climbed onto his cart with a beaming smile and shouted, "Back to the village!"
Yezhi rode her folding bike back to the village a few hours earlier than Village Uncle and the others. After lunch, Yezhi squinted her almond-shaped eyes and sprawled out on the Big Wooden Platform with Black Treasure.
Aunt Zhou had not seen Yezhi all morning and only returned at noon. Upon her return, she noticed Yezhi was unusually quiet. "What's wrong?" Aunt Zhou asked with concern.
Yezhi didn't know how to respond; should she say that the rice price was too low? Suddenly feeling that farming had no future in terms of profit, she declared loudly, "Everyone listen up! I am the village chief!"
Aunt Zhou gestured for Yezhi to be quiet and listened intently to Village Uncle explaining the distribution plan over the loudspeaker. Village Uncle mentioned that this year Zhoujiatun had suffered from disasters, making life even harder for everyone. However, with Yezhi's help, their village not only had a bumper harvest but also an abundance of rice. The money from selling rice plus seed money totaled up to 100,252 yuan for Yezhi alone. Xiao Cheng received 200 yuan for taking over Yezhi's role as a rice planting expert, while the remaining 3,000 yuan would be evenly distributed among households.
Thirty yuan! Aunt Zhou pinched herself hard; was she dreaming? Many others in Zhoujiatun felt similarly dazed by their good fortune as everyone floated over to Team to collect their money.
Yezhi remained calm as she pocketed her share of 100,252 yuan without even counting it. Everyone else received three Unity notes each; they touched them repeatedly and examined them closely before carefully wrapping them in cloth or stuffing them into their pockets while still holding on tightly. The shouts of children buying candy, comic books, and school supplies echoed through the air as adults felt good about their fortunes; those shouting for school supplies were all satisfied.
"Yezhi, why aren’t you happy?" Village Uncle wondered anxiously; who would complain about getting less money?
"Girl, name a number. Our village can't let you suffer a loss!" Village Uncle said seriously.
Yezhi smiled, realizing the huge misunderstanding. "Village Uncle, I was just thinking that the rice we work so hard to grow, which is of top quality, only sells for seven cents a pound, while peaches can be casually grown on a few barren hills and exceed that price."
"Yezhi, seven cents is already quite good. I heard from Director Wang that the rice acquisition station originally offered six cents. It's because our Zhoujiatun's Bilo is indeed good that they raised it by one cent."
Yezhi was pleased to hear Village Uncle frequently mention Zhoujiatun and Bilo; it seemed the surprise visit this morning had a good effect. "Village Uncle, growing rice is laborious and costly; it's much easier to grow peaches!"
"Girl, that's not the right way to think. One shouldn't just seek ease in life. With grain in hand, one won't panic. Can peaches be eaten as food? Besides, right now, even if you have money, you can't buy grain! Our rice is precious!" Seven cents still seemed precious to Yezhi; she had thought it could sell for ten cents!
In the blink of an eye, it was time for Yezhi to go to the county for her studies. Aunt Zhou hugged a thick new Cotton Padded Jacket and stuffed it into the Cloth Bag with her clothes. "Thank you, Aunt. Also, please thank Barefoot Aunt, Aunt Ren Er, and Aunt Li for pooling together the Cotton Ticket; otherwise, I would be in trouble!" Yezhi hugged her arms tightly and dramatically shivered.
"Hey!" Cart Master drove the Stagecoach to Yezhi's doorstep. Yezhi grabbed the large Cloth Bag and climbed onto the carriage. One Egg placed the tied-up Wild Boar Piglet onto the cart with reluctance in his eyes. Black Treasure lay on the cart board, howling loudly; Mama Bear was going out again. No wonder she was so gentle with it yesterday—howling to hurry home!
Village Uncle, Big Zhu, Er Zhu, Mei Zi, Red Sister, Flower Sister, Wednesday, Xiao Cheng… came to see her off and helped load a sack of Oats, a sack of rice, and two large bags of Hazelnuts, Pine Nuts, dried mushrooms, Mountain Red mushrooms, and mountain wood ears onto the cart.
Such scenes of parting always tug at one's heartstrings. As the cart slowly moved forward, Aunt Zhou and the others standing at the door gradually became blurry. Yezhi stood up and waved her hands while shouting: "I'll be back soon! Very soon!"
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