After a trip to Songling Town, he successfully settled on a purchase of four hundred kilograms of goods. Zhuang Keqing was full of energy and hummed a little tune all the way back.
After entering the village, I didn't go home directly. Instead, I took a detour to the village chief's courtyard and told me about today's situation.
"That's good!"
The village chief was so excited. He had heard rumors in the village before and was worried that the dried potatoes would not be easy to sell. Who would have expected that the girl was so upbeat that she signed a deal for ten cents per pound.
"Tomorrow, if not this afternoon, I will have someone notify the village. Tomorrow morning we will gather under the plum tree to talk about building the mill! You can prepare at home."
Zhuang Keqing smiled and nodded in agreement.
She still has 400 kilograms of goods to be shipped out. In ten days, plus some starch stored at home and the leftovers from before, the vermicelli can be supplied. In addition, as long as the weather is good, 200 kilograms of dried potatoes can be supplied. It’s not difficult, but I don’t have that many sweet potatoes at home, so I have to buy some from the villagers.
Why not take advantage of this opportunity...
With an idea in mind, Zhuang Keqing pulled Dahei back and quickly walked back.
Shen Ling ran with her all morning and didn't even take a few sips of water. When he saw her happy look, he didn't say anything about hard work, but his eyes were full of doting.
It was already past noon when we got home. Qin Manzhi took Aman to have some fun. Zhuang Keqing brought the food that was hot on the stove and they ate briefly. After Shen Lingwen wrote, she started tinkering with the bamboo again.
The small courtyard was very quiet, with only a few "duh" knocks occasionally, but it soon calmed down again, until bursts of gongs could be heard in the distance.
"We will gather under the two plum trees tomorrow afternoon. The village chief has something to announce."
The sound of the gong could be heard all the way from the beginning of the village to the end of the village, whether it was those working in the fields or those staying home to laze around.
"Go wherever you have nothing to do, don't take it too seriously."
The person who beat the gong was beating the gong and shouting when he saw people. It must have been the village chief's instructions.
It’s been a long time since the village had officially announced something like this, not even the last time I taught everyone how to make fish fields. At that time, it was just a few men shouting in the fields, and the workers listened. If you hear anything, come back and ask people. No matter what happens, you can always find out the solution.
But this time is obviously unusual, I'm afraid something big is going on.
"Hey, do you know what's going on?"
Some people are impatient and can't wait until tomorrow, so they immediately grab someone's sleeve and ask questions.
"I don't know, I don't know. The village chief asked me to inform you. If you want to know, go there early tomorrow and get a good place."
With no news, everyone was scratching their heads and ears.
Several of the villagers who met Li You and Zhuang Keqing walking home yesterday couldn't help but have some guesses and associations in their minds.
"Could it be related to the banker's girl again?"
"What? What did you say?"
"Yesterday I saw Li You taking the two of them to the village chief's house. They were walking in a hurry, and they didn't reply to me when I asked what they were doing."
"Yeah, when you said that, I remembered that Mr. Zhang also went to the village chief's house yesterday!"
"My dear, is there really something big going on that has even alarmed the elderly?"
The villagers were very curious, but they had no clue after guessing. So they could only talk to each other and wait for the next day.
Compared with the excitement and curiosity of other people in the village, Zhuang Keqing calmed down after an afternoon.
"Mom, I will go with A Ling after lunch tomorrow. You and A Man can rest at home."
During dinner, Zhuang Keqing told his mother about his plans at the dinner table.
"Um."
Qin Manzhi hugged the child and said softly, but there was a look of worry on her face.
She had always thought that her daughter's idea of teaching everyone the recipe of dried potatoes and vermicelli was like Uoda Noriko. But who knew that this girl actually wanted to set up a workshop in the village, and she had already discussed it with the village chief and elders. Got it!
It’s not that I doubt my daughter’s ability, it’s just that if she does well in running a workshop, everyone will praise her, but if she doesn’t do well, how will she be able to gain a foothold in the village in the future?
Zhuang Keqing had been thinking about how to explain things to the villagers tomorrow, and did not notice the change in his mother's mood, but Shen Ling was keenly aware of it.
"Mom, Ke'er didn't mean to hide anything from you at this time, I just don't want you to worry too much."
The young man spoke calmly and his calm voice inexplicably gave people a sense of trust, magically soothing the anxiety in Qin Manzhi's heart, "And no matter what happens, I will be by her side."
It wasn't until Shen Ling said such words that Zhuang Keqing realized that he had been ignoring his mother's feelings.
"Mom, I was wrong. I have just been busy recently. I will never be like this again. Can you please forgive me this time?"
She deliberately sat next to Qin Manzhi, leaning on her mother's arm like a child, staring with big almond-shaped eyes, and sadly begging for forgiveness.
After her daughter stirred her up like this, the slight anger that Qin Manzhi had built up in her heart suddenly dissipated like bubbles, leaving only some worries.
She glanced at Shen Ling, who was sitting on the other side of the dining table, knowing that this kid always knew what was right. With him here, there would be no big problems. Then she patted Zhuang Keqing's head and said, "You Now that you're old, you have your own ideas. Mom doesn't want you to earn much money or become rich and powerful in the future. I just want you to be safe."
"Mom, I know."
"Brother Ling, too. Ke'er has always had big ideas. I need you to take more care of her and don't let her do whatever she wants."
The young couple agreed in unison, and the family finally untied their knots and had dinner in peace and contentment.
On the second day, not only the villagers who went to the fields were distracted, but also the women who were doing laundry by the river in the morning were all speculating about what important matters the village chief was going to talk to everyone about at noon.
What's interesting is that all the families unexpectedly decided to advance lunch time. Before it was even late, the place under the plum tree was full of people.
When Zhuang Keqing and Shen Ling arrived, there was no room under the shade of the tree. Not only were there families with families, but there were also many young and old people. Children wearing shorts and running around were running around blindly under the trees. Those who shouted, joined the others who were standing chatting, sitting and eating snacks together, watching the excitement.
As soon as the young couple arrived, the villagers looked over, greeted them warmly, and called out affectionately that the girl is here, Shen Xiaolang is here to sit down, and stuffed snacks in their hands into each other's hands. It didn't take long. , the two of them gathered around the crowd, even their clothes were filled with melon seeds and peanuts.
Shen Ling usually didn't talk much when he was outside. Although he was polite when meeting people, for some reason, the villagers didn't even dare to tell a joke in front of him.
But today he has collected a lot of snacks, and there is a rare look on his face that wants to refuse and is a little overwhelmed, which makes people feel that they are getting closer to him.
"Shen Xiaolang, there is no need to be polite to us. I still have some jujubes here. You can take them back as well. I hope you and the girl will have a big fat boy soon."
The aunt smiled so hard that she narrowed her eyes and opened her mouth without any hesitation. Shen Ling was stumped by her straightforward tone, and she really didn't know what to say.
Fortunately, the village chief arrived at this time.
The old man held a gong in his hand, followed by several elders. He walked straight towards him, and the villagers spontaneously made way for him.
After standing under the tree, he raised a cloth hammer and struck the gong, shouting at the top of his lungs: "Everyone is quiet, don't make any noise!"
The gong sounded crisply, and those who were further away stopped chatting and stopped putting snacks in their hands into their mouths. Even the children who were running wildly stopped and were pulled by their own adults. They covered their mouths with their hands to prevent them from speaking. sound.
The village chief is usually very tight-lipped and won't get angry even if he makes a joke, but if something big happens and the gong is shaken, he can't ignore it. It's an important matter.
Everyone fell silent quickly, and after a while, there was no sound in the entire square under the plum tree. The village chief cleared his throat and said directly without any nonsense: "The village plans to build a sweet potato workshop."
His voice was not quiet, and anyone who was close could hear it clearly, but no one understood what this sweet potato workshop was about, and they looked at each other a few times, all with incomprehensible expressions.
The one who was far away could only vaguely hear what kind of workshop it was, but he couldn’t hear clearly what kind of workshop it was. He was so curious that he couldn’t help but ask the person standing in front of him, and asked Gangcun directly. What did the chief say, what kind of workshop.
The buzzing sound came from outside to inside, and gradually the sound of discussion started.
"Sweet potato workshop?"
"What do you do?"
"I don't know, what else can be done with these sweet potatoes? Do we need to set up a special workshop?"
Some people with bright minds immediately thought of the dried potatoes made by the banker's second and third bedrooms, but when they thought about it more, it was wrong. The big guy saw this dried potato and it would not make any money at all, and it was impossible for the village to start a business. Why do you want to make money with this?
So, what does the sweet potato workshop that the village chief refers to mean?
