"Why have we suddenly stopped eating from the communal pot?" Grandma Su asked, still bewildered after hanging up the phone.
She couldn't understand what her son had said.
What did he mean by household contracting from now on?
Each household manages its own affairs, pays the state's share, reserves the collective's share, and keeps the rest?
Was such a policy really in place?
Grandma Su recalled that Little Sweet had mentioned before that the land would eventually be divided among the families, but she hadn't believed it.
Su Xiaotian happened to hear Grandma Su's words and then remembered that the Red Heart Brigade in her previous life had indeed implemented household contracting around this time!
Next, would it be the issue of the chicken farm and the pig farm?
In her previous life, the Red Heart Brigade didn't have any farms, so there was no such problem, but this life was different.
With the land now under household contracting, the farms would likely no longer remain collective property.
The most probable scenario was that someone would need to contract for their operation.
She wondered what her family members thought about all this.
Su Xiaotian considered that her second uncle and second aunt were currently running a shop in the provincial capital, earning nearly two thousand yuan a month, so they definitely wouldn't return.
However, her eldest uncle and aunt had poured their hearts into the farms, and she didn't know their current thoughts.
Immediately, Su Xiaotian thought that the pig and chicken farms had been very profitable in recent years, and everyone could see it.
If the two farms were to be contracted out now, there would likely be many people competing for them.
It was even possible that the village head, Uncle Changjiu, would be competing.
In such a situation, even if her eldest uncle and aunt wanted to contract them, it would probably be difficult.
In fact, just as Su Xiaotian guessed, the members of the Red Heart Brigade were arguing fiercely over the contracting of the two farms.
Basically, anyone with some financial backing wanted to contract one to make a lot of money.
The farms had been performing well in recent years, and the villagers were well aware of it.
The competition for the pig farm was particularly intense.
The chicken farm, due to sales issues, was not as sought after.
Su Laoda and his wife sat at home with worried expressions.
For the past few years, they had been exhausted managing these two farms.
But now that the policies were relaxed, many people wanted to get a piece of the pie for themselves.
The villagers had seen the profits from these two farms and didn't care who had established them.
"I heard that the village head's daughter-in-law has already made it known that she wants to contract the pig farm," Wang Xianghua said with a sigh.
The village head, Su Changjiu, was a sensible person, but his daughter-in-law, Tian Xiaohe, was not.
When Su Xiaotian had wanted to find someone to partner with in opening a shop in the county town and offered a two-tenths share of the profits, Tian Xiaohe had refused.
Tian Xiaohe insisted that Su Xiaotian was practicing capitalism.
She had even reported Su Xiaotian later.
Unfortunately, now that the policies had been relaxed, even if she reported it, she wouldn't get any results.
Tian Xiaohe was very resentful about this.
She had even said, openly and covertly, that if her father-in-law hadn't provided support, the Su family wouldn't be living such a good life now.
Since the Su family's life had improved, not supporting them was ungrateful.
Especially now that the卤肉 (braised meat) shop in the county town had a stable income of over a thousand yuan per month, this made Tian Xiaohe even more envious.
She had repeatedly urged her husband to talk to Su Changjiu, asking him to tell the Su family that she wanted to open a shop.
Su Changjiu had never agreed.
This time, Tian Xiaohe finally found an opportunity.
She couldn't stand the Su family and had long ago declared that no matter what, she would obtain the operating rights of the farms.
She also said that the Su family shouldn't get all the good things in the village.
Although Wang Xianghua didn't want to give up this competition, she felt it was pointless to compete with someone as unreasonable as Tian Xiaohe.
Even if they won, Tian Xiaohe might still cause trouble and disturb their peace.
The more she thought about it, the less Wang Xianghua wanted to get involved in the mess.
"Why don't we give up?" Wang Xianghua said.
Su Laoda was actually holding a grudge and wanted to contract this farm.
In fact, Su Laoda had even considered finding people to pull strings.
Their Su family was not the same as it used to be.
But hearing his wife's words now, Su Laoda suddenly felt that giving up was not necessarily a bad choice.
They all lived in the same village, and fighting tooth and nail seemed meaningless!
"If we give up the operating rights of the farms, are we just going to farm at home?" Su Laoda asked.
Su Laoda had also been reflecting deeply in recent days.
The third child's couple was in Beijing, and the second child's couple was in the provincial capital. They couldn't stay here forever.
Seeing that the children were growing up, and even their parents were helping them, what would it mean for them to just farm in the countryside?
Wang Xianghua thought for a moment and said, "Even if we don't compete for the operating rights of the farms, can't we do something else?"
"Do what else? Are you thinking of opening another farm in the village?" Su Laoda asked.
Su Laoda's question at least proved that he had indeed considered this possibility.
Both he and his wife were skilled people, and it wouldn't be a problem to open another farm separately.
He thought that if the village head acted unreasonably and deliberately favored his daughter-in-law, causing them to suffer, he would directly open another farm in the village.
Wang Xianghua laughed and said, "I'm not that foolish. With just one chicken farm, egg sales are already a problem. If we open another one, it might end up backfiring."
"You're quite optimistic!" Su Laoda laughed.
"Look, Li Zhuzi's businesses are also coveted by others, but for several years now, no one has been able to snatch the business away from Li Zhuzi," Wang Xianghua said with a faint smile.
Some people, even if they snatched the business, probably wouldn't be able to sustain it. Since that was the case, Wang Xianghua was happy to see those who couldn't stand others' success fail.
"You're right, but if we're not interested in the farms anymore, they won't have anything to do with us, right?"
"That's right, we'll find another path. Let others struggle with this path. If they succeed, it's their skill; if they fail, then they deserve to be unlucky!"
Wang Xianghua's words were naturally aimed at Tian Xiaohe, who was making trouble behind the scenes.
She had underestimated that woman, Tian Xiaohe, before.
She didn't have much skill, but she was very good at stirring up trouble!
"What do you mean?" Su Laoda asked.
His wife used to have a cheerful and carefree personality, but after all these years, she had become capable and had her own ideas.
Moreover, he couldn't guess what this idea was.
Wang Xianghua leaned closer to Su Laoda and said mysteriously, "When we were on the phone, didn't Mother say that Xiaotian plans to open a factory in Beijing?"