"I heard someone talking about saving for a betrothal gift?" Zhou Liang's voice came from the stairwell, and soon he and Wei Gang arrived beside the three of them.
Wu Zheng explained, "That little girl from Old Gu's family, her looks are impeccable, and her temperament is good. Anyway, we have three sons, haha, the chances are very high."
Zhou Liang said, "I've known for a long time that Old Gu is amazing for having twins. My son, Zhou Tong, is also good. Do you want to consider him?"
Having such a son at the age of thirty, Zhou Liang's tone was full of indulgence.
Wang Jianshe glanced at Gu Xingdong's expression and chuckled, "The children are still young. Our families only have this one precious daughter. No rush, no rush."
Wei Gang felt a little uncomfortable hearing this. If the Gu family's daughter was precious, were their two daughters just extras?
However, out of consideration for face, he didn't show it.
"I'm not going to the cafeteria. I have to go to the General Military Hospital later. When you guys are free, come to my place, and we'll have a good drink again."
After informing everyone, Gu Xingdong went downstairs and left.
Chen Lishu spent another day making the finished product of the base shirt, and then went to the State Cotton Mill.
The State Cotton Mill had great confidence in the clothes she designed, so the process went very smoothly. In the end, they agreed to process the base shirts at seven yuan and the bell-bottom skirts at eight yuan, with two thousand pieces of each style. After signing the contract, a deposit of five thousand yuan was paid upfront, and the delivery was agreed to be before New Year's Day.
In Qingshan Village, Chen Lifei was sitting by the window reading a book.
Since Chen Lishu handed over the barren mountain to her management, Chen Lifei had been diligently trying to manage it well.
Now, the mountain not only planted economic crops but also raised pigs, chickens, ducks, and geese.
There were few technicians in the county town, let alone in the townships and villages. If any problems arose, relying solely on the village's traditional methods wouldn't suffice. Chen Lifei believed in scientific farming and scientific animal husbandry.
To this end, she specifically borrowed many professional books on planting from Technician Zhao Guangbin of the seedling nursery to study.
She also personally visited the animal husbandry station several times to learn. At first, the old masters at the animal husbandry station looked down on her, a young girl, because handling livestock was dirty, tiring, and smelly. It was men's work, and delicate girls couldn't handle such things.
However, after a few encounters, seeing her quick movements and no fussiness, they gradually became willing to explain more.
"Old Fourth is here. Come in." Chen Mandun saw Hu Sii enter and smiled, inviting him in.
It was snowing heavily outside. Hu Sii stood at the door, stomped his feet twice, and patted the snow off his body before looking up and asking, "Is the third girl at home?"
Chen Lifei heard the voice and quickly put down her book, coming out, "Fourth Uncle, are those two sows about to give birth?"
Hu Sii nodded, "Indeed. I felt something was wrong early this morning. Didn't you say to call you when they were about to farrow? Uncle Lin is watching that one now, so I came to call you."
"Fourth Uncle, wait for me for a moment. I'll come with you after I put on my outer clothes." Sows giving birth was a major event, as it related to the number and quality of piglets in the coming year. Chen Lifei attached great importance to it. She turned and ran back into the house to put on her outer clothes. It was cold outside, so she had to wear a hat and gloves.
Soon, she was dressed and came out of the inner room, "Let's go."
"I'll go with you guys to take a look," Chen Mandun said, grabbing his hat from the table and walking towards the mountain with them.
This year, an additional twenty thousand fruit trees were planted on the mountain, and fifty pigsties and chicken coops were built. Five more people were hired to live on the mountain with Hu Sii and the others.
When Chen Lifei arrived, others were already waiting by the sow's pen.
She first checked the condition of the sows and then inspected the surrounding environment before instructing, "The temperature is a bit low. Burn some more firewood. Also, the pigsty isn't dry enough; sprinkle some lime to disinfect."
Lin Dazhong and the others immediately got to work upon hearing her words.
By afternoon, the two sows gave birth almost one after another, delivering two litters of piglets, a total of twenty-one palm-sized piglets.
"I must say, Lifei really knows what she's doing. Not a single piglet was wasted," Hu Sii said with some admiration.
In the past, village sows usually had eight or nine piglets, with some having as few as five or six. Sometimes, one or two would be wasted after farrowing, so piglets were quite sought after.
"Someone needs to stay in the pigsty for these two days to ensure the temperature and humidity are right. Also, observe the piglets' feeding. We need to foster them promptly. After a week, when they can eat solid food, keep ten for ourselves, and the rest can be sold."
Currently, pigsties and manpower were limited. Starting last month, more than a dozen pigs had been sold, and there were still thirty-five that were not heavy enough. They could be supplemented with some from here.
Some villagers, seeing Chen Lifei making money raising pigs, wanted to raise a few if they had the conditions. Coupled with the high survival rate and robust health of the piglets she sold, several families had already placed pre-orders.
"Mom, I heard that Lifei's pigs have farrowed again. Given our current situation, all the land has been lost due to Baozhu's gambling. The family can't farm and has no income. We don't know what to do for this whole family. Mancang and I discussed it, and maybe we should raise more pigs next year. We can earn some money back."
Zhang Chunhua said, putting a piece of meat into Old Mrs. Chen's bowl, "Originally, we had no money to buy meat, but Mancang said that since you are old, we can't wrong you no matter who we wrong. We'd rather tighten our belts. Alas, it's all because of that scoundrel Baozhu and the Liu brothers who learned badly, incurring a lot of debt. Xiao Ying got angry and went back to her maiden home, leaving Dahai with us to suffer."
"Too, I want to eat meat." Chen Dahai, Chen Baozhu's son, said pitifully, seeing the meat in Old Mrs. Chen's bowl.
"Half of my body is already buried in the earth. What difference does it make if I eat a mouthful of meat or not? Eat it, my good grandson." Old Mrs. Chen then gave the piece of meat to Chen Dahai.
Chen Mancang glanced at the salted radish strips and thin porridge on the table, having no appetite at all. It wasn't as good as the food from Widow Liu's house.
He had always looked down on Chen Mandun, but now, he saw that the gap between the brothers was widening.
Chen Lishu was out of the question. In the provincial city, she was both studying and opening a shop. Second sister Chen Liyuan also entered a large factory, and it was said that her salary alone was forty to fifty yuan a month. Although the third sister, Chen Lifei, was no longer in school, she was now managing the mountain land. With a whole mountain, the pigs and chickens she raised alone could easily bring in several thousand yuan a year, not to mention herbs, potatoes, and sugar beets, which could easily reach over ten thousand.
He glanced again at his son, who was quietly eating as if nothing had happened, and a lump formed in his chest, unable to go up or down.
"My second uncle's family is well-off now, so they won't be stingy with a few piglets. Let Grandma ask them directly. If the old lady speaks, they have to give face." Chen Baozhu wiped his mouth and put down his chopsticks. He had no appetite for the bland food either.