Courir partout et jouer des rôles mineurs

Chapitre 77

Later I learned that bougainvillea is actually triangular-leaved plum, and the flowerbeds of the business school were full of this stuff. I almost regretted it so much.

Qiu Shanglin mocked him mercilessly, saying, "Serves you right for being ignorant and incompetent!"

The establishment of the vegetable company had been reported to the provincial authorities in advance. With the strong support of the Party Secretary and technicians stationed in Qiujia Village, a batch of plastic-film vegetables had already been produced in Qiujia Village by late autumn and early winter. The villagers were spreading wild rumors—that the vegetables had been sent to Beijing and praised by national leaders—but these were all false. They were only sold in Huaiqiao City. It was true that some vegetables had gone to Beijing, but it was only a relative of Cheng Chong's who returned home to visit relatives and brought back some fresh winter rapeseed.

Vegetables are scarce in winter, and the bok choy and baby bok choy that had just hit the market were snapped up immediately. Cheng Chong clicked his tongue in amazement; if it weren't for the cost of the plastic film, it would have been an absolute steal!

In with the left hand, out with the right, avoiding both risk and production—how could that not be incredibly profitable?

Shanglin scoffed. "If you don't provide plastic film, why should the farmers sell their vegetables to you? Who wouldn't make money?"

He scratched his head and smiled in a rather simple and honest way.

The more this guy deals with farmers, the more he likes to play dumb. When he signs contracts with vegetable wholesalers, people can't help but ask if he comes from a farming background, otherwise why does he have such a rustic air about him? You can't see a trace of the carefree and idle Cheng Lao Jiu from back then.

The plan is to develop off-season vegetables in several areas around Zifang Town next year. In addition, we also need to negotiate with other places. Zifang Town is already secured, so we don't have to worry about anyone taking away our vegetable supply. But we can't be sure about other places.

After all, the company was newly established and its scale was limited, so it was impossible for it to monopolize the vegetable supply in the entire province.

Cheng Chong and Xu Lishui were eager to establish vegetable bases throughout the province, but Shang Lin wouldn't allow it. In her plan, such a simple and extensive business could last for two to five years. What she should focus on next was developing rare flowers, new varieties of vegetables, and even derivatives of vegetables and flowers.

Vegetables can be grown as long as there is land.

In a few years, the whole country will be free from the days of stockpiling cabbages in winter, and off-season vegetables will flood the market, squeezing profits.

Looking at the current situation, the bougainvillea business is just getting started, and people are already eyeing the vegetables from Qiujia Village. These days, outsiders keep coming to inquire about the vegetable farmers in Qiujia Village. If the farmers hadn't signed supply and demand contracts with the company, their vegetable supply would have been snatched away long ago.

I flung the door open with my hands behind my back, and the sudden blast of warm and cold air triggered a huge sneeze.

Qiu Xialin, who was closest to him, disdainfully pushed himself inside, saying, "Cheng Jiu, why don't you close the door!"

Cheng Chong rubbed his hands together and made a face: "I hope you freeze to death, you freeloader!"

Xia Lin was furious, sticking out his tongue and glaring: "I'm still young, of course I should eat for free. Auntie said you were even worse than me when you were little, always causing trouble!"

Shanglin smacked him and admonished him: "Call me 'brother,' that's rude!"

He pursed his lips, moved next to Li Changsheng, and muttered to himself that he was still calling him by his first name.

Cheng Chong sat down next to Shang Lin, warmed his hands by the fire, and took off his black cloth shoes to knock off the dirt from the uppers. Shang Lin pinched his nose and said in disgust, "Hey, it stinks!"

He grinned, put the clothes back on, wiped his hands on the old cotton-padded coat, picked up the roasted sweet potato, peeled off the skin, and revealed the golden-brown flesh.

Thorough, utterly thorough—that's the image of a rural man. Looking at his actions, and then at the nonchalant Gu Zhiyuan, she sighed silently.

Aunt Qian can't possibly come after me, can she? She raised this refined young master for over a decade, and after just a couple of weeks in my care, he's become…

The two sweet potato lovers chatted as they ate. Cheng Chong said, "We slaughtered a sheep today, so we'll have mutton for dinner tonight."

Gu Zhiyuan's eyes sparkled: "Lamb stew with radish, delicious!"

"We have frozen pears and frozen persimmons at home. It's so comforting to eat hot meat followed by frozen persimmons!" Qiuhe exclaimed excitedly. They rarely get to eat meat all year round.

Gu Zhiyuan smacked his lips: "Frozen pears, frozen pears are delicious."

Shanglin let out another long sigh.

Cheng Chong rented a house in the village. He shared some of the mutton with the technicians and neighbors. He had half left, so he asked someone to slice five large plates of thin meat. Xia Lin found a brass hot pot in his house, lit some charcoal, and they all gathered around to eat hot pot.

I cut half of the cabbage I had stockpiled; it was glistening with water droplets. I casually broke off a piece of the cabbage heart and popped it into my mouth—sweet, cool, and refreshingly fragrant. I picked some baby bok choy and baby cabbage from the field, sliced potatoes and arranged them on a plate, shredded kelp and soaked it in water, and washed and soaked dried wood ear mushrooms. Unfortunately, I didn't have any fresh mushrooms, so I just threw in a few dried shiitake mushrooms to use as the base for the hot pot.

The soup was made with the old hen broth that I stewed yesterday, along with dried chili peppers, sliced ginseng, star anise, Sichuan peppercorns, and various other spices. The water was boiling, and even before the mutton was added, the aroma was irresistible. Gu Zhiyuan sniffed and said, "Eat up, eat up, let's start eating."

Just as Cheng Chong was about to politely step aside, Li Changsheng picked up a piece of mutton, dipped it in peanut sauce, and put it in his mouth.

Xia Lin yelled, "Brother, you're cheating!" Not to be outdone, she slashed at him with her chopsticks. Cheng Chong was dumbfounded. Wait, I'm the one who's known as the foodie, why are you all trying to steal my food?

Shanglin was amused by them and ate and laughed, washing away the mutton's gamey smell and dipping it in chive blossom sauce made in the summer, enjoying it immensely.

She has a small appetite and quickly puts down her chopsticks, watching the others scramble for the food.

Five plates of mutton were still not enough, and the bowls were almost empty. Cheng Chong said regretfully, "There weren't enough slices. We should have sliced more!"

The boy, barely a teenager, knocked over a pig; it was his oversight.

Shanglin remembered that there was still some sliced mutton in the kitchen, and said with a smile, "I'll make you some stir-fried mutton with garlic."

Upon hearing this, Xia Lin stopped competing with the others, his mouth full of garlic, and ran out, barely able to speak coherently, saying, "I'll peel garlic for you!"

Changsheng ran off too: "I'll go cut the meat!"

Gu Zhiyuan was a beat slow to react. His job was taken away from him. He rolled his eyes, slapped his thigh, and said, "I'll wash the pots!" Then he ran out.

Cheng Chong was dumbfounded and asked Qiu He, "What are they doing?"

Qiuhe buried her head in her food and rolled her eyes. How was I supposed to know?

When the stir-fried mutton with garlic was finally served, the group of people who hadn't yet tasted Shanglin's culinary skills and had filled their stomachs with mutton slices were filled with regret. They watched helplessly as the three boys devoured the food, praising it with gusto. They only regretted that they had eaten too much earlier and now couldn't eat any more.

After clearing the table, they served the frozen pears and persimmons that Qiuhe had contributed. They sat around the fire, warming themselves and eating fruit, chatting and laughing about world affairs until nightfall. Gu Zhiyuan thought that even the emperor's life was no more than this.

The peanut shells crackled and popped in the stove, filling the air with their aroma. Despite the howling north wind, I simply enjoyed life.

Chen Zhaodi's troubles

Spring came early to No. 93 Middle School. The forsythia on the campus sprouted new branches and bloomed with tender yellow flowers early. The campus had been lonely and quiet throughout the winter vacation. Finally, the first day of school arrived. Students bustled around, noisily carrying thermos bottles to fetch water. The sound of reading aloud came from the classrooms, which were as vibrant as a flower garden.

At the beginning of the semester, the final exam papers were handed out, and a large red list was posted on the side of the junior high school building. Many people gathered around to look at it, loudly reading out the top ten, and there was a lot of discussion. Qiu Shanglin was once again at the top of the list.

Wang Wei squeezed out of the crowd and walked away from the group with his arm around the dejected Qiu Xialin.

"Shall we go play ball?" he asked Lin for his opinion.

Xia Lin said dejectedly, "I'm at the bottom of the list."

Wang Wei curled his lip, disdainfully looking at the school's big red list: "There are so many people in the grade, it's impossible for everyone to be as abnormal as your sister and occupy the top spot."

Shinohara retorted angrily, "You're the pervert!"

He surrendered: "Okay, okay, your sister is great, she's amazing! She plays so well, it's fantastic!" He couldn't help but admire Qiu Shanglin's performance: "She pulled ahead of the second-place player by more than thirty points. Your sister is truly exceptional!"

Thinking of her sister's insane grades, Xia Lin hung her head dejectedly: "You didn't see her studying... She was so busy during winter break, she even squeezed in math problems during her sleep breaks. My mom told her she didn't need to work so hard, that grades were good enough, and that she couldn't rely on grades for a living, but she just wouldn't listen. Do you think being at the top of the class is easy?"

He knew that people in his grade were gossiping about Shanglin, and he couldn't help but defend his sister.

You reap what you sow; there's no such thing as a free lunch—but rather, a huge rock might fall from the sky.

Wang Wei chimed in, urging him, "Let's go, let's go play ball."

He shook his head: "No way." He was ranked last on the honor roll. His sister had said at the beginning of the semester that if they couldn't get into the top thirty, he and Li Changsheng would have to behave themselves. The old story came up again during winter break. Since the exam was quite difficult this time, only the total score was specified. He calculated carefully and thought it was fine, but Changsheng, after calculating, looked worried and was sure he would fail. He obediently followed Qiu Shanglin and studied during the winter break.

Who knew that when the results were released today, Changsheng, who was expected to fail, made the list, while he was more than ten points short. I wonder if my sister saw this; in any case, he's definitely going to get a beating this time…

The gloomy and pessimistic planning focused on how to minimize the losses.

"Enter the village quietly, don't fire your gun" is the recent code of conduct. Avoid "illegal gatherings," stay in the classroom as little as possible, and good behavior will increase your chances of being forgiven sooner.

Wang Wei glared and said, "You're only a dozen points short of being in the top fifty on the honor roll. Do you think your sister's going to eat you alive?"

Qiu Xialin thought, no, she won't eat me, she'll just skin me alive.

With downcast eyes and a sullen expression. Damn it, even bears hibernate, but they come out of their burrows in the spring. Me, on the other hand, I was active all winter, and now I'm a pushover in the spring!

I hate it just thinking about it. Damn those teachers, would it kill them to give me a few more points?

In the first half of 1993, Qiu Xialin lived a well-behaved life. He studied, ate, slept, and went about his daily routine. He played ball for two hours every weekend and had two days off every month. Without his sister reminding him, Qiu Xialin strictly adhered to these rules.