1980: I have a spiritual spring

Chapter 28 Mission Pig

Qiao Family Pigsty.

Uncle Qiao glanced at the two pigs in the pigsty and said with some surprise, "Sanduo, what have you been feeding these two pigs lately? How come they're growing so fast?"

Qiao Sanduo said blankly, "Second Father, we've always fed them like this, we haven't given them anything else."

Qiao Dajiang asked, "Second Uncle, do you think these two pigs weigh more than 120 jin?"

Qiao Erdie said, "They've exceeded that. I think these two pigs are almost 130 jin now. If they're raised for a while longer, they'll definitely be rated as second-grade pigs."

In this era, task pigs were also graded. In Cenhe, task pigs had three grades: Grade 1 task pigs weighed over 160 jin (80 catties) with a live weight, Grade 2 task pigs weighed over 140 jin (70 catties) with a live weight, and Grade 3 task pigs weighed over 120 jin (60 catties) with a live weight.

Different ratings have different prices; the higher the rating, the higher the price.

Qiao Erhe said, "The rewards for turning in the task pig are not as high as before, so there is no need to spend so much effort to raise the task pig to level two."

Qiao Erdie nodded and said, "Erhe is right. The rewards for task pigs now are not comparable to those in the past. I remember that the rewards were the highest in the early 1960s. Back then, if you handed in a task pig weighing more than 120 jin, you could not only get 60 jin of raw grain (referring to unhulled rice, wheat, and other grains) as a reward, but also an extra 160 jin of fertilizer. They even gave you industrial product purchase vouchers at 8% of the purchase amount. Those rewards were really generous."

Qiao Dajiang's eyes widened. "My God, were the rewards for completing tasks this high before?"

Qiao Erhe laughed and said, "The early 1960s was a long time ago. We had just gone through three years of hardship, so it was normal to set such a high reward."

Qiao Sanduo asked, "Second Brother, should we continue raising the task pigs at our house?"

Qiao Erhe said, "There's no need to keep raising them. Since they're already heavy enough, let's hand them over as soon as possible!"

Qiao Dajiang replied, "Then I'll go to the company to collect pigs tomorrow."

Uncle Qiao didn't try to persuade him. Now that the rewards for the mission pigs have been reduced, it's enough to complete the tasks assigned by the state. There's no need to spend too much time on the mission pigs. He looked at his eldest nephew and said, "Dajiang, now that you're engaged, you should set a wedding date as soon as possible."

Qiao Dajiang said, "Second Uncle, all our money has been invested in raising those 1000 laying hens. We don't have the money to prepare for the wedding now, so we'll have to wait until next year."

Qiao Erdie reached out and patted his shoulder, saying, "I have some money saved up, which I plan to use to help Xiangdong get married. If you need money, you can take it from me first, and pay me back when you have the money."

Qiao Dajiang quickly shook his head and said, "Second Uncle, Xiangdong is not young anymore. You should save the money for him to get married. My siblings and I have already discussed it. We will wait until next year when the family has made money to build a house before I hold a wedding and bring my wife home."

Qiao Erdie laughed and said, "Since you siblings already have a plan, then I won't say any more."

……

The next day.

After breakfast, Qiao Dajiang drove a freshly fed pig to the commune to hand over the task pig.

With nothing to do, Qiao Erhe borrowed a bicycle from his second uncle's house, intending to ride around and inquire which production team or private individual sold glutinous rice. He planned to buy some and try brewing some sweet glutinous rice wine. Originally, he planned to wait until next year's wheat harvest before starting to brew wine, but then he thought, it's only October now, and there are still several months until next year's wheat harvest. He can't possibly abstain from alcohol completely during this time, can he?

Since we're going to drink anyway, why not drink the good wine we brew ourselves?

Under such rudimentary conditions, it was impossible to brew high-proof liquor, so glutinous rice sweet wine became Qiao Erhe's first choice for brewing.

Sweet glutinous rice wine is mainly made from glutinous rice. It is rich in nutrients, golden in color, clear and transparent, with a mellow and sweet taste and unique flavor. It is suitable for all ages and has an extremely attractive aroma. It is a precious local specialty of Hubei, Hunan, Guangxi, Guizhou, Guangdong and other places.

It can help blood circulation and promote metabolism. In addition to strengthening the body and nourishing the body, it also has an auxiliary therapeutic effect on rheumatoid arthritis, neurasthenia, depletion of vital energy, seminal emission, urinary incontinence, and irregular menstruation.

In many rural areas, this sweet glutinous rice wine is a must-drink for rural women during their postpartum recovery period. It is believed to nourish the body and produce abundant, sweet breast milk.

Those who are tired from work can drink a bowl or two of sweet glutinous rice wine and their fatigue will disappear, making them instantly energetic.

If even a normally brewed glutinous rice wine has such effects, then if Qiao Erhe adds spiritual spring water to the brewing process, the effects would be even more remarkable.

Of course, Qiao Erhe planned to share this batch of sweet glutinous rice wine with his family, so he had to use diluted spiritual spring water when brewing it. The dilution ratio was tentatively set at 1:100, so as not to cause unnecessary trouble if the effect was too good.

Even if the spiritual spring water is diluted 100 times, I believe its effects are still incredibly powerful, surpassing any tonic in the world.

In one morning, Qiao Erhe visited several production teams and finally bought 100 jin of glutinous rice at the Jiujiatai production team.

When Qiao Erhe brought the glutinous rice home, the eldest brother who had gone to the public communal pig farm also returned.

When Qiao Dajiang handed over the task of transporting pigs, all he got back was a little over fifty yuan and more than twenty jin of raw grain.

Qiao Erhe remembers that starting next year, the state will no longer implement the "buy one, keep one" policy for live pig purchases and sales, but will instead implement the "buy one, keep more" policy. This new policy stipulates that families with four or more people shall sell one live pig to the state, while families with three or fewer people shall sell 0.5 live pigs, and the rest can be arranged freely by the farmers.

With this policy in place, raising pigs will become a more profitable venture.

After all, if live pigs could be freely traded on the market, their price would be about half as much again as the state-set price. If they could be raised on a large scale and fed with modern feed to shorten the time it takes for pigs to reach market weight, then making money would be a sure thing.

In addition, Qiao Erhe has the powerful tool of spiritual spring water, which can accelerate the growth of pigs. If he were to start a pig farm, he would definitely make a fortune.

Of course, it's just wishful thinking for now. Next, we need to build a house, my older brother is getting married, and we need to expand our egg-laying hen farm. Everything will cost money. Whether or not we should build a pig farm next year is something we'll decide later.

Thinking of this, Qiao Erhe regained his composure, put the glutinous rice away, and returned the bicycle to his second uncle.

After returning from his second uncle's house, Qiao Erhe began brewing wine for the first time in his past and present lives.

(End of this chapter)