Siheyuan: It’s so nice to be Lao Liu

After thanking Yan Jiefang, the village chief looked at the sky and shouted to the villagers: "The two brothers Liu Dashan and Liu Xiaoshan, the three brothers Liu Jianguo, Liu Weiguo, and Liu Aiguo, Liu Baoshan, and Liu Baoguo, the seven of you stay for a while, and the rest of you can go."

Seeing that the matter was over, everyone said goodbye and left.

After the crowd dispersed, the village chief said to the seven people, "You seven go home and tell them later that you will help purchaser Yan deliver the goods to the city with Liu Hongjun and Liu Hongwei this afternoon, and then bring the food back."

"Go home and tell them, bring your stuff and come to my house for dinner. Just now, Buyer Yan took out five rabbits and asked my granddaughter-in-law to help stew a pot of rabbit meat. I want to treat you guys to a meal."

"Hey, why is purchasing agent Yan still so polite? We can just have some steamed corn bread with some meat soup." Liu Xiaoshan stood up and said with a smile.

"Come home with me quickly and stop playing tricks." Liu Dashan grabbed Liu Xiaoshan's clothes and pulled him out.

After lunch, the village chief brought three wooden flatbed trucks from the village.

Yan Jiefang looked at the size of the three vehicles and realized that each vehicle couldn't carry much, at most two thousand kilograms of cargo. Thinking about the way to the village, he said to the village chief, "Village chief, do you have any more vehicles? If we only rely on these three vehicles, we will have to make two trips to finish the work."

The village chief smiled awkwardly, a little embarrassed, and said, "There are only three cars in the village, so let's do two trips. Let's do one trip today and ask them to do another trip tomorrow. It shouldn't be a problem to ask a young man for help."

Yan Jiefang looked at the village chief's two grandsons and seven other strong young men, nodded, and agreed with the village chief's idea in his heart.

Because it is summer, the sun sets late, so it shouldn't be too dark by the time everyone comes back.

Without wasting any time, they loaded the goods onto the cart and hurried towards the city.

Along the way, everyone was talking and laughing, and Yan Jiefang quickly integrated into the circle of this group of young men.

As a person who likes to be around people, Liu Xiaoshan took the lead in getting familiar with Yan Jiefang and asked shamelessly, "Brother Jiefang, when will you come to our village to purchase next time? I will go hunting in the mountains when I get back. What kind of prey do you want? I will help you get more."

Another young man also asked timidly: "There are also many wild fruits and medicinal herbs on the mountain. If you need them, I can help you pick some."

"..."

After everyone became familiar with each other, there was no more restraint and it became much easier to talk.

From the conversations with them, Yan Jiefang also learned a lot of useful information and replied one by one in order.

From what everyone said, Yan Jiefang saw that they were all looking forward to his next visit so that they could get a good price. So, Yan Jiefang said to everyone, "Everyone, I've thought about it. Although our Liujia Village is not far from Sijiu City, the road is really difficult to walk on. I'm not sure when I can get to your village. Even if I go, you don't have much prey, so my trip will be in vain. How about we discuss it? I'll take you to my house today to get familiar with the place. When you go back, talk to the village chief. You can deliver to me every few days. Come in the morning, I'll treat you to a meal at noon, and exchange it for food in the afternoon. Or if you want to buy other daily necessities, I can help you solve it. What do you think?"

"If you want to come to the city in the afternoon, that's no problem. There are still many empty houses where we're going later, and the weather is warm so you can stay here for the night."

Several people's eyes lit up. If nothing happened, they, the young men, would never have come to the old city. Some of them might never have been to the city to see the world in their entire lives.

Everyone looked at each other and saw deep desire in each other's eyes, and they smiled at each other.

As the eldest grandson of the village chief, Liu Hongjun replied, "Brother Jiefang, we definitely agree with your suggestion. I will go back and discuss it with my grandfather and uncles. We will come again tomorrow and give you a reply then. I believe they will also agree with your proposal."

Yan Jiefang smiled and said "OK", then turned to answer the other person's question and said to the shy young man, "Just now you asked if I would accept wild fruits and herbs. Of course I do!"

Then he asked curiously, "Do you know any herbs?"

Without waiting for the young man to answer, Liu Xiaoshan spoke directly: "Brother Jiefang, his name is Liu Baoshan, his father is a famous doctor in our village, he has been collecting herbs in the mountains since he was a child, and he knows a lot of herbs."

Wow, Yan Jiefang was also convinced. This Liu Xiaoshan was just a social nerd. He didn't even ask him, but directly asked what he wanted to ask.

When Liu Xiaoshan saw Yan Jiefang's strange look, he seemed to realize something and immediately shut up, pretending nothing had happened.

Since he knew that Liu Baoshan knew about herbs, Yan Jiefang had no worries and said directly: "I need a lot of Chinese medicine. I will take any ginseng or ganoderma lucidum I come across. You can also send me those common herbs, such as those that promote blood circulation and remove blood stasis, nourish yin and tonify the kidney, and strengthen the body. But the prerequisite is that you can prepare them for me. It is very troublesome to deal with unprepared herbs, and I don't have that much time."

Seeing the happy smile on Liu Baoguo's face, Yan Jiefang assured him: "I promise you here that the price I give you will definitely satisfy you. You will definitely earn more money by collecting medicinal herbs in the mountains than they do by hunting."

Yan Jiefang's cooking skills are now at the top level, and he also has a lot of knowledge about medicinal foods in his mind. He plans to regulate the bodies of those old guys who have a good relationship with him so that they can get through the upcoming storm safely. This is also one of the reasons why he wants to build good relationships with the nearby villagers.

Looking at another young man who asked if he could find a job in the city and wanted to become a city dweller, Yan Jiefang said, "We just had a three-year famine. You should know about this, right? Life in the countryside was very hard, and many people starved to death. Your Liujia Village is relatively better, with few people starving to death."

"But life in the city is not easy either. Salaries are high, but food rations have been reduced a lot. Even if you have a high salary, you may not be able to eat enough, unless you engage in speculation. Anyway, life in the city and in the countryside has been similar in recent years."

Yan Jiefang knew that when a strong wind came, the city would be in chaos, but Liujia Village would be limited in its impact and would not be greatly affected.

He knew the future course of history, but he couldn't tell them. He could only try his best to persuade them not to always think about going to the city, but to get through these ten years first.

"Even if you enter the city, you will have to start as an apprentice in the factory, and the salary will not be as much as what you earn from hunting."