Time Travel: Volume 1! Starting from a Small Mountain Village

As September arrived, it was time to go to the commune to collect mail again, and Long Lifan and her two friends once again rode their bicycles to the commune together.

However, for Lin Guodong and his group, today was indeed a very exciting day. With the hens at the chicken farm starting to lay eggs, they had gradually collected about 500 eggs, so they planned to have Old Chen take them to the commune in an oxcart today.

Wow, this egg is huge!

Old Chen stood to one side with his ox, while Lin Guodong and the others carried bamboo baskets onto the oxcart. Watching the baskets climb higher and higher, perhaps seeing such large eggs for the first time, Old Chen couldn't help but exclaim.

"Hey, you have to admit that Long Zhiqing is really capable! Look at the chicken farm she manages, the eggs are all a size bigger than elsewhere." Lin Guodong stood by the oxcart, holding a bamboo basket, and chuckled.

These three village cadres had served in Dongwan Brigade for many years, focusing solely on agricultural production. However, with the growing population, the brigade faced increasing economic pressure. If it weren't for Long Zhiqing's insistence that they try developing sideline businesses, they would still be stuck in the fields!

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Looking at the oxcart loaded with eggs, Lin Guodong and the others beamed with smiles. This was the first time they had earned income through a side business, and the success of the chicken farm meant that the brigade would soon have its first sum of money coming in. Some of them were even already calculating how much money they could get for those eggs.

When Long Lifan and her two companions arrived at the commune, they followed the same route. However, after reading the letter her father had mailed to her, Long Lifan's eyes reddened slightly, and tears welled up in her eyes.

In the letter, her father said that this was the first time she hadn't celebrated her birthday at home, and the family was very disappointed. They were worried that she wouldn't be doing well living alone in the countryside, so they specially sent her extra money and told her to buy herself some good food and not to neglect herself.

Unlike previous letters, this time Long's father talked about a lot of things, giving a detailed account of the family's recent situation. In short, the family was very worried about her.

The longer she stayed in the countryside, the more words her father wrote in his letters. It's hard to imagine that her usually taciturn father had so much to write, which also shows how much he cared for her.

After reading the letter, Long Lifan asked the staff for paper and pen and wrote a reply. However, her reply was very simple, stating that she was doing well and reminding her family to take care of their health, especially her grandparents, who were getting old.

Jiang Nian'an also wrote a letter and mailed it to her family in the Northwest. Seeing that her two best friends were mailing letters to their families, Hu Lili thought for a moment and also wrote a letter to her parents in Beijing.

After handing in their letters, Long Lifan and her companions headed to the supply and marketing cooperative. At the entrance, they encountered Grandpa Chen leading an oxcart. Upon inquiring, they learned that the brigade leader and his men had come to sell eggs that day.

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Now that they had bicycles, they didn't have to wait for an oxcart. So the group went into the supply and marketing cooperative, picked out some snacks, and prepared to go back.

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As they were leaving, they noticed Lin Guodong had appeared sometime earlier and was talking to Grandpa Chen, though Lin Guodong didn't look well. Long Lifan stepped forward and asked with concern, "Captain, what's wrong?" Lin Guodong sighed, seemingly troubled by something. He looked at Long Lifan and the others, hesitated for a moment, but decided to confide his worries.

Lin Guodong and his group arrived at the supply and marketing cooperative full of anticipation, intending to sell their carefully raised eggs for five cents each. However, the price offered by the cooperative was a huge disappointment—four and a half cents each, although they would receive some additional coupons as compensation. Lin Guodong and his companions were dissatisfied with the cooperative's compensation plan, considering the large, round eggs they had brought. They knew they would be sending more eggs in the future, and this initial low price would add up to a considerable sum over time.

The two sides were thus caught in a tug-of-war, the atmosphere tense and delicate. Lin Guodong, frustrated, went outside to smoke. At that moment, faint sounds drifted from the next room; it was Secretary Miao and Accountant Zhou still inside, struggling to secure more compensation. Long Lifan, having heard the whole story, felt a surge of fighting spirit. She was a master negotiator, having done this many times in her previous life.

"Captain, should I go in and take a look?"

"I can't believe it," Long Lifan said confidently. Lin Guodong, hearing this, quickly put down his pipe and nodded in agreement. He knew Long Lifan's abilities and hoped she could get more for their village. So, Long Lifan, full of fighting spirit, went into the supply and marketing cooperative, ready to haggle with the staff.

Upon entering the room, besides Party Secretary Miao and Accountant Zhou, there was a middle-aged man. He appeared to be around forty years old, wearing a slightly worn dark blue Zhongshan suit with loose-fitting trousers of the same color, the cuffs of which were lightly draped over his clean black cloth shoes. He was clearly a leader of the supply and marketing cooperative.

What's most striking is the slightly thinning hair on the top of his head, where the passage of time seems to have left its more obvious marks. Above his forehead, the hair is thinning, but despite this, he still maintains a neat hairstyle, carefully combing the remaining hair into a side part, trying his best to maintain a sense of dignity and respect.

The man's name was Zhang Chaoyang, and he was the director of the supply and marketing cooperative, responsible for procurement and overall coordination. As soon as Long Lifan entered, the three immediately stopped arguing and turned their gazes towards her.

"Secretary Miao, Accountant Zhou!" Long Lifan greeted the two with a smile.

"You are…"

Zhang Chaoyang looked at the young girl who had entered the room with a puzzled expression. They were discussing serious matters, so what was a young girl like her doing here? He asked her with some displeasure.

"Director Zhang, this is Long, the educated youth from our village." Upon seeing this, Party Secretary Miao quickly explained, "The success of our village's chicken farm is all thanks to Long, the educated youth."

"Oh..." Zhang Chaoyang replied indifferently, "But we need to talk about serious matters now, so please ask this young educated youth to leave!"

"Director Zhang, I'm the women's director of our brigade, so I guess I have an official position! I should be able to participate in selling eggs, right?" He was joking; he hadn't even started yet, and if he were asked to leave like this, how embarrassing would that be?

"You're the women's director of your village???" Upon hearing this, Zhang Chaoyang's face was filled with disbelief. When did a young girl become the women's director of a village?!

He looked at the others with a shocked expression, and only when they all nodded did he realize that the young educated youth was not lying. Besides his shock, he also felt that the cadres of the Dongwan Brigade were acting somewhat absurdly, actually appointing a young girl as the women's director.

"Alright, then you can just listen from the sidelines!"

By listening to the argument from the sidelines, Long Lifan understood the point of contention. According to Director Zhang's compensation method, their eggs would amount to 4.6 cents each. Keep in mind that the eggs they delivered were much larger than those from other places. Such compensation was unacceptable not only to the team leader but also to herself.