Carrying a Jurassic on me
Chapter 513 - 201: Saved Quite a Lot of Money_1

Chapter 513: Chapter 201: Saved Quite a Lot of Money_1

After everyone had dispersed, Yan Fei was organizing the agreements signed with fingerprints. Raising his head, he saw Heizi and Gao Rui arguing about something outside the door. Zhang Erwa and a few others were standing nearby, waiting. Yan Fei couldn’t be bothered to listen in on what they were arguing about. He shouted, "Heizi, what’s keeping you? Why haven’t you left yet?"

At Yan Fei’s prompting, Heizi hastily responded, "I’m leaving right now."

Then, with reluctance, he pulled out ten yuan from his pocket and handed it to Gao Rui, "Gao Dasha, we had an agreement, if your prediction doesn’t come true, you have to pay me back double."

Gao Rui took the money, pretending to verify its authenticity against the sunlight, then put it in his pocket with a smirk, "Relax, when have I ever backed out of a promise? Let’s go! You’ll find out when we get there."

Watching Heizi rush into the room to fill a flask of wine before leaving with Zhang Erwa and Gao Rui, Old Ou and a few others followed suit. They had to go home and inform their families about the work in the cattle farm.

Yan Fei didn’t care about what they were up to; their demeanor suggested they weren’t really upset, probably just making a bet. He called over Lin Yumei to help with sorting the agreements and to record the details. He made a separate record for himself to facilitate future reference, in case he lost track of the exact number of cattle.

Neither of them had experience with such matters, so they used a hardcover notebook to record everything. Then, Yan Fei collected all the agreements and decided to keep them himself. As for the cattle farm, having Lin Yumei’s records was sufficient, there was no need to carry around the agreements all the time.

After arranging these matters, while planning for the following day, he suddenly touched his chin with a regretful look.

A mistake!

Lin Yumei hadn’t left yet. Seeing his expression, she asked, "What’s the matter? Did you forget something?"

Yan Fei sighed with regret, "I should have taken advantage of today’s crowd to publicize our cattle breeding plans. It would have been a good opportunity! But we weren’t prepared for such a large turnout and were so busy that we completely forgot about it!"

Lin Yumei comforted him, "Tomorrow you can let Heizi parade the breeding bulls around the Cattle Market, word will get around quickly. We only have a few bulls, a little advertising should be enough."

Yan Fei nodded, while it was quite an important matter, it wasn’t urgent. So, whether the announcement was made today or tomorrow didn’t really matter.

Just as they were discussing, Heizi and Gao Rui returned.

Heizi happily placed two cigarettes on the table and said, "Brother Fei, the task is done. The wine I took was a gift for them, and this is Zhou Dalian’s return gift for you to entertain guests in the future. There are also two bottles of liquor, could that be my reward for the hard work? The two cigarettes are worth more than our bottle of wine, let’s taste this vintage liquor tonight!"

Yan Fei waved his hand, "Take it, take it! Leave two packs of cigarettes for me, who knows when they might be useful, you can take the rest!"

Heizi turned to leave, "I don’t smoke, this stuff is useless to me, you keep it!"

Seeing Heizi so pleased, with even Gao Rui humming tunes happily, Yan Fei asked in confusion, "What were you two discussing? Didn’t you have a bet?"

Both of them had left for the bet, but it seemed like no one had lost. No one could have maintained such a good mood if they had lost a bet, not even Heizi, despite his chicanery. So, what type of bet did they place that resulted in a win-win situation?

Upon being asked, the two of them confessed. Lin Yumei added further details about what had happened earlier. Once Yan Fei understood the situation, he gestured them to leave. What kind of people were they dealing with?

The story began a few days ago.

While Heizi and Gao Rui were working, Heizi said, "I have some good news related to money. If you want to hear it, you have to give me ten yuan first, otherwise, you can forget about it."

Gao Rui didn’t believe him, "What kind of good news could you have?"

Heizi solemnly swore, "If the news I’m about to share is irrelevant to you, I’ll shower in cow dung every day. Everyone will bear witness. Whoever reneges should be...by a bull!"

Though Gao Rui didn’t particularly trust Heizi, given his solemn oath and the number of witnesses, he found it hard not to believe him. Of course, the main reason was that they had grown fond of each other through their constant bickering, so he didn’t mind believing him this one time.

After thinking for a moment, he took out ten yuan and said, "Start talking! If your news isn’t relevant, you don’t have to bathe in cow dung. I’ll just give you a good beating."

Heizi accepted the money and put it in his pocket before mysteriously sharing, "Do you know? There are only twenty-eight days this month. Don’t rush, hear me out first. In the twelve months of the year, for the rest you have to work for thirty or thirty-one days to earn a month’s wages. This month, you’re at an advantage since you get a full month’s pay for only twenty-eight days work."

Smugly, he added, "Isn’t this good news? Does this concern you?"

This was serious business, affecting not only Gao Rui, but every working person in the world.

Such good news excited Gao Rui so much that he rolled up his sleeves preparing to loosen Heizi’s muscles and bones.

Heizi quickly ran off, "I stuck to my word, did I say anything wrong? Everyone, please comment on whether I lied about anything."

That’s right, everyone was torn between laughter and tears. They knew this guy was messing with them, but they couldn’t come up with any counterargument because they weren’t good at debating.

Thus, armed with this ’good news’ of ’February has twenty-eight days’, he managed to swindle ten bucks out of Gao Rui.

Just now, Heizi was thinking about going to see Zhou Dalian with only Zhang Erwa. It would seem like he’s going to apologize, which would be quite embarrassing. Upon seeing Gao Rui, he wanted the former murderer to go with him, to boost his prestige.

After asking who Zhou Dalian really was, Gao Rui pulled a trick on him: "Give me ten bucks, and I’ll give you advice that’ll greatly benefit you."

Heizi didn’t believe him one bit: "You want to scam me out of ten bucks!"

Gao Rui wasn’t a smooth talker, he just kept repeating the same line: "Give me ten bucks, and the advice I offer will surely bring you some benefits. You can’t lose!"

No matter how persuasive Heizi was, he was helpless against such stubbornness. He was also curious, so he agreed. Gao Rui then gave his advice: "When you’re going to discuss such matters, isn’t it more appropriate to bring a gift? Bring a jug of wine!"

Heizi immediately refused: "This is your advice? I’m going to save the face of Brother Fei. Brother Fei has to bring a gift for such a trivial matter, is that not embarrassing?"

Gao Rui, who wasn’t good with words, kept repeating: "Anyway, you take it, it won’t be embarrassing, and it’ll be beneficial."

Heizi firmly refused and wouldn’t pay. Both of them argued over this matter. It wasn’t until Yan Fei saw this and urged Heizi to go that Heizi reluctantly handed over ten bucks and agreed to try bringing a jug of wine.

In fact, Heizi realized on his way that bringing a gift wasn’t necessarily embarrassing, it depended on a person’s reputation. If a person with a big reputation gives a gift to a person with a smaller reputation, it’s not embarrassing at all, it’s generous!

When Brother Fei takes the initiative to discuss a minor fight between children with Zhou Dalian and even brings a jug of wine, Zhou Dalian receives such face, how could he not reciprocate? He has to give a return gift! As for the worth of the return gift, it mustn’t be less than the jug of wine. You know from his nickname, Zhou Dalian! Apart from having a big face, doesn’t the name imply that he cares about face?

Although Gao Rui isn’t a smooth talker, he has spent nearly ten years in jail and understands these somewhat murky matters better than Heizi.

In fact, everything Gao Rui said was correct. Zhou Dalian saw the three of them coming-over knowing that Yan Fei had sent them, and they brought something too. He was quite pleased. As for the matter that Heizi wanted to discuss, it wasn’t much, so he warmly entertained him and Gao Rui. He happily accepted two good cigarettes and two bottles of good wine as return gifts.

Heizi felt that he had saved face and gained some benefits. Gao Rui got his ten bucks back after the walk, and Zhou Dalian felt that he had saved face, and so did not mind the small cost.

Everyone was happy.

So, when Yan Fei heard about their petty affairs, he waved his hand and had them get back to work.

After they left, he was also torn between laughter and tears. Such a small matter had so many twists and turns involved. Then again, it’s no wonder Old Pan and the others had told him to prepare some gifts for hosting people! Face can be priceless or worthless, and sometimes it can’t be measured by a concrete value.

That night, everyone drank the so-called famous wine. After a few sips, they felt that it was just average, and their homebrew was much smoother!

Then Yan Fei began arranging tasks for the next day. He left ten thousand bucks with Heizi and asked him to continue buying calves in the local cattle market. He was to pick the best ones possible, and for the major purchases, the county market was the place to go. If they were to boost the price of local calves themselves, it would mean taking advantage of their own fellow villagers!

Buying cattle was a minor concern. The main point was to walk around with the eight studs to show off and promote their breeding program.

Fearing that Heizi wouldn’t be able to explain well, Yan Fei wrote a few points on a piece of paper, detailing the breeding policy - it mainly depended on the conditions of the cows in the farmers’ homes and how much money would be deducted when the calves were collected.

After assigning the tasks, just as he was about to leave, he pulled aside Old Cheng, who had been working in the greenhouse all day and had just come over for dinner: "Master Cheng, have you ever seen a tea tree? The kind that produces tea leaves?"

Old Cheng chuckled: "What’s up? Where did you see a tea tree? We don’t have any around here, but the south has many. In some places, they cover the entire mountainside. Those who have been there have seen them."

"I knew you have seen them." Upon hearing that he was correct, Yan Fei was delighted. As for where Old Cheng saw them, there was no need to ask. When he was a soldier in the war, how could that place not have had tea trees?

"Wait here, I’ll go fetch some leaves for you to see if they belong to a tea tree!"

Then he sneaked into the house he used to live in, closed the door for a while before coming out again with several yellow leaves for Old Cheng: "Take a look, is this a tea tree? They look similar to the leaves of the tea we brew."

Old Cheng took them and looked them over without asking where they came from: "It looks slightly different from what I’ve seen before, but there are many varieties of tea trees and I haven’t seen them all. This should be a tea tree. But, these are all yellow leaves, they can’t be used to make tea. The tea we drink comes from fresh leaves harvested. After harvesting, they are not directly dried to make tea, they need to be air-dried, and I think, roasted. You better ask an expert."

"As long as it’s tea, that’s fine. We’ll discuss the rest later." Yan Fei got the answer he wanted and happily left.

From now on, he will never have to buy tea leaves again. His endless supply of tea leaves are homegrown! Should he put some in jars for others who come to give gifts? Making alcohol requires buying grain, but these tea leaves cost nothing, saving a lot of money!

As for the quality of the tea, it doesn’t matter. Either way, he doesn’t drink the bitter stuff, whoever likes it can drink it...