Carrying a Jurassic on me
Chapter 739 - 373: Selfishness and regret _1

Chapter 739: Chapter 373: Selfishness and regret _1

The old man Guan was really comical, shouting from a distance, then moved aside for a young man so he could see Yan Fei among them. He immediately became chagrined: "Boss Yan is here! What are you up to with these youngsters?"

Yan Fei smiled, "I’m looking for some people to work on my side, so I was asking whether they’re willing to go."

"They’d love to!" Old man Guan immediately agreed on behalf of the young men. "Just call us whenever you need help, we are always available."

Turning around, he began lecturing the young men. "When you go there, work hard and don’t bring shame to our Guan Village, otherwise none of you will go next time."

The old man misunderstood and thought that Yan Fei was just looking for temporary workers. He didn’t even ponder why Yan Fei would come here to hire workers when he could just casually call out and people would be knocking each other over to go work.

Seeing that Old man Guan might commit an embarrassing remark, the young man who spoke earlier clarified, "That’s not it, Uncle Guan, we’re going to work there full time!"

"What?" Mr. Guan was startled, then quickly caught on. "Really? You guys don’t have that wrong right? There are many people who want to work for Boss Yan. You guys were lucky to be picked..."

He looked at Yan Fei as he spoke, obviously waiting for Yan Fei’s confirmation.

But the young man became anxious at his words, his face getting even more red: "Yes, Boss Yan just told us to bring our bedding tomorrow and move into the cattle range. It’s a three to four hundred bucks a month..."

As Yan Fei nodded, Mr. Guan suddenly swung his hand to hit a kid on the head, "You guys dumbfounded? Hurry up and thank Boss Yan..."

Yan Fei laughed, "Alright, alright, these guys are here to work. They might even become skilled workers in the future and achieve general-level, don’t you beat them silly!"

The young man immediately replied, hearing Yan Fei: "He won’t hit me silly..."

Old man Guan also smiled, he was about to pat the boy’s head again, reconsidered for a moment and finally patted his back: "Silly boy, Boss Yan was joking with me! Can’t even tell a joke, I wonder what he saw in you..."

When Guan was done talking, Yan Fei said: "I will not come here often in the future, I will rely on you all here, call me in case of any problems. Remember the phone number of the cattle farm, someone will always be there. We will have plenty of opportunities to interact, just let me know what you need, don’t hesitate."

What else can Old man Guan say besides nodding his head and replying, "I won’t, I won’t..."

His words amused the ’young generals’ so much that they were all chuckling with their heads down.

Once Yan Fei had finished with his instructions, he left. He left swiftly, unaware that after he left, it suddenly became lively.

A monthly salary of three to four hundred dollars which includes accommodation, that’s a guaranteed income of three to four hundred dollars per month and in future, it might even increase. As soon as Yan Fei hadn’t gone far, someone began spreading this news out loud.

In no time, almost all the workers stopped their work and rapidly gathered together. They were all buzzing with queries and after receiving the answers, they were all astonished and shocked...

Not to mention the families of these five young men, they were all joyfully disoriented. Some were happy, envious, and jealous, but after Old man Guan calmly said a few words, everyone started looking forward to it.

Old man Guan said, Boss Yan’s business is getting bigger and bigger, would there be lack of hands in the future? Even if not, when he wants to hire people for cattle-raising, wouldn’t we, who grow grass for him, be considered first?

This old guy is really cunning. When such a thing was mentioned, everyone was like on doping. Those who reacted quickly started enquiring about when they could harvest the grass. They couldn’t wait to cut the grass and load it onto the truck to deliver it to Boss Yan right away—they couldn’t wait to show their good working spirit, perhaps something good might come out of it!

Although they are eager to deliver the grass, they are too excited to get any work done, so they all decided to quit and go home, to continue working early the next morning!

That night in Guan Village, it was so lively. The families of the young guys even used firecrackers, it was like a big celebration.

There’s an old saying, one man’s joy is another man’s sorrow.

This saying is so true. If the Guan village was joyfully celebrating, then Huangtuwa village was filled with depression and disappointment...

The two villages are not far apart. The huge work at Guan village for the past two days, who could not see? Once they knew that Boss Yan was going to grow forage grass here, the other villages regretted that they missed out on this opportunity, but the atmosphere in Huangtuwa village was extremely weird.

Recently, Mayor Tian Yuejin seldom ever left his house these days, and when he did, he bore a grim face as if someone had owed him money for two catty of dog meat.

The matter was quite simple. The land that Mayor Tian initially chose was in a remote area where none of the villagers had wanted to go, so Yan Fei didn’t even bother to visit. As for the barren plot which was later chosen, it was a land that was partly cultivated by himself, and partly by those who were close to him - if one were to say that choosing that piece of land was initially for the public good, then the final choice was absolutely driven by selfish motives.

He was thinking that if the land was assigned for the cultivation of grass for the cattle farm, he could justifiably keep a substantial portion of the money for himself and conveniently have his people work there in the future.

There’s nothing wrong with that. The wild land was unowned, and whoever cultivated it could keep it. It’s a common practice to retain the rental income for oneself. Moreover, he did make efforts, and originally wanted to offer the land, which no one in the village wanted, to Boss Yan. But Boss Yan didn’t want it! So, he picked the barren land instead, fearing that you’d be upset if he took your land!

Little did he expect that Yan Fei was displeased, and Guan Village, which heard the news swiftly, outright intercepted the matter.

Since the land rental did not materialize, everyone initially felt a bit regretful. After all, most people didn’t understand exactly how bad it was that the deal didn’t materialize. The people in the village didn’t have much exposure to the world. Not many people could think about the future profits, such as being able to make some money by helping to cut the grass year after year.

Don’t think that cutting and delivering grass is such a tough job and that Yan Fei does not pay much. In actual fact, this job has one major advantage—it allows one to make good use of the time when the workload in the field is the heaviest.

Whether the grass grows faster or slower for a couple of days does not matter, because the busiest period for farming only lasts for a few days, and we can spare labor during the rest of the time. In modern times, people don’t have many entertaining activities, and even if they do, they don’t have any money in their pockets. If you’re idle, you might as well work to earn some money—it’s an absolute joy to be able to cut a truckload of grass and get two or three dollars for it. If you offer more, a scuffle might break out for the job.

Those who ride bicycles selling popsicles, pedaling and yelling around in different villages under the sun, only earn a few dollars a day.

However, there are always some smart people in the village. They couldn’t help muttering a few words in private, and gradually everyone understood what they had missed—it was definitely about more than just renting fifty acres of land.

Because they realized what they had missed, they inevitably felt somewhat uncomfortable, and naturally, they paid more attention to Guan Village’s grass cultivation than others. Therefore, the news about the "Five Tigers" was blatantly spread around Huangtuwa Village as soon as most of the people in Guan Village got to know about it.

The regret was already there, and suddenly, new information came: Boss Yan, in Guan Village, had hired several people to work on the cattle farm. These workers were provided with food and accommodation, and they earned three to four hundred dollars a month—this was equivalent to energetically scrubbing salt deep into the wounds of the villagers, and splashing half a bottle of sulfuric acid on it!

What you should know is that the national average annual wage was less than 6500 dollars; calculated monthly, it was just over 500 dollars.

Everyone was clear about the average wage; the majority of people definitely earned less than this figure. To be certain, regular workers like Yan Fei’s mother only earned three to four hundred dollars a month, thanks to the benefit of Yan Fei’s father holding a minor leadership role—and this was certainly limited to accommodation, excluding meals.

If this news set off explosions like a bomb in Guan Village, then in Huangtuwa Village, it was like a nuclear bomb. The reason was precisely that Yan Fei chose workers here, which made every young man in the village feel that if Boss Yan chose to grow crops in our village, I would definitely be selected by him when he picks the workers!

Therefore, for a large number of villagers, this news simply adds insult to injury, leaving everyone more miserable.

Not only did the young people feel that if things had gone differently, Boss Yan would definitely have picked them, but the families with young men also thought the same way. No one would feel that their son or grandson, or their brothers and so forth, were inferior to others. They all thought that their own family was the best.

Another reason for this delusion is that Yan Fei’s cattle farm tends to employ all kinds of people. Since people of all sorts were hired, wouldn’t I be exactly what Boss Yan was looking for?

Everyone began to think like this and gradually understood one thing: renting land is not the most important thing, nor is making money by cutting grass in the future. The most important part of this is being able to get along with Boss Yan!

Exactly, the money from renting the land wouldn’t benefit everyone much, and there’s a limit to the amount of work and money that everyone can earn. But striking up an acquaintance with Boss Yan a few times and becoming familiar with him might lead to something good in the future!

Today, there are opportunities for five people to earn money, tomorrow there might be opportunities for ten...and in the future...

It’s uncomfortable to keep these thoughts to oneself. After all, it was the mayor who botched up this affair. Once feelings of regret, remorse, and resentment take shape, and there is nowhere to vent, keeping these feelings to oneself would be like creating compost—the effect would only intensify.

If the opportunity had not arisen in the first place, there wouldn’t be much to complain about. One could sigh about not being destined!

But in fact, the opportunity had all but reached one’s doorstep, yet it just had to be missed...

So, compared to the joyousness in Guan Village, Huangtuwa Village filled with a eerie silence, and many people had no mood to talk while sitting by the entrance door, watching the stars. Occasionally, they would glance at their neighbors and heave a sigh, tacitly understanding each other’s feelings—such is the sorrow of unspoken words.

As for Tian Yuejin, who missed his chance by a hair’s breadth, it was said that for quite a while, the sound of objects being thrown around and shattering could be heard from his house—it’s estimated quite a number of pots, bowls, and dishes had been smashed.