The Sweetness of the Seventies
Chapter 704 - 673: Mischievous, Supply, Grand Opening_1

Chapter 704: Chapter 673: Mischievous, Supply, Grand Opening_1

The two little ones were outside, laughing and giggling.

"Don’t be mischievous," He Tiantian hurried to stop them; in the blink of an eye, they had already thrown in five or six bricks.

Seeing their mother scold, Huo Ruimin tugged her younger brother’s hand and they wobbled off to look at the chicks and ducklings.

"I’m sorry, the children are naughty." He Tiantian apologized, conscious of the fact that a few tossed bricks had startled the piglets, which had begun to grunt and squeal in fright.

"It’s alright, they’re just kids. They’ve never seen this in the city, so it’s amusing to them for the first time," Mother Wu said with a chuckle, not taking offense.

He Tiantian took the children out to play in the countryside, planning to stay over for the night and return to Nan City the following morning.

The next day was Monday when they were supposed to have classes, but since classes were in the afternoon and they’d leave early in the morning, they wouldn’t miss the afternoon’s lessons.

While the kids played in the village, He Tiantian and Huang Jingli followed them around.

Huo Yingjie was discussing business with Father Wu and Wu Youfa, setting quality and price, then writing two simple contracts, both parties signing and placing their thumbprints.

As He Tiantian walked around the village, she noticed that every household raised pigs to supplement their income. Selling one pig could earn quite a sum, equaling half of a household’s savings income.

Some of the women were very diligent, raising more than one pig, which meant even more income. However, both adults and children had to work harder, gathering pig feed from all around.

"Aunt Wu, does every family here raise pigs, chickens, and ducks now?" He Tiantian asked, wondering if she wouldn’t have to worry about sourcing her products if that were the case.

"Yes, every household does," Mother Wu replied. "We weren’t allowed to before and dared not do it. At most, each family would keep two hens for laying eggs to exchange for cooking oil and salt. Now that we are allowed to, everyone does. As long as you work hard, you can earn a decent income all year round."

"Now that the land has been distributed to households, we have enough food to eat and some to spare. Raising chickens and ducks, and pigs in addition to that can save quite a bit of money over the course of a year," Huang Jingli added. "This is better, as long you’re willing to work hard, you can lead a prosperous life."

"That’s wonderful," He Tiantian remarked. The common folk didn’t fear hard work or hardship; their only fear was that after all the work and hardship, they would still not have enough food or money saved.

That evening, Wu Youfa slaughtered an old hen and after cleaning it, brought it over to Aunt Wu to be cooked for He Tiantian and Huo Yingjie.

When Wu Youfa heard that his second uncle and he were going to be business partners, of course, he was willing! Buying goods in the countryside and selling them in the city, if the business succeeded, he could earn much more than farming over the course of a year.

The next day, after breakfast, the group headed back to the city.

With that trip, they secured their source of supplies.

Half a month later, everything fell into place. The shop had been transformed, looking brand new, and displayed a simple, deep brown, old-fashioned signboard emblazoned with three characters: "Sanfeng Bridge".

Since the business was yet to open, the signboard was covered with red cloth.

People passing by would stop and stare, curious about what was being set up there.

April 6th was suitable for grand openings, acquiring property, and moving houses.

It was the weekend, and also the grand opening day for Sanfeng Bridge.

Two days before, Sun Sihao arranged with the supply and marketing cooperative for a daily order of twenty kilograms of meat, three chickens, and three ducks.

He had wanted to order more, but the cooperative was reluctant, so Sun Sihao had to accept their terms.

The price was higher than buying from outside, and the quality wasn’t necessarily better than what they could source themselves.

Sun Sihao decided if the outside supply could stabilize, he would stop ordering from the supply and marketing cooperative—he was tired of paying high prices and having to deal with people’s attitudes.

Wu Youliang’s father, Wu Youfa, rushed over with an ox cart, delivering four pigs over two days, enough for four days’ supply.

It was just the grand opening, so they would process one pig, five chickens, and five ducks a day to test the sales.

Qian Shikun’s home was undergoing renovations, so he needed to stay overnight to watch over the materials, which meant that Sun Sihao and his wife, Aunt Qin, could start marinating the meat in the evening.

He Tiantian and Huo Yingjie were also present, teaching Sun Sihao how to cook and how to control the heat.

As for the pot’s contents, as long as the oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar were added in proportion and He Tiantian’s secret spice mix was thrown in, they could just stew it directly.

The stove was specifically designed by Huo Yingjie based on the characteristics of marinated meat, using coal with low coal consumption and including a range hood.

The workers’ favorite was the dehairing machine made by Huo Yingjie; after bleeding the poultry, they just needed to throw them into the machine and after a few spins, the feathers would come off.

Then they simply used tweezers to pluck the small feathers from the hard-to-reach corners, which was particularly time and effort-saving.

What excited He Tiantian even more was that Huo Yingjie had transformed a four-square-meter room into a walk-in cooler. Although it wasn’t tens of degrees below zero, it was still cold enough to ensure that the unsold meat could be stored for several days without spoiling in hot weather.

It wasn’t that Huo Yingjie lacked the ability, but rather a shortage of materials.

If there were enough materials, Huo Yingjie could have made a high-grade cooler, but materials were simply too scarce.

Even so, the cooler still involved parts salvaged from various factories by Huo Yingjie, some procured with the help of others, and some critical components discarded by factories, all assembled into a cooler with the help of Wu Youliang.

"Brother Yingjie, you’re really amazing," He Tiantian said. Selling marinated meats, if not sold in time, they would spoil, especially in the summer.

With this cooler, it was perfect. Whatever wasn’t sold could be stored in the cooler and then reheated the next day, tasting just as good as before.

"Right now, materials are scarce. If we had more, I could make even better ones, but for now, we’ll make do," Huo Yingjie said, doing what he could.

He could even build anti-tank missiles, let alone a cooler.

The first day of the grand opening featured a generous promotion: free taste testing.

The pig for the day, along with two ducks and two chickens, were all chopped into small pieces and placed on different plates for passersby to sample later.

This was a relatively fresh marketing strategy.

Early in the morning, Wu Youliang, Huang Jingli, Cui Ying, and Huashan came to help.

At eight minutes past eight o’clock, after the two strings of ten thousand firecrackers had finished popping, the red cloth covering the signboard was pulled down, revealing the antique-looking signboard with three big, gleaming golden characters: "Sanfeng Bridge."

After the grand opening, each person held a small plate in one hand and toothpicks in the other, offering free samples to the passersby.

Sanfeng Bridge was already a place with a high volume of pedestrians, with people passing by to go to work or run errands, surrounded by several large residential areas.

Free stuff, things that don’t cost money, everybody loves them!

"Auntie, come taste our newly made marinated meat from Sanfeng Bridge," Huang Jingli said as she used a toothpick to skewer a piece of meat the size of a fingertip for a woman who was out shopping.

The woman looked at Huang Jingli warily and said, "I don’t have money to buy it!"

"It’s free, it’s a grand opening promotion, free for taste testing," Huang Jingli explained. "Come on, give it a try. If you like it, you can come to our store to buy some in the future."