Back To The 80s-Chapter 440 - 450: Water Leaks_1
Gu Xiaobei didn’t expect all these things to have happened after their return to the Capital City. Not wanting to interrupt, he just sat quietly and listened.
Lu Songyuan was planning to dig up the grapevines (in autumn, they would take the grapevines off the racks and curl them up in Grape Gully, covering them with wheat straw and soil to protect from frost.) to set up the grape racks, so he asked Gu Xiaobei to watch over the two children at home. Wen Xiuqing helped him with the grapevines.
Children always love to help out when adults are working, so Xiaopang and Mo Wang also wanted to contribute.
Feeling helpless, Gu Xiaobei could only lead the two kids out to play near the main gate.
When Bai Xiaolan returned from bathing with Bai Mingzhu and Zhou Siping, she saw the two kids crouching and digging in the ground. Squatting with a smile, she asked, "What are our little Xiaopang and Mo Wang up to?"
Looking up, Xiaopang excitedly swung the small wooden shovel made by his grandpa and said, "Digging up the earth."
Seeing Bai Xiaolan squatting, Bai Mingzhu quickly yelled, "You’re pregnant! How can you just squat like that? You’re an adult now, you should be more careful. Go inside and lie down immediately."
Bai Xiaolan was already fed up with Bai Mingzhu’s nagging and was quite frustrated, and it seemed from Zhou Siping’s attitude that Bai Mingzhu was not going to leave any time soon.
When Bai Xiaolan was feeling upset, Ji Xiangdong also ran into big trouble at the Shule River.
Spring came late in Shule River, the cotton seeds weren’t sowed until the end of April, to avoid the cold spell in late April and early May.
In order to protect the crop from the cold spell, Ji Xiangdong had instructed the employees in the town to prepare straw and corn stalks. When the cold came, they could light fires around the field, which could somewhat lessen the damage.
Once the preparations were done and a few days had passed after May 1st, when the weather really warmed up, his heart could finally stop worrying.
During the dead silence of the night, Ji Xiangdong lay in bed, his thoughts flying back to the provincial city. Bai Xiaolan was now four months pregnant, he was not sure if her belly was getting big or if she had lost weight. Unable to fall asleep, he got up and put on a coat to go for a stroll downstairs.
In the sky, there was only a thin waxing crescent, emitting a tranquil light. All around it was deathly silent, with only the occasional sound of a dog barking from a distant village.
Ji Xiangdong walked down the path towards the cotton field. The seeds had been sown for two days, by this time they should have started to swell and sprout.
In the dim light, he saw a few figures flash past in the distance. Ji Xiangdong was puzzled, who would be out so late?
After walkinga few hundred meters forward, the figures from before were no longer in sight, but the sound of running water reached his ears.
Ji Xiangdong suddenly felt a sense of foreboding. The canal was dry this time of the year, how could there be running water? Moreover, if water overflowed into the cotton fields, it would be a disaster. Thus, he broke into a run. When he reached the cotton field, he saw a stream of water, reflecting the moonlight, roaring towards the fields.
Seeing the wide-open water intake, Ji Xiangdong, in a frenzy, jumped into the canal and started sealing it up with his hands, using mud from both sides. He also dragged over some tree branches. After a considerable amount of effort, he finally blocked the water.
Regardless of the icy canal water chilling him to the bone, he crawled onto the canal bank and ran forward for some distance, where there was yet another opening.
Only now did Ji Xiangdong realize that this was no accident, but the work of people. He feared that there might be many similar openings further downstream. So he hurriedly turned around, rushing back to the camp to wake up the employees. Grabbing a shovel, they began blocking the water intake together.
A dozen or so people, armed with torches, busied themselves until dawn to block all the leakage points and inspected them all over again.
In the meantime, Ji Xiangdong rode his bike to the sluice gate over ten miles away, only to find that the gate leading to their camp had been pried open. Muddy water, mixed with the meltwater from the snow mountain, was pouring down.
With a face as grim as iron, Ji Xiangdong lowered the iron sluice gate. Undoubtedly, it was human-made - the gate was usually locked.
By the time he rode back to the cotton field, it was broad daylight. A dozen employees stood there in anger. Seeing Ji Xiangdong coming, they protested one after another, "Chairman, it is clear that someone has done this deliberately."
"Exactly. We are afraid of flooding, and we have carefully inspected it before."
"Chairman, I’ve estimated that because there were so many leakage points, 70 or 80 acres of land have been flooded."
"It’s over, these 70 or 80 acres are ruined. It’s too late for us to replant now."
Ji Xiangdong frowned as he looked at the flooded land. This was a 400-acre wasteland initially. The ground was naturally unproductive, so replanting would bring even lower yield.
The water mixed with mud and snow would form a thick shell once it dried, suffocating the sprouting cotton seeds.
Seeing Ji Xiangdong not responding, none of the employees dared to speak. They just stood there in dejection and anger.
Ji Xiangdong sighed: "What’s done is done. Once the land is dry, we’ll have to plough this area and replant. From now on, we’ll arrange for someone to take turns on duty every night. We cannot relax until the cotton is harvested." 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺
He knew all along that this was another trick played on him by Bai Pingtian. If Bai Pingtian wanted to play dirty, then Ji Xiangdong would not hesitate to respond in kind.
...
On Gu Xiaobei’s side, as soon as the packaging materials arrived, they started the packing work. He appointed Xiao Hong to supervise and record everyone’s daily packing quantities.
Everyone had to wear face masks and medical rubber gloves while packing, as well as hats to cover their hair. After all, these were consumable items, and it was more appropriate to be conscious about hygiene.
He and Qin Li were responsible for taking turns to oversee the business in the store and the packing situation at the back.
After May 1st, the "Silk Road Fragrance" brand of Three Cannon Tea officially went on sale in the store. They also prepared covered bowls for customers to taste and give feedback.
Many people were interested in this conveniently packaged tea. In one large bag, there were ten small packets, making it convenient time-efficient to use, without the need to buy tea leaves, goji berries, or rock sugar separately every time. Moreover, buying in bulk was not much more expensive than buying individually, and most importantly, it carried a Halal label. So the initial batch of a dozen boxes sold out in less than two days.
Ding Daquan, watching from across the street, couldn’t resist coming over and said with a smile, "Mr. Gu, it seems you’ve found another way to make money."
Gu Xiaobei, sitting at the table, just smiled and remained silent. After all, this was not a secret.
"Where did you get this tea?" asked Mr. Ding with a smile.
"It’s our own label," Gu Xiaobei wasn’t shy about his business.
Surprised, Ding Daquan asked, "You mean you make it yourselves? How is it? The profits must be high, right?"
"The prices are public, and the profit is transparent. Ding Daquan, you could easily calculate the profits yourself," Gu Xiaobei replied with a smile.
Ding Daquan chuckled awkwardly and left.
Qin Li came over, looking a bit worried, "Do you think they’ll start doing this too?"
Gu Xiaobei chuckled, "Don’t worry about that. This is our product, and the market can be infinitely expanded. We can sell in the five provinces of the Northwest and even across the country. If there’s competition and comparison, it’s not a bad thing for us."
Only then did Qin Li feel relieved. If Xiaobei said it could be done, then it certainly could be done.
