Witty Wife, Better Life

Chapter 665: Chapter 655 More People Arriving

The next morning, when Shen Yunfang arrived at the gathering point, it was already packed with people. As soon as she approached, many of them surrounded her to greet her and get acquainted.

"Xiaoshen, we’re practically family. You’ve got to look out for your sister today," Zhou Hua squeezed in next to Shen Yunfang and spoke as if they were very close.

Shen Yunfang looked around and didn’t expect that most of the people who had visited her that day had arrived. Hmm, no, Qiao Danfeng wasn’t there.

"Look at Zhou Jie talking like this. Aren’t all of us military spouses from the same military region? Aren’t we all family? Besides, whenever I come across any opportunity to earn money, the first ones I think of are all of you. Isn’t that looking out for you enough?" Shen Yunfang maintained her smile while playing Tai Chi with her words. "But it’s said that you sing the song of the mountain on which you stand. We don’t play favorites or pull strings at our farm. We operate on a fair basis, where you’re paid for the work you do—absolutely fair."

This statement dashed some people’s hopes, as no matter who did the work, the standards were the same, with no backdoors.

Even if backdoors were an option, Shen Yunfang certainly wouldn’t offer them to these people. She wasn’t foolish, giving benefits to those who looked down on her.

Zhou Hua, at a loss for words from being blocked, was promptly pulled back by Gan Xiuying, who scolded her quietly, "Calm down a bit, will you? There are so many people here, why say such things? We’re here to work and earn money. Don’t stir up useless trouble."

"Exactly, Zhou Jie. We’re not lacking arms or legs compared to anyone else. And those chores in the field, what could be so difficult about them?" Although Zhang Feifeng was a high school student, she had done her fair share of chores at home and was quite capable. Even though she was closer to Zhou Hua normally, she still didn’t like her attitude.

"Tch, I was just trying to see if I could save myself some effort. Who wants to work hard if they can avoid it? Besides, we have some sort of a connection with Shen Yunfang, why not use it if it’s there?"

While they hadn’t yet reached a consensus, the tractors suddenly started rumbling over. She had counted the night before and knew fourteen people had signed up, plus the twenty-four from yesterday, so today she had asked Zhang Chunwang to send over two tractors. However, when it was time to board, Shen Yunfang realized there were several more people than expected.

Several people who had not signed up had also come along today.

Seeing that there were still four people unable to board, Shen Yunfang frowned and her gaze swept towards Zhou Hua and the others. She didn’t remember them coming to sign up the day before.

"It’s all your fault. You were supposed to mention it to Xiaoshen yesterday, but you, Feifeng, said it wasn’t necessary. Look at the mess now," Zhang Feifeng grumbled quietly.

After learning the news yesterday, she had discussed going to Xiaoshen to sign up with Sister Gan. Then Zhou Hua and Wang Cuihua showed up, intending to do the same, and Zhou Hua insisted it wasn’t necessary to notify in advance. They were military spouses from the second group, insiders, and certainly they wouldn’t miss out on a spot that others had.

Zhang Feifeng had been lazy at the time and believed Zhou Hua’s nonsense, which had led to their current awkward situation.

"Why is it my fault again? How could I have known there would be so many people? Besides, we’re on the tractor now, aren’t we? As long as you have a spot, what does it matter about the others?" Zhou Hua secretly rolled her eyes but didn’t dare to look towards Shen Yunfang, fearing she wouldn’t care about saving face and might send her away in front of all these people.

Gan Xiuying was the most experienced among them; after all, she had once served as a women’s director in the village. Seeing the situation, knowing it was their side that was at fault, she smiled and said, "Yunfang, look at this mess. We talked about coming last night, but it got too late, and we didn’t want to disturb you. We didn’t expect so many people would come today. How about this, we’ll get off and won’t go today."

Zhou Hua didn’t expect Gan Xiuying to speak like that, and by the time she wanted to stop her, it was too late, "Sister Gan, what are you doing..."

Shen Yunfang felt relieved after hearing Gan Xiuying’s words. Regardless of everything else, the least it showed was a positive attitude. Plus, they were all there to work for her. With so many people coming, there was no reason for her not to be happy.

"Besides, Sister Gan, now that you’ve come, there’s no reason to send you back. Let’s all squeeze in together today and bear with it; it’s only a few more minutes to our destination. But next time anyone wants to come, you must let me know in advance; if I don’t arrange enough vehicles on my end, it could delay our work." It was necessary to give them a little nudge.

"Right, everyone, let’s link up and squeeze in. We’re just short of four people; a little squeeze and we’ll all fit."

Everyone was afraid of wasting time. For them, time was money. So, automatically, they squeezed together to let the few people beneath the tractor get on.

Once everyone was ready, Shen Yunfang said something to the person in front, and the tractor started chugging away. She continued riding her bicycle, trailing behind them at a distance.

Upon arrival, it was still Zhang Chunwang’s responsibility to assign tasks to them. Shen Yunfang took a walk around the vegetable greenhouse to see that everything was in order, then went to the office, where Liu Jianqiang and the three others in charge of sales were waiting for her.

Shen Yunfang first listened to their sales reports from the past few days.

The farm currently needed to sell greenhouse vegetables, Chinese cabbage, cabbage, radishes, soybean oil, and corn semi-finished products.

For the vegetables, based on their estimated yield, they had already pre-sold practically everything. The forty or so units given by the hall director weren’t even utilized fully; just visiting the twenty or so units in the city was enough to distribute all the vegetables.

After that, when the autumn vegetables were ready, they divided Z City into three parts and each person was responsible for one third, starting to approach the supply and marketing cooperatives and subsidiary food stores. Up to now, most of the autumn vegetables had been pre-sold. Why not all? It wasn’t for lack of effort but because they started collecting autumn vegetables later than others. The subsidiary food stores in Z City had already brought in a batch of autumn vegetables from other places for sale; the farm’s produce was merely filling in the gaps, so the quantity wasn’t that large.

"When I went to promote the autumn vegetables, I also mentioned our soybean oil and corn grits and flour. The heads of a few grain stores seemed quite interested. Sister-in-law, I saw that there’s quite a stack of soybean oil and corn grits in the warehouse, should we sell them?" Liu Jianqiang asked.

Wang Anhua and Lu Xing also looked towards Shen Yunfang. These days, as they were out selling every day, after unloading the vegetables, they would calculate their commission. Watching the numbers on their notepads increase day by day made their hearts soar. They felt somewhat guilty towards sister-in-law and inexplicably wanted to do more work to repay the money she had given them, even though they hadn’t received it yet.

"I do want to sell, but right now we’re busy with the autumn harvest, and the machines for pressing soybean oil and grinding corn are halted. I suggest you tentatively plan to sell about 15,000 catties to start, we don’t have more than that. As for the corn grits and flour, the total shouldn’t exceed 80,000 catties. The rest is up to you to handle," Shen Yunfang said after some thought.

The group nodded their understanding.

"There’s one more thing today. In a few days, when it gets cold enough to freeze, I’ll arrange for a few railcars of sea fish to be brought here. During your runs, ask around to see if anyone is interested. I’ll write you a list later with the types of fish and their prices. Like the vegetables, the maximum rebate is five cents per catty, so figure it out yourselves."