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Chapter 740: Chapter 730: Issuing an IOU
Last year, before the New Year, when their family planned to return to their hometown for the holidays, Taxue was entrusted to the military camp, where he mingled with the military dogs. Little did they know, when they came back from their hometown, the dog handler came knocking on their door. 𝖓𝔬𝔳𝔭𝔲𝔟.𝖈𝖔𝔪
It turned out that the scoundrel Taxue self-served his way into making another dog pregnant.
As the male’s parent, Shen Yunfang had no choice but to keep apologizing for his offspring’s misdeeds. However, the female dog’s owner felt their dog was taken advantage of and wouldn’t let it go, scolding Shen Yunfang and his spouse like they were grandchildren. Shen Yunfang was also fuming, thinking, "You’re a professional dog handler and got outfoxed by an amateur rascal. You have some nerve coming to us and making a fuss. I should be the one reporting your negligence with a laugh."
The dam’s owner didn’t expect the sire’s owner to be so unyielding and had no choice but to give in reluctantly. In the end, Taxue the rascal was sent off to the farm, along with his stolen bride.
Li Hongjun, as the biological father, insisted that they couldn’t have Taxue and his bride living separately, so the couple settled down on the farm. In March, Taxue’s bride gave birth to a litter of two puppies.
Li Hongjun, the doggy dad, personally took care of Taxue’s bride during her confinement. Shen Yunfang, watching her two children each holding an adorable puppy in their arms, begrudgingly played the role of the mean mother-in-law.
"Why only two? I thought dogs were prolific breeders." She remembered dogs having litters of five or six.
"Well, it’s Taxue’s wife’s first litter. She’ll have more next time," explained the doggy daddy.
So, Taxue and his family took root on the farm. It was a spacious and sparsely populated area, perfect for frolicking around. Plus, with the canteen providing good food and drink, Taxue’s family was now well-fed and sleek.
Seeing Taxue approach to cozy up to her, Shen Yunfang gave it a gentle kick without a pleasant air.
"Look at you, taking on cars like you’re some tough sprout. What if you accidentally get caught under the wheels? Who’s going to take care of your wife and kids then? I’m telling you, you’re an official employee of our farm now. You need to work properly to have food and a place to live, you get that? You’re not allowed to run around aimlessly anymore. Tell me, can you work properly, huh? Can you?" Her tone was full of tough love, reflecting the hopes of a parent who wants their child to succeed.
"Haha, don’t just talk about Taxue. If not for him last night, the breeding farm would’ve suffered from rats."
"Well, that’s about all it’s good for, catching mice," said Shen Yunfang, kicking Taxue again as it came back for more affection.
Her hands were full of rice grains at the moment; how could she pet it?
"Alright, you have kids of your own now and you still act so spoiled. Go take your wife somewhere else for a stroll. I’m warning you, if we let a stranger sneak in here, I won’t let you off easy," said Shen Yunfang, gesturing at Taxue who was still rubbing his head against her.
Taxue understood and, wagging his big tail, scampered off with his wife Douya and two pups, Dabao and Erdou, to play.
Just as he disappeared, Zhang Chunwang came along with his notebook.
"What’s up, you looking for me?" Shen Yunfang shook her hands and asked the person coming toward her.
Zhang Chunwang glanced at the busy sister-in-law, thinking that the other military wives could probably handle the tasks without her, so he nodded and said, "I’m here to report this month’s performance to the sister-in-law."
Since the autumn harvest, Zhang Chunwang insisted on coming each month to report to his sister-in-law.
Shen Yunfang nodded and stood up to walk to the office. She decided it was still better to talk in the office. Although the employees all had a clear understanding of what had happened on the farm each month, they could only guess how much money was actually made without knowing the exact figures. To avoid unnecessary trouble, it was better to keep these figures confidential among the employees.
Upon arriving at the office, Shen Yunfang first went to the restroom to wash her hands. When she came out, she saw Zhang Chunwang tidying up two cups on the coffee table, the same ones she and Shen Yingxue had used for drinking water just now.
After tidying up, Zhang Chunwang and Shen Yunfang sat opposite each other on the sofa, and he took out a small notebook to begin reporting this month’s work performance.
"This month involved selling grains, so it was quite busy, but all the employees were diligent and did whatever they were asked to do, and we finally completed almost all the autumn harvest work." He couldn’t claim complete success yet because there were still some autumn vegetables not yet brought in from the fields.
Afterward, Zhang Chunwang read out the names of the units one by one, along with the figures for the money returned, all of which were units that had bought rice, flour, beans, and oil from their farm.
"The payments for this batch of goods have not been fully collected. Two units issued IOUs, claiming they were temporarily short on funds and would pay later," said Zhang Chunwang as he passed the IOUs to her.
Shen Yunfang took them and looked closely. She had heard of such IOUs in her previous life but had never seen one before, so she had to take a good look.
"Did they give a deadline for repayment?" Shen Yunfang flicked the IOUs in her hand.
"No, they just said they would notify us when they have the money," responded Zhang Chunwang, who was also dealing with IOUs for the first time and honestly did not know what to do.
Shen Yunfang thought for a moment. She had thought that IOUs would appear a few years later, but was surprised to encounter them now; they were really troublesome to deal with.
She looked down at the IOUs again to see the debt figures, one for more than a thousand yuan, and the other for more than three thousand yuan—neither a small sum. If they just let this slide, other units might follow suit, and that would really be a problem.
After some thought, she felt this precedent could not be set, "Keep these IOUs safe, and then every week, have someone go and press them for payment. If they don’t pay, there’s no need to rush them. Come New Year’s Day, I’ll take these IOUs to the governor and see what he says."
She refused to believe that these units would continue to default on their payments if she took the matter up with the governor.
"Also, remember which units gave us IOUs. If they want to buy from us again in the future, they must pay cash. No credit will be extended."
"Okay, I’ve got it," Zhang Chunwang noted it down.
After finishing the report on the output from the planting department, Zhang Chunwang began to report on the income from the vegetable greenhouses this month.
"All thirty-two greenhouses are now in use, and we are still planting various vegetables according to the previous allocation ratio. To be able to get another batch of vegetables out before the end of the year, I had them clean up the vegetables that were ready to be uprooted and replant them." The period around Chinese New Year is when off-season vegetables are the most expensive and the sales volume is the best. Although it’s a bit of a shame to pull up the vegetable seedlings that are still bearing fruit, overall, it makes the most sense to be able to produce a batch of vegetables before the New Year.
"Alright, you make the call on that," Shen Yunfang was very confident in the greenhouse side, Li Dabao was good at growing vegetables, and he wasn’t stubborn; he could take advice, and he had done very well this past year.
