Chapter 522: 522. Buy eggs_1 Chapter 522: 522. Buy eggs_1 “What money?”

Wu Lan was fiddling with her cellphone when she said, “Years ago, when Tantan was a child, people would come to our door to buy the leaves, for 8 cents a jin. Her dad would take the big tea shears and work on the mountain for several days, huffing and puffing.”

Back then, there were no electric or diesel options, everything had to be done using big iron shears by hand. After a few days of work, the person would be nearly worn out.

Now, however…

Zhang Yanping pondered for a moment, “Pruning tea leaves must require pruning a lot, right? 8 cents a jin, it was at least an income, and the price must have gone up now.”

Pruning is divided into light and heavy pruning.

Light pruning means only trimming the uneven tender top part, while heavy pruning means cutting off more than half including the old branches, with the lower branches being heavier.

8 cents a jin, that really was an income.

But Wu Lan shook her head, “Wishful thinking… 8 cents a jin, and they don’t take the old bottom branches.”

“Moreover, the people doing business aren’t fools either. Seeing that there are hardly any villagers left to work, if they want to buy tea branches, they have to raise the price, so they simply don’t discuss the price anymore–if your family is willing to sell, they’ll bring their big machines up the mountain to cut it directly,”
“After pruning, they’ll transport it away, saving us farmers the effort. Although there’s no income, it saves on labor, ensuring that next year’s tea leaves will grow well.”

“In previous years, when Tantan’s dad went out to work, that’s how we sold our tea leaves.”

Zhang Yanping was astonished.

“So you’re saying… these pruned tea leaves just get traded for two crates of beer?”

“What else? Look, now in the village, no matter how few households there are, even if they offered 80 cents a jin, there’s no one around! To hire someone to prune tea leaves, if you count the machines and fuel, it costs at least 400 yuan a day without meals–that’s separate. Calculate how much tea leaves you’d have to prune?”

Not to mention they’re not even offering 80 cents.

Wu Lan continued, while gesturing with her hand,
“Since we need to use the tea leaves this year, I won’t bother registering. I don’t miss those two crates of beer–I’m off to buy some eggs.”

Meanwhile, Zhang Yanping quietly shrank back and turned to Seventh Uncle, “You see, I’m still quite far behind Shen Wansan.”

In business, who doesn’t have their own calculations?

Seventh Uncle: …

He looked at the handful of broken tea branches and leaves that Qiaoqiao had pruned into a basin, and then with a grand wave of his hand,
“Boil water, I’ll be preparing to cook eggs in a moment! I don’t believe it, with the tea leaves smelling so fragrant, the old branches couldn’t possibly be tasteless.”

“But…” Qiaoqiao looked at the thick and thin branches in the basin, puzzled, “But other people use leaves to make tea eggs, we’re using tea branches, will it work? Will they come out too bitter when cooked?”

As he spoke, he picked up a branch and chewed on it.

Seventh Uncle fell silent.

Then he looked at Qiaoqiao, “Bitter?”

Qiaoqiao nodded, “A little bitter, and a bit astringent too.”

Darn it!

The dream of tea eggs was shattered.

But no matter, Qiaoqiao had quickly picked out the leaves inside, “We can take the tea branches back with us and strip the leaves to fry them a bit; then we use those to cook the eggs.”

Huh?

Seventh Uncle thought for a moment: That wouldn’t be impossible.

As for the branches…

“Use the leaves for the eggs, and the branches for smoking meat and roasting duck!”

Well, the young and the old had it figured out, obviously adept at getting by.

Zhang Yanping: …

He thought for a moment, “Then let’s give it a try, and if it tastes good, Tantan, you and Seventh Uncle prep more and sell them at Peach Treasure Shop?”

These tea egg spice packs could be sold a bit cheaper; they should still work out.

Seventh Uncle glanced over instantly, his eyes suggesting too directly–Zhang Yanping, you said you were not good at business!

Song Tan listened quietly by the side and finally couldn’t help but speak up, “Our family isn’t really in such a tough spot right now, is it…?”

Initially, the hard work was to catch up with the planting season.

Lately, the hard work was to give the family a sense of security and by the way, to make the dinner table more lavish.

Moreover, to be accurate, since they moved, except for the restless Wu Lan and Song Sancheng, there hadn’t been much particularly urgent work at home; they hired others to do it.

The busiest time was just those few days of picking peaches.

If they prepared these spice packs, wouldn’t it mean that as soon as they got a little break in the height of summer, they would have new work again?

But Seventh Uncle did not agree as he looked at her:
“Money is always too little when you need it! Right now we have money, but when it comes to developing the barren hills, the money you have won’t even be enough to start the clearing… I don’t want your share, I’ll write down the ingredients later, and you can find someone to package it.”

At his age, with a house and savings, eating well every day, sleeping soundly–what use does he have for that profit share?

During the fishing, he had put in the effort, so he wouldn’t refuse what Seventh Uncle deserved.

But this recipe for tea eggs… those ingredients can be found with a hundred other versions online, how could he shamelessly ask for money!

Having thought of this, Seventh Uncle felt even more convinced: “Besides, this isn’t much about money–it’s such a good thing, are you willing to just use it like firewood? Isn’t that a waste?”

Song Tan: …Okay. No waste.

Continue to hire people to work then!

Anyway, with such an arrangement, probably no one in the entire village would have a restful day before winter.

…

Meanwhile, Wu Lan, already familiar with the way, found the household that raised chickens–
“Sister Wang, do you have any eggs at home? I’d like to buy some.”

The one called Sister Wang had picked peaches up the mountain before. Hearing the call, she hurried out of the house, “Doesn’t your family raise chickens? How come, haven’t they laid any eggs over these few months?”

There weren’t many secrets in the village, what Song Tan’s family raised was well known to everyone through casual conversation.

It was just that the chickens and pigs were raised in the back mountain; to get there, one had to detour from Song Tan’s house, and ordinary people didn’t bother to go and see.

Wu Lan also knew the importance of keeping a low profile:
“Tsk, just those few young chickens roaming the mountain, laying just that many eggs. Seventh Uncle now wants to make tea eggs, and I figured for the whole big family to eat a few dozen, I’d have to save up for a long time! Better to just buy some.”

Sister Wang didn’t suspect anything, “True, there are many people in your family…”

A family of thirteen or fourteen people for a meal, a table could barely fit everyone. If they were making dumplings, they’d almost need to use a whole bag of flour for a single meal…

Impossible to manage.

Thinking thus, Sister Wang felt overwhelmed by the idea.

“Had I known your family had so many people, I would have never bought all free-range chickens; you should’ve gotten some hybrid chickens. They grow fast and lay eggs quickly too… our local free-range chickens take years to grow and still just lay the same.”

Wu Lan looked helplessly resigned: “I didn’t expect there to be so much work at home… If you ask me, I don’t even want to raise chickens. It’s such a hassle every day, and I have to worry about finding food for them… The child insists on raising them. Now she’s selling stuff online and doing okay, so she might as well take over.”

“Indeed…”

As the two chatted idly, Sister Wang quickly picked out 40 eggs, “These were just laid in the past few days, fresh ones I haven’t had the chance to sell yet–enough?”

“Enough, enough.”

Wu Lan hurriedly agreed.