CHAPTER 441: CHAPTER 441: MANY PEOPLE GIVING GIFTS

Under the various eager expectations of the whole family and of course the whole village, the group of three led by Zhao Gang finally made their dusty return.

Everyone was excited, but the villagers were the most thrilled. They had noticed that Zhao Gang and his group left with big bags, only to return with two light packages.

Though they seemed light, the two packages were quite large. Compared to the luggage they had when they left, they were much less indeed.

"Looks like the herbs have been sold."

"Surely they have; otherwise, why would they seem so light?"

"Exactly, exactly."

"Ah, I need to go home and pack up the herbs."

"Li Jian Country certainly has foresight; they got the money even before the festival."

People had all kinds of things to say, and even though getting the money before or after the festival made little difference since the family didn’t count heavily on the herbal sales, having the money in hand brought a sense of security.

"Who got the message back then?"

"Even if someone received the message, I doubt they would have spoken up. Alas, I wonder if they’d be willing to help this time."

Though Li Jian Country had mentioned that the herbs could be sold to the supply and marketing cooperative in Beijing, which got everyone quite excited, afterward, a sense of embarrassment loomed. Their past treatment of Zhao Gang’s group was still fresh in memory.

Although they were calculating, they didn’t have the audacity to offend someone one moment and seek benefits the next.

"I still have some dried mushrooms at home. I’ll give some to Zhao Gang and them; after they go to Beijing, they eat less of these things."

Asking for eggs or dried meat felt a bit extravagant, but dried mushrooms and black fungus, they could spare. After all, they were just harvested from the mountains, costing nothing, making them perfect gifts.

Once someone started the trend, many others followed suit, going home to select gifts for Zhao Gang and his group.

This resulted in Zhao Gang and his group finding their home filled with mushrooms, black fungus, and other things just when they finished their showers and were ready to eat.

Zhao Gang was baffled. Earlier, he hadn’t seen so much stuff; how did it suddenly appear out of nowhere? Even if Hua Miaozhu and they wanted to prepare something delicious, there was no need to take out so much.

"It’s all sent by the villagers, saying congratulations for getting into university." Although the admission letter hadn’t arrived, with such high scores, not receiving one would indeed be a joke.

Ah, was it really for getting into university? Zhao Gang’s mouth twitched. Please, their scores were out long ago, so why hadn’t they sent gifts earlier but now?

Plus, they hadn’t even received their admission letter yet; this reason was incredibly strong. "Forget it, accept them."

If they didn’t accept these gifts, Zhao Gang reckoned these people would feel uneasy. They were likely trying to ease tensions with this gesture.

Anyway, Zhao Gang had it all planned. Once rested, they’d accept herbs for as much money as they could get.

Gong Ruini immediately sensed an opportunity. Knowing that half the village was sending gifts, some might not have heard the news or wanted to see if the first batch of gifts would be rejected. Now that Zhao Gang had accepted everything, who knows how many more would come to offer gifts.

Gong Ruini was overjoyed at the sight of so many mushrooms and other items, "These can be sold for money in Beijing."

Zhao Guangran was nodding his head repeatedly; after all, they were worth money.

"We won’t sell them, we’ll give them away," Zhao Gang wasn’t about to exchange these things for money. "You know, the pharmacy we contacted said our products were of good quality and well-prepared, so they bought them at a high price, 70% more than what our local supply and marketing cooperative offered, and even 20% higher than the one in Beijing."

My goodness, that much more expensive? Gong Ruini was shocked. The prices in Beijing, already higher than here, would tempt anyone. Even if there were additional costs, they were just peanuts.

Gong Ruini could imagine once they announced this price, it would attract many people, "Seems we won’t need to worry about having goods to collect in the summer."

Gong Ruini was delighted, for this was all money.

Zhao Guangran was grinning ear to ear, "We can sell at such a high price." The thought of how expensive things sold in Beijing made the desire to earn even stronger.

At this moment, Zhao Guangran regretted the most, "Had I known these herbs could be sold in Beijing for such a high price, I should have gathered more back then."

Gong Ruini wholeheartedly agreed, sighing. She felt foolish not thinking of selling them in Beijing sooner. Knowing now, they should have gathered everything.

Toil a bit more, so what? One must not fall behind the workers, farmers, and soldiers. What a pity, what a pity, Gong Ruini was also heart-wrenched, her face showing all sorts of conflict.

Seeing the two children’s small faces scrunched up, Zhao Gang and his group laughed, "It’s okay, it’s okay, we can keep collecting this year."

"We can collect in large quantities."

"So, these mushrooms and other items, we’ll give them away." In this era, gifting wasn’t popular, but Zhao Gang thought despite their quality products, maintaining good relations with those people was necessary. After all, in the Northeast, these mushrooms and such weren’t very valuable.

They’ve already earned a lot, giving away a little wouldn’t hurt. As long as they receive more herbs in return, maintain good relations, and get more in return, it all balances out.

"Also, when we purchase mushrooms, the villagers can feel happier." After all, though people toil a bit, the elderly in the village could do this work, meaning no need to deploy the strong laborers of the home to earn decent money.

"Yes, yes." Since they could earn quite a bit, even the money-minded Zhao Guangran was in full agreement.

Though everyone was curious about the situation in Beijing, seeing Zhao Gang and his group eating with such ravenous appetites, they knew the journey had been grueling.

"Home is still the best. During our time in Beijing, we only had a few meals with meat." After eating two large bowls of rice, Zhao Gang reluctantly put down his bowl.

It wasn’t that Zhao Gang didn’t want to eat; it wasn’t that there was no food. Their stomachs visibly bulging showed that they had eaten quite a lot.

"Even the rice here is tastier."

Though Zhao Gang merely mentioned these two things, it was enough to scare Zhao Guangran, hinting the rice was bad and meat scarce.

The rice issue was easy to solve; they could transport it along with the herbs to Beijing. But what about the lack of meat?

This left the meat-loving Zhao Guangran quite dissatisfied, "Isn’t it Beijing? How can even meat be hard to get?"

"All cities are like this." Zhao Gang knew none of his children disliked eating meat, but what could be done? It was the price of moving to the city.

Sigh, Zhao Guangran increasingly felt he shouldn’t head to Beijing, unable to eat meat freely; what’s the point?