CHAPTER 464: CHAPTER 464: DIFFICULT PROBLEM

This response is exactly the kind of straightforwardness you’d expect from Zhao Guangran.

Zhao Xuran doesn’t find his younger brother’s answer strange at all, "If you don’t know how to feed them, it’s fine, you can learn."

Zhan Banxia scoffs, "Second Brother, it seems like all you’re capable of is eating."

"You need to learn; otherwise, how will you work in the future?"

Zhan Zisu adds, slightly smug, "Second Brother, you said it yourself, don’t think you can just invest and wait for dividends. This won’t work."

"Exactly." Zhan Banxia, worried that her second brother’s reproachful gaze would turn to her dumb brother again, deliberately gives him a little push backward, "Second Brother, we can hawk, peel quail eggs, and help out around the stove, what can you do?"

Selling quail eggs involves few procedures: peeling, cooking, and hawking. It’s considered light work, whereas raising quails is quite a heavy task.

Zhao Guangran wants to say he can cook quail eggs, but he doesn’t have the face to boast aloud.

Knowing his skills, Zhao Guangran decides, "I can learn to feed the quails."

Zhao Guangran feels like crying; all this back-and-forth, and in the end, he still has to feed the quails. If he knew this was going to happen, why insist on getting his older brother involved in the first place?

Doing the same work but getting paid less, no matter how you calculate it, is a loss.

Of course, Zhao Guangran doesn’t mind getting his big brother involved to make money together, after all, it’s his big brother. But why drag in two freeloaders?

Oh, Brother Ruiwen is also a bit excessive, knowing full well he’s being bullied by the twins, yet he just stands by and watches; really, there’s no camaraderie.

"It’s fine, we’ll all work together." Gong Ruwen feels wronged; he wanted to step in and speak up for Zhao Guangran, but it was clearly an internal Zhao Family matter, how could he jump in?

Gong Ruwen isn’t foolish; barging in would lead to trouble, so he stays on the sidelines to help a little.

Hmph, what’s the use of appearing now? Zhao Guangran feels quite displeased, although he just vents a bit of annoyance. He’s not foolish, what if he provokes Gong Ruwen and gets him angry too? He would end up isolated at home, and that wouldn’t bode well for him.

"Okay, we’ll feed the quails together. Ni Zi and Ban Xia will handle peeling and cooking the quail eggs, and the hawking." Although Zhao Guangran loves money and has made quite a bit, it just requires effort, and hawking isn’t really necessary.

Zhao Guangran is pretty thick-skinned, but the thought of hawking loudly in a place where no one knows him makes him uncomfortable. Besides, they’re selling in Beijing; what if classmates see?

Zhao Guangran is very concerned about saving face; he wants to make money but can’t let classmates see it. Otherwise, how could he hold his head high in class?

He wants to be the top student, admired by everyone. Thinking this through, Zhao Guangran no longer minds feeding the quails; at least it earns a good reputation without classmates finding out.

Why did Zhao Guangran suddenly agree? Gong Ruini is quite surprised; knowing how Zhao Guangran works hard to make money, if he can take it easy with the same results, he usually does. Now, this situation puzzles Gong Ruini greatly.

Gong Ruini watches Zhao Guangran’s eyes whirl, indicating he’s plotting something, but she doesn’t have time to care, "Brother Xuran, you’ll be the general coordinator when the time comes."

"Also, for this business, we’ll definitely need coal." Gong Ruini suddenly remembers an important point: you can’t just burn firewood in Beijing city.

Even if firewood were needed, there are no mountains in Beijing city; where would they get it? Only now does Gong Ruini realize this plan’s critical flaw, and she’s nearly driven insane.

It’s truly a good plan, and Gong Ruini vows it will earn money, but having to give up over such a minor issue is frustrating, yet there’s nothing she can do.

Oh no, this can’t be! Zhao Guangran is also stunned, "How could this happen? What do we do?"

Repeatedly muttering this phrase, he still doesn’t know what to do.

Zhao Guangran knows Gong Ruini is also stumped; otherwise, she wouldn’t have asked. Is there a solution from the ever-capable big brother?

Sigh, Zhao Guangran blames Gong Ruini for not thinking it through. If you hadn’t known this earlier, fine, but after hearing it, you hold all kinds of hopes, even planning how to save money.

But Gong Ruini then casually crushes it with an, "Oops, there’s an unsolvable issue," which is heart-wrenching for anyone.

Zhao Guangran’s glance at Gong Ruini is filled with lament; if not for fear of throwing the family into disarray, he’d confront her, asking why she didn’t think twice about voicing this idea, considering whether there might be any problems.

Gong Ruini is also extremely embarrassed; here she never needed to consider fuel issues. Considering the past, solar energy and air conditioning were enough, who thought about old-fashioned coal?

But Gong Ruini won’t back down against Zhao Guangran’s reproach. Hmph, if you have the skills, come up with an idea yourself! Why didn’t you think about it before, instead pondering how to dodge dirty work? Didn’t you overlook this critical issue too?

Zhao Xuran couldn’t come up with a solution, "It probably can’t be procured on the black market." Even if you could buy it there, the price would likely not be cheap, and buying it this way wouldn’t be logical.

Everyone’s working hard to make money, not to realize all their efforts are in vain, no one would like that.

But this plan is good; missing it feels like a shame. But how can we proceed?

Gong Ruwen thinks it’s not that daunting, "We don’t have coal, but we can burn charcoal, that’s also decent."

"Right, we can use charcoal." Gong Ruini’s eyes light up. Even without coal, we have no shortage of charcoal here, it’s abundant.

Every winter, there’s plenty stocked up, yet the well-prepared firewood at home often goes unused, "We can bring those reserves."

Gong Ruini is thrilled; what seemed useless can now be put to good use, how delightful.

"As for next year, we can have Sister Erya and Uncle Dazhu burn more." It’s not that Gong Ruini neglects environmental protection, but in this land-rich, forested place, burning a bit of charcoal hardly harms the ecosystem.

As for firewood, it’s often from fallen trees or pruned branches, having no impact on greenery.