Qu Tong ate the delicious braised pork with emotion, her eyes brimming with tears. “Wuwu, I’ve never felt that meat tasted this good before.”
Ye Qiu rested her chin on her hands and tilted her head to look at her. “Eat slowly, there’s no rush.”
Qu Tong hurriedly swallowed the meat in her mouth. “You don’t know, but we finally don’t have to weed today.”
“That’s a good thing.”
“This is not a good thing at all!” Qu Tong complained with a mournful face. “I used to think weeding was hard enough, but compared to the other jobs, it was nothing.”
Ye Qiu asked, “So, what were you assigned to do?”
“Digging buffer zones,” Qu Tong looked at her with resentment.
She finally understood what Ye Qiu had been tinkering with a few days ago. Ye Qiu’s sudden stroke of inspiration had made her suffer greatly; had she known, she would have preferred to just keep weeding, as at least she was already used to that.
Ye Qiu chuckled. Seeing Qu Tong’s mournful expression, she immediately put on a serious face. “That’s truly my fault. My apologies to Miss Qu.”
Qu Tong sighed and fiercely swallowed the rest of the braised pork in her mouth. “I don’t actually blame you. Your idea is good. Although it’s been a bit hard these past few days, at least we won’t have to weed every day from now on.”
Since things had already come to this, she had no choice but to find happiness in her misery and comfort herself.
She only regretted that in her previous life, she had only read novels and not looked into more books on farming. Otherwise, she could be like Ye Qiu, and having an extra day of rest would be great.
Ye Qiu tilted her head, thought for a moment, and asked, “How about you join me in raising pigs?”
“Raising pigs?!” Qu Tong was so shocked she couldn’t even bother to eat, shaking her head vigorously. “No way, no way, I can’t do that.”
She had really only ever eaten pork; she had never even seen a pig run.
“Besides, the villagers wouldn’t agree to let us educated youths raise pigs, would they?” When she first arrived in the countryside, she had noticed how much the rural people valued their livestock. How could they feel at ease handing them over to outsiders?
“That’s not necessarily true,” Ye Qiu wagged her index finger. “As I said, the advantage of the educated youth lies in knowledge.”
“Raising pigs… with knowledge?” Qu Tong was confused.
“Of course.” Ye Qiu was categorical and gave an example. “Most people think raising pigs is simple—you just clean the pigsty and cut pig grass to feed them.”
Qu Tong asked skeptically, “Isn’t it?”
“It is precisely because most people think this way that the new knowledge we propose can give us an advantage.”
Qu Tong became interested. She leaned forward, staring at her with sparkling eyes. “Tell me, tell me about it.”
“The most important things in raising pigs are two points: one is to make the pigs put on more meat, and the other is to make them less prone to illness—or rather, to have the ability to treat them when they get sick.”
Qu Tong nodded in agreement, feeling that what she said made perfect sense.
“So, as long as we put effort into these two areas, we can raise pigs better than the villagers. Naturally, they would be willing to let us take charge of raising the pigs.”
Qu Tong had been completely won over by her. “You are so smart! So, what do we need to do?”
Ye Qiu pulled out two books she had redeemed from the system mall and shook them. “These are what I found at the bookstore in town today. Both books explain how to raise pigs scientifically. I plan to carefully summarize them and give the Brigade Leader a ‘Scientific Pig-Raising Guide’ tomorrow. I don’t believe we won’t secure the job.”
Qu Tong applauded, but she also raised a concern. “What if the Brigade Leader takes your guide and shows it to others?”
It wasn’t that she was being malicious, but the phenomenon of stealing credit had never disappeared.
Ye Qiu smiled confidently. “I didn’t say I would write all the key points into the guide. Isn’t it enough just to write a general outline so the Brigade Leader knows I have the ability to raise pigs well?”
Qu Tong was happy for her at first, but when she thought about how she still had to continue working in the fields, she couldn’t help but feel depressed.
She slumped onto the table, disheartened, and said weakly, “I envy how smart you are. I have to go back to the fields tomorrow; I feel like I’m going to be exhausted to death.”
“Then do you want to raise pigs with me?” Ye Qiu invited her.
“Raise pigs… with you?” Qu Tong repeated.
Although she had initially disliked raising pigs because it was dirty and smelly, after hearing Ye Qiu’s analysis, she realized that raising pigs was an easy job—at least much easier than working in the fields every day.
But, the problem was…
“The Brigade Leader won’t agree to let two people raise pigs, would he?” Previously, the brigade only had one person raising pigs; it was unlikely they would be willing to add another.
Ye Qiu raised her eyebrows confidently. “As long as you are willing to trust me, I will naturally help you figure out a way. You only need to do one thing.”
Qu Tong nodded repeatedly. “Okay, okay, then I’ll trouble you. What can I do?”
There were no free lunches in the world. They had known each other for less than a week, and Ye Qiu was already being kind by helping her with ideas; she naturally couldn’t take such kindness for granted.
Ye Qiu tapped the table with her finger and asked, “Raising pigs is risky. If something happens and the pigs die, can you afford to bear the loss?”
Her gaze was fixed directly on Qu Tong. Ye Qiu was, of course, not just being blindly kind. If she was pulling Qu Tong into this, she naturally needed her to contribute.
With a specific role to play, Qu Tong felt much more at ease and guaranteed, “Of course, that’s no problem.”
Her family was well-off, so this amount of money didn’t matter to her; mostly, she felt that Ye Qiu was a trustworthy person.
If she had misjudged her, then this money would just be the price of the lesson.
With her assurance, the next day, Ye Qiu felt fully confident when she went to negotiate with the brigade officials.
Zhao Mancang, the Deputy Brigade Leader of the Qingshan Brigade, asked in disbelief, “You two new educated youths want to raise pigs?”
Who would raise the pigs was not something the Brigade Leader alone could decide. Therefore, Zhao Ze had called together all the officials in the village. Only if Ye Qiu could convince all of them would she be able to take over the work of raising pigs from Zhuzi’s mother.
Accountant Zhao, the village accountant, was also puffing on his water pipe and frowning. “You new batch of educated youths are being too unruly.”
Listening to the opposition, Ye Qiu smiled and stated firmly, “I know everyone has concerns about young people, so I specifically went to town to research data. I guarantee that every point in this ‘Scientific Pig-Raising Guide’ has a very high degree of feasibility, and I hope the brigade will give me a chance to prove myself.”
Zhao Ze read through her guide carefully and couldn’t help but nod. “What is written here is truly excellent.”
Zhao Mancang was dissatisfied. “The Brigade Leader cannot show favoritism. Raising pigs is a big deal; how can it be casually handed over to two new educated youths?”
There were a total of five pigs in the brigade; two had to be turned over to the commune, leaving only three for the Qingshan Brigade. The hundreds of people in the brigade spent the whole year looking forward to slaughtering these three pigs and dividing the meat.
These pigs were important assets of the brigade; how could they be handed over to two newly arrived, relocated educated youths?
Wang Zhong, the militia leader, had a different opinion. “I think it wouldn’t hurt to give the young people a chance to try.”
He had come from the battlefield and had seen more of the world than the villagers; he knew that one had to listen to smart people to win battles.
The weeding method Ye Qiu had proposed had been proven effective. It was clear that this young person was not just spouting empty boasts; they should give young people a chance to try.