Wang Mantun had long cultivated a serious disposition.
Even a gentle question from him carried a tone of earnestness.
“Uncle Wang, you’re here. Please, have a seat and rest for a while. I expect things will get busy soon. Since I have nothing to do at the moment, I’m looking into how to raise poultry scientifically and correctly. I plan to raise two chicks.”
Su Mi offered a simple explanation.
“You educated youths are so particular. Even raising a couple of chicks has to be learned from books. This… this is all of it?”
Wang Mantun’s eyes widened in surprise. It was the first time he had learned that raising chickens, ducks, and pigs involved so much book knowledge.
He himself had only graduated from elementary school and had never been exposed to more advanced knowledge, so his understanding was naturally limited.
If not for his conscientiousness, responsibility, and upright character, the job of recording work points would never have fallen to him.
“That’s right! Nowadays, everything is documented in writing. Specialists compile this knowledge into books to spread correct, scientific information and avoid unnecessary losses.”
Su Mi moved the books aside one by one, revealing their covers.
She had checked and revised every page of each book, so there were no issues with mismatched dates or examples that were unclear or unrealistic.
“My goodness, Comrade Su, you are truly remarkable.”
Wang Mantun felt a surge of excitement.
It was well known that their village was poor, and there were reasons for it. In the past, the villagers were not lacking in unity.
But after repeated failures, they had lost confidence in achieving prosperity.
Now, all they sought was stability.
There had been educated youths sent down to the countryside before who wanted to use their knowledge to help develop the village.
But they were only half-baked, and the louder their slogans were when they arrived, the greater the disappointment they later brought.
After all, shouting slogans and practical implementation were two different things.
The villagers had cooperated as much as they could, doing whatever was asked of them.
Yet, in the end, not only were their efforts in vain, but they also caused significant losses for the villagers.
As a result, the rural cadres like Wang Mantun had grown disheartened.
The book knowledge Su Mi presented rekindled a spark of hope in Wang Mantun’s heart.
As someone who understood the importance of analyzing failures, he naturally recognized why previous attempts had not succeeded.
With these books, they could gather the village’s high school and junior high graduates to study. Even if they couldn’t lead the entire village to prosperity,
it would still be beneficial if every household could raise chickens and ducks free from disease, producing more eggs and gaining more meat.
Wang Mantun was not greedy. His greatest wish was simply for the villagers to have enough to eat and for the children to enjoy a few more meals with meat and eggs.
“This is a turtledove? There are people who specialize in raising these?”
Wang Mantun pointed to a book specifically about raising turtledoves, looking utterly astonished.
“Its scientific name is the turtledove. It’s also a highly productive layer with excellent nutritional value. They generally live for about ten years, with an egg-laying period of around eight years. If well cared for, they can even live twelve or thirteen years without issue.
They start laying eggs in about eight months, similar to hens.
But turtledove eggs can be canned and sold outside. If the breeding industry takes off, and when large-scale egg production begins, the village could set up a small factory, which would also generate income.
Turtledoves that are no longer productive can be made into cured meat and sold.
Of course, the same applies to other poultry. The prerequisite for all this is that we have knowledgeable technicians and suitable facilities.”
While Su Mi was speaking, even Village Chief Niu and the brigade leader came over, though they didn’t catch the whole conversation.
But looking at the books on the table and piecing together what they had just heard, they understood what Su Mi was talking about.
“Little Su, I know you mean well for our village, but this isn’t something that can be done overnight. The most urgent task now is for you to focus on your own duties.”
The brigade leader, Xu Weiguo, was a stern middle-aged man. It was said he had been discharged from the military due to an injury, and he had turned down the job assigned to him by the army.
All he wanted was to take his wife and children back to his hometown, where he hadn’t been for a long time.
Because he had fought in the war and attended literacy classes in the army, he was elected brigade leader by the villagers.
Seeing the books Su Mi had brought out, he felt grateful, but as he had said earlier, he was hesitant to lead the villagers into trying something new. The village was already poor enough, and he was afraid that if it failed, it might even harm people.
“Brigade Leader, I’m not in a hurry. These are just something to pass the time. Aren’t there two high school graduates in the village? Since they’re not taking the college entrance exam and don’t have jobs, instead of working in the fields, why not let them take a look at these? Even if they just learn how to raise chickens at home and get a few more eggs, it would be good.”
Su Mi naturally understood the brigade leader’s concerns, so she wasn’t pushing anything.
“Old Xu, I think you’re overthinking it. We don’t have to start a factory right away. Let the kids learn from these books first. Every household has chickens, so we can take it slow. If they succeed, then we can talk about it. Besides, we also have quota pigs to raise. The books teach about that too, so reading more won’t hurt.”
Village Chief Niu still had confidence in Su Mi, though he didn’t dare say too much, only chiming in.
“What’s the rush? It’s not that I don’t trust Su Zhiqing, I’m just saying we shouldn’t rush. How about this—I’ll take this chicken-raising book first and give it to my second son to study. He didn’t finish high school, but he’ll definitely understand this stuff.”
Brigade Leader Xu Weiguo picked up The Complete Guide to Scientific Chicken Raising and started flipping through it.
The more he read, the more astonished he became. The book didn’t just teach how to raise chickens—it covered everything from breeding selection and feed management to coop construction and disease prevention.
It truly lived up to its name as a “complete guide.”
“Well, if you’re looking at the chicken book, I’ll take the pig-raising ones. There are three books on pigs: Swine Diseases, Introduction to Pig Farming, and Postpartum Care for Sows. Wow! They even wrote a whole book just for piglets being born? No wonder educated people are impressive.”
Village Chief Niu was amazed as he looked at the three pig-raising books in his hands.
His third son was one of the only two high school graduates in the village.
His family also raised two quota pigs, which ate a lot of feed every day but didn’t seem to gain much weight. He was worried, but worrying didn’t help.
Since these were books issued by the state, they must be correct. He would have his third son study them to figure out how to fatten the pigs.
If it really worked, he could apply to raise collective pigs.
After all, the Sixth Brigade had done so well with pig farming that they even got a tractor for their team—something he had envied for a long time.
Wang Mantun also picked up a book on goat raising. His family had two goats that were about to give birth.
He wanted to see if the book had any methods to help goats produce more offspring and gain more weight.
Su Mi gathered the remaining books together and put them in the drawer.
“Just think of it as something to pass the time, why not give it a look? It doesn’t take much effort anyway. I remember Auntie mentioning before that our village used to have a livestock farm, but it ended up getting hit by various epidemics. These books cover methods for disease prevention, all based on scientific principles. As long as we follow the guidelines, there shouldn’t be any issues. Of course, we could also try raising some at home first to see how it goes.”