After listening to the old matriarch’s words, Sanjin also put away his smile and patted his chest, "Don't worry, Old Matriarch, once the school is built, I'll be the first to attend."
"Great, yes, I'll go too, I'll go too."
Everyone immediately chimed in, shouting loudly.
Very good, the first item passed. The rest would be simple.
The second matter Chen Xiaobei discussed was road construction, and no one raised any objections.
While not everyone might have been to the county town, they had all been to the local market towns. Thus, the road leading into the village was easily comparable to the main road.
After discussing these two matters, Chen Xiaobei changed the subject.
"Everyone, the money from selling wolves is almost spent on these two projects. In the future, if there are any more major expenses, we'll figure it out together. Now, I want to talk about something else."
He finished speaking and glanced at Lidong, then at Chen Xiaowen and the others.
"As you all know, I like to tinker. I dug a fishpond by the river and made a net to put fish fry in for free-range farming."
"Later, Lidong ge, Xiaowen, and the others came to me wanting a net like mine."
"Today, I'll make it clear to everyone. If you want a net, sign up with Lidong later, and we'll see how many people are interested."
"I can give you the nets for free, but I have three conditions."
"We'll use a foot in length as the boundary. Fish larger than a foot, you can sell for money or eat yourselves."
"Anything smaller than this size must be put back into my fishpond to grow. Of course, I won't let you work for nothing. I will give you a fair price based on the size of the fish."
Upon hearing this, everyone became excited again. They would get a fishing net for free, and they could exchange any size of fish for money. This was very practical. In the past, when fishing, they could only eat the small ones themselves and sell the larger ones in the city for silver.
At this moment, Sanqiu suddenly spoke up, "Xiaobei, village head, why don't we give you all the fish we catch, regardless of size, and you can give us a few coins as you see fit."
His suggestion drew widespread agreement.
Chen Xiaobei suddenly came to his senses. That's right, they wanted to sell their vegetables by taking them to the county town themselves. Making them travel halfway to sell just two fish would likely be met with resistance.
With Sanqiu leading the way, everyone echoed his sentiment. Chen Xiaobei cursed inwardly, *Damn it, I intended to teach them to fish, but they ended up giving me the fish.*
Just then, the old matriarch stepped forward again to support him.
"Everyone, be quiet for a moment. I say, you people are truly insatiable. Xiaobei is giving you nets for free, and you still want to make money from him."
"I'll say it now, if you want to sell the fish to Xiaobei, the price must be low. I suggest half the price in the city. You get half for free, and Xiaobei earns half. It's not for nothing that he travels back and forth to the county town so tirelessly."
Xiaobei breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this. This was not a bad idea.
Since he was buying directly from the source, the price certainly couldn't be the same as in the county town.
As soon as the old matriarch finished speaking, Sanjin was the first to respond, "Old Matriarch, please rest assured. Let alone half price, even a quarter of the price, I wouldn't complain. It's all thanks to Xiaobei ge. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to catch a single fish."
It had to be said that Sanjin was quite adept at playing politics. However, his words represented the feelings of many of the villagers.
Seeing everyone expressing their agreement in a flurry of words, the old matriarch nodded with satisfaction and turned to Chen Xiaobei.
"When you collect the fish later, I'll come and oversee it. Anyone who dares to haggle over the price, I'll take their net back on the spot."
Hearing this, Chen Xiaobei silently gave a thumbs-up. Indeed, this old matriarch had her ways. With just this one sentence, all the people present fell silent. Those with ulterior motives probably wouldn't dare to act on them.
After the meeting, Chen Xiaobei went home for a quick meal and then drove the donkey cart to the county town.
He toured the entire county town and bought twenty fishing nets. These were all the fishing nets available in Qingniu County. He also bought out all the ceramic flowerpots in the town. Hundreds of flowerpots piled high on the cart.
From a distance, he saw many women sitting and chatting in front of his house, with Cui Hongyu accompanying them, nodding silently.
Upon seeing Chen Xiaobei arrive, these women became very enthusiastic, greeting him with smiles.
Chen Xiaobei looked at them in surprise. There had never been so many women at his house before. Moreover, he didn't want to become a "ladies' man."
The first to speak was Lidong's wife, Qiūméi, who was holding her month-old baby.
"Xiaobei brother, you're back! We came to find you to discuss something."
Chen Xiaobei looked at her blankly, "Sister-in-law, what is it we need to discuss?"
"Xiaobei brother, we heard you're making fishing nets and teaching everyone how to fish. But fishing is men's work."
"Can you find some work for us women too? We can't just sit at home and eat idle food, can we?"
Chen Xiaobei smiled. Indeed, to get rich, one needed this kind of initiative, actively seeking work was the way to succeed.
But in this era, in such a poor mountain village, what could women do?
"Sister-in-law, this requires some thought. Your question has caught me off guard, and I can't think of anything right now."
"Alright, no rush. Take your time to think. Then I'll be going." With that, Qiūméi stood up and left. Following her lead, the others dispersed in small groups.
Chen Xiaobei smiled and saw off the last person, then let out a long sigh. He turned to Cui Hongyu.
"This is troublesome. Everyone wants to make money, but where can we find so many ways to earn it?"
Cui Hongyu smiled wryly, "You misunderstand them. Today, I was embroidering here, and people saw me. Soon, they'll come looking for me one by one. They don't really want you to find them a new trade; they want to learn embroidery from me but are too shy to ask directly."
Upon hearing this, Chen Xiaobei sighed, "Embroidery is a skill. Not everyone can do it."
"Yes, I told them that. But you have to understand, some people won't believe it until they try."
Chen Xiaobei thought, isn't this a classic case of 'looks easy, but hard to do'?
Of course, such phenomena are common.
Take myself as an example. Before I started writing this book, I kept imagining achieving legendary status and topping the charts.
But after I started writing, I realized, under this scorching sun, how could I be dreaming?
Chen Xiaobei nodded, "Then let them try first. Let them realize it's difficult. It's better than them thinking you're not teaching them."
"That's my thought as well. Husband, next time you go to the city, buy two more sets of embroidery tools. If we encounter any sisters who are truly skillful, it wouldn't hurt to teach them."
Cui Hongyu looked at the large number of ceramic flowerpots Chen Xiaobei had bought with astonishment.
"Husband, why did you get so many?"
"Alas, this afternoon I need to go into the mountains and dig up more ginseng and lingzhi. I'm truly afraid of being wiped out in one go!"