Chapter 293: Why Not Ride the Wind?

The best way for Chinese people to strengthen their relationships is always around the dinner table. After a meal and a few drinks, the two families began chatting away. Li You made full use of his skills as a social drinker, making sure to keep Zhu Laowu company despite still being tipsy from the midday drinks.

Li Xian, of course, had to keep up with the occasion. Although he wasn't fond of alcohol, he had to stay at the table and chat with Zhu Laowu and his wife, while also entertaining their two daughters.

The names of Zhu Laowu's children were quite interesting. The family tree of the Zhu clan reached this generation with names that contained the character "Bi" (碧), but since girls couldn't be included in the family tree, the names were improvised. The two daughters were named Zhu Cuihua and Zhu Cuiduo.

Zhu Laowu was arrested just a few days after the four sons were born, and had no chance to name them, so the names were just placeholders for now.

If there had been more children, it's possible that Zhu Chongba would have come into play.

Zhu Laowu had heard that the old man of the Li family had some skills and, halfway through the drinking session, he mentioned to Li Daoyun whether the old man could help name the four sons.

This was something Li Daoyun was eager to do.

Although recently he had been saying he wouldn't take on such tasks, his skills, like a lifelong habit, were hard to set aside. He asked for the birth dates and times of the four children, took out three copper coins, and performed a traditional divination. After tossing the coins and scribbling on paper, he came up with four names:

"Shuimu Qinghua" (水沐清华)

According to the old man, the first three children were born during the Zi hour and belonged to the wood element, which needed to be nurtured by water. The last child was born during the Chou hour, belonged to the earth element, and needed to support the wood element.

"Zhu Bishi, Zhu Bimu, Zhu Biqing, Zhu Bihua…"

Seeing the four children on the kang, their faces flushed from milk and sleep, Zhu Laowu clapped his thigh and exclaimed, "Master Li, these names are perfect! When the children grow up next year, I'll bring them over to bow to you!"

The four babies seemed to be quite pleased with their new names, as they purred in their dreams like little cats.

Li Daoyun smiled at the praise, waving his hand. "Whether I'll still be around next year is another matter, Old Five. For now, focus on raising these six children well. That's the most important thing."

Li Xian agreed wholeheartedly with the old man's advice.

In his view, whether they were boys or girls, having two daughters and then four sons seemed excessive and unnecessary.

Six children, four of whom were boys born in 1993…

The two daughters were manageable. Though Zhu Laowu and his wife lived a hard life and looked older than their years, their daughters, despite their shabby appearance, had the makings of beauties. Even if they didn't blossom into full beauty, they likely wouldn't have trouble finding husbands.

However, twenty years from now, the situation with the four boys could be problematic.

According to the standards of marrying in that era:

In the local area, young people getting married required a dowry starting at 300,000 yuan, plus a job or ten acres of land, and a car and house in the city.

In other regions… well, the situation was even more dire.

Looking at the four little children tossing around on the kang, Li Xian smirked silently. "They should study hard and move to big cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, or Shenzhen. By then, I'll make them experience the power of our country's housing prices, and then they'll think twice about needing so many sons."

He then patted Zhu Cuihua, who was clinging to him and staring at him with unblinking eyes.

"Cuihua, find a good match in the future."

The little girl squinted her big eyes and showed her small white teeth as she replied, "Mm, I'll look for someone like Uncle Li!"

The entire table burst into laughter at the innocent words of the little girl.

Wang Zhiye pinched the child's cheek and said, "Why would you look for someone like him? He's just a rogue."

"Uncle Li isn't a rogue! He's so handsome, how could he be a rogue? My mom said he's the most capable person in the area!"

After hugging Li Xian's leg, the little girl seemed shy and buried her face in Li Xian's arms. "I don't care. I'll find a match like this!"

The child's precociousness made the whole family laugh heartily. Even Su Ya couldn't help but smile. Seeing Li Xian's smug look, she turned her face and gave him a scowl. Her long eyelashes clearly expressed two words—"vain."

Chen Guixiang, feeling embarrassed, pulled her eldest daughter over and scolded her, calling her a spoiled child.

Looking at the cheerful Li Xian and his two daughter-like figures behind him, she thought, "Silly child, if you can find a man like this, how much good fortune will our ancestors' graves have…"

...

By the time Zhu Laowu's family left, it was already past eight in the evening. The family cleaned up and went to bed.

However, the next morning, the family gathered around the table again to talk about Zhu Laowu's family.

Although Zhu Laowu's family had reunited with him out of jail, Li You was still worried. "Their house was demolished by the family planning office, and their land is gone. With only Old Five's wife's small salary, they won't be able to get through the winter."

Although Li You had helped Zhu Laowu's family during their most difficult time, his promotion to manager was thanks to Chen Guixiang's revelation of the overpopulation complaint.

Last night, Li You asked Zhu Laowu about his future plans. The thirty-year-old man was worried. The forest farm relied on this small piece of land, and now with the land gone and debt piling up, it was hard to see how they would manage with six children.

Thinking of this, Li You looked at his second son and suggested, "Why not let Zhu Laowu take on some side jobs, like collecting mountain products? It might be a way out."

"No way!" 

Before Li You could finish, Li Xian firmly refused.

"Why are you so heartless? This family is in such dire straits," Wang Zhiye, who had understood the situation from the dinner table, was sympathetic to the family.

Seeing that Li Xian was unwilling to help, she protested.

"Don't be ridiculous!"

Li Xian retorted sharply.

He was fed up with people who made decisions for him without understanding the situation.

Recently, many people from the forest farm had been coming by, bringing gifts and flattering him, hoping to get a job at the initial processing plant or gain a position as a buyer.

But Li Xian had turned them all away.

Why?

To set a precedent and show everyone in the forest farm that only those who firmly followed him and the Li family would get rewards.

The first batch of followers like Aunt Ma served as a model or a warning. Interests had to be protected, and they needed to be unique and exclusive.

So this door had to remain firmly closed.

If he let people in indiscriminately, what would others think?

— Oh, it turns out that the Li family is giving away benefits based on relationships?

And what about Aunt Ma and the others?

— Oh, we endured harsh treatment and followed you despite the cold remarks, only to see others get the rewards now?

Although Chen Guixiang had contributed to Li You's election as manager, this was unrelated to the initial processing plant.

Rules couldn't be bent.

Li Xian's thoughts were something Li Daoyun roughly understood.

The old man wiped the porridge from his beard, considered for a moment, and tapped Li Xian with his chopsticks. "Grandson, what you're doing is reasonable. But I need to remind you that it's not about being poor but about fairness. When your father ran for manager, he promised to lead the people to prosperity. Now that Ma Gui and the others have earned money through their work as buyers, it's good to set an example for others. But this isn't a long-term solution. Over time, seeing a small group getting rich while others remain poor, it will inevitably lead to dissatisfaction. Eventually, it will make the manager's job harder, and your initial processing plant may also face changes."

Li Daoyun's words had some truth, and Li Xian had considered this.

After thinking for a moment, he nodded. "Grandfather, I understand."

"So what do you plan to do?" Li Daoyun asked, stroking his beard.

"At the initial processing plant, we certainly can't let others interfere. However, to ensure my father's position as manager remains stable and to successfully develop the mountain product company, we still need to support the local people."

When he initially contracted the berry research institute, Li Xian had registered a company—Lin Cui Mountain Product Development Company. Although health products were the first business he thought of, they were by no means the only one.

From a modern perspective, the current forest area was a huge treasure trove. There were countless opportunities to explore.

Timber, mineral resources, mountain vegetables, medicinal herbs, or green industries like forest farming—standing

 at the early stage of economic reform, before the national economic center shifted heavily south, there was plenty of room for operation.

The cornerstone for building this was the forest area and its people.

This was also one of the reasons he had promoted Li You to the position of manager.

"How to support them?" Li You asked eagerly.

"There are many ways!" Li Xian waved his hand, served himself a bowl of rice porridge, and cracked open a salted duck egg. He discarded the egg white and shell.

"Just keep talking!" Wang Zhiye, unable to believe him, said, "There are so many challenges in the forest farm, and if the initial processing plant isn't open to the people, with winter coming, what can you do?"

"There are plenty of things we can do!" Li Xian glanced at her.

At this moment, Zou Ni brought over a bowl of potato and sauerkraut soup.

Generally, sauerkraut isn't ready for pickling this early in the season, but Li Xian had always liked it and couldn't resist trying some.

The taste was quite good.

Seeing Wang Zhiye's disdainful look, Li Xian smiled slightly, swallowed his food, and pointed at the aluminum bowl.

"This sauerkraut, if we handle it properly, could be worth millions."

Sauerkraut is a common food in the Northeast, but no one had ever seen it sold in the market.

Let alone making a fortune from it.

"I said it was cloudy this morning, but now it's sunny. Did you blow the clouds away? Making millions from sauerkraut, next you'll say you can fly to the sky!" Wang Zhiye naturally didn't believe him.

"Fly to the sky? I've done that several times!" 

Next time, not only will I fly, but I'll also sleep with a flight attendant. I'm not afraid to tell you!

"Just wait and see, with this sauerkraut," Li Xian said, taking another bite, "I'll show you how to make millions!"