Chapter 242: Acquiring Mushrooms
The workers from the handicraft group also brought back a warehouse full of reeds, which were being dried in the courtyard.
It looked like Hongxing Lake couldn’t be visited anytime soon.
As for why, no one knew.
On the way, Lu Qiaoge ran into Brother Sun and Xiao Tao.
The two wanted to approach but seemed too embarrassed.
Lu Qiaoge remembered the promise she had made to them,
which was to definitely reserve spots for them when recruitment happened.
Lu Qiaoge said with a beaming smile: “Brother Sun, Brother Xiao Tao, I’ve finally caught sight of you two. If you hadn’t come, I would have made time to go to your home to find you.”
Sun Da Tian and Xiao Tao exchanged a glance.
Actually, after the hospital visit, they hadn’t seen Lu Qiaoge again.
She was still at the neighborhood committee, but extremely busy.
A few days ago, when the handicraft factory was recruiting, they hadn’t dared to come—their hands were clumsier than their feet, so they wouldn’t be any use.
But now that they heard the food factory was also recruiting, they couldn’t stay put any longer.
So they wondered if they could ask Lu Qiaoge whether she still remembered what she had said that day.
When they saw Lu Qiaoge, for some reason, they didn’t dare to approach her.
Unexpectedly, Lu Qiaoge called out to them warmly.
Sun Da Tian and Xiao Tao hurried over, bustling eagerly.
Before they could speak, Lu Qiaoge took the initiative: “A few days ago, the handicraft factory was recruiting, but it was for foreign trade orders, so they only took experienced masters. I didn’t mention you two then, but the food factory is recruiting right away. Are you two interested?”
Sun Da Tian didn’t even ask what they were recruiting for and nodded vigorously: “Yes, yes, absolutely. As long as we can get into the factory, we’ll do anything.”
Lu Qiaoge smiled: “Then I’m relieved. Why don’t you two come now to familiarize yourselves with the place, and then I’ll give you two a task, how about that?”
Sun Da Tian’s eyes immediately sparkled.
He truly hadn’t expected this little girl Lu Qiaoge to keep her word.
Actually, even if she didn’t, what could you do about it.
Xiao Tao, afraid that Sun Da Tian would say something stupid, quickly agreed: “Sure, sure, Director Lu. You tell us what to do, and we’ll do it.”
Sun Da Tian nodded along too.
Lu Qiaoge had mentioned it to Director Hu in advance, and Director Hu naturally agreed readily.
So she led them straight into the food factory.
The infrastructure section was clearing the venue; the authorities had called to say the machinery and equipment would arrive in Jiangcheng very soon.
The task of renovating the factory building had been handed to the infrastructure section.
Sun Da Tian hadn’t expected that the old rundown pickle factory, once through the main door, would feel like a complete transformation.
Lu Qiaoge said to the two: “I’ll take you to find Deputy Director Meng first.”
Meng Qingshan was now the deputy director of the food factory.
The official documents had already been issued for it.
Hu Ze was in charge of finance, and he was now studying with the accountant from the neighborhood committee finance office.
This was preparation for the food factory’s financial independence.
Of course, it was still affiliated with the neighborhood committee now, so full independence was impossible.
It just meant having eighty percent autonomy, with monthly accounting reports back at the factory once a month.
Meng Qingshan also knew Sun Da Tian and Xiao Tao. When he saw the two, his face lit up with smiles as he greeted them.
No need to guess—these two were definitely on the list of newly recruited workers.
Meng Qingshan took them on a tour around.
Sun Da Tian and Xiao Tao both felt incredibly flattered.
Lu Qiaoge pointed to the factory building the infrastructure section was constructing and said to the two: “…a set of food equipment will be in place very soon, and then we’ll need a lot of auxiliary ingredients. Of course, we’ll also need to develop other products. How about this—you two come with me to Guzi Village Production Brigade to talk to Brigade Leader Lin about something.”
Lu Qiaoge planned to hand the mushroom acquisition task to Sun Da Tian and Xiao Tao.
It was currently boletus mushroom season.
The south was the main export area now.
And most of these boletus mushrooms went to Japan.
They loved eating this kind of mushroom.
Northerners either liked it or wouldn’t even glance at it.
Many places didn’t even know it was the delicious boletus mushroom; because of the faint sticky slime on top, people liked to call it sticky ball.
Lu Qiaoge planned to acquire large quantities of this mushroom.
But other mushrooms would work too.
She had to go to the Canton Fair this autumn. Suited to local conditions, spend the least money to accomplish the biggest things.
So she needed to acquire and stockpile in advance.
Old Hu, upon hearing she wanted to acquire boletus mushrooms, curiously asked about it for a while. Only when he realized it was sticky ball did he exclaim in sudden understanding.
The unspoken thought was, could something even dogs wouldn’t eat really earn foreign exchange?
But he didn’t dampen Lu Qiaoge’s enthusiasm. After all, the purchase price wasn’t high, and they were dried mushrooms, easy to store. Even if they piled up, no big deal—just gain some experience.
There was another mushroom called matsutake, also a hot export fungus in the 1970s.
And the northern ones were the best.
It was just harder to pick and not very abundant.
Moreover, this thing wasn’t harvested every year.
The folk saying was three years for a small harvest, five for a big one.
According to Brigade Leader Lin’s timeline, this year was a five-year cycle, a year of mushroom bountiful harvest.
When Lu Qiaoge and Qin Hengzhi went to the old gold mine, they saw plenty of mushrooms, but unfortunately had nowhere to put them if picked.
They could only pass by regretfully.
Actually, Lu Qiaoge felt that picking mushrooms was more like hunting—finding mushrooms was like tracking prey, and it was all free pickings; whoever picked was happy.
It was just that people nowadays didn’t particularly like eating mushrooms and preferred meat.
Just like how later wild vegetables and mushrooms became more expensive than meat.
But the night before last, Brigade Leader Lin had sent over a basket of cleaned mushrooms.
The ones they couldn’t eat were dried by Meng Xia.
There weren’t many matsutake inside; there were boletus mushrooms, and even more of the local favorite little yellow mushrooms. Even without meat, stir-fried with cabbage leaves and chili peppers, it was irresistibly delicious.
Lu Qiaoge thought it over for this bountiful harvest season and decisively took the two out of the city with a letter of introduction and deposit money.
They were going to Guzi Village again, to find Brigade Leader Lin again.
She had told Brigade Leader Lin in advance—mainly these two kinds of mushrooms, but others too.
But absolutely no poisonous mushrooms.
If someone got sick from eating them, there would be compensation. Brigade Leader Lin had his wife check them.
Better to lack than to have excess.
They couldn’t earn a little money and then poison people instead.
The courtyard had a lot drying outside.
Each one was cleaned very thoroughly.
Lu Qiaoge didn’t recognize every kind of mushroom.
But she knew boletus mushrooms and matsutake.
Brigade Leader Lin said: “We checked these one by one, and cleaned and dried them ourselves. Don’t worry, guaranteed no problems.”
They were all picked by experienced people, all good mushrooms.
Sun Da Tian and Xiao Tao were completely clueless.
Lu Qiaoge had them learn to identify mushrooms from Brigade Leader Lin’s son, Lin Liang.
Lin Liang was twenty-one this year, a shy young man who didn’t talk much but was very capable.
Whatever the topic, he explained it clearly.
He was reportedly a junior high graduate.
Even higher education than Lu Qiaoge.
Lu Qiaoge’s interest stirred, and she asked what Lin Liang was doing now.
Brigade Leader Lin looked at Lu Qiaoge with shining eyes, his voice trembling: “My Liangzi… he’s honest. Last year the machinery factory recruited, and Liangzi passed the exam, but they insisted he had myopia and wasn’t suitable, so they sent him back. But actually, he doesn’t have myopia—it was someone who took his spot. Then he’s just been at home farming with me.”
Lu Qiaoge wasn’t surprised.
Spot-taking was common now, and the common people didn’t report it, nor did officials investigate.
Even after the college entrance examination was restored, there were many cases of people taking others’ university spots.
Lu Qiaoge understood Brigade Leader Lin’s intentions—this man wanted his son to have a chance to enter a military factory.
But he was too embarrassed to say it outright.
If she didn’t bring it up, Brigade Leader Lin probably wouldn’t dare mention it his whole life.
