HPDBC Chapter 60: A Ceiling Fan and a Dog
Chapter 60: A Ceiling Fan and a Dog
After saying this, Xu Chunsheng felt a little uncomfortable being stared at and didn't know what else to say, so he simply looked down and looked for the dog.
Just then, they saw Xiao Huang turn around. The man and the dog looked at each other, and Xiao Huang seemed to see courage in Xu Chunsheng's eyes.
Little Yellow, with its back arched and neck stiff, barked and howled at the new little black dog, occasionally sidling up to it, baring its teeth and bluffing.
The little black dog lay lazily at Cheng Runshu's feet, letting the little yellow dog do whatever it wanted in front of it, not bothering to pay any attention to it and not even lifting its eyelids.
Seeing that it didn't react, Little Yellow jumped around repeatedly and barked even louder.
The little black dog finally lost its patience with the noise. It suddenly pushed itself up on all fours, slowly stood up, and shook itself. The arrogant little yellow dog, which had been so cocky just moments before, instantly stopped growling and slowly shrank back to Xu Chunsheng's feet.
It even turned its head to one side and pretended to lick its paws, acting as if it had nothing to do with it.
"hehe--"
The two were amused by Little Yellow, and Xu Chunsheng bounced Little Yellow's belly with his toes:
"You've eaten so much of my food for nothing. You shouldn't be called Little Yellow, you should be called Yellow Coward."
Cheng Runshu smiled and pointed to the little black dog beside him, saying:
"Brother, why don't we give it a name too?"
"He's so dark-skinned, let's call him Big White!"
"Okay, that's a name with a lot of contrast."
Cheng Run maintained a smile on his face, but in his heart...
……
More than a month later, the weather gradually got warmer.
Xu Chunsheng chewed on the cucumber in his mouth and talked to his family:
"I'll go to town tomorrow to see if the loan has been disbursed yet. It's getting hot, so I need to install the fans as soon as possible so the pigs won't suffer. Also, it's about time to buy the mixed feed."
"Mom and Dad, sister, tomorrow you should separate the bigger piglets into different pens. As for the ones that haven't been vaccinated, put them in two separate pens. We won't separate them anymore."
In just over a month, some of the piglets in the pig farm that are good at eating have grown to about 30 pounds. These larger piglets need to be separated, otherwise the smaller piglets in the pen will not be able to compete with them for food and will not grow up.
"Okay, go ahead."
The next morning, Xu Chunsheng took the loan documents he had previously processed and went straight to the bank.
He handed the passbook and loan agreement to the staff member, politely saying:
"Comrade, could you please check if the subsidized loan for pig farm poverty alleviation that I applied for has been deposited into my account?"
The staff member took the passbook from Xu Chunsheng, flipped it open, and carefully checked it against the ledger on the counter: "The money has arrived."
Then he picked up a pen and wrote down an entry record by hand on a blank page of the passbook, and finally stamped it with the official red stamp for savings.
After finishing, the staff member pointed to the words they had just written and said:
"The loan was just disbursed the day before yesterday afternoon. Look here, I just registered a poverty alleviation interest-subsidized livestock loan of 10,000 yuan for you, and the official seal is all affixed. You can withdraw the money at any time."
"Okay, could you please transfer five thousand to me?"
The staff member responded and handed Xu Chunsheng a withdrawal slip:
"Sign your name on the form first, and I'll count the cash for you and record the withdrawal on your passbook as well."
After Xu Chunsheng signed the receipt, the staff took it and verified it before counting out 5,000 yuan in cash from the vault and handing it out along with the passbook.
"Just count the five thousand dollars, and the withdrawal record will be posted on the folder. We're not responsible once you leave the counter."
Xu Chunsheng counted the money in his hand and left the bank only after confirming that everything was in order.
Xu Chunsheng arrived at the hardware supply and marketing cooperative with money in his pocket and asked as soon as he entered:
"Sir, do you have any large exhaust fans suitable for pig farms?"
The salesperson waved her hand: "We don't have any right now, only pre-orders. There are a lot of pig farms being built in the countryside recently, so the stock is very high."
Xu Chunsheng frowned: "How long will it take to order?"
"It will take at least four or five days for the goods to be transferred from the county town."
The salesperson paused, then pointed to several iron-bladed ceiling fans stacked next to them:
"We have ceiling fans in stock. They can be used for cooling and ventilating the room, but they can't be used for wall-mounted ventilation. You can buy the ceiling fans first and pick up the larger exhaust fans next time."
"Okay, order four exhaust fans, three industrial iron ceiling fans, and one household ceiling fan for me. How much will it cost in total?"
The sales clerk was calculating the bill for Xu Chunsheng while working on the abacus:
"Industrial ceiling fans are 110 each, household ceiling fans are 130 each, totaling 460. Large exhaust fans are 140 each, with a deposit of 28, so four fans would be 112."
"You've paid a total of 572 yuan. Here's the order; please keep it safe and pick up your goods in five days."
After paying, Xu Chunsheng carefully put away the order receipt handed to him by the salesperson.
After the two of them worked together to lift the fan onto the tricycle, Xu Chunsheng went to buy five bags of mixed feed before driving the tricycle home.
On the way, Xu Chunsheng thought about the little corn his family had left, which would barely last until the autumn harvest. But once the pigs grew bigger, they would eat much more, and feeding them only feed would be more expensive. So they would have to mix other things into their feed.
However, relying entirely on buying ready-made corn increases costs. Moreover, there are already many more people raising pigs in the countryside, so when the lean season comes, even money may not be enough to buy grain.
To run a pig farm sustainably and control costs, you still need to focus on the pig feed.
Pig feed, corn, bran...
"Clang—"
Xu Chunsheng was lost in thought and didn't notice the stone on the road. The front wheel of his car hit it hard, which startled him.
They quickly became excited again: Let's put the food to use ourselves!
Let's set up a shochu bar!
They used their own corn and sorghum, as well as grains bought from outside, to brew wine.
The remaining lees are considered top-quality feed, and not only is not any of it wasted, but it also helps the animals fatten up.
It's even more effective than simply feeding pigs grain!
They make money by brewing and selling wine on one hand, and feed the lees to pigs on the other, which means they make money from both ends and mutually support each other.
With this in mind, Xu Chunsheng perked up. Starting a small winery would solve his problem of feeding the pig farm, reduce costs, and provide another way to make money.
After returning home, Xu Chunsheng told his family about his idea of starting a winery:
"Our pig farm has just been built, and the piglets can't eat much grain yet. The old corn we have at home can barely last until the new corn harvest this year."
He paused and then continued:
"But when the pigs get fat, their appetite increases dramatically, and the amount of grain we grow ourselves is simply not enough to feed more than forty pigs."
"It's not cost-effective to buy grain to feed pigs all year round. I think it would be better to use the grain to brew liquor first, and then use the lees to feed pigs. That way, the grain we get back will be more profitable."
After listening to Xu Chunsheng's idea, the family also began to think about it:
"If we were to set up a winery, that would cost a fortune."
"This is called making money from money. It seems like you're investing more money, but you make money selling wine, and the lees can be used to feed pigs. You can do two things with the same amount of money you spend on grain."
The group nodded, and then Xu's mother asked:
"But none of us know how to brew wine!"