Chapter 17: After the Snow

After a night-long blizzard, the temperature plummeted to minus 11 degrees Celsius.

A thick layer of snow blanketed the entire village, so deep that stepping in it reached up to the calves.

Few figures could be seen along the provincial road, and no vehicles were in sight.

The vegetable vendors who had moved their goods into plastic greenhouses last night were growing restless, some preparing to return.

They borrowed hot water to pour into the diesel engines’ radiators and gathered firewood to warm the undersides of the engines.

After finally getting the farm machinery started, they accidentally got stuck in snowdrifts and had to seek help from the village’s large tractors to tow them out.

“At this temperature, there’s no need to keep things fresh,” Yu Yang thought, seeing how difficult the roads were. He suppressed his urge to head to the county seat to find packaging boxes and decided to wait until after breakfast.

He then went to the village with his elder brother.

The plastic greenhouses built by the strong men remained free of snow because the large stoves inside burned through the night.

However, the makeshift greenhouses on the northern wasteland had all collapsed.

At this moment, the expansion team of over twenty men, young and old, were anxiously clearing the snow-covered debris.

Seeing this, Yu Yang called out sharply, “If it’s collapsed, so be it, but don’t go trampling inside—I just planted bean sprouts.”

“When did you plant them?” the team leader was surprised.

“After the banquet last night, they should have already sprouted by now.”

“We didn’t see any sprouts!”

“What’s that vibrant green then?”

“???”

The twenty-plus men squatted down, looking closely, touching and even poking with their fingers, but found nothing.

“Enough, everyone rest now. We’ll repair after the bean sprouts are harvested. Also, after the snow melts, continue expanding. We need at least ten plastic greenhouses.”

Hearing that five new greenhouses would be added, meaning more money and no punishment, the men stopped worrying about sprouts and happily dispersed.

Back in the courtyard, the strong men were already busy, but today there was no wholesale to outsiders.

Neither male nor female workers came to work.

The bean sprouts were first harvested by the strong men, packed into baskets, and stored in a corner, to be quietly transported in the dead of night to the makeshift greenhouses on the northern wasteland.

This way, by the day after tomorrow, the “sprouted bean sprouts” would mature.

To speed things up, Yu Yang joined in the work.

Before he knew it, it was noon.

During lunch, Sixth Uncle appeared in the yard, his face bruised and swollen.

Behind him trailed ten equally battered unlicensed drivers.

“What happened?” Yu Yang asked.

“We had a fight with the county town’s agricultural wholesale market.”

“Hmm?”

“Last evening, while you were dining with the officials, we used five large tractors to transport ten carriages of bean sprouts to scout at the county agricultural wholesale market.

Initially, negotiations with the market management went well—they even agreed to rent two storefronts and a warehouse.

But when we queued to enter, a gang of thugs suddenly appeared. They demanded entrance fees, vehicle management fees, weighing fees, stall fees, sanitation fees—totaling 3,500 yuan—and insisted we leave behind three baskets of bean sprouts.

We asked market management about this, and they said to ignore it, but the thugs seized our vehicles, and a fight broke out outside.

Outnumbered, we had to retreat. Those thugs drove off with our tractors, claiming the vehicles were held until we paid a 50,000-yuan fine.”

Yu Yang understood immediately—it was an inside job designed to squeeze them out.

If they didn’t deal with these thugs, the market management wouldn’t negotiate properly.

He immediately told his elder brother to take a donkey cart to buy 100 shovels in the village.

“This must be settled. I’ve never seen such arrogance, not even when I worked construction.”

Sixth Uncle was taken aback. “When did you work construction?”

“There are many things you don’t know.”

“So, why buy 100 shovels?”

“To shovel snow in the county town and strive to be model citizens.”

“???”

...

Tenliying belongs to Pingdong County.

The two are more than eighty li apart, with Pingdong Lake lying in between.

This was also why Yu Yang hesitated to go to the county town with the roads blocked by snow.

But goods stolen, vehicles seized, and people beaten—this was a different matter.

Yet bringing eighty or ninety strong men armed with shovels to the county town to fight, even if broken into smaller groups, would attract attention from higher authorities.

It was equally serious.

Therefore, Yu Yang borrowed 30 agricultural tricycles from vegetable vendors and wrote two banners in Tenliying:

“Support the County Town, United We Stand, Fight the Snow Disaster Together.”

Then, with eighty-nine men and ten unlicensed drivers, they set out in a grand procession.

Along the way, when vehicles stalled, the men pushed them.

When vehicles got stuck in snowdrifts, the men lifted them out.

Passing through villages, their loud slogans and massive formation attracted idle onlookers.

In these times, rural folk were truly simple and pragmatic.

Hearing of the snow disaster in the county town, people immediately followed with their farm machinery.

Yu Yang welcomed all, even handing out cigarettes.

The crowd grew larger and larger.

By the time they completed the eighty-li journey, the county town was still caught off guard.

Yu Yang glanced at the time. It was not yet 4 p.m.

He immediately ordered the team to start shoveling snow.

From the county town’s entrance, they slowly pushed forward.

Where there were ditches, they shoveled the snow into them.

Where there were none, they loaded the snow into farm vehicle beds and dumped it into the nearby moat.

As the saying goes, many hands make light work; before long, the entrance to the county town was completely cleared.

Then the large team continued forward...

Meanwhile,

The military officer who had dined with them last night arrived in a military jeep, accompanied by five military trucks, paused briefly, and then left.

Shortly after,

The road administration leader from last night came in a pickup truck, lit some large celebratory cigarettes, and warmly greeted the hardworking villagers.

Before the road administration left, traffic management and others also arrived.

No words were exchanged—they all shoveled snow together.

Then they took photos.

Soon,

The event was reported in the newspapers, broadcast on Pingdong County’s evening news, and even featured on the superior unit’s—Dongyuetai City’s—nightly news.

Had the villagers not gotten into a few minor scuffles with local thugs at the agricultural wholesale market, this might have even made the national news.

...

While everyone was busy,

Yu Yang found time to visit the Administration for Industry and Commerce.

He submitted the prepared documents.

Pingdong Tenliying Sanyuan Agricultural High-Tech Development Joint Stock Company.

Legal Representative: Yu Laoliu.

Shareholders: Yu Yang, Zhao Qian, Sun Li, Zhou Wu, Zheng Wang... 90 people in total.

Registered Capital: 1 million yuan.

Registered Address: Yu family village, Tenliying.

Main Business: Vegetable cultivation, agricultural product processing and sales, byproduct processing and sales, agricultural technology development and transfer...

Since today was only for name approval, signatures, and identity verification, no actual capital payment was required.

This process would take about two weeks.

Then opening an account and capital verification would take another two weeks.

Afterward, obtaining the three certificates (business license, tax registration, organization code) would take about a month.

Finally, opening the company’s basic account would take another month.

In total, it would take at least three months to establish a company these days.

Of course, everything could be expedited by paying extra.

Pay extra for express service and get the business license by tomorrow.

Pay extra to hire an agency and get everything done in half a month.

Yu Yang chose not to pay extra but contacted the township chief and others to pull some strings.

After finishing that,

Yu Yang considered his packaging problem and, following vague memories, went to Pingdong County Biscuit Factory.

He explained his identity, humbly visited, and sincerely sought to learn.

However, their biscuits were packaged in greaseproof paper and then boxed—not suitable for his needs.

His products required compression resistance, load-bearing, moisture-proofing, and freshness preservation.

Under the biscuit factory owner’s recommendation, the two went to a cardboard box factory.

The factory manager understood their purpose clearly and was confident that if Yu Yang was satisfied, the factory could secure a long-term, stable large order.

He led them on a tour of the production line.

“If you’re packing bean sprouts, we can produce a layered hard cardboard box tailored to the sprouts’ height, then apply a thin film on the surface. After forming, we add a wooden board at the bottom for support. This way, it can resist compression, bear weight, prevent moisture, preserve freshness, and be safe and pollution-free, meeting food quality inspection standards.”

“The more complex the process, the higher the cost. I’m worried about expenses.”

“That requires trial production. Don’t worry, Mr. Yu, we will offer cost price, and when volume increases, it will be even cheaper.”

“Alright, let’s start with 100 sets. Deliver them to Yu family village in Tenliying. Bring technicians too, so we can improve as needed.”

“No problem!”

Actually, Yu Yang was not fully satisfied with cardboard packaging.

He wanted cheap, disposable packaging or reusable containers.

But people differ in wealth, and bean sprouts vary in quality.

Even if all the sprouts were the same quality, packaging could create price differentiation.

In the future, Sanyuan Agriculture’s wholesale price would be 90 yuan per basket of bean sprouts.

Then they could form a new company with an auspicious name, package the sprouts into gift boxes, highlight their benefits and nutritional content, turning 90 yuan into 200 or even 500.

That’s the power of packaging.

“But I still need a large quantity of small, inexpensive individual packaging, as well as large, durable, moisture-proof outer packaging.”

After bidding farewell to the biscuit factory owner and cardboard factory manager, Yu Yang went to a watch shop to buy a wristwatch. It was already eight in the evening.

He took a walkie-talkie from his elder brother and contacted the third brother, who had been roaming the county town all day with a walkie-talkie.

“Have you found our tractors?”

“Yes, but half the bean sprouts are gone. Those thugs are eating at the food court, and some have gone home to sleep.”

“Go get them, even those sleeping—drag them out and teach them a lesson.”