Chapter 788 - 784: Like the Back of One’s Hand

The village chief was happy too. He followed the previous team leader’s example, making a trip to the pigsty every day.

It was fair to say that the village chief knew everything there was to know about the pigsty—how many piglets and sows there were, what they were eating, and when their due dates were.

And so, today he went to the pigsty again. It was because five sows were farrowing at the same time, and the village chief went over to lend a hand.

Among them, two had enormous, heavy-looking bellies, while the other three looked normal.

The people in charge of these sows hadn’t dared to rest all night. They just waited in the pigsty for the sows to give birth.

The sows went into labor at two in the morning. The two with the large bellies each gave birth to twelve piglets, and one of the other three had eight. This made everyone ecstatic.

Gu Jiaojiao heard the news the next day when Chen Xiaoli made a special trip to tell her.

Gu Jiaojiao watched Chen Xiaoli’s beaming face. She looked happier than if there had been a celebration in her own family.

But she understood. These pigs meant work points, which meant money and grain. They were the hope of the entire village, so of course, everyone was happy to see the piglets.

All in all, the eighty sows had produced quite a number of piglets.

The work in the fields was basically finished, so everyone simply went up the mountain to gather pig feed.

With so many piglets needing to eat through the winter, they wouldn’t make it without enough feed.

However, there was only so much wild fodder on the mountain. Chen Beiguo felt it wouldn’t be enough for the piglets, so after some thought, he went to Leng Yuan’s house.

Gu Jiaojiao brought out two cups of tea and then returned to her room to read, leaving the two men to talk in the courtyard.

Chen Beiguo took a couple of sips of water before stating the purpose for his visit.

Leng Yuan offered a suggestion.

"Aren’t the other teams jealous of our machines? Have them trade for it."

Light dawned on Chen Beiguo.

’What a brilliant move.’

Previously, Chen Beiguo had tried to keep the news about the machines quiet, afraid that others would find out. Although he knew he couldn’t hide it forever, time was on their side, and the more distant teams didn’t know yet.

So, Chen Beiguo simply wrote an application and submitted it to the higher-ups.

As soon as the leadership heard about such a great thing, they immediately sent someone down. When the official saw that Qingshan Team’s busy farming season was already over, he was dumbfounded.

Normally, it would take over a month of continuous labor—rushing to harvest and plant, not to mention fetching water from the river for irrigation.

But here at Qingshan Team, it had taken a little over ten days at most, and even the work on the threshing ground was finished.

The junior official realized this was a huge deal and immediately went to the team’s office to call the county. This time, the top leader himself was alerted.

Zhang Tianming looked at the machines, nodding repeatedly.

"Excellent. Who built these?"

"It was Gu Zhiqing and Leng Yuan."

Zhang Tianming wasn’t surprised at all. He couldn’t think of anyone else it could be besides those two.

"Good. I’ll write a report on this immediately. Qingshan Team has performed well, and I will mention it to the higher-ups. Keep up the good work. Continue your efforts for this year’s ’Advanced Unit’ award."

"However, since we have such a proactive mindset, we might as well help motivate the other teams too. Your busy season is over, so why not lend them these machines for a while? It would count as a contribution from your team."

A leader naturally hopes for every village to do well and prosper.

Since Chen Beiguo was the one who reported it, he had naturally considered this possibility. He immediately seized the chance to flatter the official.

"I’ve considered that as well. That’s why I reported it to you, leader, as soon as we finished our work. There are many villages under us, and it would be difficult for me to distribute the machines fairly. It would be much better for the leadership to handle the allocation. That way, no one can complain."

"But these machines... I worked hard to develop them. They’re my personal property. To just let them be used like that..."

Zhang Tianming could tell what he was getting at. Chen Beiguo had a condition.

But that was fine. Conditions could be negotiated.