Chapter 150: The Development of the Procurement Section

"Mom, Dad, I've also left four cans of Milk Powder for the family. Grandpa, Grandma, you and my younger brother should drink a small bowl every morning."

"What kind of family are we? Drinking a bowl every day," Zhang Laohan glared.

"If you don't want to drink it, fine. My dear grandson, Grandma and Grandpa will listen to you."

"Mm, Grandma and Grandpa, you are getting on in years, and your physical condition isn't what it was when you were young. Drinking some Milk Powder can boost your immunity and make it harder to catch a cold."

"Good, good, good. We'll listen to our dear grandson."

Zhang Ping'an's grandparents now had no other requests; they were content just watching their great-grandson grow up healthy.

Seeing that it was still early, Zhang Ping'an went to the deep part of the Back Mountain again and let the Huangmao eagles out to frolic. Before long, Dahu came over with a wild sheep in its mouth; its size was now nearly approaching that of its parents—a total behemoth.

After drinking the Space Water, Dahu rubbed against Zhang Ping'an for a while before running off, then looked back, signaling for Zhang Ping'an to follow.

"Do you have cubs?" Zhang Ping'an asked as he put the sheep into his space.

"Roar," Dahu let out a low growl.

"So you really do have some."

As Zhang Ping'an followed it deeper, they soon arrived in front of a mountain cave. Before he even entered, he heard the threatening low growl of a tiger inside, clearly not wanting a stranger like Zhang Ping'an to get close.

Forget it, the mother tiger probably wouldn't let anyone near her right now. Zhang Ping'an dropped off ten skinned wild rabbits and a large basin of Space Water, then prepared to leave.

"Dahu, I've left these here. Let your wife and children come out and drink them themselves. I'm leaving, I'll come see you again when I have time."

"Roar."

After petting it a few more times, Zhang Ping'an headed down the mountain and left.

"Tiezhu, do you have any prey you need me to take back?"

The three cousins lived next to each other. At Zhang Ping'an's shout, each of them came out carrying a burlap sack.

"Brother Ping'an, we actually do."

"Alright, is it all cured meat inside?"

"That's right, we originally wanted you to purchase it."

"Mm~ each of you take out ten wild rabbits, and keep the rest to turn in later. In the next two days, I'll find time to take you to get familiar with the procurement process; we can't just rely on hunting."

"Alright, Brother Ping'an."

"You can also think of locations first, starting with your aunts' maiden homes or your sisters-in-law's maiden homes; at least there will be some grassroots foundation."

"Mm, okay."

The three of them had already nimbly taken out ten wild rabbits each, packed them up, and placed them in the tricycle.

On the way back to Sijiucheng, Zhang Ping'an put the pork and deer legs from the tricycle into his space, and took out twelve dressed wild rabbits, a basket of eggs, and some dried mushrooms to put in the cart.

Meanwhile, Wu Guohua had also made preliminary progress. He had gone with his mother to his maternal grandparents' home, and while visiting the elders, he had also done some procurement in the village.

With these family connections, the purchase price wasn't high, and naturally, no one would turn away money. Wu Guohua successfully procured seventy or eighty jin of supplies, which gave him a great sense of accomplishment; after all, this was the first time he had completed it independently.

"Guohua, don't worry, Grandpa will promote you well in the village."

"Alright, thank you, Grandpa."

Qin Dabao also had a harvest. In the Back Mountain of Qin Family Village, after a morning of tracking, he successfully hunted a wild boar weighing over two hundred jin, made a simple sled, and dragged it home.

After a simple cleanup at home, he took a hind leg and the head of the boar back to the factory, and happened to run into Zhang Ping'an at the factory gate in the afternoon.

"Ping'an, you've got quite a harvest."

"I only caught ten or so wild rabbits. The rest of the cured meat belongs to Tiezhu and the others; I just brought it along on my way. Brother Dabao, did you catch a big one?"

"Mm, it's alright. I was lucky today and hunted a wild boar." The two walked into the factory while talking.

"Impressive."

"Hahaha, it was just a coincidence."

The two registered their items in the warehouse and, holding the slips, found Wu Qiang.

"Ping'an, Dabao, you both had a good harvest today. By the way, Ping'an, I haven't thanked you for taking Guohua these days. Today he also completed a procurement independently, worth over thirty yuan."

"Hahaha, Guohua is a natural at this job; I wouldn't dare take the credit." The two engaged in some more professional mutual flattery before stopping.

Zhang Ping'an rested for a while in the Procurement Section, and Jia Dongxu also returned with his slips.

"Dongxu, how was it today?"

"Not bad. With Uncle Zhang Youzhong helping me shout, I collected over eighty jin of meat and over a hundred eggs. I didn't bring all the meat," Jia Dongxu said in a low voice at the end.

"Mm, if it's not enough, tell me. I've collected two or three hundred jin of pork in Li Family Village these past few days, and I can still procure about a hundred jin in the next two days."

The villages Jia Dongxu currently managed well were only Jia Village, Zhangjiawa, Wuweizi, and Qian Family Manor. He originally had Qin Family Village, but he had now yielded it to Qin Dabao.

"Uncle, it still has to be you."

"Hehe, it was just a coincidence. Seven or eight families in one village were slaughtering pigs for the New Year. You go exchange for money first, and we'll go back together later."

"Mm, okay."

While Jia Dongxu was exchanging for money, half of the members of the first group returned one after another. Seeing their joyful faces, one could tell they had a good harvest today.

"Brother Zhang, back so early? How was the harvest? I procured a pig leg today."

"I also procured a pig head and three large roosters."

"And me too..."

Everyone was talking over each other about their harvest today. Zhang Ping'an listened for a bit; everyone should have harvested over five jin of meat, which was already quite good.

"Impressive. I only received a few wild rabbits and some eggs today. You all need to keep up the good work." Zhang Ping'an didn't want to discourage them.

"Hehe."

Wu Qiang was also very happy after finishing the statistics. With twenty-two people, the meat procured every day these past few days was basically over five jin each, so at the very least, they could turn in one or two hundred jin of meat a day, plus eggs, various mushrooms, and so on. This was already completely exceeding the task.

Zhang Ping'an stopped at Eighty-five Courtyard.

"Dongxu, you go back. I'm eating here today."

"Oh, okay. Uncle, then I'll head back first."

For the past two days, Wang Xiaoling and the children have been staying at her parents' house, which is also the reason his mother had time to return home.

After entering the alley, Zhang Ping'an took out five jin of mutton and two jin of spiced beef before entering the Eighty-five Courtyard.

"Mother, here is some mutton and beef; Father, let's have a drink today."

"Alright, with hearty dishes like these, we certainly should have a drink."

After two glasses of wine, his father-in-law became talkative, complaining to Zhang Ping'an about how everyone used to treat him so well, but now they are all hypocritical.

Zhang Ping'an could understand; his father-in-law and his second uncle were both skilled at business, but unfortunately, they were born in the wrong era.

"Ping'an, don't mind him, Lao Wang has had too much to drink," his mother-in-law said as she helped his father-in-law onto the bed.

"It's alright, Mother, it's good for Father to vent a little."

It doesn't matter if he says some things to family, but talking nonsense outside would be the real trouble.

"Sigh."

Nowadays, his mother-in-law and the second aunt across the way rarely go out, sighing all day long; if it weren't for the second aunt having a grandson to look after, and Wang Xiaoling living nearby and coming over to cheer them up from time to time, they might have truly become depressed.

Zhang Ping'an felt they were just too idle and needed to find something for them to do; after a day of hard work, they would surely be too tired to think about anything and would fall asleep the moment they hugged their pillows.

After finishing his meal and interacting with his twin sons, Zhang Ping'an headed home, still thinking on the way about what kind of work would be suitable for his mother-in-law and the others.