PCJ – Chapter 344 Wild Boars in Herds

“In the future, once the tea factory is on the right track, you just focus on studying well. As for the family matters, your father and I will take care of them. You will go on to school in the future. If you master mathematics and science, you won’t be afraid to travel anywhere. Your father and I didn’t have much education when we were young, and we could suffer because of that. For example, when we went to Guangdong to work, others who graduated from high school could become managers right away, while your father could only work as a laborer. They don’t have to work every day, yet they earn more than we do. Don’t laugh; I’m not lying to you.” Liu Qiaoye poked Zhang Jiaohua on the forehead.

“Mom, I’m not laughing at you. But you and Dad went to work in Guangdong because our family was poor. But now it’s different. Our family has a factory and a horticultural farm. When I grow up, even if I don’t attend school, I won’t need to work. I can become the factory manager directly,” Zhang Jiaohua said seriously.

Liu Qiaoye directly gave Zhang Jiaohua a “knock on the head,” saying, “You’re going to be a factory manager? You haven’t even graduated from elementary school yet. You’re even worse than your dad. Your dad has been a factory manager for so long, and our factory hasn’t made any progress. Look at Uncle Zhao; he has only been a factory manager for a short while, and his factory is thriving. You see, education is still necessary.”

“Mom, don’t keep hitting me on the head; it’ll make me stupid,” Zhang Jiaohua pouted.

“Little rascal, if you don’t listen, I’ll hit you with a stick,” Liu Qiaoye said.

“Mom, I’m going to go take care of the cattle,” Zhang Jiaohua quickly ran outside.

Liu Qiaoye only realized after Zhang Jiaohua ran outside, “Little rascal, come back! Where would we get cattle?”

“I’m going to take care of wild boars!” Zhang Jiaohua ran even faster.

“That little rascal,” Liu Qiaoye couldn’t help but laugh at Zhang Jiaohua’s antics.

The child grew taller each day, yet he seemed to listen less and less to her. Other people’s children, even if they don’t listen to their parents, at least listen to their teachers. But her child didn’t even listen to the teacher. Teacher Xu had come to their home many times, telling Zhang Youping and his wife that their child was particularly smart, and if managed well, he would have no problem getting into Tsinghua University in the future.

The people of Meizi’ao couldn’t understand what a university was; after all, university was an extremely distant concept for them. Before liberation, the people of Meizi’ao had only finished high school at most. For example, Zhang Shunlin graduated from high school. No one even attended vocational schools, let alone universities. But everyone knew about Tsinghua University. In the impression of the villagers, Tsinghua University was the best school in the world. People who graduated from there became state officials.

Zhang Jiaohua actually went to take care of wild boars. In fact, it didn’t matter whether he went or not. The group of wild boars at the pig farm went out on their own every day and returned on time, even more reliably than Zhang Jiaohua going to and from school.

When Zhang Jiaohua hurried them out, the wild boars had no objections. As soon as the door opened, they charged out, full of energy. Although the wild boars knew to till the soil at the horticultural farm, they didn’t have much brainpower and acted stubbornly. Every day, they started loosening the soil at the tea plants at the pig pen. If no one managed them, that place would likely be turned into a trench. So, someone needed to round them up.

The herd of wild boars followed closely behind Zhang Jiaohua, acting like obedient little babies, completely lacking the wild boars’ usual rebelliousness. Little Fat Monkey even dared to ride on the back of the largest wild boar and eat peanuts. The peanut shells would be thrown to the ground and chewed up by the wild boars. They weren’t picky at all; they gobbled everything that was edible and inedible alike. A wooden stick as thick as an arm could be chewed into splinters by the big wild boar.

In such a comfortable environment at the horticultural farm, the big wild boar and his mates kept producing piglets. Unbeknownst to them, the pig farm had already accumulated over a hundred wild boars. When they went out, it was a huge crowd, grand and imposing.

Zhang Yuanbao ran over, panting, “Jiaohua, Jiaohua, my dad said he wants someone to drive the wild boars to plow our tea field.”

“Your tea field has so many crops. If my wild boars go through it, how many crops do you think will be left?” Zhang Jiaohua laughed.

The tea seedlings hadn’t grown yet, and the wide field was left empty, making Zhang Youlian anxious. So, he planted soybeans in the ground. The soil was fertile, and the village’s vegetable fields were often rotated with beans and other crops to maintain soil fertility. Although the people of Meizi’ao didn’t understand the reasoning behind it, the experience of generations had led them to do it instinctively. The newly cleared hilly soil was poor; planting some beans was a good way to improve the soil. However, beans grow faster than tea seedlings, so they would naturally block the sunlight for the tea seedlings.

Zhang Youlian saw that Zhang Jiaohua drove the wild boars to the horticultural farm every day to till the soil, and while the wild boars tilled, they also fertilized the soil. Zhang Youlian thought that was why the tea trees in the horticultural farm grew so lush, not realizing that Zhang Jiaohua just didn’t want to bother gathering pig grass for them.

Zhang Yuanbao scratched his head, finding the issue too complicated, and quickly changed the topic, “Jiaohua, with so many wild boars, aren’t we going to kill pigs for meat?”

Saying they would kill the wild boars Zhang Jiaohua was raising was quite tragic. One of the wild boars near Zhang Yuanbao suddenly charged at him, flipping him over without any courtesy. It was unclear whether it was a coincidence, but before Zhang Jiaohua could teach it a lesson, the wild boar had already scampered off.

“Jiaohua, look! Your wild boars are really fierce!” Zhang Yuanbao no longer dared to mention eating meat.

Zhang Youlian didn’t want to waste the soybeans, so he had to put the tilling aside. But Zhang Youlian’s purpose wasn’t just to have Zhang Jiaohua drive the wild boars to plow; he had another purpose.

“I want to build a row of pig pens in the empty space near the tea field to raise wild boars. There are over a hundred mu of empty land here; once the tea trees grow, we can plant pig grass here to feed the pigs. Jiaohua, you have so many wild boar piglets in your pig farm; share some with me,” Zhang Youlian also wanted to raise wild boars.

“Sure! There’s a litter that’s just a month old; you can take them all,” Zhang Jiaohua knew the capacity of the pig farm was limited. If the wild boars kept breeding, they would soon overwhelm the pig farm. So, he either needed to sell the grown wild boars to pig traders or sell off these piglets. Fortunately, these wild boars had always been raised in the pig farm. Unlike the group of mountain-hunting dogs, Zhang Jiaohua often took them into the mountains to hunt. Even the piglets at the pig farm were quite fierce. Transferring that litter of wild boar piglets to Zhang Youlian’s pig farm would take a lot of effort.

Although everyone in the village envied Zhang Jiaohua for raising so many wild boars at his pig farm, no one, like Zhang Youlian, planned to raise some themselves. After all, raising wild boars is more difficult than raising domestic pigs. Although domestic pigs didn’t fetch as high a price as wild boars, they were docile and grew relatively fast. More importantly, domestic pigs were easier to manage and safer. Wild boars were very feral, and a careless mistake could lead to injury.

Before the rain had started, three people came from Gezhuping Town.

“Who is the person in charge of the tea factory? We want to discuss something with him.” The visitors looked like a bunch of delinquents. If Zhang Jiaohua were here, he would immediately recognize them. These three were the delinquents he had dealt with before. The one speaking was Sun Dinggui.

Zhang Youping glanced at the three men, knowing they weren’t respectable people. On his own turf, why would he fear these delinquents?

“What do you want? The factory manager is out on a business trip,” Zhang Youping said dismissively.

“Who would come to this poor place for no reason?” Li Fading said contemptuously.

“State your business, and if there’s nothing to discuss, leave! Don’t be a nuisance here!” Zhang Youping snapped back. No one had invited them to their poor place.

“Watch your tone! Know who you’re talking to! We’ve come here to help you negotiate your tea leaves!” Sun Dinggui said in a mocking tone.

“Help us negotiate? What can you help us with?” Zhang Youping looked at them skeptically.

“Listen! We know your tea leaves are of excellent quality! We can help you get the price right! But you have to listen to us,” Sun Dinggui looked smug.

“You’re out of your mind! Our tea leaves are our business; we won’t sell to you!” Zhang Youping snorted.

“Don’t get too worked up! We’re just giving you advice! We’ll charge you a handling fee! Think about it; once the tea leaves are harvested, we can get a good price for you. The more tea leaves you sell, the more profit you’ll make! You get a share, and we get a share; it’s a win-win! Otherwise, you’ll end up being bullied!” Sun Dinggui continued to speak smoothly.

“Stop talking nonsense; get out! We don’t want to negotiate with you!” Zhang Youping said directly.

“If you refuse to cooperate, then we’ll teach you a lesson! Who can you call to help you?” Sun Dinggui waved his hand, and the other two stepped forward.

“Zhang Youping, you’re really naive! Don’t say we didn’t warn you!” Sun Dinggui turned to Zhang Youping and laughed.

“If you dare to bully me, I’ll call the police!” Zhang Youping angrily declared.

“Ha! Call the police? We’re just here to help you, but you refuse to cooperate! So, this is how you treat your benefactors? Zhang Youping, think about it! Don’t think we’re afraid of you! If we don’t give you a lesson today, you’ll never learn!” Sun Dinggui raised his fist to hit Zhang Youping.

Zhang Youping dodged sideways and hit Sun Dinggui with a punch.

“Get out!” He shouted.

“You’re dead!” Sun Dinggui roared, hitting back, but Zhang Youping was agile. He managed to dodge a few punches before hitting back hard, and the two started fighting.