Chapter 32: Extracting Key Points

Chapter 32: Extracting the Key Points

The twenty-three thousand yuan little pickup truck roared with vigor, climbing hills and descending valleys on the winding mountain road with exceptional smoothness. A large pile of wild vegetables sat in the truck bed, while the family of four occupied the seats.

Sitting in the back, Wulan watched her daughter drive toward the town with practiced ease. At this moment, she no longer felt any heartache over the twenty thousand yuan spent on the vehicle; instead, she said proudly

"As expected, when it comes to spending big money, you have to listen to me. Look how convenient it is for us to get around now! We don't even have to pay for chartered cars to go to the city anymore. That's two hundred yuan—what a waste that would have been!"

Song Sancheng immediately retorted, "You were the one disagreeing at the time; how did it become 'listening to you'? Besides, you keep saying you're studying for your driver's license, but you haven't even been practicing the practice questions these past few days!"

Wulan gave a cold laugh. "You're the one doing them every day, but I bet your mock exam scores aren't even as high as mine! I got an 81. What did you get?"

Song Sancheng fell silent.

His memory wasn't great, and those questions were a struggle for him; he had only scored a 75.

In the driver's seat, the clever Song Tan chose not to get involved in the argument. Instead, Qiaoqiao suddenly asked, "Mom, where is my piggy mommy?"

Song Tan let out a "pfft" of laughter, unable to hold it back.

She knew what Qiaoqiao was asking—they were going to Grandma's house to fetch straw later, and Wulan planned to bring the little pig back tomorrow. Qiaoqiao had been looking forward to it for a long time, his heart set on his little pink pig family.

In the rearview mirror, Wulan's face darkened. She replied irritably, "Just wait! I'll go get her tomorrow! You can sleep with your piggy mommy then!"

Qiaoqiao cheered instantly, "Yay! I'm going to give Peppa a bath!"

Song Sancheng, however, said with a smile, "Alright, Dad has connected a water pipe to the back mountain so we can wash out the pigsty when the time comes. Once the weather gets hot, Qiaoqiao can play with her."

Wulan:...

So, she was the only one being angry?

...

The car turned into the town, and the group stopped at a butcher stall to buy meat, while Song Tan went to the courier station alone.

Dr. Zhang and the savior both needed ten pounds of wild vegetables, which required quite a bit of effort just to pack. Looking at the large pile of cleaned vegetables, the young man at the courier station hesitated

"Do you really want to add these air column pillars? And you want foam boxes with ice transport? That's going to cost a lot more! Actually, you don't have to use ice; we can deliver to most cities by the next day."

"Your vegetables look quite fresh, and the weather isn't hot right now. If you put them in foam boxes, I can deliver them to the city later today, and they can be shipped out tonight. By the time they arrive, they should still be fresh."

These vegetables weren't worth much; using ice transport felt like paying the price of meat for a block of tofu.

Wild vegetables were everywhere in the mountains these days. Even in the Imperial Capital... you could buy wild vegetables there too!

Song Tan also sighed. She didn't want to spend extra money either, but there was no way around it—the fresh, succulent ones were different from the mediocre ones.

Since she was selling them at a premium, she might as well commit to quality.

She took a business card. "If I send large quantities via ice transport in the future, can you give me a discount?"

"Also, do you offer door-to-door pickup?"

The young man was stunned. There were no door-to-door pickups in the nearby villages, but he was willing to be flexible: "Where are you from?"

"Yunqiao Village."

The young man's face instantly crumpled like a bitter melon. "That's not an easy place to get to... How about this: if you have fifty orders, I'll drive there separately. If you have more than twenty orders, I'll give you the lowest price."

Their courier service was famous nationwide for its speed and door-to-door delivery. It was just expensive, so they didn't get many orders in small towns.

However, he was the contractor for this station. If such a large business came his way, he was willing to put in the extra effort.

"It's just that I don't have those disposable dry ice bags here. I need to leave for the city before 2:00 PM to deliver the packages. If you trust me, give me a deposit. I won't pack them now; I'll do the unified packaging once I get to the city."

"I'll calculate the final price then."

Song Tan thought about it and transferred five hundred yuan directly. "I'll definitely have more packages to send in the future. We can settle the difference later."

"Once the volume increases, we can move to monthly billing."

Although the courier boy didn't think these vegetables had the potential for monthly billing, it didn't stop him from agreeing.

By the time the courier arrangements were settled, Song Sancheng and Qiaoqiao were already waiting, each carrying a large pile of meat.

Qiaoqiao was still clutching his pocket with one hand. Song Tan smiled, "What did you buy?"

He grinned widely and pulled the items from his pocket. They were two small plastic tubes that looked like paint tubes, each accompanied by a thin plastic stick.

Qiaoqiao's expression of pride was unmistakable. His slightly long, dark hair was soft, making his skin look even fairer and his eyes brighter.

"Bubble blowers!"

Song Tan took one look—wasn't this the popular bubble-blowing gadget from her school days? How had it still been in production after more than ten years?

Weren't people using bubble machines now?

But then she thought, Qiaoqiao's five yuan wouldn't buy a bubble machine.

She grew interested and, while restarting the car, negotiated with Qiaoqiao

"You have to blow some for Big Sister later, okay?"

Qiaoqiao nodded heavily. "Two tubes! One for each of us!"

Watching the giggling siblings, Wulan and Song Sancheng suddenly felt that if Tan Tan stayed in the village, it might not be a bad thing.

Except for one thing—it's hard to find a partner in the village!

Thus, as a mother, she began to worry again. Looking at Song Sancheng, who was beside her, indifferent to everything and only interested in having fun, her frustration grew.

However, no one could resolve Wulan's frustration. Instead, the eighty-year-old grandmother was filled with joy upon seeing the siblings.

"Tan Tan is back?"

"Qiaoqiao is here too!"

The siblings quickly accompanied their grandmother into the house.

Upon entering, they were greeted by a neatly arranged large courtyard. Grandfather was sitting in a wheelchair under the veranda; his hair was white and his face was lined with wrinkles, but his eyes were full of joy.

The other half of the courtyard was where the eldest uncle, Wu Chengtao, lived—a two-story small building. Since it was the off-season for farming, he had gone to a neighbor's house to play cards. Only the eldest aunt was home, and she was extremely warm

"Tan Tan is back? You're getting prettier and prettier! So sophisticated, just like a celebrity... Oh my, Qiaoqiao has grown even more handsome!"

Seeing the meat in Wulan's hands, she couldn't help but laugh

"You came just to visit, why bother buying meat? We have a refrigerator at home."

Wulan handed over the meat and called for Qiaoqiao to help carry the vegetables, laughing loudly: "Auntie, Tan Tan isn't working in Ningcheng anymore. She's come back to do agricultural planting."

"Look, these new wild vegetables are so popular that even at twenty yuan a pound, there's not enough to go around! But Tan Tan was thinking of her grandmother and all of you, so she didn't want to sell this last batch. She brought them specifically for everyone to taste!"

This statement contained too much information. The eldest aunt stood frozen for a long while to digest it before finally extracting the key point—

Her niece, a beautiful and intelligent college student, had quit her good job in the provincial capital and had come back to the hometown to farm!