Chapter 1388: Sacrifice
"Yang, the recipe is extremely valuable. Name your terms."
Yang Xiuqin smiled, and though her face was plain, her smile made it quite pretty.
"Mr. Lv, thank you for understanding and for recognizing its value.
But honestly, I don’t know what I want."
Wei Kaiyun, sitting to the side, said, "How about this? We’ll give you ten percent of all the profits from the brewery. However, we can’t guarantee this as we don’t yet have the operational rights.
It might be years before there are any profits to share. Since you understand brewing, you can assist Mr. Lv at the brewery, and you’ll be compensated with full public work points."
Li Yungui was nodding beside him. Lv Beiguang already had thirty percent, so giving Yang ten percent wasn’t an issue. The village would still hold the majority.
Yang Xiuqin was surprised. Whether she got the ten percent or not didn’t matter, but the chance to assist Lv Beiguang excited her.
Even though she knew there was no chance for them, she was happy to work with him.
"Great, thank you, Mr. Wei, thank you, Village Chief Li, and thank you, Mr. Lv."
"Alright, you can move there tomorrow; there’s a dormitory."
Yang Xiuqin was thrilled. There was even a dormitory.
"Comrade Yang, just so we’re clear, you’ll be living alone in the dormitory. If you’re timid or scared, you shouldn’t move in. I will arrange for a gatekeeper, but we don’t have one yet."
"Village Chief Li, I’m not afraid, thank you, Village Chief, for this opportunity."
"It’s what you deserve." Li Yungui was quite satisfied with this.
As for the alcohol recipe, he didn’t want it. He had said from the start that the village wouldn’t be involved in brewing. The village’s role was providing grain and space, with everything else left to Lv Beiguang.
"Mr. Lv, I also have some brewing notes; I’ll dig them up for you to see."
Lv Beiguang smiled, and in Yang Xiuqin’s eyes, it was as if a hundred flowers bloomed. Her heart raced uncontrollably.
Wei Kaiyun noticed this and chuckled to himself. It seemed Lv Beiguang’s face was part of the reason she agreed.
Watching the oblivious handsome man, Wei Kaiyun laughed. Men at this age being so innocent was rare.
"Yang, let’s officially sign an agreement tomorrow." Wei Kaiyun said, the lady comrade was clearly mesmerized by the handsome man.
"Sure, I’ll pack up in a bit and move tomorrow morning."
Li Yungui had no objections. "Alright, we can also head over, and you can choose a room; there’s a kitchen there too. However, I hope Comrade Yang won’t speak about your share to others."
Yang Xiuqin nodded, "Village Chief Li, rest assured, I won’t share it with anyone. If anyone asks, I’ll just say I have a recipe and exchanged it for this job."
"That works; say it like that." Li Yungui was very pleased with how Yang Xiuqin handled things.
Lv Beiguang returned the recipe to Yang Xiuqin, "Keep it for now; we’ll discuss it when we start."
Yang Xiuqin didn’t refuse. Although she couldn’t be with Lv Beiguang, working with him and seeing him every day was satisfying.
The three waited for Yang Xiuqin, and then the four went to the brewery together.
"Yang, what do you think of the facilities here?"
"Mr. Lv, I don’t really know much about this; I just learned brewing from my grandfather, and I’m not familiar with the facilities."
"Alright, we’ll discuss improvements gradually."
"I have some books and notes on this topic; I can lend them to you, Mr. Lv."
Lv Beiguang’s eyes lit up as he looked at Yang Xiuqin, making her heart race again.
"Yang, which room would you like, and you, relative, pick one too for a lunch break and such."
Yang Xiuqin chose the room next to the kitchen because it allowed for cooking and heating in winter, and in summer it didn’t matter. Just relying on the stove wouldn’t be enough; one could cook and heat the kang at the same time.
Lv Beiguang also picked a room on the other side of the kitchen.
Li Yungui handed the keys to both of them. Yang Xiuqin glanced inside; it was quite clean.
"Mr. Lv, give me the key, and I’ll tidy it up for you; you won’t have time in the coming days."
"No need, I’ll do it myself."
Yang Xiuqin said no more and began tidying up from the kitchen.
At that moment, Li Yunqiao arrived. The four chatted and left together.
"Vice Mayor Li, we need to fight for the sales rights." Wei Kaiyun disliked such restrictions. He didn’t understand why Li Yungui agreed to these terms initially.
Li Yungui felt very awkward, "Xiao Wei, I didn’t really think much at the time. The leader brought the brewery director, and they said they’d directly pay us once we gave it to them.
I somehow agreed without much thought. I really didn’t think it through."
"Village Chief Li, it’s alright; we’ll find a solution. They likely don’t have enough wine to sell. We can negotiate, offering them the sorghum wine, but voiding the previous agreement and only providing them that type.
This way, we’re not breaking our word."
"I suspect they won’t agree," said Li Yunqiao.
"If they don’t agree, we’ll keep digging cellars. All the brewed wine will be distributed, and the rest will be stored. Aged wine will be more mellow in the future.
Don’t worry about the money; I can cover half if the village can’t. Rest assured, Mr. Yang, Mr. Han, and I can handle it."
Li Yunqiao nodded, "That works. If we lack sales rights, not selling is still an option."
"Let’s make a trip there in a few days." Li Yungui had been troubled by this for several days. He couldn’t quite recollect why he agreed to it back then. In hindsight, wasn’t he just handing them control? It was truly foolish.
The four parted ways. Wei Kaiyun and Lv Beiguang headed to the new house, where final cleaning was underway and to check what was missing.
Chaoyang followed Jing Chu closely, always ready at her call.
Jiang Xinyu found it amusing; she didn’t expect Chaoyang to be like this. But as long as he truly treated Jing Chu well, it was fine.
"Mom, we brought the Xizi and window flowers."
"That’s all that’s left; let’s put them up quickly. Are the red lanterns done yet?"
"Master Shang said they will be ready tonight."
"Great, everything is sorted. Just waiting for the bride now."
At this time, Hong Lin brought several brothers to deliver the bedding prepared for Li Xue’s family. Originally, it was the bride’s family’s role, but because of Li Yunqiao’s job, they sent everything over.