Chapter 118: Wu Nanfang's Thoughts

The new demonstration farm coffee shop did its best to replicate the atmosphere of the old time-space. Although it was a poor imitation, it was enough to satisfy the veterans’ nostalgia. This was the success of the farm coffee shop.

The new custom-made glassware and bone china from Xiao Bailang’s workshop were piled up in the room. The sets of glassware and bone china were all made according to the classic styles of the old time-space. In addition to serving coffee, rum, fruit wine, and kvass, the new coffee shop also planned to serve soda and soda water. A team from the machinery factory, under the supervision of Jiang Ye, had replicated a soda machine based on the blueprints and had also manufactured several bottling and sealing machines. This semi-mechanized bottling equipment could produce small batches of glass marble-bottled soda—before disposable tinplate bottle caps were available, this was the standard packaging for soda.

Soda flavored only with sugar and citric acid had a purer taste than kvass, without the characteristic sour bread taste of kvass. And the cost was extremely low. If nothing was added, pure soda water could also be produced to mix with alcoholic beverages, and adding salt could be used to make the salt soda commonly used in high-temperature departments.

Mo Xiaoan had also hoped to add fruit juice to make fruit-flavored soda, but the transmigrators’ chemical industry could not yet provide very effective food preservatives—such as sodium benzoate. It was better to use as few natural things as possible.

The newly built new building was undergoing interior decoration work. Carpenters and painters were coming in and out, and the ground was piled with cut boards and corner materials. The tiles, mosaic veneers, and sanitary ware transported from the porcelain factory were piled under a straw shed. These things, like the glassware and bone china, were sold to him by Xiao Bailang at the “internal transfer price” in an official capacity.

Not only these things provided by Xiao Bailang, but also the tables, chairs, and boards transported from the forestry department’s woodworking factory in Hailin; the cement and bricks transported from the building materials factory; the soda machine and hardware accessories provided by the machinery factory; the tablecloths and waiters’ uniforms provided by the textile factory… there was not a single thing that could be obtained without paying the transfer price.

The loan Wu Nanfang had borrowed from Wu Di was rapidly draining away—he could only comfort himself that he would earn it all back once the coffee shop opened.

The project was progressing very quickly. Wu Nanfang estimated that it would enter the cleaning and tidying up stage in another week.

Then it would be time to replenish the goods and open for business.

Wu Nanfang glanced with some pain at Wu Di, who was calculating on an abacus under a shed. After lending the money to Wu Nanfang, Wu Di would come to the construction site once a day to check the daily entry and use of construction and decoration materials, calculate the costs, and see if any of the loan was being wasted. He also volunteered to be the receiver and supervisor on the construction site.

He had an uncomfortable feeling—he remembered the plots described in many novels, where a small merchant fell into the trap of a wicked banker, shouldered a heavy debt, and finally had his heavily invested industry cheaply taken away by the bank using the loan. Of course, here in Lin Gao, it was completely unnecessary from a systemic point of view.

“It will open in another week,” Wu Nanfang muttered to himself. Although he usually presented a “personable,” “easy-going,” and “good-natured” image, and had always been low-key in the Senate, where signs of a power struggle had already appeared, in his midnight dreams, he was also secretly considering his future.

Given his current situation, it was no problem for him to be in the middle and upper echelons among the five hundred people. Although the status of the Agricultural Committee had declined during the institutional reform, the issue of food was always the central issue of the Senate and the Executive Committee. As long as he held on to the agricultural sector, anyone who came to power would have to give it full attention.

Wu Nanfang had considered whether he should run for the currently vacant position of Speaker of the Senate. But after much consideration, he decided not to interfere for the time being. The position of Speaker was now the target of many veterans who had no important positions but had a certain influence. It was likely that many people were preparing to jump out and run, and it was inevitable that there would be a bloody battle.

In terms of his own strength, he had good personal connections and was also popular. His chances of winning the election were about fifty-fifty. The problem was that once he was elected, he would have to resign from his position as the People’s Commissar for Agriculture—and he did not want to lose this territory into which he had poured a great deal of effort.

He was well aware that once he became the Speaker, he would most likely embark on the path of a professional politician. This path was certainly good, but in this way, he would lose the possibility of continuing to operate in the agricultural field. As for the Wu’s Monsanto of the new century, it would be an even more distant dream.

Being a politician required a large amount of funds—although no one knew what the future political system of the transmigrator empire would be, money, this lubricant of political operation, was applicable in any time-space. For now, veterans were not allowed to own private industries, but this ban would most likely be lifted in the future. At that time, he would need his own business management talent.

Out of such considerations, Wu Nanfang not only personally funded Li Quan’s education in full, but also sent Chu Qing to several training classes, not only for basic cultural knowledge but also for business and accounting. He had originally wanted to get Li Quan’s mother, Li Mo, back from the Ministry of Health, but Dr. Shi had cunningly refused his request on the grounds that she had “received a full set of nursing training.”

As soon as the coffee shop opened, he planned to have Chu Qing be the manager of the coffee shop, giving his woman an independent project to do. Wu Nanfang really wanted to see if Chu Qing had the ability to stand on her own for him.

As for his apprentices, the Lu brothers, he planned to cultivate and promote them as much as possible, so that they would become the backbone of the agricultural front in the future, forming a force in the Ministry of Agriculture.

He was still calculating that after the “Veteran Family Relations Law” was promulgated, he would select a few young children from the immigrants to be his adopted children, and then take a few more apprentices…

However, the most urgent task was to have his own children! Wu Nanfang suddenly became alert: older adopted children could easily form their own power in the family. If his own biological children were too young when he died, wouldn’t they be at a disadvantage? At this thought, he felt that his own thoughts were very sinful—adopted children were also his own children. How could he be so partial? This was contrary to equality and benevolence. But he quickly comforted himself: human genes are always selfish.

In the past, he had not thought about this issue of inheritance. The news of Tang Menglong’s life secretary’s pregnancy had greatly stimulated him. Wu Nanfang’s gaze couldn’t help but fall on Chu Qing—in the past, he had only regarded sex as a physiological need. Now, he realized that it was also an important matter.

Chu Qing was standing in front of the newly decorated wooden open-air bar, bending over and looking curiously at the bulky gas refrigerator. She had shoulder-length hair, held in place with a hairpin, and was wearing a silk dress in the style of the old time-space, which had been copied by the tailors of the General Office. She was wearing knitted cotton socks and a pair of rattan sandals—this very ordinary attire suddenly made Wu Nanfang’s hormones secrete in large quantities.

As he was staring at her waist and round buttocks, planning what to do with her tonight, Chu Qing suddenly turned her head.

“Master—”

“Hmm, hmm?” Wu Nanfang’s fantasy was suddenly interrupted. He quickly changed his posture to avoid anyone discovering the abnormality in his lower body.

Although he and Chu Qing had not had a “pure male-female relationship” for a year, there was still a sense of ambiguous distance between them.

“Why is there a refrigerator?”

“To make ice cubes.” Ice cubes were the best gift in the summer of Lin Gao, and the consumption was very large. “And to make shaved ice and popsicles.”

Wu Nanfang had originally wanted to make ice cream, but the number of cows was small, and the supply of milk was insufficient. This matter was temporarily shelved, but there was no difficulty in supplying shaved ice and popsicles. Popsicles were nothing more than purified water plus sugar, fruit juice, spice plants, and red beans frozen.

As for shaved ice, it was even simpler. The machinery factory had made a few crude hand-cranked shaved ice machines, which could process up to ten servings of shaved ice at a time.

The syrup for the shaved ice, whether it was red bean, green bean, or various fruits, was very easy to prepare here. It was conceivable that this cold drink, which was very popular with women, could effectively empty the pockets of the veterans.

“From now on, you will be in charge of this place,” Wu Nanfang said with a smile.

Chu Qing was stunned for a moment. “Me?” She smiled and shook her head. “I don’t dare. I can’t do it.”

“I believe in your ability—didn’t you attend a business training class?”

“It’s fine if you want me to use an abacus, keep the accounts, and help the master with some miscellaneous things. But to be the lady boss…” Chu Qing suddenly realized that the term “lady boss” was inappropriate, and her face turned red. “…the female manager, I can’t do it.”

“Have confidence,” Wu Nanfang’s hand took the opportunity to hold her slender waist.

“Master—” Chu Qing shyly lowered her head. “It’s broad daylight.”

Wu Nanfang coughed and released her waist. “Although this coffee shop is small, it is very important to us. You must manage it well.”

“The chiefs’ demands are very picky,” Chu Qing was still hesitating. “And they can be very scary when they get drunk.” She remembered the maid revolution—in her mind, the cause of the riot that night was drinking too much. She lowered her head and thought for a moment. “Alright, I’ll be the female manager… But what if we lose money? This should be the Senate’s business, right?”

“Don’t worry, we won’t lose money. The demand for leisure is huge,” Wu Nanfang smiled. “I will give you advice on the details. You just have to hold the fort for me. Maybe there will be bigger business for you to be in charge of in the future.”

“I will do whatever the master commands,” Chu Qing said. “I will do my best.”

While Wu Nanfang was immersed in the fantasy of a commercial empire, a gunshot suddenly sounded from outside.

He was shocked. This area was the core of the transmigrator group’s rule. How could there be a sudden gunshot?