The film and television city starts from the courtyard

Zhao Shucheng and Song Yunping came back from the county town that day, bringing their newly bought home appliances, and met some old people who were chatting at the entrance of the village.

When they saw Zhao Shucheng and Song Yunping, they greeted them with a smile and thanked Zhao Shucheng for everything he had done for Xiao Lei's family, especially for paying pensions to the elderly.

"Dongbao, I was just telling your mother a few days ago that this year, our Lei family has another bumper harvest."

"You haven't been the secretary for two years yet, and our Xiao Lei family is getting better and better. We all benefit from you."

Zhao Shucheng smiled and said, "Uncles and uncles, please don't say that. I have also made some achievements under the leadership of the old branch secretary. More importantly, it is the result of the joint efforts of everyone in our Xiaolei family. If I rely on myself alone, I can't do anything. As long as everyone is of one mind, the good days of the Xiaolei family are still to come!"

"Dong Bao's words make sense. We in the Xiao Lei family should work together, and our future will be better and better."

"Yep!"

"What are you two doing?"

Song Yunping smiled and said, "We have a new house and we are short of things at home, so Dongbao and I bought some things and sent them to mom!"

"Look, you have such a filial daughter-in-law now, and Dongbao is so capable. He even built a new house for your mother. We, the brothers, are so envious."

Another old man also said, "Dongbao, when you distributed the money before, you said that you wanted to turn our Xialei family farmers into workers, and in the future, they would all have pensions. Is this true?"

Zhao Shucheng smiled and said, "Of course it's true, and you don't have to envy us for building a new house. In the future, Xiao Lei's family will develop better and better. By then, we can achieve upstairs and downstairs, electricity and telephones, and every family will live in a small building."

"It would be great if this were possible, but when would it be possible? We can't wait until all of us old guys die and can't see it, right?"

Zhao Shucheng looked at the people who were looking forward to it and said, "Don't worry, you will be able to see it in a few years!"

"That's good, we'll wait!"

At this time, Song Yunping looked at Lei Shigen who was looking at them from a distance and said, "Dongbao, do you think Shigen has something to ask you?"

Zhao Shucheng looked at Lei Shigen, who was full of worry, and said something to the old people. Then he walked up to Lei Shigen and said, "Shigen, what's the matter?"

Lei Shigen hesitated for a moment and said, "Dongbao, it's still about the brick kilns. The brick kilns in other villages have been producing for a while, but their prices have not risen. They are still two cents lower than ours."

After hearing this, Zhao Shucheng looked at Lei Shigen and said, "Have you told the old branch secretary about this?"

"said!"

"What did the old man say?"

"He asked me to ask you what to do."

Zhao Shucheng thought for a moment and said, "What about you? What do you think?"

Lei Shigen said: "I have been checking the accounts these days. After deducting the expenses from the income, the brick factory only makes a profit of a few thousand yuan. If we also lower the price, it can only support one month at most. If we continue to lower the price, we will need subsidies from the brigade, and it will not be a small amount of money. It is possible to make a few thousand yuan a month, or even several thousand yuan."

"What do you think?"

Lei Shigen hesitated for a moment and said, "If we continue to engage in price wars, we can indeed crush the brick kilns in other villages, but the reputation of the Lei family will be ruined. More importantly, the loss will outweigh the gain. I think the most important thing is to increase revenue and reduce expenditure."

Zhao Shucheng smiled and nodded, saying, "Yes, Shigen, you have made progress, but it's not enough. In fact, the bricks we produce now are all solid bricks. Have you ever heard that there is also a kind of hollow brick?"

Lei Shigen shook his head blankly and said, "I really don't know about this, and it seems that there is no such thing in our county."

Zhao Shucheng nodded and said, "Indeed, there isn't one. Let's go to the brick kiln and see the difference between hollow bricks and solid bricks."

When Lei Shigen saw the hollow bricks Zhao Shucheng made with a wooden stick, his eyes lit up and he said:

"Secretary Dongbao, this hollow brick is really good. I think it can save a lot of raw materials. This way our cost will be much lower than other brick kilns, and we won't be afraid of price wars."

Zhao Shucheng smiled and said, "In fact, the advantages of hollow bricks are more than that. They are light in weight, and their moisture resistance, heat insulation, and sound insulation are better than solid bricks. However, their earthquake resistance is slightly worse, so hollow bricks cannot be used for load-bearing walls. But as fillers or unimportant walls, there is no problem at all."

Zhao Shucheng had actually wanted to develop the hollow brick project a long time ago, but he didn't think it was urgent before. But now is a good time to start. Moreover, hollow bricks are different from solid bricks. They only need clay and oil shale. As long as the confidentiality is done well, Xiaoleijia Brick Kiln will have no similar competitors in a short time.

However, when Zhao Shucheng told Lei Shigen that he wanted to lower the price, the young people in the village became a little anxious.

"Secretary Dong Bao, can we not lower the price? My matchmaker just arranged a marriage for me last month, and she agreed because she saw that I work in a brick kiln and have an income every month. I got 30 yuan last month, and if the brick kiln lowers the price and I can't get that much, what should I do? Then she will think I'm cheating and won't be with me. I'm 28 years old and it was not easy to find a wife."

As soon as these words were spoken, others began to complain, some even claiming that their wives would divorce them if their wages were reduced or the brick kiln was shut down.

Zhao Shucheng waited until they finished speaking, then said with a smile: "Enough, so much nonsense, do you think I'm the kind of person who makes you work for free without paying? Before, the bamboo weaving factory in our village had no income, and the brigade subsidized them. Do you think the brigade will watch you suffer now?" "Price war is not the goal. If we really have a price war, our Xiao Lei family has never been afraid of anyone. Our brick and tile factory can make no money, or even lose money to invest money to keep the brick factory running. Why would other brick factories dare to do this?"

Seeing that the other people's expressions looked much better, Zhao Shucheng continued, "Everyone, please put your hearts at ease. The brick factory will continue to operate at full capacity. You don't have to worry about other things. Just do your production work well and get your salary."

"Shigen, I'll ask Xiaohui later to get advice from the university's architecture department so we can develop our new products."

Lei Shigen was originally still worried. He was only looking at the model made by Zhao Shucheng about the hollow bricks. What if they were not up to standard after production? Now, after hearing what Zhao Shucheng said, he was immediately relieved.

After Zhao Shucheng calmed down the brick factory workers, he returned to the brigade headquarters and called Song Yunhui.

Song Yunhui was a little surprised after receiving the call. After all, Song Yuping often wrote to him before, but never called him.

"Brother-in-law, are you looking for me?"

Zhao Shucheng said, "Yes, Xiaohui, I have something to talk to you about. Xiaolei's brick factory is facing competition and they are trying to undercut each other on price. Although Xiaolei is not afraid of price wars, this is not a solution."

"I thought about how to sell bricks more cheaply and still make money. The best way is to reduce costs. I heard that there is a technology for hollow bricks, but we don't know how to produce them."

"I thought that since you are a famous university in the province, the architecture department must be familiar with the situation, so I wanted you to ask the architecture department about the technology of hollow bricks. Then you can write to me or call me to tell me."

Song Yunhui was very happy to help Zhao Shucheng after hearing this, so he readily agreed. After hanging up the phone, he ran to the Department of Architecture to ask the teachers of the Department of Architecture about the production process and materials required for hollow bricks. Afraid that he couldn't explain it clearly over the phone, he wrote a letter to tell Zhao Shucheng.

The problem with the brick kiln was solved, but the cement prefabricated panels encountered another problem. After all, the reform had just begun in this era, and the planned economy was still in place. The cement and steel bars needed for the prefabricated panels were still produced by the factory according to the plan, and the materials within the plan were difficult to obtain.

Previously, the county did supply some of the raw materials for the prefabricated panels of Xiao Lei's family, but it was just enough to meet the needs of Xiao Lei's construction team. However, now that Xiao Lei's construction team is doing so well, many people are jealous and naturally start to make trouble.

Therefore, Xiao Lei's prefabricated board factory wanted to expand its production scale, but its development pace was restricted due to raw material issues. Even the raw materials that could be supplied began to be restricted.

Zhao Shucheng went to the county town with Sibao to find County Magistrate Xu, hoping that he could help solve the problem.

County Magistrate Xu was scratching his head after hearing this. Although he hoped to help Xiao Lei's family, this kind of planned supplies could not be given to anyone he wanted.

County Magistrate Xu said, "Dongbao, I didn't expect the Lei family to be doing so well now. You are indeed helping the county earn foreign exchange, but cement and steel bars are in short supply and not something that can be given to anyone. But there is one thing you must understand. No matter how well your Lei family develops, the county will find it difficult to provide you with much help."

"Why? We are doing this for development. Can you please give us some praise?"

County Magistrate Xu said, "The Lei family moved too fast. When there were still only a few households with an annual income of 10,000 yuan in our county, your family had already become a household with an annual income of 10,000 yuan per capita. You distributed land to each household, built kilns to make bricks, built fish ponds, and even developed breeding farms, bamboo weaving factories, and prefabricated board factories. You have caused a lot of controversy outside, and the controversy is huge."

Zhao Shucheng smiled and said, "County Magistrate Xu, is there anyone who is jealous of our Xiao Lei family and is trying to strangle us?"

County Magistrate Xu was silent for a while, looked at Zhao Shucheng, and said, "So your Xiaolei family should avoid causing trouble, talk less and do more, and bury your heads and work hard to develop. This is the best way for your Xiaolei family to develop at present."

Zhao Shucheng was speechless after hearing this. He originally thought that after he set up a bamboo weaving factory to earn foreign exchange for the county, it would help to withstand the ups and downs outside, but now it seems that it is not enough.

In fact, Zhao Shucheng soon figured it out. Although this foreign exchange earning was good for the county, most of the benefits went to the county magistrate and the Finance Bureau, but other departments did not get enough benefits. Besides, when you are famous, you will have troubles. And there happened to be many conservative people in this era, so naturally they could not stand the way the Lei family was.

"County Magistrate Xu, rest assured that the Lei family will not be defeated by this little difficulty. We will not sit still and wait for death. Instead, we will move forward and let those who don't like it know that the tide of the times is not something they can stop with their bare hands."

When County Magistrate Xu heard what Zhao Shucheng said, he nodded and said, "Okay, you must stick to the development path of the Xiao Lei family and believe in the path you are on. I hope your Xiao Lei family will develop higher. Lei Dongbao, do you dare to promise me?"

Zhao Shucheng nodded and said, "Of course I dare. Don't worry. Our Xiaolei family is willing to try all means to get rich and forge our own path."

After returning from the county town, during a meeting at the brigade headquarters, the others panicked when they heard that the county could not provide support.

Especially when Sibao went to the county to purchase goods again, he was directly rejected by the sales department, who said that Xiao Lei's family did not have any indicators and could not provide steel bars and cement.

Sibao still held out a glimmer of hope, hoping that the county would give him quotas, but he was rejected, saying that Xiaolei's family was a brigade enterprise and, firstly, they did not have quotas and secondly, they did not have approval documents from the higher-level authorities, so they could not provide steel bars and cement.

He was somewhat undecided and went to the city again, but it was the same. There was no quota and nothing could be given.

Seeing them so dejected, Zhao Shucheng said angrily, "Look at you guys. Are you defeated by just a little difficulty? We didn't have the support of the county before, but we still made it this far. As the saying goes, if you rely on a mountain, the mountain will fall; if you rely on a tree, the tree will shake; if you rely on people, they will run away. Only we ourselves are the most reliable."

In fact, Zhao Shucheng had not expected that such a thing as approval slips would already appear, and it had begun to appear in the county. In fact, Zhao Shucheng had some understanding of this. In this era of scarcity of various raw materials and high consumption, commodities could no longer meet the people's growing material and cultural needs, so it presented a seller's market.

Many people with backgrounds have found that they can make a lot of money without much effort, that is, dealing with approval documents. They have a natural advantage in this regard and understand the procedures and approval documents better than others.

With the transition from a planned economy to a modern economy, companies that previously relied on the state for their livelihoods began to find their own food, and raw materials became in short supply. Naturally, whoever could get the right raw materials would get rich, and they would be 100% sure to get rich. As long as the materials were available, people would buy them, and they would rush to buy them.

In fact, this kind of thing has been common since ancient times. After all, in ancient times, salt and iron were monopolized, and whoever could get salt and iron certificates could make money. However, these people would not do this business personally, but just sell them to make a fortune. Is there any easier way to make money than this? (End of this chapter)