1988: Back to the human world for a few years

Chapter 258 Houyu
Boshan, Houyu Village, Xinglong Temple.

Two thousand-year-old ginkgo trees, nearly thirty meters high, stand majestically in the yard. The golden leaves on the trees fall without wind, drawing arcs in the air that imply the ultimate truths of heaven and earth, and finally fall silently on the concrete ground.

In such a beautiful scene that looked like a painting, the rough-faced Qu Mingli hid in the stone corridor nearby and shouted angrily:
"Li Er's family, can you open your eyes and watch your feet more? This is all money! Who are you going to sell it to if it breaks?!"

"Director Guo, could you please organize the comrades of the Women's Federation? The leaves are falling so fast, can't we just stand there and pick them up? We are wandering around like a group of night ghosts, ruining so many good things!"

"Hey, you little greenhorn from the Zong family, get out of here right away. Why are you causing so much trouble? Can't you see the adults are busy?... Help? What a bullshit help! I'll be thankful if you don't come over and cause more trouble!"

A rather sturdy woman straightened up, shook the basket in her hand, and glared at Qu Mingli unhappily: "Can you stop making so much noise? You've been complaining about this and that for the whole morning... How about I give you the basket and you do it yourself!?"

Qu Mingli glanced at the thick layer of fallen leaves on the ground and shrank his neck: "I don't have that many hands. Besides, if I bend my waist and hurt it, my wife will cry to death!?"

As soon as these rather colourful words were spoken, a dozen women began to laugh and curse at each other, throwing a bunch of paint bags at each other. But finally, under the command of the sturdy female director, they followed Qu Mingli's suggestion, stood still, and then happily picked up the fallen leaves.

The reason why these people were busy under the two thousand-year-old ginkgo trees for the whole morning was very simple...someone wanted to collect the fallen ginkgo leaves for use as medicine.

Although in theory, green ginkgo leaves are usually used as medicine, people are attracted by the reputation of these two thousand-year-old ginkgo trees and collect fallen leaves as well, and the price is not cheap... As long as they are not rotten or damaged, you can get 2 cents per kilogram.

God has pity on us. Although there are only two ginkgo trees in the yard, these thousand-year-old trees have trunks that require five or six people to hug. They have countless leaves, and they easily weigh nearly three thousand kilograms.

This is incredible. Three thousand kilograms, that’s an income of five or six hundred yuan!
Even though Houyu Village is not considered poor, five or six hundred yuan is the income of an ordinary farmer in a year and a half.

As for why all the people dispatched today were members of the women's group, and even the director of the women's group came personally...

The reason is not complicated.

These two ginkgo trees are collective assets of the village. In this era when village cadres are needed to help farmers pay agricultural taxes (although it may be hard for you to imagine, it is a fact, and the further back in time you go, the higher the advance payment ratio is, until the agricultural tax was abolished in 06), the finances of most villages have been so depleted that they can't even make a living.

Therefore, being able to make up 500 or 600 yuan from the village's reserved account with the fallen leaves of these two large ginkgo trees is enough to make all the village cadres sing a song of joy... It means that at least their salary for this month is safe.

And why were these wives, including the director of women's affairs, so polite to Qu Mingli who had been making noises all morning...

It's very simple,

Qu Mingli, the leader of the third villager group, is the project transfer person designated by Momo Baitou, and these ginkgo leaves are the raw materials that Momo Baitou specifically requested.

………………

"These two boxes... 74 kilograms, a total of 14.8 yuan... remember this!"

After weighing the two bamboo baskets on the scale, Qu Mingli called out to the village accountant. After seeing the accountant carefully write down the numbers 74 and 14.8 in the notebook, he walked out of Xinglong Temple, carrying a bamboo basket in each hand.

Wow~
After putting handfuls of ginkgo leaves into a large cloth bag, Qu Mingli tilted his head to look at Shen Yong, who was smoking on the door of the minibus, and asked in confusion: "Old Shen, why do you think the drilling company is paying so much for this stuff? We don't lack ginkgo trees in Boshan, so they are not trying to give us money in some way, are they?"

As the designated project transferee, although his store has not been built yet, purchase orders have been passed down one after another.

He could still understand the previous orders for shepherd's purse, leeks, grasshopper greens, plantain, pecans and the like, after all, there were people who came to collect these things before.

But he really couldn't figure out the point of collecting fallen ginkgo leaves, and 2 cents per pound... This is more than four times the price of fresh ginkgo leaves!

The customs of each village are different. Villages like Houyu Village, which have a relatively deep cultural heritage, are actually very averse to accepting gifts out of pity. If this order for ginkgo leaves is really to take care of their free money, then he really needs to consider whether he should continue to be the intermediary for this project after the "Houyu Hope Primary School" is built.

Upon hearing this, Shen Yong laughed: "Giving you money for free? How can that be possible? One thing is one thing!"

"The infrastructure project of Hope Primary School is clearly to take care of you, that's true; but the rest of the projects are done according to normal business, at most I am giving you a priority opportunity... If you have it, I will take it; if you don't have it, I can't help you."

"Our manager Sun said that the friendship between gentlemen is as pure as water. The best way to get along with each other is to respect each other, cooperate sincerely, and take what you need."

Qu Mingli nodded repeatedly, thinking that this touched his heart. However, he looked at the basket next to him and hesitated: "Why do you buy these broken leaves at 2 cents per pound?"

Shen Yong sneered, "Broken leaves? Outside of Houyu Village, can you find me another 10,000 kilograms of these broken leaves in the whole of Qilu?"

As he spoke, Shen Yong stood up and took out a fallen leaf from the basket: "Old Qu, please make it clear, this is a thousand-year-old ginkgo leaf... You actually said it was a broken leaf!?"

Qu Mingli curled his lips and said, "What's so special about it? It's just ginkgo leaves, and there's no shortage of them in Boshan... I know this stuff can be used as medicine, but I've never heard of it being sold at such a high price."

Shen Yong glanced at him with disdain: "Boshan, and even the Qilu region, is not short of ginkgo leaves, but they are short of thousand-year-old ginkgo leaves!"

"You know how rare these old trees that can be regarded as your ancestors are. Every one of them will be protected!"

At this point, Shen Yong chuckled: "I know what you want to say."

"Indeed, it stands to reason that green ginkgo leaves are more suitable for medicinal use than fallen leaves, but aren't we allowed to pick them from these thousand-year-old ginkgo trees?"

"Besides, they want the reputation of the thousand-year-old ginkgo. The difference between fallen leaves and green leaves is actually not that important...Hasn't the drilling company been in frequent contact with pharmaceutical companies in the island country recently? The island country recognizes this stuff. Even if the purchase price is a few cents higher, the drilling company will definitely make a profit!"

Finally, Shen Yong concluded: "In short, the acquisition principle conveyed by the drilling company is [each takes what they need] + [focus on development];"

“As for the raw materials needed by the drilling company’s tertiary industry projects, they will take whatever you villages have, provided that the quality is guaranteed;”

"As for rare or special resources like the two thousand-year-old ginkgo trees in Houyu Village, their policy is to maintain them first and then conduct targeted key development... Don't think that they are taking care of you. There are huge business opportunities here."

Hearing that it really didn't seem like he was being taken care of, Qu Mingli felt much more comfortable. He then asked with some confusion, "I understand that you value the gimmick of the thousand-year-old ginkgo, but don't all these things look the same? Aren't you afraid that people won't recognize them after you take them back?"

Shen Yong said with a snort, "Who told you they look the same? Why don't you keep a few leaves and compare them to see if the ginkgo leaves from your two trees have thicker veins than ordinary ginkgo leaves, are tougher after drying, are more bitter when chewed, and have a different fragrance... Do you think they are stupid? If they can't tell the difference, why would they buy yours?"

Qu Mingli took a fallen leaf and broke it, and found that it was just like thick plastic. He couldn't break it at once. When he was about to put it in his mouth to chew it, Shen Yong slapped the leaf away and said, "Don't you want to kill yourself! Ginkgo leaves are slightly poisonous. If you eat them without processing, what will you do if something goes wrong... Are you planning to be lazy and lie in bed for two days on purpose so that you can push all the school supervision and road repair work to me? "

Upon hearing this, Qu Mingli laughed and cursed, but ultimately did not put the ginkgo leaf into his mouth.

Ever since he became the intermediary of this project at the insistence of Momo Baitou, he, the leader of the third villager group, has been very busy. There are all kinds of things for him to take care of all day long, and even the farm work at home has to be left to his wife... Fortunately, Momo Baitou has a special agricultural allowance in this area, otherwise he would have to pay others to help with transplanting and harvesting grain in the future, and it would be very frustrating to be the intermediary of this project.

Among these trivial matters, in addition to conveying purchase orders from door to door from time to time, the most time-consuming and energy-consuming is the infrastructure supervision of the Hope Primary School.

The specifications of the 100 primary schools donated by the drilling company are absolutely first-class at present, and a three-party supervision system is adopted... Every batch of cement arriving at the construction site needs to be checked for quantity, grade and production date, and the steel bars also need to be checked for quantity, specifications, batches and quality according to the list. Even whether the bricks on the wall are stacked according to the construction requirements and whether the vertical angles meet the standards, he, the project transferee, needs to review them.

In short, he was so busy during this period that he could sleep as soon as he lay down on the kang... Although everyone looked at him with more awe, he was really exhausted. He originally thought that he only needed to focus on building a primary school, but he didn't expect that Momo Baitou sent a message the day before yesterday, saying that they planned to build an asphalt road directly to the town... Then according to the regulations, he, the intermediary of this project, had to participate and manage this matter.

Whether it is building a primary school or repairing village roads, it may be a trivial matter for a state-owned enterprise of the size of a drilling company, but it is a major matter that cannot be neglected for a village. When the scheduling, coordination and supervision of these two matters fall on one person's shoulders at the same time, it can be really exhausting. Therefore, if you say that Qu Mingli doesn't want to lie on the kang and pretend to be dead for a few days, you are lying.

But unfortunately, no matter how tired he was, Qu Mingli did not think of avoiding the upcoming second burden.

This is not because he is really lost in this little illusion of power, but because...

Qu Mingli sighed resignedly and tilted his head to look at Shen Yong: "You spent money to build this asphalt road. Is it true, as your leader said, that in addition to making it convenient for children from other villages to come to school in the future, you also plan to invest in a few projects here?"

Shen Yong nodded: "How could it be false? If it weren't for this, it would be enough to build an ordinary cement road... You know that asphalt is more difficult to work with than cement these days!"

Qu Mingli thought about it and agreed with this statement. If he had not participated in the school infrastructure project during this period and learned a lot of knowledge, he would not be able to tell the difference between the two like most villagers in the village... Although asphalt roads and cement roads have their own advantages and disadvantages, overall, asphalt roads are at least half a level higher than the current cement roads, and the cost is also higher. (At this time, high-quality cement in China still had to be imported)
If it was just for the sake of face, building an ordinary cement road would be enough, but they spared no expense to build an asphalt road in the village that is much more durable than ordinary roads...

After reviewing the knowledge he had learned during this period, Qu Mingli stroked his chin, which was already covered with stubble, and asked, "Does this mean that after investing in these projects, there will be many cars coming here in the future?"

Shen Yong looked at him in amazement and said, "Not bad, Old Qu. You've made rapid progress. You've already figured it out!"

Qu Mingli smiled smugly, then curiously asked, "What kind of project are you going to invest in? Why are you going to take on so many cars?"

Shen Yong spread his hands: "How should I know this? I am just an ordinary member sent here to help you. How can I be qualified to know this?"

Qu Mingli gave him a look of contempt and said, "Don't give me that. Everyone knows that your Xialiu Sales Cooperative follows the same practices as the old communes. Apart from confidential information, don't you talk about everything openly? And you're just an ordinary member... Whether you're a cadre or not has nothing to do with whether you know the news or not!"

Shen Yong smiled a little embarrassedly: "Hehe, this is not the news that has been confirmed when I came here. Isn't it because I am afraid of the bad influence and it is not convenient to make random guesses?"

Qu Mingli snorted, "Your manager Sun said he would come over today to discuss this matter. It only takes half an hour to get here. Will you die if you let me know something and let me have the slightest confidence?"

Shen Yong scratched his head when he heard this. He remembered the other party's identity as the project transfer person and immediately had no scruples: "Okay, I'll let you know a little bit, but let me make it clear first, it's just a guess. After all, I only know the preliminary plan proposed at the beginning. If things are different from what I said later, you can't hold me accountable... After all, we only have the right to propose the project, and the final decision must be made by Momo Baitou!"

Qu Mingli punched him on the shoulder impatiently: "I know, hurry up, why are you being so fussy!"

Shen Yong rubbed his shoulders and threw a cigarette over: "How should I put it? I can tell you very clearly that the first batch of projects to be invested in will definitely be the easiest agricultural planting projects to start with;"

"As for the agricultural planting projects, the villages where these Hope Primary Schools are located all follow the "one village, one product" approach... That is to say, a village will concentrate on planting one type of crop in order to achieve economies of scale."

After thinking about it, Qu Mingli nodded: "This idea is practical. Just like our Houyu Village, although we also have machinery manufacturing and repair factories and glass factories, there are only so many workers in the end, and there are also skill requirements... For a village like ours with nearly 4,000 people, it is still the most stable to grow something."

As he spoke, Qu Mingli nudged Shen Yong with his shoulder and asked expectantly, "Since you are going to build a special asphalt road for this, the scale must be quite large... Tell me, what exactly do you plan to let us grow?"

Shen Yong lit up the mouthless golden deer in his hand, exhaled a mouthful of tobacco, and then lowered his voice: "The details have not been decided yet. Your Houyu Village is surrounded by mountains and rivers, with a good geographical environment and a large temperature difference between day and night. There are many suitable planting projects, so there are also many preliminary plans submitted;"

"Some people have proposed planting platycodon, some have proposed planting blueberries (the Boshan area has a long history of planting blueberries), some have proposed planting Chinese toon, some have proposed planting forsythia and hawthorn... Oh, and some have proposed planting water celery and eggplant."

Qu Mingli looked at Shen Yong in surprise and said, "You guys have done a good job of preparation. It doesn't look like you came up with it out of thin air."

These projects are either projects with relative advantages in Boshan area and have been tested by the market to a certain extent, such as platycodon and blueberry;

Or it could be projects that are more compatible with the natural environment of Houyu Village...such as water celery and hawthorn.

Shen Yong smiled proudly: "Of course, we in Xialiu Sales Agency never play tricks. Since Momo Baitou has decided on the one village one product approach, then each village will naturally submit the project that best suits their situation;"

Shen Yong flicked the ash off his cigarette. "However, based on the spirit of the study documents I have learned from Momo Baitou, no, to be more precise, their section chief Yang Mo, the most promising planting projects such as platycodon, blueberry, and Chinese toon will most likely be rejected... and one of the two projects, water celery or eggplant, will most likely become the final project."

Qu Mingli looked at him in surprise: "Why? Whether it's Platycodon grandiflorum, blueberry, or Chinese toon, I think they're all good!"

Shen Yong rolled his eyes and said, "That's because these projects are too universal and cannot help your village develop sufficient single product advantages."

"Why don't you take a look at it? Can you compare with Chihshang Town, which has been famous since the 70s, in growing gentian?"

"As for growing blueberries, your Houyu Village is in the north. Can the quality really compare to those in the southern mountainous area of ​​Boshan?"

"As for Chinese toon, it's even more so. This thing can be grown anywhere, and the more water-scarce the place is, the more fragrant the Chinese toon it produces. You guys are right next to the river, so why can you say that your Chinese toon will grow well in the future?"

At this point, Shen Yong looked at Qu Mingli with some emotion: "I have to say that the chickens your village sent back then were really worth it;"

"Judging from the spirit of the documents conveyed by Momo Baitou in recent times, Chief Yang and his team attach even more importance to building these 100 Hope Primary Schools in villages than we imagined;"

"According to Manager Sun, Section Chief Yang is determined to invest in a one-time single product project for your villages. Therefore, forming scale advantages is only the most basic requirement. The real focus is to find out the innate advantages that each village truly has and cannot be replicated, and to design and develop related single product advantages."

While Qu Mingli was excited, he suddenly realized what unique innate advantages their Houyu Village had.

Apart from the more beautiful scenery and more ancient buildings, there are only the two thousand-year-old ginkgo trees, the well water in the village, and the relatively clean Xiushui River beside the village.

No wonder Shen Yong thinks water celery is one of the most likely projects to be implemented.

only……

It is understandable that water celery has extremely high requirements for water quality; but why is eggplant also one of the most likely projects to be implemented?

With this question in mind, Qu Mingli was about to ask further questions when his wife came running over from a distance, panting: "Hey, hurry to the village office, Manager Sun and the others are here... Old Shen should go too!"

Hearing that Sun Jian and his team had arrived, Qu Mingli stood up, hurriedly stuffed the cloth bag in his hand into his wife's hands, and then strode forward...

………………

After half an hour.

"Huh? In addition to building the road, you are going to invest 200 million here and plan to let us plant 4000 acres of eggplant?" The village party secretary and the village director both widened their eyes and looked at the wild panda in front of them in disbelief.

Sun Jian corrected him seriously: "Please pay attention to the name, it's Baiqie, Baiqie!"

(End of this chapter)