60s: I have a store

Chapter 562 Problems at the Beginning
The dusk was like a veil, gently enveloping Zhoujiazhuang and covering the village with a hazy golden glow.

In the open space in front of the dining hall, more than twenty eight-person tables were neatly arranged. The kerosene lamps on the tables had already been lit. The dim light swayed gently in the breeze, reflecting the sunset in the sky.

The air was filled with the aroma of food. Although there were no big fish or meat, the villagers were still full of anticipation. The celebration banquet of the fishing competition was a reward for their hard work and a rare moment of joy in the village.

The old Party branch secretary stood energetically on the small temporary stage. He cleared his throat and said in a loud voice: "Fellow villagers! In today's fishing competition, everyone has shown their true skills and demonstrated the spirit of our Zhoujia Village! Regardless of whether you won a place or not, everyone has done a great job! Now, I declare that the celebration banquet officially begins!"

As soon as he finished speaking, there was warm applause and cheers from the audience, and the children jumped up excitedly.

The first things to be served were several large plates of steaming stir-fried seasonal vegetables. Emerald green lettuce, golden pumpkin slices, and snow-white winter melon cubes were fried until shiny in a large iron pan, and sprinkled with handfuls of emerald green onions and bright red peppers. The colors were so bright that they made people salivate.

Aunt Zhao stood by the stove, adding firewood to the pot while shouting, "Eat as much as you want! Enough!"

As the first place in the fishing competition, Erzhu naturally became the focus of the whole audience.

He sat at the main table with a proud look on his face, a towel for wiping sweat draped over his shoulders, and from time to time he showed the villagers at the next table the five pounds of meat he had obtained.

"If you ask me, fishing is all about patience and skills," Erzhu picked up a large piece of lettuce with chopsticks and chewed it until his mouth was full of fragrance.
"When I sprinkled rice wine into the water, I knew there would be big fish in this area!"

The surrounding villagers smiled and nodded, praising him non-stop: "Erzhu, you are truly the best fisherman in our village!"

Xiulan sat next to Erzhu, a happy smile on her face, and picked up food for her husband from time to time.

She turned to Xie Yumei and said, "Teacher Xie, it's all thanks to you for teaching the children to read and write!"

Xiulan still admires Xie Yumei very much, and she has also attended high school. It turns out that knowledge can change destiny.

Xie Yumei held Xiaobao in her arms and smiled gently, "Children are all very smart. As long as they are willing to learn, they will definitely have a bright future."

After hearing this, Xiaobao grinned happily, revealing his two front teeth that had not yet grown in. He looked extremely adorable.

Zhou Zhiming, holding the second place certificate and five dollars, sat at another table and chatted animatedly with a few young guys.

"I was able to get a ranking this time by sheer luck!"

Zhou Zhiming said modestly, "In the next competition, you will definitely be able to surpass me!"

But everyone was not happy, and said, "Zhiming, don't be so modest, we have all seen your fishing skills!"

The atmosphere was very lively.

In the corner, Zhou Dazhu carefully took out the tenth place's dollar from his pocket, stroked it over and over again, with a satisfied smile on his face.

Several villagers beside him joked, "Dazhu, how are you going to spend this dollar?"

Dazhu scratched his head in a simple and honest manner and said, "I want to buy a piece of floral cloth for my mother. She hasn't had new clothes for a long time."

Hearing this, the surrounding villagers were silent for a moment, their eyes filled with emotion.

After three rounds of drinking, someone started singing a cheerful folk song: "The sun is out, shining in all directions..."

A familiar melody sounded, and the villagers began to sing along, the singing echoing in the night sky.

The old branch secretary was also infected by the joyful atmosphere. He clapped his hands and a happy smile appeared on his face.

Xie Yumei led the children, held hands and formed a circle, dancing happily to the singing. The children's clear laughter added more joy to the celebration banquet.

On this night, the big dining hall in Zhoujiazhuang was filled with laughter and joy. All the fatigue and hard work disappeared at this moment.

The villagers sat together, sharing food, talking about life, and enjoying this hard-earned happy time.

But happy times pass quickly, and before I knew it, it was almost nine o'clock.

Since they had to work normally tomorrow, the old branch secretary sent everyone back home to rest early, as they had to start a new round of farm work tomorrow.

The next morning, the crowing of roosters tore through the sky. The villagers of Zhoujiazhuang got up early as usual, but found that there was a hint of tension in the air today.

Since the wheat has been harvested and there is not much feed in stock, you should know that whether Zhoujiazhuang is raising chickens or pigs, they all use feed, which has greatly increased feed consumption.

There were also several other villages where, after learning about the benefits of the feed, all of their livestock and poultry businesses began using the feed, resulting in a bag of feed that could originally be used for a dozen days now not even lasting a week.

But there are benefits too. Although the chickens in the farm do not change their appearance every day, if you check on them every few days, you can find that they have indeed grown a lot bigger, much faster than if they were raised in the wild.

Therefore, the feed processing workshop had to restart.

Everyone soon arrived at the feed processing plant. White smoke should have been rising from the chimney, but at this moment it was silent.

Several workers pulled the start switch hard, but the machine was like a sleeping beast, without any movement.

Everyone was shocked when they saw this scene. Why was it different from usual?
"What should we do?" Erzhu stamped his feet in anxiety. He knew that if the feed factory stopped operating, the livestock in the village farms would starve.

The news spread quickly throughout the village as if it had wings.

The old branch secretary came over with a cane, his cloudy eyes full of anxiety. He said tremblingly, "Call Zhiming!"

Zhou Zhiming was repairing farm tools in his yard. When he heard the news, he dropped his tools and ran out.

Sweat slid down his cheeks and soaked the clothes on his back.

When he arrived at the processing plant, he didn't even have time to catch his breath and immediately started checking. The multimeter in his hand quickly measured the voltage, the screwdriver expertly disassembled the parts, and his eyes scanned back and forth between the intricate circuits.

"The line is not damaged." Zhou Zhiming muttered to himself, his brows furrowed tighter and tighter.

The villagers who were watching were talking about it. Some said that they had offended the river god, while others said it might be due to the aging of the machine.

These sounds were like countless fine needles, pricking Zhou Zhiming's heart and making him feel uneasy.

His hands began to tremble slightly, and large beads of sweat rolled down his forehead and dripped onto the machine casing.

The old branch secretary paced around, tapping his pipe on the ground with a rapid sound: "Look carefully again!"

There was an undisguised anxiety in his voice.

Time passed by minute by minute, and every second of waiting was like a heavy hammer, hitting everyone's heart.

After more than ten minutes, there was still no progress.

The old branch secretary finally lost his temper and raised his voice an octave: "Go find Yimin!"

A young man ran towards Zhou Yimin's house like an arrow.

As if they were afraid that they would be scolded by the old branch secretary if they ran a little slower, no one dared to speak at this time, for fear of being caught and scolded by the old branch secretary. They didn't even dare to breathe.

Zhou Yimin was lying on a chair in the backyard with some peanuts and fruits beside him when he suddenly heard hurried footsteps and shouts.

Zhou Yimin heard the whole story and did not dare to delay, so he hurried to the feed processing factory with the visitor. From a distance, he saw the crowd of people gathered and the anxious figure of the old branch secretary.

"Yimin, it's up to you!" As soon as the old branch secretary saw Zhou Yimin, he immediately grabbed his arm, his eyes full of expectation.

Zhou Yimin patted the old branch secretary's hand and said softly, "Old branch secretary, I can only try my best." He was well aware of the heavy responsibility and did not dare to be careless.

As soon as he entered the processing plant, Zhou Yimin immediately got into the state.

He first walked around the machine, carefully observing each component, and put his ear against the machine casing, trying to hear any abnormal sounds.

Zhou Zhiming followed closely behind him, his eyes full of expectation and anxiety.

"Brother Zhiming, bring me the circuit diagram." Zhou Yimin said calmly.

After taking the drawing, he checked the circuits on the machine one by one.

Suddenly, his eyes were drawn to the power indicator light.

The green light that should have been on was now completely dark. This slight abnormality set off alarm bells in his heart.

He walked quickly to the electrical box and carefully opened the door.

The various circuits inside the box are complicated and tangled, like a huge spider web.

He scanned the switches and soon discovered the problem - the main power switch had been turned off at some point.

"Found it!" There was a hint of excitement in Zhou Yimin's voice.

He reached out and grasped the switch handle, took a deep breath, and then pushed it upwards with force.

Almost at the same time, the machine made a "buzzing" sound, and the roar that had been silent for a long time sounded again.

The conveyor belt began to turn slowly, and the crusher made the familiar sound again.

"All right! All right!" The surrounding villagers burst into cheers.

The old Party Secretary finally smiled on his tense face. He patted Zhou Yimin on the shoulder and said, "Good boy! You are the savior of our village!"

Zhou Zhiming was puzzled. He approached Zhou Yimin and asked anxiously, "Yimin, what's wrong with this machine? Why didn't I notice it?"

Zhou Yimin wiped the sweat from his forehead and patiently explained: "It just tripped. You see, once this switch is overloaded or short-circuited, it will automatically disconnect to protect the safety of the machine and personnel."

Zhou Zhiming scratched his head, still a little puzzled: "But I checked the voltage and circuit, there is no problem?"

Zhou Yimin smiled and said: "A trip is not necessarily caused by a line fault. It may also be caused by an instantaneous excessive current, or someone accidentally touching the switch. In the future, when you encounter such a situation, you should first check the power supply, which is the most easily overlooked part."

After listening to Zhou Yimin's explanation, Zhou Zhiming suddenly understood and nodded repeatedly: "So that's how it is! Yimin, thanks to you! I learned another trick!"

The surrounding villagers also gathered around and asked questions. Zhou Yimin patiently answered them one by one, and the scene became a makeshift classroom.

The old branch secretary looked at this scene and smiled with relief.

He knew that Zhoujiazhuang’s current success was inseparable from capable people like Zhou Yimin.

What made him even happier was that young people like Zhou Zhiming were also growing up.

The old Party secretary said loudly, "The machine has been repaired. Let's get to work! Don't delay feed production!"

As the machines began to roar again, the tense atmosphere in the feed processing plant dissipated instantly.

The old secretary's wrinkled face showed a long-lost smile. He waved the pipe in his hand and shouted loudly: "Don't just stand there, hurry up and take your positions. Work hard to make up for the lost production!"

Zhou Zhiming took the initiative to step forward and take charge. He wiped the sweat off his forehead and gave instructions in a loud voice: "Erzhu, Dazhu, you are responsible for moving the newly delivered wheat bran to the crusher. Xiulan, Aunt Zhao, check the buckles of the conveyor belt and make sure there are no more problems. The rest of you, prepare the feed formula!"

Everyone responded and took action quickly. The originally quiet factory was suddenly filled with the sounds of busy footsteps and tools colliding.

Erzhu and Dazhu gathered their strength, carrying bags of wheat bran weighing over a hundred pounds on their shoulders, and walked towards the grinder with steady steps.

The bran bags rubbed against their shoulders, making a rustling sound, and finely divided bran fell from the mouth of the bags, leaving a faint trail behind them.

"Dazhu, try harder!"

Erzhu gritted his teeth and said, "If I don't complete the task today, I won't be able to go to the canteen to eat tonight!"

Dazhu's face flushed, and he responded in a muffled voice: "Don't worry! I can do it!"

Xiulan and Aunt Zhao squatted beside the conveyor belt, tightening the buckles with wrenches in their hands.

As Xiulan checked, she kept saying, "I hope there won't be any more problems. Whenever the machine stops, my heart is in my throat."

Aunt Zhao smiled and patted the back of her hand: "Don't be afraid, with Yimin and Zhiming here, we can overcome any difficulties. Check carefully this time, and we have to pay more attention to ourselves in the future."

The two of them worked in perfect harmony, and in a short while they had reinforced the buckles of the entire conveyor belt.

Zhou Yimin did not leave immediately. He stood beside the feed preparation table and instructed the villagers to adjust the formula.

"The ratio of corn flour and soybean meal needs to be fine-tuned,"

He picked up the measuring cup and patiently explained, "Now is the time for the livestock to gain weight, so they need to get enough nutrition."

Although everyone didn't understand, they knew that Zhou Yimin understood, so they did whatever Zhou Yimin said, and this way they would never make mistakes.

Amid the roar of the machine, the grinder began to "chew" the bran happily. The golden bran cascaded down like a waterfall and was sent to the mixing area by the conveyor belt.

The feed ingredients mixed with corn meal, soybean meal and bone meal tumble and blend in the huge mixing barrel, emitting bursts of the fresh aroma of grains.

As the mixing is completed, the feed flows out continuously from the discharge port. The villagers push carts, pack the feed into woven bags, and stack them neatly in the warehouse.

Time passed quietly in the busyness, and in the blink of an eye it was noon.

The old branch secretary came to the processing plant again. Looking at the feed bags gradually piling up in the warehouse, the smile on his face became even bigger.

"Everyone, take a break and have some mung bean soup!" he called out, and the women from the logistics team immediately walked into the factory carrying wooden barrels filled with mung bean soup.

The mung bean soup was still steaming, and its sweet aroma filled the air, dispelling some of the fatigue.

Erzhu took the bowl of mung bean soup, drank it all in one gulp, wiped his mouth and said, "After drinking this mung bean soup, I feel full of energy again!"

The others also agreed with a smile, and after a short rest, they threw themselves into the intense production again.

(End of this chapter)