Development of productivity started in 1981

Chapter 28 Returning Home and 818 Meeting
1981年8月17日，农历7月18日
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The three of them packed their luggage and checked out early in the morning. The father even carefully counted the 10 yuan in his wallet, fearing that some of it was missing.

I had Guangfeng mutton noodles at a nearby breakfast stall.

While having breakfast, Wang Jiankun discovered that there were so many stalls selling breakfast nearby, which he had not seen the previous few times he came. At that time, there were only one or two stalls, but this time he saw so many stalls, selling noodles, buns, steamed buns and fried dough sticks.

It seems that people who live close to the city are smarter and bolder. We need to let the cadres in the team come out to see the development of the city and the money-making spirit of these people.

It is true that the city changes not just every day but every month.

Now, as long as you dare to think and act, business opportunities are everywhere.

After breakfast, the three of them set off.

This time Wang Jiankun rode a motorcycle back. He walked in front, while his father and Hu Xiyang continued to learn how to drive and slowly followed behind.

We agreed to meet at the entrance of the guesthouse of Dexing Copper Mine at 11 am.

Wang Jiankun planned to go to Dexing first to buy some more rare earth elements. The truck could still carry about 1 ton of goods, so the transportation capacity should not be wasted.

I will have fewer opportunities to come to Dexing next month when I go to school, so I'd better buy some now and make them into flints for stockpiling.

He came to the rare earth mine he had visited last time. The person in charge saw that he was riding a domineering black motorcycle this time and said with a smile, "You are here to buy ore again. What are you going to do with it?"

"I didn't do anything. I just made some small things and sold them to people in Zhejiang Province. They gave us the technology and asked us to help with the production. They bought all the products. To be honest, I don't know what the use of them is."

"That should be very profitable, since you can ride such a nice motorcycle."

"It's hard-earned money, and that stuff is toxic when it's produced, so I give you some compensation for each batch you make."

"What exactly did you do? Can you show me?"

"You can take a look, but you probably won't see any use for it."

Wang Jiankun used his superpowers to temporarily make a large flint, as big as a finger, and gave it to the person in charge.

The person in charge looked at the black and gray cylinder for a while but couldn't understand it, so he said, "Do you know what this is used for?"

The person in charge was just trying to trick people. He saw that Wang Jiankun went from walking to riding a bicycle to riding a motorcycle in less than a month, and he realized that it was these minerals that made this guy rich.

In fact, he was right. The rare earth elements here did save Wang Jiankun a lot of trouble, but it was not necessary to buy them here.

He has already heard that there are some small factories or entire families that mine this mineral and sell it.

There are dealers and middlemen here who buy and sell to the Japanese and Americans.

These Japanese and Americans also kept secrets and controlled the purchase price. Because they bought directly with foreign exchange, the price was half or more cheaper than Wang Jiankun's.

Wang Jiankun offered a high price just to give those who were mining the minerals a comparison and to prevent them from selling it so cheaply.

If the person in charge was greedy and insisted that Wang Jiankun hand over the technology and customers, Wang Jiankun decided to ignore him and go to small workshops or middlemen to buy from him.

Fortunately, the person in charge was still clear-headed and did not refuse to sell the ore just because Wang Jiankun did not explain clearly.

This time, Wang Jiankun bought ore in an amount that could be used to extract one ton of useful elements, and transported it to the same place as last time to unload it.

Watching the car go away, Wang Jiankun extracted the elements into wooden boxes and transported them on his motorcycle several times to the door of the guesthouse where he was waiting for his father and Hu Xiyang and others.

Not long after, Hu Xiyang drove to the door of the guesthouse. Wang Jiankun and the two of them loaded the boxes into the car one by one. After that, they went to a nearby restaurant called Huaiyang cuisine for dinner.

This was also Wang Jiankun's first time in this restaurant. Judging from the decoration, it should have just opened in the past two months, so he asked the boss to serve some of their signature dishes.

Huaiyang cuisine has a light taste, with one squirrel mandarin fish, one crystal tenderloin, one soft-shelled eel, one large boiled dried shredded vegetable, and the staple food is Yangzhou fried rice.

The food looked delicious and the three of them were hungry, so they started eating.

My father has always had a strong taste and couldn't get used to such light and sweet dishes. However, he liked fried rice, so he only ate fried rice and even ordered another portion later if it wasn't enough.

Wang Jiankun actually likes this kind of sweet and fresh taste of dishes. Maybe he is still growing and is very accustomed to sweet taste.

Hu Xiyang, on the other hand, ate a little bit of every dish. According to him, after serving in the army for several years, he had to adapt to all tastes. During the war, he even had to eat dry rations for a week.

The three of them took a break after eating. There were not many people coming in to eat, and Wang Jiankun saw that the boss was free, so he chatted with him.

According to the boss, many businessmen from his hometown often come here to buy ore and raw materials, and go back to complain that the food from Jiangxi Province is too heavy in taste. If there is a Huaiyang restaurant, they will definitely go there to eat every day.

So he quit his job as a chef at a local hotel and came here to open this restaurant. There were fewer people coming to eat at noon, but more people at night because the big bosses usually had social events at night.

After two months, I earn more than working as a local chef. If business is good, I will bring my family over to help.

Wang Jiankun didn't expect that people in coastal areas were so bold and open-minded that they would quit their jobs and run hundreds of kilometers away to start a business when they heard about an uncertain business opportunity.

After the break, Wang Jiankun wished the boss better business, and the boss was happy to waive the few extra dollars.

As usual, Wang Jiankun rode away first on his bike, and the truck drove slowly behind.

When they arrived at the Wangjia Production Team, passers-by saw Wang Jiankun driving back in such a cool car and ran around him. A group of children heard the noise and ran over.

There were too many people on the road, so Wang Jiankun had to get out of the car and walk with support.

This motorcycle was a new thing for everyone in the production team, and some of them had never heard of the name.

When he got home, Wang Jiankun took his luggage and money back to his room and then came out.

Everyone was talking at once, asking Wang Jiankun what kind of bike it was and how it could be ridden without pedals.

Wang Jiankun introduced that this is a motorcycle. The principle is similar to installing an engine on a bicycle frame to rotate the wheels, so people don’t need to pedal.

Whether you understand it or not, it is a bicycle that can be ridden automatically by pressing a switch.

Adults and children came up to touch it one after another. Wang Jiankun quickly ran to the exhaust pipe to stop those who wanted to touch it, saying, "You can't touch the exhaust pipe and the engine in the middle. It will burn your hands. I rode all the way back and these two places are particularly hot. If you want to touch it, touch other places. You can also sit on it and feel it."

After hearing what he said, adults and children knew that they should not touch those two places. Some ignorant kids wanted to touch them but were stopped by others. Wang Jiankun stood by the car to maintain order and allowed two people to sit on it and feel it.

If some people sat on the seats and didn't want to get off, the people behind them would start to pull them away, and the scene was a bit chaotic. Later, it was the grandfather who came and calmed the situation down, and everyone sat there obediently for a while and then got off.

After about half an hour, the crowd gradually dispersed, and Wang Jiankun had time to tell his grandfather about the motorcycle and the trip to Raozhou.

Ask grandpa to help find a few young and strong guys to pull the cart. When the truck arrives, there will be a lot of things to be transported back.

After a while, my grandfather came to the side of the road with a few young people, two buses and a cart.

Everyone chatted as they waited, and most of the time they listened to Wang Jiankun talk about his experiences in Raozhou, how to ride a motorcycle like that, what was sold outside, and what televisions looked like.

Young people like new things and chatted non-stop around Wang Jiankun.

It took a long time for Hu Xiyang to arrive in his truck. Because the 5-kilometer dirt road from Fengshan to Wangjia Production Team had just begun to be widened and hardened, the truck could only move slowly, almost an hour slower than Wang Jiankun's ride on a bicycle.

When the car arrived, everyone got up and started working quickly, and under the command of Wang Jiankun, they transported the boxes away one by one.

Those that should be taken to the lighter factory were taken directly to the lighter factory, and those that should be taken home were taken home. It took 8 trips back and forth to complete the transportation.

After unloading the goods, Hu Xiyang turned the truck around and drove back to Tsinghua University. The money had already been paid when he arrived.

Hu Xiyang likes this kind of work very much as it earns a lot of money. He told Wang Jiankun to go to him if he has work this month and he will find time to do it.

Wang Jiankun said that he might have to make three more trips in the remaining ten days of this month, about one trip every three to four days, and asked him to make sure to save time, as he would go to Tsinghua to find him one day in advance.

Wang Jiankun checked to see if the unloaded goods were separated as required, and only breathed a sigh of relief after checking that there were no problems.

It feels like I have been talking non-stop since I got home. I told my grandfather to wash up and rest first, and we can talk while eating in the evening.

Seeing that his face and body were covered in dust, his grandfather asked him to wash up and rest first while he went to visit a few factories.

After washing up, Wang Jiankun went into the room to take a nap and began to plan the future industrial development of the Wangjia Production Team in his mind.

The idea is to develop more than 10 production teams in Fengshan Commune with the lighter factory as the main one, and the furniture factory (upgraded wood processing factory) and bamboo products factory as the auxiliary ones. Wang Jiankun of the lighter factory will take most of the profits from sales, because all the materials, equipment and technology are provided by Wang Jiankun.

The furniture factory and bamboo products factory did not share any profits, leaving them all to the team.

In the initial stage, Wang Jiankun will provide equipment, production technology and drawings, and the team will be responsible for production and sales.

We have to pay my father for transportation. It would be even better if the team could buy a second or third truck. My father would then be responsible for transporting lighters and lighter raw materials.

With these three industries as the center, production teams and communes transformed from an agricultural economy to an economy combining industry and agriculture.

We should take advantage of the situation to promote changes in the distribution pattern, thereby liberating and developing productivity and achieving the goal of common prosperity.

The overall plan was clear, and Wang Jiankun thought of several specific measures.

He used his super powers to write them down one by one on paper, and would discuss them with his grandfather in the evening and then communicate with the team leaders tomorrow.

When it is almost dark, my mother comes back and cooks dinner with my grandmother. Now every household in the team has delayed the time for cooking dinner because we have electric lights. We can do more work outside during daylight, so it doesn’t matter if dinner is late because we have electric lights.

When my sister saw Wang Jiankun coming out, she pestered him to take her out on his motorcycle.

Wang Jiankun fulfilled her wish and took her on a motorcycle to the road, drove to the Shibao Production Team, stopped at the primary school gate and then returned.

After getting off the car, my sister went to the kitchen to share her joy with her mother. My mother was also happy to see her happy.

She herself was not curious about motorcycles, but her father and brother took her for a ride on motorcycles when she was a child.

But now I have no news from my relatives. I am happy but also regretful. In the past few years, I would send letters back to my hometown every year, but until now I have not received a single letter or telegram. I don’t know how my brother and sisters are doing.

I put away my sadness and continued cooking. Now that our family is better off, I buy some meat every now and then. My daughter is not so thin anymore, and my son is even more successful. He does things that many adults cannot do.

The family ate under the electric light. My father and grandfather took out some liquor and poured half a bowl, and they ate and drank.

At the dinner table, Wang Jiankun told his grandfather and family two stories he had experienced.

One is that breakfast stalls have sprung up like mushrooms near Raozhou Guesthouse.

Another one was a chef from Jiangsu Province who resigned from his job and went to Dexing to open a restaurant and become a boss after hearing news of a fortune that was uncertain of success.

These two things show that the national policy has clearly shifted to focus on economic development, and people close to the policy center and information center have consciously begun to focus on money.

In the past, whether in cities or rural areas, people’s hands and feet were restricted. People in cities earned only a few dozen yuan a month, and they needed tickets for everything.

Rural areas are given tens or even tens of yuan each year for several hundred kilograms of grain, which can only be used to buy necessities, and industrial products can only be bought from those that cannot be sold in the city.

Now the policy is gradually being relaxed. As long as something can make money, people will dare to do it, and policies no longer prevent it.

So it's time for our family and our team to make some changes. Although the existing factories can make some money, it is still too little for the hundreds of people in the entire production team.

Grandpa asked Wang Jiankun, "Isn't this enough? This year, our production team will get at least 100 yuan more per household than other teams."

Wang Jiankun said that this is far from enough. The world is developing very fast now, and there are more and more people who are rich and can make money.

For example, the wholesale price of a lighter is 11 yuan, but the retail price is at least 15 yuan or even more than 20 yuan, and the supply is in short supply.

It was the first time for everyone except my father to know that a lighter could be sold for so much money. It doesn’t look complicated at all.

Wang Jiankun said that it does involve some technical content. The equipment was not obtained casually, and the mold was made by him using his university knowledge of mechanics. Not many people know how to make flints and springs.

Wang Jiankun made a braided piece of flint and spring with the guidance of an American from Dexing Cable Factory who saw that Wang Jiankun had helped. Most people in China could not even analyze what materials to use.

Anyway, the American should be returning home next month, so even if others find out about him they won’t be able to find him.

After chatting about these things and finishing their meal, Wang Jiankun went to the room and took out the plan and several suggestions he had written in the afternoon to show his grandfather and father.

After watching it, the two said that there should be no problem in expanding the lighter factory and the hydropower station, but they were not sure about the rest.

Although they will support Wang Jiankun, if other people in the team do not change their minds, bad things might happen.

Wang Jiankun suggested convening a meeting of all team members, including team leaders, tomorrow. He would present his ideas at the meeting and try to agree on as many as possible.

Grandpa nodded in agreement, saying that only when thoughts are unified first can execution be more effective.

August 1981, 8, is a day that will be remembered by generations to come in the Wangjia Production Team.

After breakfast that day, Grandpa took Wang Jiankun to the production team office, and four team cadres, four team leaders and Wang Jiankun started a meeting.

As the team leader, my grandfather spoke first and stated that the theme of the meeting was "Wangjia Production Team's First Five-Year Development Plan."

The main discussion was about Wang Jiankun's proposal of having one factory as the main and two factories as the auxiliary, so that the Wangjia Production Team could transform from an agricultural economy to an economy with industry as the main and agriculture as the auxiliary, and achieve modernization in small steps and fast progress.

Wang Jiankun walked to the front of the conference room, hung the blueprint on the blackboard in the conference room, and explained his construction ideas to everyone.

The first factory is a lighter factory with a monthly production capacity of 10 in the first phase and 20 in the second phase.

The second factory is a furniture factory. We will upgrade the current wood factory, buy some electric equipment, increase manpower, and make furniture that city dwellers like.

The third one is a mahjong mat factory. The raw materials are bamboo that is more than 2 years old and less than 5 years old. The finished products are mainly sold to Guangdong Province and Phuoc Province.

Around these three factories, a hydropower station will be expanded, a coal-fired generator driven by a boiler-camel machine will be built, roads will be expanded, and people will be sent to Raozhou and even the provincial capital Hongdu to build wholesale and retail outlets.

To build so many factories, a lot of manpower is definitely needed, and even after the factories are built, a lot of manpower is still needed. Wang Jiankun suggested recruiting people from nearby production teams.

All factory wages are paid in cash, and work points are no longer recorded. Except for the team's public agricultural production, which still records work points, all other services to the factory and work inside are paid in cash, and payment is based on the amount of completion.

In addition, team members went to Raozhou in batches to investigate and see the reform and opening-up measures outside and the production and living conditions of other people.

After saying this, the team leaders looked at each other, and the atmosphere became a little awkward for a moment.

Grandpa stood up and asked the team leaders to express their views on the plan, both those who agreed and those who disagreed.

The team cadres spoke in turn, and to sum up, there were a few questions: where did the money come from, how to ensure the sales of the factory's products, and whether the commune would deal with paying workers for work in the factory without recording work points.

Wang Jiankun explained the questions one by one.

The first problem is money. The construction is carried out in batches. Bricks and tiles are all produced by the team. In addition to the monthly wages, Wang Jiankun will provide other materials and equipment, which will be offset by the lighter processing fee.

Product sales are divided into three parts. The team does not need to consider lighters at all. The team is only responsible for processing.

The furniture factory will first produce in small batches and sell them in Raozhou for trial sales, and then gradually add staff once sales start to increase.

Mahjong mats are similar to furniture factories, and can be built last. Production will start before the end of the year, and they will be shipped to Guangdong and Fujian provinces for sale in the early spring of next year, and then slowly sold to Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces.

As for whether the public commune will come to deal with it, Wang Jiankun said there is no need to worry. Our company is a collective enterprise and how to pay labor remuneration is our own business. Apart from paying enough public grain, the commune does not actually care about anything.

After answering everyone's questions, the team leaders still had some concerns. Wang Jiankun settled for the next best option and asked if they could expand the lighter factory and hydropower station first, as these two things were guaranteed not to result in losses.

The other two factories and some construction projects will be decided after an inspection in Raozhou.

The team leaders then agreed and went on to discuss the ownership and construction issues of the lighter factory.

The ownership of the factory belongs entirely to the collective, and the production team has the right to dispose of all profits, but can only process them on behalf of Wang Jiankun. The equipment invested by Wang Jiankun is paid for by the factory's profits, and can be offset by processing fees until they are fully offset.

The address must be placed on the roadside. If it occupies someone’s private land, compensation can be paid or the land can be exchanged for another piece of land somewhere else.

We will give priority to recruiting people from our team. If there are not enough, we will recruit people from other production teams, but the construction must be completed within one month.

The expansion of the hydropower station was immediately put on the agenda. Wang Jiankun went to deal with the generators and transformers, and the team sent people to purchase other materials. Civil work began immediately.

Although not all the ideas were achieved at this meeting, it was within Wang Jiankun's expectations. He believed that the team leaders would fully support him after the inspection.

After the meeting, a full team meeting was held, with representatives from each household attending to convey the meeting decisions, so that team members can work with peace of mind and that their lives will get better and better.

(End of this chapter)