1968: Started from breeding

Chapter 211 Yes, I am a donkey, so let's see how efficient I am at grinding! (Two in One)

North Bay Commune.

When Su Wenchen hurriedly came to the commune again, he found that there were a lot more people in the commune now.

However, most of them were educated youth who had gone to the countryside and were wearing faded military uniforms or floral blouses.

However, many people walked into the postal agency with expectant eyes, and then walked out with disappointed faces.

Obviously, they had just arrived in the countryside not long ago and had probably almost spent all the savings they brought with them. They were very much looking forward to their family mailing them some of the things they needed.

But in just a short while, Su Wenchen saw several young people going in empty-handed and coming out empty-handed.

Only a very small number of educated youth would happily walk out of the commune's postal agency carrying their packages.

Su Wenchen looked at these young men and women along the way and found that the arrival of these young educated youth still brought some different atmosphere to the commune.

Especially some local young people who are just beginning to fall in love.

Looking at these young female educated youth who came from the city, they are all extremely attentive.

Su Wenchen even saw in the crowd the son of their brigade accountant Li Xiangdong, walking out of the supply and marketing cooperative with a pretty female educated youth with a very attentive look on his face.

Judging from the large pile of things the other party was carrying, most of them were used by the female educated youth.

It would be fine if the money was spent by the other person himself, but if it was paid by that guy, Su Wenchen felt that this guy was definitely being taken advantage of.

Su Wenchen didn't even see any gratitude on the face of the female educated youth. She just came out, took her things and turned away.

As a result, the boy followed him happily.

See this scene.

Not only Su Wenchen, but even the old man squatting on the stone mill smoking a pipe sneered.

"He is such a loser. He rushes to offer benefits to others and even tries to fawn on them. Even the golden phoenix in the city doesn't like him."

Su Wenchen saw clearly that even if this guy really caught the girl in the end, judging from the situation, he would probably marry a nobody to worship.

Even if the college entrance examination is resumed seven or eight years later, people may not be able to keep it.

Anyway, Su Wenchen felt that Uncle Dong might have something to worry about in the future.

I went straight to the commune office compound, but was stopped just as I arrived at the gate.

"What for!"

But before he could finish his words, he recognized Su Wenchen.

Looking at the dirty Su Wenchen, he said hesitantly.

"Director Su? What are you doing?"

To be honest, if Su Wenchen's expression hadn't changed, he would have thought that he was from somewhere begging for food.

Su Wenchen waved his hand.

"Just got back from a business trip. Is your Deputy Director Jiang here?"

Hearing what Su Wenchen said, the other party shook his head and spoke directly.

"Director Jiang has been leading people to Shuanggou Brigade these days to study the process of making rabbit skins with nitrate."

"I haven't been to the commune for several days."

Su Wenchen did not expect that Jiang Li's progress was so fast that she even started to study nitrated leather.

After saying hello, Su Wenchen went straight to Shuanggou Brigade.

When he arrived at Shuanggou Brigade, Su Wenchen found out the place where leather was tanned without much asking, and the location was even not far downstream from their Blue Water Field.

If Su Wenchen came here directly, it wouldn't even take ten minutes.

On a river beach, three adobe houses formed a courtyard.

As soon as Su Wenchen approached, he could smell a strong smell of Glauber's salt mixed with the fishy smell of animal fur.

courtyard.

Twelve large black pottery vats were lined up along the wall, and some processed rabbit skins were being dried in the sun.

Several young men wearing sleeves were stirring the solution clockwise with a relatively thick jujube wood stick, causing the nitrate liquid in the tank to bubble up and emit bubbles like oil stars.

An older master was observing the foamy state of the nitrate solution while teaching.

"Be flexible! Like stirring cornmeal!"

"Remember, if there is yellow foam, add Glauber's salt, and if there is black foam, change the water."

Seeing the old master muttering, someone couldn't help but speak.

"Master Tao, you've said it a hundred times, and I can recite it by heart."

The old master said unhappily.

"It's no use to recite it by heart. You have to remember it and observe it carefully."

"Tree roots! Didn't you see that your tank is filled with black foam? Change the water immediately!"

But before the old master could say a few more words, he happened to see Su Wenchen walking over, and the old master raised his hand to refuse.

"I've said it so many times. We are just conducting an experiment here. We are not hiring for the time being. Just go back to your team and wait for news. When we really need to recruit workers, we will notify your teams."

"No, you can go a few steps upstream and ask at the state-owned farm over there."

The other party obviously thought Su Wenchen was looking for a job, and this might not be the first wave.

After all, it is still quite respectable to find a job that pays a salary at this time, so naturally many well-informed people come here in advance to try their luck.

"I'm here to see your Deputy Director Jiang Li? I heard that she..."

"A Chen?"

Before he finished speaking, Jiang Li happened to come out of the house with a few employees, looking at her sweetheart in the distance with some surprise.

Although Su Wenchen's hair, beard and clothes all looked like they had not been taken care of for a long time.

But Jiang Li still recognized it at first sight.

next moment.

He immediately ran towards Su Wenchen and was about to take action.

Suddenly remembering that there were other people present, Jiang Li controlled her emotions and did not rush over. She could only speak with concern.

"When did you come back? How come you have lost so much weight?"

Su Wenchen scratched his head.

"Have I lost weight? Why do I feel fatter?"

"But I just came back, and I didn't even have time to pack up before I could help but go to the commune to look for you. When I heard you were here, I came here immediately."

He said this while looking at Jiang Li with a longing look.

Hearing Su Wenchen's passionate expression, Jiang Li couldn't help but feel homesick.

I could only try to divert my attention with work, so I introduced him directly to Su Wenchen.

"Achen, this is the rabbit skin that our commune made by tanning. Come on, I'll take you to the house to see the finished product."

As he said this, he took Su Wenchen into the house with some excitement.

After the two of them went in.

Several young men who were stirring the nitrate liquid with wooden sticks were whispering.

"That's Director Jiang's sweetheart? I don't think she's that good! Why is she so dirty?"

"You know nothing. Didn't you hear that he just returned from a long business trip?"

"And look at Director Jiang's little womanly look just now. If we weren't here, believe me, she would have jumped into the forest right away."

"You know what? I really think she looks like that. Director Jiang used to have a serious expression all day long. I thought she couldn't smile. It seems like she just hasn't met the right person."

The few old masters who had just followed Jiang Li out were very tactful and did not follow in. Instead, they spoke directly to the young people.

"Stop talking nonsense and just get to work."

"If you don't want to do this, just leave tomorrow. There are plenty of people who want to come here."

Several young people curled their lips, but did not dare to refute anything.

Su Wenchen followed Jiang Li into the small workshop and found that it was divided into several processes including saltpeter soaking, tanning, rinsing, etc.

There were even large handwritten words on the wall: "First check the water temperature, second observe the color, and third test the flexibility to ensure you pass!"

Su Wenchen looked like they had obviously been working for quite a few days, and he asked curiously.

"Ali, are you guys starting work right now? The leather rabbits in our farm should not have been slaughtered yet!"

Jiang Li knew what Su Wenchen meant and explained directly.

"Nitrate leather is a technical skill, and we are not proficient in the process technology at present, so I will arrange to experiment with hare skin for a period of time."

"Currently, the more advanced technology for tanning leather is in the hands of large state-owned factories, and they are basically the main local industries. When I asked them, they ignored me."

"Even if I asked Uncle He to use the county's name, they still wouldn't agree."

"So we can only use this traditional method to make saltpeter, and then slowly improve it ourselves. Now the pass rate of our small workshop is only over 70%. I asked the state-owned factories and they can reach a pass rate of 90%."

Su Wenchen was a little surprised.

"It's good enough for you to reach 70 right away. They have been developing for many years. If you catch up with them right away, those people in the state-owned factories will be eating for free!"

The two of them opened the door curtain while talking.

Walking into the room where the processed furs are stored, rows of soft and shiny furs that have been nitrated are hung on wooden sticks in the room.

Su Wenchen walked over, picked up a piece of nitrated leather and touched it.

He found that the nitrate-processed fur was not bad. The hare skin was not a high-end fur, but it was relatively soft and smooth to the touch, and it gave him a light and fluffy feeling when he touched it.

"You guys made good nitre! This should be very warm and comfortable to use for hats, scarves, etc."

Jiang Li came over and nodded.

"The ones you just touched are all top-grade. They are specially selected with hairs longer than 3cm and without defects. We supply them directly to the Foreign Trade Bureau at a price of RMB per hide. I heard that our country will export them to Eastern Europe at a price of RMB per hide. We will then exchange them for some of the technology and equipment we need."

"My friend in the Foreign Trade Bureau said that we have to use 100,000 rabbit skins to get a set of advanced foreign equipment, and they are usually picky about it. Sometimes they even deliberately find faults and return some to us. Many of these returned ones are deliberately damaged during their inspection. It's simply bullying!"

Su Wenchen also knew that what could be sold domestically at this time were basically raw materials, and people were just sure of it. Even if the price was very high, you had to accept it with a pinch of your nose.

But he still underestimated Jiang Li.

"I didn't expect you to have friends in the Foreign Trade Bureau, male or female?"

Jiang Li blinked.

"you guess?"

Su Wenchen rolled his eyes.

"My little kid! You still guess!"

Jiang Li pursed her lips.

"They were jealous and said they were not children, but good friends in the compound. After graduating from high school, they were arranged by their family to work in the Foreign Trade Bureau."

"Hehe, although her starting point is higher than mine, her current level is not as high as mine."

"She has been working for so long, but she is still only a second-level clerk at the administrative level of 20 in the bureau, while I am already a deputy director at the administrative level of 18!"

"When I wrote to her, she didn't believe it. Now she envies me and says she is being treated like a grandson in the bureau."

Looking at Jiang Li with her little chest puffed out, Su Wenchen couldn't help laughing.

"Look how proud you are. Can the position in Jing City be the same as the position in our commune?"

"Hmph, don't worry about it. Anyway, I'm not behind them." Su Wenchen nodded. Indeed, according to the future development trend, it would be a good time for Jiang Li to slowly settle down for a few years.

At least it's safe.

Moreover, for someone like her who came from a big compound, even without the help of her parents, the friends she has known since childhood are a network of contacts that most people would find difficult to access.

Just like this incident, ordinary people at that time probably didn't even know what the Foreign Trade Bureau was doing.

However, Jiang Li could directly get in touch with her best friend and sell the products to the Foreign Trade Bureau at a high price.

Moreover, Su Wenchen also discovered that Jiang Li had made rapid progress during this period and had already taken the initiative to utilize her own resource advantages within the legal scope.

Then Su Wenchen looked at the inferior rabbit skins.

"How are you going to arrange these?"

"This kind of second-grade fur has smooth labels and no obvious defects. We have negotiated a price with the county supply and marketing cooperative and will buy it for 1.2 yuan per piece."

"The remaining C-grade ones are basically those with damaged fur, holes, or obvious defects in the fur."

"The supply and marketing cooperative only gave me 60 cents, and they gave it to me out of respect, so I didn't plan to sell it."

"We will stay here to make fur hats and other fur clothing to gain experience in clothing. Just like you said, we will make fur coats and export them to earn foreign exchange in the future."

"In the early stage, we will use these furs of relatively low quality to gradually become proficient, and then sell the products directly to our commune members at a lower price. Many of them will not mind the poor quality."

"Once the workers have become more skilled, we will gradually use better furs."

Su Wenchen nodded. He could see that Jiang Li took each step more steadily this time.

"Where did you get these rabbit skins? Has a team in our commune started raising rabbits?"

Jiang Li shook her head.

"No, the commune encouraged its members to catch wild rabbits. It was OK at first, but it's not easy now."

As he said this, he looked at Su Wenchen with some anticipation.

"Whether this industry can be developed depends on whether you can raise the fur rabbits you mentioned."

"I have inquired with the Foreign Trade Bureau. There is a shortage of first-class Rex rabbit fur now. The leather factories can supply it to the Foreign Trade Bureau at 15 yuan per piece after tanning it."

"If it is made into a fur coat, it will be even more expensive, several hundred yuan per piece! But I heard that people have very high standards. There are very few finished fur coats sold at the Canton Fair every year, and most of them are high-end furs such as mink."

Su Wenchen saw Jiang Li looking at him expectantly.

"Don't tell me, I really helped you a lot this time. With your small workshop, I'm afraid you won't be able to handle the Rex rabbits we raise in the farm in the future."

Jiang Li looked at Su Wenchen with some confusion.

"Didn't you say that your farm only planned to raise a few thousand rabbits for breeding?"

"If there are more, do you have anything to feed them?"

Su Wenchen hung the soft rabbit skin on the rack again and walked out like Jiang Li and said.

"I found a forage supplier on the way. We will mainly purchase forage from them in the future. We will decide how many Rex rabbits to raise based on the forage they grow."

Jiang Li opened her eyes wide, somewhat incredulous.

"what?"

“Are there any places that don’t grow food but only grow grass?”

"Their local commune doesn't care?"

"Then what should we eat? We can't sell the grass at the same price as grain!"

Su Wenchen shook his head.

"Those who can grow food naturally cannot grow grass."

"The land of their commune is basically saline-alkali land in the Yellow River flood area. Only a small part of it has been transformed and can be used to grow food. The remaining large areas are still unable to grow food. Even some of the land that can be planted can hardly grow food."

"So I recommended that they plant a salt-tolerant grass and sell it to us. If nothing else, we can trade it with them for rabbit meat, which is a good deal for them."

"You don't know that they used to grow a plant called Suaeda salsa."

"Use this stuff to soak into steamed bread. The first bite is okay, but when you chew it later, it tastes bitter and astringent. It's even worse than steamed bread with wild vegetables."

“If they can grow their own grass, why don’t they do it themselves?”

"They probably can't raise many in a short period of time, because you haven't been to the Yellow River flood area over there. Except around the improved fields, grass can't grow anywhere else. The only plants that can grow are basically salt-tolerant plants."

"These plants are basically the same as salt-tolerant grasses. They all contain a certain amount of salt. If you feed them alone, rabbits will easily be unable to digest them."

"There is a kind of chicken there that eats this kind of salt-alkali-rich Suaeda grass for a long time. The eggs they lay have a light salty taste, just like sea duck eggs."

Hearing Su Wenchen being so knowledgeable, Jiang Li asked curiously.

"It's like pickled duck eggs. It doesn't even require pickling."

"It's not that exaggerated, just a light salty taste. If it is really pickled into salted eggs, it seems to be a good idea. Maybe it can have a different taste."

"But the yield is very low. Generally speaking, if they want to develop aquaculture, they still have to continue to repair and improve large areas of saline-alkali land."

"It won't work within three to five years at least!"

As they were talking, the two walked out of the room, and Su Wenchen looked up at the setting sun which was slightly tilted.

"When does Director Jiang get off work?"

"I think it's about time, otherwise it will be dark soon."

Looking at Su Wenchen's fiery eyes, Jiang Li's heart was moved. She hadn't seen him for so long and she missed him a lot.

He glanced at his watch and turned to speak to an old master.

"Master Tao, I have something to do today, so I'll leave early. I'll leave this to you."

Master Tao patted his chest.

"Don't worry, Director Jiang. Just leave this to me. You can take a day off tomorrow. Anyway, the leather has basically been tanned."

"There are basically no leathers being delivered now."

Jiang Li pondered for a while.

"That's fine. I'll go to the commune and tell Secretary He that I won't come tomorrow. If there's anything urgent, just go to Pingcun Brigade and call me."

"Okay, Director Jiang, if it's urgent, I'll have someone call you."

After leaving the workshop.

The two looked at each other, and both could read the lust in the other's eyes.

Obviously, during this period of time, not only Su Wenchen, but Jiang Li also had some repressed emotions that needed to be released.

"I went to the commune to ask for leave, why did you drag me to your farm?"

"Why go so far to the commune? Just go back and give Secretary He a call. We have been separated for nearly two months, and you still can't even give us two days of rest."

"If you really don't give me leave, I will go to his office tomorrow to watch over him. How can you order someone around like that?"

"Even the donkeys in the production team are afraid of getting tired, so they still have time to rest."

Jiang Li rolled her eyes when she heard this.

"You are the donkey of the production team!"

Su Wenchen chuckled.

"Yes, yes, yes. I am the donkey of the production team. Tonight I will let you know how efficient a donkey that has been holding back for two months is in grinding the mill."

"Oh, that's not necessarily true. I don't believe that a donkey like you can break the millstone."

"Student Ali, how much have you learned from the old ladies in the village? You can say anything now."

"Of course not. Besides, everyone in our commune knows that I am your wife. Why should I be shy?"

"I'm telling you, there are a lot of young girls in the team now, so don't have any bad intentions towards me."

Obviously, Su Wenchen had just returned, and although Jiang Li was very happy, she still felt a sense of crisis.

After all, as the deputy director of the commune, she hasn't seen a lot of shit happen during this period.

After all, the educated youth who came here were basically from big cities, ranging from fourteen or fifteen years old to those in their twenties.

There are those who want to work hard based on their own abilities, and naturally there are those who don't want to work hard and just want to enjoy what is ready.

Jiang Li was also afraid that Su Wenchen would lose control.

When Su Wenchen heard this, he immediately made the promise.

"There is no such thing as a pretty girl. In my eyes, you are the only pretty girl. If I really meet you, I won't even look at anyone else."

Although Jiang Li was happy to hear this, she still gave Su Wenchen a shot of prevention.

"Hmph, tell me if you can do it!"

"Don't be like your second brother and refuse anything."

Su Wenchen was a little stunned when he heard this.

"Is this true? My second brother cheated on his wife? He's not the kind of person that he is!"

"I didn't expect that he, with his thick eyebrows and big eyes, could have so many tricks up his sleeve."

Jiang Li glanced at Su Wenchen.

"Who knows? Everyone is just pretending until they see something prettier."

"But your second brother hasn't gone so far as to cheat on his wife. He doesn't even refuse a female educated youth when she approaches him. But if he continues like this, it's only a matter of time before this happens."

"Your second sister-in-law has now left all the iron heads in the house to your mother. She personally sends your second brother to work every day, guarding him like a thief."

Su Wenchen felt speechless when he heard this.

"Will it be useful just to defend like this?"

Jiang Li glanced at Su Wenchen.

"What else? Go to the educated youth camp and have a fight with them? Whoever wins gets to fight?"

"But it's not just your second brother. There are several young people in the team who have fought several times over these female educated youth."

"Fighting with the male educated youths and the young people in my own team."

"Some of them are not female educated youth, so what? They are just wishful thinking and like them."

"Let's not talk about anything else, just look at the family of Li Xiangdong, the accountant of the brigade. The marriage that had been arranged was unilaterally cancelled. Li Xiangdong, who never beat his children, was said to have broken a carrying pole but it was useless."

Su Wenchen pulled at his slightly grown beard.

"So the brigade is very busy during this period! It's a pity that I didn't get to eat the fresh melon."

Jiang Li rolled her eyes.

"It is lively, but not just in our brigade. As far as I know, all the brigades under the entire commune are lively."

"Secretary He has been dealing with a lot of bullshit these days and he can't even handle it all."

"Anyway, in the past two months, the number of people canceling their marriages in the various brigades below has increased compared to the previous two years. Some of the elderly wives in the village hate the educated youth who died."

"But not all of them are like this. Most of the educated youth went to work normally. Although they were not good at work, they did not intend to do anything messy."

"But sometimes, just a few of them come out and make the whole educated youth center dislike them."

Su Wenchen also knew that at this time, the girls in the team below had been working since they were young, and some even had to get up to work before dawn.

At this time, no matter her appearance, skin or temperament, she really can't compare with the girls in big cities.

In the past, the two groups had no contact at all, so naturally there weren't so many things going on.

But now that they are suddenly exposed to it, naturally some young people look down on the previous ones.

(End of this chapter)