Starting with vegetable greenhouses in 1988

Chapter 241 Building a House (Big Chapter)
In the afternoon, north of Daying Village.

Sunlight streamed through the plastic film, casting a bright glow inside the vegetable greenhouse.

Chen Shougeng squatted among the tomato seedlings, the earthy smell mingling with the raw, green scent of the seedlings filling the warm, humid air. He bent down and touched the ground with the back of his hand, then glanced at the thermometer hanging on the trellis—22℃, 65% humidity, just right.

With the scratching sound of his pen, he carefully recorded the data in a leather notebook, his handwriting as neat as a textbook. The notebook was already filled with densely packed numbers, from the transplanting date to the daily temperature and humidity, even the angle at which the leaves unfolded was marked.

These tomato seedlings, which were planted in advance, have just passed the seedling recovery period. Their stems are a healthy dark green, their leaves are fully extended, and they are growing well.

"Teacher Chen." A clear female voice came from the entrance of the shed. Zhou Qinghe lifted the plastic curtain and walked in. Her army green work pants were covered with mud. "Boss Li is back from Beijing. He said he's done with his work and would like you to come to shed number three."

Chen Shougeng closed his notebook, stuffed it into his pocket, and straightened up with a slight creak in his back. He looked at his student, so energetic yet devoid of the typical city girl's airs, and smiled. "I heard you're going to make a movie?"

Zhou Qinghe blushed and scratched her head: "It's Boss Li who wants to shoot a promotional video, specifically to promote the vegetable greenhouses." She pointed outside the greenhouse, "It will be screened outdoors in the surrounding villages so that the villagers can learn about vegetable greenhouses through the movie."

"That's a good thing." Chen Shougeng patted her on the shoulder and encouraged her, "Young people should dare to think and try. Do your best in the film. I've never seen my own students in a movie before. You're the first one."

"Please don't make fun of me, I'm just joining in the fun." Zhou Qinghe waved the record board in her hand.

Chen Shougeng left greenhouse number 24 and headed straight for greenhouse number 3.

It was warmer inside greenhouse number three. Old Li was squatting in the corner tying up bamboo poles when he saw Chen Shougeng come in. He quickly stood up and said, "Teacher Chen is here!"

"Teacher Chen, you've worked hard. Please sit down and rest for a while." Li Zhe picked up a small stool from the low table in the corner of the shed, poured jasmine tea into an enamel cup, and handed it to Chen Shougeng. "Teacher Chen, have some water."

Chen Shougeng took the teacup and sipped it. The tea was refreshing. "Mr. Li, Qinghe said you wanted to see me?"

"Wait a moment." Li Zhe turned and walked to the rammed earth wall, carrying two bags, one large and one small. He untied the knot, and some plump seeds rolled out of the sacks, one with light yellow patterns and the other a glossy dark green. "Teacher Chen, take a look at this."

Chen Shougeng's eyes suddenly lit up. He put down his teacup, leaned closer, picked up a few seeds with his fingertips, held them up to the light, and then smelled them. He looked up in surprise: "These are... the seeds of pickled cucumbers and green beans?"

His fingers trembled slightly as he held the seeds. "These are very rare in China. Where did you get so many?" Although agricultural universities also have similar seeds, they are mostly used for experiments, and it's impossible to find so many.

"I got these from a friend at the Beijing City Vegetable Company," Li Zhe said with a smile, pointing into the sack. "25 jin of green bean seeds and 5 jin of pickled cucumbers. Can you calculate how much land this many seeds can plant? How many vegetables can be grown? And how many tons can be canned?"

Chen Shougeng took out his notebook and pencil from his pocket, spread them out on his lap and started writing. “Pickled cucumbers are a bit delicate. Theoretically, you need more than 50 grams of seeds per mu, but the germination rate is only 70%-75%. To ensure 3000 to 3500 plants per mu, you actually need 65-75 grams.”

His pen flew across the paper, “Five catties of seeds…enough to plant about thirty mu of land.”

"What about the yield per mu?" Li Zhe leaned forward.

"The yield per mu is not high, about 5000 to 6500 jin." Chen Shougeng drew circles on his notebook and wrote down the word "loss". "The requirements for export fruit are strict. The fruit must be of moderate length and cannot have deformities or insect holes. Such fruit accounts for 70% to 75%, and the rest are inferior fruit."

In other words, one mu (approximately 0.16 acres) of land can yield about 4000 to 4500 jin (approximately 2,000 to 2,750 kilograms) of usable produce.

He paused, then calculated the canned food production: "In the Soviet Union, canned food is mostly packaged in 500-gram glass bottles. During processing, the ends must be removed and the water drained. After pickling, 15%-20% of the moisture will be lost. So, each can would require about 1.2-1.5 jin of fresh cucumbers."

He tapped the pencil on the paper. "One acre can produce 3000 to 3500 cans, and more than 30 acres can produce about 50 tons of canned food."

"What about green beans?" Old Li, who had been listening intently, couldn't help but interject.

"Green bean seeds are large, and you need 2.5-3 kilograms per mu, which is 5 to 6 jin." Chen Shougeng turned to a new page.
"25 jin of seeds can only plant 5 mu of land at most. This stuff needs to be watered and fertilized properly. Right now, we mainly rely on manual weeding and farmyard manure. The yield per mu is about 1800-2500 jin."

After accounting for losses and moisture, five mu (approximately 3 acres) of land will yield less than three tons of canned goods at most. He handed the notebook to Li Zhe, "These are all theoretical figures; the actual yield depends on the weather and management."

Li Zhe looked at the numbers in the notebook and his brows relaxed: "I plan to rent another forty mu of land from the village committee. That should be enough, right?"

"More or less." Chen Shougeng nodded and took a sip of tea.

Li Zhe retied the seed bag and handed it to Chen Shougeng, saying, "Keep these seeds safe for now. We'll discuss the planting plan in detail once I've rented the land."

Chen Shougeng took the sack, its heavy weight making his smile deepen: "I'll make a detailed planting plan tonight."

The two chatted for a few more minutes, and then Chen Shougeng left with the seeds, his steps lighter—he had never grown imported vegetables on a large scale in his life, which was a challenge for him.

Only the father and son remained in the shed. Old Li squatted down to continue tying bamboo poles and asked in a low voice, "Second son, what are you planning to do with these vegetables for canning?"

Li Zhe sat down at the low table and poured himself a cup of tea: "Dad, I want to rent a cannery and make canned goods myself."

Before returning to the village, Li Zhe talked to Shen Yanan. The Sino-Soviet trade negotiations were very successful, and she was confident that she could continue to get canned food orders to export to the Soviet Union. After careful discussion, the two decided to rent a cannery to produce canned food under their own brand.

He looked at the rows of plastic film outside the shed, his eyes shining, and explained, "Our friends in Beijing can get canned food orders for export to the Soviet Union. They need pickled cucumbers and green beans. These things are not grown much in China, so let's secure this channel first."

Old Li, who grows vegetables, isn't worried, but... renting a factory?

“You’ve never run a factory before, do you think this will work?” Old Li straightened up, his brows furrowed. “Besides, how much does it cost to rent a factory? What if you lose money?”

“There’s a first time for everything.” Li Zhe smiled. “Brother Jin promised to help me find a way, and maybe we can even expand into other sales channels. Besides, I’ve never done this before, but my second uncle has.”

Old Li was even more surprised: "Your second uncle? He's just a worker at the cannery, what help could he possibly offer?"

“He’s worked in the factory for over ten years and knows the production process and technology inside and out.” Li Zhe moved closer to his father. “I plan to rent a cannery in Wan’an Town and have my second uncle manage the production technology. I’ll personally oversee the management.”

He tapped his fingers on the table. "I've never managed a factory before, which is a weakness. This is a good opportunity to learn new skills and fill that gap so that I can expand my business in the future."

Looking into his son's eyes, Old Li's lips moved, but he swallowed back the worry he wanted to express.

He knew his second son had ideas, and the events of this period had proven that his son's judgment was indeed good.

"Go back and have a good talk with your second uncle. See what he has to say." Old Li couldn't change his son's mind; all he could do was help him fill in the gaps in his understanding.

Li Zhe suddenly remembered something, leaned back in the bamboo chair, and asked, "Dad, how's the matter about our family's house plot going?"

Old Li finished tying up the last bundle of bamboo poles, clapped his hands, and grinned: "All done! I bought another piece from Old Wang's house at the east end, so now I have four plots of land, two in front and two behind, making a complete plot."

He held up half a bamboo pole and traced shallow marks on the ground. “The four plots of land are 24 meters wide and 32 meters long. With the addition of a five-meter passageway, the north-south length becomes 37 meters. That place is square and has a very old-fashioned feel.”

Li Zhe's eyebrows twitched, and his fingers unconsciously tapped his knee: "The passageway in the front, back, and middle should belong to the collective. Will the village allow us to use it?"

"You think your father's a freeloader?" Old Li said smugly, tapping the ground with his stick. "I submitted an application to the village a long time ago. Our family is already an outlying household, so occupying the passageway doesn't obstruct the neighbors' way. I also gave eggs and malted milk powder to the neighbors in front and behind, and no one objected."

The village posted a notice a few days ago, and the public notice period just ended yesterday—it's approved! The passageway is now considered part of our property; it's completely connected now.

Li Zhe's eyes lit up, and he patted his father on the shoulder: "Good job, Old Li! You get things done quickly! How's it going with finding the construction team? When will construction start?"

“Last time you complained that the village construction team was too rustic, so I specially hired Liu Jinliang’s construction team from the town. This Liu Jinliang is no ordinary person. He used to be an engineer in the army, and later he was assigned to a construction company in the city. Then, I don’t know how, he started his own team.”

Old Li slapped his thigh and exclaimed, "Hey, that work was really well done, there wasn't a single bad word to it!"

Li Zhe asked expectantly, "Dad, do you have the blueprints?" Old Li replied, "I've arranged to meet him tomorrow, and he'll bring the blueprints then."

"Okay, I'll go with you tomorrow." It's almost April, and the construction of the new house can't be delayed any longer, otherwise it won't be completed by July.

That rainstorm is definitely coming, and Li Zhe won't feel at ease until the construction of the new house is finalized.

The next morning, the father and son arrived at the new house site in the dew, just as the morning mist was dissipating. The four house sites were connected together, marked with white lime. The 24-meter-wide boundary stretched from the old locust tree in the east to the stone mill in the west, and the 37-meter-long north-south extension reached the edge of the hill. Standing on the slope, one could see rows of vegetable greenhouses in the distance.

"Over 800 square meters, even more spacious than your courtyard house in Beijing." Old Li took out a cigarette and put it in his mouth, his joy mixed with some worry: "But I always feel, with only a few people in our family, is it really necessary to build something this big?"

"These days, homestead land is cheap. If we don't expand now, we won't be able to buy land when the policies change in the future." Li Zhe looked at the empty space, the clods of earth beneath his feet crunching under his feet.

“It’s not just cheap. When there are more people in the family, relatives come to visit, business associates and workers come, how can we manage without a place to live? Dad, there’s an old saying, ‘Even the rich have distant relatives in the mountains.’ Just you wait, two floors might not be enough, and we might have to add more later.”

Just then, the sound of a motorcycle sputtering came from afar. A Jialing motorcycle stopped by the roadside, and a man in his forties got off.

He was wearing a faded work jacket with the cuffs rolled up, revealing the strong muscles on his forearms. His hands were covered in calluses, and there was dirt stuck between his fingers. A measuring tape hung around his neck, and his canvas bag was bulging. He was Liu Jinliang, the person in charge of the construction team.

"Brother Li!" Liu Jinliang strode over and, seeing Li Zhe standing to the side, asked with a smile, "This must be Boss Li, right?" Although he had never met Li Zhe before, he had never seen anyone else in the surrounding villages dressed so smartly; he looked like someone who had returned from Beijing.

"Hello, Master Liu." Li Zhe shook hands with the other party.

After exchanging pleasantries, Liu Jinliang twirled the measuring tape in his hand twice: "Yesterday, I measured your land. It's four plots of land, 24 by 32 meters, plus a 5-meter passageway; 24 by 37 meters, a solid 888 square meters."

"Hey, those numbers are auspicious! No wonder you're such a big boss." He pulled a roll of blueprints from his canvas bag and spread it out on his lap. "This is the first draft of the design, take a look."

The blueprints showed rows of small bungalows, the rooms packed tightly together with small windows. Li Zhe frowned and pointed at the blueprints: "Master Liu, these rooms are too small, only twelve or thirteen square meters each, and the layout is cramped. In the countryside, we build houses with a focus on openness and brightness; there's no need to save space."

Liu Jinliang wasn't annoyed and pulled out another blueprint: "Take a look at this one." The new blueprint showed a two-story building with a large courtyard, and the room layout was much more spacious.

Li Zhe squatted down and traced lines on the blueprint with his finger: "Master Liu, I have a few requirements. In the summer, there is a lot of rain and we are afraid of waterlogging, so the foundation needs to be raised by one meter, compacted with 3:7 lime-soil mixture, and then a 30-centimeter layer of crushed stone should be laid underneath. The bearing capacity must be sufficient."

Liu Jinliang's eyes lit up, and he took out a pencil to mark on the drawing: "You're an expert! Raising it by one meter is reliable. Mix 3:7 lime-soil with 5% cement, it'll be moisture-proof and sturdy. I'll make you a strip foundation, buried 1.2 meters deep, just enough to avoid the frost line."

“The windows need to be big.” Li Zhe pointed to the window openings on the blueprints. “The first-floor windowsill is 1.2 meters high, the window is 2.2 meters wide and 1.8 meters high; the second-floor windows should be raised a bit more to ensure sufficient lighting.”

He paused and continued, "The ceiling height also needs to be changed. The first floor should be 4.2 meters high, and the second floor should be 3.8 meters high. This will make it less cramped and allow room for future ceiling installations."

“High ceilings make living more spacious, but they require more materials and are more expensive to build,” Liu Jinliang reminded him. Seeing that Li Zhe didn’t react, he understood.

He ticked the floor height figures. “I’ll use reinforced concrete ring beams for you, solid clay bricks for the walls, and structural columns at the corners. You said you want earthquake resistance, so this needs to be done well.” He paused and then added, “The roof will be a cast-in-place slab with thick steel bars spaced 20 centimeters apart, so it can support the load if you want to add three more floors in the future.”

Li Zhe nodded: "The roof insulation and leak prevention must be done well, and the drainage must be unobstructed. Also, there must be space for a bathroom in the bedroom, and the water pipes should be laid in advance, using cast iron pipes for durability."

"This is so trendy!" Liu Jinliang laughed. "I'll prepare the sewage pipe for you, connecting it to the outdoor three-compartment septic tank, keeping it at least ten meters away from the well."

Old Li, who was listening nearby, couldn't help but interject, "The materials must be of high quality; don't use inferior ones."

"Brother Li, you can rest assured about the quality. Please inspect every step of the process." Liu Jinliang patted his chest and said, "The bricks are made from 95-grade bricks from the town's brick kiln, the cement is from Tangshan 'Polar Bear' brand, and the steel bars are picked up from the county materials bureau. All of them have quality assurance certificates."

Li Zhe pressed further, "Master Liu, how long will it take to finish?"

Liu Jinliang thought for a moment and replied, "I guarantee the construction period will be 45 days. If it's delayed by a day, I'll be fined ten yuan."

Li Zhe calculated that there was enough time.

After leaving their homestead, Li Zhe and Lao Li went to the village committee.

On the way back from the homestead, Li Zhe discussed with his father about going to the village committee.

The old locust tree in the village office courtyard had just sprouted new buds, tender green shoots adorning its branches. Wang Tietou was squatting on the steps, smoking, a cigarette dangling from his lips, long ash accumulated.

Seeing Old Li come in with his son, he quickly straightened up and stubbed out his cigarette: "What brings you two here?"

Old Li sat down on the steps, patted the dirt off his trousers, and said, "Secretary, we came from the new residential area."

Party Secretary Wang turned to look at Li Zhe, a smile in his eyes: "How about it, kid? Are you satisfied with those plots of land for building houses? I even made sure the village approved the passageways for you."

"Satisfied, extremely satisfied!" Li Zhe quickly offered a cigarette. "I absolutely have to treat you to a few drinks at noon, as a way of thanking you for your help."

"Sure!" Wang Tietou took the cigarette and tucked it behind his ear, not bothering to be polite. Then he raised an eyebrow and said, "You're always busy like a spinning top. You came all the way here today, it can't just be for a drink, right? There must be something else going on."

Li Zhe didn't beat around the bush and leaned forward: "Secretary Wang, I'd like to rent another forty mu of land from the village, preferably a contiguous plot, the closer to the greenhouse area in the north, the easier it will be to manage."

"Forty mu?" Wang Tietou almost dropped the cigarette in his mouth. He looked at Lao Li and then at Li Zhe, his brows furrowing. "Your Li family just expanded your greenhouses by ten mu a while ago, and we haven't even seen any return on investment yet. What are you going to do with so much land? Don't let a moment of impulsiveness cause you to squander your entire fortune."

"Don't worry, Party Secretary, this isn't about building greenhouses," Li Zhe explained. "I plan to grow pickled cucumbers and green beans, and then send them directly to the cannery for processing into canned goods for export to the Soviet Union."

"Making canned goods? And exporting them?" Wang Tietou took the cigarette off his ear, his eyes wide open. "What's wrong with you young people's brains? Making money from greenhouse farming isn't enough, now you're thinking about this newfangled stuff?"

He stared at Li Zhe for a long time, then suddenly grinned and slapped Li Zhe on the shoulder. "I'm impressed! In our Daying Village, generations of people have been digging in the dirt, but I've never seen anyone like you who can come up with new ways to make money every now and then."

Old Li chimed in, "Secretary, my son and I have been discussing this for days, and it's definitely going to work out. Could you perhaps help us coordinate the land allocation?"

Wang Tietou stood up and patted the dirt off his trousers: "There is land available. It's not far from the greenhouses north of your village. The sandy loam land at the west end of the village is exactly forty mu. The corn harvest was so-so the last two years, so it's just sitting idle. If you want to rent it, I'll find the accountant to check the records."

He suddenly remembered something, and added with a stern face, "But let me make this clear from the start: the rent for collective land cannot be reduced by a single penny. This rule cannot be broken."

"No problem," Li Zhe readily agreed.

Wang Tietou called the accountant to retrieve the land ledger, the yellowed pages filled with densely packed plot information. He ran his finger across the paper: "Look, this is the location, 200 meters long from east to west, and over 130 meters wide from north to south. I've measured it, and it's exactly 40 mu and 3 fen. Let's calculate it as 40 mu."

Li Zhe looked at the plot of land circled in red on the map. The location was indeed suitable. He looked up and said, "This is the one. Thank you for your help, Party Secretary."

Wang Tietou smiled with narrowed eyes: "You've rented so much land, you and your father definitely can't manage it all by yourself. Don't you need to hire workers?"

“We need to hire people,” Li Zhe nodded.

Wang Tietou immediately said seriously, "Then we must try our best to recruit from our village. You're rich now, you can't forget your fellow villagers. Many young people in the village are idle during the off-season and are worried about not having any work."

“Okay, whether you advertise the recruitment via loudspeaker or post notices in the brigade, it’s up to you.” Li Zhe readily agreed; he naturally wouldn’t refuse such a small matter.

Wang Tietou nodded in satisfaction and turned to call the accountant: "Quickly, bring the lease agreement. Let's settle this today!"

(End of this chapter)