Starting with vegetable greenhouses in 1988

Chapter 292 Gap
After finishing their meal, Li Zhe, Lao Li, Jin Baiwan, and Zhu Yimin didn't rush to disperse. Instead, they sat at a table in the small canteen and continued their discussion.

Li Zhe took out a pack of Zhonghua cigarettes from his pocket, handed one to each of the three, lit one for himself, took a puff, and slowly said, "We just talked about the importance of systems, but no matter how good a system is, if no one supervises it or implements it, it's just a piece of waste paper."

I'd like to establish a Human Resources department within the company, specifically responsible for developing management systems, organizing staff training, and conducting performance evaluations. Do you have any suitable candidates you'd recommend?

Old Li frowned, put down his cigarette, and asked, "You say the HR department is in charge of recruitment and performance evaluation, so what are we managers doing? Will the employees listen to us or the HR department?"

"Don't let things fall apart when those doing the work can't manage people, and those managing people don't do the work, leading to chaos."

“Dad, these two things don’t conflict.” Li Zhe explained patiently, “You can think of the company as an army. The personnel department is like the staff department, responsible for setting military rules, recording military merits, and managing files to ensure that the team is disciplined and has high morale, but it doesn’t directly lead troops into battle.”
You production supervisors are like the company commanders and platoon leaders on the front line. You lead people to work in the fields, manage on-site discipline, and ensure the execution of technical procedures. This is your job.

The company commander cannot change military regulations on his own, and the staff cannot go to the fields to direct how to plant vegetables; only by each fulfilling their duties can they work together as one.

He paused, then added, "And the HR department is your helper. For example, if you find that an employee has violated the rules, you can issue a penalty notice and hand it to the HR department. They will record it and calculate wages, bonuses, and promotions at the end of the month according to the record, so you don't have to argue with the employees and offend them."

"I get it, the HR department is just a scapegoat, they're just there to make people offend!" Jin Baiwan laughed heartily.

“If you interpret it that way, there’s nothing wrong with it.” Li Zhe smiled, flicking the ash from his cigarette into the ashtray.

Zhu Yimin didn't laugh. He stroked his chin and pondered for a while: "Brother Li, I have another question. According to you, the personnel department doesn't directly manage the site and relies entirely on the supervisors to report. What if a supervisor is biased?"

For example, I'm close to Lao Jin, and he smokes while working for me. I cover it up for him, so how come HR doesn't know? There are a lot of relatives and friends in our company, so these kinds of things are bound to happen.

These words hit the nail on the head, and the small cafeteria instantly fell silent.

Jin Baiwan nodded in agreement: "Old Zhu is right. People in the village value relationships. If a relative makes a mistake, who would dare to take it seriously?"

Li Zhe was also pondering in his heart—the difficulty in managing rural companies lies here: personal relationships outweigh rules. If you strictly enforce them, it's easy to offend people; but if you turn a blind eye, the rules will eventually become a mere formality.

“That’s easy!” Old Li suddenly slammed his hand on the table. “Let’s find a few more ‘supervisors’ to go to the greenhouses from time to time. If they find any employees violating regulations or supervisors covering up violations, they’ll punish the supervisors as well! That way, supervisors won’t dare to show favoritism.”

“This method is feasible.” Li Zhe nodded, then asked, “Do you have any ideas about the candidates for the head of the human resources department and the supervisor?”

Jin Baiwan rubbed his hands together, looking troubled: "This position is important, but it offends too many people. The village is so small, we see each other all the time, who would want to do this thankless job?"

Old Li and Zhu Yimin nodded in agreement, but for a moment they really couldn't think of a suitable candidate.

“Okay, this isn’t urgent, we can discuss it later.” Li Zhe stubbed out his cigarette, glanced at the clock on the wall, and said, “It’s almost 2:30, time to get to work. Everyone, go ahead and get busy.”

The four men got up and left the cafeteria. These men were all now company managers, each with their own responsibilities.

After leaving the canteen, Li Zhe did not go home. Instead, he planned to visit the various greenhouses to see the actual situation.

The weather at the end of August was still hot and dry, and the black sunshade on the greenhouse roof was pulled up tightly to block the scorching sun.

Li Zhe first went to the company's directly operated seedling area. Some greenhouses had neatly arranged plastic seedling trays with tender green seedlings just sprouting; other greenhouses had just transplanted tomato seedlings, with the soil ridges neatly arranged.

In greenhouse number 46, Li Zhe found a new cigarette butt, most likely left that morning—which confirmed Zhu Yimin's words that fire prevention had indeed not been taken seriously.

Li Zhe's face darkened. It seemed that the system really needed to be implemented as soon as possible, otherwise if a fire broke out and the greenhouse, which covered several hundred square meters, burned down, the losses would be huge.

Just then, a quarrel broke out not far away.

Li Zhe followed the sound and saw Ge Qingshan arguing with a middle-aged man of about forty. He didn't approach, but stood a short distance away and listened to their conversation.

Ge Qingshan frowned, his tone tinged with helplessness: "Uncle Zhensheng, the company's rule is to start work at 2:30. Why are you late again?"

Li Zhensheng scratched his head: "Oh dear, the kids were making a fuss at noon, so I didn't sleep well. When I woke up, it was already late. I had to rush over."

Ge Qingshan added, "Uncle Zhensheng, this isn't the first time you've been late. If everyone were like you, wouldn't all the work in the shed be delayed?"

Li Zhensheng waved his hand dismissively and said, "I'll just leave a little later today. Don't make a big deal out of this."

Seeing that the other party wouldn't listen, Ge Qingshan didn't argue anymore and lowered his head to continue working.

Li Zhe frowned slightly—Zhu Yimin had told him at noon that Li Zhensheng was a good worker and willing to put in the effort, but he was often late, which had a negative impact on other employees.

However, Li Zhe did not intervene, for a simple reason: Li Zhensheng was his cousin, and even if he went to persuade him, he could only say a few meaningless words and could not dismiss him for such a trivial matter.

But Li Zhe made a mental note of Li Zhensheng: if the other party does not change, when a suitable "supervisor" is found later, he will be the first one to be dealt with.

In addition, the hierarchical relationships among employees are not clearly defined.

Previously, Li Zhe was worried that there would be too many managers and too few people actually doing the work, so he only appointed three production supervisors.

However, the company now has dozens of vegetable greenhouses and hundreds of cooperative greenhouses, and the three supervisors—Zhu Yimin, Lao Li, and Teacher Chen—are simply not enough to manage them all. It seems we still need to promote a few more senior employees to be team leaders.

Ultimately, these personnel arrangements are the responsibility of the human resources department, and Li Zhe, lacking management experience in his previous life, inevitably has shortcomings in the company's operations.

Li Zhe sighed, then suddenly remembered something else—if even the directly operated greenhouses have so many problems, wouldn't the greenhouses of the growers who cooperate with the company be even more chaotic?
Feeling uneasy, he turned and walked towards the cooperative planting area.

The first greenhouse they visited was Sun Qiang's. Sun Qiang was among the first batch of growers to cooperate with the company and was very enthusiastic, always arriving earliest for technical training sessions. Li Zhe patted the rammed earth walls of the greenhouse; they were thick and sturdy enough, and the shade structure was also properly installed.

"Brother Li, what brings you here?" Sun Qiang was squatting in the shed arranging seedling trays when he saw Li Zhe come in. He quickly put down what he was doing and came over with a big smile on his face.

"Come and see how your seedlings are doing." Li Zhe nodded with a smile, his gaze sweeping over the seedling area in the shed—Sun Qiang hadn't bought the company's plastic seedling trays, but instead used old newspapers folded into seedling trays. The soil inside was just the right amount of moisture, and the seedlings were growing vigorously.

Li Zhe picked up a newspaper seedling tray and felt a surge of familiarity. When he first started growing seedlings in greenhouses, he also used old newspapers to cultivate seedlings in the same way.

"Everything's fine. I haven't missed a single technical class at the company. If I don't understand something, I just ask Teacher Zhou and Supervisor Zhu. I definitely won't hold the company back!" Sun Qiang patted his chest and assured them.

Li Zhe walked around the shed and found that there was nothing wrong with it.

He visited more than a dozen cooperative greenhouses in succession, and each one was well-behaved and in a much better condition than he had expected. Take Zhao Bing's family for example, their seedling greenhouse was spotless, without even a blade of grass, let alone a cigarette butt.

The fastest planting progress is by Wang Ermazi. His tomato seedlings have all been transplanted, and the soil has been thoroughly watered and fertilized. They are even more neatly planted than those in the company's directly operated greenhouses.

Li Zhe took out a pack of Zhonghua cigarettes and handed one to Wang Ermazi: "Brother Wang, have a cigarette."

"I wouldn't dare!" Wang Ermazi quickly waved his hand, his face solemn.
"Both Teacher Zhou and Supervisor Zhu said that the shade structures and greenhouse films in the greenhouse are flammable. If they catch fire, not only will the greenhouse be destroyed, but the seedlings will also be ruined. I dare not joke about my harvest!"

Li Zhe's heart skipped a beat—Zhu Yimin and Zhou Qinghe had warned the farmers, and naturally, they had also talked to the company's new employees about the importance of fire prevention. Why were the farmers able to remember it and put it into practice, while the company's employees repeatedly violated the rules? A surge of anger suddenly rose from the bottom of his heart. Li Zhe thought to himself, "Damn it, once the HR department and the supervisors are in place, I'll see how I deal with all of you rule-breakers! Those who don't want to work here, get the hell out of here!"

……

At six o'clock in the evening, Li Zhe strolled back to his new house.

The courtyard, spanning over 800 square meters, was kept spotless. The afterglow of the setting sun shone on the newly built two-story building, and the windowpanes reflected a warm yellow light.

As soon as I entered the courtyard, I saw little Li Huijing and his sister Li Na each leading a half-grown mongrel dog, hopping and skipping towards the gate, their tails wagging happily.

"Second Brother!" The two called out in unison when they saw Li Zhe, and without stopping, they ran out of the courtyard.

"Dinner's almost ready, don't go too far!" Wang Xiuying was squatting by the stove tending the fire when she saw the two children running off. She straightened up and called out to them, then turned to Li Zhe and smiled, "These two kids, all they do is play all day long, they never have a moment to themselves."

"Mother, don't worry about them, they won't be crazy for more than a few days." Li Zhe went over and helped add some firewood to the fire.

With school starting in a week, Li Zhe plans to take the chubby boy with him on this trip back to Beijing.

Wang Xiuying paused in her hand holding the fire tongs, then patted the ash off her hands: "Huijing has been living in our house for so long, and your second aunt hasn't asked about him at all? This mother is too careless."

“I haven’t been to my second aunt’s house for a while, so even if she wanted to ask, she wouldn’t have anyone to ask,” Li Zhe said with a smile, changing the subject. “Mom, what are we having for dinner tonight? I’ll help you cook.”

"No need, no need, you've had a long day, come inside and rest." Wang Xiuying quickly waved her hand. "There's freshly boiled water inside, make yourself a pot of tea, watch some TV, dinner will be ready in a little while."

"You manage so many things at the company every day, why would you need to lift a finger to cook something as simple as cooking?"

Li Zhe didn't mince words—he had been running around in the greenhouse all afternoon, and was hot and thirsty, so he really wanted to rest for a while.

He walked into the living room, where the newly bought color television sat on the TV cabinet. He turned it on to listen to the sound. He brewed a pot of jasmine tea, and had just taken a sip when he heard a noise coming from the courtyard gate. Judging from the sound, it was Li Zhenguo returning.

"Second Uncle, you're back." Li Zhe stood up to greet him.

"Second brother, when did you get back?" Li Zhenguo casually placed his briefcase on the sofa.

Li Zhe poured him a cup of tea: "I came back at noon and inspected the company's greenhouses in the afternoon."

Li Zhenguo sat on the sofa, loosened his collar, and nodded, saying, "It's a pity you didn't go to the factory today. Mayor Chen went to inspect the factory this afternoon, and several factory leaders went too. It was quite a lively place."

"What did Mayor Chen say?" Li Zhe pressed.

"He didn't say much, just asked about the factory's production and the workers' wages. Mayor Chen even said he'd treat you to a meal later to thank you for supporting half the factory's workers." Li Zhenguo picked up his teacup and drank it all in one gulp.

Li Zhe smiled, not paying much attention, and continued to ask, "Second Uncle, how's the cannery doing lately? Is production going smoothly?"

"It went very smoothly. The workers were diligent, and the machines didn't malfunction." Li Zhenguo took a sip of tea and paused before saying, "Hygiene and quality are also fine. I check every day, and they absolutely meet export standards. You can rest assured."

"That's good." Li Zhe nodded in relief, then asked, "How much inventory does the factory have now? How much canned pickles, tomatoes, and yellow peaches?"

"Sixteen tons of canned pickled cucumbers, forty-eight tons of canned tomatoes, and forty-two tons of canned yellow peaches," Li Zhenguo recalled clearly, speaking off the cuff. "The warehouse can hold a little more, but it's almost full. If we continue production, we'll need to rent another warehouse from the cannery."

“No need for now. My friend in Beijing just got an order for 200 tons of canned goods to be exported to the Soviet Union. He can arrange for trucks to come and pick up the goods in a couple of days,” Li Zhe said. “You can prepare in advance, and load the goods directly onto the trucks as soon as they arrive.”

"No problem, I'll have someone get the warehouse organized tomorrow and move the goods to be shipped to the door in advance to avoid delays." Li Zhenguo readily agreed, then frowned. "It's almost September, and in another month, the tomato and yellow peach harvest season will be over. What will the cannery produce then if it runs out of raw materials? We can't just let the machines stop."

"Second Uncle, don't worry, I've already made preparations." Li Zhe smiled. "I've already had someone plant a batch of pickled cucumbers in the seedling shed. They can be harvested in early October, and then we can continue to produce canned pickled cucumbers."

Li Zhenguo breathed a sigh of relief and nodded, saying, "With your words, I feel more at ease."

The uncle and nephew chatted for a while about the details of the cannery—from worker scheduling to raw material procurement, and then to the research and development of new canned food varieties. Before they knew it, it was seven o'clock. Wang Xiuying called out from the gate of the courtyard: "Dinner's ready! Come out, everyone!"

The Li family's new house was exceptionally lively tonight. In addition to Li Zhe's family and Li Zhenguo and his son, Li Weidong's family of three also came over.

Wang Xiuying set up the dining table in the courtyard, where a cool breeze was blowing, making it very comfortable.

The table was laden with dishes: the braised beef was cut into even slices, glistening with green; the scrambled eggs with tomatoes were a vibrant red and yellow, making them look very appetizing; the stir-fried lettuce was crisp and refreshing, and the stir-fried shredded potatoes were golden and crispy; the braised fish was well-seasoned, and the tofu skin and pork slices were fragrant; there were also two cold dishes: preserved egg tofu and celery with peanuts.

Finally, Wang Xiuying brought over a large black pot and served everyone a bowl of eight-treasure porridge. Rice grains, red beans, red dates, and lotus seeds were mixed together, and the aroma of rice was irresistible.

Little Fatty Li Huijing frowned as he looked at the eight-treasure porridge in his bowl: "Auntie, why is it eight-treasure porridge again?"

Wang Xiuying paused, her spoon still in her hand, and asked, "What's wrong? Doesn't the eight-treasure porridge Auntie makes taste good?"

"It tastes good, but you can't drink it every day!" the chubby boy said with a bitter face. "I've been drinking it for half a month now, and I'm a little scared whenever I see eight-treasure porridge."

Li Na chimed in, "Yes, Mom, you make eight-treasure porridge every night without fail, and if you don't finish it, you just reheat it the next morning and drink it again. No matter how delicious it is, you can't resist it!"

Wang Xiuying's face flushed red, and she said with a somewhat embarrassed smile, "You two are such picky eaters! If you drink one more time today, you won't have to stay up late tomorrow."

Ever since Li Zhe told her that he wanted her to help research the recipe for eight-treasure porridge, and that once the recipe was perfected, the cannery would produce canned eight-treasure porridge and give her a bonus, Wang Xiuying took it to heart and cooked a pot of eight-treasure porridge almost every day.

At first, everyone thought the ingredients were plentiful and the taste was good, but no one could stand drinking it every day.

Li Zhe picked up the bowl, took a sip of the eight-treasure porridge, smacked his lips, and praised, "Mom, your eight-treasure porridge is getting better and better. The lotus seeds are stewed until soft and tender, and the red dates are sweet. It tastes much better than last time."

Wang Xiuying's eyes lit up, and she quickly asked, "Can this flavor be made into canned goods?"

Li Zhe took another sip, savored it carefully for a while, and then slowly said, "It's still a little lacking. The sweetness is a bit too strong now, the bitterness of the lotus seeds hasn't been completely removed, and the consistency of the porridge also needs to be adjusted to make the taste more consistent."

Those around him changed their expressions slightly upon hearing this. Well, they guessed they would have to drink eight-treasure porridge every day.

Wang Xiuying was a little worried. She sighed and said, "I cook this every day, and my family's palates have become so discerning that I can't tell the difference between good and bad anymore. What should I do?"

"Mom, that's easy." Li Zhe suggested with a smile, "Tomorrow, go to the company cafeteria and cook some eight-treasure porridge. There are dozens of employees in the company, men, women, young and old. Let everyone try it, ask them for their taste and opinions. By listening to more people, you'll know where the difference lies."

"That's right! How come I didn't think of that!" Wang Xiuying's eyes lit up, and she clapped her hands. "I'll go to the cafeteria first thing tomorrow morning and cook extra so everyone can try it!"

The chubby boy and Li Na exchanged a glance, both seeing the joy of "liberation" in each other's eyes—finally, they wouldn't have to drink eight-treasure porridge every day anymore.

(End of this chapter)