Starting with vegetable greenhouses in 1988

Chapter 296 Responsibility System

In the fields east of Daying Village, a large number of people gathered, making it as lively as a market day.

Outside, villagers stood on tiptoe to watch the spectacle, whispering amongst themselves; inside, more than twenty men, some wearing vests and others shirtless, were digging the foundation for the greenhouse with shovels, sweat streaming down their dark backs.

A black camera was set up in the southeast corner, and Bai Yunsheng was half-squatting behind the lens, adjusting the angle with his fingers.

First, the camera panned across the curious faces of the onlookers, then slowly moved down to focus on the workers wielding shovels at the bottom of the pit—meticulously capturing their movements as they bent over to shovel and then stood up to dump the soil. Finally, the camera focused on Zhu Yimin on the mound of earth.

Zhu Yimin wasn't tall, but standing on the mound of earth, he exuded a nimble and efficient air. He shouted towards the bottom of the pit, "Men, give it your all! Let's finish digging this foundation on the south side of the greenhouse before 11 a.m.! There's some mung bean soup cooking on the stove. If you're tired, come up here and rest for a bit, have a bowl of soup to cool off!"

At the bottom of the pit, a dark-skinned worker stopped what he was doing, leaned on his shovel, looked up, and asked, "Old Zhu, why are you digging such a deep pit? It must have taken so much effort!"

"What are we doing? Growing vegetable greenhouses!" Zhu Yimin explained with a smile. "The deeper the foundation is dug, the warmer the greenhouse will be in winter, so that we can grow fresh vegetables and prevent the seedlings from freezing!"

"Planting vegetables in winter?" An elderly worker with gray hair straightened up, his face full of disbelief. "Yimin, are you kidding me? Our ancestors have always sown in spring and harvested in summer. How can you plant vegetables in winter? Isn't this just a waste of time?"

"Uncle Han, you just don't understand!" Zhu Yimin leaned forward, his voice louder, "I call this scientific vegetable growing! I use the underground temperature and the rammed earth walls for insulation, and the plastic film lets in sunlight to raise the temperature. Even in winter, the greenhouse can maintain a temperature of over 20 degrees Celsius, so growing cucumbers and tomatoes is no problem!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the workers at the bottom of the pit started discussing among themselves. Some shook their heads in disbelief, some frowned in thought, and others muttered under their breath, "Can it really work?" "What if the vegetables don't grow and all our efforts are wasted!"

"Cut!" Bai Yunsheng suddenly called for a stop, stood up from behind the camera, and clapped his hands with a smile. "Not bad, not bad, everyone did a great job just now. One take and we're done. Let's take a break!"

Zhu Yimin jumped down from the mound, dusted himself off, and strode over to Bai Yunsheng, his voice tinged with nervousness: "Director Bai, how did I do? Did I mess anything up?"

"That's great!" Bai Yunsheng smiled and patted his shoulder. "Just stay true to yourself. Don't try to act. Just talk to the workers the way you normally do. That's how you'll appear on camera. That's how you'll look natural."

Zhu Yimin rubbed his hands together, his eyes full of anticipation: "Director Bai, can I see what we just filmed? I've never been on camera before in my life."

"Don't worry, Brother Zhu," Bai Yunsheng explained patiently. "You can't watch it right now. The film has to be sent back to the TV station for processing, and we need a special projector to watch it. But don't worry, the footage we just shot is very clear. Once the movie is edited, you'll definitely be the first to see it."

Zhu Yimin was still a little worried. He glanced at the crowd and whispered, "But with so many villagers gathered around watching the show, won't it affect the filming?"

"No, this is the most realistic scene!" Bai Yunsheng followed his gaze and looked over, then smiled and said, "I asked Brother Li before. He said that when he was digging the foundation for the first greenhouse, a bunch of people gathered around to watch the excitement."

Now that there's a crowd of onlookers, it's a good opportunity to recreate the scene—whether they're there to see the foundation being dug or to see a movie being filmed is actually unimportant.

Zhu Yimin suddenly realized and gave Bai Yunsheng a thumbs up: "Director Bai, you are so experienced and thoughtful!"

Just then, a familiar voice came from the crowd: "Director Bai, Brother Zhu, what are you doing filming in the east of the village? Isn't there foundation digging in the north of the village too?"

The two turned around and saw that Li Zhe had squeezed through.

Bai Yunsheng went up to explain: "The foundations in the north of the village are all dug by excavators. It's too fast and lacks a bit of 'human touch'."

You told me before that the first greenhouse was dug entirely by hand last year, and I wanted to recreate that scene to make the movie more impactful. I told Uncle Li about this idea, and he was very supportive, helping me find this farmer to grow the crops.”

“I know this household; they are the fifth batch of growers,” Zhu Yimin added from the side. “They signed up late, and they would have to wait a month for an excavator, so they simply asked relatives and friends to help with manual digging. This actually allowed them to start construction faster and saved a lot on machinery costs.”

Li Zhe nodded and instructed, "If the filming delays their construction, remember to give them appropriate compensation so they don't suffer a loss."

"Don't worry, we filmed during the workers' breaks so as not to interfere with their work. I even bought cigarettes and distributed them to the workers," Bai Yunsheng said.

Li Zhe turned to Bai Yunsheng and said, "Director Bai, I need to talk to Brother Zhu about some work. Could I borrow him for a while?"

“Of course,” Bai Yunsheng readily agreed, then turned to Zhu Yimin and said, “Brother Zhu, the morning’s filming is finished, you can go ahead and get busy. However, there’s another scene tonight, and you’ll need to pay the workers’ wages so that we can finish filming the ‘digging the greenhouse foundation’ scene.”

"Okay! I'll definitely be there before sunset." Zhu Yimin breathed a sigh of relief.

Although Bai Yunsheng kept telling him not to be nervous and just to be himself, the thought of being filmed in a movie and seen by many people still made him nervous. Li Zhe greeted Bai Yunsheng and then led Zhu Yimin away.

Walking down the street, Zhu Yimin couldn't help but ask, "Brother, what do you want from me?"

Li Zhe said, "Brother Zhu, have you visited the greenhouses of the farmers who cooperate with our company recently?"

Zhu Yimin shook his head and sighed: "I'm in charge of the planting in the company's directly operated greenhouses. I'm busy from morning till night every day, watering, fertilizing, and supervising the seedlings. How can I have time to go and check on the growers' greenhouses?"

"That's perfect, let's go take a look today." Li Zhe led Zhu Yimin to visit more than a dozen farmers' greenhouses.

In each greenhouse, growers were busy. The greenhouses were planted with vegetable seedlings that had just been transplanted. Some were weeding tomato seedlings, while others were watering cucumber seedlings. The ridges were neatly arranged, without a single weed or cigarette butt. It fully met the training requirements and standards of "Sijiqing" company.

The newly transplanted seedlings are lush and green, and are growing even better than those in the directly operated greenhouses.

Zhu Yimin's face grew increasingly grim as he looked around. When he reached the last greenhouse, he stopped and said in a low voice, "Brother, it's my fault for not managing the directly operated greenhouses well. I'm responsible. I trained these farmers, and now they're growing better than us. I'm so ashamed."

"Brother Zhu, don't say that." Li Zhe patted him on the shoulder. "The company now has more than 50 acres of directly operated greenhouses. You are in charge of so many things by yourself, so it's inevitable that there will be oversights. We are not here to assign blame, but to find a way to solve the problem."

He actually appreciated Zhu Yimin's work—it was Zhu Yimin who first pointed out the problems with the directly operated greenhouses, but he didn't dare to take drastic measures to rectify them due to personal relationships and lack of management experience.

Moreover, there is indeed no one in the company who understands greenhouse cultivation better than Zhu Yimin.

Zhu Yimin raised his head, his eyes full of sincerity: "Brother, whatever you say, I'll listen to you! As long as we can manage the directly operated greenhouses well and make the seedlings grow well, I'll do anything you ask."

After thinking for a moment, Li Zhe said, "I think we can start from two aspects."

The first aspect is the psychological level. The simplest way is to organize company employees to visit the greenhouses of these cooperative growers, let them see for themselves the differences between the greenhouses they manage and those of the growers, make them realize their shortcomings, and generate a sense of urgency.

"Our company clearly has more professional planting techniques, but these less experienced growers are doing it better than them. Shouldn't that make them feel a little ashamed?"

He paused, then continued, "The second aspect is the economic one. The reason why farmers take such good care of their greenhouses is that the quality of the crops grown there directly affects their own income."

Could we link the profits from our directly operated greenhouses to our employees' wages? For example, the better the quality and the higher the yield of the vegetables in the greenhouses, the more money we make, and the higher the workers' wages should be. Wouldn't that increase their motivation?

Zhu Yimin's eyes lit up, and he said excitedly, "Brother, I can't guarantee the effect of what you're talking about regarding the psychological aspect—after all, some people might just be shameless and not take the difference seriously."

But from an economic perspective, I think this approach is absolutely feasible! As long as the greenhouse harvest is linked to the employees' interests, they will definitely work harder, and their enthusiasm will definitely increase! Who doesn't want to earn more money!

Li Zhe nodded: "Since you think it's feasible, then give me a specific plan."

For example, should one person be in charge of one or two greenhouses, or should one person be specifically responsible for a particular crop? Or are there other more suitable responsibility systems?
In short, this plan must be realistic, making employees clearly understand that their efforts will be rewarded, and allowing them to truly experience the principle of "more work, more pay," in order to maximize their enthusiasm.

Zhu Yimin nodded vigorously: "I understand! I'll discuss it with Teacher Chen and Uncle Li later and try to come up with a plan as soon as possible so as not to delay the greenhouse planting!"

Li Zhe added, "Brother Zhu, there should be not only rewards, but also punishments to prevent people from having the mentality of just getting paid for doing nothing; if the crops in the greenhouse do not meet the company's planting standards, the yield will be low, the quality will be poor, and the income will be low."

There should also be a punitive measure, such as fines, public criticism, or even dismissal.

Zhu Yimin took a deep breath: "I understand, I will definitely study it carefully! I will implement the employee responsibility system and determine the assessment standards as soon as possible."

……

Two chapters today, one more to come later.

(End of this chapter)