Starting with vegetable greenhouses in 1988

Chapter 308 Change
North of Daying Village is Sijiqing Company.

Next to each of the newly built greenhouses of Sijiqing Company, a small brick building will be constructed.

This small brick building serves multiple purposes: it can be used as a warehouse to store farm tools, seeds, and other supplies, as well as as accommodation for the staff who look after the greenhouses. In addition, since Sijiqing Company does not currently have a dedicated office building, the company's management will also select one of these small brick buildings as a temporary office space.

Previously, Li Zhe used a brick building next to greenhouse number 25 as his office; later, as the number of management personnel increased, in order to facilitate everyone working together and improve communication efficiency, the temporary offices of the management were set up in greenhouses 31 to 39.

Li Zhe moved his office to a brick building next to greenhouse number 31. Yang Xingbin, the head of the human resources department, had his office in a brick building next to greenhouse number 35.

Today is Monday. Yang Xingbin is sitting at his desk, carefully reviewing last week's employee attendance records and penalty notices. After checking them one by one, he carefully records the information into the employee files.

Although he hasn't been with Sijiqing Company for long, he has already gained some insights through observation and work during this period.

In his view, the company's management and veteran employees were among the first to join Li Zhe in building the greenhouse, and can be considered the company's absolute core.

These people all hold shares in the company, and although the number is not large, it gives them a greater sense of responsibility towards the company. They are Li Zhe's most steadfast supporters. In a sense, their interests are closely linked to the company's interests; they share in each other's success and failure.

This is what touched Yang Xingbin the most. He used to work at a state-owned farm, where the management staff each had their own agendas and only cared about their own interests, while being indifferent to the overall development of the farm.

As a result, many good systems and decisions that are beneficial to farm development often fail to be implemented and end up being abandoned.

But at Sijiqing Company, the situation was quite different.

As long as Yang Xingbin explains the reasons to the veteran employees and makes them understand that a certain system or decision is beneficial to the company's development, they will consciously and willingly abide by and implement it.

On the contrary, the new employees lacked this sense of ownership and, relying on their kinship with several of the company's managers, made several minor mistakes.

Yang Xingbin showed no leniency towards these new employees' violations, strictly handling them according to regulations and punishing them without hesitation.

During this process, Ma Laixiao, the deputy head of the human resources department, also provided him with a lot of help, which gave Yang Xingbin more confidence in the implementation of the company's system.

Having finished most of his work, Yang Xingbin stretched, got up, and walked out of the office to get some fresh air.

He encountered two passing employees on the road and greeted them with a smile. In Yang Xingbin's view, the people at Sijiqing Company were easier to get along with, more down-to-earth, and less driven by self-interest than the people he had met at the state-owned farm.

Just then, a cloud of dust suddenly rose from the dirt road in the distance. Yang Xingbin looked closely with curiosity and saw a white Volga sedan leading the way, followed by two military green trucks.

This commotion alarmed many people in the company, and they all walked towards the roadside to see what was going on.

Soon, Li Zhe got out of the white Volga sedan, while Jin Baiwan got out of a truck behind it. Seeing this, Lin Xiaohu immediately ran over and asked curiously, "Brother Li, what's in that truck? Should we call someone to unload it?"

Li Zhe glanced at the truck and replied, "It's loaded with fertilizer and pesticides. Go and call Brother Zhu over, discuss with him how much he plans to store in the greenhouse. Also, notify Supervisor Li to inform the farmers to come and buy fertilizer."

After saying that, Li Zhe turned to Zhao Tiezhu and instructed him, "Zhuzi, take these two drivers to the company cafeteria to rest and have a meal there. Make sure to treat them well."

"Alright, Mr. Li, don't worry!" Zhao Tiezhu readily agreed, then warmly invited the two drivers who had just gotten off the truck to walk towards the company cafeteria.

Immediately afterwards, Li Weidong led a group of workers over, and they began unloading the truck in an orderly manner, moving bags of fertilizer from the truck onto agricultural tricycles.

These fertilizer bags look to be of good quality and are quite sturdy. Surprisingly, they are mainly printed in Russian, with only a few Chinese characters.

Several farmers were attracted by the commotion and came over.

They had always bought fertilizer from the supply and marketing cooperative, and this was the first time they had ever seen fertilizer with foreign words printed on the bags. They were filled with curiosity.

Zhao Bing couldn't help but ask, "Brother Li, why are there so many foreign words on these fertilizer bags? What do they mean?"

Upon hearing Zhao Bing's question, Jin Baiwan smiled and explained, "This is high-quality compound fertilizer imported from the Soviet Union. The Russian on the bag lists the product name, ingredients, instructions for use, and production date."

Upon hearing that it was imported fertilizer, Wang Ermazi immediately asked, "Boss Jin, how much does this imported fertilizer cost?"

Upon hearing this, Jin Baiwan laughed and corrected him, "What Boss Jin? At the company, you have to call me Supervisor Jin. This bag of fertilizer weighs 100 jin and sells for 62 yuan."

Upon hearing the price, Wang Ermazi frowned and said, "My goodness, this is too expensive! At the town's supply and marketing cooperative, a 100-jin bag of fertilizer only costs 56 yuan."

"Manager Jin, this bag of fertilizer is six yuan more expensive than at the supply and marketing cooperative. If I calculate it that way, I might as well just make the extra trip to the cooperative myself."

Jin Baiwan pointed to the fertilizer bag and said patiently, "You can't just look at the price. This is high-quality fertilizer imported from the Soviet Union. The quality is much better than the fertilizer sold in the supply and marketing cooperative. Even if you wanted to buy it from the supply and marketing cooperative, you might not be able to find it."

As he spoke, he took out a knife, cut open a bag of fertilizer, grabbed a handful, and handed it to everyone: "Take a look for yourselves and see how good the quality of this fertilizer is."

Everyone crowded around, curiously examining the fertilizer. They saw that the fertilizer granules were uniform in size, smooth in surface, and of a pure color, without any clumping.

Zhao Bing couldn't resist grabbing a handful from the fertilizer bag, examining it closely, and exclaimed, "Hey, this fertilizer is really good! The fertilizer we used to buy from the supply and marketing cooperative had uneven particle size, impure color, and often contained a lot of powder. It's incomparable to this."

Seeing that everyone was watching, Jin Baiwan smiled and said, "So you see, there's a reason why fertilizer is expensive. Of course, we're not forcing anyone to buy it; if you want to buy it, go ahead. If you think it's too expensive and want to buy cheaper fertilizer from the supply and marketing cooperative, that's fine with you too."

At this point, he held up two fingers and added, "However, we'll only be selling for two hours today. After the drivers finish their meals, the remaining fertilizer will be transported to the village committee's warehouse for our company's own use."

"By then, you won't be able to buy it anymore."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Bing immediately said, "Hey, I'll go get the cart right now and fill a bag for me in a bit. It's a bit expensive, but the greenhouse is already up, so a few dollars won't make a difference. Using some good fertilizer will help the vegetables grow better."

Some of the surrounding farmers listened to Zhao Bing's advice and decided to buy; some were still hesitant and wanted to see how things went; and some still felt the price was too high and planned to buy more affordable fertilizer from the supply and marketing cooperative.

Yang Xingbin had worked on a state-run farm for many years and was considered a discerning person.

He looked at the Russian writing on the fertilizer bags, then grabbed a handful of fertilizer, examined it closely, rubbed it in his hands, and smelled it. His eyes lit up instantly. He strode over to Li Zhe and asked, "Mr. Li, how much fertilizer did you buy in these two truckloads?"

Li Zhe replied, "We bought a total of 20 tons of fertilizer and 600 kilograms of pesticides. Apart from the portion that our company uses, the rest will be sold to the farmers."

"Are all the fertilizers you bought high-quality fertilizers imported from the Soviet Union?" Yang Xingbin asked again, his tone filled with anticipation.

“Yes, they are all high-quality compound fertilizers,” Li Zhe replied affirmatively.

Upon hearing this, Yang Xingbin looked surprised and said, "President Li, where did you get so much imported high-quality compound fertilizer? You know, even the state-owned farm we used to work at couldn't get so much good imported fertilizer all at once. Your connections are amazing!"

Li Zhe smiled and said, "I have a friend in Beijing who has some connections with foreign trade companies. I've benefited from that friend's connections and have some business dealings with these companies. These fertilizers are all from the foreign trade companies."

"Wow, you're really amazing!" Yang Xingbin exclaimed sincerely. In his view, if farming is like fighting a war, then fertilizer is like artillery shells, and the quality of those shells directly determines the final outcome.

Farming may seem simple, but there are many intricacies involved. Some laypeople might think, "Doesn't farming also require chemical fertilizers? What's the difference between this and using chemical fertilizers in greenhouse vegetable cultivation?"
But in reality, the difference is huge. Ordinary farming doesn't earn much money, and the price of fertilizer is often higher than the price of the grain grown in the field.

Even if using high-quality fertilizers can increase grain production, the final profit may not increase much, and sometimes it may even result in a loss.

But off-season vegetables are different. Off-season vegetables are already expensive. If high-quality fertilizers can increase vegetable production, the profits will be much greater. So, using high-quality fertilizers is actually more cost-effective.

At this moment, Zhu Yimin, who was in charge of the company's production, came over. Li Zhe went up to him, chatted briefly, and the two quickly determined the amount of fertilizer to be unloaded in the greenhouse warehouse.

Afterwards, Li Zhe asked Zhu Yimin and Jin Baiwan to stay and oversee the unloading, while he and Yang Xingbin headed towards the company cafeteria.

The two chatted as they walked. Li Zhe smiled and asked with concern, "Manager Yang, how have you been settling in with life and work at the company lately? Have you encountered any difficulties adjusting?"

Yang Xingbin replied with a smile, "It's great, I'm used to it. Everyone takes good care of me. Supervisor Li even invited me to his home for dinner twice. Your mother's cooking is especially delicious. The eight-treasure porridge, in particular, is incredibly authentic."

Work is going smoothly; all the key personnel in the company are very cooperative, and Deputy Supervisor Ma has also been a great help. She's been particularly attentive to the attendance system, and recently, employee tardiness and early departures have significantly decreased.

Although she is a lesbian, she is capable and hardworking, and most importantly, she is fair and impartial.

Although she may sometimes seem a bit ruthless to outsiders, I think her personality is particularly suited for human resources work.

Li Zhe smiled and said, "My sister-in-law is indeed a very clear-headed and principled person. However, she still lacks some work experience. In the future, you can manage her as you see fit without any worries."

As they spoke, the two had already entered the company cafeteria.

It was lunchtime, and employees began entering the cafeteria to eat. When they saw Li Zhe and Yang Xingbin enter, they all greeted them warmly: "Hello, Mr. Li!"

"Hello, Manager Yang!"

Li Zhe smiled and nodded in response, then walked to the food serving window. Li Jiugang was still in charge of serving the food. Li Zhe asked with a smile, "Brother Jiugang, what dishes has the cafeteria prepared today?"

When Li Jiugang saw Li Zhe, a smile appeared on his face. He said, "Hey, Zhezi's back! There's a lot of food today, I guarantee you'll be satisfied. There's braised pork with potatoes, stir-fried eggplant, stir-fried green beans, and scrambled eggs with tomatoes. The staple food is white flour steamed buns and mixed flour steamed buns."

Li Zhe thought for a moment and said, "Brother Jiu Gang, I want all three dishes except for the stir-fried green beans, and two steamed buns as well."

Li Jiugang quickly served Li Zhe his food and said, "Alright, I've served you all the food. It'll cost you 25 cents in total."

Li Zhe took the tray and said with some surprise, "Wow, this isn't cheap! Didn't the employees complain about the price?"

Li Jiugang smiled helplessly and explained, "This braised pork with potatoes is made with real pork. With pork prices these days, the cost isn't low. And the flour isn't cheap either."

Some employees thought it was too expensive, so they only ordered stir-fried green beans and stir-fried eggplant, plus two steamed buns made from mixed flour. That was enough to fill them up, and with the company subsidy, it didn't cost much.

The company cafeteria has already tried its best to offer discounts; it can't keep operating at a loss indefinitely.

Li Zhe nodded, took out his money to pay for his meal, and then carried his tray towards the small canteen. Yang Xingbin also got a meal and followed Li Zhe into the canteen.

Li Zhe found a seat and looked at Yang Xingbin sitting opposite him, asking, "Manager Yang, since the cafeteria changed from providing free meals to a paid service, are the employees complaining a lot? Have any problems arisen?"

Yang Xingbin sighed and said, "In the first few days after the toll was implemented, the employees did have a lot of complaints, and many of them brought their emotions into their work."

Not only was he late for work and left early, but he also didn't work diligently, didn't put in the effort, and didn't follow procedures, causing numerous problems and disrupting the company's normal production.

After a pause, Yang Xingbin continued, "Later, I discussed it with Deputy Supervisor Ma and Supervisor Zhu, and we decided to target a few typical cases and punish them severely a few times."

The minimum fine was two yuan each time, which was enough for them to eat in the cafeteria for several days; the highest fine was ten yuan, which was more than their food expenses for a month.

After several fines, the disgruntled employees understood the severity of the violations and dared not break the rules again. Now, the cafeteria's fee collection system has basically stabilized.

After listening, Li Zhe nodded and said, "Well done. It's inevitable that the employees will have some feelings about the cafeteria fees; there will always be an adjustment period."

It's a good thing for the company to correct this problem sooner and get everyone to accept the charging model.

“You’re right, that’s definitely the point,” Yang Xingbin agreed.

Afterwards, the two began to eat. Li Zhe ate a piece of braised pork first. Li Jiugang knew his eating habits and always chose lean meat, three parts fat and seven parts lean. He would take a bite of the meat and then a bite of the steamed bun, and it was so delicious.

Stir-fried tomatoes and eggs is also very affordable, with a generous amount of eggs and plenty of oil, unlike some cafeterias where you have to pick out the eggs from the tomatoes.

The stir-fried eggplant was sweet, somewhat similar to braised eggplant. It was probably deep-fried, and the taste was quite good.

Li Zhe felt that the taste of the food in the cafeteria had improved slightly, and overall, he was very satisfied with the cafeteria reform.

Li Zhe had almost finished eating. Seeing that Yang Xingbin had also finished, he asked, "Manager Yang, have you compiled the company's specific production requirements, management systems, and job responsibilities that I asked you to do before?"

Yang Xingbin quickly replied, "I was just about to report this to you! I have already compiled the company's production requirements standards, management system, and clear division of job responsibilities."

These details were discussed and finalized by me and several of the company's managers. Now we're just waiting for your return to make your decision and see if there are any changes needed.

"Great!" Li Zhe's face lit up with joy. "After dinner, we'll hold a meeting to establish these company rules and regulations as soon as possible, so that the company's operations will be more standardized."

In fact, Li Zhe had been waiting for this day for a long time. He knew very well that a company without clear rules and a sound management system could not go far; only with a sound system could the company develop more stably.

In the afternoon, as planned, Li Zhe convened a shareholders' and management meeting to specifically discuss the company's new systems and positions.

The specific content mentioned at the meeting included: formulating new company rules, clarifying the responsibilities of each position, unifying production standards, establishing a clear reward and punishment system, and adding some new positions based on the company's development needs, such as production team leader, technician, logistics personnel, accountant, and cashier.

Over the next two days, Li Zhe and the company's management team repeatedly discussed and revised these regulations, ultimately finalizing the company's main rules.

Once the rules were finalized, they immediately posted them in a prominent location in the cafeteria for all employees to see.

The introduction of these new rules immediately caused quite a stir among the employees, who crowded in front of the bulletin board to discuss the impact of the new rules on their work...

(End of this chapter)