Chapter 100: Reactions from All Sides

“Such a big deal—why are you only reporting it to me now?”

As expected, Section Chief Zheng got chewed out too.

The phrase “earning foreign exchange” made them all realize the gravity of the situation. Their steel factory also wanted to do exports and bring in foreign currency for the country!

“Where’s Yimin? Hurry and bring him back.”

Then, Director Ding quickly went to report the situation to Factory Director Hu.

When Factory Director Hu heard the news, his reaction went from surprise to shock, then disbelief, and finally, he blurted out almost the exact same thing.

He immediately made calls to confirm the news.

As the factory director of the First Steel Plant, he had a wide network of contacts, so finding out the truth wasn’t hard.

Before long, he got solid confirmation.

He was utterly shaken.

Instant noodles could actually be exported—and they were selling like hotcakes overseas. Who could make sense of that?

The problem was, Zhou Yimin was their steel factory’s employee! Now he had benefited another factory. Just thinking about it was frustrating. Of course, they also knew—it was kind of ridiculous, even laughable, for a steel factory to be producing noodles.

But—foreign exchange! If it really could earn foreign exchange, then what was the harm in starting a small noodle plant at the steel factory? So what if people laughed at them?

“Director, when are we giving Comrade Zhou Yimin the reward for inventing the solar stove?” Director Ding asked.

Although they had given him a job placement, it still felt insufficient.

Now that he had advised the noodle factory and even shared the technique—was it because he was dissatisfied with the reward for the solar stove? Director Ding had already suggested at a meeting that Zhou Yimin’s reward should be increased.

The factory had agreed in principle, but no concrete plan had been made.

As Zhou Yimin’s supervisor, he had to fight for proper benefits for his subordinate.

“We’ll discuss it in the next meeting,” said Factory Director Hu. He was thinking the same thing.

Maybe Zhou Yimin had really gone to the noodle factory because he wasn’t happy with the solar stove reward.

If Zhou Yimin knew what they were thinking, he’d definitely cry out in injustice.

You guys are really overthinking it.

Instant noodles really weren’t suitable for steel factories!

Speaking of which, after Zhao Zhenguo left the steel factory, he went to Zhou Yimin’s siheyuan residence. As expected, he found it empty.

Luo Dapeng took the cigarette Zhao Zhenguo offered and told him, “Yimin’s probably still in Zhoujiazhuang. He’s been going back a lot lately to see his grandparents.”

“You know the way?”

“Yeah, I’ve been there two or three times.” After learning that this man was Director Li’s son—Zhou Yimin’s “cousin”—Luo Dapeng was willing to talk a bit more.

“Brother, can you take me there?”

Luo Dapeng hesitated. “I don’t have a bike, and Zhoujiazhuang’s pretty far.”

“I’ll borrow one from the subdistrict office. Let’s go now,” Zhao Zhenguo said, unable to wait. There was a leader still waiting back at the factory—how could he let them keep waiting?

Soon enough, he borrowed a bike, and the two of them set off in haste toward Zhoujiazhuang.

They had barely left when Team Lead Wang arrived.

Auntie #1 was surprised. “Why are so many people looking for Yimin today?”

It made sense for folks from the steel factory to come by, but when even people from the noodle factory showed up—it was starting to seem strange.

Yimin and the noodle factory had nothing to do with each other, right?

When Team Lead Wang found out that Zhou Yimin was back in his hometown, he didn’t waste any time. He went straight to find Zhou Dazhong and asked him to go bring Zhou Yimin back.

Zhou Dazhong didn’t dare delay. He hopped on his tricycle and headed straight for Zhoujiazhuang.

At that moment, Zhou Yimin was still wandering leisurely along the river embankment, where the vegetables on the riverbed had already grown to the height of a finger.

“They’re growing pretty fast,” Zhou Yimin remarked.

It hadn’t been many days, but at this rate, some of the vegetables could be harvested in another twenty to thirty days. When the time came, the village would get a bit more income.

He had already talked with Team Lead Wang—the steel factory would have exclusive rights to purchase these vegetables, and the price would be slightly higher than at the supply and marketing cooperative. The village leaders were very satisfied with this arrangement.

“They’re growing so well because we take care of them every day,” the old village secretary said with a smile.

And he wasn’t joking.

Because the riverbed crops belonged entirely to the village and didn’t need to be handed over to higher-ups, everyone had been putting their hearts into them. They cared even more about these than the crops on the main farmland.

Of course, the rich soil also played a part in how fast the crops were growing.

Zhou Yimin thought it was a pity they didn’t have plastic film. Otherwise, they could build greenhouses and grow things even faster—even in winter.

Plastic film did exist in this era, but the production volume was low. After all, it was made from polyethylene, which came from petroleum.

And China was currently a petroleum-poor country. Anything refined from oil was relatively scarce.

Fortunately, the Daqing Oilfield had been discovered last year.

Once large-scale drilling began, China would finally shed its image as a petroleum-poor country.

The discovery and development of the Daqing Oilfield would have a huge impact on China’s industrial development.

“That patch over there is beans. Might take a bit longer,” the old secretary pointed out ahead.

“Beans” here referred to long beans—a Northern nickname.

Speaking of which, Zhou Yimin suddenly remembered some jokes from the future about long beans.

There was a rumor that long beans were a lifelong trauma for people from Shandong. Some even got food poisoning from eating them. When Zhou Yimin first heard that, he was stunned.

Poisoned by beans?

That was wild. Why would beans be poisonous? As a Southerner, he’d eaten tons of them and never heard of such a thing.

But Shandong folks spoke about it so convincingly—it almost seemed real.

“That patch over there is tomatoes,” the old secretary continued.

Thankfully, they called them xihongshi (literally “western red persimmons”) here, and not shizi (persimmons), like some places in the northeast.

That made Zhou Yimin curious: if they called tomatoes shizi, then what did they call actual persimmons?

And it wasn’t just tomatoes. Sweet potatoes were also called different things across China—digua, fanshu—even yutou (taro).

If sweet potatoes were called yutou, then what were real taro called?

“Good thing you set up that hand-pump well,” the old secretary said with admiration. “Otherwise, none of these crops would’ve had a chance.”

Their village really was lucky.

Not only did they get to use the hand-pump well early, but they also gained a whole extra piece of land—the riverbed. Most importantly, they didn’t have to hand over any of its yield. Everything grown there belonged to the village.

Just then, someone came up to complain: Zhou Dafu and a few others were missing again.

The old secretary wasn’t stupid—he knew exactly why.

They thought they were being sneaky, but everyone had figured it out. Still, going into the mountains to hunt was risky, and now that the village had work available, no one wanted to call them out.

If anyone was tempted, they could go too—but they’d have to bear the consequences.

As for any game they might bring back, no one was jealous.

“Let them go. If they don’t want work points, that’s their choice,” the old secretary said. He wasn’t going to interfere. If even their parents weren’t stopping them, why should he?

Of course, there was another reason. That deer they’d eaten before—it was Zhou Dafu and his crew who had brought it back. The fact that the villagers could now eat potatoes also had a lot to do with their efforts.

(End of Chapter)