Chapter 178: Zhou Zhiwen “Makes a Delivery”

The next day, under the guidance of the old village secretary and the brigade leader, the villagers began constructing the greenhouse sheds.

Based on Zhou Yimin’s instructions, they had a general idea of what to do.

By the time Zhou Yimin came to check on the progress, several sheds had already been completed. To his surprise, they turned out even more attractive and functional than he had imagined. The villagers had even made improvements and optimizations beyond what he had envisioned.

“Yimin, what do you think? Do we need to make any changes?” the old village secretary asked.

After all, these greenhouses differed a bit from what Zhou Yimin had described the day before. They were worried it might not meet his expectations. It should be noted that Zhoujiazhuang had gone all-in on this project.

“They’re great! Better than I imagined. Let’s build them like this.”

Zhou Yimin gave his full and unreserved approval.

Some things truly can’t be underestimated—like the imagination and hands-on ability of the older generation.

Hearing Zhou Yimin’s praise, everyone breathed a sigh of relief and felt even more motivated to keep working. After all, having their labor acknowledged clearly boosted morale.

Since the villagers had done better than he had envisioned, Zhou Yimin didn’t feel the need to micromanage.

He drove off with a truckload of huanghuali wood from Zhoujiazhuang.

In a secluded spot, he casually transferred all the wood from the truck into his system backpack. He drove around a bit, then returned to Zhoujiazhuang to have more wood loaded. After making three or four trips, he finally managed to collect the entire batch.

These old huanghuali logs would easily start at tens of millions in value in the 21st century.

Crossing the hundred-million mark? That’s not realistic.

Those auction records of huanghuali fetching over a hundred million were for Ming and Qing dynasty furniture—finished works of art, not raw materials. There’s a significant difference between the two. One is a complete product that can be considered art; the other is just the raw material.

Even if the raw material is rare and valuable, it can’t compare to a finished piece.

…

At the same time, Zhou Zhiwen, who had just started his job two days ago, was making his first delivery to the research institute.

Initially, he had planned to be cautious and start small, but after Zhou Yimin’s suggestion, he increased the “supply volume.” This time, he brought over a basket of eggs and a hundred jin of cured meat from the basement of their private compound.

Even though Zhou Zhiwen was now a purchasing officer for the research institute, he still had to go through inspection at the gate. He didn’t mind. The soldier on duty checked the contents and, seeing just eggs and cured meat, couldn’t hide his delight.

The soldier saluted. “Comrade Zhou, please go ahead. Apologies, it’s standard procedure.”

Zhou Zhiwen smiled and nodded. “No problem! I understand.”

Once inside, Zhou Zhiwen headed straight for the canteen. He didn’t wander around or ask questions, and focused only on doing his own job. He steered clear of anything that might get him into trouble.

Meanwhile, Director Huang, who had been sitting in his office, got wind that Zhou Zhiwen had delivered eggs and cured meat and immediately rushed over.

“Whoa! That much?”

Seeing the basket of eggs and the pile of cured meat, Director Huang was overjoyed. This procurement position was more than worth it! So what if they had to pay one more salary?

As long as they could get food, that was all that mattered.

In this era, money wasn’t even as valuable as ration coupons.

Zhou Zhiwen smiled. “Director, they told me there’ll be another batch in a few days.”

“Good, excellent. Tell them—price is not an issue. Make sure the goods are reserved for our research institute. You all, hurry up and get this into storage. Settle Zhou Zhiwen’s account,” Director Huang said urgently.

He didn’t ask where the goods came from. That was every purchasing agent’s secret.

Besides, it didn’t matter to him. What he wanted was results—food and other supplies. Everything else wasn’t his concern. His job was to ensure the researchers got proper nutrition.

The comrades responsible for inventory and registration immediately got to work.

Thanks to Director Huang’s intervention, the purchase price was raised by about 20 cents per jin compared to the usual rate.

Technically, this wasn’t within regulations. But given the severe food shortages, many of those “rules” were already little more than formalities.

If you didn’t do this, your unit wouldn’t be able to secure any food at all—which would be considered dereliction of duty for people like Director Huang.

So they had no choice.

If you tried to buy at the official price, you’d be dreaming if you thought you could get even one grain of rice outside the plan. Think about it—if your offer is the same as the market price, why would anyone sell to you? Wouldn’t they rather sell to someone else who might give them a little extra under the table?

Did people think the big shots up top didn’t know this?

They were well aware!

They turned a blind eye because enforcing the rules strictly would only make things worse and might even cause serious social problems.

Take the pigeon markets, for example. The authorities knew they existed, but they didn’t shut them all down. They left a little breathing room for the common people.

After collecting his payment, Zhou Zhiwen asked, “Director, Zhoujiazhuang has planted a lot of off-plan vegetables. Based on visual estimates, they should start being harvested in about a week or two. Should we try to secure some for ourselves?”

Zhou Zhiwen knew the village already had a partnership with the steel factory. The vegetables would have no problem selling, but if the research institute also needed some, he would try his best to secure a portion.

After all, he was being paid by the institute, so of course he had to think of their needs.

“What kind of vegetables?” Director Huang asked curiously.

“The first to be ready is baby bok choy. Later there’ll be mushrooms, napa cabbage, radishes, tomatoes, string beans, pumpkins, and more. Eventually, there’ll also be chickens and ducks.” Zhou Zhiwen gave him a bit of a preview.

The more Director Huang heard, the brighter his eyes grew. In the end, he even wanted to convince Zhou Zhiwen to talk to Zhoujiazhuang about selling all their poultry to the research institute.

It was all meat, after all!

“Zhiwen, go home and talk to your old village secretary. Whatever price the steel factory offers, our research institute can match it. Try to prioritize supplying us.”

Director Huang already knew about the village’s relationship with the steel factory.

It wasn’t hard to find out.

After meeting with Zhou Yimin a few days ago, he’d quietly done some digging.

“Ah, that might be difficult,” Zhou Zhiwen replied honestly.

The steel factory had donated to the village school, provided medical support, and given lots of tangible benefits.

So of course, the village’s output would go to the steel factory first.

“Just do your best,” Director Huang said, patting him on the shoulder in encouragement.

“All right, I’ll ask the old village secretary and the brigade leader when I get back.”

In truth, it was Zhou Yimin he needed to ask. But when outside, they all had a tacit agreement not to mention Zhou Yimin’s name—just in case someone tried to use it against them.

After leaving the research institute, Zhou Zhiwen returned to the private compound and found that Yimin was also there, eating an unfamiliar melon with Dapeng and the others.

“Zhiwen, perfect timing. Come have some Hami melon,” Zhou Yimin called out.

Zhou Zhiwen handed the money over to Zhou Yimin and, while eating melon, repeated what Director Huang had just said.

(End of Chapter)