Chapter 390: Village Chief Wang’s Little Scheme

As they chatted, Village Chief Wang completely forgot the reason he came.

At that moment, the old Party Secretary asked, “Village Chief Wang, was there something you needed?”

It was only after hearing the old Party Secretary’s question that Chief Wang remembered why he came: “Oh, right, I came to see Yimin.”

Zhou Yimin was a bit puzzled. “Village Chief Wang, what did you need from me?”

“Yimin, our village has raised some chickens. We were hoping you could help us with the purchase.” Chief Wang finally remembered the main matter.

Zhou Yimin had thought it was something serious. “Don’t worry, Village Chief Wang. I’ll have someone come by to handle the acquisition.”

These days, it just takes a phone call—there’s no need to send someone specifically or come in person.

But seeing that Chief Wang still looked hesitant, Zhou Yimin figured there must be something else he needed help with.

“Village Chief Wang, we all know each other well—just go ahead and tell me everything at once.”

Chief Wang made up his mind. “Yimin, our village also wants to purchase a batch of eggs and grain.”

There was no other choice—now that there’s more work being done, the consumption of grain has gone up.

And after the shortage they experienced last year, which left them with lingering fears, they naturally wanted to store up more grain whenever possible.

As the saying goes: with grain in hand, you have peace of mind.

Zhou Yimin thought for a moment. “As for grain, it might be difficult to get it in the short term. You’ll have to wait a while.”

“But the eggs—I’ll transport another batch back in a few days and let you know so you can come pick them up.”

Even though there was a wait, Zhou Yimin still agreed to help, and Chief Wang quickly expressed his gratitude. “Waiting is no problem—just as long as you don’t forget.”

The grain in their village could still last a few more months. They simply wanted to build up a reserve.

Then Chief Wang asked, “Old Secretary, is your processing workshop still short on people?”

He was hoping to send a few villagers over to learn. Once they picked it up, maybe they could build one in their own village and not have to rely on others anymore.

After all, being stuck in a vulnerable position doesn’t feel good. If they could turn the tables and take the lead, it would obviously be better.

The old Party Secretary replied, “The workshop isn’t short on skilled workers, but we do need some extra hands. Would your village be willing to send some people, like Shuangtian Village did?”

He had already discussed this with Zhou Yimin before. To keep the technology within the village, only people from the commune or the village could work in the processing workshop—other villages were excluded from the skilled positions.

However, the processing plant still needed a lot of labor. If they transferred too many people from farming to the feed workshop, there wouldn’t be enough manpower for agriculture.

Every year, they had to hand over a sizable amount of grain to the state, and selling vegetables was a key income source for the village—it couldn’t be interrupted.

So, they could only recruit from other villages, offering three meals a day.

Once that news got out, nearby villages would probably fight over the opportunity to work at Zhoujiazhuang.

Many villages had poor harvests. After handing over the grain quota, they didn’t have enough left to make it to the next harvest.

As long as there was food to eat for doing work, countless people would likely line up to join. Rural folks were never afraid of hard work—if working meant they could eat, they’d do it.

Farmers could practically work you into bankruptcy! That just showed how tough and diligent they were.

Chief Wang was a bit troubled—he hadn’t expected the old Secretary to block off the path to real learning so firmly, before they even got started.

But hearing there was still manual work to be done—that was an opportunity, wasn’t it?

He could send a few of the sharpest people from the village over. Over time, they’d surely learn a thing or two, even if the workshop wasn’t fully sealed off.

And even if they didn’t learn much, it wouldn’t be a loss—they’d at least be saving the village a lot of grain.

Grain was still incredibly precious these days—any bit saved was worth it.

“Alright then, old Secretary. How many people do you need?”

Shangshui Village could still spare a portion of its labor without affecting its own agricultural work, so Chief Wang was confident in saying that.

The old Secretary answered directly, “Fifty people.”

Fifty should be enough. If it wasn’t, they could recruit more later. As Zhoujiazhuang’s operations grew, they’d definitely need more manpower.

Chief Wang let out a sigh of relief at the number. He was worried Zhoujiazhuang would demand one or two hundred people—that many would’ve been impossible.

Unless they sent every able-bodied person from the village, they wouldn’t even have anyone left to farm.

“When do you need them?” Chief Wang asked.

“Tomorrow,” the old Secretary replied without hesitation.

Because the workshop had just started running today, and it basically couldn’t stop once it began.

They had already finalized the personnel last night: men between the ages of eighteen and thirty were qualified to work in the feed processing plant.

There were no wages for working there—it was all calculated in “work points,” but the points were high.

Two work points per hour. Eight hours a day meant sixteen points daily.

If they had to rush progress and do overtime, they’d earn even more.

Initially, a lot of villagers opposed the idea, saying it was unfair.

Not every family had someone in that age range, which meant some would earn fewer points each day. When it came time to split profits at the end of the year, they’d get less.

Currently, a full-grown man earned only about ten points per day.

That meant a feed plant worker could earn nearly double in a single day.

To address this, the old Secretary introduced a policy: households without eligible workers would receive an additional six points per day for a fully working adult man. That way, their earnings wouldn’t fall behind.

He also appealed to their sense of logic and emotion, explaining that the feed processing plant was the village’s most important asset. If the workshop made a profit, the year-end dividends would be bigger too.

Eventually, the villagers were persuaded and agreed.

Women who met the age requirements could also work in the plant, though their daily work points were slightly lower—about ten per day.

That was equivalent to what a grown man earned in the past.

This idea actually came from Zhou Yimin. Times had changed—it wasn’t like the old feudal society where women had low status. Nowadays, women could hold up half the sky.

This move also raised the status of women in Zhoujiazhuang. People no longer saw daughters as burdens to be married off for bride prices.

Now, families worried their daughters would marry out too quickly—they wanted them to stay a few more years and help earn money.

Because of this, women’s standing in the family improved significantly. Though there might still be some gap compared to sons, at least it wasn’t so one-sided anymore.

(End of Chapter)