Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 433 People leave and the tea cools down
Shortly after, Captain Zhang and Captain Ye entered the office.

The little myna bird flapped its wings and landed on the windowsill, opening its mouth and shouting, "Meeting! Meeting!"

Chen Fan chirped twice, and the little myna bird immediately flew to him and landed on the table.

I fed it a small handful of millet, and after it finished eating, the little myna flew away again.

Ye Shubao sat down and smiled at Chen Fan, "You're quite something, you even know how to call meetings."

Captain Zhang looked at the myna bird flying in the sky outside and asked, "Aren't you afraid it will fly away and not come back?"

Chen Fan laughed and said, "It's alright, it knows how to get home. Even if it gets lost, the Eurasian Hobby can catch it."

Upon hearing this, everyone was speechless. So you're playing the game of one thing subduing another at home?
Captain Zhang turned to Secretary Yang and asked, "What are those police leaders doing here?"

Secretary Yang, smoking a cigarette, said, "What else can we do but conduct research? Zhu Gong'an will just show them the way."

Ye Shubao smacked his lips, holding a piece of paper rolled with tobacco in his hand, and looked at him with a smile, "Doing research just means having a meal?"

Secretary Yang laughed and said, "We need to eat during the inspection. You know, they kept asking about the production teams while we were eating. Some of them were about Old Xiao's business, some were about our cooked food shops outside, and some were about the transportation team. They said they wanted to understand the security situation, and it seemed like they were really serious about it."

Xiao Liewen also said, "We talked about these things at first, but then we went off-topic. We kept asking about side jobs and Xiao Chen. It was just like our usual idle chatter."

Secretary Yang: "They're all human, what else can we do?"

He smiled and shook his head, then tapped the table. "Everyone's here. Time for the meeting."

He took a puff of his cigarette before straightening up and clearing his throat. “This year is a bumper year for our Lujiawan production team. Agriculture is booming and sideline businesses are thriving. Towards the end of the year, we also had the resumption of the college entrance examination. All 23 kids in the team got high scores. No one in the whole commune had a higher score than them.”

His face, which had been so serious just moments before, was now beaming with laughter that he could barely open his eyes.

Everyone else was also all smiles, laughing heartily.

Chen Fan sat to the side, toying with a cigarette in his hand, silently wondering if today was another commendation ceremony for him.
The number of people was a bit small; if a meeting of the entire production team were held, the scene would be much larger.

After laughing for a while, Secretary Yang's expression turned serious again. "There are many good things, but we cannot be complacent or careless. We must continue our efforts and do our job well."

Especially now that winter is here, there are still some big and small matters, both major and minor, that need to be handled properly. We absolutely cannot be arrogant all year only to have things fall apart at the end of the year.

Upon hearing this, everyone became serious and stared at him intently.

Secretary Yang glanced around at everyone and said, "Report on all the things you're working on, and let's put them together and see how to coordinate and arrange them."

Captain Zhang nodded and said seriously, "My top priority here is dike reinforcement, river dredging, and ditch repair. These water conservancy projects cannot be taken lightly."

After he finished speaking, Ye Shubao quickly added, "This is my breeding farm; I'm looking into how to expand its scale."

He looked at everyone and said, “There are currently 15 cooked food shops in Luwan District. Ten of them are in the prefectural committee, three are in the county seat, and two are in Shuanghe County. These 15 shops consume a lot of poultry and livestock every day. Although we can currently supply them with four brigades: Ganjiacun, Shengli, Hongxing, and Bailanghu, if we open new shops or find other channels, the supply may become a problem.”

Secretary Yang nodded slowly. "What are your thoughts?"

Ye Shubao lit a homemade cigarette, exhaled a puff of smoke, and said with a bitter face, "What else can I do? I can only encourage the families of the commune members to raise more livestock, and expand the scale of the livestock farms directly managed by the brigade headquarters."

However, doing so presents significant challenges. Firstly, there's a labor shortage. The entire brigade has 586 households, and almost every family is involved in animal husbandry. But the labor force is limited, and able-bodied workers must be prioritized for fieldwork.

Secretary Yang interjected, "That's right. No matter what, we must ensure that the central task of 'taking grain as the key link' remains unchanged. Otherwise, if everyone goes to develop sideline businesses, who will guarantee food security?"

Everyone agreed on this issue.

Although rice is cheap, it is still the only food that can fill our stomachs. Meat, no matter how delicious, will be gone in a few days, while rice can be stored for a long time and eaten from the beginning to the end of the year. The two are simply incomparable.

People who have experienced hunger will always prioritize food security, both for public and private reasons, and there is absolutely no room for negotiation on this point!

As for earning money to buy grain outside? If someone asked the elderly people of that time this question, they would mostly have the same attitude: "If everyone runs off to make money, who will grow the grain? Who will pay the national grain tax? When you're starving, what good is it if I have grain in my hands, no matter how much money you have?"

Therefore, no one, including Ye Shubao, who was in charge of the breeding farm, would think of taking away the labor force from grain farming in order to increase the scale of the breeding farm.

After a brief silence, Secretary Yang asked again, "Are there any other problems with the farm?"

Ye Shubao immediately replied, "Yes."

He turned to look at Zhang Wenliang, who immediately realized what he meant, moved his buttocks forward, and turned his gaze to Chen Fan. "Xiao Chen told me before that raising wild rabbits is not cost-effective. Wild rabbits eat a lot, grow slowly, and have a high mortality rate. If possible, it would be best to buy a batch of meat rabbit seedlings from outside."

Chen Fan was sitting slumped in his chair, listening intently. When he saw everyone looking at him, he immediately said, "Yes, there is such a thing. We didn't have the conditions before, so we could only rely on ourselves and use the existing resources to do aquaculture."

However, after more than half a year of development, the team now has money in its accounts, so it needs to consider how to add value to its products.

For example, raising chickens. Actually, the local free-range chickens here are not very profitable. Compared to some nationally famous broiler chickens, they are fed more but produce much less meat, and even the eggs they lay are small.

If we switch to well-known broiler chickens like the Sanhuang chicken, Qingyuan chicken, Xinghua chicken, or Wuji chicken, not only will we need less feed and achieve a higher meat yield, but we can also leverage their brand recognition to raise the selling price slightly.

At first, everyone was quite engrossed in the conversation, but when they heard the last sentence, they couldn't help but feel a little guilty.

The price is already high enough, isn't it? Any higher? They're probably not making money with a clear conscience.

However, putting aside Comrade Xiao Chen's suggestion to raise prices, the fact that the input is lower and the meat yield is higher is indeed tempting for them.

This is equivalent to doing nothing and getting an extra batch of meat for nothing.

Just as Secretary Yang was about to speak, he heard Chen Fan say, "The same goes for rabbits. Actually, wild rabbits are not very suitable for breeding. I put a lot of effort into taming those wild rabbits, but in terms of breeding species, wild rabbits are not cost-effective."

White rabbits are the most suitable for meat farming. They have a higher meat yield, more tender meat, and are also relatively calm, making them more farmer-friendly.

Ye Shubao immediately asked, "Where can I buy a white rabbit?"

Chen Fan laughed and said, "There are some in Shanghai. I read a report in the newspaper that Shanghai had rabbit breeding consulting agencies as early as the 30s, which taught the breeding techniques of Angora rabbits, fur rabbits and meat rabbits for free. There are quite a few people raising them in Qingpu and Chongming areas."

"If it weren't for the 'ten years,' their breeding scale could have grown very large. It was just that things stopped halfway, so they're not as successful now, but finding some breeding rabbits shouldn't be a problem."

Upon hearing this, Ye Shubao's eyes lit up immediately. "You also have Angora rabbits? Do you have any?"

Chen Fan looked at him in surprise, "You even know about Angora rabbits?"

Ye Shubao proudly raised his head, "Don't think you're the only one who reads the newspaper. I read it often too, okay? The newspaper reported on the story of raising Angora rabbits in Fogang, Guangdong. More than 7000 households in that county are raising rabbits, and they have earned more than 200 million yuan in foreign exchange for the country over the past ten years. It was all in the newspaper!"

Secretary Yang was initially quite interested, but after hearing what he said, he couldn't help but frown slightly. "More than 200 million in ten years, that's not much."

The 15 Luwan cooked food shops in Lujiawan have a daily turnover of about 4 yuan. After deducting various costs such as seedling fees, feed, medicine, purchases from other production teams, employee wages, transportation fees, development funds retained by the side business company, and management fees paid to the food company, the remaining net profit is distributed in three ways.

The poultry and livestock raised by the members of their own production team were divided into three parts: 60% went to the farmers, 20% to the production team, and 20% to the production brigade.

Of the livestock farm belonging to the brigade headquarters, 7% belongs to the livestock farm and 3% belongs to the brigade.

The profits from purchases from other production teams are split equally between the purchasing company and the brigade. This portion is actually very small, because the added value is all earned by the subsidiary company, leaving little room for profit. However, regardless of the circumstances, the brigade's collective account now receives two to three thousand yuan a day from all sources of income.

More than 200 million, in just two or three years, right?
This doesn't even include the money in the individual accounts of each of the side businesses. That's why we say Secretary Yang and his team have a lot of leverage now.

But Ye Shubao's words made Secretary Yang's back soften.

Ye Shubao: "They're earning foreign exchange!"

Secretary Yang fell silent. Now that he was a worldly man, he knew perfectly well how important foreign exchange was.

Don't be fooled by the fact that 1.7 yuan can be exchanged for 1 US dollar now. In reality, we need a lot of foreign exchange to buy advanced equipment from abroad. If possible, some companies are willing to pay several times the price to exchange for it.

Therefore, he really couldn't estimate the true value of this 200 million yuan.

Taking a drag of his cigarette in a sullen mood, Secretary Yang's eyes flickered slightly as he looked at Chen Fan and smiled, "Little Chen, do you think we could raise Angora rabbits?"

Chen Fan clicked his tongue and said with a smile, "Raising them is definitely possible, but I don't think it's necessary, at least not now."

Secretary Yang was slightly taken aback. "What do you mean?"

Xiao Liewen quickly added, "That's right, if others can raise Angora rabbits for export, why can't we? We can earn foreign exchange and contribute so much good stuff to the government!"

Chen Fan explained patiently with a smile, "Exporting rabbit fur is not a simple matter. If we want to raise Angora rabbits, we first need people who are familiar with the quality standards of rabbit fur, or even rabbit fur processing enterprises. Moreover, all products exported must go through foreign trade companies."

The reason why people in Fogang are able to raise Angora rabbits is because their county's foreign trade company has opened up foreign trade channels and has customers in this field. Then, they vigorously develop Angora rabbit breeding within the county and train technicians to provide customers with high-quality rabbit wool.

Do any of the foreign trade companies in our Gufeng County have such channels? Or do they have technicians familiar with rabbit fur and rabbit fur processing?

Secretary Yang was speechless.

The Gufeng County Foreign Trade Company was practically a shell, with annual export revenue of less than ten thousand US dollars. That was only because they supplied goods to the provincial foreign trade company—a pittance from them. The entire Gufeng County relied on this meager foreign exchange reserves, accumulating money year after year, buying a little at a time… It was so pathetic, it was almost unbelievable!

At this moment, Captain Zhang finally realized, "I understand. To give you an example, it's like we're running a delicatessen. Because of Xiao Chen's connection with the health department, we're able to open so many stores."

We don't have anyone who can help export Angora rabbits, so even though we raise them, we can't sell them!

Chen Fan smiled and said, "More or less."

He paused for a moment, then laughed and said, "However, just because it's not possible now doesn't mean it won't be possible in the future. If someone gets into a foreign trade school this year, or if someone joins a foreign trade company in the future, then we can get on that bandwagon. Selling rabbit fur, let alone chickens, ducks, or geese, won't be difficult at all."

Upon hearing this, Secretary Yang, with his pipe in his mouth, clapped his hands and said with a radiant smile, "See? What did I tell you? We should really try to win over these prospective college students; you never know when they might come in handy."

As soon as he said that, the office erupted in soft laughter.

Nobody is a fool, including those educated youth from other places. Everyone knows that they owe Lujiawan a huge favor, and that these favors must be repaid.

Otherwise, since we're not related, even if we're just trying to help, we could simply give them some materials to copy. Why bother with classes, tutoring, and providing food and lodging?

Especially after Secretary Yang treated them to two meals, his true intentions became clear.

Their willingness to come also demonstrates their attitude: they will definitely repay this favor if they ever need it in the future!
Anquan is just loafing around here eating and drinking for free, which is the same principle. Of course, he's different. Apart from personal favors, his relationship with Lujiawan is no different from that of his own people. A personal favor is just icing on the cake. Whether or not he has one, he will do his best to help Lujiawan whenever they need it, and Secretary Yang and the others don't treat him like an outsider.

After the laughter subsided, Secretary Yang said to Chen Fan, "Alright, then let's not raise Angora rabbits for now, just white rabbits."

He paused for a moment, then said, "So when are we going to buy White Rabbit candy and those broiler chickens you mentioned?"

Chen Fan looked at Ye Shubao and Zhang Wenliang, "This should be under the jurisdiction of the breeding farm, so Captain Ye and Brother Sanhu should handle it."

"Let's wait until after the Spring Festival. Then you can send more people, splitting them into several groups. Some will go to Shanghai to buy rabbits, while others will go to Guangdong or Anhui to buy breeding chickens. That way, it will be more efficient."

After he finished speaking, Anquan immediately said, "When I get back to Shanghai, I can find out the details first, and you can go and buy it directly when you arrive."

Secretary Yang looked at him and said deliberately, "You've finally done something practical."

With a long face, An Quan said, "What are you saying? I also put in a lot of effort when the farm was being built, you know."

Secretary Yang chuckled, "But you're not a tax office cadre anymore."

Safety sighed deeply, "Once the person leaves, the tea grows cold!"

The room was filled with laughter again.

Ye Shubao chuckled, took a drag of his cigarette, and turned to look at Secretary Yang. "That's all I have here. Nothing else."

At this moment, Chen Fan raised his hand and said with a smile, "I have another suggestion regarding the breeding farm."

Everyone looked at him, and Secretary Yang pointed and said, "You speak."

Chen Fan laughed and said, "Our brigade is quite well-off now, right? How about we consider setting up another feed mill?"

Upon hearing this, everyone's eyes lit up.

Feed milling machines have not been around in my country for very long. Apart from a very small number of feed milling machines imported in the early years, it was not until the early 70s that my country purchased an imported machine from Italy. The task was assigned to the state-owned Liyang Grain and Oil Machinery Factory and a company in Zhengzhou under the Ministry of Commerce, who were asked to disassemble and survey the equipment in order to digest and absorb the information and manufacture our own pelleting equipment.

Despite the backwardness of dismantling and surveying at the time, Liyang Grain and Oil Machinery Factory did not give up. They took the initiative to find another imported feed machine and took the lead in imitating my country's first domestically produced feed machine: the Type 45 feed pellet press.

Later, the machinery factory in Zhengzhou also caught up and manufactured another model of machine.

Now, several years later, feed processing machines have become increasingly common, and the main suppliers are various large farms.

If an ordinary production team wants to buy them, they can do so by submitting a report and placing an order in advance, but they will have to wait for a while.

Anquan was the first to react, slapping his thigh and saying, "This is a good idea. If we can buy a feed mill, it will greatly help improve the quality of feed. In addition to supplying our own farms and farmers, we can also sell feed to the outside world."

Secretary Yang's eyes lit up as he looked at him and asked, "Can we also set up a feed mill?"

Anquan laughed and said, "Of course! The raw materials for feed are all agricultural products, and the feed is supplied to the livestock industry. They all belong to the five major categories of agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, fishery and sideline products. As long as it doesn't fall into any of these five categories, the production team can handle it!"

Without hesitation, Secretary Yang immediately agreed, "Okay, then we'll buy feed mill machinery and set up a feed mill!"

Ye Shubao quickly threw away his cigarette butt and chuckled at him, "Old Yang, why don't you let our farm run the feed mill..."

Before he could finish speaking, Secretary Yang interrupted, "Forget it, didn't you hear what Xiao An just said? Feed can be sold externally. If we give it to your farm, how will we settle the accounts later? It's better to keep things separate!"

Ye Shubao pursed his lips and remained silent.

Separating accounts was the initial principle set by Chen Fan. Now that the various side businesses are cooperating with each other, they have also seen the benefits of separating accounts, so he naturally won't go against it.

(End of this chapter)