Siheyuan: Starting from 1958

The next evening, Chen Jun was in a much better mood than the day before when he got home from get off work.

She hugged Wang Dong, who was cooking in the kitchen, as soon as she entered the door: "Husband..."

"The method you taught me last night worked..."

"Use their plan to turn the tables on the Party Secretary and the County Head by signing a pledge."

"Although the county leaders who made the arrangements with me had the backing of the Party Secretary and the County Head and weren't afraid to make self-criticisms, they were still afraid of losing face and worried that their prestige and reputation in the county would be affected, ultimately impacting their chances of promotion and wealth..."

"As soon as they heard the demands and penalties I proposed, they all stood up and spoke, as if they had planned it in advance, saying that the task of doubling people's income within two years was too heavy and almost impossible to complete..."

"After voting, the task of doubling income will definitely be changed to a 50% increase."

Even so, some of the county leaders who were demoted looked very grim, feeling that they couldn't complete their tasks...

"But this is fine..."

"With this assignment, I no longer need to stay in the county every day and pretend to be friendly with those leaders."

"Aside from attending necessary county meetings, I can work in Tangshan Town most of the time..."

"It just so happens that the Party Secretary of Tangshan Town retired recently, and a new Party Secretary has not yet been appointed."

"To make my work easier, the county directly appointed me as the secretary of Tangshan Town."

"Although it's not quite at the point of absolute power, I am, after all, a county leader. As long as I don't go too far, the cadres and leaders in the town certainly won't dare to disobey or question my orders..."

"It will definitely be of great help to you in setting up a purchasing station in Tangshan Town..."

As Wang Dong plated the stewed mutton from the iron pot, he said, "Wife..."

"Now that you've made up your mind, I'll call Old Guo at the farm tomorrow..."

"Temporarily suspend goat farming at the farm..."

"As long as the goat breeding industry in Tangshan Town develops, the goats here can not only meet the needs of Dongjun Restaurant, but may even meet the mutton demand of half of Beijing."

"By the way, have him transfer the sheep farm manager we've already appointed to assist us in our operation."

“Let him set up a goat farm in Tangshan Town, specifically to develop goat breeding in Tangshan Town, and purchase and sell goats to Beijing.”

…………

Dongling Village in Tangshan Town is a small village with a population of just over two hundred.

The village is located halfway up the mountain, with less than two mu of land per person, and all of it consists of terraced fields that have been cultivated by generations of ancestors on the mountainside.

Because the river is at the foot of the mountain, there is no way to draw water for irrigation, and hundreds of acres of mountain land rely entirely on rainfall.

When the rainfall is good, each mu (unit of land area) can yield four or five hundred jin (unit of weight) of corn; when the rainfall is bad, even three hundred jin of corn cannot be harvested.

Most of the people's annual harvest comes from these lands.

After the reform and opening up, some bolder villagers began raising pigs and sheep at home...

However, due to the scarcity of land and the large population, the meager harvest from the fields is just enough to feed the people. In times of drought and little rain, the harvest may not even be enough to feed the people.

Anyone who has raised pigs knows that without grain, feeding them only pig feed will result in slow growth, with very little meat. If they manage to grow to 100 pounds in a year, that's considered lucky. In terms of effort, it's basically a loss. If they don't grow to that size, you might even lose everything.

As a result, fewer and fewer villagers were willing to raise pigs, while many more raised sheep.

However, due to inconvenient transportation, the goats that are slaughtered locally cannot be sold and can only be consumed locally, resulting in a consistently very low price for goats.

Although every household in the village raises goats, they don't raise many; on average, each household has less than two.

They couldn't make money from the fields, and raising pigs and sheep didn't bring in any profit either. So everyone pinned their hopes on Beijing, a hundred kilometers away, hoping to earn some money there to take home. Otherwise, their children wouldn't even have money for school when they grew up.

Zhou Guangcai had just returned from working in Beijing a few days ago.

He carried grain for half a month, earning one yuan a day, for a total of fifteen yuan, and then he couldn't find a job.

After spending another five days in Beijing, Zhou Guangcai, who had finally managed to earn fifteen yuan, found that his money was dwindling and he couldn't find a new job, so he decided to go home.

Otherwise, I would have to spend all the fifteen yuan I worked so hard to earn.

Even if Zhou Guangcai only brought back ten yuan in the end, it was still a considerable sum for the Zhou family, whose total annual income was less than one hundred yuan.

He plans to plant corn on all the terraced fields at home in the next few days before going to Beijing to try his luck. Even if he only carries sacks in Beijing for half a month like last time, he can still earn more than ten yuan. It's better than staying at home doing nothing and living off his savings.

His twin sons will be starting school next year, so he needs to earn more money to save up, otherwise his two sons won't even have the money to go to school.

Zhou Gui is Zhou Guangcai's father. Although he is not yet fifty years old, he looks at least sixty years old because of long hours of farm work and lack of nutrition. His forehead is covered with wrinkles and most of his hair is white. He looks very old.

Seeing his son return from working in the fields and start repairing the sheepfold with bamboo and sticks, he frowned and asked, "Guangcai..."

"Today, a group selling lambs came to the village entrance, led by town leaders... They said they wanted to sign an agreement with us, asking us to help raise sheep, and that they would buy the goats we raised at a high price by the end of the year..."

"Everyone was worried that this person was a swindler. Although the town leaders said a lot of nice things, people still went to buy..."

"I went to ask, and the person selling lambs is indeed charging more than the lamb sellers in town. If they raise a lamb to 50 jin (25 kg), they can sell it for at least five yuan more..."

"Do you think we should raise a few more sheep this year...?"

“In previous years, we raised sheep just so we could earn some money to buy New Year’s goods.”

"If they really buy the sheep at this price, we can earn an extra five yuan for each sheep we raise, and an extra twenty or thirty yuan for four or five sheep..."

“You can earn ten or twenty yuan by raising a sheep, which adds up to more than a hundred yuan, not less than what you can earn working in Beijing.”

"What if we raise the sheep to adulthood and they don't come to buy them?" Zhou Guangcai didn't respond to his father's question, but instead frowned and asked in return.

Seeing that his father remained silent, Zhou Guangcai continued, "At that time, we will only be able to send the goats to town to sell to goat dealers."

"The more sheep there are, the more aggressively the sheep dealers will drive down the price. Forget about making more than a hundred yuan, you might not even make seventy or eighty yuan."

"Besides, sheep are not so easy to raise."

"Before the autumn harvest, things were fine. There was grass everywhere outside, and you could just take it out and eat your fill."

"After the autumn harvest, there is no food outside after winter sets in, so we can only feed them hay."

"To keep the sheep alive and prevent them from losing weight, we need to feed them corn. Five sheep can easily consume two or three hundred catties of corn in a winter. In that case, not only will we not make money, we might even lose money." (End of Chapter)