Starting with vegetable greenhouses in 1988

Chapter 1 1988
north.

The summer sun is setting in the west.

The old-fashioned mud-brick house was still a bit stuffy. Li Zhe slumped on the kang mat, his eyes glazed over, sweat dripping down his neck and soaking through his white vest. He didn't know if it was from the heat or from being scared.

The mud-brick walls inside the house were covered with old newspapers, a mirror hung on the west wall, faded New Year pictures of great figures and certificates of merit were pasted on the north wall, and a dragon year calendar hung on the east wall: August 29, 1988.

He is reborn!

We returned to the old house that had collapsed 35 years ago.

Li Zhe never expected that, as usual, he would drink alone in silence and wake up to find himself back in the past thirty-six years.

He slid off the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), still somewhat unaccustomed to his new body. Looking at his young and thin face in the mirror, his expression was complicated.

confused?

surprise?

More than anything, people are puzzled.

Li Zhe stood there blankly for a long time until he heard a middle-aged man's voice from outside, "Second brother, what are you doing holed up in the house? Aren't you hot? Go get a basin of water."

"Father!" This voice, buried deep in his memory, was unforgettable for Li Zhe.

In July 1989, the town experienced a rare and severe rainstorm that destroyed a large amount of farmland, roads, and power facilities.

The Li family's mud-brick house had been in disrepair for many years, and an old tunnel still remained underneath. Heavy rain washed away the tunnel, causing the mud-brick house to collapse as well. The mother and sister suffered minor injuries, but the father was crushed by a roof beam and died from his injuries.

Li Zhe was working at the factory at the time and escaped the accident, but he was unable to see his father one last time, which became a regret in his heart.

Light footsteps sounded, and the curtain of the west room was lifted, revealing a thin girl with pigtails. "Father wants you to fetch water."

Looking at the unfamiliar yet familiar face, Li Zhe frowned slightly, "Third brother, you..."

"Don't even think about ordering me around, Dad's calling you." After saying that, the little girl ran into the east room in a flash.

The Li family's old house has three rooms. The main room is right inside the entrance. The parents and younger sister live in the east room, while Li Zhe and his older brother live in the west room. After his older brother got married, he separated from the family and moved out of the old house.

A waist-high vat stood against the east wall of the main room. Li Zhe lifted the lid of the vat, scooped up a basin of water with a gourd ladle, and walked out of the main room.

The locust tree on the south side of the courtyard provided a large area of ​​shade, and Old Li sat under the shade of the tree picking green beans.

Li Zhe's eyes were red. After putting down the basin of water, he pulled up a chair and sat down next to it, but he didn't dare to get too close.

He gazed at his father's profile; dark, thin, weathered, yet so kind.

"What are you standing there for? Come and pick the vegetables. If you cook late, your mother will start nagging again." Old Li threw the picked green beans into the basin, splashing water all over the floor.

That's right, he's still as afraid of his wife as ever.

Li's mother was hardworking, capable, and quite strong-willed. She managed all the affairs of the household, and her father, older brother, and younger sister had no choice but to obey her. The only one who dared to defy his mother was Li Zhe.

However, he was lazy by nature and didn't care about things that didn't involve him, which gradually led to his mother having the sole authority.

Li Zhe picked up a bunch of long beans, pinched off the tops, roots, and any parts with insect holes. In the village, green beans are a staple in the summer; they're stir-fried at noon, mixed in the evening, and eaten the leftovers the next morning.

"Where's my mother?"

"I've inquired about jobs for you. Your mother has put in a lot of effort to get you a job at the fan factory. If you do get in, you'd better work hard."

Li Zhe frowned slightly, recalling the events of that year.

The fan factory my father mentioned was called Wan'an Town Fan Factory, a commune-run enterprise established in 1975.

In 1984, after a document was issued by Beijing, it was renamed a township enterprise.

It was neither a state-owned enterprise nor a private enterprise; it was a product of the transitional period. Its main recruits were farmers, making it one of the earliest migrant workers. They still held rural household registration and did not receive government-subsidized grain rations. In his previous life, under his parents' arrangement, Li Zhe happily entered the fan factory. Although his status remained the same, the opportunity to receive a salary and eat in the canteen was still very attractive in that era.

After entering the factory, Li Zhe found that it was different from what he had imagined. Not only did he earn little money, but the food in the canteen was also bland and watery. He ate sweet potatoes all day long, which made him feel traumatized. The sight of sweet potatoes made his stomach churn.

It was a month after Li Zhe started working at the factory that he finally understood the situation.

In the early 1980s, the Wan'an Town Electric Fan Factory did indeed enjoy a period of glory, and was considered a star enterprise in the county.

However, with further marketization, competition in the electric fan industry became increasingly fierce. The Wan'an Town Electric Fan Factory had outdated equipment, bloated staff, and low efficiency, and even paying wages became a problem. In the 1990s, it became one of the first enterprises to go bankrupt.

Li Zhe worked in the factory for almost a year and only earned a little over two hundred yuan. That amount wasn't even enough to build a house, let alone lay the foundation.

The father and son chatted casually, without any particularly enthusiastic words, but Li Zhe enjoyed the warmth of the conversation and would occasionally steal glances at his father.

Li Zhe's father was a kind-hearted man who didn't have a strong presence in the family. It wasn't until his unexpected death that the burden of life fell on Li Zhe's shoulders, and he realized how heavy that responsibility was.

Li Zhe dreamed of the other person more than once, wanting to confide his troubles in life, but the father in his dreams never spoke, and he could only see a blurry shadow. He had never had such a real contact with him before.

He was certain that he had truly been reborn.

No longer confused.

With a year remaining until his father's unexpected death, he had ample time to make changes.

Dinner was quickly prepared: a plate of stir-fried green beans and a pot of corn porridge.

The Li family lived a frugal life, and except for busy farming seasons and holidays, they rarely ate staple foods for dinner.

"Oh, I'm finally home." A slightly hoarse voice came from outside.

The curtain was lifted from the outside, and a middle-aged woman rushed into the main room. Li Zhe called out in a somewhat unfamiliar tone, "Mother."

Li's mother went straight to the water vat, scooped up a ladle of water and drank it down in one gulp. She wiped her mouth and said, "I'm so thirsty."

Old Li handed his wife a stool. "How did the deal with the fan factory job go? Are they still hiring?"

"Is there anything I, Wang Xiuying, can't handle?" Mother Li sat down on the stool, rubbing her calves, and laughed. "Do you know how many people the fan factory is hiring this year? Three, just three, not one more. I had to beg my quick-tongued wife for ages before she agreed to help pass on the message."

Old Li asked curiously, "Can a quick-tongued wife really have any influence?"

"The quick-talking wife's family is from Wan'an Town, and her brother is the workshop director of an electric fan factory. Do you think that's a good thing?"

Old Li nodded. "We really found the right person. If we can get a job at the fan factory, we'll have to thank them properly; they've been a huge help."

"I already promised my quick-tongued wife that once the second son gets a job at the fan factory, I'll give her a hundred yuan as a reward; also buy her two cans of food and two tubs of malted milk powder. We can't let her help us for nothing." Wang Xiuying's tone was full of joy as she instructed Li Zhe.

"Second son, work hard once you're in the factory. You'll be a government employee from now on."

"I don't want to work in the fan factory," Li Zhe replied, looking up.

"What nonsense are you talking about! Why don't you want such a good job?" Wang Xiuying jumped up, almost poking her son's forehead with her finger. "I gave away thirty-seven eggs and two pounds of sesame oil just to get my quick-tongued wife to help me!"

“I have a classmate who works in a fan factory. He said the pay is bad and he doesn’t earn much, so he doesn’t want to work there anymore. If he knew I paid money to get a job there, he would laugh his head off.”

"Don't listen to his nonsense. The fast-talking wife's niece is a factory worker. Last month she earned 62.5 yuan. Do the math yourself. That's at least 700 yuan a year. What can you do in the village to earn that much money?"

The nature of township and village enterprises dictates that they have many people with connections, many idlers, chaotic management, and few people who actually do the work.

Li Zhe laughed, “You can’t calculate it like that. This fan factory is different from state-owned enterprises. It’s piece-rate, so you earn more during peak season and less during off-season. The peak season for the fan factory is only three months, and the wages for the other months are only about twenty yuan. You can only earn two or three hundred yuan a year.”

"This... can't be right? That's not what my quick-tongued wife said." Wang Xiuying was a little confused.

"Mom, don't worry about what she says. You'll buy an electric fan for winter, won't you?"

(End of this chapter)