Reborn in 1985: From Selling Braised Duck to Becoming the World's Richest Man

Seeing the villagers' enthusiasm, Liang Ming nodded, agreed on a time for the purchase, and then dismissed the meeting.

After the villagers left, Liang Jianguo took Liang Ming's hand and said, "Liang Ming, I really have to thank you this time. You've given all the villagers in Liangjia Village a way to make a living."

“Village chief, although my cannery will continue to purchase fruit, each of the dozens of households in our village only has about 2 mu of private land.”

Upon hearing the village chief's words, Liang Ming immediately poured cold water on the situation:

"According to my estimate, this fruit buying and selling business will only last for a little over a month at most, and their fruit will be sold out."

Upon hearing this, Liang Jianguo immediately became nervous: "So, the days when our villagers can make money won't even last for a little over a month?"

"Liang Ming, do you have any ideas on how to continue helping the villagers make money?"

Having finally witnessed the villagers' good days arrive, Liang Jianguo naturally did not want to see them lose them again.

"There is indeed a solution, but it might put you and the village committee in a difficult position..."

Liang Ming said.

“Just tell me what you think is best. As long as it helps the villagers make money, the village committee will definitely give it our full support.”

Liang Jianguo said without hesitation.

Seeing that the village chief had said so, Liang Ming didn't waste any more words and said seriously:

“Village chief, as you know, I now own a cannery, and I must ensure a stable supply of fruit raw materials.”

"I plan to contract several orchards behind our village!"

Liang Ming had been thinking about this idea for a long time.

Taoyuan Township is known as a fruit-producing area, with fruit growing everywhere, so fresh fruit simply cannot fetch a good price.

Liang Ming is now planning to turn all these fresh fruits into canned goods, which will greatly extend the storage time of the fruits and reduce the cost of transportation damage, and will definitely make a lot of money.

Upon hearing this, Liang Jianguo's face also showed a strange expression: "You want to contract those fruit orchards in the village? That's hundreds of acres of land!"

"Is this too much?"

He was indeed somewhat hesitant.

After all, in the surrounding area, I've never heard of any individual business owner who has contracted hundreds of acres of mountain land in one go.

In earlier years, if ordinary people raised more than three ducks, it was considered a sign of capitalist tendencies that needed to be eliminated.

“Village chief, I know you’re in a difficult position, so I’ve come up with two contracting options. It’s up to the village committee to choose which one,” Liang Ming said.

"Oh? Tell me about it," Liang Jianguo said.

"The first option is for me to lease those fruit orchards and pay rent every year!"

Then I hired villagers to come up the mountain and help me manage the orchard.

When the fruit ripens, I pay the villagers to come up the mountain to pick it.

In this way, the villagers can receive rental dividends every year, and I can also provide them with jobs so they can earn money—a win-win situation.

Liang Ming first stated his first choice.

Upon hearing this, Liang Jianguo shook his head: "This choice is not good. What is the second choice?"

The choice was still to let Liang Ming contract several hundred acres of mountain land at once.

Although the country now allows farmers to contract fields, orchards, and fishponds in their villages for agricultural production and trading, he still dared not agree to such a large area.

"The second option is for me and the village committee to contract the orchard together and manage it together. When the fruit is ripe, the village committee will arrange for people to go up the mountain to pick it."

After the fruit is sold to the cannery at the market wholesale price, the profits are split 70/30 between me and the villagers.

Without further ado, Liang Ming immediately offered the second option.

This practice of attaching industries to the collective name was very common in the early 80s, in order to avoid anyone making a big deal out of it and causing trouble.

By the mid-1980s, this model had decreased significantly, with most individual business owners preferring to own 100% of the shares.

However, as a resident of Liangjia Village, Liang Ming was willing to give some of the benefits to the village collective.

"Liang Ming, let's go with the second option, it's safer."

Upon hearing this, Liang Jianguo spoke without hesitation.

Liang Jianguo felt that it was the best choice to jointly contract and manage the village's several orchards with Liang Ming.

Even if someone tries to find fault, he can say that the Liangjia Village Committee was in charge of this matter.

In this way, he can also protect Liang Ming.

“Alright, village chief, it’s settled then. You can start arranging for people to go up the mountain tomorrow and clear the weeds from those fruit orchards.”

Liang Ming was not surprised by Liang Jianguo's choice and immediately responded.

"Next month, after I finish buying the fruit from the villagers, I can arrange for people to go up the mountain to pick fruit and supply my cannery."

"So anxious?" Village chief Liang Jianguo was taken aback when he heard Liang Ming's words.

"When it comes to making money, the faster the better," Liang Ming explained with a smile.

"Moreover, the weather is about to get warmer, and sales of canned fruit will also increase."

Upon hearing Liang Ming's words, Liang Jianguo didn't waste any more words: "Okay, I'll hold another small meeting of the village collective this afternoon to confirm this matter."

"Come to the village again tomorrow. We'll sign the contract, go through the procedures, and then send people up the mountain to manage the orchard."

Liang Jianguo believed that no one would object to something that could benefit the villagers, but the necessary procedures still needed to be followed.

After leaving the village cotton mill, Liang Ming checked on the construction progress of his new house.

The foundation of the new house has been laid, and now the first floor of the red exterior wall is being built.

At this rate, it should be completed in another two months.

After lingering in front of the new house construction site for a while, Liang Ming got up and went home.

"Sigh, I heard Xiaojuan got beaten up by her husband again. Your brother-in-law is a real scoundrel. Xiaojuan is such a good woman, and he doesn't even appreciate her..."

"My sister has such a hard life..."

As soon as Liang Ming returned home, he heard his parents discussing something in the yard.

The Xiao Juan that his mother mentioned was his aunt, Liang Juan.

Thinking of his aunt Liang Juan, Liang Ming felt a mix of emotions.

Back when his aunt Liang Juan was still a young woman at home, she treated him and Liang Jing very well. With the work points she earned, she would often go to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy some fruit candies for them to eat.

Even after obtaining cloth coupons and exchanging them for cloth, the priority was still given to making clothes for the nephews and nieces in the family.

A few years ago, during the famine, my family simply couldn't support so many people. To avoid becoming a burden on my family, my aunt Liang Juan married into another family.

Little did she know, this would become the beginning of her aunt's nightmare.

The man she married was a respectable man before marriage, but after marriage he turned out to be a scoundrel who liked to drink and beat women. Whenever he got drunk, he would beat Liang Juan.

Liang Min visited her sister's home more than once, but her in-laws, who had promised to help her in front of her, would take their anger out on Liang Ming's aunt as soon as they left.

My aunt Liang Juan from my previous life committed suicide by burning charcoal at home at the end of this year because she couldn't bear this kind of life.

"We can't let Auntie stay in that den of wolves any longer."

Liang Ming thought to himself.

Not discovering his aunt's hardships in time and rescuing her was one of Liang Ming's many regrets in his previous life.

Thinking of this, Liang Ming immediately pushed open the door, walked into the courtyard, and said to Liang Min and his wife:

"Mom and Dad, we can't let Auntie be bullied by that bastard Chen Kun anymore. Let's go and bring Auntie home!"