Chapter 32: One Works, Three Watch

After Qin Jun and Qin Zheng walked past, Qin Shi had already finished writing the order slips.

The first to return was Qin Zhijiu; his home was closest to the lime kiln, and his family was relatively well-off.

"This is for lime from the kiln opening four days from now—the fifth day. Five tons, sixty yuan. Keep this safe; without it, you won't get your lime when the time comes."

"Good, good, this is perfect!" Qin Zhijiu said, looking thoroughly satisfied.

"Do you want to sell your bluestone? That way, you can get some money back," Qin Shi asked again.

"I'll sell it. Building bricks and tiles costs money, too!" As he spoke, Qin Zhijiu looked over at Qin Jun. "Little Jun, is the village really going to fire bricks and tiles?"

Seeing the anticipation on Qin Zhijiu's face, Qin Jun laughed.

"My oldest cousin is in a rush to get married, and several of my older brothers have reached the age where they need to build houses. We all need bricks and tiles, so we have to fire them."

"Then when will you start?" Qin Zhijiu was genuinely anxious and kept pressing for an answer.

"There's no rush. We can't build until spring, and besides, the soil is frozen solid right now; it's not easy to dig or mold the mud bricks," Qin Jun explained.

"As long as you're going to fire them, can I pre-order? My family needs at least ten thousand bricks. They should cost three cents apiece, right?"

Looking at the triumphant expression on Qin Zhijiu's face, Qin Jun was taken aback. Had Uncle Nine finally wised up?

"If you really want to pre-order, the village would certainly take the money. Ten thousand bricks will cost three hundred yuan. Uncle Nine, can you actually come up with that?" Qin Jun asked with a cryptic smile.

Qin Zhijiu stood straight and declared, "I can. I said before that my family had five hundred yuan set aside for building, but that matchmaker didn't believe me."

Even Qin Zheng was surprised, though the surprise looked somewhat staged.

"Uncle Nine, does your family really have that much money saved up?"

"We do. Can I pay now? It’s only three hundred yuan, right? I definitely didn't borrow this money."

Qin Zhijiu’s voice was loud and clear, echoing enough that it was hard for anyone in the village not to hear.

"Captain, you probably don't know this, but Cousin Qin Xia is an electrician at the mine now. He earns a salary every month!" Qin Jun stepped in to explain.

"Well, well, Old Nine, your family actually produced a factory worker? You kept that quiet!"

"Even with a worker, how could you save five hundred yuan in such a short time?"

"Exactly, is there something fishy about Old Nine's family?"

"What could be fishy? It’s not like they stole it or robbed someone."

"Don't guess wildly; Qin Xia has been working for over a year!"

"Ah!" A chorus of gasps rose from the crowd.

There was no helping it; with no work to be done in the village during winter, those gathered around the lime kiln were mostly there for entertainment.

"Alright, alright, stop the gossip. Uncle Three, please step away from the scale—what if it falls and hits you?"

Before long, Qin Zheng shooed away the crowd of curious old men and women.

What remained were those who were selling limestone or those who had come to pay for lime. Many families in the village were planning to build in the spring, so there were quite a few people coming to pay, and they were very eager.

"Wait, how many families is this now?"

During a lull between payments, Qin Zheng pulled Qin Shi aside.

"Eleven families," Qin Shi replied immediately.

Qin Zheng said worriedly, "That's too many! If everyone wants to build in the spring, where will we find enough people in the village to help? You all need to think this through!"

Qin Shi immediately responded, "They'll just have to stagger their construction dates. Besides, some don't have enough money, so they'll have to build in stages."

"Many will just buy lime to lay the foundations first, then buy bricks to build the frame when they have more money, and wait until they save a bit more to buy tiles for the roof."

Qin Zheng only wanted to offer a reminder; he couldn't stop them.

"Fine. Make sure you all think it through. Don't go rushing to build all at once."

Seeing that everything was on the right track, Qin Zheng and Qin Jun stopped watching. They ducked aside and began to talk.

"That's a lot of money," Qin Zheng said, still uneasy.

"It's not much. Even if thirty families build houses, that's only a month's worth of output!"

Qin Jun wasn't worried at all. Even if thirty families paid upfront, that was only eighteen hundred yuan. What could that amount of money do in the future? But at this moment, it was definitely a large sum, especially in the countryside.

"Ensuring one kiln's output every day provides a decent value," Qin Zheng sighed.

If one kiln earned thirty yuan a day, after deducting sixteen yuan for labor, the surplus was fourteen yuan. By that calculation, it really wasn't much. But this kiln was supporting thirteen families. For thirteen people to receive a salary every month—that was certainly no small figure.

If they could ensure two kiln firings a day, they would earn even more. Burning an extra kiln wouldn't increase labor costs, meaning at least another thirty yuan in profit. Maintaining a two-kiln daily output would yield a daily profit of forty-four yuan.

Qin Zheng looked at Qin Jun with a complex expression. Everything this kid had boasted about had actually come true!

"Captain, Captain! Someone from the commune is here!"

Just as Qin Zheng was lost in thought, Qin Han popped out from somewhere.

Qin Jun almost laughed out loud; the way he shouted "Captain" was almost hypnotic.

"Who is it?" Qin Zheng asked.

"It looks like the leader who came before!" Qin Han said.

The three crossed the crowd and saw Yu Aiguo riding a bicycle toward them at high speed. It was a mystery how the villagers had spotted him and managed to come over to inform them in advance. After all, the man was on a bicycle, which was quite impressive.

By the time they saw Yu Aiguo, he had already reached them. He stopped his bike, set it down, and looked in surprise at the bustling wasteland. Because of the large piles of iron ore, the land couldn't be farmed. Over the last decade, it had become overgrown with weeds, and with so little flat ground, it looked even more desolate.

"Why was this place chosen for steel smelting back then?" Yu Aiguo asked with curiosity.

Qin Zheng was quite familiar with Yu Aiguo, so he wasn't restrained in front of his superior.

"What else could it be? There was a bit of low-grade iron ore here, and nothing grows, so it was naturally the most suitable place to build a small blast furnace," Qin Zheng said.

Yu Aiguo realized, "Just so it wouldn't take up your village's arable land?"

Qin Zheng didn't elaborate, and Yu Aiguo didn't press further. Yu Aiguo walked toward the crowd and discovered the commune members were selling limestone. Some of the stones were quite large, weighing over a hundred pounds, and a thin, wiry man was currently heaving a boulder onto a door panel.

"Stay back, everyone, don't get hurt!" Qin Zheng shouted.

As people cleared a space, Yu Aiguo stepped forward and squeezed into the crowd.

"Does it seem a bit chaotic?"

"It won't be if the division of labor is clear."

"We need people specifically to receive materials, others to handle the inventory, and the rest to focus on loading and unloading the kilns." As he watched, Qin Zheng explained.

Once Qin Zheng finished his explanation, Yu Aiguo began to offer suggestions.

"I'm not trying to find fault, but to avoid trouble later on."

"Chaos is definitely not okay; it’s an accident waiting to happen!"

"With a clear division of labor, it's harder for corruption to take root—nip it in the bud!"

Yu Aiguo was right; having an accountant wasn't enough; they needed a cashier. The accountant manages the books, the cashier manages the money, just like purchasing raw materials and selling finished goods—everything had to be kept separate.

"Since you've started a factory, you must do it right. The situation now is changing; money is needed everywhere."

"By the way, how many employees are you hiring? Can you help settle some people? It's hard to find work anywhere right now."

"The cities are overcrowded, and many soldiers discharged this year have nowhere to go!"

"The urban soldiers are one thing—our commune doesn't manage them—but many rural soldiers have served with merit, and we still need to settle them!"

Watching Yu Aiguo’s seemingly casual demeanor, Qin Zheng felt he had learned something new. They were just a village-run enterprise, yet they were expected to provide placements?

Qin Jun knew, however, that this was perfectly normal for the times. They were in the middle of a population explosion. How many young people had accumulated over the years? They all needed work!

"One person works, three people watch"—that was a distinct phenomenon of this era. There was no way around it; tens of millions of unemployed youths were all rushing back to the cities. Aside from the few who passed university entrance exams, everyone else needed a job.

Of course, this had nothing to do with the village or the commune, but discharged soldiers were different. Aside from being the deputy director of the commune, Yu Aiguo also served as the head of the commune's armed forces department. The village militia was under his jurisdiction.

"We have over a hundred able-bodied men in our village who have nothing to do all day!"

Qin Zheng didn't care about other matters; he only focused on his own little acre.

"Sigh, I'm putting you in a tough spot. Life in the countryside is even harder now!"