As pork sold so well this time, Director Xu suggested that Qian Shulan set a higher quantity for next year.
Even if Qian Shulan wanted to make money, she had to do it according to the actual situation. She spread her hands, very helpless, "Director Xu, it's not that I don't want to earn foreign exchange for our country, but it's really not feasible. Our Liuguan County is different from your place. It hasn't rained for more than half a year. Pig grass can't grow in the fields. All the grain in the team has been used to support national construction. Forget about raising more pigs. Next year our production team won't be able to raise even half of this year's."
Director Xu didn't expect that Liuguan County would be in such a situation. Why hadn't he heard about it on the radio
Just thinking about the fact that the Grain and Oil Bureau had stopped distributing grain a few months ago, and everyone had to buy grain at the black market, which was twelve times more expensive, he began to doubt the rice that could produce 10,000 kilograms per mu.
Pork is only 4.8 yuan per pound. It would be a shame if we can't sell more.
He gritted his teeth, clenched his fists, and looked at her pleadingly, "Can you think of another way? If not, just provide us with a solution and we will help you raise the child. The country will be grateful to you."
Qian Shulan couldn't possibly hand it over, so she didn't answer the question directly. Instead, she asked him, "Director Xu, can you guarantee that this place won't be the same as Liuguan County? After we sign the contract, if we can't hand it over, we have to pay liquidated damages. Which production team dares to take such a big responsibility and can afford such a large liquidated damages?"
Director Xu thought so too. China Foreign Trade Center is a state-owned unit. It is impossible for it to pay money to the production brigade below to raise pigs, and it is even more impossible to lend money. The country is in deficit now, and it can't come up with money. What's more, if the task is not completed, the penalty is twice the deposit. Not to mention that the entire production brigade can't come up with it, even if two more production brigades are added, they may not be able to come up with it. Who can have such a big courage to raise pigs
Seeing that he had taken her point, Qian Shulan continued, "What's more, raising these pigs doesn't just require them to eat pig grass, they also need to eat very finely ground cornmeal. Just think about it, the cost of raising pigs has increased a lot in an instant."
This gave Director Xu a heads-up. He only calculated based on the market price. If he raised pigs at the black market price of corn, he would lose money.
Director Xu's originally warm heart was suddenly chilled by Qian Shulan.
He rubbed his forehead and feet, very disappointed, and could only look at Qian Shulan, "Then how many kilograms can your production team report this time?"
Qian Shulan thought for a moment and said, "Let's bid 10,000 kilograms. The price will go up to 9.8 yuan."
Director Xu's pupils widened instantly, "You more than doubled it in one go? This is too..."
Qian Shulan originally didn’t want to raise pigs anymore, but she thought that next year would be the worst year for drought. If she didn’t raise pigs to sell, how could everyone have money to buy food? So she decided to raise pigs anyway, “Scarcity makes things valuable!”
"Okay! I'll go ask!"
Director Xu contacted Li Shirong. He thought he would have to spend some time talking to him, but who would have thought that the other party would agree without saying anything. It was really surprising.
Li Shirong, however, has his own considerations.
As a shrewd businessman, even if he could not leave Guangzhou, he could still get a glimpse of the mental outlook of Guangzhou people.
China is probably just trying to show off its wealth now.
What do you mean by 10,000 catties per mu? It's just a lie! If it really was 10,000 catties per mu, why are all those people on the street so pale and skinny
He also began to suspect that the food Qian Shulan asked him to order was not for chickens, but for humans.
It was just that she couldn't tell him the truth due to the national conditions. So he didn't need to ask any more questions.
Since the other party can't raise that many pigs, there's no point in forcing them.
It would be better for him to agree to it and let them raise pigs for him wholeheartedly.
Qian Shulan didn't know what Li Shirong was thinking. In fact, she was already extremely worried.
She and Wang Shouquan went to the train station to apply for train cars to transport the grain back, but they were rejected.
They said they needed to check the goods and only let them on the train if they were ok. Half a trainload of grain was checked three or four times but was not allowed to pass.
What if they don't know
They had not been so strict when they had brought the bamboo baskets from Liuguan County. They were not stupid, and it was clear that someone was making things difficult for them.
But who was it? They were unfamiliar with Guangzhou and it was impossible for them to offend anyone. The only possibility was that they would attract attention.
That's right! So much food! There was famine everywhere, and seeing so much food, everyone wanted to get a piece of it.
The two of them remained silent and waited quietly for the person behind them to contact them.
Not long after, the person in charge of the freight station pretended to accidentally reveal, "You have so much food, you must hand over some of it before you can ship it back."
Qian Shulan was so angry that her teeth ached!
Why! They paid for it. If they paid for it, she would still accept it! But let her donate it for nothing? Why!
Do you really think that during the land reform, everyone must share the wealth equally
So Qian Shulan waved her hand and said to him directly, "No need! We have a way!"
The person in charge was dumbfounded. He didn't expect this person to be so stubborn. He asked, "What can you do?"
Qian Shulan waved her hand. "Why don't I ask Li Shirong to drive the ship directly to our Liuguan County? It will only be a few days late. And I can save the money for shipping."
After saying that, she walked away. She said it casually, but in fact, it was not easy for ships from outside to enter the inland, because they were afraid that the inland people would have more contact with people from outside, and they were even more afraid of exposing the current poverty of their own country, so it was almost impossible for the higher-ups to agree to her request. Even if it was approved, the procedures were very cumbersome, time-consuming and labor-intensive. Otherwise, she would have applied long ago, and why would she have bothered with land transportation
When the person in charge heard this, he immediately informed his superiors.
Qian Shulan took Wang Shouquan to the Municipal Party Committee Office to apply for a boating license. As soon as they entered, they saw two people sitting inside.
Qian Shulan directly explained her purpose to the man sitting behind the desk, "Mayor, we want to apply to sail the ship to Liuguan County."
The mayor said with a smile, "Don't be impatient. Listen to what this person has to say first."
"Who are you?" Qian Shulan frowned and turned to look in the direction of the mayor, only to see a man in his fifties with half-white hair sitting in the meeting seat. He looked anxious at this moment.
He stood up and introduced himself to the two people. "Hello! Comrade Wang Shouquan, Comrade Qian Shulan. I am Luo Zhenhui, Director of the Guangzhou Grain and Oil Bureau. I have something to ask you two."
Wang Shouquan and Qian Shulan looked at each other. They had just been muttering on the road that it might cost a lot to transport the grain back this time, but they didn't expect people to arrive so soon.
"Go ahead." Wang Shouquan shook his hand.
Director Luo also knew that it was impossible to get it for free, so he said, "It's like this, our grain and oil bureau is running out of food, and we would like to ask you two to give us more food, and we can negotiate the price."
Wang Shouquan was not happy at heart, but he also knew that one has to bow down under someone's roof. He was just short-tempered, so he joked, "Director Luo, you really know how to joke with me. Everyone knows that our Liuguan County is a well-known poor county in the country, and our grain production has always been at the bottom of the country. It's not like you in Guangzhou, which can always get advanced status and produce 10,000 catties of rice per mu. I always hold up a newspaper to encourage our team members to learn from you. Now you say you have no grain, and you want to give grain to us, a poor county. Wouldn't people laugh at you if it gets out?"
Director Luo's face froze, knowing that this person was deliberately trying to make him unhappy. He was the director of the Grain and Oil Bureau, not one of the production team leaders under him. Who would have known that his subordinates would actually inflate the amount so much? When reporting grain, they did not even blink an eye to win the honor, and when collecting grain, they all started crying and shouting. Even if the grain collection team forcibly collected the grain, it was far from enough to be distributed to the grain stores. Moreover, most of their rice was transported to the stationed troops. The amount allocated to their Grain and Oil Bureau was very small. Otherwise, they would not have been unable to distribute the grain for several months.
Director Luo couldn't explain these things, as they all knew what was going on, so he smiled and said, "Comrade Wang Shouquan, we will give you the same amount as you paid for it."
Wang Shouquan didn't expect the other party to be so thick-skinned that he could still smile at him without changing his expression after being insulted by him. He felt as powerless as if he was punching cotton.
The mayor also spoke up, "Yes, you can't eat all the food you transported back, why don't you use some to save us."
Qian Shulan held back Wang Shouquan who was about to retort. In order to avoid starvation, people would not tolerate any anger. There was no point in arguing. It would be better to be practical. "It's not that we can't give you a little more, it's just that the price is very expensive."
Director Luo asked: "How much?"
"Corn is 28 cents per pound, and sweet potatoes are 8 cents per pound."
It's not that she doesn't want to quote a high price, but she is blatantly making a profit from the price difference. Unless she wants to die, the other party will definitely accuse her of speculation.
Director Luo and the mayor both looked a little stiff. So expensive
Director Luo was complaining in his heart, sweet potatoes are only three or four cents per pound? Why are their prices so much higher
Qian Shulan spread her hands and sighed, "If you don't believe me, you can go to the China Foreign Trade Center and ask. You can check the prices."
Director Luo did not doubt her words. After all, this was Guangzhou, and they would not come here once and never come again. But what if they could not come up with so much money to buy food
The Grain and Oil Bureau is a state-owned unit. All the grain and money belong to the state and are directly handed over after being collected.
No matter how high the black market price was, the grain store's price had to remain the same, which was a hard rule. This also resulted in them having no money on their books.
Wang Shouquan also knew that it was useless for him to object, so he quickly added, "We don't sell on credit. We still need to buy diesel and urea phosphate fertilizer to go back to farm. And the autumn harvest is coming soon, so you don't need to buy so much food, right?"
Director Luo thought for a long time. It was only half a month away from the autumn harvest. As long as the grain was distributed at the end of the month, the next crop would be ready. So he said, "Then give me two tons of sweet potatoes each. Forget about the corn."
Just thinking about it makes me feel like I'm losing money! They bought it at 8 cents, but they could only sell it to people below at 3 or 4 cents per pound, so they had to lose half of the money for nothing. With such a big loss, they will definitely be criticized when they calculate the amount at the end of the year.
But he couldn't just watch the workers starve to death, could he
Seeing Wang Shouquan didn't say anything, Qian Shulan quickly responded for him, "Okay!"
Wait until the two men walk out of the municipal party committee office and return to where they live.
Wang Shouquan was so angry that he stamped his feet! This guy is really good at taking advantage, he wants all two tons of sweet potatoes! He wants all the cheap ones!
Qian Shulan spread her hands, "So what can you do?"
She thought it would be good to sell it to people in Guangzhou. At least no one would almost starve to death like Zhang Zhaodi. Not everyone has so much money to buy expensive grain.
Their production team was able to get so much food this time that the pigs and chickens couldn't eat it all. Even if they were to distribute it equally among the members, there would still be a lot left. It wouldn't matter if they sold some to them at a fair price. But Wang Shouquan was a little reluctant. After all, they had worked so hard to get the food, and they were just giving it to outsiders, and they were using their power to pressure them. He felt very suffocated.
Wang Shouquan was so angry that he sat down on the stool.
Qian Shulan hurriedly reminded him, "Now is not the time to discuss this. We need to send a telegram back and ask my eldest brother to go to the freight station as soon as possible to transport the grain back. Don't let other places intercept it."
Hearing this, Wang Shouquan no longer cared about being angry, and looked up at her, "Are you saying that someone else is coming to rob?"
"What else do you think? There are more than a dozen stations between Guangzhou and Liuguan County, and the train has to stop and inspect at every station. The people at the freight station will definitely find out that there is grain inside, and there is no guarantee that they will not confiscate the grain."
Wang Shouquan scratched his hair in annoyance. "Damn it! Will we still have half of the grain when we transport it back to the production team?"
Qian Shulan couldn't say for sure, "If we're lucky, maybe there will be some."
"Then I'll go back with the car. You can take care of the rest." Wang Shouquan was worried that the people would seize the food along the way. Wouldn't they lose both food and money
"Okay!" Qian Shulan was still worried about him, and said, "We'll ask Director Luo to lend us some people later. They'll give you courage along the way. When the time comes, you can promise them 20 kilograms of rations each, and they will definitely be happy. Otherwise, I'm worried that people on the road won't let you go."
Wang Shouquan also thought that he would be alone and weak this time, so he didn't care about the 20 kilograms of food and said, "Okay!"
Director Luo quickly applied for money from above and paid three hundred and twenty yuan.
When Director Luo heard Qian Shulan's request to borrow some manpower to escort the grain back, he agreed generously when he heard that there would be a reward.
Before leaving, Wang Shouquan called several people from Wangjia Village to a meeting.
"I have to go back with the car, and the rest of the matters will be left to Third Aunt. Do you have any objections?"
"No, no! Food is more important! Don't let the food be divided up by other cities before we get it back."
Wang Ligui also hurriedly agreed, "Yes, hurry back! If Sister Qian can't handle it well, we are still here. You go back and protect the grain first."
He Cuilan glanced at him, wondering why he was speaking so awkwardly. But he was right, food was important.
Soon, Wang Shouquan set off on the train.
It was not until the day before their exhibition started that the grain from their production team was finally delivered to Wangjia Village.
There was a delay of about five or six days. I think it was also due to negotiations with the people in the middle.
When Qian Shulan received the telegram, she was shocked to see that only one ton of the five tons of corn was left, and only 3,000 kilograms of the ten tons of sweet potatoes were left. Not to mention half, not even one-fifth was left.
Seeing that Wang Shouquan arranged for Qian Minghua to let everyone get meals according to their work points every day, and the members were all very happy, she smiled knowingly.
As long as everyone has enough to eat, she will be satisfied.
"Xiaoquan, come over the day after tomorrow. Let's set up the exhibition hall first. We can use the money from selling the bamboo baskets to buy more diesel and urea phosphate fertilizer. If it weren't for these fertilizers, we wouldn't have been able to harvest so many sweet potatoes in the first half of the year." Qian Shulan encouraged everyone with a smile.
"Yes! Thanks to urea, otherwise our village might really starve." He Cuilan also secretly hid a lot of sweet potatoes and buried them in the fields.
Thanks to urea phosphate fertilizer, their sweet potato yield per mu reached 2,000 kilograms in the first half of the year. Although the harvest was 1,200 kilograms, the 800 kilograms stored were definitely enough for them to eat until they were full.
If they can use urea phosphate fertilizer as top dressing in the second half of the year, the yield will definitely be higher.
Then you won’t have to worry about going hungry.
Everyone else was weaving bamboo baskets. Zhang Zhaodi didn't know how to weave, so she helped Qian Shulan and helped her find various things.
Qian Shulan was not very familiar with Guangzhou, so she couldn't get any fruits or flowers when she wanted them, so Zhang Zhaodi would find ways to help her find them.
Of course, the most important thing was the food that Qian Shulan gave her. As long as there was food, no matter how rare the things were, they could be exchanged from others.
After the exhibition hall was decorated, everyone said it looked good.
The author has something to say: Although everyone says raising pigs is risky, in those days there was no food, so you couldn’t afford to raise anything! The heroine only raised pigs for the last year. She won’t raise them anymore in the future...