Chapter 160: Keeping a Low Profile

Late at night, Li Yi tossed and turned, unable to sleep!

Having been given a second chance at life, Li Yi was brimming with confidence.

He was determined to make his first fortune before anyone else realized what was happening, then dominate the business world over the next decade or so, becoming a tycoon even more formidable than the “Two Ma’s,” and achieving financial freedom.

Although money was by no means his only pursuit in life, Li Yi had always believed in one truth: money isn’t everything, but without it, you’re nowhere.

To ensure the happiness and well-being of Tang Xue, his parents, and his sister, money was undoubtedly essential.

Moreover, Li Yi had his own dream: he wanted to retire by the age of forty and travel the world with Tang Xue.

Many people have the thought, “The world is so big; I want to go see it!”

But even more people are forced to face the reality that “with such a small wallet, I can’t go anywhere,” and end up burying their dreams deep inside!

Therefore, dreams require strong financial backing; otherwise, they will forever remain just dreams.

Up until today, Li Yi had never worried about anything; he believed that with his own abilities, he would surely make this dream come true.

But he had forgotten the most crucial thing: it was 1980, and reform had only just begun. At that time, the state did not permit the very concept of hiring workers.

And this was a red line set by the state—something absolutely off-limits!

Fortunately, this issue has now caught the attention of the higher-ups. Not long ago, an article titled “A Debate Over Fish Pond Contracting” appeared in the Party media, sparking widespread discussion across the country.

The article told the story of a farmer named Chen Zhixiong, yet it struck a nerve regarding the sensitive issues of hiring labor and exploitation.

Chen Zhixiong is a farmer from Guangdong who began contracting fish ponds in February 1979.

At the time, contracting one mu of fish pond required paying 60 yuan annually to the production team, and no one in the village dared to take it on. As the team’s “capable person,” and driven by the initial goal of providing for his family, Chen Zhixiong contracted the team’s 50 mu of fish ponds.

That year, Chen Zhixiong took his entire family to tend the fish ponds. When it came time to harvest the fish, after deducting all costs and expenses, he found he had actually earned 3,100 yuan.

Naturally, the following year, Chen Zhixiong expanded his operations.

He leased another 50 mu from a neighboring village. Since he also had to cut grass for fish feed, his family alone simply couldn’t handle the workload, so he had no choice but to hire help.

In the end, there were as many as 30 day laborers helping the Chen family cut grass at peak times, each paid 2 yuan a day, and at one point there were also 7 permanent workers, each earning a monthly wage of 50 yuan.

That year, Chen Zhixiong’s 100-mu fish farm generated a net income of 7,250 yuan, whereas at the time, a farmer’s annual gross income from farming rarely exceeded 1,000 yuan.

However, Chen Zhixiong’s approach directly crossed a “red line,” as hiring laborers touched upon the nation’s most core issues; the practice of hiring laborers was associated with sensitive terms such as “capitalists” and “exploitation.”

Chen Zhixiong and his enterprise posed a direct challenge to the prevailing ideology of the time.

Yet this was by no means an isolated case.

In Anhui, a farmer who called himself a “fool” also sparked a “labor issue” through his sunflower seed roasting business.

His name was Nian Guangjiu. By the age of 42, he had built a reputation for roasting sunflower seeds, selling as much as two or three thousand jin a day at his peak.

When he couldn’t keep up with the demand, he gradually hired some unemployed young people to help him, and by the fall of 1979, he had as many as 12 assistants.

But how could a “fool” possibly be part of the exploiting class?

All he could write in his entire life were five characters: “Nian Guangjiu” and “Tong Yi.” He started earning money by picking up cigarette butts on the street at age 7, became a child apprentice in business at 9, and took over his father’s fruit stall in his teens to make a living. Looking at his background, he was clearly a member of the working class at the very bottom of society.

Across the country, there were now a considerable number of private business owners, some employing a dozen or two, or even as many as a hundred workers.

How to handle the issue of hiring employees has also troubled the higher-ups, as this is not only a matter of people’s livelihoods but also a serious political issue.

It wasn’t until 1981 that the authorities reached a preliminary conclusion on the matter, determining that Chen Zhixiong could contract across teams and hire workers, and that hiring workers did not constitute exploitation, because his “income was higher than others’—primarily due to the principle of ‘more work, more pay’—and this was beyond reproach.”

This was considered a conclusion to the debate over the hiring of workers, but this “conclusion” did not completely resolve the controversy surrounding the “worker issue.”

Throughout the 1980s, the issue of hiring laborers rose and fell repeatedly, with no definitive resolution.

It wasn’t until 1987 that a relatively clear resolution was finally reached.

But could Li Yi wait that long?

Clearly not, because starting this December, as Yiwu began its pilot program as a city for individual industrial and commercial operations, individual businesses across the country would experience explosive growth.

It was also from this point onward that the first wave of enterprising individuals began to prosper, gradually expanding into various sectors.

He couldn’t let them leave him in the dust!

After much deliberation, Li Yi decided that for the time being, he couldn’t afford to be too conspicuous.

He had to handle the situation with Liu San properly; he had to keep him on, otherwise Third Sister’s personal safety would be at risk.

However, their employer-employee relationship could not be made public—that would be a tangible leverage point that anyone who got their hands on could use to crush him.

After careful analysis, Li Yi decided he could reframe the employment relationship as a partnership.

Specifically, he would have Liu San set up a street stall with Third Sister, and instead of paying him a salary, he would give him a share of the profits.

This way, their relationship would shift from employer-employee to business partners. If anyone ever tried to make an issue of it, he’d have a solid explanation.

“We’re just business partners, not an employer-employee relationship.”

Aside from Liu San, he also needed to keep a low profile with the mountain produce business in the village.

Now that many villagers know he’s making money—whether it’s building a house or marrying a wife, everything is done with money—they’re all envious.

For now, since everyone needs him, no one has anything to say.

But over time, who knows—some might start to get jealous.

Once people get the green-eyed monster, they’re capable of anything—he had to be on guard.

After much deliberation, Li Yi decided to have his family help him put on a show—pretending to be poor.

That’s right—pretend to be broke!

He had to make the villagers understand that he wasn’t making money off them—on the contrary, he was losing money every single day!

He had to make these villagers and cooperative members feel guilty, rather than letting negative feelings gradually take root.

In fact, Li Yi wasn’t just pretending to be broke; that was actually the case.

Currently, his mushroom business brings in seven or eight hundred yuan a day, and with the rice noodle sheets, he can make about 900 yuan.

But the expenses are also astronomical—the mushroom business in Nianzi Mountain Village alone costs 700 yuan.

On top of that, the operation at his second sister’s husband’s place costs about 500 yuan. In other words, when you do the math, he’s actually losing 200 yuan a day.

Fortunately, he had saved up some money earlier; otherwise, he really wouldn’t be able to sustain such expenses.

So, the cash crunch is very real!

Of course, the difficulties are real, but the future is bright.

As long as he can hold out for these few months and make it to the peak season for selling mountain produce, it will be like the clouds parting to reveal the sun!