County Town. The Wang Residence!
As soon as Li Yi walked in, he saw several people sitting in the living room. Leading the group was, of course, Old Master Wang, and sitting right next to him was none other than Wang Anguo’s older brother, Wang Anmin.
Perhaps because of their special status, these two hadn’t gone out to greet Li Yi and his wife.
“Hehe, you two have finally arrived. Come on over and sit down!”
Upon seeing Li Yi and Tang Xue, Old Master Wang immediately greeted them with a smile.
Li Yi first placed the gifts against the wall by the door, then walked over to the sofa and said with a smile, “Old Wang, you and Secretary Wang are here too!”
“Hehe, An Guo told me you two were having lunch today, so I came over!”
Wang Anmin, standing nearby, chimed in, “I just took a quick trip over to the sugar factory. Da Kui told me there’s a good meal at the second son’s place, so I tagged along to pig out too!”
Li Yi glanced at An Hong beside him and said, “Sis-in-law, you’ll have to cook a bit more today—there won’t be enough if you don’t!”
“No problem. You guys sit tight for a bit; I’ll go to the kitchen and start stewing the meat!”
With that, An Hong turned and walked into the kitchen.
After everyone had taken their seats, Old Man Wang asked, “I heard from An Guo that you opened a shop in Beijing. How’s it going?”
“It’s going great. The shop is already up and running!” Li Yi replied.
“What kind of shop is it? How’s business?” Wang Anmin asked immediately.
“A restaurant. We specialize in grilled meat and hot pot. Business is going pretty well!” Li Yi replied.
“That’s good…”
Perhaps realizing his question was a bit sensitive, Wang Anmin quickly explained, “I didn’t mean anything by it; I was just curious about the economic situation in the capital!”
Li Yi trusted the Wang family, so he replied without hesitation, “The new shop hasn’t been open long, but so far, daily revenue has been around one or two thousand yuan, with profits making up about half of that!”
Hearing this, everyone in the room was stunned!
“So that means your daily net profit is enough to cover our annual salary?” Li Gang asked, looking utterly shocked.
As the captain of the county criminal investigation team, he was on a Grade 22 salary. Combined with his status as a military-to-civilian transfer cadre and various subsidies and allowances, he took home about 63 yuan a month.
That came to less than 800 yuan a year!
As for Li Yi, he made at least 500 yuan a day, sometimes even a thousand—the gap was truly staggering.
Just then, An Hong, who had just come out of the kitchen, asked, “But can this business be stable and sustainable in the long run?”
Li Yi smiled and said, “As things stand, as long as the scale isn’t too large, there shouldn’t be any major issues!”
“But will it be feasible from a policy standpoint?” Liang Yukui also asked.
“It depends on the region!”
Then Li Yi added, “The capital has now allowed ordinary people to engage in business activities such as food service and small-scale trade. Furthermore, many counties and cities in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions are encouraging the development of industry and commerce and have begun issuing individual business licenses to ordinary people. There shouldn’t be any major policy issues!”
“So, does that mean ordinary people can actually do business now?” Old Master Wang said with a touch of emotion.
Having lived through the 1950s and 1960s, he was well aware of how harshly such activities had been cracked down on in the past.
He hadn’t expected the policies to shift so drastically in recent years, allowing ordinary people to conduct business openly and above board.
“Yes, and that’s exactly why, when Team Leader Wang asked me yesterday if my sister-in-law could quit her job to start a business, I told him straight away that it was possible!” Li Yi said.
Hearing this, An Hong felt as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders, and her smile grew even brighter.
Back when she first mentioned this to her family, nearly everyone had opposed the idea.
Especially her parents—they reacted like cats whose tails had been stepped on, instantly flying into a rage.
After all, she’d only been able to get a job at the textile factory by taking over her mother’s position, and that factory quota had been secured at the cost of her grandfather’s life.
Now she was talking about quitting on a whim—there was no way her mother would agree to that.
Fortunately, her husband doted on her. Seeing her so downcast, he went to ask Li Yi about it.
To her surprise, Li Yi gave an answer that was completely different from her parents’, which made her genuinely happy.
With that in mind, she asked again, “Brother Li Yi, so what do you think I should do?”
Li Yi paused briefly, then said, “I do have some ideas, but I’d rather you go out and see the world first. We’ll talk about what to do when you get back!”
In her previous life, An Hong had started out in the textile industry. She first took over a bankrupt cotton mill in the county, quickly turned it around, and after making her first fortune, gradually expanded into fields like petrochemicals.
Combined with her exceptional business acumen, it took her less than 20 years to become one of the leading enterprises in North Sai Province.
“Where should I go?”
“Beijing and the coastal regions—places like Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Guangzhou!” Li Yi replied.
Hearing this, An Hong couldn’t help but feel a surge of excitement.
Ever since she learned that Li Yi had made a fortune simply by selling cold noodles and mushrooms, her mind had been racing with ideas.
Wang Anguo sighed and said, “Brother Li Yi’s suggestion is sound, but can we really feel at ease letting a woman like you go out on her own?”
Old Man Wang chimed in, “My second son’s wife, I don’t oppose you quitting your job to start a business. Our family isn’t short on your salary, and if you want to give it a try, I won’t stop you!”
“But it’s not quite right for a woman to go out on her own. Why not start with a small business to test the waters first?”
Hearing that her father-in-law wasn’t opposed, An Hong immediately nodded and said, “I’ll listen to you, Father!”
Old Master Wang turned to Li Yi again and said, “Li, none of us here know this business as well as you do. Could you point Second Sister in the right direction?”
Li Yi thought for a moment and said, “I wouldn’t dare call it a sure path, but there are definitely a few industries worth trying right now!”
“Which ones?” An Hong asked eagerly.
“If you have the time and the capital, Sister-in-law, you could open a hotel in the capital!”
“An inn?”
“That’s right. The capital currently faces three major challenges: finding a place to stay, getting food, and shopping—especially finding a place to stay. As long as you have the money to open a hotel, you won’t have to worry about losing money at all!”
An Hong frowned and said, “But I don’t want to leave our county right now!”
“There are plenty of business opportunities here in our county, but the policies here haven’t been liberalized yet, and given your family background, it wouldn’t look good.”
Li Yi continued earnestly, “So if you want to go into business, I suggest you don’t do it locally—at least not right now!”
“Hmm, I’ll think it over then!”
After saying that, An Hong remembered she still had chores to do in the kitchen, so she turned and walked back inside.
At that moment, Wang Anmin suddenly asked, “Comrade Li Yi, it’s clear you have considerable expertise in business. Is there anything I could ask your advice on?”
“I wouldn’t dare to call myself an expert—just tell me what’s on your mind!” Li Yi replied.
“Here’s the thing,” Wang Anmin said. “Starting last year, quite a few enterprises in our county suddenly saw their profits drop, and some are even struggling to stay afloat. Do you have any good ideas?”
Li Yi shook his head and said, “I’m afraid I don’t really have any good solutions for this!”
The decline in performance across enterprises large and small in the county is not fundamentally an economic issue, but a systemic one.
As everyone knows, our country has long operated under a planned economy. During periods of weak productivity and material shortages, this system was indeed effective at maximizing the coordination of production resources to meet the people’s basic material needs.
However, “misfortune lurks within fortune, and fortune within misfortune”—everything has two sides.
Because the artificially set production plans that were implemented did not align well with people’s real-life needs or the direction of social progress.
At present, this economic system has become severely out of step with social life; its rigid and outdated management model is unable to adapt to the new pace of domestic development.
Therefore, even as the planned economy lingered on, barely surviving, the market economy had already quietly taken root among the people, giving birth to a burst of vitality and presenting a scene of prosperity.
To change this situation, what is inevitably needed is a radical, all-or-nothing reform: the overthrow of the planned economy and the establishment of a market economy as the dominant force.
But this was not something Li Yi could decide!
Upon hearing this, Wang Anmin couldn’t help but sigh.
The situation in the county had already become extremely dire. Even the sugar factory, which had always been highly profitable, was struggling. Facilities like the textile mill, meat processing plant, parts factory, foundry, and brick and tile factory had all reached the point where they had no funds to operate.
If things continued this way, the workers wouldn’t be paid, and if they started causing trouble, he, as the Party Secretary, would be in big trouble.
However, just as Wang Anmin was deep in thought, Li Yi’s next words left him completely dumbfounded!