Chapter 145: Three Rules
Nianzi Mountain Brigade Headquarters!
As soon as 5:30 rolled around, members of the commune began trickling back to turn in their work.
Although the fields weren’t particularly busy at the moment, the members were unwilling to sit idle.
Those with connections and skills went out to earn extra money, while those without such resources simply went about their work in the fields as usual.
They’d earn whatever work points they could. They certainly couldn’t let themselves be truly idle.
However, when the members were turning in their work today, they were told that Li Yi would be speaking to everyone at six o’clock, and Secretary Feng asked everyone to wait at the brigade headquarters.
Before six o’clock, Li Yi set off from home on his bicycle.
When he arrived at the village office, Li Yi saw that quite a crowd had already gathered in the courtyard—men and women, young and old—all ready for a production team meeting.
But upon reflection, he understood—for the vast majority of the commune members, this matter was indeed more important than a regular commune meeting.
After all, this was about whether everyone could make big money following Li Yi—no one dared to take it lightly!
To be honest, over the past month, quite a few families in the village had benefited from following Li Yi.
Take the Liu family, for example: Dongzi and Xiao Jing went out with Li Yi every day to pick mushrooms and sell mountain produce. Together, the brother and sister made at least seven or eight yuan a day.
That adds up to no less than two hundred yuan a month—more than their entire family’s annual income!
Then there’s Qiangzi and Shitou—they bring home five yuan every day, making childless households green with envy.
It took a lot of pestering to finally get Little Yi from the Liu family to agree to lead everyone in making money together—who would dare to be ungrateful!
As soon as they saw Li Yi approaching, everyone immediately parted to make way for him.
Li Yi didn’t stand on ceremony; after parking his bike, he immediately stepped to the front of the group.
“Uncle Feng!”
Feng Kai nodded at Li Yi, then took a couple of puffs on his pipe.
“Comrades, Xiao Yi is here. Let’s hear how he plans to help us all make money. Give him a round of applause!”
“Clap, clap, clap!”
After a round of enthusiastic applause, Li Yi immediately said, “Uncles, elders, aunts, and sisters, I promised you all that once I got married, I’d help you make money together. Today, I’m here to keep that promise!”
“I know you’ve all been itching to join in after seeing me take those kids up the mountain to pick mushrooms every day—you want to make money just like they do. Making money is definitely no problem, but there are a few things I need to make clear up front, and I’d like Uncle Feng to bear witness!”
Feng Kai immediately said, “Xiao Yi, just say what’s on your mind!”
Li Yi nodded and said, “As I mentioned before, I haven’t taken everyone mushroom picking because the state-run restaurant’s demand is limited. Also, I’m worried that if everyone’s busy picking mushrooms, who’s going to tend to our team’s fields?”
“If that delays production, not only will everyone go hungry, but we’ll also have no way to report our results to the higher-ups!”
Feng Kai nodded and said, “Xiao Yi, you’ve got a point. It would be hard to explain if it affected our production!”
Team Leader Zhang Tongfu immediately asked, “Xiao Yi, so what do you plan to do?”
“I can lead everyone to earn money, but we need to agree on three rules!” Li Yi said.
“What are the three rules?”
“First, it must not affect production!”
Li Yi continued, “Starting tomorrow, my family will start buying the mushrooms and wild produce you all gather. We’ll pay 20 cents per pound, but each household is limited to a maximum of 20 pounds per day!”
“The rest of the time, everyone should go out to the fields to work if they need to, or participate in community service if required!”
No sooner had he finished speaking than someone in the crowd piped up, “Twenty pounds is way too little! I can pick twenty pounds in just a short while up in the mountains!”
“Exactly! Xiao Yi, can’t you accept a little more?”
“Exactly. Twenty pounds isn’t even enough for everyone to spend half a day in the mountains…”
Li Yi motioned for everyone to quiet down, then said, “I understand how you all feel, but have you considered this: there are 160 households in our village. If each family contributes 20 jin, how much would I have to collect in a single day?”
Before anyone could answer, Li Yi shouted, “3,200 jin! That’s over three thousand two hundred jin! At 20 cents per jin, that’s 640 yuan a day!”
“And the county’s state-run restaurant uses at most six or seven hundred jin a day. What do we do with the rest? I’d have to dry them into mushrooms and wait until winter to figure out how to sell them.”
“Never mind how risky that is—the financial pressure alone is unbearable.”
Hearing Li Yi’s words, everyone fell silent.
It’s true—20 jin per household isn’t much, but when you add up the whole village, it amounts to several thousand jin.
It really wasn’t easy for Li Yi to handle that many mushrooms!
At that moment, Feng Kai spoke in a solemn tone: “Xiao Yi is right—20 jin is already quite a lot! If we can sell 20 jin a day, that’s a net income of four yuan, which comes to 120 yuan a month.”
“From now until the end of October, there are still three and a half months left. If we can earn 120 yuan every month, that’s at least 400 yuan in total income—far better than what we get from the production brigade. What more could anyone ask for?”
Hearing that they could earn 400 yuan in just three and a half months, the crowd fell silent, each face lit up with excitement.
What does 400 yuan even mean? It’s almost equivalent to two years’ income for an average family.
Take last year, for example: after deducting the per-capita grain ration, each person received only 83 yuan and 60 fen at year-end.
If a household had only two able-bodied workers, their net income for the entire year wouldn’t even reach 200 yuan.
Now, just by picking mushrooms, they could earn 400 yuan—what more is there to say!
“Xiao Yi, what’s this second rule you mentioned? Tell us right away!” Feng Kai said again.
Li Yi replied immediately, “My second request is that you must not let this interfere with your children’s schooling!”
Hearing this, everyone froze. What kind of request was that?
If we’re making money, why does it have anything to do with the kids’ schooling?
Li Yi explained right away, “I know some of you have kids at home and were thinking of sending them out to pick mushrooms to save yourselves the trouble, but that won’t do.”
“Uncles and elders, you’ve spent your whole lives in this village. You know full well what life here is like—toiling in the fields, never knowing the outside world. You had no choice, and you’ve already missed your chance.”
“But the children do. Now that the country has reinstated the college entrance exams, if we send all the village children to school, in a few years some will go to study in the county seat, and in a decade or so, some will go to the provincial capital or even Beijing to attend university. Their lives hold infinite possibilities—they shouldn’t and must not be confined to this little mountain village for the rest of their lives!”
No sooner had the words left his mouth than many of the young villagers were stirred to the core.
It wasn’t that they didn’t understand the importance of education; it was just that reality was sometimes too harsh.
Take tuition, for instance, or living expenses—not to mention the fact that with so many children at home, there’s no one to look after them!
But if a family could earn a few hundred extra yuan a year, none of these would be problems.
Just then, someone in the crowd shouted, “Xiao Yi, if you can really help our family make some money, I’ll send all three of my kids to school—not a single one left behind!”
“Count me in! My eldest and second daughters have been wanting to go to school for ages, but we just don’t have the money!”
“That’s right. If we had the money, who wouldn’t want their kids to go to school and learn to read and write…”
Seeing that no one objected, Feng Kai immediately made the decision: “Then it’s settled. When school starts this year, every child in the village who is able to attend will go to school!”
Li Yi spoke again: “Regarding the third rule of our agreement, I hope everyone will act in good conscience. When foraging for mushrooms and wild produce, be sure to look carefully—don’t bring back any poisonous mushrooms. Those can be deadly.”
“Also, make sure to clean them thoroughly after you bring them back. I’ll be inspecting the mushrooms everyone turns in. If a family fails the inspection three times in a row, I won’t accept their mushrooms anymore.”
No sooner had he finished speaking than someone piped up, “Little Yi, don’t worry. If anyone dares to pass off inferior goods as the real thing, the whole village will turn on them!”
“Exactly. If any poisonous mushrooms slip in, this mountain produce business is finished. No one would be so unethical!”
“Right, we’ve got to help Xiao Yi keep a tight watch…”
……..
After Li Yi finished speaking, Feng Kai immediately summarized, “The three conditions Xiao Yi mentioned are not only fair but also in everyone’s best interest. So I hope everyone will keep them firmly in mind—that way, we won’t let Xiao Yi’s good intentions go to waste.”
“Let’s wrap up today’s meeting here. Tomorrow, each household can send one person up the mountain to pick mushrooms, while the rest must report to the production brigade. Is that clear?”
“Understood!”
………