After signing the contract, the village chief invited Lin Chuxia and Su Wensong to have a meal at his home.
This was not the village chief playing host; there were few restaurants around at that time, and regardless of the guests being fellow villagers or even town officials visiting, meals would ultimately be arranged at home.
Of course, the costs of the meals were still accounted for from public funds.
At the dinner table, the village chief was delighted, showering Lin Chuxia with compliment after compliment to the point that Qin Jiang sitting beside felt somewhat embarrassed.
But, observing his cousin, Lin Chuxia was all smiles and adept in her responses, really embodying the saying, “speak to people in their own language; talk to a ghost in ghost talk.”
This prompted further serious contemplation, as she silently learned how Lin Chuxia handled situations.
Once the flattery had simmered down, the village chief also brought up the pig farming venture.
Pig farming wasn’t the challenging part for them; it was the sales channels.
Lin Chuxia had been forewarned by Qin Jiang and had prepared, responding to the conversation with humor.
“Uncle Qin, your ambitions are growing bigger and bigger, but the people of Qin Family Village are fortunate to have a village chief like you.”
Qin Shusen really enjoyed talking to Lin Chuxia; even after setting up such a sizable factory, she had no airs about her, and even her conversations were pleasant to listen to.
His face was now all smiles, blooming like chrysanthemums, as he waved his hands dismissively, “Oh, look at you, girl, talking about fortune. It was actually your thinking that inspired me. The villagers can’t grow gold nuggets on their farmland. Now that the markets have opened up, with personal entrepreneurship in line with national policies, if an individual household can become a millionaire, why cannot our village become a collective household?”
“Of course, it can,” Lin Chuxia replied without hesitation, “With a village chief like you, every household in Qin Family Village will be millionaires in the future.”
“Let’s set it then. Once the pigs from the village pig farm are ready to sell, we will work with Xiyang for processing. Rest assured, uncle will definitely not do anything to undercut you all. The quality of the pork will be up to your factory to decide, and if it’s not up to standard, uncle will take them away without a second word.”
Qin Shusen had also thought it through. Lin Chuxia supported his work and took good care of his family. With the factory built, he even made Yufeng an official, so even though he was doing work for the village, he couldn’t shortchange her.
Lin Chuxia, however, smiled and focused on the specifics.
“I know uncle trusts me, and I trust uncle. But if it really doesn’t meet standards, where do you plan to take them? A whole pig farm’s worth of pigs is no small amount.”
Doing anything comes with risks. Qin Shusen was a good village chief, but he’s been constructing one facility after another this year. Despite having Xiyang to back him up, should there be an issue, a village chief like him couldn’t bear the responsibility alone.
“Let’s not even talk about the chicken farm; just the pig farm alone requires a hefty initial investment, right? I remember the money from Xiyang’s land purchase went into building the chicken farm.”
Lin Chuxia was genuinely considerate for him.
In the early stages of economic reform, there were many village chiefs with great ambitions like his, but due to lack of experience and overly big steps, ended up achieving nothing and drowned in debt, becoming outcasts of everyone.
A tad embarrassed, Qin Shusen replied, “The chicken farm has been built. The 1000 chicken chicks are growing every day. I’m thinking, once these chicks are sold off, there will be money for constructing the pig farm. If that’s not enough, we can do a collective fundraising from the villagers. It’s all for the good of the village, and I believe the villagers should be willing to contribute.”
It’s not without reason Qin Shusen, the village chief, was truly admirable – altruistic at heart.
However, in her past life, Lin Chuxia didn’t hear about any collective industry in Qin Family Village.
“Uncle, how about this? Xiyang funds 30% of the investment for the pig farm, and this 30% will be regarded as Xiyang’s investment, sharing in the profits or losses accordingly.”
It was only last year when the country introduced its first shareholding system company, and many people were still unfamiliar with concepts such as stocks and shares. Lin Chuxia decided to explain it in simple terms.
Qin Shusen’s eyes lit up.
He wasn’t afraid of raising funds; he feared if anything happened to the factory, and that money would vanish like a burst bubble.
It wasn’t a small amount; in that case, even his death would not be enough to atone for it to the entire village.
If Xiyang was to invest, the sales part would certainly not be a problem, and if anything happened to the pig farm, with Xiyang’s help, the losses could be shared.
Most importantly, Qin Shusen trusted Lin Chuxia. As long as Lin Chuxia invested in the pig farm, the unlikely event for the pig farm would very likely not happen at all.
Qin Shusen glanced at the secretary, and they almost immediately understood each other’s intentions through their exchanged looks.
“That’s settled then; Lin, you are a real lifesaver for Qin Family Village.”
His words were truly sincere. Although their village, generation after generation, relied on vegetable farming, the market was changing too fast. Just take this year as an example, the first half’s vegetable prices were good, but come the second half, it’s like all the half-year’s hard work went unrewarded.
In the era of the market economy, it is very clear what farmers should or shouldn’t grow.
Now, with land allocated to farmers, what they plant is up to them. But when the planting season arrives, it’s like groping your way across a river by feeling the stones – what to plant is all down to luck.
Take green beans for example. Planting seeds in each hole, hoping for sprouts to grow, watering, and fertilizing, which isn’t free.
When they are half a foot long, poles must be inserted; how much does a bundle of bamboo poles cost?
After the beans are grown, there’s the need for disease and pest control, requiring to spray pesticides twice – all this costs money.
And yet, a pound of green beans sells for five cents. The better the yield, the lower the price.
At the end, even the money for the poles isn’t recovered.
Old farmers depend on the land to live. In recent years, villagers from other villages also started vegetable farming, eliminating the advantage of Qin Family Village and making it one of the worst-hit by market changes.
I heard that even the vegetable stations in the county are about to be disbanded. If that’s the case, what is the future for the vegetable farmers?
Now things look up, with both a chicken farm and an upcoming pig farm in the village, and many village folks working at the Xiyang Food Factory.
Qin Shusen truly sees a bright future ahead.
After the meal was over and everything was discussed, the village chief saw Lin Chuxia and Su Wensong out of the house, making a special request to Qin Jiang to accompany Lin Chuxia and Factory Director Su a bit further.
Qin Jiang smiled helplessly and complied with the village chief as he bid farewell to Lin Chuxia and Su Wensong.
It was clear to everyone from the village chief’s well-executed plans.
Yet after these multiple occasions, everyone knew that although the village chief had his own small schemes, he truly had the villagers’ best interests at heart. No one minded, and instead, people found the old village chief endearing.
“When can the chickens from the chicken farm be expected to be ready for sale?”
The village chief’s house was located at the edge of the village, from where one could see the Qin Family Village chicken farm.
“According to Xiyang Food Factory’s requirements, they should be ready in about 70 to 80 days. The 1000 chickens in the factory are now half-grown, and in about 40 days they should be just about ready. We’ve already arranged to bring in another 1000 chicks to raise in a different coop.”
Nowadays, the standard for people’s lives was just to eat their fill of good food; there wasn’t much emphasis on things like free-range and wild life. The chicken farms of the Qin Family Village, including Lin Chuxia’s own farm, raised purebred heavy breed chickens for meat.