Women rarely drank alcohol in those days. After Li Yuzhu and her three older sisters drank, the four of them coughed a few times. Even so, they felt quite happy. Although alcohol is spicy, it can better blend the atmosphere of family affection.

Perhaps they were too happy, as they all drank too much tonight. My eldest sister and brother-in-law went home, while my second sister lived further away, so they stayed in the guest room.

On the nineteenth day of the first lunar month, Dong Daming brought people to his house to demolish it. Li Yuzhu took out the key to open the gate, and everyone walked into the yard. Li Yuzhu gave each of them a pack of Meihua cigarettes.

Back then, the best cigarettes in the area were Green Central Plains, which cost 1.5 yuan a pack, and very few people could afford them. The next best was Daqianmen. Plum Blossom cigarettes were neither the best nor the worst.

A pack of Daqianmen cigarettes costs five cents. This kind of cigarette is usually used by ordinary people to entertain guests; they really can't afford to smoke at home.

Plum Blossom cigarettes cost three cents a pack, while the cheapest Shahe cigarettes cost one cent a pack. Cigarettes costing one cent a pack were only for ordinary people, and Dong Qing couldn't afford them. Building a house wasn't something that could be done in half a day, so he ultimately chose Plum Blossom cigarettes, which cost three cents a pack.

Actually, back then, whether or not you had cigarettes when building a house was up to you. Buying cigarettes was a favor, not buying them was your right. Whether to buy them or not depended on the homeowner's mood. The most important thing was whether they had the financial means. Building a house was not something that could be done in half a day, and most families really couldn't afford to buy cigarettes.

In the 1970s and 80s, cigarettes were not a scarce commodity. You needed cloth coupons to buy cloth, grain coupons to buy grain, and coupons to buy bicycles and electrical appliances, but cigarettes were the only commodity that did not require coupons.

Farmers are unwilling to buy cigarettes without tickets, and even fewer will smoke them if tickets are required.

In those days, farmers would crush tobacco leaves at home, put the crushed tobacco powder on a piece of paper about an inch wide and four inches long, fold one end up, and slowly twist it. The hand-twisted cigarette was larger at one end and smaller at the other, commonly known as "one-end twist". Although this method of making cigarettes was very rustic, it did not cost a penny. The paper used to roll the cigarettes was the notebooks that students had used.

After twisting the cigarette stick, put the small end into your mouth and light the large end. One cigarette contains more than three times the amount of cigarettes you would buy.

Those who have the means can roll their own cigarettes at home using a pipe. Although this method of rolling cigarettes is considered rustic, the cigarettes produced are just like the cigarette packs sold in stores.

However, homemade cigarettes don't contain any flavorings, and the tobacco leaves are unprocessed, so they're purely natural and have a strong, pungent flavor. If you're not used to it, you really can't stand it.

In the 1970s, one-third of the production team's land was planted with tobacco. Farmers relied entirely on these cash crops for their annual expenses. Since farmers grew so much tobacco but were reluctant to buy it, the supply of cigarettes exceeded demand. In those days, all commodities were scarce except for cigarettes, which were readily available to anyone with money.

Everyone in the village knew Li Yuzhu. When she was handing out cigarettes, Dongkuan joked, "Grandma Yuzhu, do you smoke every day?"

Dongqing is a very senior member of the family in Yicun. Many people call her not only "Grandma," but also "Grandma on her mother's side."

Li Yuzhu laughed and said, "Don't worry, there will be cigarettes for your grandson every day."

Everyone burst into laughter. That's how people from the same village talk. The village's grandchildren are much older than Li Yuzhu, the grandmother. It's normal for the younger generation in the village to make jokes when they see a young grandmother or aunt.

Next, Dong Sanmei made a record of the work. She knew the names of people from one village without asking, and people from other villages told her their names and wrote them down in her notebook.

Next, a string of firecrackers was set off and the house was demolished. The dismantled timber was laid out together to be used as construction materials when the house is built in the future. Bricks and stones will be used for the foundation later. Such a big project can be completed by filling the foundation with stones and bricks.

Dongqing said, "Uncle Daming, I'm leaving this place in your care. My sister will come over every day. If there's anything you need, just tell them."

Yiming said, "Go ahead and get busy. We don't need any materials for the next three days. I already spoke with your older sister; we'll buy a few dozen shovels and hoes right away, we'll need them when we're digging the foundation."

Two weeks later, the machinery factory brought back the materials for making tricycles and purchased a tricycle body panel forming machine. Factory personnel came and were installing and debugging it.

Dong Qing and his wife walked into the workshop, and he asked, "How's the installation of the carriage panel forming machine going?"

Chen Hong said, "It's installed. Let's test it right away."

In those days, the body panel forming machines were semi-automatic, a combination of mechanical and manual operation.

Chen Hong accompanied Dong Qing and his wife to visit the other workshops, including the material preparation workshop, welding workshop, and painting workshop.

Finally, when we arrived at the assembly workshop, the workers had already assembled several tricycles. The vehicle body panels had not yet been rolled out, and only the buckets were not yet installed.

In those days, there were no overhead cranes in the workshop's mechanical assembly area. There wasn't a single large overhead crane in the factory yard; the main vehicles used were for unloading steel.

The workshop used homemade cranes. These cranes were very rudimentary, consisting of a frame chassis with an A-frame welded to the chassis axle. A steel pipe several meters long was welded to the top of the support, with one end of the pipe protruding more than a meter. The cranes used leverage to lift heavy objects, with one person pressing down on the steel pipe from behind. Lifting 300 kilograms at a time was no problem.

Although this type of crane looks rudimentary, it is very practical, inexpensive to manufacture, easy to operate, and convenient to use.

Dong Qing said, "For vehicles shipped to other places, diesel engines can be installed directly. For vehicles sold locally, diesel engines are not required. We can install diesel engines of whatever horsepower the customer needs."

Chen Hong said, "Okay, I've got it."

Dong Qing asked, "Have you tried it? How's the performance?"

Chen Hong said, "I've tried it, and it meets all the standards."

Dong Qing walked up to a tricycle, picked up the crank, turned it, got on, shifted gears, released the clutch, accelerated, and started driving around the factory yard a few times.

Dong Qing drove the truck back to the workshop, jumped off, and said, "Good. Tomorrow, after the bucket is installed, we'll take a few trucks out to promote it. We need to make sure the promotion is thorough in the surrounding counties and cities. Have the sales department contact sales outlets in other places and try to sell to all parts of the country. Once sales are established, we can add an extra night shift and operate on a two-shift system."

Chen Hong said, "We don't have that many workers in our factory working two shifts."

Dong Qing said, "Are we recruiting temporary workers from the public? The old work model is no longer viable. Next month, we'll cancel monthly wages and switch to piece-rate wages. We'll pay them based on the number of vehicles they produce. Don't worry about them earning too much; the more they work, the more they earn."

State-owned factories typically offer monthly wages, which doesn't motivate workers at all. No matter how much you work, you only earn a few dozen yuan a month. Many people just coast along in the factory; that's what they call an "iron rice bowl"—no matter how much you work, you'll always have food to eat.

The goal of Dongqing is to break away from the traditional "iron rice bowl" system, where employees receive wages even if they don't work hard. Piece-rate wages are different; the more you work, the more you earn, and you can't earn as much money if you don't do as much work.

Chen Hong asked, "How should piece-rate wages be determined?"