Li Weijun was overjoyed and looked forward to seeing Liu Donglai the next day.

The next day, he dressed himself up neatly and even used a teacup filled with hot water as an iron to iron his white shirt without a single wrinkle, all in an effort to leave a good impression on Secretary Liu.

Because he had nowhere to sleep at night, Li Weijun stayed at Li Qingshan's house. He was worried that his younger brother would leave too early and leave him behind.

In the end, they didn't go. It wasn't that Li Xiangdong didn't take him, but that Li Jin did.

"Wei Jun, you'll be going with your Uncle Qing to the oil press at Jinniu Commune to get oil today," Li Jin instructed Li Wei Jun while eating breakfast.

Now, half of the wheatgrass seeds in Lijiapo Brigade have been pressed into oil. Every day, people drive oxcarts to transport sacks of wheatgrass seeds from the warehouse to Jinniu Commune, and then bring the pressed oil back.

Jinniu Commune is fifty or sixty li away from Lijiapo, and the old ox, carrying a heavy load, walks slowly. A round trip, including unloading and loading, takes a whole day.

The custodian, Li Qing, was in charge of this matter. His house was right next to Li Qingshan's. Although Li Weijun had only been back for a short time, he had already found out everything about Lijiapo.

Li Qingtian always wore clean clothes in the morning, but when he came back, they were covered in oil stains, sweat, and dirt. He had seen this several times.

Li Weijun looked at his snow-white shirt and brand-new blue trousers, feeling quite embarrassed. This was his most presentable outfit. "Dad, I agreed with Xiang Dong yesterday that we're going to see Secretary Liu today..."

Li Jin coldly interrupted him, "What are you going to see Secretary Liu for? To curry favor and get him to introduce you to a job?"

"...Dad, you can't say that. You're not capable of getting me a job, so I'm working hard on my own. Do you have to be so rude?" Li Weijun felt that his father was being unreasonable. What father doesn't want his son to do well?

“If this relationship were your own, I wouldn’t care, you could do whatever you want with it, but this relationship is directed eastward.”

“Dad, you’re really confused. What’s the difference between Xiang Dong’s relationship and my own? Aren’t they all family relationships?” Li Weijun thought his father might have Alzheimer’s disease.

When Li Jin heard Li Weijun say "it's all ours," he sneered, "All ours? That sounds nice. Let me ask you, how much was your demobilization pay this time? Where is it? Why didn't you give it to your mother?"

Li Weijun was caught off guard by Li Jin's sudden question about demobilization pay. He stammered, "Not much, it's all been spent."

Li Jin looked up at his son and said in a flat tone, "You received a monthly allowance of 4 yuan in your first year of military service, 6 yuan in the second year, and 10 yuan in the third year. You didn't spend any money on food, drink, or clothing. Not only did the family never ask you for money, but they also sent you some pocket money every six months. Your demobilization pay was about 200 yuan. So, you should have about 400 yuan in your pocket!"

When Li Jin did the math, Li Weijun broke out in a cold sweat. He couldn't care less about finding Liu Donglai anymore. His father's calculations were quite accurate; he had a total of 413 yuan.

"Your fourth sister gave all of her salary of a dozen yuan this month to your mother and me, and Xiangdong also gave all the money he earned to me."

Didn't you say we're all family? Your brother and sister-in-law have already given, won't you give?

"Dad, of course I have to give the money to you and Mom! I've been so busy these past few days that I completely forgot."

Li Weijun quickly did the math in his mind. He had heard that Xiang Dong had made a lot of money selling fish and had even bought a bicycle for his family. Now that everyone was pooling their money, they shouldn't lose out.

When Li Weijun returned to Li Qingshan's house, he took out the money from a hidden compartment in his luggage. After thinking for a moment, he kept 63 yuan for himself and gave 350 yuan to Li Jin.

Despite having most of his savings confiscated, Li Weijun was still forced by Li Jin to go and haul oil.

...

Today the weather was sunny and the scorching sun relentlessly burned people's skin. People harvesting wheat in the fields swung their sickles listlessly.

Li Xiangdong got off his bicycle, parked it by the roadside, and carefully examined the wheat in the field.

The once golden wheat stalks and ears were now covered in black mold. Some wheat grains had sprouted long buds, while many more grains had turned black and moldy. These grains were not only inedible for humans, but would also cause disease in livestock.

I saw many wheat fields along the way, and they were all like this; this season's wheat harvest is a complete disaster.

Liu Donglai hasn't moved into the house allocated by the county yet. His family hasn't come, and he's too lazy to tidy up, so he lives with Director Yan.

Li Xiangdong got up early and brought fried fruit cakes and fried rice cakes from the state-run restaurant to Director Yan's house. The four of them ate breakfast together.

Liu Donglai had been frowning for the past few days. He had met with several commune leaders, and all he did was complain about his difficulties and ask for relief from higher authorities.

Their reasoning was quite straightforward: they were supposed to harvest the wheat long ago, but the county had been preventing them from doing so. Now that the people had suffered a disaster, the county had to take responsibility!

He asked if there was any good way to provide disaster relief, and everyone looked mournful and helpless.

"Xiang Dong, there are plenty of fish in the county now. Can your brigade's cannery buy more fish?" Liu Donglai asked, hoping that this would give the people some extra cash.

"Uncle Liu, I have three brilliant plans. Would you like to hear them?" Li Xiangdong shook his head, making Huang Guimei laugh.

"Please speak, I'm all ears," Liu Donglai said cooperatively.

“Uncle Liu, the entire Huichuan County is like a stagnant pool right now. Everyone is living numbly, and no one’s mind is working. My brilliant plan is to stir up this stagnant pool.”

"To provide disaster relief, we must first revitalize the economy. We must allow people to freely raise chickens, ducks, cattle, and sheep, and allow them to do small businesses. Our county's market has been closed for almost ten years. Can we allow it to reopen? Even if it's just for bartering!"

"To the east, the state allows collective economy, but what about individuals..."

Liu Donglai hesitated for a moment. He naturally hoped that the people of Huichuan County could get rid of poverty, but personal business was not allowed at present, and the country was strictly cracking down on personal speculation.

He hopes that collective prosperity will lead to individual prosperity. Why does he value Li Xiangdong so much? Isn't it because this kid is capable of causing trouble?

He hoped to use Li Xiangdong as a role model to drive change throughout Huichuan County; Li Xiangdong was the tool he used to advance his work in Huichuan County.

“Uncle Liu, what does speculation mean? We can raise more chickens and ducks, eat eggs regularly, slaughter them for meat during the New Year, and barter at the market to exchange goods. Isn’t that good?” Li Xiangdong blinked.

Liu Donglai nodded and smiled, "Very good, very good."

"As long as you use this trick, I guarantee that half of the people in Huichuan County will survive!"

Li Xiangdong smiled and exchanged a knowing glance with Liu Donglai.