At night, Lin Sanqi slept on the kang, tossing and turning but couldn't fall asleep.
One reason was excitement. In 1960, 200,000 wild ginseng were purchased. If it was a century-old ginseng, about 500 ginsengs could be bought. Based on the average price of 2 million per ginseng, the profit would be more than 1 billion.
Even if some ginseng is not over a hundred years old, your wild ginseng that is 80 or 60 years old can still be sold at a sky-high price.
The key point is that in China, wild ginseng is very scarce and has a price but no market. The market gap is very large, so there is no need to worry about selling it. It is definitely a hot commodity.
Even if a few hundred wild ginsengs were released, it would probably not be enough to fill the gaps in the teeth of those wealthy families.
When he thought that this was only the first batch of ginseng purchases, and there would be a second and third batches to come, Lin Sanqi was so excited that he felt as if he was not sleeping on a kang, but on money.
Of course, another main reason why he couldn't sleep was that the kang was too hot.
Sitting on the kang during the day and feeling the warmth in the room, Lin Sanqi felt that the kang was a great invention of mankind and it was amazing.
But when he slept on the kang at night, he felt like he was making a pancake. He baked one side, turned over, and continued to bake the other side. It was too hot.
Dean Shen couldn't sleep either. He was worried. If more employees were besieged by the wolves and died, he would be held responsible.
It was he who proposed and strongly recommended the establishment of the farm, which was contrary to the current national policy and the higher authorities also had concerns.
If it succeeds, everyone will be happy.
If it fails and results in heavy casualties, not only will the more than 100 employees and hundreds of their families be relocated back to their hometowns, but he himself will also be punished.
So Dean Shen turned left and right like a pancake, sighing from time to time.
Since he couldn't sleep, Dean Shen sat up and glanced at Lin Sanqi beside him:
"Hey, Xiaoqi, is there anything to eat? I'm hungry."
Lin Sanqi also scrambled to his feet and turned on the light. "You said that. I'm hungry too, haha."
After saying that, Lin Sanqi took out a plate of pork head, a plate of pickled vegetables, and two large white Shandong steamed buns from the cupboard.
Dean Shen had an expression that said, "As expected," and he grabbed it and started eating it without hesitation. He rarely got to eat this kind of big white flour steamed bun.
"Xiao Qi, I've solved the ginseng problem for you. Don't make any mistakes with the food. You're a key part of building this farm."
Lin Sanqi was actually a little worried. He was not worried about not having enough food, but how to get so much food.
"Uncle Shen, let me be honest with you. I don't have a big problem with food. I'll find a way to get it even if it costs me my life. But I'm afraid. If I bring back food truckloads at a time, won't it attract too much attention?"
February is the time when there is a shortage of food, and since it is only the second year of natural disasters in history, the food supply is even worse than in 1959, and will be even worse next year.
Now everyone is starving, and you suddenly bring back a large amount of food. If people see you, won’t they fight you to the death?
Even if the people don't fight you, if the relevant departments find out, they will definitely arrest Lin Sanqi and ask him to explain where the food came from.
Dean Shen ate and waved his hand:
"I've considered this. When I first built the farm, my superiors asked me how we would solve the food shortage for hundreds of family members in the next six months if we stopped receiving food rations for 132 employees.
At the time, I told my superiors that I could get some food through my old military superiors. So don't worry, the civil affairs system and the military affairs system are independent of each other, and most people don't dare to inquire about military affairs.
The higher-ups think our food comes from the army, and that's the best excuse. If anything really goes wrong, I'll take full responsibility and won't betray you."
Lin Sanqi finally breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that there were too many old foxes.
In fact, Lin Sanqi had checked the information and found that during those three years, our soldiers were actually hungry and life in the army was not easy.
But ordinary people don’t think so.
At that time, the common people were generally proud to be able to join the army. Whether they were children of wealthy families or ordinary citizens, they all wanted to become a member of the Liberation Army.
Firstly, people think that defending the country is the supreme honor that brings glory to the family. Who doesn’t want to fight against the American devils?
Secondly, it is probably because you can still have enough food in the army, and food, drink, defecation and urination are all guaranteed by the state, which is better than starving at home. If you get promoted, you can get a long-term meal ticket, which is also a leap forward.
So this caused a misunderstanding. The common people thought that the troops ate big white flour steamed buns every day, but in fact, the people's children ate the worst kind of steamed buns.
But using military rations as an excuse is indeed the best smokescreen.
Lin Sanqi disagreed:
"Uncle Shen, I think there's a major loophole you've overlooked in your entire plan. If this loophole isn't addressed, I'm afraid the farm plan won't survive."
Dean Shen put down his chopsticks and asked seriously, "What loophole?"
"Uncle Shen, you only considered the issues of the 132 employees, but you ignored the issues of their families. Look, there are now more than 600 employees and their families who have come to the farm.
Those who come from rural areas are relatively easy to deal with; they are willing to endure hardships in the capital rather than return home, believing it is better than suffering back home. However, there is also a group of workers whose spouses have formal jobs.
Now they've all come to our Changping Farm. Their spouses' employment issues remain unresolved, and neither do their children's education. I've heard that some of the employees' families are already preparing for divorce."
"divorce?"
"Yes, divorced, divorced. The staff of our Chinese medicine hospital are still working as farmers in Changping, but their spouses can return to the urban area. After all, they have capital hukou, formal jobs, and can live independently.
When these couples start getting divorced over whether to stay or leave, it can easily destabilize the morale of our farm and affect future production and development."
Dean Shen fell silent when he heard this. After a long while, he sighed:
"Husband and wife are birds of a feather. It's normal for them to fly away separately when disaster strikes. I didn't think this through..."
The old man felt very uncomfortable, thinking that he had done something bad with good intentions, breaking up one employee family after another, and he was already feeling a little guilty.
Seeing that the old man was in distress, Lin Sanqi persuaded him:
"This matter cannot be blamed on your Changping Farm Project. After all, most of these 132 workers were sent back to their hometowns because they did not meet the requirements to stay in Beijing. It was not a crime, so their spouses and children should not be implicated.
So, Uncle Shen, even if you don't send them to Changping and let them return to their hometown in the countryside, these families will still be broken up. Not everyone is willing to follow the rules.
Dean Shen thought about it and agreed!
If one party makes a mistake, the whole family may be implicated, and other family members will have no choice but to follow their husband back to his hometown.
Now, just because of artificial policies, one spouse has to be deported, while the other can stay in Beijing, so divorce is inevitable.
Lin Sanqi raised another question:
"Also, there's education. Look at what happened today with Zhu Xiaoxia and Ye Shanmin. These two young people were only in their first year of high school. They could have gone to university and had a bright future.
However, both families did not meet the requirements for staying in Beijing and could not even go to school. Of course, without education, their minds were filled with only love and finding a partner. There are many such students, both in middle schools and primary schools.
If these children are not well-educated and don't have formal jobs, they may become hooligans in the future. They are all members of the Chinese Medicine Hospital, just like me. We can't just watch them drop out of school, right?
Dean Shen was in a low mood and sighed:
"I can't do anything about it. I can't be perfect. At that time, many employees came to me crying and begging to stay in the capital. They didn't want to go back to their hometowns. They were afraid that if they went back there they would have no place to stand and their whole family would die.
As their leader, I can only do everything I can to give them the opportunity to stay in Beijing, hoping that the disaster years will pass quickly. Perhaps they can still return to the Chinese medicine hospital and restore food supplies. I really can't consider so much else."
Lin Sanqi could also understand this point, as he knew the future direction of history.
In a few years, more intellectuals will return to their hometowns.
However, when these intellectuals returned to their hometowns in the countryside, they didn't even have houses to live in. Many of them could only build shacks in the wild or live in dilapidated temples. Their lives were very difficult.
If housing is a problem, there is another most critical difficulty.
Working in the countryside is based on work points. A male worker gets 10 points a day, while a woman may get 9 or 8 points. You can only get work points if you work hard and provide full labor. Finally, food is distributed according to the work points.
But intellectuals were weak scholars, so how could they farm? Failure to earn work points meant no food, and their lives fell into hardship again.
Some people may say that there are not many literate people in rural areas, and intellectuals who return there can be fully competent for jobs such as clerical work, accounting, and publicity.
The problem is that these "good jobs" are occupied by the brother-in-law of the village party secretary, the sister-in-law of the village head, etc. How can you, who has been away from home for many years and has few family ties, get a chance?
Don't think too much of rural life.
The most miserable people in the world are farmers, and the worst off are village cadres. These people are uneducated and overbearing, calling themselves local tyrants. How many outrageous things have they done in the Buzz Buzz era?!
There is no harm without comparison, which is also one of the main reasons why Lin Sanqi admires Dean Shen as a person and is willing to take risks to help him.
As I said, staying in the suburbs of Beijing is definitely more advantageous than returning to your hometown.
The atmosphere inside was a bit depressing.
Suddenly, Dean Shen's eyes lit up and he looked up at Lin Sanqi:
"Your words are full of hidden meanings, come on, what's your trick? Tell me now."
Lin Sanqi certainly has an idea, but this idea is risky under the current policy and requires the cooperation of Dean Shen.
"Uncle Shen, I have a way to get a lot of food. I can even pay the wages and food to the families of the employees..." (End of this chapter)
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