But then he had a sudden inspiration: "Beiping, it's not that collective enterprises can't be done. If you can be the leader, the people in the village will definitely follow suit."
“That’s right.” Wu Di immediately realized and looked at Ye Beiping.
Everyone else turned their attention to Ye Beiping.
This left Ye Beiping somewhat bewildered.
She gave a wry smile: "Uncle Hou, what are you saying? I can do a small business, but if I were to manage a collective enterprise, putting everything else aside, what products would we make? What advantages would we have to compete with those state-owned factories outside?"
“In addition, our Pingba Village is backward in terms of transportation. Some trucks can't even get in, which increases costs and makes us unable to compete with others on price. If you want me to be the leader, you might as well just kick me out of Pingba Village.”
The words were spoken with great conviction.
The few who had just felt a spark of hope all lost their sparkle.
Ye Beiping quickly changed the subject, saying, "Actually, you don't need to think so much. It's certain that collective enterprises need to raise funds, but it's not as terrible as you think."
He didn't want to say these things, but seeing Hou Yongping like this, he thought that maybe if the collective enterprise did well, he would still be able to have a job.
"Oh?" Hou Yongping immediately became interested, even more so than Wu Guangfa: "What do you mean by that?"
He knows very well that he needs to find a way out of the current situation.
Asking someone of his age to go back to farming... is a bit of a dilemma.
Ye Beiping picked up a peanut, popped it into his mouth, thought for a moment, and then said, "Making money without any investment."
The four words left everyone completely bewildered.
The literal meaning is clear, but how can one make a profit without any initial investment?
Seeing that everyone was confused, Ye Beiping sighed slightly and could only explain in more detail: "First of all, if it is a collective enterprise, and each villager contributes ten yuan, wouldn't it be one thousand yuan for one hundred people? This one thousand yuan, after deducting expenses, can be used to make some small gadgets."
"Even a thousand yuan specifically for hiring labor is acceptable. Our Pingba Village is nestled against the mountains; it's one of the villages closest to the mountains. What's on the mountains? There's an idiom: 'Mountains of gold and silver'..."
Wu Guangfa became increasingly confused as he listened, and when he still couldn't understand, he interrupted Ye Beiping.
"We don't have mountains of gold or silver either."
Pfft!
Ye Beiping laughed out loud: "Uncle Wu, just because a mountain is made of gold and silver doesn't mean that the mountain itself is made of gold and silver."
"What is it made of?" Wu Guangfa blurted out.
The people around burst into laughter.
Wu Guangfa was a beat slow to realize that mountains could only be made of rocks and mud.
He made a big joke of himself, and he blushed slightly.
Unable to hold back any longer, he could only tap Wu Di on the head as he chuckled: "Serves you right for laughing at me."
Wu Di, who had been beaten, could no longer laugh and looked full of resentment.
Ye Beiping didn't say anything about their filial piety, but continued, "The so-called gold and silver mountains are just mountains; there must be a reason for their existence. Some mountains grow very precious things, but people just don't know it. Or some mountains don't grow anything, but you can grow things like fruit trees."
Now Hou Yongping and Wu Guangfa understood.
So that's what "mountains of gold and silver" means.
Hou Yongping, in particular, not only understood Ye Beiping's words, but also connected them to some documents that mentioned these things, even though they hadn't thought of it that way.
Perhaps because they are farmers, they are too busy with their own farm work to think about other ways to make money.
In addition to other reasons, this leads to a situation where people have seen it before but don't think about it in that way.
Gold and silver mountains are a good example.
Ye Beiping tapped his index finger on his knee repeatedly, then continued, "Especially fruit. In this era, many people can't afford fruit; it's practically synonymous with expensive. If you were to compare eating meat with eating fruit, people probably eat more meat than fruit."
"You've probably never even seen mangoes, dragon fruit, or durians before, but once these things are planted in our village, and we take good care of them for the first few years, won't they become a fortune in a few years?"
“That’s right.” Wu Guangfa’s eyes lit up, and he slapped his thigh in agreement.
Ye Beiping paused for a moment, then continued, "Once fruit becomes profitable, the collective enterprise can develop. For example, since fruit has a limited shelf life, we can set up a cannery or something to extend the shelf life of the fruit, so we can sell it to more distant places, right?"
Wu Guangfa, who already agreed with Ye Beiping's words, stood up even more excitedly.
"Isn't it simple now? Hahaha."
Hou Yongping glanced at Wu Guangfa and sighed slightly.
Because it looks simple, but the things that need to be done are actually quite complicated.
“Beiping, if you put it that way, the villagers only need to contribute 1,000 yuan, and they can expect to see a return on their investment in three to five years. Who would be willing to do that?”
Upon hearing this, Wu Guangfa instantly sobered up.
"Yes, it's easy if you put it that way, but this money still belongs to the villagers."
Ye Beiping sighed helplessly, "Uncle Hou, Uncle Wu, why don't you think about this from a different perspective? A thousand yuan covers not only the fruit seedlings but also management wages. If some people can earn wages, then when you open a cannery or something, you'll need to hire even more people. Why don't these villagers get a return on their investment?"
“A worker in the city earns more than 30 yuan a month. You don’t need to pay high wages. Do you believe that people in the village would scramble to work for 20 yuan? Don’t think about management at the beginning. Just calculate by the hour. Excluding people who have finished their work in the fields, if they come to help in the factory, just give them one or two yuan an hour. Isn’t that enough?”
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