Bringing high-quality, cheap feed from other places to raise pigs to market weight—how could you not make money? A few years later, this kind of business wasn't as easy to do as it is now. After the reform and opening up, people's minds, which had been troubled for many years, gradually broadened, and everyone was looking for profitable business opportunities. There really aren't many profitable business opportunities like these now.
Doing business requires courage and boldness, but most importantly, it requires business acumen. Even those who can think of it may not dare to do it. People in those days didn't have much money. To be precise, they could make money but couldn't afford to lose it. Once they started a business and lost money, they would be in debt for many years.
The 1980s was a period of business adaptation for many people. Many were observing and waiting. Those who made a fortune were bold, while others lost money. Business is always risky. A true businessman is one who can get back up after a fall; otherwise, he is a coward who will never get ahead in his life.
The next day at noon, Dong Qing returned to his hometown county. He drove the tractor directly to the gate of the machinery factory's residential area, parked it, and asked Su Wei to wait in the tractor. He then got out and walked home.
Back home, Li Yuzhu had just finished lunch. She asked, "Have you eaten?"
Dong Qing said, "After we ate, I came back with a cartload of soybeans and several thousand kilograms of soybean cakes. Come with me to the countryside to sell the soybeans first."
Li Yuzhu was shocked upon hearing this. She said, "Are you crazy? Who are you going to sell these beans to? Who would want thousands of kilograms of fried dough cakes?"
Dongqing said, "Of course I have a place to sell them. I'll explain about the soybean oil cakes later. Come with me."
Li Yuzhu walked out of the house with her husband, puzzled.
The couple boarded the tractor, and Su Wei drove directly towards Su Village.
Upon arriving at Su Village, Su Wei parked the vehicle in front of her house, jumped off the tractor, and walked towards the village office.
Soon, the village loudspeaker blared out Su Wei's second uncle's voice: "Attention all you tofu makers! A truckload of high-quality soybeans has been brought back from out of town. If anyone wants soybeans, please buy them from Su Wei's house."
He shouted repeatedly over the loudspeaker, and all 3,000 residents of Su Village could hear him.
The families who made tofu quickly gathered in front of the tractor.
Su Shun asked, "How's the quality of your soybeans? If they're good, I'll take 1000 jin (500 catties)."
At this moment, Su Wei took out a hemp bucket from her home. The hemp bucket was made of wicker and hemp rope, hence the name. It was round and could hold fifty dan of soybeans.
"You won't believe me no matter which bag I unload. Go up there yourselves, randomly unload a bag, pour it into the hemp basket, and see how the quality is."
As soon as Dong Qing finished speaking, Su Shun climbed onto the tractor trailer and casually unloaded a bag of soybeans.
Dongqing poured the soybeans into the sesame seed container. Each soybean was plump and full. After looking at them, Su Shun said, "These soybeans are really good. How much do you want per pound?"
Dong Qing said, "You know better than I do what the local green beans sell for. Here's what we'll do: I won't take small change, it'll be four cents a pound. But I have one condition: you have to sell your tofu dregs to me for one cent a pound, you can't sell them to anyone else."
Tofu dregs are worthless and can be sold to anyone. Saving a few cents per pound of soybeans is already worthwhile, and the quality of the soybeans is also good. The key is the quality of the soybeans; better quality soybeans will result in a higher tofu yield.
The tofu from Su Village is sold in the county town. The sales volume in the rural area is very small. Each household grinds dozens of kilograms of soybeans every day, some households need hundreds of kilograms, and a few large households buy a thousand kilograms of soybeans at a time.
The front of the truck was loaded with soybean cakes. After the back half was unloaded, Dongqing said, "Fellow villagers, please help me put the fried dough cakes in the back."
A few people got on the truck, and in no time they unloaded the fried dough sticks from the front and placed them at the back of the truck, and then continued unloading soybeans.
A truckload of soybeans was sold, but in the end, only a little over 3,000 jin remained.
As Dong Qing closed the car door, Su Shun said, "Unload these three thousand-plus jin of soybeans for me, but I don't have that much money. Can you exchange them for cash and deliver them to Su Wei's house instead?"
More than 3,000 jin of soybeans, worth over 1,000 yuan, weren't bothered by Dong Qing. He said, "Okay, I'll unload it for you."
They quickly unloaded the soybeans from the truck and weighed them. Dong Qingjian asked, "How many days can the soybeans you bought in your village last?" Su Shun replied, "Mine can last for more than a month, while other people's soybeans are used up in half a month at most."
This means that Su Village can consume at least 100,000 jin of soybeans a month, which is a considerable income.
Su Village can consume so many soybeans, and the mixture of tofu residue, soybean cake, and wheat bran could easily feed a thousand pigs. As long as the feed is good, under the current circumstances, each pig could be raised for ten months before reaching market weight.
Now, pigs can be ready for market before the Lunar New Year. A batch of pigs must be sold before the Lunar New Year. Setting up a pig farm cannot be delayed even for a day, otherwise, it will be impossible to raise pigs before the Lunar New Year. If the pigs are sold after the Lunar New Year, it will be difficult to sell them at a good price.
Several villages in the county grind soybeans, but none of them grind as much as Su Village. Su Village's soybeans are mainly sold to the county town. Grinding soybeans is basically their daily job, so the demand for soybeans is particularly high.
There won't be that many soybeans over there, so if they keep being transported home, the supply will naturally decrease. Besides, they wouldn't dare to transport them for a long time, because if the quantity is too large, the price of soybeans will rise. This is a natural law.
In Dong Qing's view, bringing back two truckloads of soybeans each month is enough for Su Village's needs and won't have much impact on the area. With so many counties and cities around, if they only bring back soybeans once and then stop going to other places, would they dare to raise prices if they had to find someone else to buy soybeans from?
Only in this way can a virtuous cycle be achieved. Sometimes you really can't be too greedy when doing business. No matter what the price is, price increases are always due to large-volume purchases. Once the price of soybeans rises, it's difficult for it to fall back down.
Dong Qing told Su Wei to stay home and rest, while he and his wife drove towards their hometown, Dongcun.
On the way back to their hometown of Dongcun, Dongqing talked to his wife about the price of grain from other places, and then they discussed the idea of starting a pig farm. Li Yuzhu said, "Grain from other places is so cheap. If you bring it back to raise pigs, you'll definitely make money. I support whatever you do. You decide!"
Dong Qing nodded after hearing this, feeling more confident with his wife's support.
By the time we returned to Winter Village, it was nearly dusk.
Dong Qing parked the car in front of his house, found someone in the village and paid him one yuan for his work. Li Yuzhu opened the door and asked him to unload the bean cakes into the house.
Even if it's just one village, it won't work. The wages absolutely cannot be too high. If the wages are high this time and low next time, it's a bit unreasonable. In those days, one yuan was quite a lot for unloading more than three thousand catties of fried dough cakes.
Dong Qing told him where to unload it, and then he and his wife walked toward the home of the village party secretary, Dong Tao.
The couple went into Dongtao's house and told him about buying the pig farm.
The pig farm in the village not only failed to make money, but also lost more than 1,000 yuan. The villagers all said that Dongtao didn't know how to do business and just messed things up.
Dongtao gets a headache whenever he sees a pig farm outside the village. The pig farm was built last spring with an interest-free loan, but he lost more than 1,000 yuan the following spring and then stopped operating it.
When Dongtao built the pig farm, he did so in the name of the village. In reality, it was his own investment with a loan, and it really had little to do with the village. His main purpose in doing so was to use the village's land without spending any money; it was free.
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