Cheng Maixiang said gloomily, "Sister-in-law, please let me stay here for a while. I feel more comfortable here."
As soon as Mother Cheng saw it, she knew that the strange couple of Second Brother Cheng had angered her daughter again. However, today was the day for the family reunion, and she couldn't lose her temper in public. She could only say to her daughter, "Maizi, bring all the dishes on the cabinet to the main room. We're about to have dinner."
"good."
The food was served on the table quickly.
There were many people eating this time, and there was only one table in the main room, which was not enough space. Cheng Maiqing and Lin Jiayu carried another table from the inner room and put them together, so that thirteen people, big and small, could sit down.
Mother Cheng spent several days preparing for her daughter and son-in-law's return, and cooked fifteen or sixteen dishes. Together with the ones sent by Sister-in-law Cheng, there were more than twenty dishes in total.
As soon as Mother Cheng picked up the chopsticks, Brother Cheng and his family lowered their heads and started eating. Brother Cheng said as he ate, "Mom, your cooking is still the best. The food made by this lazy woman has no taste at all and is terrible."
"The dishes my mother cooks are rich in oil and ingredients, so they taste naturally delicious. If you can give me money to buy more meat and make more oil, I guarantee that the food I cook will be as delicious as my mother's."
Cheng Ersao said unconvinced.
This era was not like the later generations, where people used lard instead of vegetable oil to cook.
Country people rarely spend money to buy lard. Most of them spend money to buy big pieces of meat, then make a fire to refine the oil. When the lard is refined from the big pieces of meat, bowls of oil residue will be left.
In an era of extreme material scarcity, this bowl of oil residue was a rare treasure.
Many families choose to buy a large piece of meat before the Chinese New Year, and after refining the oil, they use the remaining oil residue to make a few dumplings to suit the occasion.
However, since Cheng Maixiang's garment factory distributed dividends to the whole village last year, the lives of the people in Shuangshui Village have become much better. Many people can eat a meal of fried dumplings even if they don't celebrate the New Year.
"To buy good meat, you need money. You only have a few work points a day, and a five-yuan salary a month. How can you buy it with that?"
As Cheng Maixiang expected, the two began to cry poor in front of Cheng's mother again.
Mother Cheng glared at the couple fiercely.
My daughter and son-in-law finally came back, but they couldn't even have a peaceful meal. They wouldn't stop until they started making a fuss.
Mother Cheng suppressed her anger and said coldly, "It's easy to make money, but I'm afraid you two are afraid of getting tired.
Second brother, your eldest brother is now leading people to run a brick kiln. You are young and strong, so follow your eldest brother to work this afternoon, and he will also pay you a salary.
Second son's wife, as for you, come to me every night and I will teach you how to make clothes. After a month, you will be able to get piece-rate wages in the garment workshop.
If you do nothing and just wait for unity to fall from the sky, then you better stop dreaming."
Seeing that Mother Cheng had a gloomy face, Brother Cheng and his wife were afraid that they would be driven out by her and would not be able to eat such delicious food, so they quickly lowered their heads to eat and stopped talking.
The dinner table was quiet.
Cheng Maixiang was afraid that the couple would bring up the topic of money again, so she took the opportunity when Cheng's mother mentioned the brick kiln to ask, "Brother, just now at the brick kiln, I asked you about something, and you didn't tell me!"
Cheng Maiqing smiled and said, "Sister, the things you asked about, I mentioned them to Uncle Hong last week when I went to discuss them, and I have also made some plans.
First, regarding the source of coal, I've contacted the county coal plant, and they've agreed to supply it as required for payment. As for labor and material costs, I've asked Accountant Liu to calculate them. The money in the village account should last at least three months. I figured that by then, a good deal of the bricks from the kiln would have been sold, and the money should be back.
There's no need to worry about sales. I've heard that the county's brick factories generally supply the government. Rural residents have to wait a long time to buy bricks, and many of the bricks they buy are inferior. You can't buy good bricks for the same price.
I thought, our brick kiln in the countryside has no big backers, and we don't compete with the state-owned factories for business. We sell our bricks to people in the countryside who want to build houses. The state-owned factories don't pay much attention to their orders. We can sell each brick a cent or two cheaper, and I believe there will still be people who will buy them.
In Maizi's words, this is called differentiated management."
Cheng Maixiang was surprised and delighted to hear her elder brother say so much in one breath.
"Brother, you're pretty amazing. This is your first time running a business, and you've already figured it out. You've thought of all the key points."
Cheng Maiqing heard his sister praising him like this and smiled naively, "I learned all this from you. You've been running the garment factory for so long, so even if I didn't understand, I would have learned it."
"Yes, aunt, you don't know that in order to open this brick kiln, my father specially asked grandma to find the book you wrote when you opened the clothing workshop. He read it for a long time."
Qiaomai said to Cheng Maixiang proudly, and Cheng's mother poked her forehead and said, "Little clever girl, nothing can be hidden from you."
"That's right. Nothing in our family, big or small, can be hidden from my eyes," Qiaomai said mysteriously to Cheng Maixiang. "Aunt, my dad read that book of yours and wrote a copy of his own, hehe."
It turned out that the eldest brother had read the business plan she wrote when she started her business, and followed suit by writing one of his own. It seemed that he really wanted to devote himself to running the brick kiln well.
"Didn't you always say that you'd ask Maizi to help you when she comes back?" Mrs. Cheng said with a smile, "Maizi has a lot of ideas. She's sure to see things you can't."
Cheng Maiqing scratched his head embarrassedly, "Maizi, after dinner, you can help Big Brother take a look and see if there is anything that is not done well."
After the family finished their meal, Cheng Maiqing handed a few pages of paper to Cheng Maixiang, and said with a simple smile, "This is basically copied from yours, but I've modified the data according to the actual situation of the brick kiln and the brigade."
Cheng Maixiang took the plan and read it carefully with Lin Jiayu. The plan was not long, only three pages, and the two finished reading it in less than twenty minutes.
Cheng Maiqing handed over another document. "This is the cost accounting for labor and materials done by Accountant Liu. You can take a look at it too."
Attached to the plan was a document filled with densely packed numbers. This was the brick kiln cost accounting done by Accountant Liu, and everything related to labor and materials was recorded clearly.
Seeing Cheng Maixiang raise her head, Cheng Maiqing quickly asked, "Why, is there anything else you want to change?"
Cheng Maixiang smiled and said, "Brother, your plan is quite comprehensive. It seems that Uncle Hong is worthy of being an old man who has been working in the brick kiln factory. He has planned everything clearly."
To be honest, the business plan was fine. All the ideas were copied from the model of the garment factory, but the cost accounting was really clear.
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