Chapter 85 Claw Print Sister-in-law, I want one too!
"Yes, of course I'll have new clothes to wear."
The little girl smiled brightly upon hearing this, her face still covered in a bit of dirt.
Qin Xiangxiang's heart sank. These commune members who had volunteered to help were also hoping to buy cloth to make new clothes and looking forward to the early completion of the textile factory.
Looking at the expectant smiles on their faces, Qin Xiangxiang felt immense pressure and really wanted to quit!
But she felt so sad. She had just had a daughter and hoped that her daughter could wear new clothes. Similarly, she hoped that these little girls wearing old clothes could have the opportunity to wear new clothes.
Since the three years of hardship in the 1960s, everything has revolved around food. Large areas of cotton fields were cut down and planted with grain. This is one of the reasons for the current shortage of cotton cloth. Cotton production is low and not enough to provide enough cotton clothing for everyone.
There's a shortage of cloth coupons right now. Places like Shanghai with textile factories are a bit better off, as there's a direct supply and you can even buy factory-made fabric with minor defects. But in places without textile factories that supply locally, you have to save up cloth coupons for a whole year just to make a new cotton quilt cover.
This situation persisted until cloth rationing was completely abolished in 1983.
Qin Xiang thought about the textile factory to be built on the island. Its initial purpose was mainly to produce military cloth. The raw cotton quota that could be obtained would probably only be enough to cover the military cloth expenditure. Of course, if they wanted to save money, they could still save some quota.
Her mother, Zhou Aodong, once said that how a textile factory purchases and distributes cotton is a test of the factory manager's ability and wisdom.
The annual quota for factories is fixed; how much cotton can be purchased and how much fabric can be spun depends on the factory manager's direction and the hard work of the skilled workers. Unfortunately, talent is scarce these days; many capable people have been reassigned to lower levels, and the management of many factories is a complete mess.
In her dream, her mother was also sent to the countryside.
The annual quota for raw cotton is limited. By focusing on cotton blending and controlling raw cotton costs, more fabric can be produced. The annual cotton blending quota a factory receives is a price figure. At this point, the price of raw cotton is differentiated by grade, with prices increasing in tiers. After the third grade, the price difference between each grade of raw cotton is six percent.
The cost of blended cotton is moderate to high, with the cost of raw materials per ton being around 3,000 to 3,500. If the cost of blended cotton is too good, the price of raw materials per ton can far exceed 3,500, and may even reach 4,000.
By properly controlling cotton allocation, more raw cotton can be purchased. However, some factories insist on buying only low-priced materials, which forces other factories to buy only high-priced raw cotton.
The key to optimizing cotton allocation—how to produce more high-quality textiles while saving costs—lies in the planning of the textile factory manager.
Qin Xiangxiang sighed, "I'm the one who made the decision, and I feel a lot of pressure."
Let her, a little drama queen, control the costs.
Besides controlling costs through cotton selection, another factor is the factory's textile technology. Good technology can reduce waste and produce fewer defective or substandard cotton fabrics.
In addition, there is another crucial tool, which is actually chemical fiber raw materials, used to make blends. The polyester-cotton blend that was popular in the 1970s is also known as "Dacron".
In the 1960s, China was already able to produce its own chemical fiber materials and had built a few chemical fiber factories. However, many of the machines were ineffective and caused serious pollution. Last year, in order to completely solve the domestic clothing problem, the country decided to introduce four major chemical fiber production lines.
In the mid-to-late 1970s, the supply of chemical fiber raw materials improved, and polyester-cotton blends became the mainstream best-selling fabrics.
It's only 1971 now, and it's not easy to apply for quotas for chemical fiber materials. The factory manager has to lead the purchasing staff to run around for quotas and strive for more raw material quotas and allocation plans.
"I'm so worried. I thought being a factory manager would be so glamorous."
Qin Xiangxiang thought about this lazy bum and decided to give up. How about we take over the throne?
However, given the current situation, she has no choice but to grit her teeth and keep going.
Qin Xiangxiang said to the young commune cadres, "Now that we're busy with spring plowing in the fields, the commune members don't need to come and help. It's too hard."
"Director Qin, everyone came here voluntarily to help. We all hope that the textile factory will be completed and that beautiful bolts of cotton cloth will be produced. Even if we can't afford to buy it, it's good to see it. There will always be some flawed cloth, right?"
A group of people, including commune cadres, were all looking forward to the production of defective cloth. This would make it much easier to handle the defective cloth from the factory, allowing them to contact the local commerce department and sell it at the nearby supply and marketing cooperative.
Defective cloth doesn't require cloth coupons, or requires fewer coupons; if everyone saves up their money, they can still get it.
It was extremely difficult for farmers to obtain cloth coupons. Those without urban household registration had their own quota of cloth coupons and mostly relied on raising pigs to exchange for them.
People from other communes also wanted to help, all keeping an eye on the factory's defective fabric. Even the meat processing plant workers were eager to use the meat processing plant's scraps to exchange for the defective cloth.
"Director Qin, you must remember the kindness of the commune members."
Qin Xiangxiang: "..."
She thought to herself, "You've got the wrong factory manager. This little troublemaker can't stand flawed fabric."
Sigh, Qin Xiangxiang sighed with worry.
Let's try our best to get more raw cotton and chemical fiber quotas. If we can't wear cotton clothes, we can wear a "Dacron" blend.
Synthetic fiber blends are much cheaper than pure cotton fabrics, with a price difference of about 1:2.5. However, blends offer a wider variety of patterns and colors than pure cotton, and many people prefer polyester fabrics.
When made into garments, blended fabrics look prettier than pure cotton clothes, but pure cotton clothes are more comfortable to wear, breathable, and absorbent.
A row of rammed earth houses has been built and is currently used as a rest and accommodation area for construction workers, as well as a place to store building materials. There is no canteen yet, only a kitchen, and everyone eats outdoors on the ground.
"Thanks to the help of the commune members and some soldiers, our rammed earth houses are being built very quickly. Director Qin, I feel that our textile factory may be completed ahead of schedule."
"This is what everyone has been waiting for!"
Accompanied by Chief Engineer Chen, Qin Xiangxiang inspected the newly renovated rammed earth houses one by one, which would serve as temporary dormitories for the employees. In fact, everyone had built quite well, but Qin Xiangxiang, who had lived in brick and tile houses since childhood, was completely bewildered when she saw these rammed earth houses in front of her!
Rammed earth house, rammed earth house, this is a mud house. From now on, let Master Li and others come and live in the rammed earth house. No, she can't stand it.
Li Jinling: "Sister-in-law, this rammed earth house is very well built. Chief Engineer Chen and his team are truly skilled!"
"It's quite beautiful, and the accommodation is comfortable."
Qin Xiangxiang didn't feel comforted by what she heard. She thought that it was still a mud house after all, and when Master Li came, he would probably be completely clueless.
When Qin Xiangxiang got back, she complained to Li Jianzhi about this, "They're all rammed earth houses. Now I know that the conditions in our family compound are pretty good. At least we have multi-story buildings, not single-story houses, tiled houses, or rammed earth houses."
"Our factory is so pitiful, we don't even have a single brick."
"Otherwise, how could I have ended up as the factory manager?"
Li Jianzhi comforted her, "There will be bread, there will be steamed buns, this is the early stage of starting a business."
Qin Xiangxiang: "I don't like bread or steamed buns."
"Once we get through this tough time, we'll immediately tear down the rammed earth houses and build apartment buildings for our staff."
Li Jianzhi knew that things were difficult, but he believed in finding ways to solve problems whenever they arose.
“If we don’t have bricks, we’ll find a way to get them. There should be unplanned methods. Have any small workshops been shut down? They might have extra bricks, or…”
Li Jianzhi wanted to say that there were also some jointly registered brick factories that were not officially part of the government. At that time, many village and community collective factories were hidden and cooperated with state-owned factories in the county. Unless you went to see for yourself, most people would not know the situation.
These village and community collective factories were brought into the open and officially recognized in the 1980s, becoming township and village enterprises.
"There are few resources on the island, so we'll make a trip to Minnesota, which is nearby."
After discussing it, the couple decided to go to Mingzhou on a chosen day. Qin thought for a moment and said, "We can also go to Mingzhou to find a master calligrapher and painter to write an inscription and draw a brand logo."
Li Jianzhi: "Yes."
He picked up his daughter, pressed her little feet into the red clay print, and left a mark on the white paper.
The little footprints are very cute, like the marks of red plum blossoms.
Qin Xiangxiang: "Wow! You're even more superstitious than me!"
Li Jianzhi: "?"
"What's superstitious about it? I'm just making footprints for my child to remember him. I'm leaving footprints at every stage of his life to witness his growth."
"Besides footprints, we also need handprints." As he spoke, Li Jianzhi held down his daughter's little hand and made a soft "paw print."
This is something many parents will do in the future.
Qin Xiangxiang was stunned: "I thought you were drawing a God of Wealth talisman."
Li Jianzhi: "?"
A talisman for the God of Wealth?
"I thought you were going to Mingzhou on business soon, so you should bring a God of Wealth talisman with you, that way your wishes will come true?"
Li Jianzhi was silent for three seconds. He stared at his little daughter in his arms and said, "You can put it that way if you want. Anyway, it's just a matter of leaving a couple more footprints. As parents, we'll each get a God of Wealth talisman?"
Since I've already pressed the button, what's wrong with pressing a few more?
Whether the charm works or not, it's a source of amusement for the parents.
The young couple huddled together to make footprints and paw prints of their daughter. Li Jinling glanced over and exclaimed in shock, "Brother and sister-in-law, are you... drawing talismans?"
Li Jianzhi: "..." These two sisters-in-law are truly birds of a feather.
"This is kept as a memento, and it should also serve as a blessing."
Li Jinling: "Sister-in-law, I want one too!"
After choosing a date, Li Jianzhi accompanied Qin Xiangxiang and her husband to Mingzhou. He was on Sunday off, and his business ended early on Saturday morning. The couple took a boat to Mingzhou, with Li Jinling helping to take care of Suisui. If the child wasn't too young to travel by boat, the couple would have brought the child along.
It's not far to get to Minnesota by ferry, just over an hour away. People like Liu Xiaoyun often travel between the island and Minnesota.
The couple disembarked in Minnesota. Qin Xiangxiang unexpectedly saw workers unloading goods near the port warehouse. It was a batch of export textiles, and she suddenly remembered something.
At that time, exported textiles were often produced by multiple factories sharing the same trademark, regardless of quality or grade.
This is actually a very outrageous thing.
Just like exported wool fabrics, regardless of product quality, they don't have a brand name domestically, but they need a brand name for export. So all the goods from all the factories are put together and called Parrot Brand Wool Fabric.
That's not all that's outrageous. These factories mix high-end, mid-range, and low-end goods together for export, and then... sell them at the same price.
This has resulted in goods being exported with inconsistent quality, and thus not fetching good prices.
High-end goods were all sold off at low prices, using mid- to low-end pricing.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
