After two days of free time, the captain came to see Lu Yuan again, his face full of wrinkles from smiling.
“Ah Yuan, the provincial and county offices have already taken the rabbits away. The 2,000 rabbits were sold for a total of [amount missing]. The commune brick and tile factory and the county machinery factory also sent people to select the rabbits and weigh them. Each factory gave a deposit of 1,000 yuan, saying that the remaining rabbits would be paid in full after they were finished.”
"I found someone who knows how to skin rabbits to kill them, and I also found a few people who are good at drying rabbits to take care of them. I paid them two yuan a day, and they would take care of all the rabbits."
Lu Yuan nodded. "The rabbit fur must be processed properly. I heard that the top-quality rabbit fur at the purchasing station can sell for 80 cents a piece. That's a lot of money."
“Yes, yes, it’s all money.” Lu Guoan grinned from ear to ear.
Now their brigade is the richest brigade, with more than 10,000 yuan in their account. Old Zhang has looked visibly haggard these past two days, for no other reason than that he can't sleep at all with such a huge sum of money in his pocket.
As the saying goes, "Speak of the devil," and Zhang Yong'an, carrying a bulging military green satchel, sneaked into Lu Yuan's house.
The person exhaled heavily without saying a word.
Lu Yuan asked, "Uncle Zhang, what happened? Why do you look more and more like a national treasure?"
Those dark circles under her eyes are really a bit scary.
General Zhang Yong'an tossed his green satchel into Lu Yuan's arms and said, "You keep this from now on. I can't sleep well with this here. I haven't slept for two nights. If this keeps up, I'll die."
Lu Yuan rummaged through his bag. "How much is in here?"
Zhang Yong'an grinned foolishly, "It's a total of 100 yuan. The remaining few hundred are with me. If the village needs small change, they don't need to ask you for it."
Lu Yuan asked, "Buying piglets costs money, right? Your few hundred isn't enough, is it?"
“We can’t buy piglets yet. Our pig farm isn’t finished yet. We’ll have to wait until it’s built and then get a certificate to apply to the commune. The commune will then allocate them. This whole process will take at least three months, and if it’s slow, we might not be able to go until after the New Year,” Zhang Yong’an said.
Upon hearing this, Lu Yuan realized that he didn't need the money for the time being, so he said, "Okay, then leave it here with me, and I'll write you a note."
"No need for a written note, we trust you."
"Even if you trust someone, you still have to fight them; that's the rule."
Lu Yuan quickly wrote a note, and he, Zhang Yong'an, and Lu Guo'an all signed it. There were three copies, and each of them took one.
After agreeing on that, Lu Guoan brought up the recruitment for the sanatorium and pig farm.
“You guys oversee the pig farms, pick a few honest and hardworking ones, and let me see the list of those to be given to the sanatorium,” Lu Yuan said.
Lu Guoan hurriedly pulled out the list; this was the main reason he had come to see him today.
"More than 200 people signed up, but I rejected quite a few, leaving only about 40. Among these 40, more than a dozen were still from the rabbit farm. They are usually hardworking and reliable, but now that they hear the sanatorium pays better wages, they don't want to work at the rabbit farm anymore."
Lu Yuan frowned. This was indeed a problem. After thinking for a moment, he said, "Then let's raise wages. Rabbit farms are so profitable, pig farms will definitely be profitable in the future. Let's raise the salaries of all of them."
"Let's forget about the previous wages. Starting this month, the regular rabbit farm worker's salary will increase to 26 yuan, not including work points and rice subsidies. The farm manager will get 36 yuan, and the deputy farm manager will get 32 yuan. The pig farm work is a bit more strenuous, so each person will get an extra two yuan on top of that."
Lu Guoan and Zhang Yongan nodded in agreement.
“Then they can be considered proper workers,” Lu Guoan said with a smile.
And so, none of the rabbit farm workers asked to leave again. They were all happy to work every day. Trumpet Flower was one of them. Whenever her salary was increased, she would shout it from the whole brigade. She walked with a swagger and held her chin high.
Several other young wives are in the same situation. They used to be mistreated by their mothers-in-law at home, but now their status in the family has risen rapidly. Not only do they no longer suffer mistreatment from their mothers-in-law, but they don't even dare to raise their voices. The families of these women have become much more harmonious.
Among them are two unmarried female educated youths who have now become sought-after matchmakers. These women now have formal jobs and are no longer thinking about returning to the city. They plan to find a suitable family to marry into. Looking at the current development of the brigade, they feel that things will only get better and better in the future, and their lives may even be better than when they returned to the city.
The woman the matchmaker was most interested in was Hongxia. She was the deputy director of a rabbit farm, earning a monthly salary of 32 yuan, which she could never spend. Whoever married her would be like bringing home a gold nugget.
The matchmaker had to go to the rabbit farm every day, sometimes several times a day. Hongxia was annoyed, even though she didn't find it annoying. But she couldn't offend the matchmaker, so she racked her brains every day to think of ways to refuse.
He Shenghua had witnessed all of this, and finally mustered up the courage to confess his feelings to Hong Xia, "Comrade Hong Xia, would you like to be my girlfriend?"
Hongxia stared wide-eyed, somewhat incredulous. She knew that the other person had liked Wen Moxue before, but had always hesitated to confess, and had watched her get married and have children.
“You…” Hongxia wanted to ask him if he still had feelings for Wen Moxue, or what his reservations were back then, but she didn’t know how to ask.
He Shenghua said, "Just ask me whatever questions you have."
Hongxia also felt that some things needed to be clarified, so she stopped being coy and asked, "I want to know if you've completely let go of Moxue now?"
He Shenghua was taken aback, then laughed and cried at the same time. He explained, "At first, I also thought I had some feelings for her, but when I saw her get married, I was more worried about her. I was afraid that someone would treat her badly, and I felt that her life would be ruined because she was such a delicate girl. When I saw that Lu Yuan treated her well and she was doing well, I was very happy for her. At that time, I realized that my feelings for her were more like a brother's concern for his sister, rather than romantic love."
Hongxia nodded. "So you didn't understand this back then. You thought you liked her, so why didn't you confess and just watched her marry someone else? What were your concerns?"
He Shenghua replied, "I want to go back to the city. I'm worried that one day when I leave, she won't be able to leave."
"And now?"
"It's fine here now, I wouldn't want to go back even if I could."
Hongxia smiled, "Me too."
He Shenghua immediately understood what she meant and smiled happily, "You agreed to date me?"
Hong Xia shook her head.
He Shenghua's smile froze, and he looked utterly disappointed.
Hongxia suppressed a laugh and said, "I don't want to date anyone first. I want to get married right away so that no more coal miners will come looking for me."
He Shenghua was overjoyed, "You're willing to get married right away?"
"Are you willing?" Hongxia asked instead of answering.
"Yes, I'm willing!" He Shenghua was so happy that he didn't know what to do. He usually looked like a steady person, but now he was just like a fool.
The two acted quickly; having just confirmed their relationship, they went to the captain to get a certificate to get their marriage certificate.
Upon hearing this, Lu Yuan chuckled and remarked, "Tsk, these two actually pulled off a whirlwind marriage without a word."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
