Chapter 393 The Problem
Song Lubai couldn't accept that after nearly two months of hard work, she only earned a few dozen yuan when the first batch was ready to sell.
If you factor in the cost of labor, the profit is even less.
As darkness fell, the workers in the food workshop courtyard all left, and Lao Wang and Deng Hong were inspecting and tidying up the equipment.
After they finished their work, the two said goodbye to Song Lubai and left. Song Lubai sat at her desk in the small office for a long time without moving until the baby in her belly started to make a fuss.
After thinking for a long time, she came up with the following ways to increase profits:
1. Reduce the cost of sweet potatoes!
2: Increase the starch content of sweet potatoes
3: Increase selling price
Lowering the purchase price of sweet potatoes requires discussion with the production team, which may not be willing to do, so she has to plan to take two approaches.
To increase the starch content of sweet potato water, the sedimentation time of the starch slurry must be extended.
Raise the selling price... When Song Lubai thought of the third point, her heart skipped a beat.
She had miscalculated. The market price for sweet potato starch was 26 cents per pound, not the wholesale price they sold to the supply and marketing cooperative and the company!
This would reduce profits.
Thinking about this, her tooth roots suddenly started to hurt.
Despite her worries, she had to go home for dinner. She got up and closed the door, and a dark figure slowly approached her.
"daughter in law"
It was Wei Yang's voice.
It was completely dark by then, and there were hardly any people on the road. The two walked side by side, their hands silently clasped together.
Song Lubai didn't hear a word Wei Yang said; she had already come up with another good idea:
"We need to improve the workers' productivity and assign them daily production tasks. We can no longer let them have time to chat like before."
After she finished speaking, Song Lubai fell silent.
Is exploiting workers a form of capitalism?
Passing by a patch of reeds, Wei Yang put his arm around her shoulder and said, "You're too busy with work, let's go home and have a good meal first."
Song Lubai has been coming home a little late lately, so late that Wei Yang comes to pick her up every few days.
Her belly was quite large, and Wei Yang was worried that she might stumble and fall on the road in the dark. As long as she hadn't returned home by nightfall and he was at the regimental headquarters, he would definitely come to pick her up.
In the courtyard, Wei Zhao was sitting in front of the stove roasting sweet potatoes.
There was a bowl of stir-fried cabbage, a bowl of steamed eggs, and a few cornbread buns in the pot, and a few uncooked sweet potatoes in the stove.
The two hens in the yard started laying eggs a while ago, and we can collect four eggs every three days, so we have eggs to eat now.
In other families, eggs are usually saved up and exchanged for money at the supply and marketing cooperative, but in their family, eggs are only meant to be served on the table.
Song Lubai was already hungry, but she was so upset about calculating the accounts today that she didn't care about being hungry at all.
After finishing their meal, the sweet potatoes were almost cooked, and Song Lubai was in the mood to tell the two about the problems she had encountered.
After listening to her, Wei Zhao spoke first, saying, "Is it because the shoemaking class is more profitable that you feel the food workshop earns less? Xiao Song, you're putting too much pressure on yourself. It's good enough if you can earn any money. You're just starting out now, so you can improve gradually."
Wei Zhao had guessed what Song Lubai was thinking.
She is also the deputy head of the office. Yang Xiu'e's shoe-making team is now doing very well. Although she had contributed to the shoe-making team before, she is now in charge of the food workshop!
When the group held a general meeting to summarize the results, she was always dissatisfied that the food workshop she managed did not perform as well as Yang Xiu'e's shoemaking class.
She looked at Wei Yang and asked, "Can we get a discount on the sweet potatoes from the group?"
Wei Yang shook his head: "I'm afraid not. Five cents lower than the market price is already the lowest wholesale price. If you want it any lower, you'll have to use the funds from the group to subsidize your food workshop..."
According to last year's statistics, the yield of sweet potatoes in the village was 1,400 jin per mu. This year's harvest is significantly better than last year's. However, due to soil conditions, the land here cannot compare with the high-yield land in the inland areas that can yield 3,000 to 4,000 jin per mu. This year, it would be good if each mu could reach 1,800 jin.
Sweet potatoes are an important staple food and reserve food for the residents of the regiment. According to the current harvest data of each company, although there is a considerable surplus after distributing them to the residents, it is still not possible to sell them to food workshops at a lower price.
After listening to Wei Yang's explanation, Song Lubai nodded and said, "Then I'll have Team Leader Yu go to another group to buy sweet potatoes."
If the guild refuses to lower the price to sell to them, then other guilds want to make money off them and want to sell to them. The guild can't just stop them from buying, can it?
Wei Yang chuckled and nodded, saying, "Have a small meeting with Yu Lin beforehand. This is no small matter; it needs the approval of the regiment before it can be done. Once you two reach an agreement, then bring it up at the regiment's meeting."
Song Lubai nodded, "I know, I'm not stupid."
After discussing the sweet potatoes, Wei Yang thought for a moment and said, "Let's work on management."
"The more the workers do each day, the higher their income will be. In the same amount of time, producing more sweet potato starch will consume more sweet potatoes, but the monthly income will definitely increase."
This is almost identical to Song Lubai's previous "capitalist" ideas.
Although there aren't many workers in the workshop right now, every step has to be done carefully. Lying in bed, Song Lubai was still thinking about how to improve the workers' efficiency.
Lying flat on her back for too long made her stomach uncomfortable, so as soon as she settled into a side position, Wei Yang gently placed his hand on her abdomen.
Just then, the baby in her belly moved.
Wei Yang was very surprised and placed his large hand on Song Lubai's stomach.
His palms were so hot that they seemed to frighten the children inside.
The baby stopped moving. Wei Yang gently poked the belly and said with a smile, "So shy, it's probably a girl."
The baby in her belly has been very active lately, but was quiet for the first few months. Overall, Song Lubai is quite easy to take care of. Now she enjoys everything she eats and has an amazing appetite.
The two had discussed the issue of having children before. Although Song Lubai trusted him a lot, she was still a little worried that he might not keep his word since she was only a few months away from giving birth.
He once said that the emotional bond between husband and wife should be stronger than that between parents and children, but the longer the child stayed in her womb, the less rationally she could view his previous words.
"If I have a girl, you are not allowed to be rude to her or treat her badly."
Thinking about the potential problems that might arise in the future, Song Lubai sat up, supporting her pregnant belly.
If the baby in her belly is a girl, she doesn't want the child to be treated unfairly at home.
She suddenly became agitated, and Wei Yang comforted her, saying, "I mean it when I say sons and daughters are the same. If you don't believe me, after this one is born, whether it's a boy or a girl, we won't have any more children."
Wei Yang's thinking was simple: for him, more children were not necessarily better. More children meant greater responsibility. Childbirth was not easy for women, and his wife had suffered enough this once.
Song Lubai thought about it and felt that this method was feasible.
During her pregnancy, she sometimes thought a lot. Like right now, to put her mind at ease, she childishly made a pinky promise with him before lying back down.
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