Chapter 247
The changes in the Qianjin Brigade are truly visible to the naked eye. Not only has the greenhouse been expanded again, but the weaving factory has also been expanded this year, with an additional processing workshop and 25 temporary workers hired.
The houses in the village are no longer all adobe houses. Many families have built new houses, and some have built new houses on approved foundations. The overall appearance is different.
When he came back this time, Zhang Baosheng actually took the initiative to talk to her about the household contract responsibility system.
Zhou Jiani was not surprised. After such a long period of subtle preparation, the old man finally became more lively.
The timing is just right, neither too early nor too late, and he is the first to come forward.
Zhang Baosheng stood at the edge of the field, looking at the cornfield before him, puffing on his pipe. He said, "Before, quite a few people were worried that this wouldn't work, but after it was brought up, it's become a persistent concern, and everyone's been paying close attention. Take that village you mentioned last time. They've been quite successful, and we haven't seen any government action against them. Everyone's worried again."
Now it wasn't Zhang Baosheng who mobilized the others. Instead, the younger team leaders held a private meeting to discuss the feasibility of the idea. Then they came to Zhang Baosheng and, with a desperate determination, said, "Why don't we give it a try?"
"The brave will die of overeating, and the timid will die of starvation. Captain, let's fight it out."
"I remember there's a saying, 'The law doesn't hold everyone responsible.' We'll all bear the responsibility for this. If there's a policy that wants to punish us, then we'll all be punished."
"No matter how you think about it, this idea is beneficial to the people. It's all for the people to fill their stomachs. Captain, we are willing to give it our all."
Everyone was talking at once, and the mood was very excited.
Zhang Baosheng considered it for a few days and called a meeting of village cadres again. He asked the team leaders to secretly find the families in their own teams, select a representative from each family, and hold another meeting to discuss the issue.
The moment this proposal was made, the place became abuzz with excitement. One man's eyes were red with excitement. He slapped his thigh and shouted, "If this were my own land, I would risk my life to serve it!"
After saying this, I realized that this was inappropriate. So, we shouldn't put in any effort in the collective relationship, right? I smiled awkwardly and said nothing.
The other members who came to the meeting burst into laughter, but this man really spoke his true feelings.
If you can really get some land, and grow as much grain as you want, except for the public grain that needs to be handed in, all the rest will be yours. You will have to serve them at the risk of your life.
Of course, Zhang Baosheng wouldn't care about such words. He could understand that if it was something to put into one's own pocket, who wouldn't try their best to grab it?
That meeting had a profound impact on Zhang Baosheng. Some people were worried, but although they were worried, they were also determined to go all out.
And there was no one who really opposed it.
Zhang Baosheng told those in the meeting to keep it secret for the time being, and that even if it was really going to be implemented, it must be kept secret. He also told his daughter-in-law at home not to mention it even to her parents' side, because whoever leaked it and caused problems in the future would be a traitor to the whole village.
Everyone knew that this was a serious matter, so they made repeated promises.
Since then, Zhang Baosheng decided to contract the land to households as soon as the autumn harvest was over, but before that, he had to make preparations, such as how to distribute grain seeds, how to calculate the public grain that the village had to pay next year, how to divide the fertilizers purchased collectively by the village every year, etc.
After the property is distributed to households, work points will no longer be counted, and people will be responsible for their own profits and losses. This approach may cause consequences...all of these must be taken into consideration.
Zhou Jiani knew that Zhang Baosheng was under a lot of pressure and comforted him, "Captain, when the grain harvest is abundant next year, you will understand the importance of this decision."
Zhang Baosheng tapped the bowl of his pipe and said sincerely, "Jiani, you are really the lucky star of our Qianjin Brigade."
No matter what, it’s all for the good of the village.
Zhou Jiani waved her hands embarrassedly: "Don't say that, you are the one who bears the pressure and takes the responsibility, I just talk."
Zhang Baosheng doesn't think so. Zhou Jiani has no land in the village, and she doesn't expect the villagers, young and old, to provide her with food, but every idea she comes up with is for the betterment of the villagers.
This time the distribution of property to households was more for the purpose of filling everyone's stomachs. It enriched the granaries of each household, but it could not fill Zhou Jiani's pocket.
He has been the captain for many years, and it is in these few years that he has done his best. He feels proud of the pressure and responsibility he has to bear.
Zhou Jiani asked in detail about the village’s current designated procedures.
The land will be divided according to the number of people. The good land and the inferior land will be divided by drawing lots twice to ensure that each family has one piece of good land and one piece of inferior land, which is as fair as possible.
But other projects in the village will still be handled by their respective responsibilities, and work points will still be calculated.
At this time, people like Liu Yan and those working in the factory were very lucky. They got land from their families and could also earn extra wages...
Since the village had already decided to distribute the property to each household, Zhou Jiani told Zhang Baosheng a few things to pay attention to based on her experience in her previous life, and they discussed the matter for a long time.
In her previous life, she had personally experienced the distribution of property to households, but that was a few years later.
Zhang Baosheng said, "Plan ahead and start dividing the land after the autumn harvest. I'll have Liu Tong write to you and tell you everything after the division."
Zhou Jiani must have been studying at school at that time.
"The folks must be very happy."
Zhang Baosheng could almost imagine the grand occasion and was a little excited.
Zhou Jiani then asked about the situation of the college entrance examination in the village this year.
Zhang Baosheng's brows relaxed, and he raised his hand to make a 'seven' gesture, saying, "This year, our village has a total of seven people passing the exam, including local members and educated youth..."
Speaking of the college entrance examination, Zhang Baosheng mentioned Liu Ailing. He was also glad that he had taken that girl away, otherwise the reputation of the entire village would have been ruined by her.
Finally, he said, "I'm staying at Donghe Commune to sweep the streets."
Zhou Jiani was surprised: "Isn't her household registration in Donghe Commune?"
Zhang Baosheng snorted coldly, "She's brought shame upon Donghe Commune. How can I vent my anger if I don't leave her there to be punished?"
The leadership of Donghe Commune hated Liu Ailing and the Xin family.
The Xin family also forced Xin Yougang to break up with Liu Ailing, saying that this girl was unlucky for their entire family and if it weren't for her bad idea, the family wouldn't be in this situation.
I don’t know how the victim Qiu Ailing performed in the college entrance examination this year.
Zhou Jiani stayed in the village for two days, ordered a batch of goods from here, and helped optimize the styles that had been made before.
For example, the style of the storage stool can be slightly adjusted in appearance, and two built-in snap handles can be added to facilitate moving.
The multi-layer pull-out bedside table is changed to a two-layer pull-out at the bottom, with the top layer being open, and another one with a slanted top is added.
New products include baby baskets and rocking and fixed cribs. Cribs require woodworking techniques and are a little more complicated.
Zhang Laosi and his friends liked it very much and immediately took people to start researching it.
Zhou Jiani reminded Zhang Laosi and the others that they were old after all, and it was not good for their cervical spine to work with their heads down. They should not stand up immediately, but sit up straight for a while, take it easy, and then stand up slowly.
Also take breaks...
Zhang Laosi and the others listened happily and felt very happy.
There was nothing to do in the village, so Zhou Jiani called the county, asked about Professor Fu's location, packed up her things, and went there to follow Professor Fu for a few days.
She definitely can't keep an eye on it all this summer, as there's still a lot going on in the capital.
I stayed here for more than half a month in total, went back to Qi Yang for two days, and then hurried back to the capital.
Bai Haoyang and Xiao Min have already arrived. Xiao Min finds this handicraft interesting and follows Yu Wanxia in stringing beads every day.
The house was lively and Jiang Xinfeng was very happy.
The sample of the backpack that Zhou Jiani left for them before she left has been made. Zhou Jiani checked the workmanship and was very satisfied.
Yu Wanxia had made a backpack similar to Zhou Jiani's before. In addition to that model, there were two different samples this time. She liked them, but she didn't know what Zhou Jiani was going to use them for, so she didn't rush to ask Aunt Zhang and others to help. Now that she saw Zhou Jiani coming back, she asked if she could make one each of the two new bags herself!
Xiao Min also watched eagerly.
Lu Minjuan also likes it, she just wants the simplest one.
Zhou Jiani checked the fabric size and approximate hand-made time, and lamented that pure manual work is really inefficient.
Check the cost, quote a price, and let them do it if they are willing to do it.
Bai Haoyang asked, "Sister-in-law, are you planning to consign this bag as well?"
Zhou Jiani shook her head. "It's not that easy. If we really want to make bags long-term, we won't be able to get scraps of cloth or anything like that. We'll have to collect fabric coupons from consignment stores. But we're just an individual supplier, not a business-to-business one. It might be difficult to negotiate with department stores or supply and marketing cooperatives."
Bai Haoyang scratched his head: "Then why don't we do this deal first?"
Zhou Jiani thought for a moment and said, "Let's go to the garment factory."
She took out two of the bags, one of which was the one she had been carrying for several years and a new one.
The two rode their bikes to the garment factory.
On the way, I discussed with Bai Haoyang: "If the garment factory takes a fancy to our products and is willing to use our drawings to produce this bag, then we can let them share some of the work with us. They provide the materials, and we just process them. They pay the processing fee... The profit from this is definitely not as much as we can make by doing it ourselves, but we lack the cloth source for such large quantities, and we also lack the invoices. Cooperating with them can not only solve this problem, but it is also safer."
Theirs is a small workshop, and the house is so bustling all day long that it is inevitable that it will arouse the suspicion of the neighbors, who will cause trouble for her. Although it can be solved, it still makes her feel uncomfortable.
If you can reach a cooperation agreement with a garment factory, you will be linked to a state-owned enterprise, which is not much different from taking work from a matchbox factory, and becomes relatively reasonable and legal.
It's like having an extra layer of protection, and they can do more under this layer of protection.
It is very cost-effective to use two drawings in exchange for a protective cover.
Bai Haoyang immediately understood the reason: "Don't we need Brother Ze Ming's connections this time?"
Zhou Jiani knew that the Qiu family had connections in the garment factory, but she felt that buying cloth scraps was unnecessary before. Bai Haoyang could have negotiated it with his eloquence. It was not worth it to use up a favor.
Zhou Jiani: "Let's talk among ourselves first."
They often bought scraps of cloth from this place, and Bai Haoyang was also very active, so he was familiar with the guard. When he saw the two of them coming, he greeted them with a smile, "Are you here to buy some cloth again?"
Zhou Jiani smiled and handed over a bottle of soda she had bought on the way. She said, "Uncle, this time we're not just buying scraps of cloth. I also want to ask you, if we want to discuss production cooperation with the factory, who should we contact to be in charge?"
Go to the factory manager? Of course she knew she could go to the factory manager, but the departments were clearly divided into different levels. If she had to skip over them and go directly to the senior leader, even if the senior leader approved it and arranged it, the people in charge of the procedure would not be very happy.
The old man held onto his iced soda, feeling a bit cool in the scorching summer heat. He felt relieved. When he heard it was something related to production, he hurriedly said, "Looking for Section Chief Nie from the Production Department? Just walk straight in... See that two-story building? Turn right there, in the row of houses on the right, up to the second floor. It's written on the office door, so you'll find it by looking for it... You're lucky today; Section Chief Nie happens to be home."
"Thank you, sir."
The two registered and went in.
As they walked towards the office building, Bai Haoyang whispered, "If that doesn't work, let's look for Aunt Ge."
This refers to Qiu Zeming's great aunt's sister-in-law, who is also Qiu's connection to the garment factory. The batch of material Qiu Zeming previously obtained for the Bin County Garment Factory was through the connection of Aunt Ge.
Zhou Jiani disagreed: "If it doesn't work, it means the factory really doesn't have the production needs in this area, or they feel that the products we recommend to them are not suitable. In this case, using personal connections will only make Aunt Ge's life difficult. If it doesn't work, we can think of other ways, such as looking for nearby clothing factories..."
Although it was still half a year before the 1980s, supplies were still in short supply. The clothing factories only had insufficient products to sell, but there was no shortage of product production.
At this time, many state-owned enterprises do not care about innovation at all. As for bags, you can still look confident walking on the street with an army green canvas bag slung across your body.
Many rural children still use cloth bags to carry their school books, which are sewn at home. Few of them are made with a whole piece of cloth, and most are made by piecing together scraps of cloth.
Being able to carry a military green canvas bag is the dream of many young people and children.
So it doesn’t matter whether the backpack is innovative or not.
Both of them were a little nervous and went up to the second floor with trepidation and found Chief Nie's office.
But there seemed to be someone inside, and there was faint sound of arguing.
The two looked at each other, both a little discouraged.
It seems like it came at the wrong time.
But since I'm already here, it would be inappropriate not to come in and say hello, so I just waited at the door.
Zhou Jiani overheard the faint sound of voices from inside. They were mostly discussing the distribution of production tasks, with people mentioning things like "workshop one," "workshop three," "skirts," and "shirts."
After standing at the door for about twenty minutes, it finally opened and three middle-aged men came out, all with grim expressions. The one behind glanced at Zhou Jiani and Bai Haoyang, but didn't ask any questions. He quickly caught up with the two in front, shouting, "Lao Yang, Lao Song, listen to me..."
Zhou Jiani and Bai Haoyang were slightly depressed, then quietly encouraged themselves, put on a smile, and knocked on the door.
"Enter!"
The two men pushed the door open and walked in, greeting with a smile: "Hello, Chief Nie, sorry to bother you."
Section Chief Nie was in his early forties. His overly distinct nasolabial folds and vertical lines between his eyebrows made him look somewhat serious and intimidating without even being angry.
Hearing the noise, he turned around and saw two unfamiliar young men. He asked in surprise, "Who are you...?"
Zhou Jiani quickly introduced herself and briefly explained her purpose. Finally, she smiled modestly, "Don't worry if Section Chief Nie laughs at me. I've been thinking about this a lot, so I tried making two backpacks myself. I think the designs are pretty good and they're convenient for carrying things. My friends also said they look great, so I got a little cocky. So, I wanted to ask a professional like you for your opinion and some advice. I wonder if there's a market for these backpacks if they go into production."
As Zhou Jiani spoke, she placed the sample bags she brought on the table, along with the design drawings of the two bags.
Of course, the design drawing is not a complete drawing, it only shows the final product, and the detailed dimensions are not indicated.
Section Chief Nie's eyes fell on the backpack and his brows raised slightly.
What do you think of these two bags? Of course they are very good.
Even though he is a grown man, he thinks these two bags are very nice.
Can it be put into production? This little girl must be joking. Every year, they produce clothes, backpacks, and handbags according to the tasks assigned by the higher-ups, and the output volume is determined by the higher-ups.
Even if the factory has any ideas, it must first hold a meeting and then report to the superiors, and production can only begin after the superiors agree.
"Little girl..." Section Chief Nie said with a smile. Just as he was about to say a few words to send the person away, his eyes fell on the design drawings and his eyes suddenly lit up.
"Is this the blueprint you drew?" Section Chief Nie picked it up, looked at it for a few seconds, then looked up and asked.
Zhou Jiani smiled and said, "I drew this drawing myself."
Bai Haoyang took over the conversation from the side, because they were going to talk about Zhou Jiani's achievements next, and he couldn't let his sister-in-law brag at this time, so he had to step forward.
"Chief Nie, you may not know that Comrade Zhou and I were educated youth in the Qianjin Brigade of Xihe Commune in Bin County. Just six months after arriving in the countryside, Comrade Zhou led the villagers in weaving. All the baskets, baskets, and storage stools were designed by Comrade Zhou. We even exported these small woven products abroad. Now, at the Canton Fair twice a year, our Bin County woven products always achieve impressive results."
"After the county built the factory, Comrade Zhou came to the capital to attend university. During the summer vacation, he was invited back by the factory to teach the design department and teach them how to draw..."
Section Chief Nie sighed, "Ouch!", stood up, and solemnly shook hands with Zhou Jiani and Bai Haoyang. He said with a hearty laugh, "Bin County's weaving products are nationally renowned, you know. It turns out Comrade Zhou led the team in this endeavor. Young and promising people, young and promising people! This is a great achievement."
Zhou Jiani sometimes needs to rely on the glory of her past achievements, but when she is really praised, she feels a little embarrassed and quickly laughs and says, "I don't deserve it, it's mainly because the local craftsmen have good skills."
Section Chief Nie originally thought that the young couple coming to talk to him about production was just a young person's fantasy and didn't take it too seriously, but now he is taking it a little seriously.
He even smiled warmly and asked, "Are you studying in the capital? Which school?"
Bai Haoyang hurriedly said: "Comrade Zhou is at Hua University, and I am at the Normal University."
Zhou Jiani's school is a real plus.
Sure enough, Chief Nie saw the admiration in his eyes and said with a smile, "You are indeed a promising young man. I was right to praise you just now."
"You're so kind!"
I had a deep impression, a good one at that, and the subsequent conversation was relatively easy.
Although Section Chief Nie would not deal with it casually, he did not agree immediately. Instead, he carefully analyzed the factory's production methods for them.
Zhou Jiani also heard the implicit refusal. She smiled calmly and asked, "Chief Nie, has your factory ever developed its own products?"
"Yes!" Section Chief Nie nodded. Their factory had designed its own clothes, some of which sold well and some did not. Last year, a dress and a jacket with a dangling lining sold very well.
At that time, the factory's R&D department made the version, reported the application to the superiors, and produced and put it on the market after approval.
Section Chief Nie paused at this thought and said, "Comrade Zhou, do you want to treat these two bags as our own products?"
Zhou Jiani smiled and said, "I wonder if it's possible?"
Section Chief Nie had just glanced at the bag's appearance without looking at it carefully. Now he took a deep breath, took the bag and looked at it carefully inside and out. The more he looked, the more excited he became.
He even thought of his youngest son who was in junior high school. How energetic and spirited would he be to see such a young boy carrying such a backpack on his shoulders and riding a bicycle?
"The package is good, but Comrade Zhou... what is your request? Sell the design drawings to the factory?" Chief Nie had an idea in his mind.
These two bags are really good. It would be great if I could buy the ready-made samples and drawings. I think the chances of getting approved when I submit them are very high.
Zhou Jiani smiled and said, "I'll authorize your factory for free. However, if your application is approved and you're ready to start production, I hope you can give me some small jobs producing backpacks. We won't supply them externally, but rather deliver them to your factory, and you'll be responsible for all the arrangements."
Director Nie laughed.
He raised his hand and nodded kindly, saying, "You young man..."
Know how to give up and know how to find support.
How could Section Chief Nie not understand? We're promoting reform and opening up now, so there are more and more small vendors on the streets. But the policies aren't particularly clear these days, so if you catch them, you can still be charged with speculation.
This girl probably wanted to earn some pocket money, but didn't want to get into trouble and affect her bright future, so she came up with this method.
But I have to say that this method is really effective, but not everyone can use it.
If you don’t have any real skills, which company will pay attention to you?
Section Chief Nie was also straightforward. He said, "How about this? I'll report to the leadership this afternoon. If they agree, we'll have a meeting to discuss it. You two can come back tomorrow morning and I'll give you an answer."
This shows hope, and Zhou Jiani has full confidence in these two bags. She stood up with a smile and shook hands with Section Chief Nie: "I hope our cooperation will be successful!"
Section Chief Nie laughed heartily and said, "Young people are always optimistic. Okay, then I hope our cooperation will be successful."
The two did not leave empty-handed. They went to the warehouse to pick up scraps as if they were familiar with the place. They bought two large bags of cheap scraps of cloth that did not require a ticket. They each took one bag and took them back home.
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