With spring planting underway and schools reopening, everyone in the village, adults and children alike, is busy. Even the elderly are helping out at the factory, watching the gate and sweeping the yard. Work points for farming and factory work remain separate; doing two jobs is naturally tiring, but those who persevere reap double the rewards. Xu Zifan stated directly that after the planting season, employee promotions will be determined based on a comprehensive evaluation of everyone's performance in both farming and factory work.
Their factory doesn't have any permanent employees yet. Permanent employees earn twice the work points of ordinary workers, and if they're elected as cadres, they might earn three or four times as much. The villagers were thrilled to hear this, and everyone worked from dawn till dusk, striving to outperform others even if they weren't the best performers. As a result, their village's farm work was exceptionally well done, surpassing other villages in every aspect. Even Yang Yongqing received special praise from Director Liu at a county meeting!
When they finished their planting season, Xu Zifan, Yang Wanyun, and her parents discussed the work records and selected a group of people, setting their wages based on national wage levels. The monthly wage was 25 yuan for ordinary workers, 30 yuan for senior workers who could mentor apprentices, 35 yuan for workshop directors, accountants, and clerks, 40 yuan for leadership clerks, 50 yuan for deputy factory directors, and 60 yuan for factory directors.
The other temporary workers who hadn't been officially hired only received 18 yuan a month. This was the same wage standard as other factories; villagers didn't actually receive much money each year besides the grain rations. Suddenly, they were all stunned to receive a monthly wage, the same wage as the workers in the county whom they had always envied and looked up to. Then came overwhelming joy!
Although two-thirds of them were still temporary workers, being a worker is difficult enough, and they were already a pleasant surprise. Those who were selected for permanent positions did not complain; on the contrary, they were greatly motivated. After Xu Zifan announced the results, they all immediately expressed their determination to work hard and strive to become permanent employees.
Xu Zifan's actions immediately caused a sensation within a radius of a hundred miles. The day after the news spread, Director Liu sent someone to summon him to the commune to report. When he arrived, the other production brigade leaders were all there, and each of them had some objections.
Captain Feng, who had met Xu Zifan a few times, spoke first: "Deputy Factory Director Xu, when these three factories in the county were selecting workers, they didn't differentiate between which brigade the workers came from. How come the food factory only selected people from your brigade? They didn't select a single person from outside? Isn't that a bit inappropriate?"
Another team leader said, "Deputy Factory Director Xu, worker positions have always been highly coveted. Everyone is scrambling to become a worker. Many educated people in the county haven't become workers, but they've all been selected as farmers to work the land. It's really not appropriate."
Before Director Liu could speak, Xu Zifan interjected, "When our factory first started, we truly had nothing. None of you team leaders were there back then, so you don't know, but the place where we first set up the factory was the most dilapidated courtyard in our brigade. At that time, the factory had nothing—no wages, no worker quotas, no benefits, absolutely nothing. It was the villagers in our brigade who helped me get the factory up and running. They worked tirelessly and selflessly, united as one. Even when I couldn't pay them wages and could only compensate them with defective products, they never complained. That's a debt of gratitude, don't you team leaders agree?"
The meeting room fell silent. The team leaders exchanged glances, speechless. When the factory was first proposed, they all thought Xu Zifan was being delusional, even hoping he'd fail and drag Yang Yongqing down with him. Of course, no one offered support, not even Director Liu. What right did they have to criticize now?
Xu Zifan sighed and continued, "I'm easygoing in many ways, but I'm especially grateful. The factory was set up by the villagers together, and I'll never forget them. Besides, they've been working in the factory for half a year now, so they know the factory's operations best, they have the skills, and they're people I trust. Moreover, the factory is right in our brigade, so it's convenient for the villagers to commute. If it were someone from another place, the factory's operation would be disrupted when it's windy or rainy."
Xu Zifan's mind raced as he spoke, and an idea struck him. He glanced at Director Liu and sighed, "Director Liu, I have no choice. Other factories don't care about backgrounds when hiring because they provide employee dormitories. Workers have a place to live on the factory floor, which is convenient. But our food factory is still in its initial stages, starting from scratch. We can barely keep it running with our funds, so we simply can't afford to build employee dormitories. We can only recruit people from the nearby production brigade. Director Liu, and all the brigade leaders, I promise that once we have employee dormitories, I will definitely hope that talented people from all walks of life will join our food factory. After all, only with more talented people can our factory develop better and better, don't you think?"
What could anyone say? Xu Zifan had already spoken, so all they could do was agree. Some of the smarter ones understood the unspoken meaning behind Xu Zifan's words: it was such a simple matter; as long as the commune allocated funds to build dormitories, wouldn't the food factory be able to hire other employees? Director Liu, of course, also understood. He glared at Xu Zifan with annoyance, but still brought up the matter of building dormitories to discuss with everyone.
The state allocates funds to the commune, and the commune allocates funds to its subordinate units, all within annual limits. Building dormitories naturally reduces other resources, but after discussion, everyone still felt the dormitories should be built. After all, it's a factory, and it's rapidly expanding; who wouldn't want to secure an opportunity for their family members with these extra worker positions? They've lived here for generations, with countless relatives; if a few succeed, wouldn't the whole family prosper?
President Liu, however, believed the food factory had enormous potential and could very well surpass the other three factories to become the most famous factory in their commune. Therefore, resources should naturally be allocated to the food factory.
Yes, this meeting, which was originally intended to criticize Xu Zifan, turned into a meeting to benefit Xu Zifan.
After leaving, Yang Yongqing smiled at Xu Zifan and said, "Good lad! You've made quite a bit of money again. How long have you been thinking about this? I've never heard you mention it before."
Xu Zifan laughed and said, "I hadn't thought of it before, but I thought of it while we were talking just now. I felt the timing was right, so I brought it up."
Yang Yongqing was taken aback. Looking at Xu Zifan's unchanging smile, he suddenly realized that his son-in-law was even more cunning than an old fox. Fortunately, his son-in-law had no bad intentions and was good to their family; otherwise, they would have been devoured without a trace.
Back in the village, Yang Yongqing chose a piece of wasteland not far from the food factory and designated it as the factory's dormitory. Xu Zifan then decided to build a canteen, toilets, and shower rooms between the dormitory and the factory. Once built, they planned to put up a high wall to enclose all of these facilities with the factory, making it look large and impressive, no less impressive than any large factory.
This would naturally cost significantly more than just building dormitories. Xu Zifan prepared a budget and handed it to President Liu. President Liu had experienced Xu Zifan's ability to get things several times before, so this time he didn't even haggle and approved the budget directly. However, he made it clear that once the funds were allocated, no additional payments could be made. Xu Zifan smiled and said it was no problem.
He already has some money left over, and even if there's anything else he hasn't considered, it should be enough.
It wasn't a holiday season, so the factory wasn't too busy, and farming was over. Xu Zifan told all the men in the village who wanted to build houses to do so, while those who didn't want to continue working as temporary workers at the factory. When there weren't enough people to build houses, he asked the villagers to find their relatives and friends.
In those days, everyone was poor, living their own lives and afraid of relatives coming to their door to beg for money. Suddenly, their Dongfanghong brigade could help their relatives and friends, and the villagers were overjoyed. Before, a small number of them had considered asking their siblings from their maternal families to come and work, but since it was a collective work-point system, they couldn't easily ask people from other brigades. Now, they could earn wages themselves and also help their relatives or friends find work, making them especially proud. Their backs were straight, and they had gained a lot more confidence.
Those who were chosen were grateful and longed to stay even more. Young men in the village became highly sought after, finding it easy to find partners. Some girls' boyfriends were even willing to settle down there. Suddenly, there were many more weddings and celebrations, and the population increased significantly.
The lively scene in the village made Su Qing feel a little regretful. If she hadn't offended Xu Zifan and Yang Wanyun, she could be working at the food factory right now. With her skills, she could easily be a workshop foreman or at least a clerk, earning 35 yuan a month with ease. Then she could go to the black market whenever she wanted, or not if she didn't want to, since she had a guaranteed 35 yuan. But she had thoroughly offended Xu Zifan and his wife, so there was no way she could go.
Fortunately, she bought a bicycle, so she no longer had to walk back and forth so tiringly. Moreover, she could earn about 100 yuan a month on the black market, more than the factory manager's salary, so even though she was exhausted, it was some consolation. Now she just hoped Wu Zhigang would take her to join him in the army, and she also hoped that the reform and opening up would arrive soon, so she could freely do whatever she wanted. As for the food factory in the village, she thought it would close down in a few years, and the workers would naturally be laid off, so there was nothing to envy.
The food factory's employee dormitories are quite nice, divided into three types: six-person dormitories, single-person small rooms, and one-bedroom dormitories for families. None of them are very big, similar to other factories. The better two-bedroom dormitories for leaders haven't been built yet, because the factory's leaders at that level, namely Xu Zifan and Yang Yongqing, don't currently have that need.
Because of the need to hire other workers for building dormitories, all the workers in the factory became even more diligent, and no one wanted to be laid off. Xu Zifan bought a very thick notebook to record the performance of everyone in the village. Everyone has something they are good at; just because someone isn't suited to be a worker doesn't mean they aren't suited to do something else.
He reassigned some people to raise pigs, chickens, ducks, geese, fish, and hunt, and they adapted quickly and did very well. For now, they were paid work points, but Xu Zifan's plan was to eventually pay them wages like in a factory. Everyone worked hard to learn professional skills, hoping to seize the opportunity to become permanent employees when it came time. Everything in the village was on track, forming a microcosm of the county town.