As they were talking, President Liu came over, looked at them and smiled, "So lively? What are you talking about?"
Yang Yongqing and the two team leaders immediately stood up straight. One of the team leaders spoke first: "Good morning, Director Liu! Our team has finished the harvest and has had a bumper harvest this year. I've come to tell you the good news! I just happened to run into Team Leader Yang and Team Leader Feng, and Team Leader Yang's son-in-law is also here, so we chatted for a bit."
Not to be outdone, Captain Feng smiled and said, "Chief Liu, our brigade also had a bumper harvest. We exceeded our targets this year, and our results are outstanding. I must give you a proper report." After he finished speaking, he glanced at Yang Yongqing and said with a smile, "Captain Yang, how was your brigade's harvest? It must have been a great success too, right?"
Yang Yongqing guessed that they were exaggerating to curry favor with Director Liu, but the village's harvest was limited. Wouldn't putting on a show of wealth only lead to the villagers going hungry? He hesitated for a moment, but decided to tell the truth, "Director Liu, our brigade's harvest is about the same as last year's."
President Liu frowned upon hearing this and waved his hand, saying, "Come in and talk, is this your son-in-law? What is he carrying? Why are you bringing so many bags and packages? What will people think if they see this?"
Yang Yongqing hurriedly said, "President Liu, this is a way for my son-in-law to make food. I'm just wondering if it can be a way out."
The group followed them into the office, and Captain Feng said with a smile, "Captain Yang, I think you should take the things back. Don't take up Director Liu's office time. We're discussing important matters concerning the commune's development, not just snacks. You can go ask at the state-run restaurant later; maybe their head chef will be interested."
Another captain laughed and said, "The chefs at the state-run restaurant have high standards; they don't sell snacks. It's good that the young man has ideas, but he's being too presumptuous. Take it back for your wife to eat."
When President Liu heard that it was just a snack, he lost interest. It wasn't worth much. He glanced at Xu Zifan and smiled gently, "You're one of the educated youth who came down this year, right? You're ambitious, that's good. Don't be discouraged if you don't succeed this time, keep trying in the future."
Xu Zifan chimed in at the opportune moment, "Thank you for your encouragement, Director Liu. This isn't just a random idea; it's based on what I've seen and heard in Beijing, where I grew up. Our brigade's harvest hasn't increased much, and my dad is so worried about it that he can't sleep at night. He feels like he's dragging the commune down and is incredibly guilty. As his son-in-law, I couldn't bear to see him suffer, so I wanted to come up with a solution. Otherwise, if our brigade's harvest is mediocre year after year, the commune will lose face, and we'll look like criminals!"
Yang Yongqing watched him intently from the side, worried and unable to sleep? Guilt? When did this happen? How come he didn't know?
Director Liu listened with a sense of relief. "It's good that you understand my difficulties. I'm doing this for the whole commune, but what the higher-ups want is grain. Snacks and treats won't do. You still have to find a way to mobilize the masses. If each person gets a smaller share, there won't be much work in the winter. It's okay to stay home and eat less. Just make sure you deliver the grain as much as the other brigades do."
Yang Yongqing became anxious upon hearing this. He was about to say something when he saw Xu Zifan give him a wink, so he fell silent for the time being, though his heart was churning violently.
Xu Zifan smiled and placed the things he had brought on the coffee table next to him. He said with a smile, "Director Liu, as an educated youth, I was sent to our commune to study hard and serve the country. I've been here for several months and haven't achieved much, which makes me feel ashamed. I originally thought of writing a self-criticism, but I felt that something tangible would be more effective, so I came up with this idea. Director Liu, why don't you listen to what I have to say? I'm confident that as long as you give the order, I can make our brigade's products famous throughout the country."
President Liu was already impatient, but when he heard him say "nationally famous," he became interested and asked curiously, "Oh? What is so amazing that the whole country knows about it? Tell me about it."
The other two brigade leaders already knew what he had taken, and they stepped aside, glancing at Yang Yongqing with schadenfreude. There was competition among the brigade leaders; doing well might lead to a promotion to an official position in the commune, so they were naturally happy to see Yang Yongqing produce such useless things.
Xu Zifan opened everything he had brought, with the canned fish having the strongest aroma. Everyone gathered around the coffee table to examine it closely. Xu Zifan then introduced each item to them, explaining its convenience and benefits. He emphasized that these items were inexpensive and made efficient use of local resources, and that if done well, they could be unique in the entire country. He even let them try some.
Canned fish and wild fruit preserves were indeed unique and tasted great, as were the dried crabapples, which were very chewy. Xu Zifan brewed hawthorn water for them all. When there was no tea, drinking hawthorn water was better than plain water and cheaper than sugar water, which was quite good.
But President Liu shook his head. "Right now, everyone in the country is trying to fill their stomachs. The demand for this kind of product is too small, and it's basically impossible to sell it outside the region. Plus, we have to consider the manpower and resources involved, which are all costs. If we really try to make it happen, we might not only fail to become famous nationwide, but we might also become a laughing stock."
Xu Zifan smiled and said, "President Liu is right. I was short-sighted. After all, President Liu is more experienced and saw the key to the problem immediately. It is a great honor for me to have the opportunity to learn from President Liu today."
President Liu laughed, patted him on the shoulder, and said, "Young man, you are very smart and quick-witted. Take the opportunity to go out with your father-in-law more often and broaden your horizons. You will still have many opportunities to serve the country in the future."
Xu Zifan nodded and said, "Director Liu, there are three factories in our county. I heard that they all have a hard time distributing welfare or grain to their workers every year. Look at my canned goods, they're made with good things like oil and sugar, they taste great, they're quite precious. If we gave them to the workers as welfare..."
"Isn't that quite respectable? If we could exchange some goods with the factory, the people in our village could have a happy New Year. Everyone would be happy to give up a bit of grain that way. I think my solution is a win-win situation. What do you think?"
Before Director Liu could figure it out, he continued, "Also, the residents in the county don't farm. They all receive grain, coal, oil, and the like based on their household registration. I heard that some families take it home but are reluctant to use it, and it all ends up being wasted. Last time I came to the county town, I saw an old lady crying because she couldn't bear to eat the eggs at home; they've all gone rotten. I think if our brigade processed our food and traded it with them, our villagers would benefit. They could also store the processed food for a while longer, reducing waste. What do you think?"
"Chief Liu, by doing this, we're mobilizing all the resources in the county and the brigade, circulating them around so that useful things go to those who need them, without wasting a single resource. This will not only improve the lives of the residents, but also increase our total output value. If we do well, we can even teach other communes, or even communes all over the country. Don't you think we'll be famous throughout the country then? Maybe even the leaders will praise you! Even if we fail, at worst, it'll just be that the villagers in our brigade have worked for nothing, which can be considered a punishment for not increasing the harvest. What do you think?"
President Liu was a little confused by what he said, but seeing Xu Zifan looking at him with such admiration and trust, waiting for his guidance, he put his hands behind his back in a mysterious way, nodded and said, "Hmm, you're right."
Xu Zifan glanced at the two team leaders beside him and said, "Actually, this is just a small idea of mine. I suddenly remembered something else, which is my dad's prestige in the brigade. I'm still too young and haven't thought things through. If this matter isn't handled well and everyone works for nothing, won't they blame my dad? It wouldn't be good if it had any negative impact on my dad. Maybe, maybe..."
"What impact? I think what you said is quite good!" Captain Feng interrupted him, his eyes shining. "Your dad has a lot of prestige, how could he not handle such a small matter? Director Liu, I think this young man's idea is good and worth a try. If it really works, our commune will have another thing to be proud of in the future."
Another team leader laughed and said, "Director Liu, the young people's ideas are a bit trendy, but they have their merits. The country assigned them here so that we could train them, right? I think Xu, the educated youth, is very ambitious. Shouldn't we support him? If Xu succeeds, it will be a great honor for our commune to have trained such an outstanding educated youth. Besides, there's not much work to do in the team right now. Everyone's just idling around anyway, so let's give it a try. Even if we fail, it won't matter."
Failure wouldn't affect them much, but Yang Yongqing would likely lose popular support and might even cause trouble. If Yang Yongqing stepped down, whoever took over would be a newcomer who absolutely couldn't compete with them. Besides, they'd seen that Xu Zifan was quick-witted; if they refused him this time, he might come up with a better idea next time and actually help Yang Yongqing gain merit. It was better to let them waste their money on this meager food.
Do you think it's so easy to exchange things with the three major factories in the county? In the end, all that trouble will be for nothing, and the Dongfanghong Brigade of Xihe Village will only become a laughing stock.
Unlike them, Director Liu wasn't so narrow-minded. After all, he was a director, handling a lot of affairs every day. He already felt that Xu Zifan's words made some sense. If they utilized all the resources in the county, wouldn't that be equivalent to pooling and redistributing them? This could also be considered responding to the national call. And if they could extract resources from the mountains and rivers to make them their local produce, it would indeed be more abundant than just producing grain!
Furthermore, just like the two team leaders, he figured failure wouldn't affect him much. The Dongfanghong Brigade felt guilty about their mediocre harvest and voluntarily tried to increase production. Whatever the increase was, success would be his achievement, failure would mean the entire brigade had worked for nothing. It wouldn't affect him or harm the commune's interests. It was like he was getting something for nothing, so why not?
Seeing the possibility of success, Commune Leader Liu's mind started to work. He was eager to achieve something to compete with the other commune leaders, and since he had no other options, trying Xu Zifan's approach wouldn't be a bad idea.
So Director Liu pretended to be troubled and thought about it for a while, then shook his head and said, "I need to think about this some more. You guys report on the harvest situation of each team first, and we'll talk about this later."