My 1978 Hotel

Chapter 132: Convening a Tea Party for Writers Recommended on the Desk
"I'll get some tools over when the time comes. Uncle Fuguo, can you get some gasoline?"

"Gasoline?"

Han Fuguo pondered for a moment. "I'll give it a try. I'm sure I can get some. Diesel would be easier to get."

"Diesel is fine too."

At worst, we could switch to diesel-powered machines. There was no other way. Hanjiaba had no electricity, so we could only use some gasoline saws. After all, cutting the material was quite labor-intensive. Grinding was also labor-intensive, so using a machine was always faster than manual labor.

After some discussion and a rough plan, Han Fuguo and Han Futian prepared to go back for a meeting. "It's a good time to stop hunting. Let's have them cut down trees early tomorrow morning so we can set up the racks."

"When the time comes, it will be hard for you two."

"What are you talking about?"

Gao Jue and Gao Cheng didn't refuse. The boss had said that the labor costs would be calculated according to the previous calculation, and they could use the money to buy some items to take home as a benefit. This gave them a lot of room for maneuver. Not to mention antiques, they could even make 30,000 or 50,000 yuan by buying some good handicrafts.

As for antiques and curios, the two Gao brothers actually had a plan in mind. They felt that the boss was good to them, but as human beings, they should not take advantage of the situation. They had already agreed with the boss that they brothers would help to identify and purchase the antiques, and he would get a commission at that time.

If they used the private money Li Feng gave them to buy antiques, the antiques they brought back would seem too unrefined, and even cause Li Feng to have a grudge, which would be even more of a loss. The two brothers were thoughtful and knew what they could and could not do.

This money can be used to buy souvenirs, handicrafts, or even some medicinal liquors, pills, etc.

"That's it for now. I'll study it carefully tomorrow and decide what kind of furniture to make."

Li Feng said with a smile. "You two should discuss this carefully tonight. Oh, Uncle Wu, you can help me with some advice. You know a lot."

"Okay, I'll give you some reference."

Not to mention that Wu Zhenhua was really interested. You know, there is not much serious work to do after retirement. One reason is that he stopped teaching a long time ago and retired to an administrative position, so it is not easy to re-employ him.

"Thank you for your hard work, Comrade Wu."

Han Fuguo and Han Futian hurriedly expressed their gratitude, especially when they learned that Wu Zhenhua had once taught at a university. He was a real intellectual, and now that policies were changing, it was unknown when intellectuals would come to the fore again.

Besides, he is a university professor after all, so he has a lot of experience. Apart from anything else, he has lived in the city and lived a fairly wealthy life. I think he understands some of the needs of city people.

"Too polite."

Wu Zhenhua waved his hand, dismissing Han Fuguo and Han Futian. He cleared the table and put away the dishes. Li Feng, Gao Ju, Gao Cheng, Wu Zhenhua, and Li Muchen, who had joined in the fun, returned to their room to discuss the furniture.

"First, we need to find a bright and spacious place to use as a factory."

"That's true."

Li Feng thought about it. "I'll talk to Uncle Fuguo tomorrow. There's actually a place. There's a spacious yard over there by the warehouse."

"Leave the factory matters to me."

"But regarding the furniture design, you two should think about it, Uncle Wu. You understand life these days better than us. What kind of furniture do you think is more suitable?" Li Feng had originally planned to get some new-style furniture, but Wu Zhenhua reminded him that houses are not big nowadays. Many families have four or five people, or even more, living in a room of thirty to fifty square meters. It is not appropriate to put a large wardrobe in such a room.

"Smaller."

Uncle Wu said, "Of course, it depends on the individual. Most ordinary commission-based jobs require small closets. These days, most families wear work clothes, and most children are considered quite good if they have two sets of clothes."

A family of five or six people probably only has a dozen or so sets of clothes at most, and not many shoes. In this case, a wooden box can probably hold most of them. If you build a big wardrobe, other people will have nothing to put their clothes in, and it will also take up space.

You see, my family of five or six lives in a house of thirty to fifty square meters. The space itself is not ample, so it is not realistic to have a large wardrobe, not to mention a combination cabinet that takes up a lot of space, it's a joke.

"Uncle Wu, thank goodness you reminded me, otherwise we would have made a fool of ourselves."

People only think about novelty and modernity, but forget the reality. It is not that people nowadays don’t like big cabinets, but they can’t afford them.

"Then fight small and clever."

Li Feng looked at Gao Ju and Gao Cheng. "If that doesn't work, go back and look for some blueprints online."

"It shouldn't be a big problem."

Gao Jue said, "I've beaten smaller ones before."

"Yeah, not much though."

"Okay, let's design a few first."

Li Feng said, "Let's make a few larger cabinets. Whether they sell or not is a question of whether they can be sold, and then put them on display. I think they will be quite eye-catching."

"That's true."

However, there is a shortage of sponges these days, and artificial leather is even more difficult to obtain. However, a lot of real leather was obtained during this hunting wave. It's a pity that Li Feng doesn't know how to tan the leather, otherwise he could try to make some leather furniture.

Li Feng and the other men were discussing the furniture factory, which actually annoyed Wu Tong and Qin Yue. "Grandma, they're really underestimating us. Why didn't they take us with them? Yueyue and I are designers, and you're a professor, Grandma."

"OK OK."

Wang Yin said with a smile. "Just tell Grandpa and the others later. But making furniture is a physical job nowadays, so you two shouldn't get involved."

"That won't work."

Wu Tong was a little angry. Why did they look down on them? Although they didn't understand furniture design, they had stayed in hotels all over the country and had seen a lot. Besides, painting was one of their hobbies.

At least they could draw some furniture shapes. The two of them were very angry. When Li Feng and others came out, they snorted when they saw them.

"Why is this?"

Li Feng muttered that they had not been asked to do any physical work in the past two days. Usually they just washed the dishes and at most helped to organize the sundries brought over.

"Boss Li, you are too contemptuous. Why don't you call us when you discuss things?"

Wu Tong glanced at Li Muchen. If he can do it, why can't we?

"That's right. We've seen a lot of new furniture styles, and we can draw them. Wouldn't that be great to use as a reference?"

"Oh, really? I didn't notice that. I'm wrong this time."

Li Feng said with a smile. "How about this? Uncle Wu just mentioned that most houses these days are small, so when designing furniture, we need to consider small and compact design. Would you like to help design something?"

"Row."

Wu Tong and Qin Yue looked at each other and nodded. They felt that they were knowledgeable, at least more than people today, and it would be easy for them to design a few new styles of furniture.

"Okay, thank you for the hard work."

After getting away with it, Li Feng thought he had to find something for them to do. "By the way, do you have any ideas for bamboo handicrafts? There's actually a lot of bamboo in the mountains. It would be great if we could come up with something in this area."

"Hey, bamboo handicrafts, Yueyue is very interested in this."

Wu Tong was quite excited when he heard this. "Yueyue likes collecting bamboo handicrafts and even makes some herself."

"Really?"

"What about bamboo weaving?"

"I mainly like bamboo carvings," Qin Yue said. "I can't compare to Boss Li in bamboo weaving."

"Bamboo carving?"

Li Feng sighed. There was no electricity or machines in Hanjiaba, so bamboo carving was a bit difficult, but it was always good to give it a try.

"Let's try it first. Bamboo carving isn't physically demanding. Women and children can do it."

Wu Zhenhua's words made Li Feng think it was worth a try. "Then, you can teach everyone later."

"Okay."

Qin Yue is willing to teach others how to carve some small things, but of course she can't guarantee whether they can learn it, after all, it is her first time as a teacher.

"As for me, I can draw, play the piano, play the violin, and do horse riding..."

Wu Tong fell silent as she spoke. She also realized that what she knew seemed to be of little use, at least not to the current Hanjiaba Production Brigade.

"You can come with me."

Qin Yue said with a smile. "Help me draw the line."

"OK then."

At least she has her own things to do. Good girl, Li Feng thought, maybe she has been assimilated into this era, why does she feel uncomfortable if she is not allowed to do anything.

"Later, when we sell the furniture, if you have time, you can help with the accounting."

Li Feng said with a smile. "After all, there aren't many educated people in the village. We can't just rely on Uncle Tomita."

"This is simple."

Wu Tong has been good at counting money since he was a child.

"Then it's settled. Everyone, wash up and go to bed. We'll probably be busy early tomorrow morning." Li Feng also became more energetic. Not only did he have to deal with the furniture factory, he also had to help prepare the big pot of food tomorrow.

Another option is to write to writers in the county, preferably including regional writers and literature enthusiasts. Many of these people have better off families than ordinary workers. "I'll design a desk for them then. It doesn't have to be too big, after all, even writers don't always have their own rooms."

But as a writer, at least he should have an independent desk, right? Hehe, tomorrow I'll let Gao Jiu and Gao Cheng work overtime to at least build a desk. I was thinking about the desk, but my hands didn't stop cooking.

After cooking for most of the night, the progress bar is pretty good. It has even caught up with 11/20. It has to be said that the skills Li Feng learned before are still useful. Now the progress bar of the big pot dish is already halfway through.

"It's a shame. After frying for seven or eight hours, the taste is only slightly better. It's not even as good as Uncle Spoon's."

If Han Furuo heard this, he would probably chop Li Feng's head with a spoon. He has been doing this for his whole life, and Li Feng has only learned kung fu for one day, but his skills have already caught up with those of his eldest son. How can this be fair?

Li Feng didn't know whether it was fair or not. He felt that after the experience scene was upgraded, the correction function was just average. The slightly better part was the memory enhancement. Seven or eight hours was probably equivalent to the result of seven or eight months of sleepless studying for an average person with slightly better talent.

Unfortunately, this only worked for basic life skills; more challenging skills took significantly longer to learn. "I'll just play with the gun for a bit, then go to sleep." A few days ago, while hunting, Li Feng wasn't entirely satisfied with his accuracy when shooting at moving prey, so he decided to improve it.

After shooting, Li Feng did nothing else and fell asleep. At around six o'clock the next day, Li Feng was woken up early. Han Anmin took Li Feng, brother Gao Ju, and old man Wu Zhenhua to the brigade for a meeting.

"That's too early."

Li Feng was helpless. He hadn't even had breakfast yet and was already in the meeting.

"There's no way. Yesterday, Anda and Uncle Futian told everyone about your idea. Everyone was so scared that they ran to my house early in the morning." Han Anmin actually had some ideas about the job of making furniture.

"Do you think it can really work?"

"I have to give it a try after all. Besides, I can't lose money if I use the wood to make furniture," Li Feng said with a smile. "It's better than selling the wood."

"That's true."

You have to squeeze in and buy a wooden box when you get married, otherwise it will look weird. Han Anmin thought that making furniture might be a good idea. When they arrived at Han Fuguo's house, wow, there were so many people there, Uncle Futian, Uncle Fuqiang, the production team leader, the women's team leader, etc., plus Han Anmin and Han Anbing, the deputy leader of the militia.

With more than ten people, the room, which was not very big to begin with, seemed a bit crowded, especially after Li Feng and his group arrived.

"Everyone sit down."

Han Fuguo asked everyone to sit down. "Comrade Wu, I'm so sorry to disturb your sleep so early in the morning."

"It's out of the way."

Wu Zhenhua hadn't attended a meeting for some time and felt a little nostalgic. He sat down and looked around the so-called meeting room. The adobe walls were painted white, and the slogans and photos were quite in the style of that era.

"Last night, Tomita and I discussed it with everyone."

Han Fuguo said, "We can give it a try, but we'll keep the manpower low for now. Once we find a buyer, we can add more." This was the final decision after everyone discussed it. After all, Li Feng's words were just a promise. If the furniture couldn't be sold, and the wood sales were delayed, Hanjiaba would be in even greater trouble.

"Okay, a dozen or so people will be enough in the early stages."

Li Feng said, "One to transport the wood, and one to help out, preferably someone who knows some carpentry."

Yesterday, Li Feng, Wu Zhenhua, and the others discussed the matter. It's unclear how effective Li Feng's call for writers will be. They still need to open up the market in the early stages, and fortunately, there's still some time before the Chinese New Year. It's a few months away, so they can just take it slow.

Eating a fat man in one bite is something that does not exist in reality. Li Feng understands Han Fuguo and others' thoughts.

"Okay, this number of people won't have much impact."

Han Fuqiang said, "Gasoline? I can think of a way. I have a comrade who works in the fleet. He should have some connections."

"That's great."

Li Feng planned to bring back some small tools: a gasoline saw and a small gasoline drill. It wasn't that he didn't want to get a generator, it was just too big. When he made some money here, he could buy a diesel generator.

Otherwise, just wait for the system to be upgraded so that you can carry more items. For now, you can just make do with it.

After finalizing the preliminary plan, the next step was where to place the factory. The yard next to the warehouse was larger, so Li Feng suggested placing it there.

"The warehouse is always busy, why not put it in the grain storage at the back?"

"Granary?"

"It was built a few years ago, but it's basically unused now. It's used just for storing fodder and other things. It can be used after cleaning."

"That's okay too."

As long as there was a place, Li Feng didn't mind. Next, it was Li Feng's turn to write a letter, but he didn't have time right now. After breakfast, Li Feng was called by Han Fuluo to get busy. "Cook the big pot?" Wu Tong and the others were late coming back from going out yesterday and didn't realize Li Feng was going to cook the big pot.

“Can we eat it?”

"Okay, I'll hand over some food to the brigade later."

"However, how does the big pot dish you cooked taste? Don't make it taste like the one in the cafeteria. It would be better to eat it at home." Wu Tong muttered.

"Why don't we wait until tomorrow so I can prepare it."

Li Feng's cooking skills are just average now, but he plans to work overtime at night to surpass Uncle Spoon and strive for the title of the best regional big pot chef.

(End of this chapter)