My 1978 Hotel

Li Feng didn't have much time to worry about what Wu Tong and the others would buy after exchanging their money, as he was off to work on the river. Liu Wei and his ten chubby friends had made great progress in losing weight through recent training, losing about ten kilograms.

"The training is going well."

At least they had gained some strength and endurance, so the intensity increased and the silt removal project started. Li Feng didn't dare let them go too far, since the silt removal project was conveniently located only about ten miles away from the river.

"Please take good care of Anmin in the future."

Li Feng knew that Liu Wei and his group of chubby guys had no experience in farm work. When they got to their new home, they probably wouldn't even know how to dig a cellar, and someone would have to guide them.

"Don't worry, I'll definitely bring it back to you intact."

"You should lose some weight before coming back."

"Don't worry, I'll definitely lose weight."

Han Anmin laughed and said, "I wouldn't dare say more, but I'll definitely help you lose twenty or thirty pounds."

"That's great."

Li Feng smiled and said to Liu Wei and the others, whose faces were ashen, "Did you hear that? At least thirty jin. Less than that, I won't accept it."

Liu Wei, Zhang Wei, and the others were speechless. They had thought the 200,000 yuan would be easy to get, but now it seemed like a disaster—the problem was they wouldn't even get the money. "Liu Wei, listen to the team leader when you get to the construction site. The outside environment is bad, so be careful."

"understood."

Liu Wei sighed. "Well, I guess I'll just consider it a way to lose weight. Twenty thousand yuan for weight loss isn't a loss, I might even be making a profit." He consoled himself with this thought, and finally felt a little better. He watched the group leave in the oxcart.

Not many people went to Shanghe Construction this time. Hanjiaba is not short of money. As long as they work in the furniture factory, they did not plan to go to Shanghe Construction this time. At most, they would get a small bonus. They don't care about the money.

"Uncle Feng."

Han Mingfan jogged over. "Master wants to call you for a meeting."

"Okay, I'll go right away."

The meeting is definitely about recruitment. It's this afternoon, and An Jun came specifically to inform them that Han Fuguo and Li Feng will both be attending. This meeting will briefly cover the meeting's details.

"Uncle Fu Guo".

Li Feng put down his cup, sat down, and said with a smile, "Uncle Fu Guo, the commune is having a meeting this afternoon, so we don't need to have another one, right?"

"Let's discuss this first."

Han Fuguo said, "Secretary Gao will probably ask you to speak at the meeting, so don't mess it up."

"Oh, is that so?"

Goodness, Li Feng really didn't know that. "Then I'll have to prepare and say a few words."

"You better watch out, kid."

Han Fuguo is particularly worried now. The furniture factory has too much cash, and the commune knows about it. If they ask for a loan, it will be difficult to refuse.

"Don't worry, Uncle Fuguo, we've already agreed that we'll buy the equipment first, and then we'll talk about road repairs."

Li Feng said with a smile, "I wrote to my relatives yesterday to ask for their help, and I think I should get back to them in a few days."

"We'll try to get the equipment up and running as soon as possible, so our order processing time can be faster."

"Then I'm relieved."

Han Fuguo thought for a moment. "Do you think we should receive our dividends earlier?"

"in advance?"

Li Feng frowned slightly. "Uncle Tomita, how are you?"

"It's better to do it earlier."

After considering for a moment, Han Futian said, "Let's take out three thousand yuan first and divide it among the families."

"also."

Three thousand yuan, divided among the entire brigade, means each family gets a hundred or two more, and some get a hundred or so less, so it doesn't have much of an impact. "Then let's have a big meeting tonight, and that'll be settled." Normally, three thousand yuan would take a long time to calculate, but now three thousand really isn't much.

After agreeing on the plan, Li Feng went back to prepare for the afternoon meeting. This was his first time attending a meeting at the commune. "I'll pick up Daya right after the meeting."

"Folding bicycles are probably no longer usable."

Otherwise, it wouldn't be able to carry both Han Fuguo and Daya. Poor Uncle Fuguo, he still doesn't have a bicycle and needs to buy one.

"It would be even better if we could get a three-wheeled motorcycle."

Li Feng quite liked Wu Shengnan driving her three-wheeled motorcycle. These things are more practical than cars nowadays. In some places, the roads are still dirt roads, and cars are not necessarily easy to travel on. Three-wheeled motorcycles have many fewer restrictions.

Unfortunately, while this thing was easy to set up, it was difficult to explain, which frustrated Li Feng. "Let's make do with the donkey cart for now. I'll have Dong Qing fix the shock absorption later, otherwise his butt won't be able to handle even a slightly bumpy ride."

At noon, Li Feng killed another chicken. They were out of vegetables, but luckily they had brought a lot of chickens this time. Eating chicken had become a regular occurrence; if they ran out of vegetables, they would just kill one. They could save some for Daya to eat when she came back in the evening. "This chicken is alright, it weighs four or five pounds."

A big pot of stewed vegetables, potatoes, pumpkin chunks, and radishes, cooked over a wood fire, is incredibly fragrant.

"It's delicious."

"Mr. Li, your cooking skills are excellent."

"Okay."

Li Feng's cooking skills were a level above Uncle Spoon's, and everyone who went to the river engineering project hoped he could come along so they could at least taste his cooking. Unfortunately, Li Feng didn't have time to go to the project.

The furniture factory is hiring and can't do without Li Feng. Han Fuguo and the others don't want Li Feng to go, because Secretary Gao specifically asked for Li Feng to be included in the recruitment.

"I have to go to a meeting at the commune this afternoon. Are you going to the commune too?"

Li Feng looked at the group of people.

"Then let's go for a stroll."

"Then let's go together later."

The meeting was scheduled for a little after 2 p.m., so they had to leave early. The donkey cart wouldn't go very fast, and it would take at least an hour to get to the commune. After getting ready, the group followed Li Feng and Han Fuguo onto the donkey cart.

"How's the preparation going?"

Han Fuguo asked Li Feng, and Li Feng nodded. "There's not much to prepare, just go through the gist of it in your head."

"That's good."

When we arrived at the commune compound, wow, all the production team leaders were there, but they came in all sorts of vehicles: oxcarts, horse-drawn carts, donkeys, bicycles—the whole compound was packed.

"Luckily, they all brought urine and fecal bags."

Good heavens, the commune compound would definitely turn into a manure pile. Even with this stuff, the smell is awful. "No wonder they say coming to the commune for meetings is torture."

"Okay, let's go."

When I arrived at the conference room, wow, almost everyone had already arrived. Some of them had probably finished lunch early and rushed over.

"Come on, sit down."

Wu Feng smiled and invited Han Fuguo and Li Feng to sit down, which made many of the brigade leaders curious. Who was this young man? They knew Han Fuguo, the brigade leader of Hanjiaba. Why did this old guy get fatter on his face recently?

"Secretary Wu."

Li Feng nodded to everyone. He didn't know most of them, except for Wang Dapao from Wangjiazhuang, whom he had met a few times.

"Secretary Gao will be here shortly, please wait a moment," Wu Feng said with a smile. "Perfect timing, let me introduce you."

After Wu Feng introduced more than ten brigade leaders, Li Feng was most impressed by three or four of them. Among them, the tall, thin old man looked nothing like a brigade leader; he would believe he was a resident of a leaky village. This man was named Wu Dazhong, the brigade leader of Wulingkou.

Wulingkou is more than 30 miles away from the commune, making it the most remote brigade in Ma'ya Commune. It is deep in the mountains, and its transportation to the outside world is much worse than that of Hanjiaba. In particular, there is a section of mountain road that is extremely difficult to travel, and people can only rely on carrying it on their backs.

In addition, there are two neighbors of Hanjiaba: Wang Dapao from Wangjiazhuang and Uncle Fuguo, who have a good relationship. Of course, the two of them don't hold back when they talk and they always bicker. Then there is another village, Zhangjiazhai, which is not far from Hanjiaba, just across the mountain.

In the past, hunting was the main means of livelihood in Zhangjiazhai. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Zhangjiazhai killed no less than a thousand wild animals, which was truly impressive. Even now, there are still some old hunters who use traditional bows and arrows with a power no less than that of rifles.

Especially when it comes to designing traps, it's the perfect choice for hunting large prey like wild boars. Captain Zhang Meng isn't very old, just over forty, and he's nearly 1.9 meters tall—a rare sight these days. Li Feng could tell from the moment he shook hands that this guy was definitely strong.

Then there's Ma Tianbao, the brigade leader of Majiawan, which is close to the commune. This unusually plump brigade leader is quite witty and probably has excellent interpersonal skills. Majiawan is considered the top brigade in Ma'ya Commune. It has some vegetable farmers and is generally the wealthiest brigade in Ma'ya.

The location is good, there's nothing we can do about it; being close to the commune definitely has some advantages.

"Since you're all here, please have a seat."

As they were talking, Secretary Gao Ming walked in, and seeing everyone stand up, he waved with a smile. "I called you all here today because there's something I want to talk to you about..."

"No, isn't this too direct?"

Li Feng thought it would take a long time to talk, but to his surprise, Secretary Gao got straight to the point and finished talking about the furniture factory's recruitment in just a few minutes.

"Is Secretary Gao always like this?"

Li Feng asked Han Fuguo in a low voice, and Han Fuguo nodded. "Secretary Gao doesn't like things to be too drawn out."

"have to."

But this is way too short. This guy thought it would take at least an hour or two, but it was over in less than five minutes.

"Please let Comrade Li Feng introduce the specific details of the furniture factory to everyone."

Well, Li Feng thought to himself, this is what I deserve. I was planning to listen more, but now look what's happened. "Secretary Gao, Secretary Wu, and all the team leaders, let me briefly introduce the Hanjiaba Furniture Factory..."

Li Feng originally planned to say a few more words, but then he thought it best to follow Secretary Gao's example and give a brief introduction to the origins of the Hanjiaba Furniture Factory, but only to fill his stomach.

"The furniture factory is currently experiencing a shortage of production capacity. We invited everyone here today to ask for your help in recommending some carpenters."

Li Feng had intended to end things there, but unexpectedly Niu Dabao spoke up. This Captain Niu had a fierce look on his face and seemed like the kind of person you couldn't mess with. However, after learning from Han Fuguo, Li Feng found out that although Captain Niu had a fiery temper, he was actually a very good person.

"What you're saying is all fluff. Tell me about the recent sales situation in detail."

"Alright, I'll tell you about the sales situation over the past two weeks."

Li Feng thought to himself that he was fortunate to have made sufficient preparations. "Twenty sets of modular furniture will be delivered, fifteen sets of desk sets will be delivered, ten sets of modular furniture will be ordered, and eight sets of desk sets will be ordered."

"The combination set is now priced at 260 yuan, while the desk set is cheaper at 66 yuan."

After the introduction, Li Feng looked at everyone. At this moment, not only Niu Dabao, but also Gao Ming and Wu Feng looked at Li Feng with some surprise.

Not to mention the pre-orders, the delivery alone cost more than six thousand yuan, which caused an uproar in the entire venue.

"Captain Han, are these real?"

When Secretary Gao asked him, Han Fuguo nodded. This didn't include the steel mill's early deliveries; otherwise, the number would have been even larger and truly alarming. Actually, the delivery volume had only recently increased, and this was only possible because everyone had been working day and night.

You have to keep these brigade leaders in line first before you can talk to them properly, otherwise they'll look down on you.

Gao Ming really didn't expect that Hanjiaba Furniture Factory would be more successful than he imagined. If he had known, he would have held this meeting a few days earlier.

"If anyone has any other questions, please ask them now."

Secretary Gao said with a smile, "Comrade Li Feng, you've given me a wonderful surprise."

"So what are the specific tasks?"

Wang Dapao looked at Han Fuguo, who smiled and said, "You'll have to ask Li Feng about this."

"My salary for the first month was eighteen yuan."

Li Feng continued, "There are also two full attendance bonuses, plus some subsidies, a little over a dollar here and there. In addition, if you complete the monthly workload, you will receive some compensation for any extra work."

This salary is quite good, more than twenty yuan a month. That's about the salary of a sales clerk in the city. Of course, it can't compare to that of a commune cadre, but in the countryside, it's definitely a high salary.

"A little over twenty-two yuan a month?"

"If it's good, it'll be around twenty-five yuan."

Li Feng gave a rough estimate of twenty-five yuan. The captains were slightly taken aback; it was quite a lot, even excessive.

"Of course, when you go to the furniture factory, you have to follow the work arrangements."

Li Feng said, "Otherwise, we might lose face if we hang it up."

"That's what we should do, it's just part of the job."

You definitely have to listen to what others say. This job is pretty good; it pays much better than working in a mine breaking rocks.

How many people does your furniture factory need?

At this moment, everyone looked at Li Feng and Han Fuguo.

"Twenty."

Li Feng gestured with his fingers.

"Twenty? Isn't that a bit too few?"

More than ten brigades, twenty people, and one brigade can't even get two. How can this guy do it? He earns tens of thousands of yuan a month, so he probably doesn't care about hiring a few more people.

"A lot."

Before Li Feng could speak, Han Fuguo interrupted, "We need to hire experienced carpenters. How many carpenters do you have in your team? What, don't you need to repair your carts and wheelbarrows anymore?"

"As for anyone who tries to sneak in some apprentices or something, don't blame me for not giving you face later."

Li Feng thought to himself that Uncle Fu Guo was quite impressive; this guy was good at putting things out in the open.

"Secretary Gao, Secretary Wu, these are our recruitment criteria."

Li Feng took out some drafts, first handing them to Gao Ming and Wu Feng, and then distributing them to the captains. These conditions were all copied by Wu Tong and a few others at Li Feng's request, and the handwriting was quite good.

"That's quite a high requirement."

"Captain Niu, there's no other way."

Li Feng said with a smile, "Now that we've opened a furniture factory, we definitely need to be strict with the quality of the furniture we make. We can't ruin the reputation of Hanjiaba."

"Our brigade can send three people."

Niu Dabao said with a smile, "Kid, you register first."

"You dare to ask for three people? Even two is too many for a team. Your team is doing better than us this year. I think you should give this spot to me. Our team can send four people."

Four people only get about a hundred yuan a month. Goodness, that's enough to buy a lot of relief food. Who wouldn't want that?

"You shameless Li Da Yandai, how could you do this?"

Good heavens, this guy's really causing trouble, Li Feng thought to himself. Why aren't Secretary Gao and Secretary Wu saying a word at this meeting? (End of Chapter)