My 1978 Hotel

"Li the pipe smoker, how dare you ask for four? Aren't you ashamed?"

Niu Dabao practically poked Captain Li in the face with his finger, but Captain Li wasn't embarrassed at all. "What's wrong? Our ancestors in Lizhuang have been carpenters for generations. When it comes to carpentry, if Lizhuang says it's second, does any other brigade dare to say it's first?"

"Uncle Guofu, are there many carpenters in Lizhuang?"

Li Feng asked in a low voice, and Han Fuguo nodded in agreement. "Almost all of his ancestors were carpenters. Tell me about this Li Da Yandai, he's a master at making furniture."

"That's it."

They must be from a family of carpenters. No wonder they asked for four. If they really knew their craftsmanship, even four would be too few.

"Why don't you take them all?"

"That's fine too. If you're not willing, I'll take it all without hesitation."

Li Da Yandai's words displeased the other brigade captains. "What a joke!" they thought. "Li Da Yandai, you've got too much to ask for."

"You old geezer, you really dare to say that."

“Secretary Gao, listen to what this Li the Pipe is saying.”

"okay."

Gao Ming gestured with his hand, actually quite troubled himself. Twenty slots were a lot, but they could be combined with the slots for each brigade, and even two slots wouldn't be enough for each brigade. There were also some difficult cases to consider. Brigades like Ma Tianbao's were easier to manage; one slot would suffice, since they were close to the commune. Although the drought was severe, they weren't yet at the point of starvation.

Other brigades are different. For example, in Wulingkou, where Wu Dazhong was, the autumn harvest was almost a total failure. Now the entire brigade is cutting down and selling trees day and night. The hilltops are almost bare. When Wu Dazhong heard that he would be paid 25 yuan a month, his eyes turned red.

The situation in other brigades is not much better than in Wulingkou; the competition for quotas is a foregone conclusion, and there is no way they will give up.

"Fortunately."

Seeing that the crowd had almost come to blows over the spots, Li Feng and Han Fuguo secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Luckily, the spots had just been revealed for Secretary Gao and Secretary Wu to allocate; otherwise, they probably wouldn't have been able to escape.

Gao Ming and Wu Feng were also quite troubled. They discussed splitting the spots, but after much deliberation, they almost came to blows and still couldn't come up with a solution. "Alright, how about this, two spots per family."

"Several families living near the commune will each receive one spot."

After speaking, he glanced at Ma Tianbao, who hesitated for a moment before nodding helplessly. "I have no objection."

The other family nodded in agreement, but even if both families only needed one spot, there were still four spots short to fill. Li Feng and Han Fuguo, who had been watching the commotion, noticed that Secretary Gao and Secretary Wu were looking over.

"Captain Han, do you think we should add a few more spots?"

"Yes, there are too few now."

The other team leaders chimed in, leaving Han Fuguo somewhat dumbfounded. "Secretary Gao, twenty is not too few; we're just a small furniture factory."

"Captain Han is too modest. Less than six thousand yuan in half a month is hardly a small amount."

"Yes, Captain Han, you know the situation this time. We're all counting on you."

"You can't be so stingy..."

Helpless, Han Fuguo looked at Secretary Gao. "Secretary Gao, twenty is quite a lot."

"Let's add four more."

Gao Ming looked at the other team leaders. "Don't make things too difficult for Captain Han."

"Just four."

After discussing it, everyone agreed that there would be two per production team. Han Fuguo and Li Feng exchanged a glance and nodded. They had already discussed it before and were glad that they had left themselves some leeway.

"this……."

"Fengzi, what do you think?"

Li Feng gritted his teeth. "Four more is fine. Everyone's having a tough time. Every little bit helps."

"But we don't have that many carpenters in order."

"There's no other way, we'll just have to go out more often and get more orders."

Li Feng looked at Secretary Gao as he spoke. "Secretary Gao, Secretary Wu, it's agreed that there can't be more than twenty-four."

"we have a deal."

Gao Ming was puzzled. Had they agreed to such a simple request for so little? "Go back and inform each team that they will send their men to Hanjiaba tomorrow."

"Secretary Gao, don't worry, I'll go back right away. Old Han, I'll send someone over later, and we'll start work first thing tomorrow morning," Wang Dapao said with a smile. This can't be delayed; the sooner we start, the sooner we'll get our wages.

The other villages and hamlets also said they would send people over as soon as they got back, and that it would definitely not delay the furniture factory's production. Well, they all said nice things, but this guy is satisfied with the wages.

Li Feng and Han Fuguo breathed a sigh of relief and left the conference room. They didn't dare to linger, fearing they would be surrounded. After all, these squads were quite shrewd.

"Fengzi, be careful when you register later."

Han Guofu whispered some instructions to Li Feng. "These old bastards are all scoundrels. They might send one or two more people over tomorrow."

"Can't you?"

"Why not? These people have done plenty of shameless things."

Han Fuguo thought to himself, "If it were me, I would do the same. It would be better if I could get away with it. If I couldn't, I could just go back home. As for saving face, who cares about face at this time? My salary is the most important thing."

"Good guy."

Li Feng was really surprised. "I'll have to be careful then, so we don't end up hiring too many. Our furniture factory has really bleed money this time, twenty-four people, that's a lot of money in monthly wages."

"you do not say."

Han Fuguo said, “Let’s go. Secretary Gao and Secretary Wu are probably still being pestered. They want diesel or something. It’s not the right time now. I’ll come back tomorrow.”

"At that time, Secretary Gao will probably feel embarrassed not to give it to him."

The generator needs diesel fuel, which Hanjiaba can't solve, so they have to ask the commune for help. This time, they plan to work on it for several years and get two or three thousand jin (1,000-2,000 kg). They have the money, but they lack the ration coupons.

As for the equipment, Li Feng plans to go back and get it, then sell it to the furniture factory; it's better to keep the profits within the family.

"I'll bring some more old hens to make nourishing soup," Li Feng thought to himself. "Once the recruitment is over, I'll contact those brigade leaders again and maybe get some silver dollars, gold bars, or other valuables."

You know, Wangjiazhuang has landlords, and other villages and hamlets are no exception. Although it has a bit of a robbery feel to it, I guess I'm doing a good deed. I can exchange the goods for money, and even if I don't buy grain or anything else, I can still do it.

Even without antiques or the like, each village and estate has some decent items. For example, Zhangjia Village, which has been hunting for generations, has plenty of tiger and wolf pelts. Some families even make and use bows and arrows.

When Li Feng thought of this guy, he immediately thought of Xiao Ge and his friends. They love hunting so much. If they can get along well with Zhangjia Village, hehe, this guy will never lack guides when he goes hunting.

Other villages and hamlets all have their own specialties; villages that have survived to this day all have their own crafts. Li Feng planned to make proper contacts, but these things would have to wait until the recruitment was completed. Otherwise, if one village added an extra person and another village asked for an extra spot, things would get complicated.

"So fast?"

Wu Tong and his group hadn't been out for long when Li Feng and his group arrived in a donkey cart.

"It's pretty fast."

If it weren't for the argument about the quota, that guy would have been even faster; he probably wouldn't have even been there in an hour. This gave Li Feng a glimpse into Secretary Gao's work style. "Have you all finished looking around?"

"That's about it. There's not much to see here. It's nowhere near as nice as the steel mill area."

"Can this be the same?"

There were only a few people in the commune, mostly from small mountain villages not far away. Even if you added them all together, the entire population of Ma'ya was less than the number of workers in the steel factory. Besides, 90% of the people in Ma'ya had no purchasing power, while the steel factory was the opposite; over 90% of its workers, technicians, and cadres had considerable purchasing power.

Let alone Ma'anshan, even the county town might not be able to match the steel mill's purchasing power. After all, people from Shanghai are willing to spend money and have the money. Apart from the salaries of some cadres, the overall wages in the county town really can't compare to those in the steel mill.

The purchasing power of the entire Ma Ya area is probably not even a fraction of what others have, so there's no comparison. In some aspects, even the county town can't compare to the steel plant.

"It's quite different, cousin. Could you get a partnership with the steel mill soon? We could go visit them then. I saw they have some pretty good stuff," Wu Tong said with a smile. "And their steel mill has a lot of activities; it would be even better if we could participate."

"Let's talk about that later. The most important thing right now is that the carpenter needs to come tomorrow."

Li Feng sighed and repeated what Han Fuguo had just said to the others.

"No way, that's too unfair!"

The group was somewhat incredulous; they'd never expected something like this. They'd thought recruiting would be the simplest thing ever, but this was a whole other story. "Tomorrow's going to be interesting," they thought.

Well, Li Feng was a little speechless. You guys are getting excited about this.

"Hey bro, let's go together tomorrow."

"I'll go as well."

"Count me in."

"I'll join in the fun too."

Alright, fine. "You all come together." One more person might be more helpful; who knows what tomorrow will bring.

To Li Feng's surprise, no sooner had he picked up Da Ya than the carpenter from Wangjiazhuang arrived, and before he had even finished instructing her on her homework. Li Feng was completely bewildered.

"Isn't this a little too fast?"

Li Feng muttered to himself, and Li Muchen and the others nearby heard him too. "The carpenter arrived so quickly, how many of them are there?"

"Four."

Han Mingliang gestured with his fingers, and Li Feng was taken aback. "Four, you didn't see wrong?"

"Yes, there are four, Uncle Feng, I didn't miscount."

"Goodness, it really is just as you said."

Wu Tong laughed and said, "Let's go check out the excitement."

"Uncle Fu Guo was right."

Li Feng smiled wryly. He arrived at the furniture factory. Fortunately, one of the workers was Wang Dapao, the team leader. As for the other three, there might be an accountant or something. He was probably overthinking it.

"It's Captain Wang; we're probably overthinking it."

Li Feng smiled and introduced Wang Dapao to Wu Tong and the others who were watching the commotion.

"I thought there would be some excitement to watch."

Wu Tong and the others were still a little disappointed. Li Feng was speechless and waited for Wang Dapao to come over. "Advisor Li, look, these are all the best carpenters in our brigade, they've all been brought for you."

"Captain Wang, thank you so much. May I ask which two masters you were?"

"Advisor Li, I spent ages choosing, and they're all pretty good at their craft. I just wanted to be unique, but look at them, they've all come over." Wang Dapao looked quite helpless, and Li Feng didn't quite understand. "Captain Wang, you mean, all three of them are...?"

"Those are all good carpenters."

Wang Dapao said, "Advisor Li, please register me quickly."

"No, Captain Wang, doesn't your village have two spots?"

"Advisor Li, we're neighbors, how can we be the same?"

After hearing what Wang Dapao said, Wu Tong and the others finally understood. They had thought there was no more excitement to watch, but now things had taken an unexpected turn.

"No, Captain Wang."

Li Feng was speechless. Uncle Fu Guo was right; this guy had given them a difficult problem right from the start.

"Wang Dapao" (a nickname).

Li Feng breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing the voice. He wasn't familiar with Wang Dapao and was a bit reserved in his words and actions, not wanting to say anything unpleasant. Fortunately, Uncle Fuguo had come over.

"You did this on purpose, didn't you?"

Han Fuguo looked at the three people Wang Dapao had brought. "It was agreed that there would be two, not one more."

"No, we're neighbors, can't we make an exception for this little thing?"

Wang Dapao played the emotional card. "Besides, your wife is my niece. In a way, we're related by marriage. How can you be like those old folks?"

"Anything else is fine, I can even buy you drinks, but this is out of the question."

Han Fuguo said, “We can’t handle twenty-four carpenters already. If you ask for one more, others probably won’t want to be at a disadvantage either. If you add one more and I add one more, we won’t be able to handle thirty.”

"The furniture factory doesn't have that much work. Besides, we have so many young people in our village. We can't just sit around watching outsiders work and make money, can we?" Han Fuguo waved his hand, indicating that there was no room for negotiation.

"You bastard, Han Laizi, can't we make an exception for our friendship? I won't tell anyone."

When Wang Dapao realized that reasoning with Han Fuguo was ineffective, he simply called him by his nickname.

"Han Laizi?"

Wu Tong and the others exchanged glances, wondering what the nickname meant. Li Feng muttered to himself, "Lai Zi isn't a good name. It's probably related to being a scoundrel or a rogue. I didn't expect Uncle Fu Guo to have such a nickname. I'll ask Uncle Fu Tian about it later."

"You big talker, there's no room for negotiation in this matter."

"Alright, alright, Consultant Li, look at this old scoundrel, he's got guts now, turning his back on you. You'd better watch out." Wang Dapao's words left Li Feng speechless.

"Shut up."

Han Fuguo was put on the spot by Wang Dapao's provocation. Of course, he knew that Wang Dapao was doing it on purpose. As long as he gave in, the old man would definitely take advantage of the situation. "Fengzi, register them. Two spots. As for any more people, let them come. We won't pay them or provide them with meals."

"You good-for-nothing Han Laizi, you've got it."

Upon hearing this, Wang Dapao realized that this guy was being dishonest. He really didn't know how to deal with this trick. He couldn't just work for nothing. "Alright, alright, Sixth Brother, you come back with me later. Third Brother and Fifth Brother, you register."

Li Feng registered the two names. Good heavens, Wang Xiaosan and Wang Xiaowu. These names are really casual. I wonder how these two middle-aged men came up with these names.

"Both of you, Mr. Wang, can come to work first thing tomorrow morning."

Li Feng said, "Take a look at some of our furniture factory's rules and regulations." (End of Chapter)