Video Editor

In the dead of night in the female workers' dormitory, Mai Miao was awakened by a suppressed sob.

She rolled out of bed and, by the moonlight, saw Zhang Yijuan curled up in a ball on the lower bunk, her shoulders shaking uncontrollably.

"Yijuan?" Mai Miao called softly.

The crying stopped suddenly.

Zhang Yijuan covered her head with the blanket: "N-nothing..."

The next morning, Qiu Hong offered to help Zhang Yijuan wash her work clothes.

"Yijuan, the collar of your clothes is all worn out." Qiu Hong shook out the blue overalls, and a small medicine bottle suddenly fell out of the pocket.

Just as she was about to pick it up, Zhang Yijuan rushed over like a madwoman and snatched it away.

"Don't touch my things!" Zhang Yijuan's eyes were bloodshot.

Mai Miao watched coldly, then curled her lip and said, "Whatever happens, it's her own fault."

Even so, she still noticed the suspicious bruises on Zhang Yijuan's wrist.

In the laundry room, Qiu Hong sighed as she scrubbed clothes: "Yi Juan has been acting strange lately. I even saw her vomiting in the bathroom last night..."

"Mind your own business." Mai Miao wrung out the bed sheet forcefully. "People from Fujian already look down on us, so don't let them laugh at us."

As they were talking, Qiu Hong noticed that the tap next door was running water but no one was using it, so she went over and turned it off with a pained expression.

A female factory worker with curly hair suddenly rushed in: "Who gave you permission to touch my things? Where's my underwear?"

"I didn't—" Before Qiu Hong could finish speaking, the other person had already overturned her laundry tub.

The wet clothes were scattered all over the floor, and Qiu Hong's face turned bright red.

Upon hearing the commotion, Zhang Yijuan rushed over and launched into a tirade of abuse in the Ningxia dialect.

The female factory worker with curly hair was taken aback by this sudden display of power and left dejectedly.

Qiu Hong squatted on the ground picking up her clothes, tears falling onto the cement floor.

“They’re all bullying us…” Zhang Yijuan suddenly burst into tears, “Especially that bastard Liu Jiaqiang… He hasn’t even made any money yet…”

Mai Miao stood at the door, her fists clenched so tightly they turned white.

She strode in and grabbed Qiu Hong, saying, "What's the use of crying? Tomorrow is the assessment, and our Northwest class must all pass!"

Her gaze swept intently over everyone. "As long as you practice hard, you'll definitely be able to make money!"

For the next three days, Mai Miao led her sisters in extra training sessions.

The clattering of the sewing machines often lasted until late at night, as they corrected each other's stitches and shared techniques to increase speed.

On the day of Director Yang's third assessment, Mai Miao pricked her finger with a needle and bled. She secretly wiped it off on her pants so no one would notice.

"The entire Northwest team has passed!" The factory manager's announcement was met with cheers.

Mai Miao was transferred to the quality inspection department with the highest score, and Qiu Hong and the others also kept their jobs on the assembly line.

At the celebratory dinner, Qiu Hong held up a can of orange soda and said, "To Mai Miao! Without you, we would have been sent back to our hometown long ago!"

The girls burst into laughter, and even the wheat seedlings rarely showed a smile.

But when she's alone, the brightly lit workshop of Shuihua Clothing always comes to mind...

The machines there aren't as fast, and the wages aren't as high, but at least no one will falsely accuse you of stealing underwear.

Her colleagues were all neighbors from Xihai Gu, and there was no discrimination or contempt from them. It was at this moment that Mai Miao felt regret for the first time.

In the dead of night, Mai Miao took out a photo of Ma Debao.

On the back of the photo was an address in Xiamen. She wanted to write to it countless times, but she also crumpled the letter into pieces countless times.

Outside the window were unfamiliar neon lights, but her thoughts had already flown across mountains and rivers, returning to the loess slopes of Xihai Gu.

……

At this moment in Xihai Gu, Ma Debao and Ga Wa were sweating profusely amidst the stench.

Because they encountered many problems in Xiamen, and heard that mushroom cultivation was being promoted in their hometown, the two brothers decided to return home and start their own business.

Ma Defu naturally supported Ma Debao's idea, since he couldn't be in charge of mushroom cultivation forever.

Following Ling Yinong's instructions, they mixed livestock manure, wheat straw, and mushroom grass in a specific ratio for composting.

The March sun was already quite scorching, and the fermenting heat made it hard to open one's eyes.

"Ugh—" Ma Debao rushed out of the greenhouse and dry heaved. "Professor, this stinks ten times worse than a dry toilet!"

Ling Yinong didn't even look up: "You think it smells bad? Go buy a tractor, that smells good."

He was referring to the red tractor that Li Dayou and his son had recently bought, which they had been driving around the village with great fanfare.

Ga Wa adapted quickly. He covered his mouth and nose and insisted on recording the compost temperature: "Bonus, Professor Ling said that it needs to ferment to 60 degrees Celsius to be sterilized..."

Ma Debao wiped his face with his sleeve and plunged back into the greenhouse.

The sweat mixed with the stench of manure made him look as if he had been pulled out of a cesspool.

Villagers passing by covered their noses and walked around him, while several children chased after him, shouting "Stinky egg!"

"Debao, why are you doing this?" Li Da squatted on the edge of the field, smoking a pipe. "Buy a tractor, haul goods for people, and you can earn tens of yuan a day."

Ma Debao chuckled: "Uncle Dayou, once my mushrooms grow, I can earn a week's worth of your money in a single day!"

"Keep bragging!" Li Dayou spat. "Just like your father, always spouting nonsense!"

"..."

In the stillness of the night, Ma Debao studied the materials given to him by the light of a kerosene lamp.

Those technical terms were like a book written in heaven, but he stubbornly studied them word by word.

Sometimes when he was extremely tired, he would think of wheat seedlings...

She's all alone in Fujian, she must be working hard to learn new things, right?

Two weeks later, the composting was finally completed.

Ling Yinong rarely smiled during the inspection: "Not bad, it's better than the piles piled up by others in the village."

Ma Debao and Ga Wa smiled at each other, and the sunburn on their faces eased.

On the day the bags were filled for vaccination, the whole village came to watch the spectacle.

A neighbor, who had been observing from the sidelines, wandered around the greenhouse with his hands behind his back. Suddenly, he pointed at the mushroom bags and asked, "Is this white fuzz the mushroom? It looks like it's moldy."

“Uncle, this is mycelium,” Ma Debao explained patiently. “It will be ready to grow mushrooms in another two weeks.”

"Hmph, I doubt it." The neighbor shook his head and walked away with mixed feelings, but Ma Debao noticed that he secretly looked back several times at the door.

During the days of waiting for the mushrooms to ripen, Ma Debao practically lived in the greenhouse.

He followed Ling Yinong's example, recording the temperature and humidity every day and adjusting the ventilation.

Ga Wa was in charge of researching pest and disease control, and the two young people cared for the mushroom bags like babies.

On a slightly chilly morning, Ga Wa's shrill screams woke up most of the village: "Mushrooms are sprouting! Mushrooms are sprouting!"

Ma Debao rushed into the greenhouse barefoot and saw that the mushroom bags were covered with tiny white dots, like a handful of pearls.

Ling Yinong rushed over upon hearing the news, his glasses practically tilting with excitement: "Great! That's fantastic! Three days earlier than expected!"

The news spread, and villagers flocked to visit.

The neighbors who had been watching from the sidelines crowded to the front, their eyes wide: "I didn't realize that Debao actually succeeded."

On harvest day, Ma Debao and Ga Wa carefully picked the fresh mushrooms, as if they were fragile treasures.

The trucks from the Water Splash Group drove directly to the field, and the quality inspector gave it a first-class rating, with a price three cents higher than the guaranteed minimum.

"Two yuan and thirty cents a pound!" the accountant announced loudly. "Ma Debao's household, the first batch of purchases amounted to one thousand eight hundred and sixty-four yuan!"

The onlookers gasped in amazement.

Li Dayou whispered in his son's ear, "Go! Find out how much they borrowed..."

"it is good."

Ma Debao, counting a thick wad of banknotes, suddenly rushed toward the village committee.

He burst into Ma Defu's office, panting, "Brother! It's done! It really is done!"

He slammed the banknotes on the table and said, "I want to expand and build three more greenhouses!"

Looking at his younger brother's tanned face and rough hands, Ma Defu's eyes welled up with tears. He thought of his younger brother, who was always getting into trouble when they were little, but who had finally found his own path.

Meanwhile, thousands of miles away in Fujian, Mai Miao stood in the post office, holding a letter she had just written.

The envelope was addressed to "Ma Debao, Minning Village, Xihai Gu, Ningxia".

Outside the window, the kapok flowers are in full bloom, just like the lilies of Xihai Gu.

……

The arrival of the Shuihua Group's cold chain truck fleet has become a daily highlight in Minning Village.

At six o'clock in the morning, as the first rays of sunlight swept across the Loess Plateau, more than a dozen refrigerated trucks bearing the "Sai Shang Golden Mushroom" logo were already neatly parked in front of the purchasing station.

Workers loaded boxes of fresh mushrooms labeled with categories into the truck, and in less than two hours, these mushrooms would appear at Yinchuan Airport.

The next morning, the shelves of high-end supermarkets in Hong Kong will be adorned with elegant labels that read "Ningxia Organic Button Mushrooms, HK$28 per pound".

"Another two tons have been ordered!" The sales manager of Waterflower Group rushed out of his office, phone in hand. "Singapore wants to place an additional order!"

Ma Debao squatted in front of his greenhouse and grinned when he heard the news.

His four greenhouses can now produce 300 jin of mushrooms every day. Based on the guaranteed price of 2.3 yuan per jin signed with Shuihua Group, his daily income is nearly 700 yuan.

This was an unimaginable number in the past in Xihai Gu.

"Hey, I heard our Xihai Gu mushrooms are being sold overseas?" Li Dayou strolled over with his hands behind his back, his eyes constantly glancing at the refrigerated truck.

“Yes! Uncle Dayou, Shuihua Group has export qualifications, and our mushrooms are now an international brand!” Ma Debao deliberately emphasized the words “international brand”.

Li Dayou snorted: "They buy ours for two or three yuan a pound and then resell it for twenty-eight. They're really greedy!"

"..."

Just as Ma Debao was about to explain the costs of cold chain transportation and brand marketing, his phone suddenly rang.

It was a notification from the finance department of the Water Splash Group that last month's sales bonus had been credited to my account...

Because his mushrooms had a 98% pass rate, he received an extra two cents per kilogram as a bonus.

This scene was witnessed by Ma Shuan, who was not far away.

That evening at the village tavern, after three cups of cheap liquor, Ma Shuan's voice rose: "Do you know how much the Shuihua Group sold our mushrooms for? Twenty-eight! Twenty-eight!"

The drinkers erupted in uproar.

Old bachelor Wang Mancang counted on his fingers: "We only get 2.3 yuan, and they make 25.7 yuan profit in the end?"

"That's right!" Ma Shuan slammed his hand on the table. "My cousin owns a restaurant in Yinchuan, and he said he's willing to buy it directly for four yuan a pound!"

In the corner, Li Dayou squinted and didn't say anything, but simply drank the wine in his glass in one gulp.

The next morning, the quality inspector from Shuihua Group discovered that Li Dayou's mushrooms had not been delivered.

When the phone rang at home, Li Dayou stammered and said that production had decreased.

Meanwhile, on his way to the county town, Ma Debao saw Li Dayou and his son driving a tractor with the trailer piled high with foam boxes.

"Uncle Dayou! What's wrong?"

"Ah, well, visiting relatives!" Li Dayou slammed on the gas pedal, and the tractor sped away, belching out a plume of black smoke.

"..."

The truth was quickly revealed.

That afternoon, all five farmers failed to deliver the goods.

The purchasing manager of Shuihua Group frowned as he revised the delivery plan, while Li Shuihua, after listening to the report on the phone, simply said, "Act according to the contract."

Upon hearing the news, Ma Defu rushed over and shouted through the village committee's loudspeaker: "Fellow villagers, we have a written agreement with Shuihua Group, we can't break our promise!"

No one responded.

Even the usually honest and unassuming Ma Shuan muttered under his breath, "Defu, you're a cadre, but you don't side with us at all..."

Three days later, the wave of defaults reached its peak.

Nearly half of the growers transported their mushrooms to farmers' markets in the county seat and Yinchuan, where prices were driven down from the initial four yuan to three and a half yuan.

Li Dayou shouted at the market, "Fresh button mushrooms, three yuan a pound! Much cheaper than in the supermarket!"

The space inside refrigerated trucks is becoming more and more spacious.

The sales manager of Shuihua Group said to Ma Debao with a wry smile, "We are only receiving two tons of goods a day now, and we have to cut half of the orders from other provinces."

Ma Debao was so anxious that his mouth was covered in blisters.

He went door-to-door persuading them: "Uncle! We can't just focus on this small price difference. Shuihua Group provides us with the bacteria, the technology, and guarantees sales."

"Come on!" Li Dayou interrupted him. "Without them as middlemen, we would earn even more!"

The first crisis erupted on the seventh day.

The Yinchuan market suddenly became saturated, leaving a large quantity of fresh mushrooms with nowhere to be sold.

Without cold chain protection, the mushrooms quickly turned yellow and spoiled under the scorching sun. The 300 jin of mushrooms that Li Dayou brought were eventually sold to the feed mill at a pittance of 8 jiao per jin.

"How could this happen?" Li Dayou squatted beside the empty tractor, watching the rotten mushrooms being shoveled into the garbage truck. "They were worth three yuan yesterday."

Ma Shuan was in an even worse situation.

He listened to the vegetable vendors and transported all his harvest to the provincial capital, only to have most of it confiscated by the urban management officers because he hadn't paid the "stall fee".

The remaining 100 jin (50 kg) were sold on the roadside for a whole day, with the price dropping from three yuan to one yuan and fifty cents. In the end, it wasn't even enough to cover the gas money for the trip home.

Meanwhile, in the conference room of the Shuihua Group, Li Shuihua was listening to a market report.

"Mr. Li, the local market in Ningxia is currently in chaos, with wholesale prices falling to 1.5 yuan. Should we lower our purchase price?"

Li Shuihua shook her head: "We'll follow the contract. The quality grade 1 product will still be 2.3 yuan, but we'll only accept it from farmers who keep their promises."

She turned to her assistant and said, "Notify all stores of 'Northwest Flavors' and 'Lanzhou Ramen' that we will be launching a mushroom-themed menu starting tomorrow."

Ma Debao is one of the few growers who insist on fulfilling their contracts.

When the goods were delivered that day, the purchasing manager specifically told him, "Starting next week, all your mushrooms will be sold through premium channels, with an additional 50 cents per pound."

"What about the other villagers?"

“Mr. Li said,” the supervisor looked at him meaningfully, “that the business world is like a battlefield, and what you fear most is not a strong enemy, but the betrayal of allies.”

Li Shuihua is no longer the pitiful little girl she used to be, and she no longer views things in a naive way.

Having witnessed too much betrayal in my business over the years, I must punish the dishonest farmers.

On his way back to the village, Ma Debao saw Li Dayou's tractor leaning in the ditch.

Li Dayou squatted by the roadside smoking, his truck bed piled high with unsold rotten mushrooms.

"Uncle Dayou, do you need any help?"

Li Dayou looked up, his eyes bloodshot: "Debao, do you think... Shuihua Group still wants our mushrooms?"

Ma Debao didn't say anything, but handed him a slip of paper with the arrival time of the refrigerated truck tomorrow written on it.

That night, the lights at the Minning Village Committee were on very late.

Ma Defu, Ma Debao, and several village officials drafted the "Integrity Planting Initiative" overnight.

At the other end of the village, Li Shuihua stood on the viewing platform of the Shuihua Base, looking at the rows of greenhouses.

The assistant handed over a plan document, the cover of which read "Five-Year Plan for the Edible Fungus Industry in Ningxia".

The moonlight shone on the Loess Plateau, illuminating the farmers who had suffered losses due to greed, walking in twos and threes toward the village committee.

The view also revealed the neatly parked refrigerated trucks at the Shuihua base, where mushrooms are still being shipped to all parts of the country at a price of five yuan per kilogram.

The next morning, when Li Dayou arrived at the purchasing station with the few remaining qualified mushrooms, he found Ma Debao helping the quality inspector with registration.

Their eyes met, and Li Dayou lowered his head in shame, while Ma Debao simply smiled and wrote in his notebook, "Li Dayou, delivered 65 jin of mushrooms, first-grade quality."

The sun rose, shining on the white greenhouses on the Loess Plateau, and also on the villagers' faces, which had regained their rationality.

The wind carried Ma Defu's voice through a loudspeaker: "Folks, line up to register for next week's mushroom spawn!"

Many people may have heard about the Ningxia watermelon price surge in 24, and such incidents are actually quite common.

Therefore, Suning has been advising Li Shuihua to uphold the spirit of contracts and keep her promises, and never tolerate farmers breaking contracts without permission.

...(End of chapter)