Era: I was a farmer at the foot of Yaoling Mountain

After deliberation by the council, Fang Wei ultimately decided to distribute dividends at a rate of 1000 yuan per person. The current dividend distribution is different from that during the brigade period, when it was distributed according to work points, but now it is based on each person's asset investment.

Since the calculations are roughly the same, it can also be understood as an average distribution.

The principle of "more work, more pay" is reflected in wages and bonuses, while profit sharing reflects each member's asset (share) proportion, which is actually quite fair.

The year-end bonus was 3500 million yuan, which, together with the salary and bonuses paid throughout the year, amounted to a huge sum.

With an average annual income exceeding 2000 yuan per member, this is no small feat in today's world. It would not only be the envy of many farmers, but also of many city dwellers.

This is because the cooperative was just starting out and the investment over the first year was huge; otherwise, everyone's income could have been even higher.

"Secretary Fang, thanks to you!"

"Secretary Fang, I'm going to buy meat tomorrow. You must come over for a few drinks."

After receiving their money, many members came over to greet Fang Wei.

Everyone has their own judgment; they all know very well who led them to prosperity. Without Fang Wei, there would be no cooperative; without the cooperative, they wouldn't have their current happy lives.

Putting aside other things, look at the members of other communes who distributed land to individual households; their average annual income was less than 1000 yuan.

Fang Wei responded to each of them with a smile. The recognition from everyone made him feel satisfied, which was also his original intention in insisting on following the path of collective economy.

Today is a joyous day; every household is celebrating as if it were New Year's Day. The commune has increased the supply of pork and poultry. The film projection team plans to show movies in various brigades for several days in a row, and Zheng Bao and others have also organized basketball and table tennis matches.

This kind of atmosphere is completely gone in other communes. After the land was distributed to individual households, everyone was busy with their own things. In addition, the two levels of brigades and production teams were greatly weakened, so it was almost impossible to see similar activities anymore.

Fang Wei encouraged everyone to read more books. The bookstore has invested heavily in purchasing books, many of which are practical technologies related to agricultural planting, herbs, animal husbandry, agricultural machinery, and breeding.

If you can get into it, you can still benefit a lot from it.

morning.

The cooperative received a notification that Zeng Qing and his entourage would be coming to inspect their work.

Fang Wei didn't make any preparations, partly because time was tight, and partly because he knew Zeng Qing didn't like that kind of thing.

Around noon, the group from the region arrived at the village.

"Secretary Fang, you guys are really amazing! Now everyone knows that Xinlin County has a Yaoling Seed Industry Cooperative with an annual output value of several hundred million yuan. That's incredible!"

Zeng Qing has always opposed the "eating from the same pot" system, but he is even more aware that the "eating from the same pot" system is not the root cause of poverty and backwardness in many places.

It sounds contradictory, just like his current feelings.

Previously, when the various brigades of Yaoling Commune refused to distribute land to individual households, Zeng Qing was very angry. He felt that Fang Wei and others were going backwards and were failing to see the situation clearly.

As a result, after a year, the cooperative not only gained a firm foothold, but also achieved remarkable results in all aspects.

Putting everything else aside, just look at the total income of the members over a year; it makes many people drool with envy.

He often said in meetings large and small, "Practice is the criterion for testing truth." Now that others have delivered satisfactory results, it can only be said that his initial understanding was flawed.

Fortunately, he wasn't one to deny things outright, which is why he made this long journey.

"Director Zeng, I'll take that as a compliment. Everyone, please go to the conference room and sit down. We'll report to the leaders on the cooperative's work over the past year."

Fang Wei smiled but didn't respond to the other person's words.

He then invited the group into the conference room, served them tea, and gave a brief report on the year's work.

Without exaggeration or understatement, but with a realistic approach, Fang Wei's face was full of confidence.

"You've done a great job this past year, and that deserves recognition!"

Zeng Qing was filled with emotion, but he couldn't express it all in words.

Afterwards, accompanied by Fang Wei, everyone went to the 1st brigade and chatted with the members face-to-face.

The impression everyone got from this visit was that the cooperative is a cohesive unit, and the members are not only very united but also possess a high-spirited and positive attitude.

After the land was distributed to individual households, every family showed great enthusiasm for labor, after all, they were working for themselves.

However, according to Zeng Qing's observation, the subsequent members of the commune, who had become a disorganized mess, completely lacked this spirit. It's hard to explain this feeling, but it is indeed an objective reality.

When the group learned the specific income of ordinary members, they couldn't help but click their tongues in astonishment.

Previously, I only knew a general outline, a vague understanding, but now that I know the details, the shock is even greater.

It wasn't until the afternoon that everyone went to the cafeteria for lunch.

"Secretary Fang, I'll come back to visit next year. I hope you'll achieve even greater success."

After the meal, Zeng Qing and his group went to the county.

Fang Wei no longer enjoys these kinds of welcoming and farewell ceremonies; he finds them meaningless. The path he's taken has strayed far from the mainstream; if he does well, no one applauds him, but if he messes up, he'll inevitably face a barrage of criticism.

So it's better to focus on your own work and reduce your interaction with the outside world.

after a few days.

Fang Wei convened a meeting of council members and brigade leaders to discuss the spring planting plan.

"What I mean is to reduce the planting area of ​​the [Nanguang No. 3] rice variety and allocate at least 40,000 mu of land to cultivate the [Nongyou 76] rice variety. I have already spoken with the Yao village, and they will authorize us with the most favorable price."

Fang Wei first introduced the basic information of the [Nongyou 76] rice variety, which is a new type of rice variety improved from the [Nongyou 58] rice variety. It has a good yield and, importantly, it is the first japonica hybrid rice in China.

Japonica rice tastes better than indica rice and is more expensive.

He proposed cultivating this rice variety starting from the next season, but the cultivation technology and ownership of the rice variety belong to the Yao village, so authorization is required for production.

"The licensing fee is negligible in my opinion. The key issue is sales. Chairman, are you confident you can sell it?"

Some board members raised questions, mainly regarding sales figures.

The others nodded in agreement. They had no doubts about the Nongyou 76 rice variety itself and were happy to accept it, but they were unsure about its sales performance.

"【Nongyou 76】rice seeds are very popular in other places. As long as we can produce them, we can sell them immediately." Fang Wei was very confident. The Yao village's major customers had asked for more rice seeds more than once, but they had to give up due to production limitations.

In other regions, this rice variety is even more famous than "Nanguang No. 3," a typical example of a flower that blooms inside the wall but is more fragrant outside.

"Then we have no problem."

Everyone agreed to the adjustment plan for the next season's rice production. The cooperative's 80,000 mu of paddy fields will be divided in two, with one half producing the "Nanguang No. 3" rice variety and the other half producing the "Nongyou 76" rice variety.

The next step is to discuss other breeding work.

"In the new year, we will continue to cultivate high-yield soybean and peanut seeds. There is a special situation now: starting this year, we have been disqualified from tobacco cultivation."

Fang Wei felt very depressed at this point.

A few months ago, Zhu Minghui was transferred from the regional tobacco bureau to another province. Upon taking office, he excluded the [Nanguang 326] tobacco variety from the procurement scope.

The county tobacco department, citing the cooperative's excessive tobacco production as a pretext that it was harming the economic interests of ordinary members, also stopped purchasing tobacco from the cooperative.

Fang Wei had a big argument with the relevant people in the county over this matter, but the result remained unchanged.

“Secretary Fang, someone is jealous of us. It’s alright, we have other crops if we don’t have tobacco. Can a living person die from holding their pee? We can consider cultivating seeds of other crops.”

Tobacco is a franchise business; if the other party stops buying it, the cooperative can no longer grow it.

Although everyone was somewhat angry, they didn't lose their composure. After all, if one side is not doing well, another side will, and losing tobacco isn't a big deal.

"I suggest that after soybeans and peanuts, we can cultivate soybean seeds."

Breeding should also take into account profitability and sales volume; varieties with low sales volume should not be considered.

Generally speaking, soybeans are suitable for planting in the south and soybeans are suitable for planting in the north. Both crops are consumed in large quantities, so the combined planting area is not small.

"But we live in the south. Can we cultivate high-quality, high-yield soybean seeds here?"

"Yes, even if we successfully cultivate them, can we solve the sales problem?"

Everyone found this incredible, especially considering the significant climate differences between the north and south. Could soybean seeds really be cultivated in the south? Everyone expressed doubt.

It's not that I don't trust Fang Wei, it's just that it goes against common sense.

"Leaving sales aside, we are confident in successfully cultivating high-yield and high-quality soybean seeds. Therefore, this year we will cultivate soybeans, peanuts, and then soybeans in that order, leaving soybeans for last."

Starting with spring planting, preliminary trials began in the experimental fields. Sales personnel were on standby, ready to send people to the north to make contacts once the trials were successful; they should be able to sell the produce.

Fang Wei was very confident in himself. Before today's meeting, he had asked acquaintances at the seed company to help him find various soybean seeds.

They promised to deliver various soybean seeds after the Spring Festival, and even assured us that as long as the soybean seeds cultivated by the cooperative were of good quality, they would help with marketing.

Soybeans can be used to extract oil, and soybean meal is the best animal feed, so they are very important for improving people's living standards.

Fang Wei had visited Northeast China once, and at that time he realized that cultivating soybean seeds had great potential. However, the partner company was content with small gains, so he abandoned the idea of ​​cooperating with them.

The two sides have achieved some success in their joint efforts to cultivate high-yield corn seeds, but the results have not yet met expectations.

Therefore, Fang Wei plans to cultivate high-yield and high-quality soybean seeds with high resistance properties, which will not be difficult to cultivate soybean seeds in the south.

Seeing that Fang Wei had come prepared and was full of confidence, everyone agreed to give it a try.

It's actually quite safe to plant on a large scale only after the experimental fields have yielded results, and there's no need to worry about failure.

"One last thing: make use of the logging quotas for each brigade this year if possible; we need a batch of precious timber."

The planned tree felling had actually been ongoing. When the new houses were completed, the Xiatang brigade supplied the members with a batch of materials for making furniture.

In the past six months, the antique-style furniture produced by the bamboo ware factory has sold very well, and because of its high price, the profit margin is also very high.

The trees planted by the team can be felled in an orderly manner according to plan, provided that approval is obtained. Based on the current growth rate in the mountains, a batch of timber will be produced in the next two years.

In addition to the economic forests, the mountains and fields of each brigade are now covered with precious trees.

"There's no problem with this. Secretary Fang, you can make the decision."

People weren't interested in this, since the annual logging quota wasn't much, and it wasn't a big deal for the cooperative.

Fang Wei nodded, had everyone sign the passed resolution, and then adjourned the meeting.

In reality, Fang Wei wasn't concerned with profiting from precious woods, but rather with establishing a foothold in the provincial capital through a small quantity of antique-style furniture. Don't think people these days don't know the difference between good and bad wood; many are quite discerning.

This batch of high-end furniture is considered the "crown jewel" of the store, a decision made from a marketing perspective.

The production plan for the new year has been finalized, and its implementation will be overseen by Zhao Jinsheng, several board members, and the captains of each brigade.

Before we knew it, it was the Spring Festival. The commune allocated pigs to each production brigade, which then slaughtered the pigs and distributed them to the commune members. In addition, each member would receive two chickens, two ducks, and five catties of eggs.

Some live fish were also put on the market, but due to limited quantities, they were not distributed free of charge and were instead put into sale in the market.

Now every household has money and can buy New Year's goods that they couldn't afford in the past. So this Spring Festival is sure to be a prosperous one, with good things that are usually unavailable coming into the homes of the commune members.

A small number of people in the cooperative have bought televisions, which means that this year's Spring Festival will be even more lively.

Before the Lunar New Year, the Yao village also sent New Year's gifts to Grandpa, Sister, and Fang Wei. Fang Wei's favorites were Yao Ling cured meat and some dried goods. Anyway, his family never ran out of these foods, and he never got tired of them.

"Third brother, I plan to stay at the Taoist temple during the Spring Festival. You don't need to see me off; I can walk back on my own."

Sun Daoren bid farewell to Fang Wei ahead of time, as he was going back to the Sanqing Temple to spend the New Year with his two disciples.

Fang Wei was not comfortable letting the old Taoist walk such a long mountain road alone, so he had no choice but to personally escort him.

Sun Daoren felt embarrassed, because tomorrow was New Year's Eve, and everyone had a lot of things to do at home. But he really didn't want to stay in the village and be reminded of his elder brother by the sight of familiar objects. He was still grieving for his brother's departure.

However, Fang Wei didn't care. He didn't do much housework. Pan Lianhua and his sister basically took care of everything at home, and he couldn't help much at home.

"Dad, I want to go with you to see Grandpa Sun off."

After his winter vacation started, Binbin pestered Sun Daoren almost every day to teach him medical skills. When he heard that his father was going to send Sun Daoren back to the mountain, he also insisted on going. (End of this chapter)