Starting with vegetable greenhouses in 1988

Chapter 3 Gathering Wool

Nine p.m.

Li Zhe lay alone in the west room. The room had been exposed to the sun all day, and the heat hadn't dissipated yet, so he couldn't fall asleep at all.

Li Zhe recalled his life in his previous life.

Heavy rain washed away the old house, and Li Zhe's father passed away unexpectedly. Li Zhe, his mother, and his sister moved to his older brother's house temporarily.

The eldest brother is a filial son, and his sister-in-law treats him and his sister well. However, she doesn't get along with their mother, and the two often bicker and argue.

Li Zhe borrowed money from all over the place to build a new house before he could move out of his older brother's house.

Those years were tough for the family, and Li Zhe's marriage was delayed. Girls in the village who were a few years younger than him were already mothers; he wasn't interested in the ugly ones, so he was stuck in a rut.

Later, he tried to find someone to live with, but they were never truly compatible. He was still a bachelor in his fifties, without even a child.

At first, he felt a little regretful, but later he realized that he hadn't even figured out his own life, so having a child would only lead to more suffering, so why bother?

He's fine as long as he's fed and the rest of the family isn't hungry.

If you had to sum up his past life in two words, it would be "contradictory".

In short, they were poor.

The mud-brick house was older than my father. If we had been rich, we would have built a new house long ago, and my father wouldn't have died because the mud-brick house collapsed in the rainstorm.

The three siblings also had a tough time. If the older brother and younger sister had made something of themselves, they wouldn't have let Li Zhe remain a bachelor forever.

Neither is easy.

All he wants now is to make money so that he and his family can live a good life.

Li Zhe doesn't have any great skills, but he's good at growing vegetables in winter-warm greenhouses. This technology is currently in its infancy, so seizing this opportunity is like standing on the cusp of a trend.

The only difficulty was the start-up capital. He had no money, and his family was also struggling financially.

In his previous life, Li Zhe built his vegetable greenhouse in 2001. At that time, he didn't have any money. He borrowed several thousand yuan from his relatives, but he still couldn't raise the rest. It was the village secretary who helped him get a loan from the credit union.

Thinking about loans, Li Zhe recalled something.

In the 1980s, in order to promote economic development, the government allocated a certain amount of interest-free loans each year, with only the principal to be repaid upon maturity. Such a good thing is something that later generations can't even imagine.

However, people in this era are limited by information and conservative in their thinking, so most people dare not take out loans for fear of not being able to repay them when the time comes.

A few daring individuals became the first to try something new, earning their first pot of gold from scratch, hiring workers, setting up factories, and building houses, becoming the first people in the countryside to get rich.

In his past life, Li Zhe was just an ordinary person who never had any good opportunities and only realized their value after they had passed. Now that he's benefiting from national welfare programs, he's naturally going to take advantage of them to get his start-up capital.

Li Zhe got up from the kang (a heated brick bed), turned on the light, and drafted a loan application for greenhouse vegetables.

The main points mentioned are three aspects, the first being the consumer group.

Li Zhe's family lives in Langfang City, Jizhou Province, which is adjacent to the capital. Li Zhe can sell his vegetables in the capital, where there is a huge consumer base, so he doesn't have to worry about not getting a good price.

The second is the industry outlook.

Beijing's population has exceeded ten million, and it's home to the nation's elite. These people have significant purchasing power and a huge demand for winter vegetables. Vegetable greenhouses will continue to expand, which will also encourage more farmers to take out loans.

Thirdly, there are policy aspects.

The Ministry of Agriculture has launched the "Vegetable Basket Plan" to encourage local governments to improve vegetable planting techniques, increase vegetable production, address market supply and demand shortages, and solve the problem of people having difficulty accessing vegetables.

The vegetable greenhouses were in response to the government's call and fully complied with the loan policy. Li Zhe's only uncertainty was how much loan the credit union would approve.

He hopes to borrow more money to build more vegetable greenhouses and double his income.

The thought of becoming a pioneer in greenhouse vegetables and a leader in solving the problem of vegetable supply for ordinary people filled Li Zhe with enthusiasm. Ideas kept popping into his head, and he couldn't sleep at night.

……

East room.

Wang Xiuying could vaguely see a sliver of light through the crack in the door and complained, "What a waste of money, using a light bulb like an oil lamp."

Old Li rolled over. "The kids are all grown up now, don't worry about them."

"If you pay the electricity bill, I won't bother with it. It's not money, is it?" Wang Xiuying snorted. Seeing that her husband was ignoring her, she nudged him with her elbow. "What do you think of that vegetable greenhouse that the second son mentioned?"

Old Li sighed softly, "Whether it's good or bad, we can't afford it. Covering an entire acre of land would require so much plastic film and straw mats, I'd estimate at least four or five thousand yuan. Where are you going to get that kind of money?" "Damn it, why does it cost so much! I was originally thinking of spending one or two thousand yuan to build the greenhouse, and I even shamelessly borrowed from relatives, but this is way too much." Wang Xiuying completely gave up on the idea.

Old Li picked up a palm-leaf fan and fanned himself. "If it's for getting married or building a house, we can borrow money from relatives, and they're willing to. But borrowing money to do business... isn't a good idea. If you make a profit, it's none of their business; if you lose money, how will you pay them back?"

Wang Xiuying snatched the palm-leaf fan away and fanned herself vigorously a few times. "The second son is not young anymore, he doesn't have a proper job, and he can't even find a wife. Why don't you talk to your second uncle and ask him to help the second son find a job?"

“Zhenguo…it hasn’t been easy for him either.”

“My second uncle isn’t an outsider. He’ll help if he can, and if he can’t, he can at least offer some advice. He’s been in the capital for so many years, he’s more knowledgeable than us.”

Old Li was silent for a while, then said, "Alright, I'll ask Zhenguo when he comes back on the fifteenth of August. It's getting late, let's go to sleep."

……

The next morning, Old Li went to work in the fields.

Wang Xiuying is a restless person; after finishing her housework, she went out to visit neighbors.

Li Zhe wanted to go to the town's credit union to inquire about interest-free loans. He rummaged through the cabinet and found his household registration book and ID card, and also grabbed half a pack of Hongmei cigarettes that his father had treasured.

The old-style household registration booklet was red with yellow characters, and it said "Langfang City Public Security Bureau" at the bottom.

The ID card was issued two years ago when I changed my name. It has a 15-digit number and is made of a relatively soft material, which is just two transparent plastic sheets sandwiching a piece of paper. It is easy to come apart and wear out, not to mention any anti-counterfeiting technology.

After leaving home, Li Zhe did not go directly to the town's credit union, but planned to ask his neighbor Zhao Tiezhu to go with him.

Zhao Tiezhu's father was originally a cart driver in the production team. After the production team was disbanded, Zhao's father bought the production team's cart. His income was higher than that of ordinary villagers, and he lived a comfortable life.

Two years ago, Zhao's father passed away, and Zhao's mother remarried, taking her younger brother with her, leaving Zhao Tiezhu alone in the family.

The Zhao family lived right behind the Li family, in the same old-fashioned mud-brick house. Li Zhe called out through the mud-brick wall, "Is Zhu Zi home?"

"Wang Wang..."

A dog barked in the yard.

The gate to the courtyard was unlocked. Li Zhe pushed open the wooden gate and went inside. A skinny, yellow dog with a big belly came running over and rubbed against Li Zhe's leg.

This dog is named Dahuang. In the past life, after the Li family's mud-brick house collapsed, it was Dahuang who pulled the little girl out of the pile of dirt.

A shirtless young man emerged from the inner room. He was over 1.8 meters tall and had a muscular build. He was Zhao Tiezhu, Li Zhe's childhood friend.

"Brother Hongbing is here, come in and sit down."

Hearing this old name, Li Zhe was taken aback. Li Hongbing was his original name, which had strong characteristics of its time. A couple of years ago, at the suggestion of Li Zhe's uncle, he changed his name to Li Hongbing.

"Look at my memory, I called him the wrong name again." Zhao Tiezhu chuckled and beckoned Li Zhe into the house.

Li Zhe glanced at the carriage in the courtyard and asked, "Is there any work today?"

Zhao Tiezhu followed in his father's footsteps and became a cart driver, farming during the busy season and driving carts during the off-season.

"No, Brother Zhe, is something wrong?"

"I'd like to hire your car to take care of some business in town."

"Brother Zhe, you're being too polite. How could we, as brothers, ask for money?" Zhao Tiezhu put on his clothes and went outside to hitch up the carriage.

Li Zhe didn't say anything more. The two were childhood friends and had always had a good relationship.

In his past life, when the Li family's mud-brick house collapsed, Zhao Tiezhu was the first to go and rescue people. He was also the one who drove the horse-drawn carriage to take Li's father to the town's health center. Li Zhe has always been grateful to him from the bottom of his heart.

After getting everything ready, Zhao Tiezhu locked the courtyard gate and beckoned Li Zhe to get into the carriage.

Hearing the sound of the dog's paws scratching at the door, Li Zhe asked, "Is Dahuang about to give birth?"

"Yeah, probably in the next few days."

"Leave me a puppy when the time comes." Dahuang is a country dog, but it is very intelligent and lovable.

Zhao Tiezhu countered, "Would the old lady agree?"

Li Zhe had long wanted to get a dog, but Wang Xiuying always refused. In her words, "People can't even get enough to eat, let alone feed a dog."

Li Zhe didn't reply; let's make money first.

(End of this chapter)