1994: Starting with unpaid leave

"Second Uncle, to put it bluntly, I have a feeling the fine knitting and weaving factory is doomed to go out of business sooner or later!"

"You have no idea what the situation is like in the factory right now. The workers have nothing to do; they just gossip all day. As for the factory leaders, they're good at messing with people, but as for boosting performance figures... well, don't count on them..."

"So I think this unpaid leave is a good opportunity for me to go solo!"

Uncle Dong Xuefeng frowned, listening intently to Dong Jianguo's thoughts. Only after he finished speaking did he ask:

"Going solo? Have you discussed this with your parents?"

"Yes, I did say it. I said it at noon today!"

Dong Jianguo spoke with absolute confidence.

He did mention it briefly during lunch, but whether his parents took it to heart is another matter.

After a moment's thought, the second uncle spoke slowly:

"Yes, you need your family's support no matter what you do. Especially in your current situation, Xiuyun is heavily pregnant. If your family doesn't agree, nothing you do will last long."

"Have you decided what you want to do?"

"I want to try starting a business!"

"The country is currently promoting a market economy, so I think if we could bring some agricultural products from farms around the city to sell in the city, we should be able to make a profit."

"Besides, my home isn't far from Wufu Market, where there's a morning market. Now all I need is a source of goods..."

"I heard that you, Second Uncle, are comrades-in-arms with many farm secretaries in Angxi District, so I was thinking..."

Uncle Er didn't say anything upon hearing this, but just kept smoking.

A significant portion of those farms, like his fire equipment factory, were tertiary enterprises under state-owned enterprises.

The poultry, eggs, and other agricultural products produced are generally distributed to state-owned enterprise employees as holiday benefits.

Holidays are rare, but the chickens, ducks, and geese on the farm always lay eggs.

Many of the products were privately resold by the farm to small vendors in the city, eventually ending up on the tables of citizens through farmers' markets and the morning markets mentioned by Jianguo.

My nephew wants to make a living by doing this, which is feasible, but it's a bit hard work.

only……

"Jianguo, you're in trouble now, and your wife is pregnant. As your uncle, it's my duty to help."

"But you'll be going to work in a factory right after graduation. I'm afraid you don't understand the ins and outs of society."

"Yes, I'll give those old buddies a call. Maybe they'll do me the favor and switch the goods they were originally supplying to others to you. But that would cut off the livelihood of other vendors who rely on this..."

Seeing that Dong Jianguo was about to say something, the second uncle waved his hand and continued:

"I know they will try to find other sources of goods, but I'm worried that one of them might cause trouble for you."

"It's not just this; business registration, market management... all these aspects are much more complicated than you imagine."

"This isn't like before, where you could just use connections to get a different job if you didn't want to do it anymore. Doing it yourself means working for yourself..."

Dong Jianguo understood what his second uncle meant and nodded heavily.

"Second Uncle, I understand!"

"I was young and ignorant before, and I caused trouble for everyone. Now that I'm about to become a father, I've suddenly learned a lot. I won't give up easily now; I want to give Xiuyun and the baby in her belly a good environment!"

"Good! Just like a man of the Dong family!"

Seeing the certainty in Dong Jianguo's eyes, Dong Xuefeng smiled, nodded, and patted him on the shoulder:

"I'll make the call right now!"

"Second Uncle, wait a minute, there's something else I haven't mentioned... I don't have any start-up capital, so I was wondering if the first payment could be postponed?"

"Huh? You don't have any money?" Uncle Dong Xuefeng's expression changed.

Dong Jianguo smiled somewhat embarrassedly: "Actually, I could borrow it, but I just thought it would be too much trouble. Otherwise, I would have gone to the farm in Angsi District to get the goods myself, and I wouldn't have troubled you, Uncle..."

"You...you brat..."

"Second Uncle, I know this wasn't the best thing I did, but I had no other choice..."

Dong Xuefeng couldn't help but give a wry smile:

"The key point is that your second uncle's reputation might not be worth that much money!"

But seeing his two grandsons laughing and joking in front of the TV while holding their learning machines, Dong Xuefeng sighed, found his reading glasses, put them on, and took out his phone book from the cabinet next to the table.

As the factory manager, I had some advantages, one of which was being one of the first things I could do at home: get a telephone call.

The secretaries working at the farms in the Angsi district were among the first to install landlines at home, worried that they wouldn't be able to reach anyone if something happened at the farm.

That makes tonight convenient.

Dong Xuefeng didn't hide anything, but handed the phone book to Dong Jianguo and asked him to use the landline at home to make hands-free calls.

"271405..."

Dong Jianguo dialed the numbers and wrote down the names and numbers in his notebook as he went.

Once the first collaboration is achieved through the second uncle, he may have to contact the other party himself afterward... It's better to keep this in mind than not to be caught off guard.

The first person my second uncle called was Secretary Guo of the Hongqi Farm.

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, we got down to business.

Secretary Guo hesitated for a moment: "Brother Dong, this isn't difficult, it's just that..."

If you're having trouble, just pretend I didn't say anything.

"No, it's that the live poultry business on the farm has been monopolized by the son of the weighing instrument factory director... The pig and sheep business is also run by the leaders' family members... The only thing that can be distributed is some eggs."

"This..." Dong Xuefeng hesitated for a moment, but Dong Jianguo didn't hesitate and kept nodding at him.

"Okay, eggs it is. How many do you have?"

"Our farm has about 3000 laying hens, and we can produce about 300 kilograms of eggs every day. After deducting the portion that has to be handed over to the higher-ups, we can keep about 200 kilograms of eggs each day."

"Brother Dong, I won't mince words. These eggs sell for 1.8 yuan per jin to middlemen outside, but I'll wholesale them to my nephew for 1.4 yuan per jin! How does that sound?!"

Dong Xuefeng often goes to the farmers' market to buy groceries after get off work and is quite familiar with prices.

The current market price of eggs is fluctuating around 2.1-2.2 yuan per jin (0.5 catties).

All things considered, the profit from this pound of eggs is 80 cents.

Dong Xuefeng was fairly satisfied with the price and was about to nod in agreement on behalf of his nephew when he saw his nephew shake his head at him, flip to a blank page in the phone book, and write down a price of 1.6 yuan.

Dong Xuefeng was initially confused, but after a moment's thought, he understood his nephew's meaning:

"Old Guo, this won't do! Won't you suffer a huge loss this way?!"

"What's the loss? Eggs aren't anything new here. It's just that the most valuable agricultural product on the farm has been taken by other leaders. Otherwise, I really would have given them all to my nephew to sell!"

"That won't do. How can you be the secretary if you're stuck in the middle like that? Here's what we'll do: my nephew will buy it for 1.6 yuan. But we might have to hold off on payment, he's not exactly flush with cash. You see..."

"Okay, we'll get married whenever the kids are financially better off. Life's tough for everyone, and we're not in a rush for money!"

The two chatted for a few more minutes, finalized the delivery time and address, and then hung up the phone...

Dong Jianguo had already smiled and written down the phone number of Secretary Guo of Hongqi Farm on another blank page.

Then another string of text was written:

Eggs: 200 jin/day, purchase price 1.6 yuan/jin.

He wrote while smiling and offering compliments:

"Who says my second uncle's reputation isn't worth anything?! I think it's incredibly valuable!"