Volume One, Chapter 15: Where Did You All Get So Much Money?

Lu Yongchun was skilled at his work. “It all depends on the person. If it were me, I could weave a mat in three days.”

To improve production efficiency, there were essentially two methods.

The first was division of labor—cooperation that relied on constant repetition to increase proficiency and shorten working time.

The second was to improve tools—using mechanization to boost efficiency.

At this stage, mechanization was out of the question; at best, they could buy a few new knives.

The second method was clearly unfeasible.

“One person specializes in slicing bamboo strips—how many people can weave with that?”

“That depends on the person. If it were me, one person slicing and five people weaving would be ideal, assuming the bamboo is delivered right in front of me.”

Cutting and delivering would require at most one more person.

Dividing thirty-six by five, that meant one person could weave a mat in three and a half days.

Of course, this required one prerequisite: everyone in the cooperative had to gather in one place.

Otherwise, not only the cutters and deliverers, but also the people slicing the strips couldn’t leverage their advantages.

The third team had a few rooms, but the space was small—work had to be done outside.

If it didn’t rain, that was fine; but once it did, the work couldn’t proceed, and the raw materials would be soaked.

Green mats were somewhat better—they weren’t too sensitive to rain.

But processed yellow mats were easily affected, which would impact the quality of the final product.

“Lu Donggua, does our village have a place large enough to accommodate thirty or forty people working simultaneously?”

“Little Village Chief, the big hall at the fifth team’s village school is more than large enough—thirty or forty people, even fifty or sixty could fit.”

Lu Yongguo’s expression turned somewhat troubled.

“But Little Village Chief, teams four to nine all listen to the old village chief.”

“If you want to requisition the hall, you have to get his approval, or the people of the fifth team will cause trouble.”

That was how rural people were.

If you said something was fine, they’d agree.

But if you said it wasn’t, they could feud like enemies over a tiny plot of land or a small forest.

It wasn’t about being petty—it was about principle.

The school was in the fifth team, so it mainly belonged to them.

Children from other teams could attend, but other teams’ cooperatives had no chance of entering.

Fortunately, Zhao Dezhuz had been village chief for decades and held great prestige; if he spoke up, the fifth team wouldn’t cause trouble.

“Then you all go back first. I’ll go talk to him.”

“Lu Yang, I advise you not to waste your effort. The old village chief won’t agree.”

A voice came from above. Lu Yang looked up and saw Zhao Lao Si standing at the edge of the courtyard.

He held a teapot, took a sip of tea, then spat it onto the ground nearby.

“Zhao Lao Si, what the hell do you want?”

Lu Yongchun saw the tea droplets approaching and immediately bristled, rolling up his sleeves to strike.

Zhao Lao Si sneered from his high position: “Lu Erwa, I’m in a good mood today—don’t want to fight with you!”

“But I’ll warn you: a couple of days ago, it was Lu Yang who said you wouldn’t cause trouble in town.”

“If you go today, I can’t keep quiet anymore. Just wait for the old village chief to make a move!”

After speaking, Zhao Lao Si took another sip of tea, waiting for Lu Yang’s response.

Lu Yang just smiled: “Brother Zhao Si, since I said we wouldn’t cause trouble, then we definitely won’t.”

“Why don’t you come with me to the old village chief’s house? I’ll tell him about this matter along the way.”

Zhao Si sneered: “Lu Yang, don’t think I’m one of your mountain teams who’ll believe everything you say.”

“I’ll tell you straight: I knew you passed here at two in the morning a couple of nights ago.”

“Still, I thought we were one village and didn’t want things to get too ugly, so I gave you a chance.”

“But you didn’t appreciate it. At two this morning, you went to town again with torches—and just got back now.”

“Don’t tell me you went to sell your wild game in town—that stuff wouldn’t even sell to dogs there.”

Zhao Si’s words weren’t unfounded.

First, people in town didn’t have much money.

Second, since everyone lived near the mountains, if they wanted wild game, they could hunt it themselves.

Who would buy it for no reason?

Lu Yang just smiled silently.

Lu Yongguo looked proud, as if Lu Yang was already a high-ranking official—or rather, after today’s events, Lu Yang was a big leader in his eyes.

How big?

Well, bigger than the old village chief!

“Zhao Lao Si! Do you think our Little Village Chief is like you—only tough at home?”

“I’ll tell you: we didn’t cause trouble in town these past two days; we went to the county to sell wild game.”

“More than that, the Little Village Chief said he wants to establish a bamboo weaving cooperative, so that this New Year, every household will have at least fifty jin of fatty meat to eat.”

In those times, no one had any fat in their bellies.

Lean meat was just a bonus; fatty meat was the prized delicacy.

If anyone dared to market lean meat as premium, their ancestors’ graves would be dug up.

That was also why many rural people didn’t like wild game—it wasn’t like domesticated meat; it lacked fat.

Without enough fat, the meat was dry and tough, not tasty at all.

Although Lu Yang hadn’t said this explicitly, when the village butchered pigs for the New Year, a family might get five or six jin of half-fat, half-lean meat, worth about five or six yuan.

Today, the entire team could average twenty-two yuan per family.

Fifty jin of fatty meat—that was easily within reach.

Lu Yongchun, seeing Lu Yongguo’s proud demeanor, suddenly felt confident enough not to act rashly.

“Oh, right!”

Zhao Si was momentarily stunned, then laughed.

Because the third team hadn’t increased production, the old village chief had already been angered.

He decided that, for this year’s village pig slaughter, every laborer from the third team would get half a jin less.

There were only five or six families with many laborers, and two or three with fewer.

Losing half a jin per person meant a family might lose two or three jin.

“Hmph, then just wait. Fifty jin? Last year we barely got five jin, and that’s not even certain!”

“Hey, Little Village Chief, you’re still little—you don’t know a damn thing, yet you want to stand shoulder to shoulder with the old village chief!”

Lu Yongguo wasn’t someone who cared much for competition, but Zhao Lao Si was too much—he dared to look down on Lu Yang, the hero in his heart.

He really couldn’t stand it.

“Zhao Lao Si!”

He shouted loudly and opened the yellow cloth bundle on his body.

“Open your damn eyes and see what’s inside!”

Zhao Lao Si finally put down his teapot after the shout, though his gaze remained lofty.

When he saw the bundle filled with colorful banknotes, he froze.

It was a full yellow cloth bundle of money, with many rare large-denomination bills.

Zhao Lao Si felt as if he had suddenly entered a dream.

“Money! Where... where did you get so much money?”