Chapter 27: A Son Is a Son, Even If Born of a Stepmother

"Don't worry. There are plenty of ways to increase production right now. For instance, we could help others with their firing!" Seeing the look on Qin Jun's face, Qin Zheng knew exactly what he was thinking, so he spoke with great satisfaction.

"We can't get our hands on many coal supply quotas, but other teams have some, and that will be enough for us."

Qin Jun let out a sigh of relief. It seemed Qin Zheng had already planned ahead.

"Since the lime kiln factory is already set up, our top priority is to make things official."

"Captain, you’ll be the factory director, my eldest cousin will be the accountant, and I’ll be the technician. Find ten workers, and that’ll be a full team."

"Hey, you ambitious kid! You actually want ten workers? Do we really need that many?" Qin Zheng asked, finding it amusing.

Qin Jun gave him a meaningful look and said, "Whether we need them or not, we have to hire them. After all, we’re paying salaries!"

Qin Zheng was taken aback. Wasn't paying salaries normal? Why would that necessitate hiring more workers? Did he have something else in mind?

"Once we start making money, do you really think we should just hand over the vast majority to the authorities?" Qin Jun asked with a chuckle.

"Ah? You crafty brat! Yu Aiguo already said that 80 percent of the profits must be turned over," Qin Zheng replied.

"Captain, you didn't agree to that, did you?"

Qin Jun was stunned. He had long known that the higher-ups were a bit greedy, but he hadn't expected them to be this rapacious. If they turned over profits at that rate, they might as well just pay taxes according to standard corporate law. He remembered that at this time, the corporate tax rate was fifty-five percent, maybe sixty at most—hardly eighty.

"Of course I wasn't happy about it! So we finally settled on fifty-five percent. It seems that’s in line with national regulations. Otherwise, I definitely wouldn't have agreed," Qin Zheng said, laughing triumphantly again.

Qin Jun’s smile grew wider. "It's based on the profit margin, right? That’s why we can hire more workers and pay higher wages. It is heavy manual labor, after all."

"Right, keep the wealth within our own walls!" Qin Zheng realized.

Once they were in agreement, the next step was recruitment. A team-run enterprise was still an enterprise, and those recruited would be workers; even if they went full-time later, it wouldn't be a problem. Since there was no shortage of labor for farming in the village—in fact, there was a surplus—it was easy.

"Captain, you handle the resources and secure the various quotas needed for the factory. Your salary shouldn't be low. I think two yuan a day is appropriate."

"Two yuan?" Qin Zheng hadn't expected that.

"Yes, two yuan. As the director of a factory, you can't have a salary that's too low, but it can't be too high either," Qin Jun confirmed.

Without giving Qin Zheng a chance to react, he continued, "The accountant will be in charge of daily affairs and needs to keep clear records of all transactions. That’s also important, so two yuan a day for him too."

"Then there’s me. The importance of a technician goes without saying. Two yuan a day isn't much, but I’ll show some spirit and settle for two."

"Finally, the ten workers doing the labor will get one yuan a day. After all, their work doesn't require specialized skills."

"In any line of work, replaceable labor never commands a high wage."

As he finished his last sentence, they found themselves surrounded by a crowd.

"One yuan a day for workers? That’s thirty yuan a month, isn't it?"

"Yeah! Thirty yuan! That’s about the same as a second-grade worker's salary, right?"

"We don't pay that much here, but in other places, a second-grade worker only makes around thirty-something yuan."

"I wonder how the team plans to recruit?"

Qin Zheng’s thoughts were interrupted by the buzzing crowd; he had even forgotten to calculate his own monthly salary. However, everyone was good at math, and soon, someone had calculated everyone's pay.

"Little Jun has really made something of himself! A technician makes sixty yuan a month!"

"Wait, does that mean the captain and the accountant also make sixty a month?"

"Sixty yuan? Wouldn't two months be more than our family earns in a whole year?"

"We really need to get this factory running. It's a pity the lime kiln is so small; we can't hire more people."

"Don't worry, I heard Little Jun can cast iron pots too!"

"Right, I heard that too. Qin Han got one yesterday, and he didn't even need an industrial coupon!"

"Heh! If we had to buy them with industrial coupons, we wouldn't be able to afford them. They cost three or four yuan each!"

"What are you dreaming about? On the black market, a big pot without a coupon costs at least ten yuan."

"I heard Qin Li's family spent eight yuan for one. I wonder if we can buy one for that price too?"

"Why not just ask Little Jun?"

Clearly, these people had no intention of avoiding Qin Jun; they were discussing him right to his face. He could hear them, and naturally, so could Qin Zheng.

Qin Zheng was truly astonished. This kid, Qin Jun, was quite the operator. The lime kiln hadn't even officially opened, and he was already casting iron pots? Compared to burning lime, making iron pots seemed to be a much faster way to make money. Plus, it used fewer resources and had a much broader market.

"Can you really cast iron pots? You only got the mold yesterday afternoon, and you already made two?" Qin Zheng grabbed Qin Jun, demanding an answer.

"It wasn't two..."

"I knew it! How could it be that fast? Making one big iron pot is impressive enough," Qin Zheng said, relieved.

"No, I meant I didn't just make two. I made four. My eldest sister-in-law got two, I kept one, and Qin Han got one."

"What? You made all that in one afternoon?" Qin Zheng asked in surprise.

Qin Jun continued, "It’s that easy. For those who know how, it’s not difficult; for those who don't, it’s impossible. So, many things we can't buy aren't actually unattainable—we just have to find ways to be self-reliant."

"Self-reliant? I’d like to, but we need someone with the skills!"

Qin Zheng slowly calmed down, looking at Qin Jun as if he were a precious treasure.

"Should we set up an iron pot factory too?"

Qin Jun replied immediately, "We should. But one thing at a time. Let’s prioritize the lime kiln factory first, and for that, let's prioritize the older bachelors."

"Bachelors?" Qin Zheng was stunned again.

Qin Jun smiled. "Once they’re workers, it’ll be easier for them to find partners!"

"True, true! This way, our village won't have such a large group of men struggling to marry."

Qin Zheng realized he couldn't keep up with Qin Jun's line of thinking.

"Learning to cast iron pots is harder. We need young people who are smarter and have a bit more education, otherwise, they won't learn it in a short time."

"No rush. You plan that out slowly. Today, let’s just get the lime kiln factory up and running."

"Damn, from now on our village will have plenty of workers! No more need for those crippled widowers from the city to act all high and mighty when they come to the village looking for wives."

Qin Zheng roared this out; it seemed he had been deeply provoked the previous night. He hadn't seen that Zhang Ergui today; presumably, when he saw him off this morning, Qin Zheng had received another jolt. Why should the best girls in the village marry the "defective" goods from the city? Although he resented it, it was a fact. Because compared to the countryside, even begging in the city was easier than living in the village.

"Alright, as long as the state has policies that allow our team to run enterprises, who cares if we turn over all the profits? We can still support our workers."

Qin Zheng finally understood Qin Jun's logic: it didn't matter if the factory made a profit or not, as long as it could pay the workers' salaries. This kept people fed, even if there were no profits. Would the higher-ups really shut down a village factory just because it couldn't turn over much profit? What were they thinking? Even a stepchild is still a child.

Once the factory was established and there were workers, it would be impossible to shut it down until after 1984. To be precise, it was 1986 when a state-owned enterprise in the Northeast went bankrupt. It was only from that year that state-owned enterprises in China could potentially collapse. Even if their team-run enterprise couldn't compare to a state-owned one, it was still a collective enterprise involving a dozen families—how could they just shut it down on a whim?

Qin Jun’s plan was to leverage the population to force the commune's hand! As the number of workers grew, it wouldn't be something a small commune could control.

Take it slowly. First a lime kiln, then an iron pot factory. If conditions allowed, he would restart the small blast furnaces. With those, he could refine steel scientifically. Once they produced tool steel, what couldn't they make?

Having stirred up the people's enthusiasm, Qin Jun stepped back.

"Wait, that's not right. Thirty yuan a month for workers is fine, but is sixty yuan a month for the director too much?"

Qin Zheng finally realized this, but no one gave him an answer. Because no one would dare say to his face, "You don't do anything, why are you getting such a high salary?" To say that would be foolish!