Chapter 30: As Long as Your Mindset Stays Positive, There Are Always More Solutions Than Problems

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When you get to work, time passes quickly.

Once this kiln was fired, there would still be another one to handle. That was simply the work the village had to do.

It was unpaid labor, but it still had to be done.

However, after firing five or six batches, they had nearly exhausted the limestone that had been mined collectively by the village.

On top of that, everyone had their own little schemes, so they could no longer gather enough materials for another batch.

One household was short of coal; another did not have enough limestone.

Qin Jun had no intention of waiting. At the current pace of firing one kiln every four days, they could easily fire two kilns a day here—even three.

Back when steel had been smelted in this place, there had been a dozen or more small blast furnaces.

Although all of them had collapsed and been damaged, a dozen or so could still be found with a little clearing.

Since they had the means, not using them would be a waste.

Besides, the wages he had set were not low. Once word spread, there would certainly be some trouble.

He was not worried about the villagers. After all, they were the direct beneficiaries. No one was earning the sixty-yuan wage yet, but who knew? They might be able to earn it in the future.

So although there were certainly villagers who envied the sixty-yuan wage, there might not be many who felt jealous or opposed it.

What Qin Jun was most worried about was the commune. Though the past few years had seen some efforts to set things right, there were still people occupying high positions who continued to play the role of professional troublemakers.

Such people absolutely could not stand to see anyone else prosper. They were the sort who could not bear it when others lived well.

But since Qin Jun had set a technician's monthly wage at sixty yuan, he had naturally made preparations long ago.

So he truly was not afraid of anyone from the commune coming to cause trouble. Times had changed.

“Xiaojun, we’ve only just started running the factory today. You can’t sit around after doing a little work!”

Just as they finished one batch, and the newly recruited workers had only just sat down to rest, Qin Zheng came over.

As the team leader, his main duty was usually to supervise the villagers at work.

They had barely done any work, yet they were already resting. How could that be allowed?

Even if they were entitled to rest, they could not be so lax now. They could put on a show, couldn’t they? They could at least pretend to work while dragging their feet. Only then would they deserve the thirty yuan they were paid each month!

Qin Jun smiled. “We can’t sit idle, but how are we supposed to fire the next kiln?”

Qin Zheng let out a helpless sigh. “There’s no way to fire it.”

A group of people were still arguing noisily nearby. It was clearly not just because the lime kiln had officially begun operating that day; there were all sorts of other reasons as well.

For instance, many people wanted to fire a batch of lime as soon as possible.

But after digging for so many days, the limestone that was easy to excavate and easy to find had nearly all been dug up.

From now on, finding enough limestone for a batch of five or six tons would depend entirely on luck.

That had reduced the efficiency of excavation far too much. By now, each household had five or eight hundred pounds of limestone, but they were still far from having enough for a full batch.

Of course, some families had prepared in advance and already stored a considerable amount of limestone.

But those families had no coal, so they could not fire it either.

Now these people had gathered together. They did not want to pay the production team to fire the limestone for them, but neither did they want to give the opportunity to anyone else.

The situation was much like what had happened with the Qin family before. Qin Jun’s father, grandfather, and uncles had gathered together, each hoping someone else would contribute the money so that their own family could be the first to build a house.

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But who here was a fool?

Everyone had their own little tricks, and everyone wanted someone else to help them first.

That was why the matter had reached a stalemate.

Qin Zheng naturally understood the situation, so he explained it all to Qin Jun.

When Qin Jun heard this, he smiled. As long as one’s thinking did not falter, there were always more solutions than difficulties.

After discussing it briefly with Qin Zheng and Qin Shi, he immediately came up with a solution.

“All right, all right. Stop making such a commotion. Since no one wants to suffer a loss, we’ll handle this fairly and impartially.”

“Listen carefully. I’ll say this only once!”

Seeing that people were still talking and the entire scene had become noisy, Qin Jun raised his voice.

When everyone had finally quieted down, Qin Jun continued, “Since none of you can gather enough limestone for a full batch, or you have limestone but no coal, the village will purchase everything collectively.”

“Now that the village has opened a kiln factory, we can no longer fire lime for free. You’ll have to pay for it.”

“Don’t make such a fuss. In the past, you couldn’t even buy lime from the commune no matter how much money you had. Now you can buy it here, and you can even save some money. That’s already a good thing.”

“Besides, you’ll all have another way to make money in the future: selling coal and limestone. No matter who has them, the village will buy them at the regular price.”

“In other words, the village is now buying limestone without limit. Limestone will be thirteen yuan per ton, and coal will be twenty-five.”

“Do you understand? Anyone who has limestone can sell it to the village for cash. Once you’ve saved enough money, you can buy lime directly from the village. The price will still be twelve yuan per ton.”

When no one responded, Qin Jun rolled his eyes slightly and immediately understood what was going on.

“You still don’t get it? What good is it to keep limestone in your hands?”

“You might as well turn it into cash now. Once you have twelve yuan, that’s enough to buy a ton of lime. Even if our village runs out, do you think every other place will run out too?”

“And besides, if you have money, do you necessarily have to buy lime? Can’t you buy something else? Think it over carefully.”

The moment Qin Jun finished speaking, someone shouted.

“I’ll sell mine! My family has more than a ton of limestone.”

“I’ll sell mine too! We have more than three tons!”

“Take mine first—two tons and two hundred pounds. That’s exactly six yuan!”

...

The scene erupted into chaos in an instant.

Qin Jun was right. What was wrong with having money in one’s hands?

They truly had not thought of it before. Now that they understood, they all rushed forward, afraid that the village would run out of money and stop buying.

There were no fools here. Every one of them had plenty of clever ideas.

Even families that had no plans to build houses became excited. They had limestone too!

If other people were digging while they did nothing, wouldn’t they have suffered a loss?

That was why they had followed along and dug up some limestone. They had only done so as a precaution, unwilling to be left at a disadvantage.

Who could have imagined that they would unexpectedly profit from it today?

Qin Jun was right. Even if they did not buy lime, they could buy something else.

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Besides, the village was buying limestone without limit now—but what about later?

What if they stopped buying it in the future? That was why having the money safely in their own hands was still the most reassuring option.

After Qin Jun’s brief explanation, everyone understood. Naturally, they fought to sell their limestone.

Lime could be bought at any time, but limestone could not be sold whenever one pleased.

The lime kilns at the commune were proof of that. When had the villagers ever been able to sell limestone there?

Only people with connections could get their limestone accepted and make money.

For the villagers, converting anything into cash was simply too difficult. Now that they had an opportunity, how could they wait?

Those who moved quickly would benefit; those who hesitated would get nothing. Everyone hurried over and crowded around.

“Don’t come to me. Go find the accountant!”

Seeing that a stampede was about to break out, Qin Jun hurriedly shouted.

Sure enough, the crowd changed direction again and charged toward Qin Shi.

“We’ve solved the raw-material problem. At the very least, we should have enough for the next few days.”

Qin Jun looked at Qin Zheng. “When will the commune’s ten tons of coal be delivered?”

Qin Zheng’s face held not the slightest trace of a smile. “What are you dreaming about? We have to haul it ourselves!”

“Fine. You wouldn’t even let people rest just now, but it looks like there’ll be no resting after all. Take some people to haul the coal this afternoon.”

He turned his head toward the limestone-buying station.

In this era, everything was troublesome, no matter what one did.

Take the current situation, for example. The village had only one large scale. They placed a door panel on top of it, then piled stones onto the panel to weigh them.

At most, they could weigh a little over three hundred pounds at a time, so every weighing had to be recorded separately. It was extremely cumbersome.

Most troublesome of all, people argued over every discrepancy of a few ounces.

Only because Qin Shi often dealt with the villagers was he able to manage the situation.

But having to weigh every single stone was exhausting just to think about.

“This is all heavy manual labor!” Qin Jun said with some feeling.

“It doesn’t really count as heavy labor. It’s just ordinary work,” Qin Zheng replied with a worried frown.

“What’s wrong?” Qin Jun finally noticed that something was off about him.

“What do you think is wrong? Don’t be fooled by how scattered and insignificant these stones look. If everyone sells them to us, the total amount will definitely be considerable.”

As soon as Qin Zheng said this, Qin Jun understood. The village had no money.

That meant it could not purchase too much limestone, especially since the kiln factory had only just been established and would have even less money.

Qin Zheng had realized this the moment Qin Jun announced that the village would buy limestone.

But the kiln factory had to operate and could not simply shut down, so the village had no choice but to purchase the limestone.

And if the kiln factory had no money, and the village had no money, what could they do?

They could only issue IOUs.

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