Free Web NovelChapter 463: Chapter 243: Building the Workshop
Juhua shared her thoughts with her parents and older brother, stressing, "My main concern is that you two will work yourselves to the bone. If we’re as busy as this year from now on, you won’t be able to take it. We’d be better off planting just one crop of rice, or only planting two or three mu of the late-season rice. We absolutely can’t do what we did this year—planting two crops in all the fields."
Qingmu nodded. "We can’t plant like this next year—even I’m feeling exhausted. Mom and Dad are getting older; I’m afraid they’ve just been forcing themselves to keep up, haven’t they? Juhua is right. If we plant two or three mu of late-season rice, the summer harvest plus that will be more than enough grain for us. And even if we have extra, we shouldn’t sell it. Storing some grain at home gives us more peace of mind."
He was still haunted by the times they didn’t have enough to eat. Cornmeal was fine once in a while, but eating it for every meal was incredibly bland.
Juhua agreed. "We definitely should store grain. We can dig the root cellar bigger, and the grain will last longer if we store some of it in there. Dad, even with this new plan, you won’t have a moment’s rest all year. In the winter, you have to plant cabbage and carrots, and we’re raising more and more pigs. With the new village workshop, my brother will be busier too. And Mom and I will certainly be busy with planting vegetables, raising fish, feeding the chickens and ducks, and tending to the fruit trees—not to mention planting things like Huangdou, corn, and Shanyu in the spring."
Zheng Changhe and Mrs. Yang exchanged a look and smiled. "You two are just worried about your old dad, don’t I know it? But being this busy isn’t good—if I work myself into the ground, it won’t matter how much money we make. We’ll plant less late-season rice next year. We probably should have planted less early-season rice as well, but in a couple of years, your sister-in-law will be joining the family. She’s a capable woman, so things will surely get a lot easier for us. Besides, don’t we have that rice thresher now? That thing is incredibly fast."
Mrs. Yang also let out a long sigh of relief. "There’s no use pretending we’re not getting old. It makes more sense for us to plant more coarse grains and raise a couple more pigs. Raising pigs is a chore, but at least it’s not a frantic rush for our lives. And what about the wild chrysanthemums, the cabbages, the wild bamboo shoots and mushrooms from the mountains in spring? Can’t all of those be sold for money? Why do we have to be so fixated on growing rice?"
Juhua was delighted to see how quick-witted her mother was and that she wasn’t opposed to these "side businesses." She said, "Don’t you worry, Mom. In a few years, if Xiatang Market starts booming, all these things will sell like hotcakes. By then, our shop will be collecting rent, too. It’s not that we won’t grow rice at all. But with so much land, planting two crops in every field would require a massive effort just to gather enough fertilizer. Otherwise, we’d deplete the soil and end up losing more than we gain."
Qingmu nodded. "If we still only had a few mu of paddy fields like we used to, I’d definitely plant two crops on all of them. With less land, it’s easier to gather enough fertilizer. But now we have over ten mu of paddy fields, all needing to be fertilized and nourished. It’s impossible to keep up—and the dry fields need fertilizer, too. Besides, everyone is just exhausted."
Mrs. Yang laughed. "The land needs to be managed properly, and so do the people. If you work yourself sick, you’ll just end up spending money on doctors. And if you overwork the land, it’ll go barren. We need to change our ways. We can’t just keep thinking that farming is all we know how to do."
After their discussion, the family decided they would only plant a few mu of late-season rice next year and let the other fields rest.
Juhua couldn’t help but sigh. ’There are no real shortcuts in this world. Even in my previous life, with all sorts of chemical fertilizers, it wasn’t a perfect solution. Those artificial fertilizers could never compare to the real deal—organic fertilizer. As a result, the crops they forced to grow always lacked a certain natural essence.’
’All things in creation move in cycles, following their own inviolable laws!’
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The village workshop was built, and the usual leisure of autumn and winter turned into a period of busyness.
But living with such hope made everyone feel especially cheerful, and the days flew by. Before they knew it, the winter wind grew more and more biting. Even on a bright, sunny day, the dry coldness of the wind on your face could take your breath away, freezing the tip of your nose red and making you puff out constant clouds of white air.
Juhua didn’t try to micromanage the workshop. She had already discussed everything she felt was important with Qingmu, bringing things up casually in their daily conversations. The rest, she left to him to figure out. Qingmu didn’t disappoint her. He and Huai Zi worked together to create a comprehensive plan and a set of rules, and with Li Gengtian’s assistance, they built two workshop buildings.
’She didn’t think that simply imposing the corporate management style from her previous life would work here. Any good management method must suit its broader environment and specific goals. Things had to be tailored to the people, the time, and the place to be truly effective.’
’Qingnan Village might be small, but it was filled with all sorts of people whose mindsets and ways of doing things wouldn’t tolerate her showing off her bit of "advanced" knowledge. In the beginning, the villagers would use their own unique methods to manage the workshop. As it grew to a certain scale, those management practices would continuously improve and become more refined. A management model developed through hands-on experience would be the most suitable one.’
