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nWhen Qiao Mei heard what he said, she suddenly thought of something that Auntie Dong had said to her. She pondered for a moment before saying, “If the supply and marketing cooperative really needs fresh bean sprouts, that can be done. There’s another way!”

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n“What?” Chen Hu exclaimed in surprise.

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nIt did not matter to him. Without the bean sprouts, there were other types of food to replace it. It was not as if he must always have dishes cooked with these bean sprouts. However, his wife really liked these crispy bean sprouts very much and always urged him to get some.

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nQiao Mei stopped sewing and looked up at Qiao Qiang. “Grandfather, please go and get Uncle Zhao. We need to discuss something with him.”

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nWhen Qiao Qiang heard this, he did not speak again.

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nHe just stood up and walked out to look for the village officer, Zhao Liang.

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nSoon, Zhao Liang came in with Qiao Qiang.

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nQiao Mei introduced the two men to each other.

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nHowever, Zhao Liang was still very puzzled. He was just a small team leader in charge of a small village and he did not know why he was being asked to meet a section head from the city. The difference in rank between them was not a small one.

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nQiao Mei looked at Chen Hu. “I’ve already taught the villagers how to grow bean sprouts. You can buy bean sprouts from them directly.”

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n“Are they able to grow the same bean sprouts as yours?” Chen Hu asked doubtfully.

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nGrowing bean sprouts was not a simple task. Without any skills, the bean sprouts would turn out to be bitter and astringent and would not taste good at all.

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nSuch bean sprouts would not pass the test.

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n“Most of the bean sprouts should turn out the same. We can set a standard for the bean sprouts, so that we can monitor the quality.”

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nQiao Mei turned to Qiao Qiang again and said, “Grandfather, go and ask Auntie Dong and Auntie Wang to bring their bean sprouts over.”

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n“Okay!” Qiao Qiang went off again.

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nSoon, the two women came over with the bean sprouts.

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nChen Hu picked one up and chewed on it. Then, he nodded and praised, “It’s indeed not bad and tastes like your bean sprouts.”

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nSeeing that he was satisfied, Qiao Mei continued talking, “Uncle Zhao, looking at the current situation, why don’t we apply to set up a bean sprout factory in the village? This will be good for everyone and we can all earn some money in our free time.”

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n“I have no problem, it just depends on… the supply and marketing cooperative in the city.” Zhao Liang looked at Chen Hu and did not say anything else.

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nChen Hu nodded affirmatively. “No problem!”

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nIt had always been possible to set up a factory in the village, it was just that they had no reason to do so. Now that there was a reason, setting it up would definitely not be an issue.

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nEveryone agreed, but Auntie Dong and Auntie Wang did not look too good.

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nA few days ago, the older women in the village had asked her about the situation with the bean sprouts and whether it was easy to sell them. They also had the intention to find a place in the city to sell bean sprouts so that they could help out with the family expenses.

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nAlthough people were not allowed to sell things in the city, it was still possible to do it secretly.

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nThey just needed to make sure that they did not get caught.

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nNow that the women had a way to sell it without sneaking into the city, what were they dissatisfied with?

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nQiao Mei did not quite understand.

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nHowever, Qiao Qiang knew what they were thinking at a glance. He directly asked Chen Hu and Zhao Liang, “How do we split the earnings from the bean sprouts grown in this village? Do we split them according to the work point system? Or do we do it in another way?”

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nCurrently, any factory set up in the village would be collectively-owned and the earnings were distributed in accordance with the work point system. All the villagers had a share in it.

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nPeople were paid according to the number of work points they earned.

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nThis had always been how it was done under the current policy, but Auntie Dong and Auntie Wang were unwilling to agree.

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nAfter all, these bean sprouts were grown by them through their hard work from dawn till dusk. Now, if it went into the collective pool and they were paid in accordance to the evenly distributed work points, they would only get a small amount of money,

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nIf they secretly went out to sell it, the money would be all theirs.

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nWhy would they want to split the money with those people in the village who did not contribute to the work? Wasn’t that stupid?

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nFor a moment, a heavy silence fell upon the room.

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