Chapter 347: Chapter 347: The End of the Year

After all, Cao Congjun was in the county, so he got the “Huaguo Daily” a bit faster. When he mentioned this, Jiang Xingye and the others hadn’t realized the impact the newspaper would have.

By this time, the impact of the calendar promotion was already significant.

The Four Sisters Clothing Factory faced a crisis of not being able to fulfill orders.

Throughout the production team, there weren’t many households with sewing machines. Even if they were all gathered together, there were only eight, and the daily production was indeed limited.

By December 10th, the Shangjiang Machinery Design and Manufacturing Factory finally delivered an electric sewing machine to them, and they also made a batch of matching sewing needles. Yu Xiaomin personally tested the sewing machine.

At that speed, human hands could barely keep up.

Ten days later, another machine was delivered.

By this time, it was already December 20th.

In previous years, around this time, every household would be busy preparing for the New Year. Although they lived in poverty, a few families would come together to make tofu, pound rice cakes, and steam bean paste buns. Once steamed, they would store them in pots and freeze them outside.

Additionally, they would organize a fishing event at the lake, drilling through the ice and casting nets to catch fish. This was a regular treat for the New Year.

But this year, when other teams went fishing, they didn’t see anyone from the Shangjiang Team and found it peculiar.

“Would they waste time for a few fish? Didn’t you notice that even the usual loafers in their team aren’t wandering around anymore?”

“They’re all busy earning money. There’s so much rush to meet production deadlines.”

“There’s a girl next door to us who was supposed to marry into the Shangjiang Team at the beginning of the year. Last month, they were urged to hasten the marriage because there was too much work over there. If she didn’t marry quickly, they threatened to call it off.”

“Did they call it off?”

“What do you think? Initially, the bride price was agreed at twenty yuan, but they nodded, and the bride price was increased to twenty-five yuan. She’s married now and working at the commune’s food branch factory.”

“How many factories did the Shangjiang Team open this year? A furniture factory, thresher factory, clothing factory, and they even have a share in the machinery factory and food factory at the commune.”

“That’s nothing. I heard from my little uncle’s aunt’s daughter-in-law’s niece that the county’s textile factory plans to partner with the Shangjiang Team to open a factory, but they said there’s a shortage of manpower, so they didn’t proceed.”

A burst of sighs followed, all tinged with regret.

It was truly maddening—this year, without the Shangjiang Team competing for fish, even though there were more fish caught than last year, they didn’t taste as good.

The threshold of the Shangjiang Team was almost worn out by matchmakers.

The young men became even more valuable than before, causing a problem for the girls who didn’t want to marry outside.

Although not many entered the clothing factory, a lot joined the commune’s food factory.

And female workers joined the furniture and machinery factories as well.

Jiang Hongyan was speaking with Jiang Xingmei, “A few days ago, Xianglan and Ai Hua specifically came to see me. They had both planned to marry after the New Year, but now they don’t want to.”

“Working in the factory is tiring too, but at least you see the money. If you get married and work in the fields, it’s not just exhausting; you don’t even know how many points you can earn throughout the year.”

“Exactly, I wouldn’t want that either.” Jiang Xingmei was stepping on the pedal of the electric sewing machine, and with a light tap, it would run a long stretch.

With two more sewing machines available, Jiang Xinglan also joined in on the sewing machine. She was careful, afraid of ruining the clothes.

Just then, Xu Qinghuan came in to talk to them, “Next year, the commune will probably encourage each production team to buy more machines for farming, freeing up manpower. By then, we can open more factories.”

“Open factories? What factories could they possibly start? Without you, sister-in-law, would the Shangjiang Team have been able to set up so many factories? I don’t know about anything else, but I do know that our village factories are no less than those in the county.”

Jiang Xingmei, naturally straightforward, had matured through her experiences, becoming assertive and outspoken, which made girls her age in the production team envious.

She made her own clothes and kept herself tidy and clean every day.

“Your brother’s contribution is no smaller than mine!” Xu Qinghuan said.

As December rolled in, it was customary to slaughter pigs for the New Year. Usually, by now, everyone would be eager. But this year, with December 20th already past, there hadn’t been any activity.

Chen Dewen and the others came back, and Luo Jinhao, who was running business in Anguang City, also arrived home recently. When he came to visit, he saw Jiang Xingye, “Brother Ye, why haven’t we heard anything about the pig slaughter this year?”

Jiang Xingye had been running around all day. Finally back to see his fiancée, he was so tired that he didn’t want to move from the chair until Xu Qinghuan handed him a glass of water.

With one sip, he knew it was water from his special storage, and it instantly revitalized him.

“I’ll leave the pig slaughtering to you. The team leader has mentioned it to me several times, but I really can’t spare the time,” Jiang Xingye said.

Jiang Xinglan added, “Why can’t Dad arrange people to do it? Why does everything depend on you!”

Xu Qinghuan laughed, “Because if Ah Ye doesn’t arrange it, no one will come forward.”

Jiang Xingye pointed at Chen Dewen and the others, “Since they’re back, they can handle it.”

Zheng Siqi was shocked, “No way, if we slaughter the pigs, those aunts in the production team will eat us alive!”

Slaughtering a pig requires both strength and skill.

If you cut the pork belly into trifles, can’t strip the tenderloin off the ribs, leave too much behind on the pig’s leg, or fail to chop the four trotters evenly… all these are issues.

In short, there were many requirements, often confusing, but the pig was always slaughtered in this manner.

“Can’t you learn? Who’s born knowing?” Jiang Xingye said nonchalantly.

In short, the sales staff of the Shangjiang Team had to be all-rounders. They should be able to toast a client one moment and help the team slaughter pigs the next.

The next day, the news that the sales team was responsible for the pig slaughter spread throughout the team. The aunts staying at home rushed over, helping to boil water to scald the pig hair, instructing them on knife techniques, and showing them how to portion and bone the meat. In the end, they only had to act as tools.

Unexpectedly, this year’s pig slaughter went quite well. In the evening, after the factory finished work, the entire production team enjoyed a feast of pig dishes.

By December 28th, it was time to take a New Year break. Responding to the call from future states, the Spring Festival holiday was extended to seven days.

Jiang Xingye first had Liu Zhijian and the production team accountant review the accounts. After confirming accuracy, he asked the team accountant to sign.

The next morning was the 29th of the lunar month, which was January 29th, 1975. Jiang Baohua called for a meeting of all team members.

The broadcast sounded at 7 o’clock and started precisely at 8 because there had been rumors about dividends, so everyone arrived quickly and neatly.

“Alright, the New Year is almost here. To be brief, I’ll summarize the year. This year, we’re all aware that we made significant breakthroughs in agricultural production, primarily due to our nationwide first adoption of fully automated harvesting….”

The applause rose up.

Jiang Baohua was a bit emotional, “Second, another key point from this year is that our industrial production also achieved great progress. Today is dividend day. I just took a look, and even those receiving the least will get over twenty yuan. Before the money is distributed, I think we should thank two comrades. They are…”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep