Chapter 5: The Grain Selling Incident

  Life must go on, and since he's back, no matter how much regret there is, it can't be undone. After Jiang Feng returned from Longfeng, he felt a suffocating atmosphere pervading the entire village. Through inquiring with Jiang Dayuan, he also understood the ins and outs of what had happened.

  This year, the weather has been favorable and many parts of the country have seen a bumper harvest. Linshui County, a major agricultural county, is overflowing with grain stores. However, before farmers could even enjoy the joy of the harvest, they were devastated by news that their grains couldn't be sold.

  Wolong Village is the same, farmers' main income comes from selling grain and some fruits they plant themselves, also relying on going up to the mountains to cut some rattan vines to make baskets and sell them at the market. The main grains are wheat, corn and some miscellaneous grains. Fruits are mainly apples, pears and others that are planted by themselves. This year's wheat harvest is good, and the granaries in every household are full. Now people all hope to sell out their grain as soon as possible, so they can get cash to support a year's expenses.

  The county grain bureau had already formulated this year's grain procurement task before the wheat harvest. Now farmers have two options to sell their grains: one is to sell to the state, and the other is to wait for enterprises that use grains to come and purchase them. After the state completes its grain procurement, ordinary people are now waiting with hope for those grain merchants to come and make purchases. According to past experience, every year the country sets a unified grain procurement price, and the prices at which grain merchants make their purchases are generally higher than the national procurement price. Unfortunately, this has changed this year. News from outside the village indicates that the grain merchants' purchasing price will be two cents lower than the state's procurement price, and it is still limited to a certain quantity.

  The next day, Jiang Feng arrived at the village committee early and was appointed as the assistant to the director of the village committee and also a temporary member of the village committee. So when he learned about the grain sale incident, he rushed to the village committee because he thought that several cadres from the village committee would definitely be there.

  As soon as he walked into the conference room, he saw the village branch secretary Jiang Fugui. From a generational point of view, Jiang Feng should call him uncle. Jiang Fugui had thick eyebrows and big eyes, with a messy beard, wearing a gray cardigan, with a strong character, practical in doing things, and deeply loved by the villagers.

  "Don't take the village head as a non-official", this is a popular saying among the people. From the domestic administrative hierarchy, the village head is indeed the most basic national official, but those who have had rural life experience know that although the village head's position is smaller than the "sesame officer" of the seventh product county in ancient times, he has the highest authority in the power hierarchy order of the countryside due to his "present management" power. The people have a figurative saying about the power of the village head: "Managing heaven and earth above, managing chicken feathers and garlic skin below".

  Jiang Fugui is the de facto ruler of Wolong Village, and has been in this position for nearly twenty years. He handles matters fairly and can balance things well. With the simple folk customs of Wolong Village, under his mediation, big issues become small ones and small issues are resolved.

  Jiang Fugui's life was also very bitter, his wife passed away early, leaving behind only one daughter, Jiang Cuihua. In recent years, thanks to Cuihua, if not for her, this clever and capable old accountant might have collapsed as well.

  "Jiang Feng is here. Sigh, wait a bit and Jiang Chunhai will be here too, let him tell everyone." Jiang Fugui looked at Jiang Feng walking into the village committee meeting room with a helpless expression. As for Jiang Feng, he had a deep impression of him. From a young age, he could feel that this nephew was not ordinary. Not only did he study hard, but he was also very considerate. Not only was his mind agile, but he could also accomplish things in unexpected ways, often using the simplest methods to get things done. So he had always thought Jiang Feng was a talented person. As expected, this child did not disappoint and became the first university student from Wolong Village.

  However, he thought it was a bit unexpected that Jiang Feng could return after graduation, back to this poor and white Wulong Village. Could it be true what others said that he couldn't stay outside or made some mistakes and came back? He wouldn't believe it even if you killed him.

  A talented person has arrived in the village. He is so happy that he can't close his mouth. With only a primary school education, he often can't grasp the essence of some basic documents. When it comes to specific implementation, there are deviations. So as soon as Jiang Feng assigned him work, he immediately reassigned his tasks.

  Just as everyone was making a fuss, a man in his thirties or forties walked in from the entrance. He was Jiang Chunhai, the village director of Wulong Village. Several people immediately surrounded him and anxiously asked what was going on. Jiang Chunhai pushed against the crowd and loudly said: "Everyone, don't worry for now. We'll have a meeting soon. Whatever it is, we'll talk about it then."

  Jiang Fugui looked at Chunhai's worried face and already understood what had happened. He calmed down and said, "Chunhai, tell everyone about it. Everyone is eager to know if the rumors outside are true."

  "Uh. Alright." Jiang Chunhai also felt that everyone would eventually find out about this matter. It's better to say it early and let everyone have a psychological preparation. The news he brought back this time was really too difficult for people to accept.

  "Yesterday, I and other village directors went to see the grain merchants who bought grains from our village. They told us that this year's purchasing price per catty would be two mao lower than the national purchasing price. And it's still limited purchase." As soon as Jiang Chunhai finished speaking, the meeting room erupted.

  "What. Low two hairs. md" The scene in the venue had already become a mess. The sound of scolding and questioning echoed in the air without stopping. Everyone's face showed a hint of despair. No one was in a good mood to get up. The rumors outside were confirmed. This was absolutely a deep blow to them.

  "What did the village leader say?" Jiang Fugui looked at the crowd that had already gone wild and frowned. This news was also hard for him to digest, a good harvest was equivalent to no harvest, and with this purchasing price, the income of the village this year would be equivalent to not increasing.

  "What else can be said, the county's granary is already full this year and it's impossible to collect too much grain. The village promised to communicate with those grain merchants to raise their purchasing price. I think this matter is quite strange. This year's bumper harvest, they can buy from anywhere, if you don't sell, others will sell. Moreover, their purchases are also limited, once they finish buying, others who want to sell won't be able to sell either." Jiang Chunhai looked at the crowd in despair, he was also very angry, his family's grain was too much to store.

  "How much do they plan to purchase in our village?" Jiang Fugui asked, knowing that this was the reality, and could only hope to sell a bit more. As long as they could sell a bit more grain, the common people would be able to get by, otherwise the expenses for the whole year would be for nothing.

  "Twenty thousand kilograms" The scene was in an uproar again, twenty thousand kilograms wasn't even a tenth of the village's total grain yield.

  "Just wait a bit, the village is negotiating with them, the price will definitely not be higher. I hope they can buy more." Jiang Chunhai said weakly to the disappointed crowd, then he lowered his head and rested it on the table, oblivious to everyone's noise.

  "Alright, everyone scatter, let's discuss if there are any other ways." Jiang Fugui consoled the crowd, he was still very calm. If even the number one master of Wolong Village couldn't keep his cool, who knows what chaos would ensue below.

  Watching the crowd disperse gradually, several members of the village committee began to discuss this year's grain sales problem again, but ultimately failed to reach any consensus.

  Nowadays, the common people are suffering a lot. Even if there is a bumper harvest, they cannot benefit from it. They cultivate their own land based on traditional experience and do not understand market information at all. Everyone grows basically the same thing in the same way.

  Cheap grain hurts farmers, this is the most basic common sense. Now the countryside has also become a mess, they keep holding meetings to discuss the problem of peasants selling grain. After repeatedly haggling with several grain merchants, the final agreement reached was that the grain procurement price would not change, and the government would subsidize some funds to the grain merchants. In Jixiang Town, an additional 100,000 catties of grain were purchased, and since Wolong Village is a major grain-producing village, it received a quota of 40,000 catties of grain sales. The grain sales event thus came to an end. Although everyone was dissatisfied, they could not change this outcome.

  Farmers are miserable, without a strong information dominance that cannot change the fate of reality. Looking at the world's agricultural development, there has never been a country like China with such a large population base and little land per capita. Thirty years after reform and opening up, urban development is no longer inferior to Western countries, but rural development still falls far short of national standards. A country's prosperity cannot be achieved without the construction of grassroots farmers. However, what farmers get now is really too little.

  The grain crisis has sounded an alarm for everyone, and farmers must also operate their land according to market demand. If they fall behind, they will be beaten. The division of land into small plots per household, the weakness of individual strength, and the blockade of information have already hindered the survival and development of farmers. If people cannot get what they need to survive on the land, tens of thousands of people will flood into cities, bringing incalculable crises to urban areas.

  A country cannot be stable without a stable agriculture, rural areas are always the foundation of national stability. Now, industrialized agricultural operation is the general trend, and industrialized adjustment has also become the top priority in rural development.

  Wolong Village to Jixiang Town is just a small microcosm of the country's rural areas, and it can be seen in general.