Chapter 252: A Strong Fire
Mr. Zhang's work arrangements have gone through many twists and turns.

On the sixth day of the first lunar month, he was thinking about investing in the Yunxi Village Crop Planting Professional Cooperative, but was unanimously opposed by the entire Zhang family.

Especially his wife said the most unpleasant things, saying that you are old, why are you still messing around, going back to your hometown to work on the crops, where are you going to live? What are you going to eat? There is no shortage of food at home! Your children are so busy, don't let them worry about you, stay at home and take care of your health, go to the park more often, and play chess with those old men.

Old man Zhang was very angry about this.

Is he after that meal? He just can't sit idle!

The whole family, young and old, are busy people, running big businesses, why should he sit idle? Why does the whole family oppose him when he wants to start his own small business? He is not so old that he is lying on the coffin board, and he is not able to endure such a leisurely life!
Although he was angry, after he calmed down, Old Man Zhang actually knew in his heart that his wife was doing this for his own good. She was always worried that he had just been out for a short time and needed to take care of his health. Besides, since the whole family did not agree, there was no way for him to invest in the Yunxi Village Cooperative.

Zhang was bored for a few days, but he didn't expect that his third son Yunqi, who knew that he couldn't stay idle, would take notice of this matter and arrange a job for him in the self-operated supply department of the raw material supply department of Longjingyuan Canning Factory, which was the department managed by his son-in-law Niu Fen.

At present, the self-operated supply department is only responsible for operating the Yunxi Village Crop Specialized Cooperative project. Old Man Zhang's work relationship is naturally placed with the cooperative, serving as an agricultural supplies manager, dealing with villagers and the land.

This was exactly what Old Man Zhang wanted, and he no longer wanted to invest in the Yunxi Village Crop Planting Professional Cooperative.

On the one hand, he heard from his second son Qiulan that the raw material supply division was the most profitable rear base of Longjingyuan Cannery. He could not do any advanced work, but he could keep a good back door for his son; on the other hand, he was a good hand in the crop business, and his proficiency, meticulousness and self-confidence in the land were no less than that of a skilled eighth-level old worker in the factory. Although he was old and his arms and legs were a little stiff, he was confident that the crops in the camp were still among the best in Yunxi Village.

Of course, Zhang Yunqi didn't arrange this position for Old Man Zhang to take care of the crops. Old Man Zhang's specific work is very complicated. It took him a long time to figure it out. It was to regularly inspect and urge the improvement of agricultural inputs of Yunxi Village Cooperative, to inspect the purchase, storage, distribution and application of agricultural inputs, and to assist the technical department of the cooperative to ensure the quality of crop planting and the management of the crop planting process. In fact, to put it bluntly, he was asked to manage the distribution of agricultural inputs such as pesticides, fertilizers, urea and seeds, and the crop management of cooperative members.

These are all jobs for peasants, and Zhang is very familiar with them. He is confident that he can do a good job even though he is old but not old at heart. If he were asked to work in an office as a cadre, he would not be happy because he does not have the ability! What makes him even more satisfied with this job is that the third brother takes care of things very well. When arranging this job for him, he thought that he could not drive, and it would be inconvenient for him to travel alone in the countryside, and it was impossible for him to stay in Yunxi Village permanently, so he arranged for Chu Dapeng to go with him. Chu Dapeng can drive, and he will help him take care of agricultural supplies first, and then he can also work part-time as a freight driver to transport agricultural supplies and raw materials.

In fact, Zhang Lao had already had this idea in his mind, and he wanted to bring Chu Dapeng to help him. This old man was his only friend in the city. Now he was idle all day long, and his family situation was not very good. His life was very difficult. However, he had never asked Chu Dapeng to ask Lao San for help, because his wife had asked Lao San several times to help find a job for Chu Dapeng, but his wife told him that Lao San was not willing to take care of Chu Dapeng's affairs.

Old man Zhang didn't know why this happened.

Logically speaking, the third son Yunqi is definitely not the kind of kid who looks down on poor people just because he has money. Moreover, he has a good relationship with the girl Chu Jian, and they are classmates. There is no reason for him to dislike Chu Dapeng? But this time, he suddenly arranged a job for Chu Dapeng. Old man Zhang knew that the third son's arrangement was mostly for him, but now he often finds it difficult to understand the third son's thoughts. Hey! This son is very capable, and a large number of people have gathered around him, praising him to the sky all day long. Although he has a good personality and is not impetuous or arrogant, he no longer likes to tell his ignorant father about what is on his mind.

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The first time Zhang Laohan and Chu Dapeng went to the countryside was at the end of February, when they attended the signing ceremony of the Longwan Town Agricultural and Commercial Cooperation and the founding ceremony of the Yunxi Village Crop Professional Planting Cooperative.

This conference was exceptionally grand.

After Old Man Zhang arrived, he heard Zhang Haijun say that after Longwan Town Mayor Zou Qixian reported the matter of Yunxi Village attracting investment to set up a shareholding cooperative to the county, the county attached great importance to it and gave the green light to all the documents and procedures. This time, the founding meeting of the cooperative was led by Xiao Rong, a deputy county magistrate in charge of agriculture in Fengyang County, and seven or eight leaders, including the director of the county state-owned assets office, the director of the Agriculture Bureau, and the person in charge, came.

Zhang Laohan knew the situation in Longjingyuan even better. His third son did not come, and it was Li Jilin, the general manager of Liansheng, who was in charge. According to what his son-in-law Niu Fen told him, "Liansheng invested in the agricultural and commercial cooperation project this time. Yunqi has become a hot commodity in the eyes of Fengyang County Government. They cannot be unaware of the Longjingyuan property acquisition agreement reached with the city. They are keeping a close eye on it. You know, this is the enterprise restructuring selected by Mayor Yang, the first state-owned enterprise property reform in southern Hunan Province. Can the county not smell the profound taste of this? Just for Yunqi's shareholding cooperative in Yunxi Village, Shi Guiping, director of the County Agricultural Bureau, expressed twice that he hoped to expand the scope of the pilot as soon as possible. This is a political achievement project that fits the market-oriented reform ideas of the superior leaders. You see, this time when General Manager Li came, those county leaders, especially those from the State-owned Assets Office, would definitely use the emotional card of Yunqi returning to his hometown to invest and start a business, and suggest to him that Liansheng go to the county to invest in that pile of broken plates. So Yunqi is not interested in coming. He has a far-sighted vision."

Old man Zhang only half understood what he said.

To him, these things were too complicated, but he could feel that it was not easy for his son to manage such a big business. But no matter what, he felt relieved that the third son could create the Yunxi Village Shareholding Cooperative and benefit the elders of his hometown.

The members' meeting was held in the small auditorium of Yunxi Village. After the county leaders and General Manager Li Jilin arrived by car, they were welcomed into the small auditorium by the town and village leaders in a festive and warm atmosphere. They sat in the front row, and the back row was crowded with villagers from Yunxi Village, including Old Man Zhang and Chu Dapeng. They pulled a few small stools and chatted with acquaintances while smoking dry tobacco sticks. The villagers joked that as the boss's biological father, the old chairman, he should sit in the front row, and what was the point of mixing with a group of local farmers?

Everybody laughed.

When the time came, the village secretary Zhang Guorui came to the stage, he presided over the meeting, and invited the head of the Fengyang County Agriculture Bureau to come to the stage to announce the approval of the establishment of this cooperative organization. Afterwards, Niu Fen, as the project leader of Longjingyuan, and Longwan Town Mayor Zou Qixian came to the stage to sign the first round of pilot agreement on Longwan Town’s agricultural and commercial cooperation.

This agricultural and commercial cooperative has a good name, but according to the mixed news that Old Man Zhang heard from the villagers, the government is responsible for coordinating with the bank to provide prenatal funds to the old people and apply for subsidies, while they, Longjingyuan, are responsible for solving the problem of farmers' post-harvest crop sales, which is the underwriting agreement of the cooperative members.

In this way, the capital investment before planting crops and the sales after production are solved. For these hard-working farmers, as long as they work hard, they can get profits. This is indeed a good thing.

After the signing of the agreement, amid warm applause, the village secretary Zhang Guorui read out the draft charter of the Yunxi Village Crop Planting Professional Cooperative and asked for discussion and voting. Next, the much-anticipated member election meeting began.

The election meeting adopts the one-person-one-vote system. There are a total of 68 households in Yunxi Village that have paid shares. These 68 households include nearly % of the villagers in Yunxi Village. They have to elect board members and supervisory groups in accordance with the election procedures of shareholding economic cooperative organizations.

This kind of election was the first in Yunxi Village's history. 68 households raised 12 yuan and became shareholders of the cooperative. This amount of money is not worth mentioning to large companies or Liansheng in the city, but for these 68 households, it is their hard-earned money that they have collected through savings and even loans. They want to exercise their rights as shareholders and elect a head who they can trust and who can lead them to run the cooperative well.

The 68 members, each with a small stool, sat in the crowded small auditorium, surrounded by villagers, all staring at the big blackboard on the podium, writing their votes, casting their votes, announcing their votes, and counting the votes over and over again.

Yunxi Village was still frozen in early spring, and the vast rural land outside was drizzling. However, the atmosphere in the shabby little auditorium was very lively, and people were talking without stopping for a moment. The food was delivered to the scene by the wives and elders. The election process lasted a whole day and night, but no member went home, and no one left this solemn scene...

Old man Zhang was deeply shocked by the atmosphere at the scene.

In the past, when the villagers had to hold a village meeting for major or minor matters in the village, the villagers either ignored it or quarreled. They had never worked together like they did now. It is said that unity can break iron. This made Old Man Zhang suddenly feel that the day when Yunxi Village could completely get rid of its poor days might not be far away!
After the election, it was no surprise that the village director Zhang Haijun was elected chairman of the cooperative with a high vote. He is capable and in his prime, and has always been in charge of all the matters in the village. He has gradually shown signs of replacing the village secretary Zhang Guorui as the most powerful man in the village, and is extremely popular among the villagers.

As the first chairman of the Yunxi Village Crop Planting Professional Cooperative, Zhang Haijun spoke on behalf of the board of directors. Standing on the podium, he said to all the members in the auditorium: "First, I want to thank the elders and fellow villagers for their trust in me, which allowed me to stand in this position; second, I want to thank the Fengyang County and Longwan Town governments for their policy support, which enabled the agricultural and commercial cooperation project to be implemented so quickly; finally, I want to thank Mr. Zhang Yunqi who was unable to come today due to business. It is with his full efforts that our village can have such a good project. Although he is still a little kid, he is the pride of our village."

Zhang Haijun said with some excitement: "Today, our cooperative was officially established. Through the cooperation between farmers and merchants, our farmers can unite to plan economic development like a formal company. Moreover, we now need the government to provide policies, the government to provide funds if we are short of funds, and Longjingyuan to sign a contract for exclusive sales if we are worried about sales. In the future, we will also receive support from all aspects such as industrial management and production technology guidance. It can be said that all the problems have been solved and we have no worries. Under such circumstances, there is no reason why we can't do this! Yunxi Village will surely be prosperous soon!"

"Well said, Chairman!"

Suddenly, there was a wave of applause.

The first rural shareholding crop planting professional cooperative in China was born amid such applause, in the rainy early spring of 1994, in a vast and unknown mountain corner.

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Note: China's first shareholding pig farming association was established in 1985, but it is different from the Yunxi Village's shareholding crop planting professional cooperative in terms of model and business ecology.

(End of this chapter)