Chapter 1683 - Ingrained Habits

Yun Suji calculated: not counting the child, it came to 400 catties per person. The elderly were old and didn't participate in labor; this number wasn't low. But children ate more as they grew. Moreover, this could only satisfy food needs; daily life still required expenses. He worked out another calculation: according to Fan Twelve's report, the village's grain yield per mu, converted to standard mu, was about 300 catties for double-season rice, so 30 standard mu would produce 9,000 catties. 800 catties was less than one-tenth of the harvest. Even accounting for seeds, fertilizer, public grain, and corvée labor, the substitute farmer still came out very well. What's more, the substitute farmer was equivalent to one family covering two tax registrations. They occupied more land but paid taxes at the basic rate without progressive increases. A shrewd calculation indeed!

He visited a few more "compensation households." Apart from Old Lady Cao's family—whose son had died and who was supposedly "visiting relatives" and not at home—all households gave similar accounts. Yun Suji saw their complexions were not bad, with no signs of hunger or freezing. He was fairly satisfied with the village administration: regardless of what tricks Village Head Fan was playing privately, he had at least done the most basic work.

Yun Suji also randomly entered several farmer households along the road to inspect conditions inside. Generally speaking, each household's situation was passable. Sanitation was also well managed. Fan Twelve explained that these standard villages all had unified public toilets and manure collection stations, which not only made it easy to maintain sanitation but also benefited fertilizer accumulation.

Basic production tools were also generally complete for each household, mostly using improved agricultural implements promoted by Tiandihui. Fan Twelve said everyone generally reflected that the new tools were light and easy to use, just "expensive to buy." As the first batch of distributed tools gradually began to break down, purchasing new tools had been put on the agenda.

He saw basically no large animal-powered agricultural machinery. The families he entered also had no tethered animals. Evidently the production scale was very small.

"What do families without oxen do during spring plowing?"

"The old way," Fan Twelve said. "Those with money rent oxen; those without exchange labor."

Yun Suji asked again: "Tiandihui has draft cattle loans. Does anyone take them out?"

"Few. Everyone says 'Now that we have enough to eat and wear, life is peaceful, we have our own land, we dare not act recklessly.'"

Yun Suji thought they all sang the same tune!

Looking at each household's living standards, some families' conditions were obviously better than average. Not only did they have more tables, chairs, and furniture, but they had also acquired daily industrial products like thermoses. Bedding was no longer just a simple straw mat and thin blanket, but bed sheets and pillows made of kapok or bean shells—quite elaborate. Many families also had mosquito nets.

He asked about grain consumption in the village. Han Daoguo said each person ate about 330 catties per year. Because a lot of corvée labor was levied—and meals were provided at construction sites during corvée—grain consumption was relatively low.

Yun Suji learned that the staple food here was mainly coarse grain pancakes, with a very low proportion of fine grain—not even thirty or forty catties per person. The reason was that various coarse grains and vegetables could be utilized, and many people were also not accustomed to eating unpolished rice. Apart from paying public grain, most of the harvested unpolished rice was sold at markets for living and production materials because farmers lacked cash.

The Shandong immigrants here originally mostly had the sideline of growing cotton, spinning yarn, and weaving homespun cloth. Coming to this local countryside without cotton planting, naturally this sideline was gone. Because local ready-made clothes were cheap, farming households had now generally begun wearing ready-made clothes, further increasing cash expenditures.

"Buying tools, buying clothes, buying salt, tethering animals... all need cash. Everyone feels money isn't enough."

"Who do you sell grain to?"

Fan Twelve said basically all to De Long. Besides De Long's fair grain procurement and not cheating on scales, having collection points spread throughout various markets was also a major factor.

"Besides farming, are there other incomes? What about sidelines?"

"Some families go out to work, bringing wages home to supplement the household." Fan Twelve said. "Speaking of the fields, there are vegetables year-round. There are fish and shrimp in the river, firewood and wild fruits in the forest... But here is far from the county seat and market towns. Making trips to sell isn't worthwhile—turning tofu into the price of meat. Tiandihui promotes raising chickens, but eggs laid still have to be sold to exchange for salt. You can't spend half a day going to market for a few eggs and a handful of greens."

"Don't small peddlers come to the village?"

"Yes, but prices are too high!" Fan Twelve said. "They also don't collect goods—only want cash. How can farmers have that much cash?"

Yun Suji laughed upon hearing this. "You really don't use your brains. Of course it won't work with everyone looking after themselves. Why don't you find someone who can write and calculate, whom everyone trusts, to go to market specifically?"

Yun Suji had read Fei Xiaotong's Peasant Life in China before and knew there was a special type of farmer in the Jiangnan countryside engaged in the "boat" business—going "into town" on behalf of villagers to sell agricultural products and bring back daily necessities.

Fan Twelve said: "Chief, how much can one person carry on a shoulder pole or push on a cart? If more people go, it's not worthwhile either..."

Yun Suji's face flushed. He was really taking things for granted! In the Jiangnan water-network region, one person rowing a boat could transport several hundred or even over a thousand catties of goods. But here didn't have the good shipping conditions of Jiangnan. He thought for a moment and said again: "Why not just hitch an ox cart? How many large animals are there here?"

"Not many families tether large animals. Besides, whether people are willing is another matter." Fan Twelve was uncertain.

"As long as there's money to be made, why wouldn't they be willing? It's just about whether the village takes the lead." Yun Suji said. "I can see you're a very capable cadre."

Fan Twelve quickly nodded: "Alright! I'll think about how to do it when I get back."

Yun Suji said: "Speaking of sidelines, why isn't making and selling tofu allowed?"

Fan Twelve was stunned for a moment, thinking that old Meng fellow—what nonsense had he been making up in front of the Chief! He quickly said:

"Making tofu wasn't said to be forbidden. But the county has regulations that tofu workshops must comply with certain sanitation standards. I don't understand them either, so it's best not to do it at all, to avoid making mistakes and having trouble explaining to the township and county. Recently, sanitation and epidemic prevention matters have been caught very tightly. County health police come to the village every three or two days to inspect sanitation. Definitely can't let any slip-ups happen."

"So that's how it is." Yun Suji said. "That's an easy method of yours. Although it can't be called wrong, it's not a good method. There are several hundred people in this village, and everyone grows coarse grains, so beans are indispensable. Grinding into soy milk and making tofu gives everyone something to eat, and there's also bean dregs for feed and fertilizer. What's bad about it?"

"Yes, yes, the Chief's teaching is right. I'll have Old Meng get the tofu workshop going when I return." Fan Twelve said.

Yun Suji was just about to say something more when suddenly a woman's shrill cry came: "Don't hit me anymore! I won't dare anymore! I won't dare! Owwww... Father... Please spare me..."

Yun Suji frowned and asked: "What's going on?"

"It's Liang Zhu disciplining his wife." Fan Twelve was nonchalant. "He has a bad temper, and his wife happens to have a sharp tongue..."

Yun Suji's mind conjured the image of the young wife sitting at the village entrance making shoes. He shook his head.

Seeing Yun Suji frowning, Fan Twelve quickly said: "I'll have Yuanhu go over right away..."

"No need." Yun Suji thought he wasn't here to be a matchmaker; domestic matters like this were better left alone. He asked: "Is wife-beating common in your village?"

Fan Twelve saw his expression wasn't good. He roughly knew that in Australia, women had high status and wife-beating wasn't practiced. He couldn't help but secretly curse Liang Zhu for having nothing better to do than beat his wife after eating his fill, causing nothing but trouble for him!

He said with an apologetic smile: "Old habits are hard to change; it's inevitable! The customs where we're from aren't good. I'm not afraid of you laughing, Chief. The old folks have a saying: 'The wife you marry and the donkey you buy—you can ride them and beat them as you please.' If you don't beat your wife for ten days or half a month, neighbors all laugh at you for having no balls. Even those who truly love their wives still have to shut the door and slap a broom on the edge of the kang, letting their wives wail a few times... Don't look at her howling loudly, sir. Whipping her bare bottom with a broom a few times won't cause any real harm."

Yun Suji didn't speak, deeply aware of the difficulty of changing customs. But he was very clear that the issue of women's status was fundamentally an economic issue. How to attract women to participate in more social labor and share in the distribution of labor results seemed to be an important social issue. He recalled Zhao Yingong mentioning in a report: in some areas of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, women's family status was somewhat higher than in other places due to their involvement in silkworm raising and silk reeling. In late Qing Guangdong, a large number of female silk reeling workers emerged who could earn money to support the family, and their family status also rose significantly.

He thought: we talk about industrialization all the time, but in reality, the scale of industry is still too small. The prosperity and civilization of Lingao is like an isolated island in a vast sea—just like Kabul in the 1970s and 80s, wearing just a thin veil of modern civilization. On the broader Hainan Island, the traditional production mode and social order were still being maintained.

Come to think of it, wasn't failing to rely on state farms to settle immigrants and having to create many self-cultivating peasant villages with land distribution precisely the compromise between ideals and meager productive forces?

Yun Suji strolled along the village road. He sensed that some farmers had an urgent need to move upward, wanting to expand production. But no one was pointing the way for them, and support wasn't enough. There were even some policies hindering them. As for most farmers, they hadn't changed at all—still holding that small producer mentality. Because these standard villages, apart from having neater houses and better sanitation, were essentially no different from the old homes they had abandoned while fleeing.

They were still content with the status quo, believing that destiny meant stability and having enough to eat. Even after experiencing storms and separations of life and death, their thinking carried a nihilistic sense of slack—always feeling that enjoying the present was enough.

Yun Suji thought for a moment and asked: "Where is Bai Putin's home?"

Fan Twelve was taken aback: "You want to go to his house?"

"Yes, I want to take a look."

Bai Putin was chopping grass in the courtyard when suddenly Han Daoguo came in flustered and shouted: "Old Bai! The Chief is coming to your house! Hurry and prepare!"