Chapter 77: The Women's Cooperative

The news that the transmigrators had breached Gou Family Village spread throughout the county within three days. The reactions of all sorts of people, high and low, to this news were extremely complex. The gentry and large households were both pleased that the universally despised and tyrannical Gou Xunyi was finished, and worried about the great increase in the “short hairs’” power. However, the poor people within a radius of several dozen li had all received relief, and they were all overjoyed and endlessly grateful. The common people from further away heard the news and were envious, and it was widely rumored everywhere. The common people had benefited, and people constantly came to secretly tell the transmigrators the details of many large households and fortified villages. Some were willing to act as inside men, asking them to go and breach the stockades. Even small bands of bandits came to make contact and discuss “sharing wealth.” The transmigrators received them all warmly and noted down the information. As for breaching stockades, they said they needed to rest and recuperate and were not currently offering this service.

Within a hundred li, there was not a single large household that did not send congratulatory gifts to the “short hairs.” Even Huang Family Village sent people with pigs, sheep, and cloth. The transmigrators let bygones be bygones. Not only did they accept everything on the list, but they also heavily rewarded the envoys and had them take back a message: a new market had opened in Bairen City, and everyone was welcome to come and do business, with a guarantee of safety and no fees. Dongmen Chuiyu tirelessly took group after group of envoys on tours of Dongmen Market, showing them the brick and stone road being paved, the red brick houses being built along the street…

Pirates opening a market to do business, that was truly something new! There were not many markets in Lingao. The entire county had only fourteen markets in total, and even the county town itself only had a simple county gate market. Now, that place at Bairen Beach had actually created a Dongmen Market! The large households heard from their returning family members that the market there was no worse than other places. The “short hairs” themselves purchased many things every day, and recently they had even started buying grain openly at a very high price! Many large households with large grain reserves were tempted and also joined the ranks of those selling grain to the transmigrators. The amount of grain arriving every day made Cheng Dong stomp his feet in distress—silver was flowing out like water!

After a flurry of preparations, the transmigrators’ first business—a salt shop—opened amidst the crackling of firecrackers. Because the commercial house had not yet been built, this salt shop was just a simple bamboo shed. Behind the counter were piled bags of sea salt transported from the Ma Niao saltworks. It was sold in units of 50 grams, with both wholesale and retail options, and the price was one-third lower than the market rate.

Although the sales were negligible at first, as people who came here to do business spread the news that cheap salt was being sold in Dongmen Market, people from all directions rushed to buy salt, and sales immediately soared. In particular, some small salt peddlers flocked to it, buying it by the basketful. In the past, the saltworks were monopolized by the great landlord Gou, and it was difficult to get salt. Not to mention the official salt in the county town—snow-white salt, after passing through the hands of the officials, would become as black and yellow as mud and sand, and the price was outrageous. In the end, even the cook from the county yamen came to buy salt. He didn’t ask for a receipt, but he would undoubtedly report the expense at the price of official salt.

Encouraged by the success of the salt shop, the transmigrators’ second shop also opened. This shop was a bit special. The reason it was special was that it was not a “state-owned shop,” meaning that the ownership did not belong to all the transmigrators, but was a joint-stock enterprise.

This joint-stock enterprise was cooked up by Li Mei of the Ming family of four. Not long after moving to Bairen City and settling down, the old Mrs. Li, who was used to the battles of the business world, began to get restless. Her daughter-in-law was now a public security officer, her husband put on his ‘87-style navy uniform without insignia every day and went to the military group to be some kind of naval advisor, and although her wimpy son hadn’t managed to get a public office, he was at least working outside every day. She, on the other hand, was spending her days helping out in the cafeteria with a housewife, Cao Shunhua. How could this be?! She was, after all, a seasoned veteran of the business world and had been planning to start a company or something, or at least open a shop.

Opening a shop was a trivial matter for Li Mei in her original time and space. She had capital if she needed capital, and channels if she needed channels. But here, her family had nothing but a pile of luggage. The transmigrators themselves had no goods to sell. A clever housewife can’t cook without rice, so she had to wait for an opportunity. The old Mrs. Li firmly believed one thing: opportunities to get rich exist in any time and space, it just depends on whether you can seize them.

When the transmigrators opened up trade relations with the Li mountain areas and made a fortune at Gou Family Village, and Dongmen Market also began to take shape, Li Mei knew that her opportunity had come.

The Planning Committee had transported countless spoils of war from Gou Family Village, everything from porcelain and furniture to clothes. These items all needed to be disposed of and turned into usable cash and grain. This was her source of goods.

The next question was, how to turn the source of goods into merchandise in a shop? She had no money, but that was not a problem for her at all. After a bit of whispering and networking with the women she knew from the cafeteria, Li Mei returned to her simple room, put on a business suit she used to wear for business meetings, changed into a pair of low-heeled leather shoes, washed her face, and carefully combed her hair. She instantly transformed from a kitchen auntie into a powerful businesswoman.

She went straight out to the Executive Committee compound and, finding the right opportunity, cornered Wen Desi. She told him about her idea of opening a shop.

“Open a shop?” Wen Desi was a little confused. “We don’t have a large output of industrial products yet, so we have nothing to sell.”

“There are things, the things brought back from Gou Family Village. Those clothes, daily necessities, miscellaneous wooden furniture, and so on. These things are basically all old. We can’t sell them in bulk to others. I want to acquire them on behalf of the company and then sell them.”

Wen Desi suddenly felt that this woman was a bit fanciful. Isn’t this just selling second-hand goods? Her company would acquire them, but with what money? He knew that Old Man Ming’s wife used to be the manager of a trading company and probably had a substantial family fortune, but RMB assets—not to mention whether she had brought any, even if she had, they would be worthless here.

“What will you use to acquire them? And a company? I don’t remember establishing a company.”

“The company is here,” Li Mei took out a piece of paper, densely covered with writing. “This is the company’s formation agreement. Logically, it should be registered with the industrial and commercial authorities first, but Dongmen Chuiyu said he didn’t know if he had the authority to handle this, so I brought it to you.”

Wen Desi took a look. It roughly stated that these people voluntarily invested to establish a “Hainan Women’s Cooperative Co., Ltd.” with a business scope including daily necessities, catering, hardware, and so on. Below were the share distribution ratios and the signatures of more than a dozen women—at a rough glance, it was almost all the female transmigrators, even Auntie Cao, who was known for her simplicity, had a share.

“But what is your capital injection? Where does everyone have money now? Is it all on a supply system?”

“Chief Wen, I remember that all officially registered transmigrators receive a salary—”

Wen Desi didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He had forgotten about this. Because there was simply no place to spend their salaries, few people remembered that they had this income. It was this accidental participant who remembered it so clearly.

“These shareholders all invested with the point coupon income under their names. I think the Executive Committee will certainly not deny that these point coupons, which are equivalent to RMB, have purchasing power—”

“This—” Wen Desi of course couldn’t deny it, otherwise everyone would immediately cause an uproar. He struggled for a moment. “But we’ve only issued three months’ salary so far. Even if this money is used as share capital, it’s impossible to acquire so many things.”

“We’ll acquire a portion first, and then use the sales proceeds to turn over.” Seeing that Chief Wen’s expression was not right, Li Mei quickly explained the follow-up. “The first batch will be acquired with point coupons. In the future, when we purchase goods from the Executive Committee, we will settle with a combination of point coupons, work point coupons, gold, silver, and copper coins.”

“Good, that’s good.” Wen Desi finally breathed a sigh of relief. “But since you’re selling to the natives, you won’t have any new point coupon income.”

“Oh, actually, many things can also be sold to our comrades. I know, I know,” she stopped Wen Desi who was about to speak. “Our group is currently on a supply system, but non-essential items can be bought with point coupons—otherwise, what’s the point of having point coupons? I heard a few days ago that someone wanted to buy a long table for their room. The Executive Committee can’t be expected to issue that, can it? Also, if more working capital is needed, I plan to issue corporate bonds—of course, with the approval of the Executive Committee.”

“We’ll talk about the bonds later.” Wen Desi thought: you’re really planning a commercial Great Leap Forward. “Starting a joint-stock company is a good idea. I personally agree. But it still needs to be discussed by the Executive Committee before I can give you a formal answer.”

“I have an idea,” Li Mei continued, adding to her bargaining chips. “This company can be turned into a public-private joint-stock commercial enterprise. The Executive Committee can invest on behalf of all the transmigrators and hold a portion of the shares—say, 20%.”

“Hmm, that’s not bad.” Wen Desi began to listen to her ideas seriously.

“The profits from this portion can be used to distribute dividends to everyone, for welfare expenses, or for the future administrative expenses of the Executive Committee—” she said slowly, while paying attention to the change in Chief Wen’s expression. “Think about it, the supply system is not normal. Once we have a firm footing, we will have to implement a salary system. At that time, everyone will be concerned about their income. Being able to get some extra cash, everyone will like that.”

“But the Executive Committee can’t issue more point coupons,” Wen Desi frowned. “Point coupons are just a virtual currency. A number is automatically added to everyone’s salary and bonus account every month. The value is not easy to estimate. That’s one aspect. Another problem is that the Executive Committee doesn’t have any point coupons to use.”

“As for the value problem, we can recalculate it. There are people in the group who have studied economics; they should be able to figure out a way. As for the Executive Committee not having any point coupons, that’s not a problem at all,” Li Mei smiled slyly, revealing her true purpose. “They can invest with goods.”

Wen Desi was startled: you’re trying to get something for nothing! It turned out that Li Mei didn’t have a single penny; it was all empty talk. But he couldn’t find any reason to object, because she had hit on the Executive Committee’s weak spot: they didn’t dare to deny the value of the point coupons.

The proposal to start a company was quickly approved at the meeting. Besides the concept of a public-private partnership, the finance and commercial departments also supported the proposal. Cheng Dong believed that this could recover some of the point coupons. The huge amount of point coupons accumulated by so many people over a long period of time would cause severe inflation if they suddenly entered market circulation.

Du Wen was particularly active in her support at the meeting—it turned out that in this public-private joint-stock company, besides the 20% stake owned by all the transmigrators, the “Women’s Federation” that Du Wen had been advocating for, which had not even been established yet, already held a 5% stake. The biggest beneficiary, of course, was Li Mei herself. Although she didn’t have a single point coupon, she still received a 12% stake as the manager—this was decided by a vote at the general shareholders’ meeting.