The watermelons were sold out.
The villagers were no longer enthusiastic about sharing the money.
But there were some who were.
The youths in the planting team were very enthusiastic.
Li Zhengguo held a separate meeting with them, reading out the accounts.
The youths were both delighted and ashamed.
Because their 162 greenhouses, with one season of vegetables and one season of watermelons, had a total income of 451,000 yuan, minus 192,500 yuan for transportation fees.
After giving each of them a thousand yuan bonus and seven months' salary, there was still 74,000 yuan left.
And for the other 324 greenhouses, the total income for two seasons was 902,000 yuan, minus 385,000 yuan for transportation fees.
After deducting the wages of the 108 workers, they earned 516,500 yuan for the village.
In other words, without them, the village would have earned more.
In other words, they were inferior to the adults they had always disagreed with.
On average, each of them only earned 455 yuan for the village.
And their families, earned 31,800 yuan, and earned 15,900 yuan for the village, with each person earning between 1,900 and 3,100 yuan.
Looking at the downcast youths, Li Zhengguo encouraged them.
"You have done very well. Your physical strength and energy are not yet at the high intensity your parents can achieve."
"No!"
A youth stood up, "My parents worried I wouldn't do well and went to help me. Sob, sob, sob, I feel so bad."
"Captain, I want to apologize to my parents, and I want to give them the thousand yuan bonus. I'll only take seven months' salary."
One after another, boys and girls stood up, all tearfully stating that their parents had helped them, and they wanted to hand over their bonuses.
Li Zhengguo asked, "Then next year, will you still work alone?"
The boys and girls all shook their heads.
"We won't do it. We want to go home to help. This year, our parents were exhausted. We occupied the greenhouses and also delayed the village's earnings. Thank you, Village Chief Li, for giving us the opportunity to recognize ourselves."
Zhang Shititou felt the most guilty. It was his fault that his family lost their planting qualification this year.
This year, compared to last year, their income increased by nearly ten thousand yuan, but his family lost five thousand yuan.
Li Zhengguo handed Zhang Shititou an envelope. "This year, you managed the planting time for over a thousand greenhouses very well."
"Next year, I hope you will continue to be my assistant, not only for your work ability but also for your vision."
"If you want to resign and go back to help your family, I won't force you."
Zhang Shititou pushed back the envelope. "I'm just doing what I'm supposed to do. My family can manage without me, and I won't resign. I'll also go apologize to my parents."
Li Zhengguo pushed the envelope back to him. "This is my recognition of your work, and the village committee also recognizes you."
"Thank you."
Zhang Shititou took the envelope with both hands and turned to bow to all the youths.
"It's my fault. I was young and arrogant, I didn't listen to my parents' instructions, and I incited you all."
The youths and girls said in unison that they didn't blame him. They all had rebellious hearts and wanted to prove themselves. Now that they had proven themselves, the knots in their hearts were untangled.
Zhang Shititou waved the envelope. "Then let's all go back, go back to apologize to our parents, and tell them we love them."
The youths and girls echoed, "Yes, we need to express our feelings. Let's go find our parents. They must be in the greenhouses."
Over a hundred youths left, and the area outside the office immediately became quiet.
Accountant Yang, who had watched the entire scene, busied himself with his accounts.
When it came to calculating people's hearts, no one was more skilled than Village Chief Li.
In more than half a year, without speaking much or exerting much effort, he had resolved the conflict between parents and children.
He then used the opportunity to frame the farmers who County Chief Ji had sent to learn about the greenhouses as externally hired workers, which intimidated the villagers.
Of course, the farmers were genuinely paid, which made them overjoyed. Not only did they learn skills, but they also received living expenses.
They worked like their lives depended on it, taking on the tasks of carrying water for both the youth planting team and the children's planting team.
Inside and out, Village Chief Li had merely adjusted the positions of some people, which had made the villagers honest and the children well-behaved.
He had completed County Chief Ji's task and so moved the farmers that they wished they could entrust their lives to the benevolent Village Chief Li.
Uh, no problem, Village Chief Li was indeed very kind-hearted.
On his accounts, there was another 2,468,000 yuan, making it a total of 3,060,000 yuan.
"Village Chief Li, should we repay the loan?"
"Repay what? It's an interest-free loan. What are you in such a hurry for? Don't forget, 1,360,000 yuan of that belongs to the villagers. Repay what? Keep it safe."
"Yes."
Accountant Yang took out a savings passbook for two million yuan. "Village Chief Li, please share some of the pressure. I'm really scared."
Li Zhengguo waved his hand. "I won't take it. By the way, I plan to hire one more person to share your work. One accountant and one cashier. Which do you want to do?"
"Accountant. Accountant. I don't handle money."
Li Zhengguo shook his head. "I take back what I said. You be the cashier."
"Why?"
"Because of trust."
...
Accountant Yang went home and found his father.
Secretary Yang reprimanded his eldest son in a low voice.
"The accounts you do, Zhengguo has to copy some data separately every time before the meeting. Don't you understand?"
"If you dare not handle money again, I'll replace you."
Yang Jianjun scratched his head. "I learned it this way from Accountant Li."
Secretary Yang pointed out, "So, he wants you to be the cashier. The cashier only needs to keep a running account and a summary. "
"It's only been two years. There will be more and more money in the future. He wants someone else to manage the money because he doesn't trust them. He trusts our family."
Accountant Yang nodded. "I understand. But this money and passbook..."
Secretary Yang sighed. "Forget it. I thought I'd take it to my grave, but I didn't expect it to be useful after all. Go close the door, and I'll take you to see our old storeroom."
...
The work of the children's planting team was also finished. The children received their bonuses and also said they wouldn't work next year, as they would go home to help.
They were small, so crouching down to plant seedlings and weed was suitable.
Li Zhengguo waved his hand. "Go back and communicate with your parents properly. Don't use crying and tantrums to make your parents impatient and give you slaps."
"Yes, yes, we've learned our lesson."
The planting was completely finished.
Li Zhengguo gave each of the 108 workers a bonus of two hundred yuan.
The workers said they wanted to come back to learn for another year. They hadn't fully grasped many techniques, and they had learned from the villagers.
"You'll have to ask County Chief Ji. I don't know if he has arranged for the next batch of people."
"That's okay. We can learn with the next batch of people. We don't need wages."
Li Zhengguo shook his head. "If I wasn't making money, it wouldn't matter. But I'm making a lot of money, and then exploiting your labor, I can't do that."
"Go ask County Chief Ji. If he agrees, I'll only give you fifty-one yuan a month next year."
"If he doesn't arrange for the next batch, and it's still you, it will be the same as this year."
The workers were sent out of Kushan by a large truck.
Kushan became completely quiet.
Li Zhengguo used the loudspeaker to notify each household to send a representative to collect money.
The villagers, who received over five thousand yuan, were still stunned and asked Accountant Yang if he hadn't deducted ten thousand yuan.
Accountant Yang wanted to laugh. These villagers were truly scared by Village Chief Li.
"It was deducted. A whole ten thousand yuan was deducted. Last year, we planted watermelons while building the greenhouses. This year, we planted vegetables early."
Only then did the villagers react and happily took their families' savings passbooks home.