Chapter Thirteen: Knowing When to Step Down

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After hearing Yang Xingwu’s words, Yang Jianguo’s expression immediately grew solemn.

As the village Party secretary and village head, he naturally knew the circumstances of the villagers.

The villagers had been poor for so long that whenever they encountered even the slightest opportunity to make money, they wished they could seize every last penny at once.

It was like a starving man suddenly being given seven or eight steamed buns. He would keep stuffing them into his mouth until he could no longer fit any more, and then, after drinking a bowl of water, he would quite literally burst.

Thinking of this, Yang Jianguo hurriedly asked, “Xingwu, I admit your uncle didn’t think this through, but we can’t just stand by and watch the villagers remain poor, can we? You’re an educated man. Give everyone some advice!”

“Uncle Jianguo, it’s not that I’m unwilling to offer advice. Human nature is difficult to fathom. Take my father, for instance. If he hadn’t still needed to turn in the state grain tax, he would have sold every last wheat ear! How much more so the villagers?

“You’ve served as Party secretary and village head for so many years. You probably know perfectly well which families are reasonable and which have what sort of character.

“Some things may begin with good intentions, but there are always a few rotten apples that spoil the whole barrel!”

Yang Jianguo fell silent after hearing this.

A village head in the 1980s might appear to wield absolute authority—a local emperor who could throw his weight around—but he still had to ensure that most of the villagers had enough to eat. Otherwise, why would they elect him?

When someone had exposed the matter involving Yang Xingwu’s family, Yang Jianguo had indeed considered using his authority as village head to teach the Yang family a harsh lesson.

There were more than two hundred households in Yang Family Village. Most of the villagers were good people, but there were always a few who refused to do any honest work and spent their days scheming against one person or another.

They were the sort who could not make a decent life for themselves yet grew jealous whenever someone else prospered.

As people put it nowadays, they feared their brothers would live poorly, yet also feared their brothers would drive a Land Rover.

But the few families in their village seemed positively eager for others to suffer.

When Yang Xingwu had first entered senior high school, those families had shouted every day, “You couldn’t even get into a technical secondary school. What’s the use of getting into high school? If you can’t get into university, it’ll all be for nothing anyway.”

Those were words spoken by people from the same village. It was not as though they shared some irreconcilable feud with him.

Yang Xingwu thought back and realized there had never been any particular incident worth remembering. They were simply jealous.

Naturally, Yang Xingwu held their words in utter contempt.

In those days, a student who could attend senior high school was already considered highly educated.

After all, university students were exceedingly rare. Last year, 1.67 million candidates had taken the national college entrance examination, and this year’s figure was about the same. In the seven years since the examination had been reinstated, even reaching a total of ten million senior high school students would have been remarkable.

With a population of more than one billion, that meant high school students accounted for barely one percent—an even lower proportion than the current rate of undergraduate enrollment.

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Even if Yang Xingwu failed to get into the so-called university, he could still find work as a temporary laborer in a factory after graduation.

Earning a dozen or so yuan a month was entirely possible, and that would still be far better than farming in the village.

Yang Jianguo remained silent for a long while before resorting to an appeal to sentiment.

“Xingwu, your uncle watched you grow up. You can’t just stand by and watch the villagers suffer! Now that you have the ability, give everyone a hand. Life is hard for all of us. The villagers have truly suffered.

“Your Second Grandmother even brought you eggs not long ago. Can you really bear to let her family remain poor? And your Fourth Granduncle said just the other day that he would catch you a rabbit to play with. How can you bear to…”

Yang Xingwu had indeed heard his parents mention those things while chatting over meals.

At that thought, an idea came to him.

“Uncle Jianguo, I can tell you the details, but you have to make me a promise as well.”

“What promise?”

The moment Yang Jianguo heard that Yang Xingwu had agreed, he became excited.

“I’ll only tell you the method. If any of the villagers end up losing money, don’t come blaming me afterward.”

“Is that all? Don’t worry. Do you want your uncle to put it in writing?”

As he spoke, Yang Jianguo reached for a pen and prepared to write.

Yang Xingwu did not stop him.

“In that case, thank you very much for your understanding, Uncle Jianguo. My family is small and modest. We couldn’t withstand the villagers’ anger if anything went wrong.”

“You really are something!”

Yang Jianguo sounded somewhat helpless.

He then wrote out a written guarantee and handed it to Yang Xingwu.

Yang Xingwu examined it carefully for quite some time before putting it away with great caution. Only then did he explain everything in full, repeatedly emphasizing, “If the market price falls, sell everything off immediately, even at a loss. Don’t hesitate or hold on out of sentiment. As for the remaining wheat, wait until it ripens before harvesting it.”

Yang Jianguo committed every word to memory. Satisfied, he finally took his leave.

Yang Xingwu walked him to the gate before returning inside.

In the village, one had to consider one’s way out before doing anything.

Just like this time: had the village head not come forward, Yang Xingwu would naturally have been willing to hint at the opportunity if someone with whom he was on good terms had come to visit.

As the saying went, a physician did not knock on doors, and the Way was not passed on lightly.

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If one had found a road to wealth, there was no reason to spoon-feed it into other people’s mouths. Yang Xingwu had no interest in doing something so thankless.

Helping one’s own relatives was only right and proper. But those with no kinship or connection—why should he press his warm face against their cold backsides? Was he ill?

After putting away the written guarantee, Yang Xingwu continued reading.

The sun had not yet set when his younger sister called him to the old family home for dinner.

By the time he arrived at his grandfather’s house, the food was already on the table. Yang Xingwu washed his hands and sat down. As the family ate and chatted, they began discussing what they had earned in the city.

“You wouldn’t believe it. We had barely arrived in the city today when quite a few workers came over to buy from us! And they bought a great deal. Each person bought one or two yuan’s worth. Before midafternoon, both carts were sold out. That’s why we came back so early today!”

The whole family was delighted to hear this.

Yang Xingwu thought about it briefly and immediately understood the reason.

Over the weekend, people must have eaten wheat-kernel porridge and discussed how delicious it was with their colleagues when they returned to work today. At lunchtime, the workers had encountered someone selling it and bought quite a lot on impulse.

It seemed the market for wheat kernels had expanded. But accompanying that expansion would inevitably be overproduction.

After hearing her husband’s words, Liu Cuihua asked about her brothers back in her parents’ village.

Yang Kaishan thought for a moment before replying, “They only arrived after we had finished selling, so I really don’t know. The workers will buy plenty when they get off work this afternoon. Quite a few people didn’t manage to buy any earlier.”

Hearing this, Liu Cuihua and her two daughters-in-law breathed a sigh of relief. Even if they could not sell everything that afternoon, they could continue selling the next morning.

That meant they were certain to sell out by tomorrow. With that thought, everyone’s worries eased considerably.

As Yang Xingwu listened to the elders chatting, he told them about the village head’s visit that afternoon.

“We made such a commotion that the villagers must have known about it long ago! He sent the village head to sound us out. Xiaowu, you handled it well. Even if something goes wrong in the future, with that written guarantee, he won’t be able to pin the blame on us!”

Yang Kaishan was deeply gratified by his grandson’s words.

“Grandpa, I know. By the way, after we sell two more carts of wheat ears tomorrow, we should stop. Now that the villagers all know about it, the price of wheat ears will inevitably fall, and we might even lose money. Knowing when to retreat is the greatest wisdom in life.”

“That’s true. We have enough money now. A person mustn’t be too greedy.”