Chapter 148: The Sugar Mill is a Success

Lin Miaomiao initially felt that her efforts this time would not yield much, and thus she harbored no particular expectations.

To her surprise, a month later, Li Yanhe walked up to Lin Miaomiao with an enthusiastic expression and said, "Let me tell you some good news."

Hearing Li Yanhe's words, Lin Miaomiao immediately raised her head and asked him with a puzzled expression, "What good news?"

A handsome curve formed at the corner of Li Yanhe's mouth as he looked at Lin Miaomiao and said, "The sugar factory we established in Li Family Village has now started production, and a large quantity of sugar has been produced."

Hearing this, Lin Miaomiao's eyes sparkled as she looked at Li Yanhe and asked, "What do you plan to do now?"

Li Yanhe frowned upon hearing her question, then sat down beside Lin Miaomiao and said, "How should I put it?"

"The method of sugar production is no longer a secret, but these villagers cannot keep the recipe secure."

"If the sugar factory remains in the hands of the villagers, it is very likely to attract the prying eyes of certain people, and by then, the entire village will suffer as a result."

Hearing this, Lin Miaomiao nodded immediately, raised her head, and slowly said to Li Yanhe, "How about this!"

"You can bring the entire sugar factory under public ownership. Once it belongs to the public, you can establish a department."

"This department will be in charge of these factories, and the operation and management of these factories will be handled by this department."

"In other words, the people there only need to provide raw materials and labor. Of course, the raw materials will also be purchased at market prices. That way, the villagers in that village will have two sources of income."

Hearing this, Li Yanhe's eyes suddenly lit up. He looked at Lin Miaomiao and asked, "Should this money be used for construction or something else?"

Lin Miaomiao glanced at Li Yanhe and said slowly, "This money will be handed over to the state, and kept in custody by another department."

After saying that, Lin Miaomiao dipped her finger into the water in her teacup and began sketching on the table.

Lin Miaomiao told Li Yanhe, "First, you need to establish a department to uniformly manage these factories, uniformly pay the wages of the factory employees, and uniformly transport these goods."

Lifting her head, Lin Miaomiao continued, "You can also recruit some women from this village and have them learn how to pack the sugar."

"Of course, the wages for packing and sugar-making will be different. In this way, you will form a complete industrial chain."

Li Yanhe tilted his head, listening to the theories Lin Miaomiao was explaining. He was actually very clever; although some of the terms were a bit unfamiliar to him, he could understand most of what Lin Miaomiao had just said. Therefore, he sat there listening with great interest.

"Once a complete industrial chain is formed, the raw materials—the so-called raw material being sugar beet—"

Li Yanhe nodded and asked Lin Miaomiao, "Is the raw material you mentioned what's needed at the very beginning of production?"

Hearing his question, Lin Miaomiao nodded and replied, "Yes, that is what raw material means."

"The products processed and manufactured from the raw materials are weighed and packaged, and then transported out of the factory. If this series of industrial chains is established, the people in this village will soon benefit from it."

Lin Miaomiao spoke in broad terms. Hearing her words, Li Yanhe immediately fell into deep thought.

Seeing him deep in thought, Lin Miaomiao prompted, "If there is anything you don't understand, just ask me directly."

Hearing this, Li Yanhe immediately raised his head and asked Lin Miaomiao, "By transportation, you mean having people transport the goods out. Is that what it means?"

Hearing Li Yanhe's question, Lin Miaomiao nodded immediately and said, "Yes, that is what I mean by transportation."

"Then do we need to find people to transport the goods out, or..."

Li Yanhe's question hit the nail on the head. Lin Miaomiao licked her lips, then waved her hand at Li Yanhe, signaling him to think about it himself.

She kept rubbing the teacup in her hand. After pondering for a long time, she looked up at Li Yanhe and said, "Actually, we don't necessarily have to handle this transportation ourselves."

After saying this, a charming curve appeared at the corner of her mouth, and she said slowly to Li Yanhe, "In the early stages, we can simply tell the nearby villages that transportation is needed."

Rolling her eyes thoughtfully, Lin Miaomiao continued, "We can have people come to buy it, and that way, we won't need to worry about solving the transportation problem ourselves."

"As the saying goes, the bold are stuffed to death, while the timid starve to death. Since the government needs to sell sugar, in the early stages, we only need to break even when merchants take the sugar, or we can even sell it a bit higher."

"However, the selling price of the sugar should still be lower than the market price, and the quality must be guaranteed."

"That way, those resourceful people who want to take a risk will naturally come forward."

"We won't need to consider the problem of transportation at all. But there is one thing."

"That is the road. In the early stages, the roads there are full of potholes and difficult to walk on. There are even bandits around, which makes it impossible to guarantee the safety of the merchants."

Li Yanhe narrowed his eyes at the suggestion put forward by Lin Miaomiao. After a long while, he patted his clothes, looked at Lin Miaomiao, and slowly said, "This is a good idea. I have already figured out what to do."

Hearing what Li Yanhe said, Lin Miaomiao nodded immediately.

Curious, she looked at Li Yanhe and asked slowly, "Then what do you plan to do?"

Hearing her question, Li Yanhe smiled with a charming curve at the corner of his mouth and said to Lin Miaomiao, "Don't those corrupt officials want to get transferred?"

"I can organize some fundraising or something, and make them do some good public welfare deeds. That way, we will have the silver to repair the roads."

Hearing this, Lin Miaomiao nodded and said to Li Yanhe slowly, "Actually, there is no need to be overly anxious. These roads only need simple repairs."

"As for those bandits, they need to be eradicated as soon as possible. I suspect that collusion between officials and bandits is also possible. You had better..."

Before Lin Miaomiao could finish, Li Yanhe smiled with a confident curve at the corner of his mouth and said to her, "You don't need to worry, those bandits will disappear very soon."

Hearing this, Lin Miaomiao nodded and said nothing more.

The sugar factory in Li Family Village began its reorganization. Soon after, officials sent by the government arrived, with the village chief standing nearby in a respectful manner.

The officials replaced the plaque of the sugar factory, and the characters "Dayong Sugar Factory" were clearly inscribed on it.

Seeing this plaque, the village chief's heart skipped a beat, and all his hopes were somewhat dashed.

Just at that moment, the officials suddenly carried in a chest full of silver coins and said to the village chief, "Gather all the workers from the early stage of the sugar factory here."

Hearing the officials' instructions, the village chief nodded immediately and then told Cuihua and the others, "Hurry up and line up in order."

The official in charge of the early stages turned out to be Lin Liangluan. Actually, Li Yanhe had wanted to use someone else, but those people did not know how Lin Miaomiao intended to proceed, so Lin Liangluan was temporarily put in charge of the matters here in the beginning.

After all, Li Family Village was the only sugar factory for now, so there was no need to make such a big fuss in the early stages.

The village chief rubbed his hands nervously. The villagers had never expected that the young man who had scolded them that day was actually the official in charge of their village's sugar factory.

Lin Liangluan said to the village chief, "Count all the sugar beets from the early stage of the sugar factory, including those that failed in production. What is the total weight?"

Hearing Lin Liangluan's words, the village chief directly reported the accounts he had kept for both the early and late stages to Lin Liangluan.

Glancing at them, Lin Liangluan said to the village chief, "We won't investigate the early stage anymore. From the later stage onwards, if anyone in the village is willing to sell their sugar beets to the sugar factory, they can come directly to have them weighed and settled."

Hearing this, the village chief instantly understood and nodded happily.

Lin Liangluan glanced at the village chief and said, "The sugar beets of every household are recorded here. The market price for sugar beets is ten wen per catty."

When the villagers heard that their sugar beets could be sold for ten wen per catty, many of them rolled their eyes back and forth, secretly regretting why they hadn't taken the risk in the first place.

Hearing this, the village chief nodded happily and said to Lin Liangluan, "Yes, yes."

Lin Liangluan glanced at the village chief, then motioned for the people behind him to settle the accounts for the sugar beets of every household. He turned to the employees behind him and said, "You are the veteran workers of the sugar factory from the early stage."

"You need to persist here for a while longer, and the wage rates will also be posted on the outer wall. Starting tomorrow, the female workers in our factory will be replaced by others."

"Those female workers must also work hard. Once you finish your tasks, you will become veteran workers of the sugar factory. The sugar factory needs people, and you have opportunities to advance. Grab the opportunities yourselves."

After Lin Liangluan finished speaking, Cuihua and Erni understood immediately upon hearing his words.

Lin Liangluan glanced behind him, and Chunhua stepped out, saying to the female workers, "I am Chunhua, and I will be in charge of the work of the female workers in our village from now on."

When Chunhua stepped forward, she was actually a bit nervous, but she still remembered what the Princess Consort had told her when she left: "If you can work hard and do well, your slave status will be rescinded based on your work performance, and you will also receive monthly wages."

"Your wages are not fixed; as long as you do well, your wages will increase every month, just like Ruoyu."

To be honest, Chunhua truly envied Ruoyu for being able to find someone she loved and marry him.

Chunhua had seen that the house built by Ruoyu and Lin Jiwang was a spacious brick-tile house, and the Princess Consort had also rescinded both of their slave statuses.

Wasn't the life the two of them living right now just like the lifestyle of a landlord's family? She didn't have grand ambitions, but she also hoped to live a very good life in the second half of her life.

After Chunhua finished speaking, Lin Liangluan patted her shoulder and said, "Don't be nervous. It's just like working in the dessert shop before; all these sugars need to be packaged."

"In the early stages, it's just simple packaging methods for white granulated sugar; later on, there might be brown sugar. When packaging, the weight must be exact—this is a matter of our business integrity."

Lin Liangluan glanced at Chunhua and continued, "Also, make sure the sealing parts are done well to prevent anyone from stealing sugar after the packaging is completed."

Lin Liangluan gave Chunhua these instructions. Listening to his every word, the villagers realized that all their little schemes had been completely blocked.

Cuihua and Erni felt for the first time that Lin Miaomiao's younger brother was truly remarkable. Despite his young age, he handled matters in an orderly and airtight manner.

Seeing that the matters of the sugar factory were almost settled, Lin Liangluan made a pause gesture to the villagers standing behind the village chief.

"Now that we've finished official business, let's talk about personal matters. I would like to take this opportunity to apologize to everyone here regarding what happened with my elder sister last time."