Chapter 214 Own People

On Sunday, Xu Qiang arrived at the peat field early in the morning.

Almost every Sunday, Xu Qiang would be busy at the peat field for a whole day. His main task was to prepare fragrances for soaps and shampoo creams. Since the production of indigo powder dye, several of the key raw materials were also prepared by him personally. In short, Xu Qiang must keep the core technology firmly in his own hands, and must not disclose it even to his closest people.

In addition, today is the beginning of the month, and Xu Qiang started paying wages to the workers at the fertilizer factory.

The people brought by Yang Dong can earn about 70 cents a day, depending on the number of working days. That means 21 yuan a month for full attendance. Compared with farming in the village, this income is already a very good income, so everyone has a happy smile on their face after receiving the money.

When it came time to distribute money to his own people, Xu Qiang brought Erhu, Liu Jun and Da Hei Niu to the small house and settled the accounts behind closed doors.

In the past, Xu Qiang’s direct descendants only consisted of the three of them, but this time, there was a newcomer.

This newcomer was none other than the one Erhu had recommended to Xu Qiang before, his cousin, a young man with a high school education named Kang Jian, who had been fired from the factory for "hooliganism".

Kang Jian had come here in the middle of last month. Xu Qiang did not let him go to run business like Erhu, but let him follow Liu Jun to produce dyes. Xu Qiang wanted to observe him for a while. After all, the work at the peat field is relatively hard. The factory is hot and humid during the day, and there are more mosquitoes and flies at night. People from cities generally find it difficult to adapt to the living conditions here.

However, what satisfied Xu Qiang was that Kang Jian worked quite hard. He initially helped Liu Jun, but after just watching for a few days, he had completely memorized the entire production process of indigo dye. Now, even if Liu Jun is not there occasionally, he can complete the entire production process of the dye independently.

Moreover, compared with Liu Jun, Kang Jian is well-educated and has a strong learning ability. In terms of chemical production, he is more rigorous and careful than Liu Jun, and is also able to endure hardships and work hard, which makes Xu Qiang very satisfied.

In fact, when Erhu recommended Kangjian to him, Xu Qiang originally planned to let him go out to do business like Erhu.

But now, with the cooperation between Xu Qiang and the head of the factory's supply and marketing department, Xu Qiang no longer needs more salesmen, so he finally decided to let Kang Jian work with Liu Jun at the peat field. With Kang Jian, Liu Jun can also take time out to drive a horse-drawn carriage to the town to deliver goods, which improves the operating efficiency of the peat field.

"Everyone worked well last month. Let's pay their salaries now." Xu Qiang said as he took out a stack of big unity bills from his pocket and started distributing money to everyone according to the amounts on the payroll.

"...You all worked full time last month, and each of you is paid 30 yuan..."

Xu Qiang said as he gave each of the four of them three Great Unity tickets.

At the beginning, Xu Qiang paid different salaries to the four of them. Among them, Liu Jun had the highest salary, with the initially agreed salary of 25 yuan a month. The next highest was Erhu, who made 20 yuan a month. As for Da Hei Niu, he joined the latest and made only 18 yuan a month.

However, as the business at the peat field grew, these people also began to take on multiple duties. For example, Liu Jun was responsible for dye production and often had to deliver goods to the town. Erhu became a salesman and negotiated several large orders from the factory. Sometimes he had to be responsible for delivering goods to Fuzhou. As for Da Hei Niu, in addition to producing soap and shampoo, he was also the "chef" of the peat field. Liu Jun, Erhu and Xu Qiang had all become picky eaters because of Da Hei Niu's cooking skills. In order to keep him, they naturally had to raise his salary.

So in the current peat field, these people are very important to Xu Qiang and none of them can be missing!

So when they had dinner together last month, they simply adjusted everyone's salary to 30 yuan per month. None of them had any objection to this. After all, after all, they had been getting along with each other for some time, and they had already become as close as brothers, and they relied on each other in work and life.

Moreover, this salary is nothing nowadays. The most important thing is the extra bonus Xu Qiang gives him every month, which is the big part.

"This month, our income from dyes is increasing, and the soap and shampoo are also selling well..." Xu Qiang thought for a moment and then said, "So this month I will give each of you a bonus of 300 yuan!"

"Uh." Hearing Xu Qiang say this, Liu Jun, Erhu and Da Hei Niu's eyes suddenly lit up and they looked surprised.

You know, last month, Xu Qiang gave everyone a bonus of 200 yuan, and this month it was directly increased by one third!

In fact, what they didn’t know was that this amount of money was just a small sum for Xu Qiang now.

Last month, with the hot sales of shampoo and soap, as well as the indigo powder order signed with Fufang, Xu Qiang easily earned nearly 30,000 yuan! Combined with his existing cash flow and the machinery and equipment he had purchased before, Xu Qiang's total assets reached more than 60,000 yuan, of which nearly 40,000 yuan was in cash!

Therefore, the bonus given to Liu Jun and others is just a fraction of what Xu Qiang earned last month. It is nothing to Xu Qiang, but it is a lot of money to Liu Jun and others!
You know, according to the salary and bonus payment standard, they can earn several thousand yuan a year. Although it is not as much as a millionaire, it is definitely enough to build a house, buy three major items, and marry a wife in the local area!

When Xu Qiang instigated several people to join the gang, he promised that they would be able to get married within two years. Judging from the current situation, it is estimated that it will take less than a year for them to get married and start a family.

"Count the money. I won't take responsibility for it once you leave this door." After Xu Qiang handed out the money to several people, he raised his eyebrows and said. "Hahaha!" Hearing this, several people immediately laughed.

Afterwards, Xu Qiang arranged for the three of them to go outside to make a fire and cook, leaving Kang Jian alone.

Kang Jian couldn't help but be surprised when he saw Xu Qiang giving money to several people just now.

Before coming here, he was also a worker in a state-owned enterprise. His monthly salary of more than 30 yuan was considered a high income locally. If he had not been fired from the factory and had not been out of work for more than half a year, he would never have come to work in Xu Qiang's village-run enterprise.

Then after coming here, Kang Jian was surprised to find that except for the living place which was not as good as at home, the food and various entertainments here were much better than their original factory, especially the food. There were meat and eggs every day, which was something he had never dared to think about before. In particular, Da Hei Niu's cooking skills were as good as those of the chefs in the city. After working here for a while, Kang Jian actually didn't want to go home.

After seeing with his own eyes that Xu Qiang gave such a high bonus to Erhu and others, Kang Jian was stunned with surprise. Not to mention the 30 yuan salary, the 300 yuan bonus alone was equivalent to his income in the previous factory for half a year!
"Do you want to smoke?" At this time, Xu Qiang took out a cigarette and handed it to Kang Jian.

"No, thank you."

"Not smoking is a good habit, you should keep it up in the future." Xu Qiang smiled and continued, "Do you know why I called you guys into the room to pay your wages?"

"This...maybe it's because I was introduced by Brother Erhu?" Kang Jian said after a moment of hesitation.

"It is indeed related to this." Xu Qiang lit up a cigarette and took a puff, then said, "Actually, you should think like this. I pay those people outside because they are outsiders to me, but I call you into the house to pay you because we are all family members..."

"I understand." Kang Jian nodded when he heard it.

"You've been here for half a month now, and you've performed pretty well, but you still can't compare to your brother Erhu and the others. They all followed me when I first started my business, and they've suffered a lot to get to where they are today..."

"I know this. Brother Erhu told me before that when you first came here, you had nothing except a few shovels and hoes, and the house was built bit by bit." Kang Jian pondered for a moment, then continued: "So I am not eligible for a bonus, as long as I have a salary."

Kang Jian was very smart. He naturally understood what Xu Qiang meant, so he quickly said that he did not want the bonus.

But he could also see that since Xu Qiang called him into the room alone, he would definitely not treat him unfairly.

"Haha, tell me the truth, are you envious when you see them making so much money?" Xu Qiang said with a smile.

"Yes!" Kang Jian nodded.

"If you work hard in the future, you can pay as much as they do, but this time... I can only give you 60 yuan because you have only been here for half a month." Xu Qiang said.

"Thank you, boss!" Kang Jian was delighted and said quickly.

In fact, the salary of 60 yuan was far higher than Kang Jian's estimate. After all, Xu Qiang had only promised to give him a salary of 30 yuan, plus a bonus. Kang Jian thought that he could only earn yuan at most.

"For now, you will be mainly responsible for the production of dyes. In the future, I may arrange for you to do other work, such as running sales or something like that. But no matter what you do, you must remember that no matter when and where, you must put the interests of our team first. If you are unfaithful once, I will never use you again. I cannot tolerate any sand in my eyes. If you are my brother, I will not treat you unfairly. But if you betray me behind my back, I will definitely not let you off easily..."

Xu Qiang's words were very stern. After all, Kang Jian was currently in charge of the production of industrial dyes, so Xu Qiang would naturally not tell him the core ingredients. But he had mastered the production process after all, so Xu Qiang had to give him some warnings in advance.

"I understand. Brother Qiang, don't worry, I will never do that kind of thing." Kang Jian said seriously.

"That's good, let's eat!"

Xu Qiang waved his hand, stood up and left the house...

(End of this chapter)