Chapter 25 Sunday Engineer
"Actually, it was really difficult for me to do the fertilizer business this time. There were only three of us and we didn't have any equipment. We could only cross the river by feeling the stones and take one step at a time. But at least we succeeded..." At the dinner table, Xu Qiang put a peanut in his mouth and said with some emotion.

"Nothing is easy now." Wang Zhong glanced at Xu Qiang and continued, "But as long as you are brave and capable, you can still make money. In the past two years, I have often traveled to other provinces, including Shanghai and Guangzhou. The economies of big cities are developed and the key is that they are full of vitality. Especially in the past two years, many small businesses have emerged from nowhere, doing all kinds of things, and the prices are cheap. The most important thing is that you don't need to rely on tickets for supply. As long as you have money, you can get as much goods as you want..."

Wang Zhong is a man who has seen some of the world. Ever since the town supply and marketing cooperative was restructured into a collective enterprise, his life as the director has not been as comfortable as before. With dozens of employees to support, the burden has suddenly become heavy.

Although Gaoshan Town has a small population, the demand for various materials is still great, including daily necessities, hardware and home appliances, seeds and fertilizers, clothing and hats, and many categories of goods in the supply and marketing cooperatives. In the past, these things were purchased and sold by superiors at the same price across the country, and everyone knew it, whether in cities or rural areas.

But nowadays, with the reform and opening up, the vast majority of store operations at the grassroots cooperatives are still operated by large collectives, and the grassroots supply and marketing cooperatives uniformly organize the "joint purchase and distribution" of industrial products and the "separate purchase and joint sales" of agricultural and sideline products and waste materials.

From the perspective of "purchasing", because the main channels within the supply and marketing cooperative system have been destroyed, the procurement channels of grassroots cooperatives have also undergone great changes. It is common to purchase goods from other economic organizations, manufacturers, wholesale markets and other channels.

As the director of the supply and marketing cooperative, in order to find better and more sources of goods, Wang Zhong often traveled outside all year round. He witnessed the rapid rise of many private enterprises like mushrooms after a spring rain. It was precisely because of this that when he saw Xu Qiang doing his own fertilizer business, he did not feel that there was anything wrong, nor did he think that he was speculating. Instead, he admired Xu Qiang a little.

In this era, the old ideas and concepts of the past have constrained many talented people, but Wang Zhong is one of the few people with a quick mind and advanced thinking.

"Director Wang is right. Now the country has begun reform and opening up. We are now in an era full of opportunities." Xu Qiang smiled and continued, "I am a chemical engineering major and I have some technical knowledge, but it is not enough. The chemical raw materials required for production are very difficult to obtain. If it were not for Director Wang's help this time, I would not have been able to produce humic acid fertilizer so quickly, so I am very grateful to you from the bottom of my heart..."

"We are all friends, and we should help each other." Wang Zhong said with a smile when he heard Xu Qiang say this.

"Now the first batch of products has been produced. In fact, I am not satisfied with the quality of this batch of products. Due to limited conditions, there are no related equipment and even no electricity, so the work depends entirely on manpower. The products produced in this way have low output and average quality. If it weren't for my skills, this would never have been possible." Xu Qiang said.

"All things are difficult at the beginning. It's not easy for anyone to do business. Many of the small bosses I met in Shanghai before were penniless and built up their businesses through their own efforts. You have skills and brains, so your business will definitely get better and better in the future," said Wang Zhong.

"It seems that Director Wang knows a lot of Shanghai bosses." Xu Qiang said with a smile.

"My friends there introduced them to me. The bosses there work together and introduce clients to each other. If you are a talented person, they will hire you with a high salary..."

"High-tech hiring? How high?" Hearing this, Xu Qiang immediately became interested. In fact, what Wang Zhong said about Shanghai bosses hiring high-tech talents was actually the "Sunday engineers" that were very popular at the time.

In the 1980s and 1990s, every Saturday after get off work, groups of young people would arrive at Shanghai's major long-distance bus stations, ship terminals, and train stations.

They were wearing blue Zhongshan suits that had been washed to a slightly pale color, with a fountain pen in their pockets. They looked elegant and refreshing, and it was obvious that they were intellectuals.

Their destinations were mostly township enterprises in Shanghai's surrounding areas, such as Suzhou and Wuxi. The next afternoon, they rushed back to Shanghai from all directions to catch the last bus. This weekend "tide" was like a new urban landscape at that time, and the engineers who "caught the tide and went to the countryside" were called "Sunday engineers."

At that time, township enterprises in southern Jiangsu were developing rapidly from their infancy, farmers had begun to taste the sweetness of running businesses, and the enthusiasm for developing industry was unprecedentedly high under the encouragement of the policies of the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee. However, most enterprises lacked technology, equipment, and market access. Crucially, they lacked technicians who understood the technology and could use the production equipment.

Therefore, the township governments and enterprises at that time mainly relied on two types of personnel to solve technical and management problems: one was the cadres and technical workers who were transferred from the cities or retired locally; the other was to borrow brains and wisdom from factories and scientific research institutions in cities such as Shanghai, Nanjing, Wuxi, and Suzhou through various relationships, and hire engineers, technical consultants, and masters to help solve technical problems such as using machines, developing products, ensuring quality, and reducing costs.

"It can cost tens, hundreds, or even thousands of yuan. Those bosses are really willing to spend money. As long as you have real skills and can help them solve the problem, the money will definitely not be a problem." Wang Zhong said.

"Well...if I want to go to Shanghai to make some money in the future, I hope Director Wang can help me..." Xu Qiang filled Wang Zhong's wine cup and said with a smile on his face.

"That's easy. You have skills, you're a college student, and you work in an arsenal. They want people like you. I have friends there. I'll greet them in advance. They'll help you wherever you go."

"Thank you so much!" Xu Qiang said with gratitude.

In fact, the reason why Xu Qiang asked about the "Sunday Engineer" was not only because he could earn some "technical consulting fees", but the most important point was that Shanghai is currently the most economically developed city in China, especially its production of daily chemical products and chemical machinery products, which are the most advanced in the country.

Xu Qiang would not be satisfied with just the humic acid fertilizer business. He had the formulas for many fine chemical products, including laundry detergent, dyes, adhesives, feed additives, etc. However, these products required corresponding equipment and raw materials. Only a city like Shanghai could provide most of what Xu Qiang needed...

(End of this chapter)