Rebirth: Seven Years in a Great Dream

Chapter 38: Dividing the Profits

Mu Dong was absolutely exhausted. He called his mom to ask her to prepare a meal for a dinner gathering at the yard that evening, then fell into a deep sleep, waking up only a little after 2:00 p. m. He called Mu Daguo over, asked about attendance records, and then began preparing the final payroll for the yard. The last payday was January 12, covering wages through the end of December 2008. Since the yard was now staffed entirely by veteran employees—each owed two months and nine days’ wages—Mu Dong decided to pay them two and a half months’ wages and then give each worker an additional bonus of 800 to 1,200 yuan based on their pay scale. In no time, the payroll calculations were finished, and with cash on hand, Boss Mu called out, “Payday!” The workers all ran over excitedly. Workers at Mu Daguo and Zhong Guodong’s level received 9,950 yuan, while even the lowest-ranking support workers received 5,800 yuan. The wads of cash made everyone’s eyes light up with excitement. Mu Dong then announced three matters. First, there would be a three-day holiday, and everyone was to report to the yard on March 13 Second, there will be a dinner tonight—everyone is welcome to attend Third, machinery and equipment are being sold off at the yard; please help spread the word. The workers let out a loud cheer and dispersed. Those who lived nearby hurried to send the money home. Those who lived farther away rushed to the bank to deposit their earnings. Most of the workers were puzzled—what were they supposed to do in three days? The sand would all be sold out by then. In the evening, Tan Jiaming approached Mu Dong and asked if he could buy the crawler tractor from him. Over the past few months working for Mu Dong, Tan Jiaming had been earning the top-tier wage, accumulating over 20,000 yuan. Now that he had some spare cash, the idea of buying the tractor crossed his mind again. Mu Dong felt both touched and a little bittersweet. He was touched by Tan Jiaming’s dedication to the crawler tractor, and it pained him that Tan Jiaming was expressing that dedication in such a humble way. He thought for a moment and said, “Brother Jiaming, I was actually planning to sell this vehicle. We’ve known each other for so long, and you’ve helped me a lot. To put it simply, if you hadn’t been at the yard, the repair costs for these vehicles would have been much higher. How about this: I’ll sell it to you at a discount—five thousand yuan—and you can take it home.” Mu Dong could have simply given the car to Tan Jiaming, but he feared that might hurt his pride, so he came up with this explanation. Tian Jiaming was so moved that his lips trembled slightly, and he couldn’t speak. He had braced himself for rejection, prepared to pay a high price, and even secretly hoped to buy it for 10,000 yuan—since Boss Mu had originally paid 10,000 yuan for it. The only thing he wasn’t prepared for was buying it at an even lower price. Rubbing his two large hands together excitedly, he said, “Then thank you, Brother Mu Dong. I’ll buy you a couple extra drinks tonight.” Mu Dong shuddered in fright and hurriedly said, “Forget it—just spare me.” Tan Jiaming turned to leave, but Mu Dong quickly called out to him again: “Big Brother Jiaming, I have something else to tell you. What are your plans for the future? I’ll be wrapping things up here soon.” Tan Jiaming looked a bit embarrassed and said, “A few sandyard owners have approached me about working for them, but I haven’t agreed yet.” Tan Jiaming had previously been unable to find work due to his leg disability. After he started working for Mu Dong, people gradually realized that the most skilled operator at the Mu family’s stockpile was actually this unassuming man with a disability—and he could even repair vehicles. As a result, some sandyard owners had quietly approached Tan Jiaming, hoping to poach him. But Tan Jiaming refused. After all, it was Mu Dong who had given him this chance to prove himself—not to mention that his beloved crawler tractor was right here. Upon hearing this, Mu Dong quickly said, “Brother Jiaming, to be honest with you, I plan to plant trees on this yard. In a few days, I’ll mainly be clearing the site, so I’ll need your help for another two days. After that, if a suitable opportunity comes along, go for it. Honestly, I’m really happy for you that you’ve found a job that suits you.” Tan Jiaming nodded and said, “Then I won’t take any time off. I’ll start clearing the site tomorrow.” With that, he turned and walked away. Mu Dong watched his back—one shoulder higher than the other—as he slowly walked away, his feelings a complex mix. That evening, Mu Dong ended up getting drunk. Tan Jiaming had only toasted once, but he couldn’t hold his own against the relentless pressure from the others. The next morning, Mu Dong was roused by the roar of machinery, and his head still throbbed in waves. Sigh, does this mean I have to quit drinking? On the open site, loaders and crawler tractors were busy clearing the area; none of the drivers had been given the day off. Before he’d even had breakfast, several owners from the sand quarries came looking for Mu Dong. What’s this about? We’re here to buy equipment. Yesterday, they heard that Mr. Mu was selling off his equipment, and several owners had their eyes on it. Everyone had seen how well Mr. Mu had done over the past six months—he’d definitely struck it rich. This is a man with incredible luck! Now that the equipment associated with this good fortune was up for sale, everyone wanted to buy it, hoping to catch a bit of that luck themselves. So, they all came. They didn’t all arrive at the same time; it was only after they got there that they realized they weren’t the only ones with a good head on their shoulders. Mu Dong said, “The crawler tractor has already been sold. Only the 30-series and 50-series loaders are left, but they won’t be ready for delivery for three days—I still need them for another two days.” “No problem,” the crowd chimed in. With so many people and only two pieces of equipment, they decided to hold an auction. After some bidding, the 30-cubic-meter loader went for 41,000 yuan, while the 50-cubic-meter loader and fuel truck were sold for 74,000 yuan. When Mu Dong had purchased them, the 30-ton loader cost 46,000 yuan, and the 50-ton loader plus the fuel truck cost 78,000 yuan. This truly lived up to Mu Dong’s initial plan: after six months of use, the two loaders had cost only 9,000 yuan—compared to renting them, it was practically free. All right, the equipment has all been disposed of. Boss Mu pulled out the accounts from the time the sub-yard was established and began calculating the expenses. The largest expense was diesel, totaling over 500,000 yuan, followed by wages at 420,000 yuan, then kitchen expenses at 110,000 yuan, and finally the land rent for the new yard at just over 40,000 yuan; the rest were all minor expenses. The total expenses came to 1,273,000 yuan. The final total revenue, after deducting expenses, was 10. 63 million yuan. Using this figure and dividing it by the yard’s total capital investment of 2. 725 million yuan, Mu Dong arrived at a ratio of 3. 9. In other words, for every yuan invested in the yard, 3. 9 yuan was ultimately generated. Phew—Mu Dong let out a long breath. This figure far exceeded expectations—it was absolutely perfect. Based on this ratio, Mu Dong would receive approximately 7. 4 million yuan. After subtracting his various loans totaling 2. 05 million yuan, his net profit would be 5. 25 million yuan. Mu Dong took stock of his debts and ultimately decided not to repay Han Yong’s 200,000 yuan loan, Mu Jinqian’s 500,000 yuan loan, or the 400,000 yuan in loans from the Agricultural Bank of China and the rural credit cooperative for the time being. Since these were all one-year terms, he could continue to use the funds for his willow business for a while longer. He would repay all other small, six-month loans in full. As for the 600,000 yuan loan secured by his house in Quancheng, he would decide whether to repay it based on the progress of his willow procurement. Thinking of Mu Jinqian, Mu Dong took out his cell phone and called him: “Young Master, I’ve stockpiled some willow branches recently. If you have some spare cash, you can buy some yourself.” He had promised to let “Little Master” know whenever there was a money-making opportunity, and he intended to keep his word. As for whether “Little Master” would believe him—well, that was up to him. Now that the calculations were done, it was time to divide the profits. Just as he was about to call his sister to go to the bank together and withdraw some cash, his phone rang—it was his sister calling. “Xiao Dong, I heard you’re done at the yard. Hurry over—we’re running out of space at the school right now,” his sister’s anxious voice came through the receiver. “That fast?” Mu Dong muttered to himself. He’d been working day and night at the yard these past few days, leaving everything at the school entirely up to his sister—he hadn’t expected they’d run out of space so quickly. Mu Dong hurried off to the school in his car. As he pulled into the courtyard, he saw tall plane trees sprouting fuzzy new buds. Mu Dong felt a wave of relief wash over him; the leaves would soon be fully grown, and the summer days spent under their shade—just like in his childhood memories—would be absolutely wonderful. Mu Xiaoxia saw Mu Dong’s car pull in, ran over, and led him to the small building. Almost all the rooms were full; only the last two remained, and workers were busy moving wicker furniture into them—they looked set to fill up soon as well. Mu Dong had no choice but to say, “Let’s make tomorrow the last day. If we stop accepting deliveries today, we won’t have time to explain it to our customers.” So, they took a three-pronged approach to announce that purchases would stop the next day. First, they issued a public notice; second, they verbally notified and explained the situation to all customers present that day; and third, they obtained some contact numbers from Old Man Su and called to inform them. Upon learning that tomorrow would truly be the last day, many people sprang into action. Mu Dong had originally planned to pay the investors this afternoon, but now it looked like he’d have to postpone it until the day after tomorrow. Tomorrow would be the final day of hard work to complete the willow branch purchase. Mu Dong looked up at the warm sun filtering through the branches of the plane trees. It hadn’t rained at all since he’d started buying willow branches—could it really be that he’d guessed right, and a major drought was on the way? On March 11, upon hearing that tomorrow would be the final day of purchasing, large numbers of vendors and farmers flooded into the school early in the morning, forming long lines. Mu Dong kept explaining to everyone: “We’re out of money. We won’t be buying tomorrow—we really won’t.” If he’d said he didn’t want to buy anymore or didn’t have anywhere to store the willow, customers might still have gritted their teeth and delivered their goods. But the moment he said he was out of money, they immediately gave up hope. “If you’re out of money, who’s going to put up with this hassle?” So everyone was worried: Would they be able to get cash today? Boss Mu patted his chest and assured them, “It’s all cash today—tomorrow, we’ll really have no money left.” Before noon, the small building was already completely filled, with some goods even placed at both ends of each floor’s hallway. To prevent fires, Mu Dong absolutely refused to stack anything in the middle of the hallways. With no other choice, Mu Dong had his father lead the workers to quickly erect a raised platform on the playground and begin stacking the goods. Fortunately, there were still surplus materials left over from the last purchase, so the platform was set up in no time. In the afternoon, to make the charade seem more convincing, Mu Dong slowed down the payment process. For the final two hours, he stopped payments altogether, making customers who had finished weighing their goods wait a long time before finally settling up with “borrowed money.” As a result, everyone believed that Boss Mu had truly run out of money. They vowed never to come back, no matter what. By evening, the last willow stack had been covered with a tarp and securely tied down, marking the completion of Mu Dong’s willow procurement work. Old Man Su also left when his shift ended; his son had come to pick him up in a car. He was very satisfied with his life lately—busy every day and feeling fulfilled. Now he planned to go home and rest for a while. That evening, Mu Dong and his sister, Mu Xiaoxia, reconciled the purchase accounts. They had purchased a total of 3. 05 million jin of willow branches, including 2. 06 million jin of raw branches and 990,000 jin of steamed branches. The total payment for purchases amounted to 4. 955 million yuan, plus 366,000 yuan for promotional gifts, bringing the current total cost of the willow branch purchase to 5. 321 million yuan. This was largely in line with Mu Dong’s projections, and he was very satisfied. All that remained was to wait—to wait for the day when willow prices would rise. That evening, Mu Dong notified all family members who had invested that a meeting would be held at the elementary school at 10:00 a. m. the next day to distribute the investment returns. Both Aunt Mu No. 1 and Aunt Mu No. 2 received calls from Mu Dong and agreed to attend the meeting. Although the company had already been registered, Mu Dong still preferred to call this courtyard “the Little School” rather than “Dongdong Company.” After all, the company was merely a cover to make the willow branch acquisition seem more reasonable. On March 12, as soon as the bank opened, Mu Dong first deposited 390,000 yuan into the bank card his eldest aunt, Mu Hong, had given him, then withdrew 700,000 yuan in cash. He then returned to the “Little School” to welcome his family members. Mu’s parents had arrived early in the morning; his older sister, Mu Xiaoxia, and her husband, Zhong Guodong, also rushed over shortly after. Next came Uncle Mu No. 2’s family, Uncle Mu No. 3 and Aunt Mu No. 3, followed by his eldest aunt, Mu Hong, and her husband, Wang Shaoqiang, who arrived by car. When his second aunt and her husband finally arrived, Xie Donglin hurried forward to greet them. Everyone was there. At 10:00 a. m. , everyone gathered in the office for a meeting. Mu Dong began by announcing a new rule: a smoking ban. Mu Hong immediately shouted, “Smokers, hold it in—my nephew has declared a smoking ban!” This made everyone burst into laughter, and the atmosphere was lighthearted. Mu Dong first thanked all his relatives for their trust and support during the yard’s opening, and then thanked his family members for their contributions to the yard’s operations. Next, Mu Dong gave a detailed overview of the yard’s operations and specifically explained the reasons behind the price reduction during the final phase of sales. Finally, Mu Dong announced the returns: a ratio of 1 to 3. 9. For every yuan invested, investors would receive 3. 9 yuan. Everyone was stunned—truly stunned. The office fell instantly silent; even the faint rustling of the wind through the tree branches outside the window could be heard clearly. Everyone knew the yard was making money—a lot of money—but no one could have imagined it would be this much. Even Mu Daguo, who collected money every day, hadn’t anticipated such high returns. In Mu Daguo’s eyes, the yard did indeed bring in a lot of money every day, but he could still vividly recall how the money had flowed out like water in the early days. To say nothing of other expenses—just the daily diesel costs for the yard alone were a constant source of pain for him. Then there were the meals. Mu Dong insisted on standards no different from those at a family dinner table—and which worker wasn’t satisfied? Who didn’t give it a thumbs-up? Everyone said the food was even better than what they ate at home. Yet the daily expense on meals still struck Mu Daguo as an absolute waste. Mu Daguo figured that doubling the family’s investment should be no problem—he hadn’t even considered making more than that. But now, after deducting the principal, the return was actually 2. 9 times the original investment! Mu Hong thought to herself, “I invested 100,000—doesn’t that mean I have 390,000 now? How can this be? This money was all earned through Xiao Dong’s hard work; how could I just take it so easily? Besides, when I put up that 100,000 in the first place, it was specifically to help Xiao Dong.” With that thought, Mu Hong suddenly stood up and said, “Xiao Dong, about this money…” “Aunt Mu, please sit down first and let me explain.” Mu, having guessed what his aunt was about to say, quickly cut her off. If Aunt Mu didn’t take this money, how could the others possibly feel comfortable taking it? After all, not everyone was as well-off as she was. Mu Dong then said, “This money isn’t the result of my efforts alone—it’s the result of everyone’s hard work: my parents, my second uncle and aunt,my sister and brother-in-law, Da Guo and Donglin—they’ve all been working day and night at the yard. Donglin even got injured once. Uncle San ran back and forth handling matters for the yard; he was the one who secured the land for it. Aunt and Uncle, you’ve also worried a great deal to protect the yard from being schemed against by underhanded people. So, the money we’ve earned is the result of everyone’s joint efforts. It’s only fair that everyone gets a share of this money. Except for my eldest aunt and third uncle, none of our families are well-off. I hope this money will help everyone live a little better.” Auntie No. 3 exclaimed, “Our family isn’t well-off either—how can we compare to your eldest aunt?” Mu Hong thought to herself that she’d gotten carried away earlier—her nephew had indeed been the more thoughtful one—so she said nothing, though she was quietly calculating in her mind. Mu Dong waved his large hand and said, “I won’t beat around the bush—let’s divide the money!” First up was Mu Dad. He’d initially given Mu Dong 30,000, and now it totaled 117,000. Mr. Mu waved his hand. “I don’t want it. Keep it for yourself, you rascal. Why go to all this trouble to split it up for your old man?” Mu Dong replied, “Dad, just take it for now. If you don’t take it, how am I supposed to distribute the rest? If you want to give it to me, you can do so when we get home.” Everyone laughed again, and Mu Dad, with a sigh of resignation, took the money. Next was Uncle No. 2. Mu Dong ultimately counted the money Uncle Mu and his brother-in-law, Zhong Guodong, gave him the second time as part of his equity share. After all, family should stick together—there’s no need to be so petty about it. Uncle Mu had invested 35,000 yuan in two installments and now received 136,500 yuan. As he accepted the money, Uncle Mu felt deeply moved. If he’d calculated only the interest on the money he’d slipped to Xiao Dong the second time, it wouldn’t have amounted to this much. It seemed Mu Dong had even written him a IOU for that second payment—he’d have to pay him back right away. Next was Uncle Mu No. 3. He had invested 50,000 yuan. Although he’d joined late—and Mu Dong had even written him a promissory note—he was now being treated equally. Uncle Mu No. 3 received 195,000 yuan, and Aunt Mu No. 3, clutching the stack of cash, had a smile stretching from ear to ear. Thank goodness I’d dragged my husband along to invest back then—otherwise, we wouldn’t have gotten our hands on this much money. Next was Second Aunt. She had invested 20,000 and received 78,000. Second Aunt’s family had always been struggling financially, but now, with this money plus Xie Donglin’s salary, they had over 100,000. Combined with their household savings, that should be more than enough to cover the costs of finding a wife for Xie Donglin. Next was his older sister, Mu Xiaoxia, who invested a total of 40,000 yuan and received 156,000 yuan. Combined with several months’ worth of their salaries, they were sure to have at least 200,000 yuan in savings. Finally, there was Aunt Mu. Mu Dong took out a bank card and said to Mu Hong and Wang Shaoqiang, “Aunt, Uncle, this is the bank card you originally gave me. There’s 390,000 yuan in it now. You must accept it.” Only then did everyone realize that Mu Hong had given Mu Dong 100,000 yuan right from the start. The bond between this mother and son was truly extraordinary. Mu Hong sighed, took the card, and said, “Xiao Dong has really grown up.” Then her eyes welled up, and tears actually began to fall—she was worried about Mu Dong. Mu Dong panicked, not knowing what to do.