In reality, despicable acts are only a tiny minority, and those shameless individuals who deserve to be shot are extremely rare. The government's overall work attitude and management are positive and healthy. Although some mismanagement has prevented funds and materials from playing their proper role, truly heartbreaking incidents for donors are still very few.
This is a principle that most people understand, but people tend to think the worst. They always think that if the 100 or 1,000 yuan they donated is misappropriated and does not help the disaster victims at all, then their charitable donation would be completely meaningless.
This notion is difficult to dispel, which is precisely the reason why Lin Yao proposed and the preparatory team refined the complex verification process. This operational model, which clearly explains the situation to each donor, requires enormous financial and human resources, and clearly wastes social resources and reduces efficiency. However, all members of the preparatory team believe it is indispensable. There is currently no other non-governmental organization in China that can truly gain the trust of the entire nation. To pioneer this new approach and change the prevailing atmosphere, they must endure the arduous pioneering work of trailblazers.
Initially, the amount of money donated directly to Minhong Pharmaceutical was not much. However, with the pilot operation in Yuanmou County, after all the receipts and certificates were published online, the amount of donations skyrocketed, from about 200,000 yuan per day at the beginning to six or seven million yuan per day later. This allowed Minhong Pharmaceutical to solve all its production and sales funding problems in one fell swoop. The company no longer needed to accumulate inventory funds, and it did not even need to pay for the initial raw material procurement funds. This enabled Xinglin Pharmaceutical Factory and Anyun Water Industry Factory to start 24-hour production every day, and the production capacity was greatly improved.
The principle of not making any profit reduced the cost of donating the product to 1.41 yuan per bottle. This only included transportation costs and warehousing and handling costs in various locations. The management and personnel costs of all levels of the disaster area were completely free, and even the transportation company only charged the cost price for shipping.
Social organizations and individuals were deeply moved by Minhong Pharmaceutical's compassion. After all, the miraculous effects of the product after being consumed by disaster victims made everyone realize its true value. Compared to Minhong Pharmaceutical's efforts, their profit losses and personal sacrifices were insignificant. Of course, these were just their personal thoughts. Lin Yao was grateful to all those who provided assistance and requested the preparatory team to compile their names and assistance records.
The pilot sales of the product were fraught with difficulties. The Chinese people were used to receiving free donations, and they couldn't understand why they had to pay for the drought relief drinks, which even aroused their agitation.
Initially, the aid was provided through a combination of free donations and paid quota sales. In the pilot areas, the disaster victims who received the free drinks almost never bought any paid drinks. Even the low price of 1.5 yuan per bottle was only purchased when their families were really short of water. After all, this price was lower than any other ordinary purified water, because in some severely affected areas, ordinary unclean river water was even selling for 50 yuan per ton.
The free allocation could only meet half of the needs of the disaster victims. The first batch of 500,000 bottles was a drop in the bucket compared to the disaster victims in Yuanmou County. So when the free beverages were all distributed, they were left in the offices of the grassroots township governments, village governments and various rural teams. Strict fingerprint verification regulations and Secretary Sheng Hong's strong political orders ensured that these beverages were not sold improperly and that the inventory and sales management was precise down to each bottle.
However, after the disaster victims drank Minhong drought-resistant functional beverage and experienced significant improvements in their health, coupled with the effects they heard about online from relatives and friends, they became convinced of the importance of this miraculous drink to their families. As a result, after two days of being piled up for sale without any buyers, the beverages were immediately sold out by all the disaster victims who had their quotas. Many disaster victims who had quotas but had not been able to buy any even surrounded the village government and brigade office, demanding that their sales quotas be honored.
The raw medicine from Xinglin Pharmaceutical Factory began to be produced as finished products two days later, and the needs of the disaster victims in Yuanmou County were met in just two days. However, it took an extra day to deliver the medicine to the disaster victims in Yuanmou County, which was thanks to the full-fledged distribution services provided by governments at all levels.
Some villagers, distressed by the lack of water and the resulting illness in their cattle, tried adding Minhong drought-resistant functional beverage to the cattle's feed and drinking water. To their surprise, they discovered that this beverage was not only effective for humans but also had an even more significant effect on poultry and livestock. The disaster victims immediately saved their own beverages to treat their livestock. In their view, livestock were the hope for their family's finances; their loss was real money, while people could endure the hardship.
This widespread narrow-mindedness among the Chinese people pained Lin Yao deeply. It contradicted his people-centered philosophy, but it was something Lin Yao couldn't control; the mindset of the people couldn't be changed overnight. Lin Yao gritted his teeth and decided not to increase the quota. There were over ten million disaster victims in the west, and he was powerless to help those who disregarded their own health to treat livestock. He could only try to help as many sensible people as possible. Even with a quota of only one bottle per person every ten days, the supply was already barely enough.
The therapeutic effects of the drought-resistant beverage were reported by major media outlets across the country. Its miraculous efficacy and low price attracted the attention of some unscrupulous individuals. Some unethical merchants went to the disaster area and bought the beverage directly from the victims, offering prices ranging from fifty to one hundred yuan per bottle. Lin Yao lamented that so many people's ingenuity was being used for crooked purposes, which he found somewhat tragic.
Combating this behavior also relies on local governments and grassroots personnel at all levels to conduct inspections. Any disaster victims found to have transferred their quotas will have their quotas for the next period canceled. However, information from the volunteers in charge of supervision indicated that this punishment was not very effective. Lin Yao immediately contacted Secretary Sheng Hong to adjust the severity of the punishment, increasing it to canceling quotas for three periods before it was considered effective. This was partly due to the fact that the disaster victims themselves felt a significant decline in their health after stopping drinking the water.
As Marx famously said, "Capital with a 300% profit will commit any crime, even risking the gallows." This quote has also been applied to disaster relief efforts. With the media hyping the miraculous effects of Minhong drought-resistant functional beverage, its price in other parts of the country has already soared to 300 yuan per bottle and continues to rise.
The number of Chinese people who have become wealthy is now very large. For them, 300 yuan is not even as much as the cost of a morning tea. The saying that the richer people are, the more afraid they are of death is absolutely true. Faced with their own health, many people have abandoned their sense of shame and morality, and have gone to great lengths to obtain drought-resistant drinks for themselves. This has caused the black market price to soar to an astonishing figure of 1,000 yuan.
Unscrupulous merchants have raised the purchase price to 500 yuan per bottle, much like the hype surrounding orchids, maifanite, Pu'er tea, stamps, and even stocks in China a few years ago. A large group of merchants specializing in such crooked practices has emerged, specifically hyping up Minhong drought-resistant functional beverage. The beverage's efficacy, comparable to precious medicine, is a perfect selling point. These unscrupulous merchants are very experienced and capable, leading to such incidents occurring throughout Yuanmou County.
Faced with the astonishing figure of over 30,000% profit margin, some grassroots managers began to falsify data. The service center in Chengdu immediately delivered the supervision and audit results to Sheng Hong, the county party secretary. Sheng Hong was furious on the spot and dismissed dozens of grassroots managers from their posts. Their superiors were required to write self-criticisms and make rectifications within a specified period.
The government's crackdown has effectively curbed the trend of this behavior, further demonstrating the effectiveness of third-party supervision with no vested interests. Volunteers who give selflessly out of pure love are the most impartial and honest people.
The direct result of cracking down on illegal activities was that the price of drought-resistant beverages on the black market quickly soared to 2,000 yuan. Compared to cosmetics and health products that cost only a few yuan but were sold for one or two thousand yuan, the effects of drought-resistant beverages when the body is not dehydrated were even more amazing. For a time, social elites and women who didn't care about the cost for beauty tried every means to buy drought-resistant functional beverages.
This outcome left Lin Yao and the preparatory team members feeling helpless. After all, they weren't gods; they couldn't control everything in the face of human nature. All they could do was strengthen management and cooperate with the local government to reduce the occurrence of such incidents. As for those disaster victims who didn't cherish their health, let them be. Sometimes, poverty is a greater threat than health, and there's nothing that can be done about it.
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Thank you "音无朔夜" for the donation! Thank you!
I'm not sure if these two chapters are appropriate, or what everyone's preferences are, so I've tried to condense the disaster relief writing as much as possible. I hope friends with suggestions and opinions will offer their critique.
Yesterday, this book gained 303 new favorites, which is half of the number I had before Sunday. The homepage rankings are really effective, and I thank everyone for giving me this opportunity.
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Chapter Fifty-Six: A Peaceful Life
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I updated over 9,000 words today, so I've decided not to update the chapters I start writing now. I don't know when the rankings will drop tomorrow, and I'm afraid I'll be immediately removed once I exceed 200,000 words. So, I'll leave the chapters I start writing now for tomorrow, hoping to stay on the rankings as long as possible. The number of favorites is increasing very quickly (compared to my previous levels), many times faster than I could attract readers through advertising. I'll just skip this one update, haha.
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"Dad, these fish look so delicious!" Little Guli tugged at Lin Yao's clothes, put his other hand to his mouth, bit his finger, and looked like he was about to drool.
"Lili, these fish are for everyone to see, you can't eat them." Nannan stood with her hands on her hips, sternly lecturing Guli.
Guli shrank his neck and glanced at Nannan. "But I think they should taste good."
"All you ever think about is eating! You want to bite everything you see. You even bit my face the other day!" Hearing Gu Li's words, Nannan became even angrier and condemned Gu Li's misdeeds again. "If you do this again, I'll bite you next time too."
Ge Yong and Alina laughed heartily. These two little ones were always making jokes together. It had been years since they had laughed so freely. The couple looked at each other and saw the happiness in each other's eyes.
"Lili, these fish are kept for people to admire. Look how colorful and beautiful they are! They're not for eating." Lin Yao was also a bit exasperated by Gu Li's current hobby. This child wanted to bite anything he liked. Last time at the toy store, he almost broke his teeth. There are still some toys at home with teeth marks on them because he bit them and we had to buy them.
"Actually, don't be fooled by how pretty these fish are. They don't taste good at all and are only good for ornamental purposes. Lili, don't even think about eating them anymore." Lin Yao was very patient and gentle, like a true loving father educating his child.
Perhaps due to prolonged hunger and abuse, Guli now has an exceptionally strong craving for food. When he sees something he likes, his only expression of desire is to take a bite; taste has become a crucial way for him to experience pleasant things. Lin Yao understands Guli's psychology, so he never directly reprimands him. Instead, he uses a gentle, guiding approach to educate him. He needs long-term comfort to slowly heal Guli's psychological problems.
"Oh, then I don't want to eat anymore." Gu Li obediently replied, continuing to clutch Lin Yao's clothes.
Gu Li listens to Lin Yao very much. Although he has gradually accepted his older sister Nannan, he is still most attached to Lin Yao and becomes very frightened if he doesn't see him for a while. As a result, Lin Yao always has a little shadow by his side, and he even has to sleep with Gu Li at night, otherwise he might wake up from nightmares at any time.
"Uncle Yao, have you ever eaten these fish?" Nannan stared at Lin Yao with her big eyes, tilting her head to the side. "How do you know they don't taste good?"
Uh… Lin Yao was a little embarrassed. Educating children is such a hassle. They just love to ask questions until they get to the bottom of things. You have to be prepared to answer countless "whys" when you talk to them about something.
"Uncle hasn't eaten them, but that's what the book says, so I'm telling you. We shouldn't eat these beautiful little fish." Lin Yao had no choice but to admit that he had only heard rumors; some lies are easily exposed in front of children.
"That author is really mean; they actually eat these little fish," Nannan concluded, looking compassionate as she threw breadcrumbs into the water for the fish to scramble for.
At this moment, Lin Yao, along with his adopted son Gu Li, was playing with Ge Yong's family in a small park inside the residential area.
Xiao Guli's identity is a mystery. Lin Yao has already checked with the public security and civil affairs departments, but there are no records of him being lost nationwide. Even Guli's accent makes it impossible to tell which region he's from, as he speaks standard Mandarin. Aside from completely curing his psychological illness and getting him to cooperate by revealing clues, Lin Yao can't find any other way to help him find his parents and can only continue playing the role of his adoptive father.
Since the arrival of a son who is always clinging to him, Lin Yao decided to move. The apartment he used to rent was too small and the conditions were not only poor, but there were also not enough rooms. Lin Hongmei, who occasionally came home to stay overnight, had to sleep in the storage room, leaving her bedroom for Lin Yao and Xiao Guli. In addition, with the frequent visits from Luo Jichang, Luo Shijie, and Cui Haodong, it was no longer suitable for anyone to live there.