Chapter 187 Making Empty Promises
"What are your thoughts?" Ning Xuan quickly asked.
"It's like something flashes through my mind, but I don't quite grasp it at first. It might pop up again later," Liang Jingyi said shyly.
"Well, Jingyi, eat more, there's still plenty left."
"No, I'm full, you eat." Liang Jingyi waved her hand.
"Why are you eating so little? Your job is mentally taxing, you should eat more to nourish your body."
"It's because I use my brain a lot and exercise little that my appetite has actually decreased."
Seeing that Liang Jingyi really couldn't eat anymore, Ning Xuan was too lazy to pack up the leftovers, so she stopped hiding her appetite and finished off the rest of the dishes.
After finishing her meal, Ning Xuan said casually, "It's going to get warmer again soon, and food packed up to take home won't keep for long, so I just ate it all. I do physical labor, so I have a big appetite. I hope I didn't scare you, Jingyi."
"No, no, being able to eat is a blessing."
"I was thinking while I was eating that my relative's pressure cooker has a good seal, so the rice can be kept for a longer time without spoiling. If less air means it can be kept longer, Jingyi, do you think we can reduce the amount of air inside when storing things, like a pressure cooker?"
Hearing Ning Xuan's words, Liang Jingyi suddenly remembered what had just flashed through her mind. "Low air, vacuum... I know, I remember what just flashed through my mind. Ning Xuan, your idea is good. I'll try it out when I get back. Maybe it really can extend the shelf life of things. Thank you for the meal today. I'll treat you next time."
"I have to go back now. I have a lot of ideas right now, so I'll go back and experiment with them as soon as possible..." Liang Jingyi took out the pen and paper she carried with her and quickly wrote some very messy words on her notebook, which she guessed only she could understand.
Ning Xuan guessed that the other party had come up with an idea about vacuum, which was exactly what she wanted, so she didn't delay and said goodbye to Liang Jingyi neatly.
Ning Xuan felt delighted, thinking that Liang Jingyi might have figured out how to use a vacuum compressor in a while.
The bamboo and rattan egg trays made by Yougenshu have already been developed. The bamboo strips are thin and fine, and the woven egg trays are very beautiful. These are semi-consumable items, so the demand is still very high. Uncle Yougen is too busy to handle them all by himself, so he has gathered a few skilled weavers from the brigade, and they are finally able to supply them.
The reason it's called a semi-consumable item is because when Ning Xuan and her team were promoting it, one of the terms was that if the customer returned the previous egg cartons in their next purchase, they could get a discount on part of the payment. This way, they could definitely recover some of the waste and achieve recycling.
Compared to those woven from bamboo strips and rattan, egg cartons woven from wheat straw and corn husks are softer, but less durable, so each has its own advantages and disadvantages.
After settling the egg tray issue, Lu Xun and his team also established sales channels in the provincial capital. Now they ship a batch of eggs to the provincial capital every week.
Ning Xuan also took the opportunity to double the size of the chicken farm. Fortunately, this problem was taken into account when the chicken coop was built, so more was built. However, even with the expansion, it was not enough. If this trend continues, it will have to be expanded again after the autumn harvest this year.
However, Ning Xuan initially planned to train the team members to take over the chicken farm, so the expansion might not need to be so rapid.
Since next year will be 1977, she will definitely have to take the college entrance examination and leave the farm, so she needs to train a successor for the chicken farm before she leaves.
Just as the sales channels in the provincial capital were gradually opening up, Ning Xuan wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to have the team leader arrange more young people to come to the chicken farm.
"You want to recruit more people again? But it's the busy farming season right now. If you want to recruit more elderly people to patrol and clean, that's fine. But if you want young and strong laborers, I'm afraid the team will have objections. After all, farming can't be delayed." Zhou Jianguo said with some difficulty.
Ning Xuan had long guessed that Zhou Jianguo would still prioritize farming, since farming was their foundation at the moment, and work points and quota rations all depended on farming.
However, she had already thought of what to say.
"Captain, I'm not planning to expand recruitment right now. I'm just letting you know in advance so you can start looking for suitable people. Then we can decide whether to have an exam, a vote, or just assign them directly. We need to start preparing in advance."
“That makes sense. So how many do you plan to hire?” Zhou Jianguo thought it was a good idea.
"This is what I, Xu Jiajia, Lu Xun, and Zhou Zhipeng are currently in charge of. You need to prepare two people for each position, and at least half of them must be members of the brigade. If they are educated youth, their proportion should not exceed half."
"You want so much? What about you guys?" Zhou Jianguo's heart skipped a beat. He had a feeling that Ning Xuan and the others were about to collectively quit.
Ning Xuan didn't dare let him wander off into unrelated thoughts, so she quickly tried to fill in the gaps, "Isn't it true that we'll have more important things to do in the future? For example, this time we've opened up sales channels in the provincial capital, but our chicken farm might expand. If the provincial capital can't handle it all, then we'll have to develop in the surrounding provincial capitals. At that time, it will definitely be the experienced ones of us who will go. So, someone has to look after the chicken farm, and someone has to do the original work."
Ning Xuan was just making empty promises. Their chicken farm wouldn't expand to such a large scale in the short term, and once it opened up, the chicken farm would face even more competitors. So blind expansion wasn't a good approach, and Ning Xuan should remind them of this before she left.
Hearing Ning Xuan's words, Zhou Jianguo felt relieved again. However, he couldn't believe the promises Ning Xuan made. "I'm already very satisfied with the current scale. We must strive for the advanced brigade award next year!"
Zhou Jianguo still harbored resentment towards the advanced brigade he had just missed.
Ning Xuan knew this was Zhou Jianguo's unresolved issue, so she quickly comforted him, "Captain, we will! With such a responsible captain like you, we will definitely win the title of Advanced Brigade!"
Ning Xuan was making empty promises to Zhou Jianguo.
On the Canglan Continent, Yunxi, who was usually very composed, suddenly erupted in a sharp, explosive voice from within the Sumeru Space: "How could you forget something so important?!"
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