Chapter 163: Everything was stolen...
The development of the sandwich soda crackers went smoothly. Finding a recipe was much easier now than in previous years. Zhou Qianjin didn't let Wang Ying worry about anything; he handled all the R&D, leaving Wang Ying solely responsible for quality control of the finished product.
Zhou Qianjin made original soda biscuits according to the original recipe he got. Just as Wang Ying said, they were not tasty enough. Some employees even thought they were unpalatable and not as good as their original milk biscuits and scallion biscuits. They thought that no one would buy these biscuits and it might even ruin their reputation.
After tasting it, Wang Ying felt that the texture and taste were quite authentic, but a bit thick.
Zhou Qianjin went back to continue trying. After the cookies were successful, he began to adjust the flavor of the filling.
While Zhou Qianjin was focused on developing soda-filled sandwich cookies, Lu Zhongming was also busy. He kept in mind Wang Ying's suggestion to create a savory and salty snack. He recalled a snack he had as a child at his uncle's house that looked like small fish. They called it crispy fish. It tasted like fried food, but crispier than fried food. Coated with a fine layer of spice powder, it was fragrant and crispy, with a real fishy and shrimpy flavor. Everyone in the family loved it.
He asked his uncle why he didn't make and sell these spices. His uncle said the spices were too expensive. Selling them cheaply wouldn't be worth it, and selling them too expensively wouldn't sell them. It wouldn't satisfy hunger, and only children would like them. But he noticed the adults in his family liked them, too. He thought the main reason was that the spices were too expensive.
Lu Zhongming found a tattered thread-bound book on the beams of the old house. It contained many recipes. Most of them were traditional dim sum that had been passed down in his maternal grandfather's family for many years. Now that his maternal grandfather's family was gone, these things had to be passed down by him.
Lu Zhongming found the recipe for crispy fish in this old notebook. He saw that there were more than a dozen spices for coating the fish... He also saw a "comment" from his uncle after the recipe. It turned out that the reason why it was not made at the beginning was not only because there were too many spices and they were difficult to buy them all, but also because grinding them was too labor-intensive.
At that time, my home was a handicraft workshop, and all the grinding was done with a mill. It was really troublesome to grind it very finely and wrap it around the small fish, which was not very big to begin with.
But now they have a grinder in their factory, so this problem should be solved. However, I wonder if the dozen or so spices can be reduced or replaced, and what their current prices are.
Lu Zhongming did not report to Wang Ying, nor did he rush to try it at work. Instead, he tried it himself at home.
One day in mid-December, Wang Ying was in a meeting with her employees when she occasionally smelled a fragrant aroma. This was a food factory, so the aroma of food was normal, but today she smelled something particularly different.
When Lu Zhongming handed the report to Wang Ying, Wang Ying smelled a fragrance from his report and she confirmed that the source of the fragrance was Lu Zhongming.
After the meeting, Wang Ying jokingly asked Lu Zhongming: "Team Leader Lu, whatever delicious food you make smells delicious."
"Yes, I smelled it too," said Shao Pengyu.
Lu Zhongming felt a little embarrassed for a moment, as if he had been caught eating secretly. He coughed twice and said, "I'll make some food at home. If the factory director is interested, I'll bring some over for you to try."
"Okay!" Wang Ying agreed with a smile.
Shao Pengyu said, "I want one too!" He stayed at the Panda Biscuit Factory and now has a good relationship with the employees there.
"That's fine, but I'm still adjusting the taste, so it can only be a semi-finished product," said Lu Zhongming.
Wang Ying could tell that Lu Zhongming was secretly developing a new product at home! Lu Zhongming truly put his family above his own, not using the factory's resources to research and develop it at home.
Wang Ying was worried that he had some concerns, so she found an excuse to keep him alone to talk.
"Are you trying new products at home?" Wang Ying asked straight to the point.
"Um……"
"Why don't you try it in the factory? Do you have any concerns? Tell me and I will help you solve it." Wang Ying said seriously.
"No, I just want to try it at home first. It may not work, but it's a food I ate at home when I was a child." Lu Zhongming said.
Wang Ying knew that Lu Zhongming had a "family background in learning" and said, "Your family's stuff must be useful. Can you reveal a little bit first?"
"It's just a small snack. I'll bring some over tomorrow. You'll know when you see it, but it's really a semi-finished product," said Lu Zhongming.
"If you have no special concerns, just try it in the factory. I will reimburse you for the money you spent on purchasing raw materials," said Wang Ying.
"That's nothing." Lu Zhongming didn't care about it as long as one person was full and the whole family was not hungry.
But Wang Ying couldn't afford to let someone else provide the recipe, the manpower, and the money to test the formula herself. She made a note of this and planned to give Lu Zhongming a reward once his product was ready. Lest she forget, Wang Ying also wrote this down in her work diary.
After Lu Zhongming returned home, he tried two more pots that night and brought the one he thought was more successful to the factory the next day.
As soon as Wang Ying arrived at the conference room, he smelled a scent that was even more fragrant than yesterday.
Wang Ying sat down and said with a smile, "Let's not start the meeting yet. Team Leader Lu, please share the delicious food with us. It smells so good, it's really tempting."
Wang Ying's words provoked everyone to echo him. Even the usually taciturn Dou Haiyan nodded and said, "That's right."
Lu Zhongming took out an oil-paper bag, untied the thin rope tied to it, and pushed it to the middle of the conference table, close to Wang Ying.
As soon as the oil paper package was opened, an overbearing fragrance could be smelled.
Shao Pengyu said: "Why do I smell fish?"
Wang Ying picked up a piece and said, "It looks like fish, too."
"It's called Crispy Fish. My family used to make it when I was a kid," said Lu Zhongming.
Wang Ying remembered that she seemed to have eaten similar biscuits in her previous life. She put a piece in her mouth and tasted it. Just as Lu Zhongming said, it was a semi-finished product.
It smelled delicious, but it didn't taste as good as it smelled. It wasn't crispy enough and was a bit hard. However, Lu Zhongming's idea was perfectly sound.
"Very good." said Wang Ying.
"Really? I think it's just average. It doesn't taste like what I ate when I was a kid," said Lu Zhongming.
After eating, Zhou Qianjin said, "I think the flavors aren't blended enough. How about adding the spices and frying or grilling them together?"
"It's not that great, I tried it." said Lu Zhongming.
"Team Leader Lu, do you want to donate this recipe to the factory?" Wang Ying asked.
"Donate it," Lu Zhongming said. "There's no point in keeping it. I just want to make it, but I can't do it on my own."
Wang Ying smiled and said, "Then don't try it at home. Take it to the factory and let everyone work together. We will definitely be able to make it. I'll apply for a reward for you."
Lu Zhongming agreed.
Now the factory started testing two new products at once, and many people said that Team Leader Lu and Team Leader Zhou started competing.
The two people may not really have no competitive spirit at all, but this is all healthy competition.
The two's development processes were similar: smooth sailing at first, but problems began to arise towards the end. Zhou Qianjin's biscuits faced a challenge with the filling, which was different from their previous sandwich biscuits. Lu Zhongming faced even more challenges, the most challenging of which was the spice blend; he had already lost count of how many different flavors he had tried.
During the new product development process, Wang Ying only gave suggestions at the beginning, and then handed it over to them and busy himself with other things.
Time flies in the busy life, and in the blink of an eye it is New Year's Day of 1980. There is good news this year, the country has restored the New Year holiday system.
During the New Year holiday, Wang Ying and his wife took Yueyue back to her grandmother's house. Wang Ying had said she would come back when she had time, but she never did, as she was clearly too busy.
Li Fengju would visit Wang Ying's house about once a week to see Yueyue and bring them some food and clothes. Wang Ying always worked overtime, so Li Fengju didn't see her often.
As soon as Yueyue arrived at her grandmother's house, she started clamoring for her sister. In her mind, her sister lived at her grandmother's house. No matter how the adults persuaded her, Yueyue just wanted her sister.
"Have Huanhuan and the others come back recently?" Wang Ying asked.
"No, they haven't been here since the last time you two came together," Li Fengju said. "I've only been there once, and that was in October. There was a big commotion at his house."
"What's going on again?"
"Huihui's sister-in-law, Wenli, had a miscarriage and blamed her mother-in-law for it. She wanted to return to her parents' home to recuperate, but Wang Hui wouldn't let her," Li Fengju said. "Qiaoling had just recovered a little, but she got angry and made a scene, and her condition worsened."
"Was she harmed by her mother-in-law? Why did her mother-in-law harm her?" Wang Ying asked.
"Wenli's husband's family is well-off, and her son-in-law has been admitted to university. They got married because she was pregnant, and Huihui's father-in-law forced her to marry him. The boy's parents were angry and couldn't help but torture Wenli." Li Fengju said.
"What's going on..." Wang Ying muttered, then called her father, "Dad, go get Huanhuan to play over here. Yueyue is making a fuss here."
When Yueyue heard what Wang Ying said, she hurriedly looked at her grandfather.
"Okay, I'll go answer it." Wang Yongren said.
Yueyue finally calmed down. Zhao Yunsheng took her to play in the yard, while Wang Ying and Chen Xiuqin picked vegetables and chatted about family matters.
"I heard that the welfare products this year are not from your factory?" said Li Fengju.
"Well, this year we're giving out textiles, towels and stuff."
"Does it affect you? I don't understand. I heard someone say that if your factory is split up, it will fail and the leadership will no longer take it seriously."
"That's nonsense. It has no effect on us. We don't rely solely on this. The real truth is that the product is strong."
"That's good that it doesn't affect you," Li Fengju said, glancing at Zhao Yunsheng and Yueyue. Zhao Yunsheng was currently holding Yueyue high up, causing her to giggle. "The national policy has tightened, and they won't allow you to have more children in the future. Why don't you hurry up and have another one?"
"No, Yueyue is enough." Wang Ying also looked up at Zhao Yunsheng and called out to him, "Be careful!"
The father and son were having so much fun that they seemed to not hear Wang Ying talking.
"It's up to you, even just one, I'll train him wholeheartedly," said Li Fengju.
If you raise one, there will be no such thing as partiality...
Wang Yongren came to the Du family, and Huanhuan was also making a fuss at home, wanting to go to her grandfather's house.
Wang Hui didn't want to go. Every time she went, it was bad. Her parents either beat her or scolded her. Who would want to go back? Besides, it was a holiday, and her eldest sister might be there too, which made her even less willing to go.
Du Jianguo used to be willing to go to his father-in-law's house, but now he is not happy to go there.
"Dad, why are you here?" Wang Hui was also unhappy to see Wang Yongren.
Wang Yongren glanced at Wang Hui and said, "Can't I come to my daughter's house?"
"Who said I can't come?" Wang Hui said, "Where's Mom? Why didn't she come?"
"Grandpa!" Huanhuan was happy to see Wang Yongren and rushed over to let him hug her.
Wang Yongren picked up Huanhuan and said, "If you don't go home, we won't be able to see our children if we miss them. I'll take Huanhuan back to play for a day. Huanhuan, do you want to go to grandpa's house?"
"Go! Go! I want to go!" Huanhuan was already clamoring to go, so of course she was happy.
"They came to pick me up suddenly. Could it be that my eldest sister and her family are going back?" Wang Hui said sarcastically.
"What's wrong with going back? You can go back if you want. I'm leaving now." Wang Yongren carried Huanhuan out of the door and put her on the child's chair on the front handlebar of the bicycle.
Wang Hui thought about it and decided not to stop him. Her father was now very irritable and would hit her at any time. She was afraid of getting beaten.
"Then send it back at night!" said Wang Hui.
"It depends." Wang Yongren rode away on his bike, and neither the grandfather nor the grandson said goodbye to Wang Hui.
Du Jianguo stayed in the room and didn't come out to greet his father-in-law.
"Where's your dad?"
Seeing Wang Hui returning to her room alone, Du Jianguo asked in a low voice.
"The person who came to pick up Huanhuan has already left." Wang Hui said.
Du Jianguo half-reclined on the bed, uttered a "oh," and continued to watch the dubbed film on TV. Wang Hui glanced at it and saw it wasn't the TV series from her previous life.
Wang Hui sat down next to Du Jianguo. After watching for a while, Du Jianguo pushed Wang Hui's arm and said, "Hey, Huihui, Mom seems to be calling you."
"I'm calling you." Wang Hui said.
Du Jianguo said with a playful smile: "Good Huihui, good wife, Darling, you can go. I was too tired from working overtime yesterday."
"Smooth talk!" Wang Hui glared at Du Jianguo, but she had to admit that she just fell for his flattery.
"You are the best. Marrying you is the blessing I earned in my previous life!" Du Jianguo said hurriedly.
"That's good to know!" Wang Hui was happy to see that Du Jianguo was sensible, and went to the west room to see Sun Qiaoling.
"What are you going to do?" Wang Hui asked.
Sun Qiaoling tugged at the yellow cloth beside the bed with trembling hands, indicating that she was going to the toilet.
Wang Hui rolled her eyes, but still skillfully helped Sun Qiaoling off the bed and onto the toilet.
After Sun Qiaoling went to the bathroom, Wang Hui helped her onto the bed. She glanced at the window, wanting Wang Hui to open it for her to get some fresh air.
Wang Hui pretended not to see it and went out with the toilet.
Sun Qiaoling had no choice but to endure the smell in the room.
Wang Yongren brought Huanhuan back. As soon as the two sisters saw each other, they hugged each other, laughed and danced, and were extremely happy.
Wang Yongren and Li Fengju muttered, "Du Jianguo, this guy, when I went over, he didn't even come out to greet me. He has no manners at all!"
"Okay, don't say that in front of Yingzi and the others," Li Fengju said. "Go buy another roast duck and a few bottles of soda."
When Zhao Yunsheng saw his father-in-law was about to go out, he hurriedly followed him out.
The two sisters played happily for the whole day, and cried bitterly when they had to separate. Huanhuan was two years older after all, and she knew that the Chinese New Year was coming, so she made an appointment with her sister to go to her grandmother's house to play together during the New Year.
After the New Year's Day holiday, Wang Ying started to get busy again. Although she didn't have any welfare tasks this year, she was now the factory manager and had a lot of meetings to attend and work to arrange at the end of the year. On top of that, she was trying to release two new products before the New Year, so she was working overtime every day.
Fortunately, everything went smoothly. Wang Ying's superiors were very optimistic about her biscuit factory and provided her with virtually any support she requested. Her employees were also very motivated, and the research and development of two new products was already in the final stages.
At this critical moment, Qiu Zhenhua called Wang Ying's office and said that the packaging design he had made for the new product had been stolen, along with all the new product information Wang Ying had given him.
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