"Comrade, you can't say that. Aren't your canned goods quite good too?"
"I've seen him at the supply and marketing cooperative before!"
Fu Liang wasn't good with words, but seeing his comrade's distressed expression, he wanted to offer a few words of comfort.
He recognized the canned fruit; Fu Wan had seen it before. It was the Five Star Fruit Canned Fruit sold by the supply and marketing cooperative.
We bought this canned fruit before and everyone tried it; the flesh is crisp and sweet, very good.
How did it end up on the verge of bankruptcy?
Wang Jianmin shook his head and sighed, "Alas, everyone's lives are gradually getting better now. Although canned food tastes good, it can't replace a meal."
The supply and marketing cooperative is selling fewer and fewer canned goods each month, and the amount they are ordering from us is also decreasing.
Wealthy people go to the Friendship Store to buy imported goods; ordinary people only buy canned fruit during holidays. My superiors tell me to be innovative, but we've always been making canned fruit!
At this point, Wang Jianmin scratched his head again, instinctively reaching for his pipe, but then withdrew his hand because Fu Wan was there.
Fu Wan observed his actions and was deeply moved. In the mid-1980s, with the development of the times, the needs of the people were also changing.
Many state-owned enterprises are facing restructuring, striving to adjust their business strategies to adapt to market demands. Some of these enterprises have successfully restructured and are making steady progress in the new era. Others, like the current Five Star Canned Food Factory, face the risk of bankruptcy.
However, there have been instances of individuals acquiring state-owned enterprises.
She did consider acquiring the cannery, because she had been thinking about how to make the money in her savings account work, and investing seemed like a good way to do that.
However, investments also carry risks, and Fu Wan is not one to be easily fooled.
Since they had nothing else to do at the moment, they stood at the door, idling around anyway.
"Director Wang, I recognize this canned food. My kids love it. Why don't you take the men inside for a look?"
Fu Wan put down the can of food she was examining and asked Wang Jianmin with a smile.
Wang Jianmin was somewhat surprised. In fact, no customer who buys retail canned goods would make such a request; Fu Wan was the first.
However, he didn't sell a single can of food today. Thinking that the little girl might buy a couple more cans after the tour, he nodded in agreement.
"Okay, I'll take you there!"
After saying that, he picked up the table where the canned goods were placed and put it into a small room next to it.
“This used to be the guard’s work area at our factory gate. Now that the factory is not doing well, the guard has been laid off.”
He was too embarrassed to say that now, as the factory manager, he just stands at the gate when he has nothing to do. Besides being a gatekeeper, he can also sell a few cans of food.
Fu Wan turned to follow Wang Jianmin inside, but then suddenly remembered Boss Fu and the others, and turned back to give Fu Liang some instructions.
“Brother Liang, go and talk to the old man at the shipyard gate. If he sees my dad and the others, tell them we went to the cannery.”
"Okay! Then wait for me to go in together."
Fu Liang agreed, and before Fu Wan could reply, he quickly ran to the shipyard gatekeeper and gave him some instructions.
However, he didn't just say it for nothing. He hadn't even smoked the cigarettes that others had offered him, so he took the opportunity to slip two to Uncle Li, the gatekeeper.
Uncle Li, of course, didn't mind that the cigarette was loose and accepted it with a smile.
"Don't worry, I'll definitely tell them later."
These guys who bought the boat are pretty good at getting things done. In just half a day, he received quite a few cigarettes.
That's enough for him to smoke for almost half a month.
After instructing the gatekeeper, Fu Liang returned to Fu Wan's side as quickly as possible. At this time, Wang Jianmin had also put away the canned food table and led the two of them into the factory area.
As Fu Wan walked, she took the opportunity to look around the cannery. The site was definitely not as big as the shipyard next door. From the slogans on the gray-white walls, it was clear that the cannery had once been glorious.
Otherwise, why would it say, "Striving to be the strongest cannery in the city!"
Seeing that Fu Wan had noticed the slogan on the wall, Wang Jianmin felt a little embarrassed.
"I wrote this slogan. At that time, canned food was selling very well, and even supply and marketing cooperatives from neighboring counties came to us to order canned food."
After saying that, he felt a little lost. Thinking of his past glory and comparing it to the present, it was even more heartbreaking.
The cannery only had a dozen or so people at the time, and Fu Wan saw several workers who were packing cans in the workshop with long faces.
Upon seeing Wang Jianmin enter, one of them took a stack of papers from the side.
"Factory manager, these are the resignation letters left by other colleagues."
Wang Jianmin took the stack of resignation letters, glanced at them, and said, "Put them in the office. I'll talk to the accountant about it later."
The man was silent for a while, then said, "Accountant Liu's resignation letter is also in there."
There was nothing they could do; they hadn't received their wages for several months, so they had no choice but to find other jobs.
Wang Jianmin was somewhat taken aback. After a two-second silence, he looked at Fu Wan with a bit of embarrassment.
"Comrade Fu, look at this..."
Fu Wanxin understood, waved her hand, and smiled:
"Director Wang, you handle this matter first, I'll take a stroll by myself."
"Okay, you guys take your time looking around. I'll give you a tour after I've taken care of things."
Fu Wan responded, and the brother and sister strolled over to the workshop next door.
Normally, no unauthorized personnel are allowed to enter this workshop, but right now, they are not producing canned goods. Even the few workers are packing cans onto the workbench.
As soon as Fu Wan walked in, she heard someone inside say, "If wages can't be paid, some canned food can be used as payment. I'll go to the village later and ask if anyone wants to buy it, and sell it cheap!"
They've really sunk so low that they're paying wages with canned food?
Fu Wan looked around the factory area. It was clean, but it lacked a sense of human presence.
She reasoned that although canned fruit existed in later generations, it did not have a large following.
After all, no matter how delicious canned fruit is, you can't eat it every day!
Moreover, their produce consists mainly of tropical fruits, which have a limited variety, so canned fruit has remained largely unchanged for decades.
But her idea was to buy the cannery, with a small production line dedicated to fruit canning and the main production line for fish canning.
Thinking back to when she was at the supply and marketing cooperative, she hadn't seen canned fish; besides canned fruit, there was only canned meat.
However, canned meat is very expensive these days; even a small can costs two or three yuan.
Canned fish is different. First of all, they are fishermen themselves. Many kinds of fish, such as sardines, mackerel, and even filefish caught recently, can be used as raw materials for canned fish in later generations.
The leap from canned fruit to canned fish is quite large, and we'll need to experiment more before we can successfully produce it.
Fu Wan thought about the matter over and over again. Meanwhile, Wang Jianmin finished his business and hurriedly came to find them.
"Comrade Fu, I'm sorry for neglecting you."
Fu Wan smiled and shook her head, "It's alright. Has Factory Director Wang's matter been resolved?"
Wang Jianmin nodded, "I still have some savings, so I can take them out to tide me over."
They were all workers trained by him, so he felt embarrassed to actually offer canned food as payment for their wages.
Unexpectedly, this action raised Fu Wan's opinion of him even higher.
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