Sun Zongyuan and Zhao Dengkai agreed to deliver two sets of canning equipment and syrup-making equipment the day after tomorrow. They paid a deposit of 20,000 yuan and another 10,000 yuan upon arrival of the goods. The remaining balance would be paid in one lump sum two months later with the two new equipment, and the balance would be settled on site when the equipment was delivered.
The light industry machinery factory came back to life after receiving orders.
At noon, Director Huang and the chief engineer personally accompanied Sun Zongyuan to a nice restaurant nearby for lunch. After a few drinks, Director Huang held Sun Zongyuan's hand and said tearfully, "Brother, you saved over 120 workers in our factory. As long as I'm the director, you'll be my brother. If you have any problems, come to me in the provincial capital!"
"Director Huang, I have to thank you. I still need you to send people to install the equipment and provide guidance and training for the workers."
"Don't worry, brother. If the person I send can't teach you, I won't pay him a penny and he won't come back."
After the breakup, Sun Zongyuan went to the Xinhua Bookstore in the provincial capital and bought several English dictionaries and English books, planning to study English well. In his previous life, Sun Zongyuan's English was good and he could communicate directly with foreigners in English. This time, he bought English books just as a pretext for others.
Sun Zongyu went to the grocery store and bought 1,000 kilograms of sugar at the black market price, and asked the light industry machinery factory to buy 20 sugar meters and bring them over.
Sun Zongyuan took the 7 o'clock train that evening and returned home. He slept for a while and it was dawn.
Sun Zongyuan returned to his father's house and told his parents that he was going to prepare the syrup for canning in advance.
First, use 50 kilograms of annual wheat, soak it in water for a morning, then spread it thinly on a bamboo mat, cover it with a double layer of wet sheets, and turn it over frequently to allow the wheat to fully absorb water. After three or four days, the wheat will begin to germinate. When it grows to two centimeters, it can be crushed and evenly mixed with the cooked and mashed sweet potatoes. Then use a cloth bag to filter out the potato residue, and boil the squeezed juice over the fire to collect the juice, which is the sweet potato syrup.
Sun Zongyuan emphasized that for every kilogram of wheat, 30 kilograms of sweet potatoes were needed, which were then concentrated into about 6 kilograms of syrup for canning. He also emphasized the importance of using a sugar meter to accurately test the sugar content. Furthermore, he emphasized that the pot should not burn when cooking the sweet potatoes and collecting the juice, otherwise the entire pot would have to be thrown away. Sun Zongyuan was afraid his parents wouldn't remember, so he wrote each of these down on paper and kept it secret in a drawer, never showing it to anyone.
Afterwards, Sun Zongyu bought two kilograms of meat and five kilograms of eggs and went to visit his grandparents. Both of them were 65 years old and a little hunchbacked, but they were still very healthy and could do farm work just as well as young people.
He helped grandma wash the cabbage, cut some of the meat that Sun Zongyuan brought, and made a dish of stir-fried cabbage with meat. He also made some fried eggs with chili peppers, and brought a small dish of pickled radish and peanuts. Sun Zongyuan accompanied grandpa and grandma to drink a glass of Ganhe Daqu and talked about the preparations to build a factory. At first, grandpa and grandma were very worried, but later, with Sun Zongyuan's explanation, they became more and more confident.
Talking about the syrup needed to open a cannery, in order to reduce costs and keep it secret, Grandpa said:
"Although my area is a bit larger, I can still work. You can make the syrup at my house. When the time comes, your mother, your second uncle and your second aunt will come over to help. If it gets busy, ask your grandmother to help too. The four or five of us should be able to handle it according to your instructions without delaying your work."
I returned to my father's house and left him 1,000 yuan, asking him to buy good sweet potatoes. I required them to be larger, sweeter, thin-skinned and not rotten.
In that era, white radish and cabbage were 2 cents per pound, sweet potatoes were only 3 cents per pound, wheat was 0.12 yuan per pound, rice was 0.13 yuan per pound, eggs were 5 cents each, autumn pears and apples were 5 cents per pound, and pork was only 0.78 yuan per pound. Prices were really too cheap. A teacher's salary was only more than 30 yuan a month. However, after the 1990s, prices began to rise.
So the 1,000 yuan that Sun Zongyuan gave to his father may not seem like much from a later perspective, but in that era, it was a huge sum of money. It could buy 50,000 kilograms of sweet potatoes and make 10,000 kilograms of sweet potato syrup. According to the production needs of canned food, one can of fruit accounts for 7 taels of fruit and 3 taels of syrup, which can meet the production needs of 34,000 cans of fruit.
Returning to Honghua Township, Sun Zongyuan met Ma Bin at the cannery. He first inspected the factory and saw that most of the pre-arranged matters had been completed. The entire factory was clean and tidy, looking brand new. Then he went to the office and asked about the pre-arrangements. Ma Bin reported:
"We've already pre-ordered 100,000 jin (apples) of autumn pears and apples. The price is a little higher than before, mainly because we bought larger apples with thinner skins. We've also pre-ordered 100,000 cans, each with a lid costs 5 fen. We also bought 20 tons of bituminous coal, at 5 yuan a ton."
"I couldn't get in touch with you, so I went to the city printing factory and printed 100,000 canned goods labels. I asked someone in the city to design the labels, and they're very beautiful. Do you think it's okay?"
Ma Bin took out the canned food sticker label. The main color was green, with flesh-colored autumn pear flesh and three bright red hawthorns in the corner. The words "Fu Shou Brand" were printed in the middle, and the factory name and address were written below.
The entire trademark sticker is mouth-watering and simple and clear. Sun Zongyuan feels it is very suitable. He glanced at Ma Bin. After all, he was a big shot in his previous life. He is indeed capable and has vision.
"Yesterday, I went to the city to find a carton factory and ordered 10,000 packaging boxes based on the size of the cans and bottles. Each box holds 12 cans, and each box costs 30 cents. 1,000 cartons will be shipped here today, and the cans and bottles will also be shipped here today."
"Zongyuan, when I was serving in the army in Guangzhou, I saw that the factories there all wore uniforms and hats. Can we do the same?"
"Your suggestion is great. Have the front-line workers we're recruiting been confirmed? If so, we'll have each of them wear a white work uniform and a white round hat, with our factory name printed on the uniform."
"The workers have been confirmed. According to your requirements, they were recruited from ten surrounding villages. Most of the family members of the village cadres are among them."
"By recruiting people this way, we will eliminate a lot of trouble in the future and it will be beneficial to our production development."
Sun Zongyuan continued, "We'll buy Dacron materials and find a few local tailors to tailor the clothes to your measurements within three days."
"I'll try to get them done in two days."
"That's great! The two sets of equipment will arrive the day after tomorrow. We can have the workers start work tomorrow. We'll first train them on work discipline and professional ethics. Then, the day after tomorrow, when the equipment arrives, we'll begin production training under the guidance of the factory's technicians. We'll try to install the equipment within a day, and have the workers learn how to operate it within two days. We'll have five days of trial production, and a week later, the cannery will hold a groundbreaking ceremony and officially begin production!"
"Okay, I'll start preparing now!"
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