Upon seeing her, Yu Dahai immediately changed his posture, hurriedly tossed the chicken leg aside to wipe his mouth, and said, "Why didn't the security guard at the gate tell me you were here? I could have come out to greet you!"
"No, no, I wouldn't dare," Su Yan said with a smile. "You're the deputy factory director."
"Oh dear, you have no idea how much hair I've lost waiting for you these past two days." Yu Dahai exaggeratedly pulled out a handful of his thick hair and said pitifully, "I know you're busy, and I didn't dare to bother you."
She couldn't help but laugh and said, "Alright, stop bragging and show me the contract."
"It was prepared a long time ago."
The contract was placed in the middle of his desk. He pushed it to the other side of the desk and said, "Sit down and take a good look at it to see if there are any problems. I'll go pour you some tea."
Having witnessed numerous collaborations in her past life, Su Yan was able to discern some hidden pitfalls in contracts.
However, she read Yu Dahai's letter twice and found no problems; all she saw was the other party's sincerity.
She signed her name without hesitation.
Yu Dahai brought over tea; she had already signed it.
"You've already decided so quickly?" he asked in surprise.
Su Yan nodded and said, "I've read it, and there are no problems."
Yu Dahai thought she trusted him and was immediately moved. He said, "I've discussed it with the factory manager. The factory will cover all the costs. You only need to provide the technical expertise. The profit sharing will still be as you said."
Upon hearing this, Su Yan immediately refused: "How can that be? I'm already prepared to invest 10,000 yuan."
"Listen to me first," Yu Dahai explained earnestly. "The money was applied for by us and approved by the finance department. As for how to allocate it, that's up to the factory manager."
He said that as long as you put your heart into making good canned fruit, you should be entitled to any amount of money; it's okay if you don't do it well.
After all, it's our first time starting a business, so failure is normal. We'll try again next time. We've already decided that we'll cooperate with you for as long as this food factory can operate.
Su Yan felt a little heavy-hearted.
She never expected that someone would trust her so wholeheartedly, especially someone who wasn't even a close friend. Such trust is rare, no matter the circumstances.
"Thank you, Uncle Dahai. As for the fruit canned goods sample, I will make it tonight and send it to the food factory tomorrow. If you don't like the taste, the contract can be voided at any time."
Yu Dahai laughed and said, "Okay, the machines you asked me to prepare need to be shipped from Beijing. They should arrive this Friday. Before that, we need to go to the fruit wholesale market in Lanzhou to find a regular supplier. When are you free?"
"Let's leave the day after tomorrow morning, around five or six o'clock," Su Yan said. "The earlier we go, the fresher the fruit will be."
Some unscrupulous merchants, in order to make more money, will use fruits that have been on the market for a long time to pass off as high-quality ones, spray them with water or sprinkle them with something else to make them look fresh and put them back on the market to continue selling.
“Okay, the finance department will come with us then, and she will be in charge of controlling the price,” Yu Dahai said.
"These are all minor matters."
With the work matters settled, Yu Dahai felt completely at ease.
"When will your braised food stall reopen? I'm really craving it. Haven't you noticed that there are far fewer customers at the food street? Most of them are coming specifically for the braised food, and some people who live in the west of the city even ride their bikes here to buy it."
Speaking of braised food, Su Yan thought of something else. "I've been researching new products recently and plan to launch them when the shop opens. I'd like to invite you, the factory manager of the food factory, to the opening ceremony to give me some face. I wonder if Uncle Da Hai would be willing?"
Yu Dahai replied without hesitation, "Why wouldn't I be willing? I promise I'll be the first one there, but you have to buy all my braised food for that day!"
"Of course."
After chatting for a while, Su Yan got up to say goodbye.
She also needs to go back and make fruit preserves. It's been so long since she's made them, and she's worried she won't get the taste right, so she needs to try it out first.
Making canned fruit can be simple in some ways, but difficult in others.
The difficulty lies in the process of making sugar and boiling it, which is actually the same principle as cooking.
After arriving at the market, Su Yan bought one pound each of yellow peaches, oranges, grapes, and other ingredients needed for making the assorted fruit. In the end, she bought two pounds of rock sugar and four large glass jars.
Lanzhou truly lives up to its reputation as a fruit city; she bought so much fruit for only two yuan. However, rock sugar was quite expensive, costing almost five yuan for two jin (1 kg).
Once she got home, she immediately started making fruit preserves.
Just then, Granny Li was able to explain why Jiang Jingxing had left.
Grandma Li said irritably, "You didn't even bother to wake me up, knowing full well that I'm hard of hearing and can't hear what's going on outside."
Having learned her lesson from Li Juan's ear-twisting incident, Su Yan has learned not to talk back. What if her grandmother twists her other ear too?
Grandma Li didn't dwell on it too much. Seeing her peeling fruit, she said, "Why are you peeling so much fruit? How can you possibly finish all of it at once?"
Although life has improved now, Grandma Li is still very frugal, even more so than Li Juan. She even saves the bags from grocery shopping to use as garbage bags.
“I’ve struck a deal with a food factory. I’ll provide the technology for canned fruit. So, I’m making some samples for them to try out first. Only after they all approve can we move on to the next step,” Su Yan said.
Grandma Li couldn't understand some words when they were spoken individually, but she understood them when they were spoken as a sentence.
"Then I'll help you peel them, there are so many."
Su Yan asked her to peel oranges and yellow peaches, and to remove the seeds from grapes in addition to peeling them. She didn't have to remove all the seeds, but she couldn't eat a grape with a mouthful of seeds.
She didn't see any seedless grapes at the market just now, and she doesn't know if the variety is no longer available or if it's only not found in Anping County.
The appearance requirements for canned mandarin oranges are simply peeling them, removing the pith, and breaking them into small segments.
Yellow peaches are washed, peeled, shelled, and cut into small pieces. They are then placed in a bowl of water, and salt is added depending on the amount to remove some of the astringency.
The same steps apply to grapes; they need to be soaked to remove the astringency.
For the mixed canned fruit, in addition to the three fruits mentioned above, Su Yan plans to add some leftover pineapple from home, and then make some fruit jelly pieces to put in.
It took an hour and a half to process the fruit.
Just then, Su Lei came home from school and excitedly ran into the kitchen when he saw Su Yan at home. "Sis! You're home!"
Su Yan glanced at him and laughed, "What's wrong? It's like we haven't seen each other for centuries."
"I haven't seen you when I get home these past few days," Su Lei said, feeling aggrieved. "I couldn't find you at the hospital either."
Su Yan wiped her hands clean, touched his little face, and asked, "Were you wronged at school?"
Su Lei shook his head.
"Are you unhappy because you can't see me?"
Su Lei nodded.
Su Yan was speechless for a moment.
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