Is this how you seal it? No wonder it's so cheap.
Shrimp paste is different from other sauces; if sealed like this, its shelf life is no more than one week.
Lin Ziyan took a sniff and smelled a strong, pungent tar smell.
They even use the worst quality oil?
"Ah Yan, the taste doesn't seem to be much different?" Aunt Chen found a spoon, scooped some out, and tasted it.
The chubby girl shook her head. "It's far from good. It smells greasy, like leftover oil residue."
Lin Ziyan smiled and agreed with the fat girl's assessment. "Doesn't she just smell like grease?"
She checked the packaging, and the expiration date listed was the same as their shrimp paste.
It was only a matter of time before problems arose.
Aunt Chen took another bite and nodded. This time, she could finally taste the difference.
Can people who buy shrimp paste really taste the difference? She wasn't sure.
"Ayan, their flavor and packaging are exactly the same as ours. Many people choose their shrimp paste because of the price. If this continues, our shrimp paste factory will definitely be affected..."
The chubby girl briefly recounted what she had seen in town.
Actually, the sales volume of shrimp paste in the town is not large. After all, the surrounding area is a fishing village, and each household makes their own shrimp paste. Most of it cannot be eaten immediately and is only used to enhance the flavor when cooking.
"Don't worry about it, we just need to strictly follow the steps to ensure the quality of the shrimp paste." Lin Ziyan didn't think it would have much of an impact.
If the shrimp paste factory in Haitang Village wants to develop, it must expand outwards, which means shelf life and taste become major issues.
They'll find out soon enough...
…
At this moment, the shrimp paste factory in Haitang Village,
Wei Ting and a few others were discussing something in the office when a strong smell of cooking oil wafted over from the control room.
"Brother Ting, our sales have stagnated, we must expand outwards."
"I heard that Lin Ziyan from Haibi Village went to Beijing to get orders and has already returned," said a man wearing bell-bottoms, casually brushing a stray hair from his forehead.
"Send a few men to guard the entrance of Haibi Village. If they see any outside vehicles, lead them to our village." Wei Ting exhaled smoke rings, a hint of coldness flashing in his dark eyes before quickly dissipating.
This shrimp paste factory was started by a group of them, and it almost used up all of their family savings.
They didn't have a recipe to make it themselves, so they could only buy Lin Kee's shrimp paste and make it by looking at the ingredient list.
Of course, some of them also work at a shrimp paste factory in the next village.
However, the shrimp paste produced by their shrimp paste factory always has a strange taste.
To save money, they didn't buy a sealing machine, and they can barely manage now that the weather isn't hot.
Wei Ting knew that if he wanted to sell shrimp paste to other provinces, he had to buy a sealing machine.
"Brother Ting, are you trying to steal their out-of-province customers?"
"What interception? Since they're here to order shrimp paste, what difference does it make where they go?"
"To put it bluntly, it's all about individual ability." Wei Ting didn't think it was an interception, at most it was... guidance.
If we can secure these clients, it won't be too late to buy sealing machines later.
Haibi Village has a seafood market, shrimp farms, fish farms, and shrimp paste factories. The fact that these businesses are not operating has little impact on them.
Wei Ting felt at ease with this thought.
“That’s right, it’s all about skill,” the man in bell-bottoms shouted.
The town's supply and marketing cooperative and the county's have already stocked up on the goods. If they expand to other provinces, the shrimp paste factory will be secure.
Wei Ting squinted. He still wanted to sell his goods at the city's supply and marketing cooperative, but the manager was very shrewd. He rejected them without even tasting them after seeing their seals.
Sales in the city are several times higher than in the county. Many foreign businessmen go there, and I heard that Lin Ziyan even secured an export order.
Thinking of this, he had another idea: he wasn't in a hurry to buy the machines; he would wait until the shrimp paste factory in Haibi Village went out of business before buying them from there at a lower price.
Those machines are monitored by a technician every day, and they're prone to breaking down, so the price can be driven down very low.
Wei Ting was lost in thought, ignoring the discussion among the others.
Two days later,
Lin Ziyan was helping load trucks at the shrimp paste factory and checking the order shipment volume.
Sales in Beijing were better than she had expected, and Zhang Xuefeng placed additional orders last night.
"Ayan, don't move. Let the workers lift it onto the truck." Aunt Chen hurriedly stepped forward to stop her from helping.
A box of shrimp paste is very heavy; one person simply cannot lift it.
When loading the goods, Aunt Chen would have the male workers carry them, and she would give them extra money for their hard work afterwards.
Lin Ziyan checked the order and signed it after finding no problems.
All of these need to be sent on the train; the city of Beijing is pressing for them, and the amount that the county supply and marketing cooperative cut back on is just enough to make up for it.
Lin Ziyan: "Everyone has worked hard lately, and we'll be giving out bonuses at the end of the month."
The porters cheered and continued working.
Aunt Chen kept looking outside, her eyes filled with worry.
The foreign businessmen who were supposed to come haven't shown up after two days.
The shrimp paste factory is always ready, and the workers in the operating room are on high alert, not daring to slack off.
"Ayan, they should have arrived in the village today, but they haven't. I hope nothing bad has happened to them," Aunt Chen couldn't help but ask.
Lin Ziyan frowned, raised her hand to look at her watch. It was already two o'clock in the afternoon. She hadn't come again today?
"Should I go to the village entrance and take a look?" Aunt Chen said, and without waiting for Lin Ziyan to reply, she rushed out in a flurry.
She came running back in just five minutes.
Lin Ziyan's heart skipped a beat when she saw her expression.
"Ayan, the clients from other provinces have been lured to the neighboring Haitang Village... I heard they're waiting at the entrance of our village..." Aunt Chen said, her hands trembling with anger.
They didn't tell anyone about this; only a few key people in the factory knew about it, but now it's been intercepted by Haitang Village.
No sooner had she finished speaking than the chubby girl rode her bicycle this way, shouting, "Quick, go check the next village! The client's been intercepted..."
Lin Ziyan laughed in anger, saying that no one would believe she hadn't done it on purpose.
Haibi Village and Haitang Village are separated by a narrow path, and Haitang Village's shrimp paste factory is right next to that path.
"You keep an eye on the goods, I'll go over there," Lin Ziyan told Aunt Chen, and got on the back of the fat girl's bicycle.
They took the small path and arrived at Haitang Village in less than 10 minutes.
The chubby girl pedaled her bicycle angrily, "Ayan, they went too far! They actually dared to intercept people at the entrance of our village."
The two arrived at the entrance of the shrimp paste factory in Haitang Village, where a large crowd of villagers had gathered.
Wei Ting smiled and offered cigarettes to several customers.
"Where's Comrade Lin? This shrimp paste looks a bit different from what we've seen in Beijing..." a customer questioned.
He then opened the bottle cap, saw the seal, and his hand froze.
The seals were different, and they all smelled... kind of like expired shrimp paste.
"Because we are preparing for the Chinese New Year, we temporarily changed to more festive packaging."
“You can go inside the control room and take a look…” A dark glint flashed in Wei Ting’s eyes.
He made a mistake; he should have borrowed a machine to seal the batch of samples.
"Comrade Lin told us that the packaging wouldn't be changed anytime soon, and the name of this shrimp paste had also been changed," the customer continued, standing at the door without entering the factory.
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