Chapter 92
This autumn, the saffron harvest in Batou Village was abundant, with nearly 1.2 jin (2.3 kg) harvested from one mu of land, while the pharmaceutical company's own saffron yielded only 0.9 jin (1.2 kg).
The technicians were at a loss for words. It was they who had instructed Batou Village on how to grow saffron, but the harvest of Batou Village was even higher than theirs!
Right now, the domestic saffron market is blank. Pharmaceutical companies do not have enough saffron and can only rely on imports. However, the saffron yield in Batou Village is very high, so pharmaceutical companies simply bought all of it.
The purchase price from the pharmaceutical company is certainly lower than the market price, but the advantage is that it takes all of the shares and pays in one lump sum, so the village of Batou can get the money right away.
Saffron is priced by gram. The 100 mu of saffron was sold for more than 230,000 yuan. Excluding loans and one year's expenses, the total profit was more than 180,000 yuan!
Secretary Wang was stunned when he received the money. His hands were shaking badly as he looked at the numbers on the passbook.
"Am I seeing this right? I made more than 180,000 yuan, right?"
Li Decheng counted several times and said happily:
"You read it right, you read it right! It's 180,000! My God, I've never seen so much money in my life! How much does each family get?"
Secretary Wang made a rough calculation and deducted the money for introducing new varieties next year and kept a portion as reserve funds, so each family could get 1,500 yuan!
Li Decheng clapped his hands, "This quarter, we also received 1,200 yuan from garment processing! Add to that the 500 yuan we received in the first half of the year, and every family in the village has earned more than 3,000 yuan this year! And that doesn't even include the money we earned in the winter!"
Secretary Wang was very happy. There was hope for him to get out of poverty!
"Next year, when we expand our scale, won't we go straight for the ten thousand yuan household?" Secretary Wang's eyes widened.
Li Decheng simply couldn't believe it. If everyone in the village had a net worth of 10,000 yuan, Batou Village would definitely become famous, and he and Secretary Wang would also become celebrities!
Li Decheng reminded him, "Don't forget, we have other medicinal herbs. Every household has its own land, and the crops are harvested. There are also people who raise chickens, ducks, pigs, and bees. That's all money! Thanks to Guizhi's family, the village must set up a banquet for the New Year this year. Thank them very much!"
"Of course! Comrade Guizhi asked us to grow saffron and told us how to grow it. She almost chewed up the rice and fed it to us! Don't we have two taels of saffron left in our village? Ask Zhang Cuihua to give it to her, along with some rice, flour and herbs. Don't let people think that we in Batou Village are ungrateful."
"Hey, I'll do it right away!"
Zhen Zhen received saffron sent from the village. This batch of saffron was really good. It happened that she had reached menopause, so she immediately picked a few roots and soaked them in water to drink.
“This is my first time drinking saffron-infused water.”
Zhang Cuihua sat down on a stool and chatted with her, "Guizhi, the villagers are very grateful to you. Secretary Wang said that he would expand the scale and plant 300 mu of saffron next year."
Zhen Zhen thought that the market had been good in recent years, so it was reasonable to expand the scale.
"We discussed it and decided to do something else to make money next year. I was thinking that I and Gou Zi's chili sauce should make more next year."
Zhen Zhen thought for a moment and said, "Our factory will launch at least ten categories of food this year. If you are willing, you can merge your factory into ours."
Zhang Cuihua was stunned. "Is there really such a good thing?"
"Of course, if we want to build a factory, we have to introduce professional production equipment. We can't do it on a small scale like we do now. After all, hygiene is the most important thing for food."
Zhang Cuihua knew that Zhenxin Food Factory was making a lot of money. After the chili sauce was incorporated, it seemed that she and Gou Zi's mother suffered losses, but the higher the sales volume, the more money they would get.
"You won't treat us unfairly. Gouzi and I have nothing to disagree with."
"Go back and discuss it with your family. If everyone agrees, I will set up a workshop in the factory to produce chili sauce."
Zhang Cuihua had no objection. "Our chili sauce is now sold in bulk. Every time a customer brings a bowl or a jar to get chili sauce, we just give them a spoonful. If we put a label on it and sell it outside, what will we use to pack the chili?"
"In a glass bottle, of course."
"But where did the glass bottle come from?"
Zhen Zhen thought about this issue and said, "The glass factory can definitely produce it. I will go to see Leader Xiao Chen tomorrow and ask the county to help recommend it."
Their current output is small, and other glass factories may not look up to them. But with the county's endorsement, things will be easier for them.
Zhang Cuihua knew that it was not easy to ask a leader for help. Without Zhen Guizhi, their chili sauce business would not be able to grow big.
She thanked the old sister from the bottom of her heart.
Without her, Xiaohong would not have divorced to start a career, Xiaoyu would not have grown up, and she would not have lived in a yurt or drank milk from the grassland.
The next day, Zhang Cuihua asked her son to go over and said that no one had any objections and that everything would be left to Zhen Zhen.
Zhen Zhen personally went to see Xiao Chen, the leader. When Xiao Chen heard that they were going to sell chili sauce, he was stunned for a while, "Why did you suddenly think of making chili sauce?"
Zhen Zhen smiled, took out a letter and handed it to Xiao Chen.
"This is a letter from Cheng Su, an educated youth from our village of Batou. The letter says that there is no market for chili sauce in the United States. They also have a great demand for tomato sauce. I was thinking that if we can make chili sauce, we can sell it back to the United States."
Xiao Chen read the letter carefully. To be honest, he had no idea whether the chili sauce would be a hit.
But they, the rural people, can buy chili sauce on the street, but it’s not easy to go to the village entrance to buy sauce in big cities, right?
If instant noodles are selling well, packaged chili sauce will surely be a hit as well!
After all, instant noodles are too expensive for migrant workers, so they can just eat some steamed buns with chili sauce to get by.
"Okay, I'll go find the leader and see if I can recommend you to the Provincial Second Glass Factory and ask them to produce glass products for Zhenxin Food Factory."
Zhen Zhen thanked him sincerely.
"Leader Xiao Chen, here are some boxes of instant noodles for you to take home and try."
Leader Xiao Chen was flattered and overwhelmed, "Sister Zhen, why are you being so polite to me?"
"I'm not being polite, Leader Xiao Chen. We, Zhenxin Food, were raised by you. It's only right for us to let you taste our products. Don't be polite to me."
Leader Xiao Chen scratched his head and smiled sheepishly, "Okay, Sister Zhen, I won't be polite then."
Zhen Zhen went to the market to ask around, but found that there was no chili sauce production line available for purchase; all chili sauce manufacturers used the most primitive manual operation.
In other words, the hard work of pounding peppercorns and cutting chilies still has to be done by humans.
Chopping chili peppers is not easy. If you do this job for a long time, you may suffer from frozen shoulder and cervical spondylosis. Your fingers will definitely get calcified if you keep moving them in and out of the chili sauce.
During dinner, Zhen Zhen mentioned this matter. Meng Daguo hesitated: "If we pay more, someone should be willing to do it, right?"
"It's difficult! Not everyone can bear the bitterness of chopped chili peppers."
Just like cutting onions will make you cry, no matter how high the salary is, few people are willing to do this kind of work.
Zhen Zhen posted a job recruitment notice at the door of Hao Po Po's store.
Several days passed and many people asked about it, but when they went to the factory and saw the situation, they were all a little discouraged.
"I'm willing to pick up shit, but chopping chili peppers is not a job for humans!" said an older woman. "I just tried it, and the chili juice splashed all over my hands, eyes, and face. I worked for less than an hour, and my whole face felt like it was burning, and my hands were also on fire."
Zhen Zhen didn't know that making chili sauce involves so many steps. After watching it, she admired Zhang Cuihua and Gou Zi's mother.
She recruited for a week but only hired one person.
Seeing that she was worried, Zhang Cuihua waved her hands and said, "If it really doesn't work, Gou Zi's mother and I will do it first. Let's increase the salary. I don't believe that no one is willing to work when so many people in the countryside can't even eat!"
Zhang Cuihua's words reminded Zhen Zhen that she was recruiting workers in the county town and all the applicants were nearby residents.
People in the city live a good life and are not so poor as to suffer this kind of thing just for a few dollars.
But it’s different in the countryside. There are many people in the countryside who can’t afford to eat. If you go to the countryside to recruit workers, you will definitely find the right person!
Zhen Zhen simply asked Li Decheng for help. He knew a lot of people, and the people in Batou Village all had work to do, so there was definitely no one coming. However, someone even starved to death in Li Decheng’s hometown, Qiaotou Village, last year!
"It's only 30 yuan a month, and it includes food and accommodation. How could such a good job not be accepted? Wait, I'm going to ride my bike back to my hometown to ask."
"I'll ride with you!"
They rode to Qiaotou Village. Although Qiaotou Village is only a dozen miles away from Batou Village, it is farther away from the county town and the road is remote and difficult to travel. Its only advantage is that the land is fertile.
How can one be rich if he can rely on days for food?
I'm just not starving to death!
After paying the public rations every year, every household had no money left and life was very difficult.
Li Decheng went to the village to tell the matter. Zhen Zhen was standing in a nearby field, looking at the crops in Qiaotou Village. It was impossible to make money by growing crops, but it was different by growing peppers.
The tri-sakura peppers purchased on the market are not cheap. If they can be introduced to Batou Village and Qiaotou Village for planting, the peppers for Good Mother-in-law’s chili sauce will be guaranteed.
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