Chapter 97

"Mom!" Meng Hua dropped his luggage bag, rushed over and hugged Zhen Zhen.

Meng Hua was away from home and always felt that he saw his mother less and less.

Zhen Zhen patted his third son's shoulder with a smile, "You've grown taller and stronger. A man with a family is different. At first glance, you can tell that he's a man who can take on responsibilities."

Tan Wenyin envied Meng Hua's relationship with her mother-in-law. She could no longer remember what her mother looked like, but after having her mother-in-law, she inexplicably felt that her mother's appearance had become more concrete.

If her mother were here, she would be so gentle and tolerant. No matter how sad she was outside, she would feel better when she returned home and saw her mother's smiling face.

Tan Wenyin came and hugged Zhen Zhen, who patted her shoulder and said, "You must have had a hard time on the journey."

Tan Wenyin had a really hard time on the journey. The train smelled terrible, with people taking off their shoes, breastfeeding, and eating stinky tofu. The smell was so sour that she couldn't eat anything. She felt better only after getting off the train.

Tan Wenyin started to speak in a coquettish tone:

"I haven't had a hot meal yet. I'm exhausted."

"That's how it is on the train. You take a rest first. I'll see what delicious food we have in the kitchen so you can have a taste of our hometown."

A telephone was installed at home, and Zhen Zhen and Meng Hua kept in touch with each other. This did bring them closer, but if they didn't see each other often, they would still miss each other.

Zhen Zhen felt relieved when her children came back to celebrate the New Year.

Jiao Huilan followed Zhen Zhen to the kitchen. "Dumplings on the bus, noodles on the bus. Let's eat noodles, shall we? Let's buy some good food tomorrow."

"Okay, you're really good at rolling noodles. But don't tell me, I haven't had them for half a month and I'm really missing them."

There are many employees at home, and they can't always ask Jiao Huilan to cook, so Zhen Zhen asks Grandma Qian from next door to help with cooking and pays her 20 yuan a month. Grandma Qian has nothing to do at home, so being able to earn some money to supplement the family income is something she just couldn't ask for.

Jiao Huilan smiled when she heard this and said, "Mom wanted to eat the noodles I made, why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"Hey, you're busy every day, you must be tired."

“No matter how tired you are, you can always have time for a meal.”

Her mother-in-law liked the food she cooked, so Jiao Huilan was very happy. She went to knead the dough with a smile on her face. There were many people at home, and she was afraid that there wouldn't be enough to eat, so she boiled some water and boiled some dough to make steamed buns.

Zhenzhen prepared green onions, salted duck eggs, pickled vegetables, and fried dough sticks, and also fried shrimps and dried fish.

Today Meng Daguo went to pick up Meng Nan from school. Meng Nan was on holiday for the first grade of junior high school and had a lot of things to bring back, so he asked his father to go with him. As soon as they got off the bike, Meng Daguo heard his brother's voice in the yard.

Meng Daguo parked his bike and walked into the yard. "Brother!"

Meng Eryong was chatting with Meng Hua. When he heard the boss's voice, he shuddered all over and got goosebumps.

What brother or not! You call him like a relative! I have never heard Meng Daguo call him like that.

Meng Hua stood up, rushed to his brother in three steps, and hugged him tightly.

Meng Daguo hugged me tighter, smiling widely, "Why didn't you tell me when you came back? I could have picked you up at the station."

"I just wanted to give you a surprise."

"It's different after getting married, and it's quite fashionable." Meng Daguo laughed.

Tan Wenyin brought some milk powder and imported chocolate, and also brought a set of clothes for the children in the family. Led by Meng Nan, the children rushed into the house like bandits to distribute the things.

The hand-rolled noodles made by Jiao Huilan are chewy, and are topped with pork liver, shredded pork with garlic sprouts, eel and other fillings. The flatbread is a local specialty, and duck eggs, green onions, fried dough sticks and the like are rolled into the flatbread, which is a delight to eat.

Tan Wenyin ate five steamed buns in a row before she stopped.

After eating and drinking, Meng Daguo took them for a walk around the factory.

Meng Hua knew that his family business was quite big, but he never expected that the factory was bigger, more impressive, and more large-scale than he had imagined.

"Mom's business is quite big." Meng Hua sighed.

Although he had several jade shops with good business and often exported jade and pearls to the port city, he did not have such a large factory. He always felt that only those who started a business like his mother and solved the employment problem could be called real entrepreneurs.

Meng Daguo admired her and said, "Mom is really amazing. Without her, our family would have been in tatters a long time ago."

Meng Pandi greeted Tan Wenyin and looked at the auntie from Beijing with surprise. He thought she was beautiful in her clothes, makeup and everything about her.

She took Tan Wenyin to take a tour of the workshop. Tan Wenyin put on her work clothes and was amazed after entering.

So this is how instant noodles are made.

“How many kinds of snacks are there in the factory now?”

"There are 15 types. Some of them use obsolete domestic production lines. The production scale is small. Next year we will introduce ham production lines from island countries to expand the scale."

"Ham sausage?" Tan Wenyin was full of admiration, "Mom is really bold and daring."

"Of course not! My aunt is the best. Everyone respects her."

The next day, Zhen Zhen called Zhang Cuihua and Gou Zi's mother over and divided the money for the chili sauce between them. Each of them received more than 5,000 yuan and they were all smiling happily.

After the money was divided, Gouzi's mother was very happy. In the summer, there was a lot of rain in Batou Village, and Gouzi's mother's house was damaged by the rain. The family wanted to build a few tiled houses, but Zhen Zhen told her to wait a few months and build the house directly after the year-end dividend.

After listening to her, Gouzi's mother waited until the end of the year to get the money so that she could buy bricks to build a house.

"Brick stamps are difficult to make."

Gou Zi's mother wanted to ask Zhen Zhen for help. Now Zhen Zhen had good connections with the county, so she could get such a small matter as buying bricks done just by opening her mouth.

Zhen Zhen said: "Okay, tell Daguo how many bricks you want, and I'll ask Daguo to ask the leader to write a note of approval."

With her help, Gouzi's mother was very happy. Recently, Good Mother-in-law chili sauce was planning to expand its variety, and Gouzi's mother-in-law researched several kinds of chili sauce.

Zhen Zhen opened the jar and asked Tan Wenyin, Tao Aihong and others to come over and taste it.

Tan Wenyin: "I think beef chili sauce is delicious, especially when eaten with rice. If it were me, I would definitely add a few spoonfuls of beef sauce to my noodles."

Tao Aihong also tried it, and she liked the chopped pepper sauce more, which was very spicy.

Meng Pandi also tasted it and said, "I like beef sauce too, but beef sauce is not cheap. Can it sell well in the market?"

Beef sauce is expensive and will definitely not be sold locally, at least not at the moment, but this may not be the case in big cities.

Nowadays, big cities have long been free from poverty, and the one-child policy has begun to be implemented. Family income is not needed to raise too many children, and the remaining money is spent on food, clothing, housing and transportation. Expensive chili sauce has found a market.

The chili sauces made by Gou Zi Niang all taste good. Zhen Zhen plans to make a few thousand of each and sell them to see how they perform. He will increase the production of the ones that sell well and let the market decide.

At night, Meng Hua sneaked into Zhen Zhen's room and handed her a gold-inlaid jade Buddha head pendant. "Mom, look, this was carved by my son!"

Zhen Zhen cooperated with her surprise, "My third son can also carve jade? Is that so amazing?"

Meng Hua smiled. He often watched his master carving jade, and learned from him because his hands were itchy. Although his carving skills were not as good as his master's, the gifts made by hand were different after all.

"Although it's not as good as the one made by the master, this is the first finished product made by my son, so I'm giving it to you!"

Zhen Zhen disagreed, "Mother doesn't think your craftsmanship is inferior to that of the master. How can it be called jade carving? This is simply the filial piety of a son! On the other hand, you give me so many jewellery every year. Even if I have five heads, I still can't wear them all. It's really a sweet trouble!"

"I just want my mother to have endless blessings." Meng Hua said sincerely.

The mother and son chatted about business for a few more sentences, and Zhen Zhen talked about making health products. It happened that Meng Hua also wanted to invest in other businesses. The market in Hong Kong is small, and gold shops cannot come to the mainland, so they cannot make big money. Meng Hua has several million in cash, but he is worried about where to spend it.

"I want to ask Jiang Dongping to investigate the market. There are no health products in the country now, but people are concerned about their health and are willing to spend money on it. Our country has a large population, and the health product market has great potential."

Meng Hua agreed with Zhen Zhen's statement. Many people in Hong Kong take health supplements every day, but there is no such concept in China. There is a gap in the market. If we really want to do it, it is not a difficult task.

"The main ingredients of many health products are vitamins. Vitamins are very cheap, but after being packaged, they can be sold at a price comparable to gold."

Meng Hua nodded. "The main thing is to make the food tasty and delicious, and add some nutrients."

"Yes, there are many children who don't eat nowadays, and we can arrange for the children's nutritional fluids."

Zhen Zhen thought of a well-known brand of health care products.

It is said to help people sleep well and eat well. In fact, the main ingredients are melatonin, hawthorn and poria cocos. The cost is extremely low. After advertising and gift box packaging, it will become the first choice for gifts.

Zhenzhen wants to create China's own brand of health care products and integrate traditional Chinese medicine into health care products.

Meng Hua: "I went out for an inspection with Jiang Dongping after the Chinese New Year."

The next day, Meng Hua went to Jiang Dongping's home and made an appointment with him to go out to investigate the market together after the Chinese New Year. When Jiang Dongping saw that Meng Hua was also interested in health products, he became excited and couldn't wait to set off.

The period before the Chinese New Year is the busiest time for clothing factories.

Jiao Huilan sent tens of thousands of pieces of clothing to Aili for a trade show. At Zhen Zhen's suggestion, Jiao Huilan also planned to find a few female models to wear women's clothing to promote the products.

The stage was right in front of the Focus Women's Clothing Store. Zhen Zhen asked her to hold a lucky draw with prizes such as sewing machines, bicycles, and instant noodles.

Where have the county towns seen such an event these days? Before Jiao Huilan even set up the stage, the entrance to Focus Women's Wear was already crowded with people.

We have tens of thousands of women's clothing in stock. The purchasing power in the county is not as good as that in Beijing, but everything sells well during the Chinese New Year, no matter it is coral fleece pajamas, dacron fabric or down jackets, as long as the items are good enough, it doesn't matter if the price is a bit higher.

At a glance, there were at least 500 people gathered at the entrance of Focus Women's Clothing Store, and even the Good Mother-in-law Food Store seemed to be being robbed, with the store being surrounded by so many people that no one could get out.

Zhen Zhen simply had someone pack the videos into packages of one jin, three jin, and five jin, put labels on them, and set up a long table on top of the packages. When customers came, they only had to pick out the products they wanted and go inside to pay.

This can greatly save manpower, and waiters no longer have to run around to help customers weigh things.

Thousands of packs of snacks were sold in a day. By the evening, the store was empty and half of the stock in the warehouse was consumed.

It was just the start of the promotion, and Zhen Zhen had to ask the factory to speed up production to cope with the New Year's crowds.

It was the first time for Jiao Huilan and Tao Aihong to participate in the event. They were both exhausted after a day of work. Jiao Huilan counted the money in her hand, but she couldn't believe her eyes and counted it again.

"Where is my 5,200 yuan?"

Tao Aihong's voice was hoarse. "4,700 yuan! That's almost 10,000 yuan in total!"

This is no small number!

Tao Aihong was so excited that she felt like she was dreaming when she went to sleep at night. "Eryong, can you believe it? I sold tens of thousands of yuan a day! The profit was at least five thousand yuan! Add to that what my good mother-in-law made and the factory's sales, our family can make tens of thousands a day, right?"

Meng Eryong turned over and said, "Do you think you earn as much as you sell? We borrowed money from the bank to build the factory. Have you forgotten?"

"That little bit of money has been repaid a long time ago, right? How much money do you think we can share this year? At least 10,000 or 20,000 yuan, right?"

"You eat and drink from my mother, and you make money from her. You should be content!"

Tao Aihong rolled her eyes and shook the quilt. "I didn't say I was ungrateful. I just wanted to get more money so I could buy a big gold chain to wear."

"Well, you're showing off just because you have money? Aren't you afraid of being robbed? I tell you, when you return to the village, keep your mouth shut. Don't keep talking about making money all the time. My mother said that it's not a good thing for one family to dominate the market. Keep a low profile."

Tao Aihong curled her lips. Isn't she low-key enough? If she wasn't low-key, she would have gone to heaven long ago. Why would she still be on the ground?

During the New Year promotion, Tao Aihong and Jiao Huilan sold hundreds of thousands of goods. When they were done, everyone in the store was exhausted.

At Zhen Zhen's suggestion, Jiao Huilan gave red envelopes to Song Xiaoyu and others. Each of them gave 100 yuan. Song Xiaoyu performed well, had a loud voice and was good at shouting, and helped Jiao Huilan a lot, so Jiao Huilan gave her 200 yuan.

Zhen Zhen's situation is also good. After paying off the bank loan this year, Zhenxin Food Factory earned more than one million yuan. Most of the money was used to purchase production lines, leaving less than 200,000 yuan on the books.

Good Mother-in-law Food Store earned more than 200,000 yuan, and Focus Women's Wear earned 500,000 yuan this year by delivering clothes to Aili and holding trade fairs.

Zhen Zhen gave 30,000 yuan each to Jiao Huilan and Tao Aihong, and kept the rest for investment in health care products next year.

Tao Aihong was so happy that she bought herself a gold bracelet when she went out.

This was Tan Wenyin's first time going home for the Chinese New Year, and Zhen Zhen gave her a red envelope of two thousand yuan.

Tan Wenyin hugged her for a long time with emotion.

Meng Hua has been busy in recent years. Every day he calls his friends in Hong Kong to inquire about health care products. It doesn't matter if his friends don't understand the market, there will always be friends of friends who can understand. Meng Hua has accumulated connections over the years, and now he has put them all to use. He actually found out the truth.

It turns out that in a city more than 200 miles away from Xinyao County, the local Second Traditional Chinese Medicine Factory developed the oral liquid ten years ago.

This oral liquid is made from ginseng and royal jelly as the main ingredients. The product has good efficacy, but this state-owned Chinese medicine factory does not know how to promote itself, so its products have not been able to be sold.

In recent years, the Chinese medicine factory has been performing poorly and is on the verge of bankruptcy. The newly appointed factory director Wan is looking for opportunities to survive by doing OEM business for other brands.

But the market has just been opened up, who would look for a Chinese medicine factory to do processing on their behalf?

If things continue like this, the Chinese medicine factory will declare bankruptcy within two years.

Meng Hua called the Second Traditional Chinese Medicine Factory. When they heard that he wanted to entrust them with the production of oral liquid, they immediately agreed and very cordially invited them to come and inspect the equipment.

"I went there to inspect on the fourth day of the Lunar New Year. The Second Chinese Medicine Factory is close to Xinyao County and has experience in producing oral liquids. It should be able to do OEM for us."

It takes time to introduce equipment. If we can find a contract manufacturing plant, health products can be launched on the market earlier and we can make some quick money.