NOVPUB
Chapter 726: Chapter 716: Five-Spice Quail Eggs
The two returned to the office and drank the cool tea Zhang Chunwang had poured for them. It was then that Shen Yunfang recounted the situation with the aquaculture department.
Zhang Chunwang listened attentively, occasionally bowing his head to take notes. By the time Shen Yunfang finished speaking, he seemed to have his thoughts organized.
"Initially, you were the one who made contact with the seedling company, so this time you help them with the arrangements again, and then assign a vehicle to bring the goods back," Shen Yunfang instructed.
"Sure, that’s easy to handle. They basically call me every month to ask if we need anything, and if we do, I just tell them, and they prioritize supplies for us," Zhang Chunwang said with a smile.
In principle, the seedling company being state-owned should have had a condescending attitude towards individuals, but the seedling company in Lin City was on the verge of bankruptcy due to unsellable seedlings. If it hadn’t been for their farm making a large purchase of seedlings after the Lunar New Year, they would probably have already closed down. Therefore, their demeanor had become more accommodating afterward, frequently initiating calls to maintain relations, and if they had seedlings available, they would ask if we needed them first.
"Just a few days ago, they called me to say that they had a batch of piglets for sale, but I don’t know if they are still available after a month," he shared the situation.
Shen Yunfang listened but didn’t harbor much hope; after all, as a seedling company, if they couldn’t sell the piglets, they would have to raise them to maturity themselves, which would be quite a mess.
"Alright, you call and ask as soon as possible. If this batch is gone, have them prepare for us promptly. We still need about seventy, and quickly so that we can have another batch ready by the end of the year. Also, for the chicks, let’s wait until they’ve tallied how many roosters we have tomorrow and then we’ll buy," she said.
Zhang Chunwang nodded in agreement.
"Sis-in-law, I noticed several new factory buildings going up in the back, and the quails we raised this year are doing really well. How about we raise another two batches?" Zhang Chunwang had been meaning to suggest this for some time, but he had been really busy lately. July had arrived, and it was time to start harvesting one crop after another, and he hadn’t found the right opportunity to bring it up until now.
Upon hearing his suggestion, Shen Yunfang seriously considered it, "How are the sales for our five-spice quail eggs?"
"They’re going great. The train station and the bus station ask us to deliver a few thousand bags of five-spice quail eggs every week. Since May, we’ve already made a profit of 23,000 yuan," Zhang Chunwang said, beaming with joy.
Back in February, they had introduced 10,000 quails. Quails are easy to raise and lay eggs quickly. By March, they had already started laying eggs steadily. However, quail eggs were less common in the market, and many people, especially those in the city, didn’t recognize them, so selling quail eggs became a major challenge. Zhang Chunwang was particularly worried at that time.
With nearly 10,000 quail eggs unsold each day, anyone would be concerned.
Unable to sell them, Zhang Chunwang had no choice but to ask Shen Yunfang for a solution.
After considering for a whole day, Shen Yunfang made a call to the machinery factory and told Zhang Chunwang to transfer money from the account. Half a month later, they went to the machinery factory to collect a machine, and after ten more days, the packaged five-spice quail eggs were born.
Each packet contained ten small quail eggs. Shen Yunfang personally took the lead, bringing finished products and a few salespeople to the train station, and thus the five-spice quail eggs made their debut on the trains departing from Z City.
It was said that the wholesale price per bag was fifty cents on their end, but once on the train, the price rose to eighty cents a bag. Many complained about the high price, but there were those who weren’t short of money, and besides, their five-spice quail eggs really did taste good. Word of mouth spread this way, and the five-spice quail eggs eventually found their sales channel.
Of course, as things stand now, the main focus is on the train and bus stations; everything else is small-scale. They now ship goods every three days, (because even though the spiced quail eggs are salty and vacuum-sealed, they will still go bad if kept for too long, so that’s why shipments are restricted to this three-day cycle, with a shelf life of one week for the eggs.) With a limited number of quails being raised, they can only produce three thousand bags each time, which isn’t enough to meet demand.
At the very least, Chunwang is constantly receiving calls rushing orders, making him both happy and anxious. So, he considered asking his sister-in-law for advice, to see if they could raise more quails, which would help supply the outside demand.
"Okay, you take care of it. It’s good to raise more, and let our employees have some too; consider it a bonus meal for everyone." Yunfang always felt it was odd that her family was selling these products without enjoying them themselves; they deserved to taste the fruits of their labor.
"Okay, then I’ll get two more people from the breeding department, and as soon as we get the young quails, we’ll expand the breeding," Chunwang said ambitiously. Of course, he was skeptical about his sister-in-law’s suggestion that they eat the products themselves first. It all depended on the sales outside; if they could sell everything, who would want to keep it for themselves? That would be poor financial management.
After the two had a formal discussion, Chunwang reported the autumn harvest plan for the next four months to his sister-in-law.
Yunfang listened, occasionally chiming in with questions and just like that, the autumn harvest plan was set.
When Yunfang came to work that afternoon, she didn’t go anywhere else but stayed in the office drafting the plan.
The farm was on the right track, and with the current development, the annual net income was around half a million yuan.
In this era, that amount of money was considerable, but for Yunfang, it wasn’t much.
As the old farmers say, relying solely on the fields for wealth is difficult. Even in good years, at best, you achieve modest comfort. To aim for great wealth and prosperity, one must keep striving and innovating.
Yunfang saw that the farm was running well, with or without her presence, and thought about diving deeper, perhaps into the food processing industry. At the very least, the farm’s agricultural produce could be processed before being sold, which would at least double the farm’s income. Furthermore, her ultimate goal was to export overseas, to earn foreign currency. Besides quality, packaging was also essential.
That afternoon, Yunfang worked tirelessly at her desk, writing several drafts of the plan. She was prepared to start a food processing factory this year, with various departments to handle the processing of sellable farm produce. Originally, producing spiced quail eggs was on a small scale, and it was not feasible to rely on this workshop-size production for significant growth.
The plans she drafted that afternoon were not overly detailed, but they were sufficient. She planned to discuss this with Hongjun later that night, as it was not a small matter. As head of the household, it was his place to make major decisions.
At the end of the workday, full of excitement, Yunfang picked a big watermelon from the field, packed it in a basket, and tied it to the back seat of her bicycle. With the freshly drafted plans in hand, she headed home to cook dinner.
Yet, she was stopped at the military compound’s gate.
"Sister-in-law, there’s someone here claiming to be your relative. He’s been waiting here for quite a while," the young soldier from the gatekeeper’s room quickly came out to address Yunfang as she returned on her bicycle.
Yunfang was well-known in the military compound as an esteemed military wife, mostly because the farm’s tractors and trucks often stopped at the gate to pick up people.
Yunfang was somewhat surprised, "Is that so? Did he mention his name?" While she asked, she had already parked her bicycle and began walking towards the gatekeeper’s room.
