NOVPUB
Chapter 732: Chapter 722 The First Batch of Pigs Goes to Market
The chicken incident this time made Shen Yunfang pay more attention to two things, the first being the problem of raw material storage.
At the beginning of the year, Zhang Chunwang started to clean up Cricket Mountain and found a cave covered by weeds in an inconspicuous place on the mountain.
Shen Yunfang personally led a team to explore it, and it was just a shallow cave with neither beasts nor adventures inside, but she came up with a plan because of this little cave, which was to use that hole to carve out a bigger space inside the mountain. It was already cool inside the mountain, and the temperature within its belly was even lower, making it very suitable for storing wine.
So she asked Zhang Bin whether it was possible to build a large warehouse inside the mountain. Coincidentally, among Zhang Bin’s construction crew were workers who had experience with blasting rock. However, for safety’s sake, Shen Yunfang still borrowed a professional in explosives from the military through Li Hongjun. The collaboration took half a year, and they finally carved out a big warehouse for her. Nevertheless, she was still not quite satisfied with the size; since her wine was not ready to be brewed yet, she let Zhang Bin continue to dig into the mountain for her, wanting to make the low-temperature warehouse as big as possible.
However, even though the temperature was low, it was only relative. She had measured it and found it was about the same as a refrigerator’s constant temperature. However, it would not suffice for storing a large quantity of meat, so she needed to set up another cold storage.
The second thing was that Shen Yunfang realized that manual processing of food was really not an ideal method. Not to mention the never-ending production of five-spice quail eggs, but even handling these few thousand chickens was problematic.
She won’t mention the hard work of the employees; even the sanitary conditions were not up to standard. This was only because food safety had not yet received the attention it deserved, otherwise she wouldn’t have been able to sell any of these products at all.
Therefore, setting up a food processing plant was urgent, and she was also ordering production lines through foreign friends, hoping to get everything in place before the end of the year.
That day, at the dining table, Shen Yunfang talked to Li Hongjun about the batch of male pigs that were ready for sale at the farm.
"...They’re almost big enough, I plan to sell them to get some cash back. I’ve already arranged for piglets over there. Catch another batch now, and they can be ready for sale around the New Year."
Li Hongjun nodded his head, expressing his support for his wife’s business.
"This batch of seventy pigs, I was thinking of processing them myself before selling them to double the profits. But there are too many pigs, and the weather is too hot now. I’m afraid the pork would go bad before we get a chance to process it," Shen Yunfang sighed. Although she had plans for a cold storage, it would not be ready in time for this batch of pigs, "So I have to sell a portion of the pork first."
"Alright, do as you see fit. Our family isn’t short of money. Just don’t overwork yourself," Li Hongjun always played the role of a hands-off manager, not worrying about the amount of money but rather caring about his wife’s well-being.
"Yeah, I’m not that tired. The sales department worries about the meat sales, I’m just helping out with the processing," Shen Yunfang liked to casually chat with her husband about these matters.
She had already decided to sell forty pigs at the price of live pork first. For the remaining thirty, she would slaughter them slowly. Anyway, the piglets didn’t take up much space, and the farming department could still temporarily accommodate these fat pigs. In this way, killing two or three pigs a day, she could have them cured and packaged for sale after slaughter. This way, her staff could handle the work, and they could earn a little extra money to recoup some losses.
She had chatted about this with Li Hongjun at noon, but by afternoon in her office, she received a call from the military region’s logistics department. It wasn’t anything major, just that they had heard about the batch of fat pigs ready for sale at her farm. The military region wanted to buy a few to provide a special meal for all the soldiers.
"How many do you want?" Shen Yunfang asked after some thought.
"Ten," a senior official announced the number.
Shen Yunfang frowned. Ten was a lot. If this call had come earlier, when the pork hadn’t yet found buyers, she would have been thrilled and agreed without a second thought. But now, all forty pigs she was planning to sell already had owners and she couldn’t just break her promise and sell the pork reserved for others to the military district.
"What’s wrong, is there a problem?" the other end pressed when Yunfang hesitated to respond.
"Heh, there actually is. Had you called about ten days to half a month earlier, I wouldn’t have said anything and would have agreed right away. But now, almost all of my pigs have been claimed by buyers. As you know, pork is in high demand these days, and it doesn’t look good to pull out from any deal. After all, I am in business and must maintain my credibility," Shen Yunfang explained her predicament and the popularity of her pork to the caller.
The other party fell silent after hearing this. After a while, they asked, "So, has your farm not kept any for itself?" they inquired, still not giving up.
"We did keep a little bit. After all, the workers have been busy for over half a year. When our own pigs are slaughtered, we need to reserve some for them as a special treat, and there are also some regular clients who have had their eyes on this batch of pigs..."
The other party did not let Shen Yunfang finish speaking and quickly interjected, "That means your farm still has some pigs left, Xiaoshen. We are all one family; you can’t be stingy with us. Your husband, Li Hongjun, is a soldier, and as a military spouse, you should understand how hard our soldiers train. Our logistics department is also trying to gather some pork to supplement the nutrition of the young soldiers. As an exemplary military spouse, supporting and loving the army, you should be able to spare us ten pigs. Alright, I know it’s difficult for you, but let’s all be considerate of one another, so it’s settled then. Ten live pigs, you don’t need to slaughter them. I’ll send a vehicle right away to pick them up. We have people who can process the pigs here. Don’t worry about the money; you can be assured that not a cent will be shorted. It’s settled then," they concluded.
Shen Yunfang didn’t get a word in edgewise before the caller hung up, almost as if they feared she would disagree.
After hanging up, Shen Yunfang shook her head. See, using the right sales tactics can be very effective, eh? She managed to sell ten live pigs without even discussing the price.
After the call, she headed straight for the breeding department and instructed Chen Jing to prepare ten of the best fattened pigs. When the military district’s vehicle arrived, they would be weighed and loaded.
Chen Jing was a little troubled. Hadn’t the destinations for these pigs been agreed upon just yesterday? He didn’t recall any orders from the military district.
"Yunfang, if we’re giving ten pigs to the military district, whose share should we reduce from the orders?" In his view, since contracts had been signed, the terms should be honored. One must be trustworthy. If not, who would trust you next time?
"The ten pigs won’t come from the existing orders but from the thirty reserved for processing," Shen Yunfang had already thought this through when she received the call. It was really about earning less. However, if she could establish a good relationship with the military district, she was more than happy to do so.
Relieved, Chen Jing quickly set to work selecting the pigs and getting ready.
"By the way, when we slaughter the pigs, the orders didn’t mention needing the offal, so there’s no need to give it away for free when we deliver. Go and see if any of our workers know how to handle the offal. If someone does, we can process it ourselves and send half to the canteen to add to the dishes. If no one knows how, just let me know, and I’ll find someone to deal with it."
