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Chapter 749: Chapter 739 Something Went Wrong
The half-month training period quickly passed, and after evaluating everyone’s scores, Shen Yunfang gathered the heads of several farms to finalize the employee selection issue.
A hundred staff members had been employed, but in the end only sixty were kept. Fifty of them were the skilled female workers originally intended to be hired, who would work on the assembly lines in the processing factory. The remaining ten were young and strong men, mainly responsible for heavy lifting, much needed for loading and unloading goods in the future.
Out of the thirty-two military spouses, only twenty clean and efficient ones were retained. The remaining twelve were beyond correction, and Shen Yunfang had no choice but to send them back to the military district.
However, Shen Yunfang explained the situation to the logistics department chief, that those people really were not suitable for working in her processing factory. After all, her factory mainly produced food meant for consumption, and food safety was the paramount concern. She couldn’t risk sending products made by those military spouses who lacked personal hygiene standards to the market.
Shen Yunfang also assured the chief that, should the farm have such recruitment opportunities again in the future, they would still prioritize the military district.
Then there was Sun Chengbin, who had completed the job transfer procedures, and his family was arranged a house in the residential area. Though not in the same building as Li Hongjun’s family, he was close by, with a similar two-bedroom, one-living room layout.
Over the past half month, Sun Chengbin had wanted to become closer to his second uncle’s family. However, he didn’t feel it was appropriate to go to their home for meals for no particular reason, as he had his pride. Thus, he maintained a rate of visiting once a week, hoping to get closer. He’d have to wait until his wife arrived before he could visit more often with her.
Shen Yunfang was unaware of Sun Chengbin’s little scheme. Otherwise, she would have surely berated him. He was still serving in the military and lacked even the basic investigative skills. Were he to notice that she and Li Xianghe clearly did not get along, Shen Yunfang would have welcomed him with a smile. But if Li Xianghe came, Shen Yunfang wouldn’t even open the door for them.
New Year’s Day was approaching, and twelve carloads of seafood had already arrived at the Z City train station. The newly recruited ten male staff members were assigned to deal with the emergency, following the farm’s large truck to the freight station, where they loaded the seafood for several days before finally transferring all the goods home.
The next step was to organize manpower to follow the sales department and deliver and collect money for pre-ordered vegetables and fish, house by house.
That day, Shen Yunfang had already finished work and returned home when she suddenly received a call from Zhang Chunwang.
"Sister-in-law, something terrible has happened, those units that had originally placed orders for our goods all suddenly canceled," Zhang Chunwang said urgently on the phone.
Shen Yunfang frowned, "Don’t panic, calm down first, and then tell me in detail what exactly happened."
Zhang Chunwang on the other end realized that his hasty speech was somewhat unclear. After taking a few deep breaths, he continued, "Sister-in-law, wasn’t the sales department in contact with many units in Z City before, just like last year, getting greenhouse vegetables and sea fish from us for employees’ benefits? Everything went smoothly last year, and when our sales personnel contacted them this year, they also agreed, but today, after making deliveries to four of them, they all said they don’t want the orders. Another one did take the delivery, but instead of cash, they gave us an IOU."
"Today’s harvested vegetables from the greenhouse weren’t sold out, and with no other choice, I had them put back in the greenhouse. At least they won’t freeze, but this won’t do, the vegetables might not be fresh by tomorrow, and in a few days, they might even rot," Zhang Chunwang shared his worries.
This abrupt reneging on agreements had never happened before, and he hadn’t anticipated it, so he couldn’t think of a good solution on the spot. Moreover, with such a big issue at hand, he needed to inform his sister-in-law and get her advice.
"Didn’t you sign supply contracts when you made those arrangements initially?" Shen Yunfang inquired.
"I asked, and Wang Anhua said that since they were regular customers, they got a bit complacent. Besides, everything seemed fine over the dining table. They don’t know why, just in a matter of days, they’re refusing to acknowledge the agreements."
Shen Yunfang tapped her fingers on the coffee table, "Well, don’t panic for now. If those units don’t want the vegetables, tomorrow find a few people to set up a stall in the city to sell them. There’s no way we are letting them rot in the greenhouse."
Zhang Chunwang nodded, indicating he understood. Hearing his sister-in-law’s calm voice, his agitated heart also settled. Indeed, their vegetables, standing out in the bitter cold wind, were a beacon. Even if these few units no longer wanted them, they could still be sold by setting up a stall; it would just mean a bit more manpower was needed.
Shen Yunfang glanced at her watch, it was already past seven o’clock, "It’s too late today; let’s wait until tomorrow morning. Have the sales department people go and ask around, find out why these units don’t want our goods anymore. If one unit doesn’t want it, there might be a reason to that, but with several units saying no all at once, I’m sure there’s something fishy going on."
"Alright, I’ll go find someone soon, and have them inquire about it tomorrow."
"That’s fine, don’t worry about it. Things will always get resolved."
Shen Yunfang talked for a while longer before finally hanging up the phone.
"What’s wrong? Did something happen at the farm?" Li Hongjun had seen his wife’s serious face and suspected something must have happened. He hadn’t interrupted her phone call, not until she hung up and then he asked.
"There’s a bit of a problem," Shen Yunfang recounted what Zhang Chunwang had told her over the phone.
"I’m sure there’s a reason behind it."
"Hmm, have you offended anyone recently?" Li Hongjun also thought that the matter was definitely not simple, and whoever was targeting his wife must have a significant backing.
Shen Yunfang reflected, "I’m in the farm every day, so I don’t have a chance to offend anyone. But if you’re talking about discontent with the farm, that’s possible. Some people who weren’t hired during the recent recruitment were not too happy. They might have held a grudge against the farm."
She remembered how at the time a few troublemakers who had been turned away had made threats of retaliation, but she hadn’t paid much attention to it then.
"It’s unlikely to be them. Having several units breach their contracts suggests that the person has considerable influence. Those who came for jobs wouldn’t be doing that if they had such connections," Li Hongjun shook his head, sure it wasn’t them.
"You’re right with that analysis, but aside from those few troublemakers, I really can’t think of anyone else I’ve offended, especially not someone influential," Shen Yunfang sank into deep thought.
As she pondered, the image of Shen Yingxue lifting her chin arrogantly suddenly popped into her mind. Could it be her?
"A couple of days ago, that Shen Yingxue from my hometown came to see me, saying she wanted to buy produce from the farm. But I don’t really like her; you remember, right? She’s the daughter-in-law of Zhao, the director of the Revolutionary Committee. I was likely reported back then and she might have been involved, so I rejected her on the spot. She came dressed fashionably and in a car, do you think she could be the one behind this?"
"Given what you’ve said, it’s possible. Did she mention what she does?" Li Hongjun felt they might be onto something.
"She said she runs a restaurant. Do restaurant owners have that kind of clout now?" Shen Yunfang was frustrated.
"For such a young woman to set up a restaurant in the capital city, to say she has no backing, who would believe that?" Just as his wife could peacefully run the farm here, wasn’t it because she had him at her back?
