Wu Dong held a squirrel leg, studying the texture of the meat as he spoke to the group
"To be honest, I've eaten meat for many years and have had roasted squirrel plenty of times, but I've truly never had meat that tasted as good as what Xiao An roasts."
Wang Shuai also nodded, saying with a smile
"Exactly. Xiao An's roasting skills are truly impressive; you could say they're second to none."
He Liang brought up the old topic again
"If you ask me, Xiao An, you should just open a shop in the county. Once it's set up, you won't have to worry about the storefront or equipment—we'll handle all of that for you. You just need to provide the labor."
As soon as He Liang finished speaking, he immediately received a unanimous response from Wang Shuai and the others.
Ma Guoqiang chimed in
"I think that works. With Xiao An's roasting skills, if you just roast ten or eight batches a day and put them out there, you'll absolutely make a killing."
Wu Dong popped the squirrel leg into his mouth and spoke while chewing
"I think so too. Let me tell you, Xiao An, don't worry about not being able to sell it. Our county might look poor, but there are actually plenty of rich people. If you don't believe me, look at those restaurants; right before mealtime, people gather in crowds. Every place has plenty of diners. I mean, if they didn't have money, could they afford to eat at restaurants?"
It had to be said that the phrase "rich households emerge from poor villages, and poor people exist in rich lands" was absolutely spot on.
No matter the era, there was never a shortage of people who didn't lack money, nor those who dared to spend it.
Zhang Shuya smiled and said
"We don't even need the people in the county. If you ask me, our colleagues from our respective workplaces would be enough. They could easily support a shop. With Xiao An's skill, people will finish one meal and be longing for the next."
Sun Nian added once more
"Opening a shop is good. If we have a shop, we can gather there whenever we're free."
However, despite everyone's enthusiasm, Wang An didn't even engage with the topic, cutting them off directly
"What's the current situation at the pharmaceutical plant? It's almost the end of the year; has anyone tallied how much money we've made during this period?"
After Wang An asked, everyone turned their gaze toward He Liang and Ma Guoqiang. Since these two spent their workdays reading newspapers—essentially doing nothing—most of the plant's affairs were handled by them.
Upon hearing Wang An's question, Ma Guoqiang spoke with great excitement
"The development momentum of our plant is fantastic. We've hired over 20 more workers; the number of people in that big courtyard is growing.
Oh right, people from Yi Province and Yu Province have all come rushing over to buy the ointment. The only thing is, the raw materials—those various dried insects and such—are a big issue. We've started transporting medicine from Harbin, but those lazy bastards keep raising the prices. Fuck them."
Price hikes were very common. After all, the raw materials for this scar-removal ointment were indeed quite peculiar, consisting mostly of various insect carcasses.
Due to the influence of climate and temperature, many of the Chinese medicinal ingredients—namely the insect carcasses—were not available locally and had to be transported from elsewhere. Consequently, the raw material supply was inevitably subject to the control of others.
Ma Guoqiang continued excitedly
"In just these few months, the net profit of our plant was a full 80,000 plus. If we distribute dividends, each of us shareholders can get over 7,000 yuan."
Hearing this number, everyone's eyebrows twitched. The hands delivering meat to their mouths momentarily froze. However, immediately after, expressions of joy appeared on the faces of the seven shareholders present.
A net profit of over 80,000 was truly impressive for this era. One had to remember that from the establishment of the plant until now, it had been less than half a year in total.
It had to be said, medicine was truly a high-profit business!
Of course, the reason it was so profitable was mainly due to the miraculous efficacy of the scar-removal ointment. No matter how expensive the medicine was, as long as it was powerful and effective, people would accept any price. Once the reputation grew, sales would only continue to climb.
After saying this, Ma Guoqiang continued
"I estimate that the plant's profits next year will be even higher."
He Liang suddenly interrupted in a disdainful tone
"Those guys from 8J still fucking look down on our ointment. Fuck, they'll regret it to death sooner or later."
After He Liang spoke, Wu Dong laughed
"Why 'sooner or later'? If they knew the profits of our ointment right now, they'd be regretting it to death. Too bad it's too late, hahahaha..."
As Wu Dong laughed, Wang Shuai, Ma Guoqiang, and the others joined in.
The reason Wu Dong and He Liang said this was that when Wang An first proposed the sales strategy, he had mentioned collaborating with the second-generation heirs of 8J to open up the market in Yandu and the surrounding Yi Province.
Unfortunately, the 8J heirs looked down on the scar-removal ointment business, despite it being clearly lucrative, and rejected the offer.
Although Wu Dong and the others had only mentioned this briefly to Wang An at the time, Wang An could see their indignation.
Mainly, when the plant was first established, the sales pressure for an ointment with zero fame was genuinely immense. Wu Dong and the others were influential in Heilongjiang Province and had a say in the Northeast region, but once they left Heilongjiang, they were just ordinary people.
If they relied solely on the Heilongjiang market, and considering scar-removal ointment was a very niche product, the establishment of the plant would have been somewhat awkward.
One must realize that doing market work in this era was completely different from later generations. At this time, if you produced something and wanted to make it famous and sell it, money alone couldn't solve it; you needed connections in every possible area.
After all, even the four words "speculation and profiteering" were not something an ordinary person could handle.
After the laughter subsided, He Liang said with some worry
"It's not a sustainable situation for these dried insects to keep rising in price. Do any of you have other channels?"
After He Liang asked, Wu Dong, Wang Shuai, and the others opened their mouths but couldn't speak. They looked at one another and all shook their heads.
Finally, Wang Shuai said
"We all run in the same circles. If Xiao An hadn't come up with this formula, we would have had zero contact with the pharmaceutical sector. If you've got no way, what way could we possibly have?"
It was clear that while the group had significant power in DJ County and even Heilongjiang Province, they truly had no good solution regarding pharmaceutical pricing.
The main issue was that the price hikes weren't targeted solely at the plant; Wu Dong, Wang Shuai, and the others simply had no way to intervene.
After Wu Dong finished, Zhang Shuya frowned and said
"How about I ask my father to think of a way? Since the plant was built, I haven't contributed much. I can't just do nothing."
As soon as Zhang Shuya finished, Wu Dong said
"What could Uncle Zhang do about this? The ingredients that are rising in price aren't produced around here. Besides, why involve the elders in our pharmaceutical plant?"
Wang An thought for a moment and said to He Liang
"Brother Liang, list the names of those few ingredients, and I'll find a way."
(End of Chapter)