Chapter 215: Meeting

Chapter 215: Chapter 215: Meeting

The meat bun business was booming. The popularity of the fish meat buns, in particular, was far beyond the Zhang family’s expectations—as was the money they were making.

On opening day, thanks to a "buy five, get one free" promotion, the meat bun shop managed to attract a small crowd. By the afternoon, as word spread, far more people showed up than in the morning. That evening, after selling out of every last bun, they closed up and tallied the day’s earnings. They discovered that a single day’s revenue was more than what Zhang Wei Qiang used to earn in over half a month.

The Zhang family was ecstatic. What they didn’t expect was that the next day would be even more incredible. When they opened the shop early that morning, they found people already waiting outside. Before eleven a.m., they had sold out of all the meat buns they had prepared the day before. Latecomers who couldn’t get any buns left disappointed...

As the business boomed day by day, the Zhang family recouped their entire initial investment in just over twenty days. The daily demand for pork and fish grew ever larger. The fish supply was fine—the pond had already been dug, and along with the fry they’d initially bought, there were plenty of large fish, making them self-sufficient. However, they could no longer keep up with demand by just buying pork.

"Your Uncle Dazhuang was just calling everyone for a family meeting. Are you going?" Zhang Minzhen’s smile appeared more and more often as she thought about how her family’s life was improving day by day. She had a reason for asking Gu Nuan Nuan. Lately, Nuannuan had become fascinated with growing all sorts of plants at home. She had set up a small garden for her flowers and herbs, and she preferred to spend her free time reading books about botany. As a result, she had gradually lost interest in the family business. Eight or nine times out of ten, she wouldn’t join the family meetings when they called for one. But even so, Zhang Dazhuang and Zhang Wei Qiang insisted on inviting her every time, which was why Zhang Minzhen was asking now.

"What’s on the agenda today?" Gu Nuan Nuan asked casually as she put all of her grandfather’s clothes into her storage ring.

"It’s about the pig farm and the dried fish from the Fish Spring." Zhang Minzhen was long past being surprised by the sight of clothes vanishing before her eyes. She spoke matter-of-factly, "Ever since you mentioned ecological pig farming, your Uncle Dazhuang took it to heart. Unfortunately, we searched our town, the county, and even the city, but we couldn’t find any experts. Then, when he was delivering dried fish to the Shao family, he happened to mention it to Mr. Shao. Mr. Shao was very interested and immediately called his second son, Shao Qingyang, to ask him to look into it. It turns out Shao Qingyang was also really intrigued by the idea. The connections of a big family are really something else. It didn’t take them long at all to find an expert for us. They said we should hurry up and build the pig farm, and they’ll send the expert over. If it all works out, they even want to partner with us to set up more pig farms across the country and help us expand the bun business as quickly as possible."

"Haha, that sounds great. What’s there to discuss?"

"We’re not discussing the partnership. We’re discussing whether to build the pig farm here in Lihua Village or go back to Zhang Family Village to dig another fish pond and build the pig farm there." Zhang Minzhen gave a helpless smile. "Getting more land approved in this village isn’t a problem, but we’re running out of manpower in the family. In Zhang Family Village, we know everyone inside and out, so we’d feel safe hiring our own people. The problem is, Zhang Family Village is so far away. It’s a real dilemma, isn’t it?"

"My idea is to build it in neither of those places. Pig farms stink, so it’s not a good idea to build one near where people live. We should pick a different spot, somewhere with no residents nearby, plenty of space, and not too far from here. And if we’re going to build one, we should build a big one. That way, when we expand the business or start franchising, we won’t have to worry about supplying enough pork and fish for this whole region.

Also, since an expert is coming, we should definitely learn the techniques ourselves. Then, we can go to Zhang Family Village, pick some reliable people to learn alongside us, and eventually hand over the management of the pig farm and the new pond to them. Our two ponds right here can be used exclusively for raising the fish from the Fish Spring."

"I think that’s a great idea. It’s almost time for the meeting. Why don’t you come and present the idea yourself?" Zhang Minzhen’s eyes sparkled. ’My daughter is so clever,’ she thought. ’Any problem seems to have an easy solution when she’s involved.’

"Okay," Gu Nuan Nuan nodded. By the time the mother and daughter arrived at the main hall, everyone else was already seated. As expected, the moment Gu Nuan Nuan presented her proposal, it quickly gained everyone’s approval and was passed unanimously.

Zhang Dazhuang nodded. "Finding a location won’t be hard, but we’ll need to search carefully for the right spot. We can’t settle that right now. Once the pig farm is built and the expert arrives, Qiangzi and I can go learn from them.

As for hiring people, there’s Old Zhang’s family from our clan. He was a butcher when he was younger. Even though he hasn’t done that work in a long time, he still has the skills.

More importantly, his whole family is full of honest, down-to-earth people. Unlike other families, they don’t have issues between mothers- and daughters-in-law or bickering between the wives of the brothers. I was thinking we could ask if his family is interested. If they are, we could hire all of them to help out."

"Dazhuang, hiring an entire family... is that really a good idea?" Wen Xiu objected from the side. ’Those women in Old Zhang’s family are hardly as harmless as my husband makes them out to be. It’s true they haven’t caused any public scenes, but Old Zhang’s wife is no simple woman. Back when I was young, I always ended up on the losing end whenever I had to deal with her. I refuse to believe their family is really that peaceful behind closed doors.’

With that thought, Wen Xiu’s reluctance became more pronounced. "If you hire his whole family to run the place, how will we ever know in time if they start causing trouble? In the end, whose pig farm and fish pond will it be—theirs or ours?"

"Old Zhang isn’t like that," Zhang Dazhuang said, shaking his head. "I’ve known him for decades. How could I be wrong about his character?"

"Hmph. Money changes people," Wen Xiu retorted, exasperated by his confidence. "If you insist on putting one entire family in charge of the place, then you just wait and see how it turns out."

"Dad, Mom’s right. Making a decision like that really isn’t a good idea," Zhang Minzhen chimed in, backing up Wen Xiu. Lin Qin nodded in agreement. "Dad, I don’t think it’s appropriate either."

"Why are all of you..." Zhang Dazhuang grew flustered. "I was just thinking, if we only hire Old Zhang, what happens when he gets too old to work? Would he really be willing to pass on his butchering skills to a stranger? Besides, I was also trying to be considerate and not split up his family!"