"Just set up this small factory, enough for our village and a few nearby villages."
“If it’s really not enough, you and Xiaoyu can choose another place to build a factory and register a company yourself. Don’t worry about making me feel uncomfortable.”
Seeing that he was determined to do so, Shan Yan could no longer persuade him.
In fact, if he were in Jiang Xiaoman's position, he would also prefer to sacrifice his temporary career development and spend more time with his family.
Jiang Youliang is now living alone in the mountains, which is really quite pitiful.
This is only because Jiang Xiaoman isn't too busy. If she were to build a large factory and hire over a hundred people, she'd probably be too busy to even go home.
Put yourself in their shoes. If Shan Yan had to live in the factory all day to earn money, while Jiang Yu was left alone with three children in the old mountain valley... just thinking about it, Shan Yan couldn't stand it for even a day!
Moreover, Jiang Youliang's situation is different from theirs.
He and Jiang Yu still have a lifetime ahead of them, but the time Jiang Xiaoman and her father can spend together, relying on each other, is truly dwindling.
Since the decision has been made to build a small-scale village-run tea factory, the amount of work will be much smaller.
Jiang Xiaoman decided to hire the construction team that had built their house before. They did a meticulous job, and most importantly, the team, including the boss and the foreman, were locals. Generally, when it comes to construction, the worst thing is when the work looks good on the surface but the quality inside is a mess.
Like many unscrupulous developers, when selling houses, they decorate the model homes beautifully, but when the houses are delivered, it's like the difference between the buyer's show and the seller's show!
What's even worse are the numerous quality issues such as leaks, mold, and crooked walls. At this point, would you want to hold the developer accountable?
Sorry, we are only responsible for selling houses; this is all the construction contractor's fault!
You're asking where the contractor went?
The house is finished, but everyone else has already left!
Therefore, Jiang Xiaoman would rather find locals than risk cheating her own people. Otherwise, if her reputation in the countryside were ruined, her whole family would be unable to hold their heads high for at least three generations. As for the lack of aesthetic sense and drafting skills of the makeshift teams in the countryside, there was nothing to worry about.
Jiang Xiaoman plans to hire someone to design the building and draw up the construction plans so that the construction team can build it accordingly.
Although it incurs an additional design fee, it's still quite cost-effective compared to hiring a professional construction contractor from outside.
Shan Yan had extensive connections in the city, so Jiang Xiaoman entrusted him with the entire task of procuring materials.
He was responsible for the initial design and construction. Building a factory is not like building a house; you don't need to spend too much money on decoration.
Most importantly, Jiang Xiaoman runs an online business, so even the office space can be greatly reduced.
Seeing that he was wiping away bits and pieces here and there, as if he wanted to discard everything except the cafeteria and toilet, Shan Yan couldn't help but remind him—
"This is a factory, not some small workshop. At the very least, someone should be on duty in the guard room, right?"
"And the office, you need to leave a place where you can put a tea table. What if a shop owner comes to talk business? You can't just take them to see the production line, can you?"
"Alright then." Jiang Xiaoman reluctantly enlarged his office a little, and after thinking for a moment, he simply moved it back more than three meters in depth.
In this way, the outer room can be used as an office and an open-plan tea room to entertain guests.
They used a hidden door to create a partition in the middle, put a bed inside, and set up a separate bathroom so that he could stay at the factory when things got busy.
Having roughly determined the functional areas she wanted, Jiang Xiaoman found Tong Shuai's phone number and wanted to ask him to introduce her to a reliable factory area designer.
After all, Boss Tong is a professional at doing this for others, and he has far more resources than him.
Sure enough, as soon as Tong Shuai heard that he was finally going to build a factory, he immediately agreed to help him find a designer who was good at both money and skills.
Fortunately, Jiang Xiaoman made the call, and Tong Shuai casually offered him a favor—
“A friend of mine lost a lot of money opening a tea shop last year, and he plans to close it down. The shop has a complete set of tea tables, tea sets, tea display cabinets, and so on.”
"Xiaoman, would you like to come and take a look?"
"If you want it, I can help you negotiate the price with him, and it will be at least half the market price."
"His shop just went out of business and he didn't make any money. If you feel bad about it, just pretend I didn't say anything..."
What? Bad luck? No way! Aren't the savings just RMB?
What's so unlucky about RMB?
Jiang Xiaoman immediately stated that he was not a superstitious person (as if he was not the one who devoutly burned incense and worshipped his ancestors every year).
Jiang Xiaoman had arranged to go to the city to look at goods (and find bargains) with Tong Shuai the day after tomorrow. After thinking about it, she first went to the town and bought a bunch of her father's favorite braised dishes. When she saw that there was tofu for sale, she also bought a whole sheet of old tofu.
When he got home, his father received a call and said that he had already cooked dinner for him.
Lifting the lid, I found a plate of steamed ham and edamame, and three large eggplants on top of the rice.
"You're out there running wild all day long! Do you even know which way the front door faces?" Jiang Youliang snorted twice.
Of course, a father is happy when his son is successful and can make a lot of money.
He's so successful that he neglects his family. He often doesn't see his son for days at a time, which makes Jiang Youliang feel quite bad.
At his age, his dependence on his children is no longer just material, but also emotional.
"Hehe! I was just doing a good deed with Brother Xiaoyu and the others~" Jiang Xiaoman chuckled and quickly changed the subject, "By the way, Dad, all the bricks and gravel from our house have been delivered. The tea factory is going to start operations in a few days. If you don't have anything to do at home, could you pick some vegetables for me and take them downstairs?"
"Hmph! Now you remember you have a father?"
Jiang Youliang smiled smugly, unable to bear refusing his son.
Delivering vegetables down the mountain every day, I can also stop by to see my son on the way.
Jiang Xiaoman secretly suppressed a laugh, almost kneeling down to sing "What will I do without you?" to her father.
After putting the things down, Jiang Xiaoman started cooking.
Today's meal was quite simple, because the main dishes were all braised dishes that his dad loves.
It's been a long time since I've had a couple of drinks with my dad, so Jiang Xiaoman bought all of his dad's favorite foods today.
There was half a braised duck, a braised pig's ear, a pound of spicy braised pig's head meat, two pounds of braised peanuts and edamame, and a large bag of braised bean curd sheets.
This kind of braised bean curd skin is cheap and delicious, and can be eaten as a snack. It is Jiang Youliang's favorite. Jiang Xiaoman specially bought a lot and kept a portion in the refrigerator so that he could heat it up and eat it at noon tomorrow.
Since it was just the two of them eating, there was no need to cook too many dishes. Jiang Xiaoman cut some tofu and made a tofu salad with scallions. She also took out the steamed eggplant from the pot and made an eggplant salad with minced garlic.
The father and son opened two bottles of beer, and the small square table was filled with dishes as they enjoyed their long-awaited reunion.
While eating, Jiang Xiaoman briefly explained his plans to his father.
Unexpectedly, Jiang Youliang also had something to tell him—
"I see that Mr. Tang's agritainment business near our old house seems to be opening soon. How much should we contribute to the opening banquet?"
Jiang Xiaoman: "..."
Dad! That's called a Zen retreat guesthouse! It's very expensive, okay?
It's not some farmhouse inn that charges 100 yuan a day with room and board included!
Chapter 181
However, the money Jiang Youliang mentioned for the wedding gift should indeed be prepared in advance.
Tang Xinlan was incredibly kind to him, helping him in every way she could. Jiang Xiaoman's personality was such that if someone was kind to him even a little, he would want to repay them with everything he had.
So, in addition to the monetary gift, he also wanted to prepare a gift for Tang Xinlan's business opening.
But what should I give as a gift?
“Hey! What good gifts do we have in the countryside? I saw they even built a pigsty over there. Why don’t you just take two piglets to their house?” Jiang Youliang was a staunch pragmatist and didn’t like those fancy gifts.
In his opinion, what's the point of flowers and powder? Two lipsticks are just lying around in a drawer and you can't even see them anymore. It's better to just get a piglet instead.
However, this is indeed a good idea.
Tang Xinlan's Zen retreat guesthouse is so exquisitely decorated, and there are so many decorations that he can't even name them. If he were to spend money to buy a cross-stitch or a few potted plants, it might not even suit his aesthetic taste.
However, even those who retreat to meditation still need to live a normal life, right? Sending two piglets and a brood of chicks will immediately liven up their lives.
Jiang Xiaoman wasn't one to be coy; once things were settled, he immediately sent a WeChat message to Tang Xinlan.
The theme was to congratulate her on the upcoming opening of her Zen retreat guesthouse. Also, given that he himself has little artistic talent, he didn't bother to come up with any tasteful gifts. Instead, he ordered a pair of piglets and a brood of chicks for Sister Tang, hoping for a new addition to the family, which he considered an auspicious sign.
Tang Xinlan was speechless for a long time before replying—
"This new addition to your family is quite effective!"
"Oh right, I can't go to the guesthouse opening day. I'll treat you to celebratory eggs in eight months."
Lucky eggs?
Jiang Xiaoman was stunned for a moment, then suddenly laughed.
Is Sister Tang pregnant again?
Alas, some are dying of drought while others are drowning in floods!
These days, some people would rather die than get married and have children, while others are happy because they meet the right person and come from a good family, so of course they want to have more children to make it more lively.
Anyway, now that the birth policy has been completely relaxed, if you want, you can have seven or eight children at once, and the government will provide various tax and education subsidies.
However, I heard that Tang Xinlan's husband's family owns a large enterprise and is definitely not short of money. It's not a big deal if the boss lady doesn't come to open a small guesthouse, since the people working there are not just for show.
Sure enough, on the opening day, neither Tang Xinlan nor her husband came. Only store manager Lu Xinran, her fiancé Hao Shuai, designer Xiaoman, and two newly recruited employees came.
Although it's called an opening, their guesthouse focuses on the theme of Zen meditation and spiritual cultivation, so it's impossible to have a bunch of flower baskets and lion dances to celebrate like a shopping mall opening.
However, the celebratory feast for the new year still needs to be held.
They didn't invite many guests, just Jiang Xiaoman's family, the village chief's family, a few village officials, and Jiang Yu and Shan Yan's family.
There aren't many local specialties that Jiang Yu can sell, so Jiang Xiaoman had previously helped him make a connection, making him a distribution agent for Tang Xinlan and her team.
This cooperation model is different from the online sales commission model. It's like Jiang Yu has contracted a sales line of Tang Xinlan's company. He is only responsible for promotion and sales, while Tang Xinlan is responsible for shipping and after-sales service. He earns a share of the income as a distributor agent, which is more than commission.
Because of this partnership, Jiang Yu also sent a monetary gift and congratulatory present on the opening day of the guesthouse.
The gift was a large bucket of live small fish and shrimp caught from the river.
"Oh, this is perfect! We were just saying we'd like to find some fish, shrimp, snails, or something to raise in the pond in the front yard when we have some free time," designer Xiaoman exclaimed with delight.
Raising koi in this kind of secluded mountain retreat is somewhat out of place, so when they dug that fishpond, they originally planned to raise more fish, shrimp, snails, and the like.
This allows customers to fish right at their doorstep, and the fish they catch can be used for cooking. Isn't that much more practical than koi?
"Then just put them in. I specially caught some extra crayfish for you. These things are hardy and easy to raise! There are also grass carp and silver carp. Just cut some grass every day and sprinkle some leftover rice in, and they'll be fine."