Rebirth: Rewriting Youth

Chapter 308 Customization
Fatigue can trap the human body, but it cannot trap the free soul of the night.

Lei Street, as the largest food street in Anhui Province, fills the gap in Luzhou City's nightlife.

Ancient blue-tiled buildings, quaint streets, exquisite red-brick shops, and tightly-fitted stone paths. Walking on Lei Street, you can see the architectural features of the Hui style, such as flying eaves, horse-head walls, archways, and small houses with flowing water.

These antique architectural elements are combined with modern elements to form a unique southern Anhui cultural atmosphere. There are also ancient objects such as horse stone mills, horse lanterns, and facial makeup, which makes you feel like you have walked into an art gallery full of history and culture.

Of course, the well-organized food stalls, the wide variety of food, the voices of inquiries and the music drowned out the laughter of the crowd, making it extremely lively, and the noise swallowed up the tranquility of the night.

Here, you can taste special foods from all over Anhui Province, such as Huizhou Mao Tofu, Zhuangmu Yuanzi, Jinzhai Hanging Pot, Fuyang Roll Film, Artemisia Baba, etc., which are dazzling and mouth-watering.

Han Shuang seemed very excited as she was travelling far away with Shen Yu for the first time.

Whenever they saw food they had never seen before, they would buy a portion to try. But they would basically only take a bite or two and then throw the rest to Shen Yu, which resulted in Shen Yu carrying a large pile of packaging bags.

Looking at the smile on Han Shuang's face, Shen Yu had no choice but to let it go.

Finally, seeing that the time was almost up, Shen Yu took Han Shuang back to the hotel.

The next day, they got up early, had a simple meal, and followed the navigation to Changfeng County under Luzhou.

Hengxin Life’s factory is located in Changfeng County and is a high-rise factory building.

However, Shen Yu and Han Shuang were unable to enter the factory gate and were stopped outside by the security guards. Shen Yu had no choice but to call the salesperson named Zhou whom he had contacted previously.

Finally, it was only after Salesman Zhou registered at the door that Shen Yu was allowed to pass.

After parking the car in the parking lot, Salesman Zhou stretched out his hand and explained with a smile: "I'm sorry, because some production lines in the factory are not convenient for outsiders to visit, so the security is a bit strict."

"It's okay. I understand. We still have to abide by the rules and regulations." Shen Yu smiled and shook Salesman Zhou's hand.

"Come, please follow me. I will show you around our factory first." Salesman Zhou politely led the way.

"Okay, thank you for your help." Shen Yu nodded in response, then took Han Shuang's hand and followed Salesman Zhou.

Hengxin's factory does not look very big because it is a high-rise factory building, but the sanitary environment is very good. It is basically a dust-free workshop, so the entire factory is clean.

After all, it is tableware made of environmentally friendly materials, so hygiene must be the primary concern.

I took a quick tour through the glass wall and saw neat rows of injection molding machines and printing machines running at high speed. The workers in the workshop were each doing their job and were very busy.

After a round, Shen Yu was led into the meeting room.

There is a display area on the wall of the meeting room, on which are displayed almost all of the company's products, including paper cups, plastic cups, paper bowls, lunch boxes and packaging bags.

Han Shuang took a quick look and sat down in the meeting room without interest, casually flipping through the product manual on the table.

Shen Yu walked to the display area with great interest and tried out each product made of different materials. Listening to the professional terms such as PE, PP, and PET being mentioned by the salesperson Zhou, Shen Yu was confused and could not understand much.

Although I didn't understand, I had drunk a lot of milk tea in my previous life, and I had also bought a batch of samples online before, so I could tell whether the cup was good or not just by touching and looking at it.

"Mr. Shen, you can take a look at this biodegradable plastic cup made of PLA. This is our company's new product, which was developed only last year. This plastic is more environmentally friendly and durable. PLA polylactic acid is extracted from plants such as corn. Under suitable soil, it can be degraded into carbon dioxide and water in 180 days and return to nature." Salesman Zhou pointed to a plastic cup and introduced it enthusiastically.

Degradable plastic?
Hearing these words, Shen Yu couldn't help but be stunned.

Has this new type of environmentally friendly material, which will be commonly used in milk tea shops in the future, already appeared now?
Shen Yu vaguely remembers that in later generations there was a packaging material company that stood out because of this material. By leveraging the advantages of PLA materials, it won the supply of Luckin Coffee and Heytea, and finally managed to go public.

Could it be this company?
Shen Yu glanced at Salesman Zhou, then picked up the PLA plastic cup on the display area and smelled it. He then rubbed it carefully in his hands and pinched it to feel its softness and hardness. He felt that it should be right.

After calming down, Shen Yu asked, "What's the price of this PLA cup?"

"It depends on the quantity you ordered. If it's 1 pieces, the average price would be close to 8 cents per piece, excluding the cup lids." Salesman Zhou hesitated and replied.

"Forget it, it's too expensive and I can't afford it for now." Upon hearing this, Shen Yu quickly put down the plastic cup and waved his hand to refuse.

"Don't you have 450ML capacity?" Shen Yu asked after looking around. "No, we only have regular sizes of 320, 500, 600, and 700ML. If you need special customization, we also accept mold making, but you have to pay for the mold." Sales Zhou replied.

Shen Yu looked around but couldn't find a double-hole lid, so he asked again: "Are these the only types of cup lids you have? Are there no other styles?"

"Yes, these are the common styles on the market, they are all here." Salesman Zhou came back.

After asking about the price, Shen Yu finally decided to choose the high-transparency, thickened and hardened PET plastic cups and PE coated composite paper cups. As for the size, he chose 500 and 600ML. The main reason is that they are versatile and cheap.

The minimum order is 1 pieces, and the cost of both cups is about 3 cents. If you add the cup lid and straw, the total cost of a set is less than 6 cents.

Of course, if the order quantity is large, the price can be further negotiated, but the difference is not too big, just a few cents. Shen Yu does not need so much for the time being. In order to save such a small amount of money, he has to find another place to store it, which means that the cost is not saved.

But Zhou, the salesperson, was still tirelessly promoting the product: "Mr. Shen, you really should reconsider this series of PLA cups. The plastic ban will only become more and more stringent in the future, and this kind of biodegradable plastic will definitely be a major trend in the future."

"I believe you, but I am in the early stages of my business, so I must first consider the cost. Your PLA cup costs twice as much, and the cost is really too high." Shen Yu replied with a smile.

After a pause, Shen Yu continued, "When my business grows bigger or the policy becomes stricter, I will definitely choose PLA cups, don't worry."

After a few more words, Salesman Zhou saw that there was really no hope, so he gave up: "Okay, if Mr. Shen changes his mind in the future, you must cooperate with our company."

"Yes." Shen Yu nodded with a smile.

Once the product is selected, the rest is easy to discuss.

Salesman Zhou directly found a designer from the factory to come and make a "private customization" for the appearance of the cup for Shen Yu.

Shen Yu was naturally well prepared and took out the USB flash drive that contained the VI design logo and some brand elements.

Since there was an existing design, Hengxin's designer saved a lot of effort. After taking a look, he praised the style of the design. Then he nodded and said that the design effect could be achieved.

Hearing the designer nod, Shen Yu also breathed a sigh of relief.

However, Salesman Zhou came over to take a look and said with a smile, "This all-black paper cup design costs extra."

"How much?" Shen Yu asked.

"Let's add 1 cent to each one. After all, we use a lot of ink." Salesman Zhou replied.

"Okay." Shen Yu responded.

Next, Shen Yu began to discuss the design of the sealing film with the designer, as well as the issue of adjusting the design size of the cup.

Because when the VI of the cup was designed, only a set of 600ML paper cup designs were released. So now the design sizes of plastic cups and 500ML paper cups have to be adjusted to appear more harmonious.

Shen Yu and the designer were discussing enthusiastically, while Han Shuang seemed to have nothing to do. In the end, she could only drink tea and secretly open the MP4, turn down the volume and start watching TV series.

The morning was not enough, so Salesman Zhou took Shen Yu and Han Shuang to the cafeteria for lunch.

After lunch, the designer didn't say take a break, so they prepared to go back to the meeting room to continue the discussion.

On the way, Shen Yu saw that Han Shuang was not in high spirits, so he whispered with concern: "Are you tired? Do you want to go to the car to rest for a while?"

"No need." Han Shuang forced a smile and shook her head, saying, "Just do your thing, don't worry about me, I'll just watch TV on the side."

"Okay then, thank you for your hard work." Shen Yu smiled and rubbed Han Shuang's hair.

Han Shuang grinned and held Shen Yu's arm tighter.

After working in the meeting room for more than an hour, all the designs were finally completed.

Shen Yu looked through all the renderings, then nodded with satisfaction, and then asked the question he had been holding back: "I need to re-customize this cup lid of yours."

(End of this chapter)