Back in the 1980s, hiking in the mountains was also a way of life

Chapter 1231 I'll Find a Way

Wu Dong held up a squirrel leg, examining the marbling on the meat as he addressed the crowd:

"To be honest, I've eaten meat for so many years, and I've eaten roasted squirrel many times, but I've never eaten meat that Xiao An roasted as well."

Wang Shuai nodded and said with a smile:
"Yeah, Xiao An's grilling skills are really amazing, you could say they're top-notch."

He Liang brought up the old matter again:
"If you ask me, Xiao An, you should just open a shop in the county. You don't need to worry about the shop or equipment; we'll take care of everything for you. All you need to do is provide the person."

As soon as He Liang finished speaking, he immediately received a unanimous response from Wang Shuai and the others.

Ma Guoqiang then spoke:

“I think it’s a good idea. With your barbecue skills, Xiao An, you can roast ten or eight kilns of meat a day and put them out there. You’ll definitely make a lot of money.”

Wu Dong put the squirrel leg in his mouth and said as he chewed:

“I think that works too. Xiao An, don’t worry about not being able to sell them. Our county may look poor, but there are actually a lot of rich people. If you don’t believe me, look at those restaurants and eateries. Around mealtimes, they’re packed with people. Every family has a lot of people eating. Tell me, can you afford to eat out if you don’t have money?”

It must be said that the saying "Poor villages produce rich households, and rich places have poor people" is absolutely true.

No matter the time, there is no shortage of people who are not short of money and who dare to spend it.

Zhang Shuya smiled and said:
“No need for anyone from the county to go. If you ask me, a few of our colleagues from our unit are enough to easily support the shop. With Xiao An’s skills, people will want to eat there and then want to eat there again.”

Sun Nian also said again:
"It's good to open a shop. Now we can get together more often."

Although everyone was very enthusiastic, Wang An didn't even respond to a single comment, directly changing the subject:
"What's the situation at the pharmaceutical company now? It's almost the end of the year, has anyone compiled statistics on how much money we've made during this period?"

After Wang An finished asking his question, everyone turned their attention to He Liang and Ma Guoqiang. These two men spent their days at work reading newspapers and had virtually nothing to do, so they were the ones handling most of the matters concerning the pharmaceutical factory.

Upon hearing Wang An's question, Ma Guoqiang's face lit up with excitement as he replied:

"Our pharmaceutical factory is doing really well right now. We've hired more than 20 workers, and the number of workers in that big compound is increasing."

"By the way, people from Hebei and Henan provinces are coming over to buy the ointment. But the raw materials, those various insects and stuff, are a big deal. We've already started shipping medicine from Harbin, and those lazy bastards keep raising prices. Damn it!"

Price increases are quite common, after all, the raw materials used to make this scar removal cream are really quite bizarre, mostly the corpses of various insects.

Due to the influence of climate and temperature, many of the Chinese medicinal materials, which are insect corpses, are not available locally and can only be transported from other places. As a result, the raw materials are inevitably subject to external control.

Ma Guoqiang then added excitedly:

"In just these few months, our pharmaceutical factory's net profit has reached more than 8 yuan. If dividends are distributed, each of us shareholders can receive more than 7000 yuan."

Upon hearing this number, everyone's eyebrows twitched, and even the hands that were about to put meat in their mouths froze for a moment. However, immediately afterward, the faces of the seven shareholders present all showed expressions of joy.

A net profit of over 8 is truly impressive in this day and age, especially considering that the factory has only been established for less than half a year.

To be honest, the pharmaceutical industry is incredibly profitable!
Of course, the reason why it can be so profitable is mainly related to the amazing efficacy of scar removal drugs. After all, no matter how expensive the drug is, as long as the drug is amazing and effective, people will accept it no matter how much it costs. And once the reputation is established, the sales will only increase.

After saying that, Ma Guoqiang continued:
"I estimate that our pharmaceutical factory's profits will only be higher next year," He Liang suddenly interjected in a disdainful tone.
"Those guys from 8J don't even look down on our ointment. Damn, they'll regret it sooner or later."

After He Liang finished speaking, Wu Dong laughed and said:

"What's the point of saying 'sooner or later'? If they knew the profit margin of our ointment now, they'd regret it to death. Too bad, it's too late, hahaha."

Wu Dong smiled, and Wang Shuai, Ma Guoqiang, and the others also laughed along with him.

The reason Wu Dong and He Liang made this statement is because when Wang An proposed the sales strategy to Wu Dong and others, he mentioned that they should cooperate with the second generation of 8J to open up the sales market in Yandu and the surrounding provinces.

Unfortunately, the second generation of 8J didn't see the potential in this very profitable business of scar removal drugs and rejected it.

Although Wu Dong and the others only mentioned this matter to Wang An once, Wang An could tell that Wu Dong and the others were angry.

The main problem was that when the factory was first established, the ointment had no reputation at all, so the sales pressure was extremely high. Wu Dong and his colleagues were only effective in Heilongjiang Province and had a voice in Northeast China. Once they left Heilongjiang Province, they were just ordinary people.

However, if they rely solely on the Heilongjiang Province market, and scar removal drugs are a very niche product, then the establishment of this pharmaceutical factory would be somewhat awkward.

It's important to understand that doing business in this era was completely different from later times. Back then, if you wanted to make a name for yourself and sell your product, money alone wasn't enough; you also needed connections in all sorts of ways.

After all, even the term "speculation and profiteering" is not something that ordinary people can handle.

After laughing, He Liang looked a little worried and said:

"It's not sustainable for these insects to keep going up in price. Do you have any other ideas?"

After He Liang finished asking the question, Wu Dong, Wang Shuai, and the others opened their mouths but couldn't say anything. They looked at each other and shook their heads.

Finally, Wang Shuai said:
“We’re all in the same circle. If it weren’t for Xiao An coming up with this prescription, we wouldn’t have any contact with medicine at all. If you can’t do anything about it, what can we do?”

It's clear that although they have considerable influence in DJ County and even Heilongjiang Province, they don't really have any good solutions when it comes to drug prices.

The main issue is that the price increase isn't solely due to pharmaceutical companies raising prices, and Wu Dong, Wang Shuai, and others can't intervene in it.

After Wu Dong finished speaking, Zhang Shuya frowned and said:

"How about I ask my dad to think of a solution? I haven't done anything since the pharmaceutical factory was built, so I can't just sit here doing nothing."

As soon as Zhang Shuya finished speaking, Wu Dong said:

"What can Uncle Zhang do about this? The medicines that have increased in price aren't even produced here. Besides, why should our elders get involved in our pharmaceutical factory?"

Wang An thought for a moment and said to He Liang:

"Brother Liang, list out the names of those medicines, and I'll figure something out."

(End of this chapter)