Training the Heavens

Chapter 83 Model Room

The desire to get rich made Xie Chao, Qian Xiangdong and Gao Jiawang work like crazy. They were busy from morning to night every day and couldn't wait to open the factory.

Even Gao Jialin's work was not as relaxed as before. He still wrote books in the morning, but from afternoon to evening, he had to run around for the furniture factory. He followed Xie Chao to see the site and choose a suitable location for the factory.

Xie Chao took a leave of absence from his unit and came here specifically to handle this matter. After a few days of observation, he found that Gao Jialin had rented a factory building of an old factory. The factory had expanded and moved to another place, so this place was temporarily idle. The workshop and warehouse were all available, and he could start work directly after a little tidying up.

In the evening, Xie Chao and I took Qian Xiangdong and Gao Jiawang to treat people to dinner. Niu Xinliang was the guest. They chose good places and after a few drinks, everyone was happy.

I went there the next day to handle the formalities and everything went smoothly.

It was also easy to recruit workers. With so many furniture factories in Shanghai, there must be many people who were still in their prime but had to retire early. The salary offered by Gao Jialin was also in place. They went to negotiate on the same day, and the next day they brought their tools to the factory and started working, for fear of missing this good opportunity.

It is easier for newcomers. There are now many labor centers in Shanghai. Many people from other places are squatting there waiting for odd jobs. We first find a group of them and let them do the work. If they perform well, they will stay. If they perform poorly, we will replace them.

There are many people who want to work in the city now, but there are very few jobs available to them. If you don't do it, there are plenty of people who will do it. Most of the people who can come cherish this opportunity very much, and no one dares to cheat.

Twenty days later, Gao Jialin finished writing the manuscript of "Spring Breeze in Meilong Town". The beginning was basically the same as the plot of the TV series, but the latter part was greatly revised. When the descendants of the Fang family were looking for the descendants of the Mei family, the Long family, and Li Yishao, a lot of customs and practices of Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan were added, especially focusing on the description of homesickness. Fang Zhenjin used the taste of their hometown to convince them to follow him back to Shanghai to rebuild the Meilong Town Restaurant.

At the same time, Gao Jialin also added a main line, which is the National Cooking Competition. Fang Zhenjin wants to join the other three families to participate in this competition in order to restore the reputation of Meilong Town Restaurant.

Finally, he realized his wish. The four restaurants jointly won the gold medal of the Master Chef, and Meilong Town Restaurant once again stood at the top of the national food industry.

This is also a metaphor, suggesting that after the reunification of the motherland, the Chinese nation will surely achieve a great rejuvenation and stand at the top of the world again.

In the last competition, the famous chefs from all over the country who entered the finals showed off their unique skills and cooked up a series of extremely luxurious delicacies. However, the four people from Meilong Town did the opposite and did not use their signature dish "Dragon and Wind Four Joys" to compete with these famous chefs.

The dish they brought out was called "Hometown". Based on Suzhou home-cooked dishes, it combined the cooking techniques of Japanese, Western and even Turkish cuisine to create a sea bass and water shield soup. This dish was both traditional and trendy, conquering all the judges and helping Meilong Town Restaurant win the gold medal.

The editor-in-chief was immediately impressed by the ending, saying, "The longing for water shield and sea bass is the most well-known allusion to homesickness in traditional culture. It's absolutely perfect that you let them make this dish last!"

"Furthermore, our country isn't rich yet, and many ordinary people can't even get enough to eat. It would be inappropriate to constantly exaggerate expensive dishes like delicacies from land and sea in the story! In the end, the protagonist wins the first prize with a home-cooked dish, which perfectly conceals this contradiction and elevates the idea, telling people that even if you've tried all the delicacies from land and sea, the most delicious thing is still the home-cooked meal cooked by your mother!"

"Introducing cooking techniques from Japanese, Western, and Turkish cuisine would be even better, as it aligns perfectly with the general trend of reform and opening up. Why did we reform and open up? Isn't it to learn from the strengths of other countries and develop ourselves?" "There aren't any major problems with this work. There are only a few minor details that need revision. We'll provide the revisions as soon as possible. When the time comes, please come and revise the manuscript so we can publish it in the next issue. We'll publish your book once that's done."

"It's a pity that the Mao Dun Literature Prize is only awarded every four years. The last one was just awarded last year. If you want to win, you have to wait three years!" The editor-in-chief was satisfied with everything about the novel. The only regret was that he couldn't win the grand prize right away.

"But it doesn't matter. The People's Literature Publishing House is establishing a new literary award, and the awards ceremony is expected to be held next year. As soon as we have news, we will submit this work!"

The editor-in-chief is confident of winning the award. "Spring Breeze at Meilong Town" is a highly accomplished work, not only possessing excellent literary qualities but also aligning with several major trends. If a work like this doesn't win, what kind of work will? Which judge would dare to reject a book like this?
Gao Jialin had just attended classes for a few days back at school when Niu Xinliang called him to revise his manuscript. This time he no longer lived at No. 675 Julu Road. The villa had been renovated, and it was more comfortable to stay here and write a book.

After spending a few days revising the manuscript, the editor-in-chief immediately arranged the layout and scheduled it for publication next month. He also recommended it in the most prominent position on the cover.

Gao Jialin's royalties also rose to the highest level, 4320 yuan per thousand words. The novel of more than words earned Gao Jialin a total of yuan in royalties, and his savings increased again.

The furniture factory has also produced the first batch of products. Gao Jialin did not let them set up a stall with the furniture, but asked them to stock up first. Then he asked Gao Jiawang and Qian Xiangdong to take the list given by Xie Chao and visit each customer who was about to move into a new home and had good financial strength.

When the number of customers and inventory accumulated to a certain level, Gao Jialin chose a weekend and invited them to Tai'an Road.

When customers arrived at the mansion, they couldn't help but wonder, "Aren't we here to look at furniture? Why are we here?"

Gao Jialin smiled and grabbed the door handle. "Don't worry, just a few pieces of furniture lying there won't tell you much about them, so we've specially prepared a model room, decorated completely in the popular Hong Kong style. That way, you can really see how good our furniture is, right?"

"What's the popular style in Hong Kong?"

"Yes, both the furniture style and the layout style were based on the popular trends in Hong Kong. We put a lot of effort into finding this information. We even consulted several groups of Hong Kong customers." Gao Jialin's words were not false. When he was preparing to write a book, in addition to food, home style was also a key topic of consultation.

After talking for a long time and whetting everyone's appetite, Gao Jialin turned the handle, opened the door, and revealed the true appearance of the model room.

"Wow!" The customers took one glance and couldn't take their eyes off it.

(End of this chapter)