Reborn in 1981, the first to get rich start with dairy cows.

"What's wrong, Dongzi? Did something happen?" Li Hu, lying on the bed, saw Shen Dong at the door with a frown and an angry look on his face, and hurriedly asked.

Shen Dong took off his cotton-padded coat and threw it heavily onto the bed, startling Zhu Chengrong.

Li Hu rolled out of bed, a serious expression on his face: "What happened?!"

"Xiao Min was pushed into the river by Tao Damao and Tao Ermao. She was so frightened that she caught a cold and developed a fever," Shen Dong said through gritted teeth.

"What?!" Li Hu slammed his fist on the bedside table in anger, paced back and forth in the room, and said viciously, "When I get back, I'll show them what death truly means!"

He got so angry that he scratched his head again, turning it into a bird's nest.

Upon hearing the word "death," Zhu Chengrong opened his mouth as if to offer some advice, but seeing the two young men's angry expressions, he chose to remain silent.

"Dongzi, what are you thinking?"

"I'll be back in a few days. I'll teach him a lesson then. I'll focus on my work for the next couple of days." Shen Dong suppressed his anger.

"Okay, I'll do as you say!"

The room lights went out before 10 o'clock.

Shen Dong lay in bed, tossing and turning. Every time he closed his eyes, the image of Shen Min falling into the water and crying for help would appear in his mind, making him want to go home right now and pin the Tao brothers to the ground.

But I have things to do tomorrow, and I need to go to the research institute, so I can only try my best not to think about these things.

Shen Dong didn't know when he finally fell asleep, but he was woken up in the morning.

The water room is for public use, and there are quite a few people brushing their teeth and washing their faces there.

After washing up, the three of them took a car to the research institute.

"Hey, you were here a few days ago?" The man with the crew cut recognized Shen Dong. "Why are there three of you today?"

Shen Dong hurriedly took all three of their identification documents: "I made an appointment with Section Chief Chang Sheng to come today."

"Wait a moment, I'm going to make a phone call."

Not long after, the door was opened and the three of them were let in.

The office door was ajar, and voices could be heard coming from inside; the voices sounded like they were from the locals.

Li Hu gave him an inquiring look, and Shen Dong knocked on the door. A response came from inside: "Come in."

There were a few other people inside, whom Shen Dong didn't recognize. Seeing them talking, Shen Dong stood by the door.

"Xiao Shen is here, please have a seat! Xiao Liu, go and get Xiao Shen's inoculum."

As Chang Sheng spoke, he smiled at Shen Dong and then continued talking to the others.

"Dongzi, what are they saying?" Li Hu listened for a while but couldn't understand the Shanghai dialect.

"It seems to be people from the food factory, also talking about the bacterial strain." Shen Dong didn't say everything he heard, because the middle-aged man leading the group from the food factory spoke in a noticeably unpleasant tone, even with a hint of condescension.

"Director Shen, the item is here. Please take a look," said Xiao Liu, carrying an aluminum ice box as he walked over with a smile.

Shen Dong quickly went to meet him and took it.

Xiao Liu lowered his voice and said, "Here are three tubes. Remember to store them away from light. Propagate them three times as soon as possible and they'll be ready for production. That should be enough for your factory for a year."

Shen Dong smiled and took out a cigarette to examine it carefully.

Just then, the middle-aged man who had been talking to Chang Sheng walked over and unceremoniously snatched the aluminum box from Shen Dong's hand.

"Section Chief Chang, what's going on? Didn't you just say you didn't have any purified strains? How come you gave them..." She glanced at Shen Dong and the other two, pursed her lips, and didn't finish her sentence.

Xiao Liu froze to the side, glancing at Chang Sheng with some difficulty.

Chang Sheng laughed heartily, walked over, and reached out to take the aluminum box from the man's hand, but was dodged.

"Director Zhao, didn't you come and take these yesterday? These were prepared for the small factories in the communes below; your state-owned factories don't need them."

"The commune factory?" Director Zhao looked at Shen Dong from head to toe as if he had heard a joke, his gaze finally settling on the group's rustic clothes.

"When did our research institute start providing microbial strains to small factories in the commune?" He turned to Chang Sheng instead of Shen Dong and asked, "Section Chief Chang, our Shanghai No. 1 Food Factory is a key unit in the city. Our yogurt workshop alone has three production lines. Giving us these high-quality mother cultures is the best use of our resources."

Pointing at Shen Dong, she said bluntly, "You have a small factory in the countryside, with just a few earthen vats and some old equipment. You can make some old-fashioned yogurt, but don't waste these precious freeze-dried cultures."

These words were quite hurtful, and Li Hu was the first to be dissatisfied, but he knew he couldn't speak carelessly. He just clenched his fists and tried to suppress his anger.

Shen Dong suppressed his anger and stepped forward, speaking neither humbly nor arrogantly:

"Director Zhao, our Baotashan Dairy Factory certainly can't compare to your No. 1 Food Factory, but our factory's gross profit in January alone was 17,000 yuan, making us a well-known factory in our county. And just three months ago, our factory was shut down!"

"So what? It's still just a run-down commune factory. No matter how much you say, you're not worthy to use this."

Shen Dong was furious!

After hearing the news about Shen Min yesterday, he had been suppressing his anger. Now that the duck he had in his hand had been snatched away, even a clay Buddha would be a little angry!

"I need the starter culture because I want to properly expand production and improve quality and efficiency, not waste resources! It's your large state-owned factories that, despite having good equipment and high standards, produce yogurt of uniform quality with fixed sales channels. Even if you got all the starter cultures, you might not be able to make something that people would scramble to buy!"

Director Zhao, dressed in a Zhongshan suit with a slightly protruding belly, opened his suit jacket upon hearing this, revealing his bulging belly. He was about to point at Shen Dong and say something when he suddenly burst into laughter.

"What's the point of talking to you country bumpkins? It's a waste of time." He then muttered, "Where did this little brat come from!"

Chang Sheng pulled Director Zhao aside and whispered something to him, but it seemed he hadn't gotten through to him.

Chang Sheng then came over with a gloomy face and explained to Shen Dong.

On the other side, Director Zhao and his men took away the aluminum box and the two pipes.

Seeing them leave, Li Hu could no longer hold back and asked, "Section Chief Chang, what... what about our bacterial strains?"

Chang Sheng never expected this to happen. Director Zhao was usually very arrogant because of his status. He originally thought that he had a good relationship with him and that Director Zhao would give him face. He didn't expect that Director Zhao would openly take it away from him. He was very angry.

It's all thanks to his father!

Otherwise, given his position as section chief, no one would ever be so disrespectful to him.

"Xiao Shen, I'm sorry, but the food factory also has a shortage of workers, so you'll have to wait until next time." His tone was tinged with helplessness and apology.

Shen Dong thought for a moment and then asked, "Uncle Chang, how's that strain of bacteria from the day before yesterday?"

"Oh, you mean Xiao Liu's? It's still being purified; it's not perfect yet."

"How many more days? If possible, you can give them to us."

Xiao Liu said from the side, "The earliest it could happen is the day after tomorrow!"

"Then I'll have to trouble you, Brother Liu. We should be leaving the day after tomorrow; we should be able to make it!"

Chang Sheng's gloomy face finally brightened up a bit.

From three to two, the promise has been fulfilled at least halfway.