Spring Breeze Twenty Years

Chapter 246 Trial Production

With the Jeep in front and the Jiefang behind, the two vehicles drove away from the village amidst the gazes of a crowd.

Among those seeing them off, some were secretly wiping away tears. In the car, Xiaowei's mother was also wiping away tears, handful after handful, which she couldn't wipe away no matter what she did.

The northwest wind blew stronger and stronger, and the world was shrouded in a vast expanse of white. The village gradually became a black dot in the snow, and then disappeared.

The road ahead wound its way forward, the pine forests on both sides gradually thinned out, and the car and the people in it went further and further away.

When the car arrived in the county town, it stopped downstairs at Uncle Wang's house. As soon as it came to a stop, a boy of about half a year ran out of the building's entrance.

"Mom, Mom, Dad, why did it take you so long? I'm starving." This is Xiaowei's younger brother, Xiaobing, fourteen years old, in the second year of junior high school. Xiaowei looks like his father, while Xiaobing looks more like his mother.

Several people got off the bus, and Xiaobing rushed over and grabbed Xiaowei's mother's hand, saying, "Mom, I'm hungry."

Aunt Wang said, "You silly boy, can't you make yourself something to eat when you're hungry? Your brother is your age and can do everything."

The little soldier pouted and turned to his mother, asking, "When are we going to my brother's? Am I really going to school in the city?"

Xiaowei's mother patted her youngest son's head and said with a smile, "Tomorrow, we'll go tomorrow."

……

"Put the eggs over here, slowly, don't drop them, just leave them all over here. Put the noodles over there, isn't that a sign? You're carrying sugar, can't you tell the difference between noodles and sugar? Spread them out quickly." Chen Hui gestured and directed the workers to move the goods.

Xiao Wei and Sister Shang were fiddling with the machine on the side.

"I've never actually used this thing before. Is it enough to just put on the power strip? What does 'one, two, three' mean?"

Xiao Wei said, "Gears, third gear turns faster, first gear turns slower."

Sister Shang held the instruction manual, nodding as she read it. These days, the instruction manuals for equipment are just a folded sheet of paper, as simple as they can be, and you can't really understand anything about them.

"Give it a try, the pressure is a bit much," Sister Shang said to Xiao Wei, putting down the instruction manual.

Xiao Wei laughed and said, "I'm not in a hurry, why are you? Take your time. This shouldn't be difficult. You should be able to do it in two tries."

Sister Shang turned her head to look at the goods being moved and asked, "What should we do first?"

Xiao Wei said, "Let's get the steamed buns, mantou, and fried dough twists up first, and sell them over there. There's no rush at the food factory. We can just bake something to try and get familiar with the machines and recipes. If they turn out well, we can take them over to sell; if not, we'll share them with ourselves. We're not afraid of using the ingredients."

Sister Shang nodded and said, "Okay, then I understand. I used to do everything manually, so I'm not really familiar with machines. I'll give it a try; it should be fine."

Xia Maosheng walked in from outside, brushed the snow off his clothes, and said, "The snow is getting heavier. It's all set. Come install them tomorrow. How many?"

Xiao Wei said, "Let's install two, one here and one in our living room."

Xia Maosheng said, "We need to submit photos of the workers; the sanitation department needs them. This is essential."

Xiao Wei said, "Let's skip today. Let Hongliang drive everyone to take pictures tomorrow, so we can all get good photos."

Xia Maosheng said, "Didn't you bring your camera with you? Why are you going out to take pictures?"

Xiao Wei said, "I've never had a passport photo taken before, how do I take one?"

Sister Shang chuckled and patted Xiao Wei, saying, "Little boss, you're so funny."

Xia Maosheng said, "Just find a blue or red background, have the person stand there, and just take a picture from the chest up. The size of the print is for developing the photo, not for how big the picture is. You can take a picture of just the nose and it can be printed as a one-inch print or a seven-inch print."

Xiao Wei smiled and said, "Let's take pictures then. It'll be a good opportunity to take pictures of the whole place, both over there and here, to keep as a souvenir. Oh, and let's take a group photo too."

Sister Shang said, "You guys chat, I'm going to get the work done. Let the dough rise first. Did you buy the baking soda?"

Xiao Wei pointed to the shelf on the other side and said, "There are signs on it. The ones you bought are displayed on it. The ones you didn't buy are not displayed. Give me a list."

Looking over there, Sister Shang said, "If we expand in the future, will it be okay to store the goods like this?"

Xiao Wei glanced at it and said, "It's fine, it's convenient to do it this way. If we expand the machine and install it upstairs, we can use half of the upstairs as offices and the other half as a workshop."

Sister Shang nodded and said, "That's fine. We'll definitely have to differentiate in the future. Bread, cakes, and biscuits can be together, and instant noodles can be in a separate workshop." She turned around and went to call the workers. A total of seven people were found. Five of them were old workers from the original food factory, and two were family members of people from the Labor Bureau. It was a way of giving Sister Li face, and everyone was happy.

We also found five people at the restaurant, who are considered internal employees of Jian'an. They are busy working here now. When the noodle shop opens, these five people will work there. However, fried foods like fried dough twists and fried dough sticks will still have to be made here and transported over by car in the morning. There isn't enough space there. We can just make steamed buns, dumplings, and flower rolls.

Chen Hui patted himself off as he walked over and said, "There's too much to do. If we officially start operating, there will be even more problems. Opening a food factory is such a hassle."

Xiao Wei said, "What's easy? There will be even more trouble once you start over here. Once things are running smoothly here, you can take care of the restaurant and familiarize yourself with it beforehand. Lao Xia is going back to Chuanzhou, so I'll stay here and manage the restaurant for you. Let's try it out for a month first."

Xia Maosheng said with a smile, "He'll have to spend all his time in that billiards room."

Xiao Wei said seriously to Chen Hui, "That won't do. You can only play if you manage the restaurant well and understand everything. You have to come along when you go grocery shopping."

Chen Hui's face twitched, and he nodded, saying, "Okay, don't worry, leave it to me."

Xia Maosheng glanced out the window, then reached out and tugged at Xiao Wei, asking, "When is your Uncle Zhang coming?"

Xiao Wei asked, "What's wrong?"

Xia Maosheng pointed outside and said, "Old Hao has been here for almost half a month, working 24 hours a day. Look, his wife is here. I heard her arguing a bit before I came in, but I didn't hear clearly."

Chen Hui ran to the window and looked towards the boiler, then turned back and said, "Damn it, I forgot about this! What are we going to do? I'd be anxious too!"

Xiao Wei licked his lips and said, "What should we do? Let's go take a look." He left the old building and headed towards the boiler room. Xia Maosheng and Chen Hui followed behind with smirks.

The large iron gate to the boiler room was half-open. Xiao Wei walked to the door and called out, "Brother Hao."

Hao Xiaodong answered from inside, and Xiao Wei opened the door and went in.

There was a small room in the boiler room, just big enough to fit a bed. Hao Xiaodong had been resting in this room these past few days. To be honest, with the water pumps running 24 hours a day in the boiler room, he definitely couldn't get a good rest.

Hao Xiaodong stood at the door of the small house, turned his head and looked over. His wife was sitting on the bed inside, and he could only see half of her body.

Hao Xiaodong asked, "What's up, little boss?"

Xiao Wei scratched his head, a little embarrassed, and said, "I heard my sister-in-law was here, so I came to visit. I've been so busy lately that I completely forgot about you. What a mess!"

(End of this chapter)