336: Chapter 330: The Current State of the Winery 336: Chapter 330: The Current State of the Winery It was already past four in the afternoon, and there wasn’t much time left till nightfall.
Jiang Guixian, originally intending to hurry back to Deep Water Port Town, hesitated for quite a while under the persuasion of her second older sister and ultimately couldn’t out-argue her, so she stayed.
Around five o’clock, Chen Zhonghua, with a fishing rod slung over his back and carrying fishing gear in hand, finally made his wobbly way back to the front of the small store.
“Fourth Sister?”
“Hai…” Seeing Jiang Guixian, Chen Zhonghua was taken aback, but his face lit up with joy when he saw Chen Hai.
“Dad, where are the fish you caught?” Chen Hai asked, looking at the empty fish keepnet in Chen Zhonghua’s hand with an odd smile on his face.
Of course, he had no complaints whatsoever about his father going fishing!
Although he was short on money now, if it was just to ensure his parents back home could live without worries, there definitely wouldn’t be any problems.
Buying houses and shops for his parents, and having them move their household registration to the city, wasn’t he just wanting his parents to enjoy some good fortune and live a bit more comfortably?
If his father, Chen Zhonghua, was still pulling carts and selling his labor just like before, then he would indeed be very dissatisfied.
“Don’t even mention it, today is not a good day; large quantities of little miscellaneous fish in the river.”
“I used earthworms as bait, and they just sank without a bite—not a single fish on the hook,” Chen Zhonghua explained with a dry laugh.
Perhaps worried about his son laughing at him, after putting away the fishing gear in the convenience store, he added, “This season is perfect for catching silver carp.”
“Some guys I know fish at night in the Yuan River, and on a lucky night, they can catch up to ten or twenty pounds.”
“Your mom is strict, won’t let me go to the river at night, so of course, fishing during the day won’t be as good.”
“But your dad, well, I might just have bad luck, but the skills are still there.
Just the other day, I caught a big grass carp weighing seven or eight pounds…”
It seemed that his father had really developed a taste for fishing now that he had more free time.
If no one stopped him, he could go on and on about fishing for half a day.
“Look at how capable you are, running off to the Yuan River every early morning and after fishing for so long, you’ve caught only that one big one, and you still have the nerve to boast about it in front of your son?”
“Go on, don’t stand around here, hurry to the station and call your brother-in-law over!”
“Hai said we’re going to Fisherman Restaurant for dinner today, and since Fourth Sister and Fourth Uncle happen to be here, it’s perfect for everyone to gather together!”
Jiang Meixian, seeing her husband’s gusto when speaking about fishing, could feel her irritation bubbling up.
After giving Chen Zhonghua an eye roll and abruptly interrupting his talk, Jiang Meixian directly instructed him.
“Alright, I’m going right now!” With a couple of dry laughs, Chen Zhonghua promptly responded.
Fisherman Restaurant was not far from their convenience store, only about a hundred or two hundred meters away.
In the area near their home, the restaurant was barely presentable.
The couple, knowing their son was quite wealthy and had just returned that day, wouldn’t mind the extravagance of eating a good meal at Fisherman Restaurant nor say much about it.
After instructing his wife to host Fourth Sister Jiang Guixian well, Chen Zhonghua hurried towards the direction of the station with brisk steps.
More than half an hour later, Chen Zhonghua finally returned.
Accompanying him was Chen Hai’s Fourth Uncle, Huang Shengli.
After exchanging pleasantries, Jiang Meixian closed the convenience store door, and both families headed to Fisherman Restaurant in a lively procession.
The meal lasted one to two hours.
During which, Fourth Aunt Jiang Guixian and Fourth Uncle Huang Shengli brought up the matter of their cousin Huang Yong.
This cousin had not been in contact for over a year, making his family naturally worried.
For people of their generation, like Huang Shengli and Jiang Guixian, venturing as far as the county town was the limit; they had never truly been to the city.
Without any word from cousin, Huang Yong, the couple was worried, but it was clearly impractical for them to travel a thousand miles to Yuedong in search of their son.
Through the mouths of Jiang Meixian and Chen Zhonghua, they knew well in advance that Chen Hai’s fiancée, Ye Qingqing, was a local from Yuedong.
The Ye Family seemed to have some clout in Yuedong.
With Jiang Meixian taking the lead, Huang Shengli and his wife naturally placed their hopes on their nephew Chen Hai to find their son.
Besides their concerns about cousin Huang Yong, the families still quite enjoyed their meal overall.
After the feast ended, Chen Hai gave Tian Mingjian a call, asking him to drive Huang Shengli and his wife back home.
As for himself, he felt a bit dizzy after drinking a little alcohol.
Having rushed all the way from Capital City to his hometown, a journey of a thousand miles, even though he and Tian Mingjian took turns driving and took breaks along the way, he still felt somewhat exhausted after arriving home.
Back at his house, after freshening up, Chen Hai had barely hit the bed before he was sound asleep.
The next day, past ten in the morning at Garden Hotel, inside a suite.
Discussing business at home surely wasn’t very appropriate.
Booking a luxury suite with a living room in a hotel made arranging meetings much more convenient.
Chen Hai sat on the sofa in the room.
Other than Tian Mingjian, Sun Jinzhong, Brother Qiang, and a man from Xiangjiang named Qiu Dazhi had all been summoned by him.
Brother Qiang’s real name was Tong Daqiang.
In the past, Chen Hai always called him Brother Qiang, but as his presence grew more imposing, it seemed less and less appropriate for him to call Tong Daqiang “Brother Qiang.”
Not to mention anyone else—Tong Daqiang himself was very resistant to the nickname and preferred Chen Hai to just call him by his name.
“The county distillery has been bought by us, and Peach Blossom Wine Industry has been officially established for over four months now!”
“Logically speaking, such a length of time should have sufficed for you guys to sort things out at the distillery and begin official production!”
“Yesterday, I went to eat at Fisherman Restaurant and asked if they sold our Peach Blossom Wine Industry’s liquor.
The result was that their server had no idea what I was talking about, and they hadn’t even heard of the name Peach Blossom Wine Industry!”
“If Peach Blossom Wine Industry is still in the process of getting organized and hasn’t started production, that only means you guys are inefficient at getting things done.”
“If the liquor is produced, but can’t even get into local restaurants, then that can only mean the enterprise has failed miserably!”
“Do any of you have an explanation for this?”
His gaze was somewhat forceful as he looked directly at the few people in front of him.
With a gloomy face, obviously very dissatisfied, he questioned them.
Although he didn’t pay much attention to a county distillery,
he had acquired it on a whim just to find a place for Tong Daqiang and his cousin Sun Jinzhong.
But after pouring in more than a million in cash, to end up with the distillery in this state was certainly making him very upset.
Faced with Chen Hai’s scolding, the man from Xiangjiang, Qiu Dazhi, was expressionless and remained silent.
Sun Jinzhong and Tong Daqiang looked at each other with embarrassed faces.
Previously, when Sun Jinzhong, his cousin, was in front of Chen Hai, he was always cheerful and called him “cousin.”
But now, he was hanging his head low, seeming to lack the courage to even look Chen Hai in the eye.
“Brother Hai, over a month ago, our Peach Blossom Wine Industry actually began official production!”
“However, considering the limited funds in the factory, we did not create our own brand and simply sold bulk liquor.”
“Over time, the factory did make some money, barely managing to break even…”
Among the group, Tong Daqiang was the first to react.
He pulled out several documents from his briefcase and handed them to Chen Hai while explaining, his head still bowed.
“Selling bulk liquor?
Is this a distillery or some small workshop?
I gave you a distillery to manage, and you turn it into this?”
Tong Daqiang’s explanation only made Chen Hai more dissatisfied.
He glared fiercely at the man for a few moments and then, with a snort, finally picked up the documents Tong Daqiang had handed over and began to review them.
“The ex-factory price is only 1.80 yuan per kilogram?
And it sells for only 2 yuan in the market?”
“Is our Peach Blossom Wine Industry’s liquor that cheap?”
“Only a little over ten thousand yuan in gross profit after selling bulk liquor for a month?”
“In our distillery, including all the workers and management personnel, we have a total of over eighty people.”
“On average, even if the salary is one hundred yuan per person, it would all add up to tens of thousands.”
“With such meager profits, you’re talking to me about breaking even?”
Chen Hai had only glanced at the documents and became even more infuriated.
He smacked the papers down onto the coffee table in front of him with such force it seemed he was barely restraining himself from throwing them directly at Tong Daqiang and the others.
He knew that in Capital City, he could make a simple divination, give someone a few pointers, and it would start from at least one hundred thousand yuan.
Yet now, this distillery, in the hands of Sun Jinzhong and Tong Daqiang, had been in operation for over a month and had made so little profit—it would be strange if he had no complaints.
“Brother Hai, I…
I…” Tong Daqiang’s face flushed with shame, attempting to speak, but he was utterly at a loss for where to even begin.
“Cousin, Brother Qiang has been working really hard!”
“Ever since the distillery’s liquor was produced, he’s been running around tirelessly day and night, finding markets to sell our liquor!”
“The fact that we were able to sell thousands of kilograms of bulk liquor this past month is pretty much all down to Brother Qiang’s efforts.”
Seeing Tong Daqiang in such an awkward state, Sun Jinzhong hurriedly stepped in and spoke up for him.