"Brother Nian, I think it's a waste for the factory to only produce pickled vegetables. We can produce other things, since you're not short on sales, just short on supply," Zhao Zhijie said, sharing his thoughts as soon as they sat down in the office after touring the workshop with Zhang Liunian.
Zhang Liunian surveyed the office. It was quite large, with two other desks occupied by the finance manager and an assistant.
"Once the pickled vegetable production can keep up, we can expand to other products." Zhang Liunian's food business primarily focused on pickled vegetables, with other items as secondary. He had naturally considered plans for producing other products, but not now.
This was the opportune moment to make a name for his pickled vegetables. Once they were no longer in short supply, other products would have a chance.
Hearing Zhang Liunian mention pickled vegetable production, Zhao Zhijie couldn't help but sigh, "I honestly didn't expect your pickled vegetables to sell this well. We're struggling to produce enough pickled vegetables every day now."
"Continue to expand. I see several more workshops are empty. Next year, I'll build a factory in Pengcheng to alleviate your pressure," Zhang Liunian revealed his plans for the following year.
Zhao Zhijie was not surprised by his intentions. Two pickled vegetable factories couldn't keep up with the demand, so building more factories was indeed the only solution.
Furthermore, Zhang Liunian's pickled vegetable advertisements were quite effective. He had seen them several times in Nancheng.
Now, not to mention the provincial capital, Zhang's pickled vegetables were selling like crazy even in Nancheng.
Take Zhang Liunian's first pickled vegetable store, for instance. It sold at least a hundred thousand bottles daily, and that was only because it was the sole place selling them.
If a few more were added, perhaps even more would be sold.
"Your advertisements are excellent. Nancheng now knows about Zhang's pickled vegetables. So many people are scrambling to buy them; it truly lives up to the phrase 'demand outstrips supply'," Zhao Zhijie said, thinking of the pickled vegetables flowing out from here daily, and he felt happy for Zhang Liunian.
Zhang Liunian was his godson, family. If he made money, he would also be happy.
"So, the factory can continue to expand. It can accommodate over a thousand people. My goal is to sell Zhang's pickled vegetables nationwide, and even export them," Zhang Liunian had achieved this much in his previous life; there was no reason he couldn't aim higher in this one.
"I'll continue to expand, don't worry. I'll take care of the production here," Zhao Zhijie said, understanding his godson's grand ambitions and offering his full support.
He was the most concerned about national affairs. Over the years, he had heard outsiders often mock their country for being backward and ignorant.
If Zhang Liunian could sell pickled vegetables abroad, he would be very proud.
"Fortunately, I have Uncle Zhao and the others to help me."
"It's my duty to help. We are family; we speak frankly to each other."
"..."
By the time they finished their conversation, it was lunchtime. They called Uncle Yan to join them, and after a hearty meal, Zhang Liunian finally arrived at the construction site.
At the Nancheng Food Residential Area construction site, Ma Quancai had been overseeing his workers build houses for ten years without change.
It had been nearly two months since Zhang Liunian last visited. This time, one-third of the residential buildings in the community had been constructed.
Just as Zhang Liunian was admiring the thriving scene at the construction site, a loud bang suddenly echoed from the front of the construction area, followed by screams.
"It's bad, someone's had an accident."
"Ah..."
"Someone's dead, fallen to their death."
"..."
The construction site was suddenly thrown into chaos. Zhang Liunian, hearing the commotion, immediately went forward, pushed through the crowd, and saw Ma Quancai removing a metal pipe that had fallen onto a worker.
The worker on the ground, struck by the pipe, had a head injury and was bleeding, unconscious.
"Get out of the way, I'll take him to the clinic." Seeing the situation, Ma Quancai didn't hesitate. He picked up the person and headed towards the clinic.
Just then, Zhang Liunian suddenly appeared and took the injured worker, saying, "I'll go, I'm faster."
With that, Zhang Liunian turned and headed towards the clinic.
Ma Quancai paused for a moment, then called out, "You all work carefully. I'll be right back," and followed.
"Doctor, please save him quickly." Upon reaching the clinic, Zhang Liunian placed the person on a stretcher and pulled the doctor to come and save him.
Seeing how severely injured the worker was, the doctor immediately instructed, "Go pay the fees," and then pushed him into the emergency room.
"Liunian, how is he?" Ma Quancai, who had just arrived, asked Zhang Liunian, who was standing outside the emergency room, panting.
"I don't know yet," Zhang Liunian replied, then went to pay the fees and wait.
Ma Quancai sat beside him, restless, muttering words like "It'll be fine, it'll be fine."
Unfortunately, his wish was destined to be disappointed. An hour later, the doctor regretfully informed Zhang Liunian that although the person had been resuscitated, he might never wake up again.
"What do you mean, 'never wake up'?" Ma Quancai became anxious. These workers were all hired by him; no one could be harmed.
"He's in a vegetative state. Whether he wakes up is up to fate." Although the doctor knew this news would be difficult to accept, they couldn't lie.
"Treat him. Get him the best room, and hire a professional nurse to take care of him. I'll cover all the expenses. No matter how long he sleeps, I won't give up on his treatment," Zhang Liunian stepped forward to express his intentions. The doctor was startled and looked at him in surprise several times but then proceeded to handle everything with Zhang Liunian.
Zhang Liunian paid five years of treatment fees upfront. After leaving his contact information, he had Ma Quancai take him to the worker's home and offered ten thousand yuan to express his deep apologies.
When the family heard their son had been injured, they were so angry they wanted to hit Zhang Liunian, but Ma Quancai blocked them.
After leaving the family's home, Zhang Liunian let out a heavy sigh.
"Liunian, it's my fault. If I had told them to be more careful, perhaps this wouldn't have happened," Ma Quancai said, following behind Zhang Liunian with a face full of apology.
"When working on construction sites, one must be extremely careful. I don't want a repeat of this." Seeing a living life stop like this before his eyes, Zhang Liunian felt uneasy.
He had been happy about the construction site progressing quickly, but this incident had dampened his spirits.
"I know. I will make sure they are more careful in the future," Ma Quancai knew he bore the greatest responsibility for this matter and felt indescribably ashamed.
"You don't need to blame yourself too much. I know Uncle Ma is good at his job. Today's incident was just an accident. However, I still hope there won't be any more such accidents in the future. They are all living lives; they shouldn't perish on my construction site."
Zhang Liunian paused as he said this, then continued, "Why don't you have safety helmets?"
"Safety helmets?" Ma Quancai was stunned, taking a long time to understand what Zhang Liunian was talking about.
Seeing his reaction, Zhang Liunian finally remembered that the concept of safety helmets didn't exist yet. Because real estate hadn't boomed yet, and there were few construction sites, workers at that time worked without any safety measures, which was too dangerous. It seemed he needed to go to Pengcheng to find safety helmets and provide them with better safety.
"The New Year is the day after tomorrow. Everyone will have a week off starting tomorrow. Upon returning to work a week later, they will receive triple their salary until the Lantern Festival ends." This project had a tight schedule. If it weren't for the urgency, Zhang Liunian would have given them half a month off.
Ma Quancai was well aware of the completion deadline for this project, which was why he had everyone working day and night. "Alright, I'll go and inform everyone later."
"Oh, and give everyone a ten-yuan New Year's red envelope. Tomorrow, I'll have Ziteng come over to help you distribute the salaries."
"Okay."