"You're the ugly one, your whole family is ugly. But with my little dumpling around from now on, your granddaughter will definitely not be bullied. I'll have my little dumpling protect your granddaughter."
"Scram! Stop eyeing my Hua Bao."
"Isn't it good to be closer relatives?"
"Dream on!"
"..."
The two old colleagues started arguing. Fortunately, they soon reached the registration point, which made them quiet down.
After successfully registering and sending his wife and daughter home, Zhang Liunian rode his motorcycle to the South City. He busied himself at the shop for a while, then went alone to look at the construction site with Fang Yan.
The construction site was on the outskirts of South City, surrounded by farmland. Only this area was overgrown with weeds and looked like it hadn't been cared for in a long time.
This piece of land was large and only a ten-minute drive from the city.
"These fenced-off areas are our food factory's land," Fang Yan pointed to a plot marked with signs and showed it to Zhang Liunian.
Zhang Liunian nodded, his gaze inadvertently falling on a plot of land opposite the food factory construction site. He turned and asked, "Did you buy this land, or was it directly allocated by the higher-ups?"
"It's considered bought. It was originally intended for a branch factory, but now, due to the issue of employee housing, it can only be used to build staff dormitories." Actually, this land was strictly speaking expropriated, but the farmers were compensated.
It was equivalent to buying it, but now it had become the food factory's land, and once the houses were built and people moved in, it would be impossible to return it.
"Did you buy this land from that village?" Zhang Liunian pointed to the nearest dilapidated village and asked.
Fang Yan followed his gaze and saw a village on their left. "Probably. I'm not too sure. This land was arranged by the previous factory director."
"..."
Never mind. He could ask someone to inquire when the construction site started.
After inspecting the construction site, Zhang Liunian and Fang Yan returned together. On the way, Fang Yan seemed to have something to say but couldn't bring herself to speak, wanting Zhang Liunian to forget what happened yesterday.
She felt ashamed just thinking about her behavior in front of Zhang Liunian last night, making her feel like she had nowhere to hide.
Now, to bring up the matter again, she lacked the courage.
Yesterday was truly embarrassing. With her behavior... he must think she was a promiscuous woman!
As she was thinking, she suddenly heard calls of vendors.
"Selling Zhang's Pickles! Can be a meal, can be a dish, delicious and tasty..."
"Step right up, don't miss out."
"Auntie, how about a bottle of pickles? Pure meat sauce, guaranteed you won't regret it after eating..."
Fang Yan looked around and saw many people selling Zhang's Pickles. This was something Zhang Liunian made. It seemed the pickle market in South City was about to fall into his hands.
Fortunately, their factory hadn't entered this sector yet, otherwise, they would have to compete with him.
Thinking this, Fang Yan turned to look at Zhang Liunian, only to see him smiling warmly.
For some reason, seeing Zhang Liunian smile so happily made her blush and her heart flutter.
She secretly touched her chest. For the first time, her heart was beating because of a man. She... seemed to have developed improper feelings for Zhang Liunian.
What should she do?
Zhang Liunian was a man with a wife and daughter. She would never allow herself to become a third party. Moreover, he was her second sister's brother-in-law. With this relationship, even if he were single, it was unlikely for them to be together.
However, she heard that her second sister was having conflicts with Zhang Liuxing recently and had even hinted at divorce. She didn't know how it would turn out.
Alas, she stopped thinking about it.
Shaking off the thoughts in her mind, Fang Yan stared at Zhang Liunian's handsome profile again, lost in thought.
"Why are you looking at me?" Zhang Liunian noticed Fang Yan's gaze lingering on him and felt a bit awkward. He turned his head to break the silence.
"Oh! N-nothing, I was just curious if these vendors are your people?" Caught, Fang Yan was flustered, but fortunately, she quickly used the topic to divert his attention.
"How could I have the ability to hire so many people? It's just driven by profit that they are doing this." Zhang Liunian also didn't expect his pickles to be sold so widely in the streets and alleys of South City.
However, he was happy to have so many people helping him.
"That's because your pickles are truly good. I've tasted them, and they are indeed no worse than braised meat. Especially your braised meat sauce, it tastes exactly like braised meat and can be stored for a long time. Your recipe is really good, but unfortunately, I have no chance to obtain it." Fang Yan thought of the ingredients Zhang Liunian had, her mouth watering, but she knew Zhang Liunian would never give it to her.
"I won't give you the recipe, but maybe we'll have a chance to cooperate in the future." Zhang Liunian naturally wouldn't hand over the recipe. This was something worth hundreds of millions, how could he sell it cheaply?
However, when their production couldn't keep up, perhaps they could ask the food factory for help.
"Cooperate? Then I'll wait." Fang Yan was stunned. Was Zhang Liunian showing signs of softening? That would be great! Maybe one day he would agree to sell her the recipe.
After their chat, they arrived at the entrance of the food factory, where they encountered Ding Heng again. Zhang Liunian ignored him and turned to leave.
Fang Yan glared at Ding Heng, hating him. But after all, she was a woman and couldn't fight Ding Heng. In the end, she rushed into the factory and had the gatekeeper stop him.
Fang Yan considered yesterday's actions as repaying all the favors of the Ding family. From now on, she would never be polite to any member of the Ding family.
Meanwhile, Zhang Liunian returned to the braised meat shop. As soon as he entered, he found that all the braised meat was sold out, and the pickles were completely out of stock.
"Uncle Shan, tell Zhang Qian to send five thousand bottles of each of the three types of pickles. Send them immediately. Our shop is out of stock."
Du Ziteng said anxiously into the phone and then turned to the waiting crowd outside, "The goods just sold out. You'll have to wait three hours for more."
The self-employed individuals holding tools outside heard this and left regretfully, but they all planned to return in three hours and queue up early to be the first to grab the pickles.
As the crowd around the shop dispersed, Du Ziteng breathed a sigh of relief. He turned and saw Zhang Liunian returning, then excitedly rushed forward, "Brother Liunian, do you know how many bottles of pickles we sold today?"
Zhang Liunian replied without thinking, "You just said the goods sold out, so you must have sold everything upstairs and downstairs. It should be around fifty thousand bottles."
"You guessed correctly. It's indeed fifty thousand bottles. It sold like crazy today. I don't know how South City can consume so many pickles."
Du Ziteng was very surprised by the astonishing sales volume. In his opinion, South City wasn't that large, so how could it consume so many pickles?
"Then you are underestimating the population of South City and our living standards. South City is the second batch of good citizens to follow the central policies. After the small fishing village was designated as a special economic zone, private factories and stalls appeared here, and the population also increased from hundreds of thousands to over a million. With this volume, do you think fifty thousand bottles a day is a lot?"
Zhang Liunian had personally witnessed how many people were selling their pickles on the streets and alleys of South City just now. Rough estimate showed at least two to three hundred people.
Even if each person sold a hundred bottles, that would be twenty to thirty thousand, not to mention the scalpers. Fifty thousand was really nothing.