Chapter 144: Chapter 0144: Pharmaceutical Factory Opening_1
The industrial zone planned by Zhang Bin finally had one of its factory buildings completed. The industrial zone was built on the flat land at the foot of Mantou Ridge, occupying an area of more than six hundred acres. This land all belonged to the village, but it had been leased by Zhang Bin for a period of fifty years, the same term as his lease for Mantou Ridge.
Truthfully, Zhang Bin hadn’t been sure what to do with such a large industrial zone. It was Liu Qian who had suggested it, arguing that a larger industrial zone would be better for future expansions as the enterprise grew. Zhang Bin figured that with so much land, even if it wasn’t all used for factories, it could still be used to cultivate medicinal herbs, so he followed the suggestion. Today, he was deeply impressed with Liu Qian’s foresight.
The pharmaceutical factory he was building had to be scaled up, not only to produce Weight Loss Pills but also Endurance Pills. Furthermore, he needed to build a large laboratory. In the future, he would also need factories to produce breast enhancement drugs or other medications. He even planned to build dormitory buildings for workers and senior management, since Sanchahe Village had a limited labor force and he would have to recruit from outside.
At this moment, Zhang Bin was directing Big Black and Second Black to transport the various machines he had ordered to the first floor of the factory. Then, he began assembling the machines by himself. Since he had designed them personally, he faced no difficulties. One after another, the machines were assembled, and entire production lines were set up. The sight was truly awe-inspiring.
Xiao Fang, her smile as bright as a blooming flower, held a towel to wipe the sweat from Zhang Bin’s brow. His hands were covered in machine oil, and he was drenched in perspiration.
Many villagers stood outside watching the excitement, their faces filled with admiration as they began to discuss among themselves.
"Xiao Bin is incredible. He may not have gone to college, but he’s far more capable than any college student."
"He’s so talented, even more so than those engineers. An engineer might not be able to design a machine, but our Xiao Bin can..."
"Xiao Bin’s Weight Loss Pills will soon be in production! We’ll have jobs, and from now on, we’ll be factory workers..."
Mother Zhang also came over to see what the buzz was about and was quickly surrounded by a crowd of women showering her with compliments. Looking at her busy son inside, she said proudly, "When Xiao Bin was little, I knew he was destined for great things. As he grew up, his grades weren’t outstanding, which puzzled me. It was so different from what I’d expected. Little did I know, he was hiding his true talents all along, learning skills from a hermit deep in the mountains..."
"Exactly!" Auntie Zheng agreed. "Xiao Bin is the smartest person in our village. He could have gotten perfect scores on every test, but he probably failed them on purpose so he wouldn’t have to go to college and could keep learning from his master."
"You might not know this, Mother Zhang," Mother Cheng said excitedly, "but Xiao Bin knows three foreign languages and speaks them better than a native. He also developed a magical software for learning languages. Right now, he’s having Liu Ruolan set up an online school to recruit students from all over the world. They say the advertising budget alone is thirty billion!"
She had, of course, heard this from Xiao Fang, as Zhang Bin had mentioned the matter to her.
"What? Xiao Bin knows three foreign languages? He’s setting up an online school with a thirty-billion-dollar advertising budget?"
The villagers were utterly flabbergasted, their faces etched with disbelief.
Mother Zhang was also stunned. Zhang Bin had never mentioned this to her. A surge of resentment washed over her. Why hadn’t her son told her? I’ve lost such a good opportunity to brag! If only I had been the one to announce it, how satisfying would that have been? That brat! I’ll have to teach him a lesson later. But is this even true? It seems a bit far-fetched...
She turned and saw Zhang Lele behind her, then walked over and asked in a low, uncertain voice, "Lele, does your brother really know three foreign languages?"
"Brother’s memory is incredible, I can’t even compare. He really has mastered three languages: English, German, and Japanese. He speaks them so fluently," Zhang Lele said with admiration. "And that language-learning software is amazing. I’m not even sure if he was the one who developed it."
"You silly girl, why didn’t you tell me sooner? I had to hear it from someone else!" Mother Zhang said indignantly.
"I was worried you’d be so happy you’d go crazy, so I didn’t tell you," Zhang Lele said with a mischievous smile before running off.
After Zhang Bin finished assembling the machines and setting up the production lines, he began operational testing. Big Black and Second Black stood nervously beside him; from now on, they would be responsible for operating the machines, and no one else was allowed to enter this special room.
On the surface, the machine appeared to be controlled by electricity, but it was actually governed by Formations. The external production and assembly lines, however, did use electricity. Moreover, refining the Weight Loss Pills required adding high-concentration Spiritual Water, which was a major secret that couldn’t be divulged.
Zhang Bin meticulously explained the procedures to Big Black and Second Black, who nodded repeatedly. Being as intelligent as humans, they found the simple operations easy to learn and comprehend.
Under Zhang Bin’s guidance, Big Black started the machine. The medicinal herbs were fed in, chopped into pieces, and sent into a funnel-like compartment that was actually a Pill Furnace. Simultaneously, Spiritual Water was infused, Flames rose, and the Alchemy process began automatically.
After about half an hour, the Elixirs were refined. They trickled out of the Funnel into another container, where they were mixed with flour and finally formed into round, bean-sized pills. They were a faint black color and emitted a strange, clean fragrance. The pills were then carried by a conveyor belt out to the main workshop. There, workers could bottle them and seal the bottles with a special machine. Once the pre-prepared labels were affixed, the product would be complete.
Zhang Bin didn’t let the workers begin bottling yet. He picked up a few of the pills and examined them closely. Then he consumed one, carefully sensing its effects. Gradually, a faint smile appeared on his face. The effects were just as he had anticipated.
"Brother Bin? Did it work?" Xiao Fang asked, a little anxiously.
"It should have, but we still need to verify it," Zhang Bin said with a smile. The Elixir he designed was meant to cause one pound of weight loss per pill, but whether it truly worked needed to be verified.
"Let me be the test subject," Xiao Fang volunteered eagerly. She felt she had put on a few pounds anyway and was keen to lose the weight.
"Let’s have a few more people test it, one pill each," Zhang Bin smiled.
"I’ll do it! Me!" the villagers shouted, full of excitement and eagerness.
In the end, Zhang Bin selected four people—a man, a woman, an elderly person, and a youth. He had each of them take one pill. About ten minutes later, the results were in. They had each lost around 550 grams, which was more than a pound.
Zhang Bin went back to make some fine adjustments, which essentially involved reducing the volume of the pills by about ten percent. He had another group test them. This time, the data was satisfactory: one pill resulted in a weight loss of around 505 grams.
And with that, the finished Rufei Slimming Pill was finally produced.
"The effects of this weight loss are truly miraculous!" all the villagers and employees shouted in amazement.
"Start production," Zhang Bin ordered with confidence and pride.