Reborn in 1985: From Selling Braised Duck to Becoming the World's Richest Man

Liang Ming said there were no taboos.

After hearing this, Engineer Chen led the construction team to the construction site that afternoon.

Liang Ming went to the construction site to check on the workers' skills, nodded in satisfaction, and then didn't pay much attention to the house construction.

Silent all night.

The next morning, after Liang Ming got up and washed up, he put the ducks sent by Shitou Village into a pot to braise, as usual.

At that moment, a village official came into the courtyard and found Liang Ming.

"Liang Ming, the village chief asked me to tell you that the batch of cotton seeds ordered by the cotton mill has arrived."

"The factory is preparing to start production of cottonseed oil today, and you need to be there."

Upon hearing this, Liang Ming sighed inwardly, "The cottonseeds have finally arrived."

"Okay, I'll be there in a bit."

After the village official left, Liang Ming put the duck in a pot and simmered it over low heat before going out.

There's plenty of broth in this pot; it won't boil dry even by noon.

When we arrived at the cotton mill in the village, all the workers were already there.

They were all somewhat surprised when they saw Liang Ming.

Everyone in the village knows that Liang Ming has recently been making a lot of money by setting up a stall in the county town.

"Liang Ming, are you coming to work at our factory?" a villager who knew Liang Ming well asked.

"Pretty much, very close," Liang Ming said with a forced smile.

Just then, Liang Jianguo and a group of factory leaders walked over.

"Fellow villagers, I've called you here today to announce something important."

Liang Jianguo, holding a megaphone, shouted:

“In the past, our cotton products could not be sold in the spring and summer, and the factory had to be forced to stop production.”

"Starting today, this situation will no longer occur."

Upon hearing this, the villagers below all showed a look of suspicion.

They didn't understand what the village chief meant.

At this moment, Liang Jianguo pointed at Liang Ming and said to everyone:

“Our village’s boss, Liang Ming, has purchased a batch of cottonseeds out of his own pocket, wanting to use our cotton mill to produce cottonseed oil.”

“Our factory is mainly responsible for production, while Boss Liang Ming is in charge of sales.”

"He will be responsible for your wages during the cottonseed oil production period."

At this point, Liang Jianguo paused for a moment, then said seriously, "Our village committee held a meeting and unanimously agreed to this matter."

"After all, this can bring income to everyone, so that the factory won't have to stop production for half a year, and the factory can also generate revenue."

Upon hearing village chief Liang Jianguo's words, the villagers below erupted in uproar.

They didn't expect that the village chief had called them back to announce the start of construction.

They were naturally happy about this.

"Village chief, our cotton mill is a village collective enterprise. If it's contracted out to a private individual, won't the township gossip about it?"

One of the villagers asked somewhat cautiously.

In those days, village collective industries were all under the jurisdiction of the township government.

Although by the mid-80s, the township government had become less strict in managing the collective industries of the village committees.

But some things are best left unsaid, as some people might take them too seriously.

"I've already reported this to my superiors, and they've agreed," said Liang Jianguo, the village chief.

Since the village chief had said so, the villagers naturally had no objections.

After the mobilization meeting for the start of the cotton mill's operation, Liang Ming and village chief Liang Jianguo led the villagers to begin pressing cottonseed oil.

Because the factory doesn't have oil pressing machinery, everyone still uses the traditional method to press cottonseed oil.

The traditional method of pressing cottonseed oil is very complicated, involving steps such as heating, delinting, grinding, fermentation, and steaming.

"Liang Ming, the factory cadres can keep an eye on things here. I'll have someone call you when the oil starts to come out."

Village chief Liang Jianguo said to Liang Ming.

“Okay.” Liang Ming nodded in agreement. As the client, he only needed to grasp the general direction of the product.

After letting the villagers press oil at the factory, Liang Ming returned to his own yard.

By this time, the braised duck had been cooked and the whole house was filled with its aroma.

By the time Liang Ming had scooped all the braised ducks out, it was almost noon.

Chicken Boy and his friends came in from outside, carrying bamboo baskets on their backs.

"Brother Liang Ming, we're here. We had a bad day and didn't find anything good."

Dog Egg said dejectedly.

After making a small fortune from the wild ginseng they dug up last time, Chicken and Dog Egg, having tasted the sweetness of success, dreamed of digging up more wild ginseng every day.

"These good mountain products aren't easy to find!"

"Instead of wasting that time, you should dig up more mushrooms and wild vegetables, they're much better."

Ama chuckled softly.

He was quite rational; he would go down to the stream to catch river delicacies before dawn every day, and he never greedily sought out any rare or exotic seafood.

Therefore, the weight of river delicacies he dug up exceeded that of Jiwa and the others, and his daily income was naturally higher than that of Jiwa and the others.

Liang Ming also felt that Chicken Boy and Dog Egg had been digging up less common mountain products these past few days in their search for wild ginseng, and reminded them:

"Chicken Boy, Dog Egg, the amount of mountain produce you've supplied these past few days has indeed been too little."

“My supplier is already complaining. If this continues, I’ll have to find someone else to help me dig for mountain products.”

Upon hearing this, Chicken and Dog quickly said, "Brother Liang Ming, please, we know we were wrong!"

"Starting tomorrow, we'll focus on digging for wild vegetables and mushrooms."

Liang Ming nodded and didn't say anything more.

After collecting the mountain produce and river delicacies from the three men, Liang Ming pulled his mule cart and headed to the county town.

As usual, Liang Ming first delivered the duck feathers to the sports equipment factory and the braised duck to the steel factory before arriving at Xiangmanlou.

Even before he got close, Liang Ming could see from afar that Xiangmanlou Restaurant was already packed.

Jiang Meizhuang stood anxiously at the back door of the restaurant.

Upon seeing Liang Ming, she hurried over and said excitedly:

"Brother Liang Ming, you've finally arrived! If you hadn't come, my restaurant would have had to close down."

"Sister Meizhuang, I just passed by the restaurant, wasn't it very busy?"

Upon hearing Jiang Meizhuang's words, Liang Ming asked in confusion.

"It's because business is so booming that customers come in clamoring for fresh mountain and river delicacies."

They also specified that they would only eat boiled shrimp made with fresh river seafood.

If you had arrived any later, my restaurant would have been vandalized.

Jiang Meizhuang said, both happy and helpless.

As she spoke, she hurriedly instructed the kitchen staff to unload the mountain produce and river delicacies from the mule cart.

After being weighed and registered, the food is sent to the kitchen to be cooked.

Hearing Jiang Meizhuang's words, Liang Ming was both amused and exasperated.

This business is so good that it's become a sweet bad thing?

"Sister Meizhuang, don't use up all the ingredients I brought you at once; you need to eat them in batches."

After thinking for a moment, Liang Ming gave Jiang Meizhuang an idea.

"In batches? How?" Jiang Meizhuang asked, puzzled.

“Naturally, the supply is limited, with one batch at lunchtime and another at dinnertime,” Liang Ming said.

"This can't work? You know how short-tempered those diners are..."

Jiang Meizhuang said hesitantly:

"If they can't get the boiled shrimp they want, they'll really smash up the restaurant!"

Liang Ming shook his head and chuckled, "Sister Meizhuang, you're just too easy to talk to."

If you want a restaurant to make money, you can't just cater to every customer's cravings. You can't just serve boiling shrimp to everyone who orders it.

You need to maintain a certain level of sophistication and transform Xiangmanlou into a high-end restaurant.

Immediately, Liang Ming planned to talk to Jiang Meizhuang about the scarcity marketing strategies used by those popular online stores in later generations.