Chapter 61: A Day's Harvest

On a Sunday noon, Zhao Jinhai and Guo Lin'an arrived at Xiangshan Villa together. Both were unusually free today and had agreed to come to the villa for a drink. As the host and old subordinate, Xu Jun naturally had to accompany them, leading the two to a private room on the second floor. Xu Jun then went to his office and brought back four bottles of premium old white liquor that Zhu Da Dong had delivered in the morning.

"Xiao Junzi, when did you become so stingy?" Zhao Jinhai teased when he saw Xu Jun carrying in four bottles that looked like vinegar.

"Old Battalion Commander, I'm not being stingy. You can't judge a book by its cover, or in this case, a wine by its bottle," Xu Jun said with a smile, pouring a glass for Zhao Jinhai and Guo Lin'an. "Leaders, please try it."

"Hmm, this wine is good," Guo Lin'an said after tasting a small sip, then drank the whole glass.

"Hey, Xiao Junzi, where did you get this wine? It's quite good, very smooth and refreshing, with a taste of old white liquor, but it doesn't seem to be old white liquor. And this wine has some age to it; it's definitely not new, as it doesn't have that harsh new wine taste," Zhao Jinhai said after a small taste, finishing the glass and praising the unknown wine.

"How about it, leaders, is the wine good?" Xu Jun asked with a smile, pouring another glass for each of them.

"What kind of wine is this?" Guo Lin'an asked.

Hearing the county party secretary speak, Xu Jun didn't dare to keep them in suspense and quickly explained, "This wine is actually produced in our county, by the Shulinling Township Wine Factory. Zhu Da Dong brought it this morning, originally for the Old Battalion Commander, but since he wasn't at work today, he brought it to me."

"Good kid, so this is my wine," Zhao Jinhai shouted, moving the four bottles to his side.

"This wine is produced by the Shulinling Wine Factory? How come I don't know about it?" Guo Lin'an frowned. He had no other hobbies except for wine. Whenever he went to a new place, the first thing he did was to visit the local wine factory. He had inspected the Shulinling Wine Factory two years ago and remembered that it only produced one type of old white liquor, not this one.

"This is the wine factory's aged wine, originally called premium old white liquor, but Zhu Da Dong said it has been renamed to Shulinling Wine, and the packaging and bottles will be changed," Xu Jun explained.

"Shulinling Wine? The name isn't great, but it's better than premium old white liquor," Zhao Jinhai said with a smile. "Xiao Junzi, is the Shulinling Wine Factory going to produce this new wine?"

"I haven't heard Zhu Da Dong say that. I only know that the factory's aged wine is all being sold by him. This morning, he came to see me to see if my villa could help him sell some," Xu Jun shook his head and said.

"Zhu Da Dong is just a secretary in the township government. When did he become a wine salesman?" Zhao Jinhai was surprised.

"I don't know much about it. He only stayed for about ten minutes this morning before leaving. If you want to know more, you should ask him directly," Xu Jun said. After tasting the premium old white liquor, he was so focused on the wine that he didn't think to ask more questions.

"Xu Jun, who came up with the idea to change the name, packaging, and bottle?" Guo Lin'an suddenly asked. The first time he met Zhu Da Dong was out of curiosity about his drinking capacity. Zhao Jinhai had boasted to him about a young man in Shulinling Township with an endless drinking capacity, which he didn't believe, so he came to test him. To his surprise, Zhu Da Dong lived up to the hype. Since then, Zhu Da Dong hadn't tried to get close to him, which he found satisfactory, indicating that Zhu Da Dong didn't know his identity. Now, hearing about Zhu Da Dong again, and this time about selling wine, he was intrigued.

"It was his idea. He told me that he has already started changing these things and will send sample bottles once they are confirmed," Xu Jun said confidently.

"Good, when the sample bottles arrive, send two to me," Guo Lin'an nodded slightly. With the current packaging of premium old white liquor, it would be hard to sell, but Zhu Da Dong had keenly identified this issue and acted quickly. This showed that he had a good business sense. Now, it was a matter of seeing how well he performed.

"Xiao Junzi, if the packaging is good, help him sell more. He came to see me this morning, probably hoping I could help. I can't directly contact the county's wine stores, but I can give you the order to help him here," Zhao Jinhai instructed.

"Do I need to say that? The wine we use here, besides high-end wines like Maotai and Wuliangye, also includes some mid-range wines. We used to use Xixing wine from the city, but after trying this Shulinling wine, I decided to replace Xixing with Shulinling," Xu Jun said. In fact, he had been considering changing the wine for some time but hadn't found a good alternative, so he had been making do.

"This wine is much better than Xixing," Guo Lin'an nodded in agreement.

With Guo Lin'an's endorsement, even if the premium old white liquor remained unchanged, Xu Jun would still order a batch. In terms of quality, it was still a step below Maotai and Wuliangye, but the price difference was significant. A bottle of Maotai cost 20 yuan, and Wuliangye 12, and they weren't always available even if you had the money.

When Zhu Da Dong returned to the township government, it was already completely dark. Hou Li Hua and his son were sent back by Hou Yong on a motorcycle. After returning to his office, Zhu Da Dong washed up and went to bed in the position of the "Turtle Breathing Technique." Today had indeed been tiring. In the morning, they sold all the tofu at the market near Shachang Railway Station and then had a simple bowl of noodles at a nearby noodle shop.

In the afternoon, under Zhu Da Dong's lead, the three of them visited all eight markets in the city. Besides familiarizing themselves with the terrain, they also reached verbal agreements with three market vendors to sell the tofu from Houjiatang Village on consignment. This was a very good outcome.

Due to time constraints and the lack of samples, they could have secured more consignment points. According to Zhu Da Dong's estimate, each market could have at least two to five consignment points, and with eight markets, there would be at least twenty consignment points. This would ensure that once Houjiatang Village started mass-producing tofu, it could be sold out on the same day.

Finally, they visited some machinery stores to inquire about the price of soy milk grinders. After comparing prices, Hou Li Hua and his son would return to the city in a couple of days to buy the machinery.

Zhu Da Dong was very satisfied with today's harvest. First, he had given the premium old white liquor to Xu Jun, paving the way for Shulinling Wine to enter Xiangshan Villa. Although Xiangshan Villa was just a hotel, its consumption of white liquor was no less than that of a wholesale store.

In the city, things had gone smoothly. Now that the plans for Houjiatang Village were basically set, Zhu Da Dong only needed to guide them in standardizing production, which would add a new, profitable collective enterprise to Shulinling Township.