Courtyard House: Drunk and tipsy, the whole courtyard exposed at the start.

It turns out that she had just strolled into Nanluoguxiang today and decided to stop by to take a look, as she also wanted to try Zhang Dabiao's latest experiment with sour cream.

When I came a few days ago, Zhang Dabiao and Qin Jingru were tinkering with something, and the whole room smelled sour...

Fortunately, the defective products weren't wasted in the end; they were mixed with fish feed and used to feed the fish.

I wonder if these fish will have high blood sugar... Will they be sweet fish or salted fish after pickling?

The young people in courtyard number 95 are really fun. Not only is there chaos all the time, but you can also see Xu Damao teasing Sha Zhu and then getting chased and beaten by Sha Zhu.

Zhang Dabiao's side always manages to come up with something new, and with plenty to eat and play, Lou Xiao'e is naturally happy to hang out with them.

She was Lou Bancheng's daughter, a capitalist's heiress—no state-owned factory or unit wanted her because her father's reputation was too prestigious.

So after graduating from high school, Lou Xiao'e had nothing to do, but there was nothing to do even if she went shopping every day. Recently, her mother has been trying to introduce her to some bureau chief's son or some three-generation poor peasant...

To be honest, Lou Xiao'e didn't have much in common with those people, and she was not as fun as Xu Damao and Zhang Dabiao.

As for Sha Zhu?

That guy is an idiot!

When I came over today, I heard that Zhang Dabiao wanted to set up some kind of shop with the street office and Deputy Factory Director Li—making cakes? Making cream?

She likes this!

Is the neighborhood committee short of money to repair the houses?

She does!

Zhang Dabiao – [Well, here comes the sucker!]

Li Huaide glanced at Director Wang, his eyes conveying the question: Will this work?

After some thought, Director Wang concluded that only these few sources of funding for this type of "life service center" complied with policy:

1. The initial phase involved residents (members) bringing their own food and simple tools and funds.

2. The street office will make a small advance payment, using administrative funds or the accumulated funds of other production groups;

3. Small grants or loans from higher authorities are only possible after the project is included in the indirect plan, and the amount of money is very small.

4. Snowballing development: using the money earned to purchase equipment and expand production.

Moreover, the members of the organization were called "cooperative members" or "production team members," and were not considered "state employees." They did not have a secure job and earned work points or piece-rate wages through labor, thus achieving "placement and employment."

Therefore, it would not be a problem for Lou Xiao'e to make the advance payment as one of the production team members.

If you say she used her family's shop to directly invest, that's not a legitimate business practice, especially since she's a capitalist's daughter.

However, as a member of the production team, I was able to make the initial payment and then pay her back later. The site and buildings belonged to the local street office, so this arrangement was not against the rules.

She works in this production group, but it's not a secure job, so it doesn't matter to her.

So Lou Xiao'e took on everything: site repair costs, equipment purchases, initial production funds, and staff salaries.

We'll pay her back when we make money later; it's essentially an interest-free loan—just a private advance payment from a member of the production team.

She loves desserts and wants to make them herself.

But it's impossible to open a shop now, let alone open a shop and then apply for public-private partnership, so the only option is to join the street collective production service organization.

It's fun, it's delicious, and it even has classes!

Zhang Dabiao was speechless. "Are you really paying to work here?"

However, considering Lou Bancheng's wealth, this was essentially just paying Lou Xiao'e to go out and have fun, which was no big deal for the Lou family.

The subdistrict office organized and provided the venue; Lou Xiao'e advanced the initial funds; Li Huaide provided raw material channels and steel mill orders; Zhang Dabiao?

The secret recipe!

Everyone thought it was fine, but the little girl Qin Jingru was not happy.

"That's Da Biao's secret recipe, a family heirloom. Why should he hand it over just because you tell him to?"

"Last time they just took the egg beater and mixer without warning, and this time they're bringing up this cream recipe?"

"Da Biao, we can do it ourselves. If it really doesn't work, we won't do it anymore, we won't make this money!"

The little girl completely ignored what Li Huaide had said about household registration and schooling; she was worried about Zhang Dabiao.

She already considered herself a member of the Zhang family, so seeing Zhang Dabiao always suffering losses naturally made her uncomfortable.

As she spoke, Qin Jingru's eyes reddened—wasn't this a high-ranking official bullying her?

Li Huaide immediately explained, "We don't want the secret recipe, little girl. We won't take advantage of Da Biao."

"Da Biao, you can break down the process. For example, you can make yogurt or sourdough starter, and other tasks that require manual whipping of cream can be handed over to others."

"All I need is cream cake and sour cream; I don't care about anything else."

"I'll take care of this little girl's household registration and schooling. I'll also reserve a permanent position for you in the logistics department of the steel rolling mill. You can choose to work in the purchasing department or the cafeteria."

Director Wang understood that he had to bleed some money out of him, otherwise it would be too unseemly to be so greedy.

"Da Biao, you know the situation in our subdistrict office, but you'll be in charge of arranging the staff for this small food processing plant."

"Although you don't work here, you will have full authority over this food processing plant."

"As long as we can arrange for more people to work and make more food reserves for the residents, that's fine."

"This isn't about making money, but if it's profitable and we can quickly pay back Lou Xiao'e's advance, I'll try to apply for it to become a formal small factory."

"At least five permanent workstations will be reserved for you."

Giving Zhang Dabiao money or a share of the profits is out of the question; this is a collectively owned community service center. But Zhang Dabiao's contribution is undeniable. If you were to sell his workstations to outsiders, everyone would turn a blind eye, and there wouldn't be any problem.

After thinking about it, Zhang Dabiao realized it wasn't so bad.

As for copyrights or technology as equity, there's no need to even discuss it. Don't you even know what era this is, and where this is?

But splitting up some processes is possible, since Zhang Dabiao isn't a member of this "small food processing cooperative." I can give him my skills if I want, or not if I don't.

The neighborhood committee takes the lead in handling any issues, but they still have a say – it's just that the return on investment takes a long time, and we have to wait until the processing cooperative applies to become a formal small factory.

Then I thought, Lou Xiao'e is here too, so I might as well use it as an opportunity to gain experience for future business ventures and train a group of skilled workers. That's fine too.

"It's settled then, I'll do it."

Zhang Dabiao slammed his hand on the table. He neither lost nor gained anything from this, but he would still need these two to protect him during the subsequent storms, so he might as well consider it an investment in advance.

"Big Brother Biao—"

Qin Jingru objected, "Why should the Zhang family always suffer losses?"

The secret recipe for this craft can be passed down through generations!

Zhang Dabiao said to her with a grin, "Jingru, you don't need to worry. I have at least two or three hundred recipes for pastries."

"Not to mention the other eight major cuisines and home-style dishes, I have plenty of those recipes here."

"It's okay to give up one or two."

Everyone's eyes widened in surprise: "Really?!"