Reborn in 1981, the first to get rich start with dairy cows.

Chapter 170 Popsicle Speed-Up

The two new refrigeration units that we had been eagerly awaiting have finally arrived.

Two days after the grain was delivered, the county agricultural machinery station finally brought good news.

Previously, people were quite worried because the sales of jujube-flavored popsicles did not meet expectations.

However, the rising sales of other flavored popsicles eased people's worries somewhat.

Furthermore, according to the plan, other flavors of popsicles will be released next month, which everyone is looking forward to.

"Factory manager, once the refrigeration units arrive in the next couple of days, we'll probably need to start hiring right away," Wu Qingfeng said excitedly, rubbing his hands together.

"Hiring is definitely necessary, but have you considered what will happen to all these employees once summer is over?"

"This..." Wu Qingfeng hesitated for a moment, then asked tentatively, "Then how about hiring fewer people?"

"So you're planning to make several batches of popsicles a day? With so few people, can you even survive the summer?"

There's no air conditioning here. Even though the temperature in the refrigeration workshop isn't high, Shen Dong is still quite worried about the high-intensity, long-term work that will continue for several months.

"Of course it's possible, factory manager. You can tell you haven't done much farm work. To be honest, the work in our workshop doesn't even amount to half of what we do during peak season."

Shen Dong rolled his eyes.

Don't you know that some facts are best left unsaid?

"Of course, although the factory director does little farm work, he puts all his energy into the factory, so he's very tired," Wu Qingfeng belatedly realized he had misspoke and tried to make amends.

"Then you can decide what to do. You can also think about what everyone should do after September. If you have any good ideas, I think it's fine to hire more people."

"Okay!" Wu Qingfeng was also at a loss for what to do.

Once the refrigeration unit arrived, the production of popsicles was immediately sped up.

After a batch of new employees moved in, the company officially started producing popsicles in four batches a day.

Ten molds were put into one batch, and one set of molds was filled with 12 popsicles.

With all three refrigeration units operating simultaneously, nearly 1500 popsicles can be produced per day.

With the arrival of summer, Shen Dong also adjusted the wholesale prices.

Since the last self-proof, the county newspaper also published the events of that day, and everyone immediately knew that the popsicles made by Baotashan Dairy Factory were just as good.

I don't know who spread the rumor, but they said the equipment used to make the popsicles was from Shanghai, which is why they taste so good.

Then the supply of popsicles became somewhat insufficient.

Every few hours, Li Hu would lead his men to deliver popsicles to various grocery stores, and they would sell out in no time.

This happens several times a day when we get new stock.

Therefore, both the purchase price and the retail price have been increased.

"Factory manager, the sales figures are in." Wu Qingfeng arrived at Shen Dong's office early in the morning, beaming with joy.

With a swish, a piece of paper was slapped onto Shen Dong's desk.

"Wow, so excited?" Shen Dong chuckled as he picked up the paper.

"Haha, we sell out every day, and there are so many people chasing after us, how can we not be excited?" Wu Qingfeng sat down, crossed his legs, and couldn't suppress the smile on his lips.

The paper was very detailed, listing four types of popsicles, with the production volume and profit margin for each type clearly stated.

"1450 sticks, that's 50 yuan a day?"

"Yes! If the refrigeration unit were bigger, and could hold more molds in greater quantities, we could earn even more."

Shen Dong never expected that popsicles could earn so much in a day, only 1500 yuan a month!

If you say it's a small amount, it's actually quite a lot. A typical small factory with 7 or 8 people can only earn a little over a thousand a year.

But if you're talking about quantity, it can't compare to things like yogurt crust.

Wu Qingfeng's words reminded him that there were too few refrigeration units available and the internal compartments were too small, which limited the development of popsicles.

However, these problems cannot be solved in the short term.

We can only wait for the agricultural machinery station to schedule it later. Hopefully, they can get a few more machines later.

"I'll ask the machinery factories in Shanghai later to see if they have any!"

Wu Qingfeng was overjoyed and kept saying "okay".

Just as he said, the workshop is not actually very busy right now.

After all, each batch needs to be frozen for four hours, and during this time, they only need to make popsicles for 30 molds.

And all they get each hour is a few dozen popsicles.

Therefore, Wu Qingfeng urgently wanted more refrigeration machines.

At least get everyone moving.

After Wu Qingfeng left, Shen Dong thought for a moment and decided to call Wang Xuebing directly.

The dairy factory has never had a telephone line installed, so they have to go outside to make calls.

After waiting for more than ten minutes, the call finally went through.

"Old Wang, to make a long story short, do you have a refrigeration machine? There's a huge shortage of popsicles right now, we're going crazy."

"You've come at the right time. I was just about to look for you. We had two old refrigeration units that were being phased out yesterday, but they have some problems and need some repairs. It might take a couple of days. Can you wait?"

"Yes, yes!" Shen Dong clenched his fist, finally getting what he'd been waiting for.

I asked Wang Xuebing to help me find a refrigeration machine back in April, but I hadn't gotten any results until now. Finally, I have some news.

"Okay, and I've found the English teacher you asked me to help you find. She's a student from National Chiao Tung University. What are your plans?"

"That's great! This is a top student!"

Shen Dong had no chance to attend any of the universities in Shanghai, but Shen Min did, and he had to create an environment for her.

"Of course, he's from the countryside and works part-time while in school..." As he was speaking, a crackling sound came from the receiver.

"Feed? Hey!" Shen Dong shouted.

"Keep your voice down! You're going to ruin the microphone with your spit!"

"If you can cause damage with your spittle, you might as well close down!" Shen Dong retorted.

He turned and went to the post office to send a telegram.

Others would nitpick over every word when sending telegrams, keeping it as concise as possible.

Shen Dong sent a telegram, demanding that everything be clear.

Shen Dong had already discussed the accommodations with Wang Xuebing beforehand, but they hadn't talked about payment at the time.

Shen Dong wrote down all the salary he had planned, highlighting that it included room and board, round-trip tickets, and a standard of 80 yuan per month, with an additional 20 yuan bonus if the results were good.

"Are you sure you want to send so many words?" The staff member sending the telegram was dumbfounded when he saw the several lines of text on the paper.

"Yes, not a single word can be omitted!"

The staff just found it strange; she was actually hoping everyone would send a lot of text.

There's still some time before the holiday starts, and Shen Dong thought for a moment. He remembered that the school in the team had a room for storing miscellaneous items, which was specially built when teachers from the neighboring county came to teach.

Later, the teachers from the surrounding area took over, and they usually went home to live, so the room was abandoned.

We need to talk to the team leader about this first.

When other families come over, there isn't even a clean place to stay.

This room in the elementary school was built a few years ago. Apart from some dust because it hasn't been cleaned for a long time, everything looks quite new.

Shen Dong and Shen Min spent several nights tidying up the place.

They threw out all the useless things, wiped the windows, and dusted, finally clearing out the room.

When Li Shangen heard that the room was to be used by students from Shanghai Jiaotong University, and that they were coming to teach English, he immediately had a new idea.