Back to 2008: I Helped My Dad Become the Richest Man

Once he decided to build an organic fertilizer plant, Luo Xinde's decisiveness was immediately apparent.

The next day, he drove his small truck, with Grandpa Liu in tow, and traveled to several towns and villages in the county to see how other people's fertilizer plants were built.

Although most of them were small workshops producing fertilizer, Luo Xinde still watched with great interest, asking questions whenever he didn't understand and taking notes in a small notebook.

"Dad, don't look at those small factories. Their equipment and processes are too outdated and don't meet our requirements." Luo Xiyuan was both amused and exasperated by his concern.

"Then what kind should we look at?" Luo Xinde asked.

"I've already made the contact." Luo Xiyuan took out her phone and waved it. "I asked Uncle Wang to help me contact the largest organic fertilizer production company in the city, called 'Luyuan Fertilizer.' I've arranged with their factory manager that we'll visit their factory the day after tomorrow to learn from them."

"Really? The biggest factory in the city? They're letting us go see it?" Luo Xinde was both surprised and delighted.

"Yes. I told their factory manager that we are the official pork supplier for the Golden Bay Hotel and we wanted to have some 'technical exchanges' with them in the field of organic fertilizer." Luo Xiyuan smiled slyly.

She now knows very well how to use the "Golden Bay" brand to her advantage.

Two days later, Luo Xinde, Luo Xiyuan, and Liu Ye arrived at Luyuan Fertilizer in the suburbs.

The factory was larger than they had imagined. Rows of huge fermentation tanks stood majestically, and on conveyor belts, bags of beautifully packaged organic fertilizer were continuously transported to the warehouse.

The factory manager personally received them and politely showed them around the entire production line.

From raw material pretreatment to high-temperature fermentation, and then to crushing, granulation, and packaging, every step has been automated and standardized.

Luo Xinde and Master Liu were dazzled and had their eyes opened.

"Master Liu, you're an expert. What do you think of our equipment and process?" The factory manager humbly asked Master Liu for advice.

Old Liu, with his hands behind his back, examined the product carefully and finally nodded: "Not bad. You've controlled the fermentation temperature and humidity very well, and the degree of decomposition is sufficient. However, the smell of your finished product suggests that the ratio of trace elements could be improved. Especially for fruit trees, the boron and zinc content could be higher."

He only took one sniff and immediately pinpointed the crux of the problem.

After listening, the factory manager was filled with respect and immediately expressed his desire to hire Mr. Liu as their factory's technical consultant, but Mr. Liu declined with a smile.

After the visit, Luo Xinde felt more confident about building the factory.

"Xiyuan, I understand. If we're going to do it, we have to do it according to their standards! The equipment must be the best! The technology must be the most advanced!" He now has a higher standard and no longer looks down on those small-scale operations.

The factory construction was proceeding smoothly. Luo Xinde was in charge of securing land approvals and overseeing construction, while Liu Ye was responsible for equipment selection and process design.

While busy preparing for the organic fertilizer plant, Luo Xiyuan was also thinking about something else.

That day, she was inspecting the pork shops in the county town when she saw the cut-up pork in the freezer and suddenly had an idea.

Besides selling fresh pork directly, can pork be processed into products with higher added value?

For example, sausages, bacon, ham...

These products have a long shelf life, are easy to transport, and have a much larger profit margin than selling fresh meat!

Sausages, in particular, are a staple on almost every household's table during holidays and festivals. Market demand is huge.

If they could make their own brand of sausages with unique flavors, wouldn't that be another way to make money?

Once the idea appeared in her mind, it wouldn't leave her.

That evening, she brought up the idea at the dinner table.

"Making sausages?" Luo Xinde was taken aback. "My family used to make sausages ourselves for Chinese New Year. Isn't it just mincing the meat, adding salt and seasonings, stuffing it into casings, and letting it dry? What's so difficult about that?"

"Dad, cooking for our own consumption and selling it as a product are two different things." Luo Xiyuan shook her head. "If we're going to do it, we'll make the best-tasting one and create our own unique flavor. Taste is our biggest competitive advantage."

"So... what flavor is considered delicious?" Li Minxia asked curiously.

"This requires a good recipe," Luo Xiyuan said. "I've done my research. The most famous sausages in the country are either Cantonese or Sichuan style. Cantonese sausages are sweeter and have a hint of wine. Sichuan sausages are spicier and have a stronger flavor. Which one should we make? Or should we create our own unique flavor?"

"I think Sichuan cuisine is delicious! I like spicy food!" Luo Wen was the first to raise his hand and speak.

"I still prefer Cantonese style, it's sweet, and kids love it," Li Minxia said.

"This... I don't know which one is better either," Luo Xinde said, perplexed.

"So, this is a big problem," Luo Xiyuan said. "A good recipe is a core secret of a food company. We can't just find a recipe online and make it. We have to find a master sausage maker who truly understands how to make sausages to help us develop the recipe."

"Where can we find a chef like that?" Luo Xinde looked troubled. "In all the villages around here, I haven't heard of anyone who makes particularly delicious sausages."

"I have an idea," Luo Xiyuan said. "I remember, didn't our county's food company used to have a meat processing plant? Although it's closed down now, those old masters must still be there. Back then, they specialized in making ham and sausages for the country's export, so their skills must have been top-notch."

"Right, right, right!" Luo Xinde slapped his thigh. "I remember now! There used to be an old master at the meat processing plant, surnamed Sun, named Sun Dahai. His 'Rose Dew' sausage won awards throughout the province back then! It's just that he... had a really strange temper, and was notoriously stubborn and unpleasant."

"A strange temper doesn't matter, as long as he's capable." Luo Xiyuan's eyes lit up. "Dad, I'm leaving this to you. Go and find out where this Master Sun is staying. We need to find a way to get him out of retirement!"

Luo Xinde now has a wide network of connections, so asking about a few people isn't difficult for him.

Two days later, he brought back the news.

"I found out. That Sun Dahai, after being laid off from the meat processing plant, has been staying at home and hasn't gone anywhere. His wife passed away early, and he only has one son, who is a good-for-nothing and just messes around outside. He now lives alone in an old residential building in the south of the county town, and he's living a pretty hard life. I asked someone to inquire, and they said that he's been drinking alone at home every day and won't see anyone."

"Let's go, let's go now!" Luo Xiyuan made a quick decision.

"Go now?" Luo Xinde hesitated. "I've heard that he's very stubborn. People have tried to persuade him to come out of retirement and become a consultant at a hotel before, offering him a lot of money, but he just cursed them away."

"Dad, the more someone is like that, the more it shows they have real skills and are arrogant. We need to show our sincerity."

Luo Xiyuan asked Li Minxia to go to the store and pick out the best piece of pork belly and a tenderloin. She also brought two bottles of fine wine from Wang Defa's house as a "gift for meeting".

In the afternoon, Luo Xinde drove Luo Xiyuan to the old residential building of the county food company, following the address he had found out.

It was a red brick tenement building built in the 1980s. The corridors were dark and gloomy, and the walls were covered with all sorts of little GG stickers.

They found Sun Dahai's house and knocked on the door for a long time before an impatient voice came from inside.

"Who is it?! Can't a person get any sleep?!"

The door creaked open, and an old man with gray hair, a stubble-covered face, and sunken eyes appeared in the doorway, wearing a vest stained with grease. He reeked of alcohol and had an indescribable sour smell.

He is Sun Dahai.

He saw two strangers standing in the doorway, their eyes filled with hostility: "Who are you looking for?"

"Hello, Master Sun," Luo Xinde quickly greeted with a smile, handing over the gift in his hand. "We've come here because of your reputation, and we'd like to ask you some questions."

Sun Dahai glanced sideways at the things in their hands and sneered, "Again, trying to get me to be your advisor? Let me tell you, don't waste your time. I gave back all my skills to the country long ago. I'm just an old man waiting to die now, and I have no interest in getting involved in those things anymore."

After saying that, he slammed the door shut.

This scene is so similar to when we invited Master Liu back then.

"Master Sun, please wait a moment!" Luo Xiyuan reacted quickly and used her foot to block the door gap.

Sun Dahai was surprised by the girl's quick reaction. He paused for a moment and looked down at her.

Luo Xiyuan looked up at his eyes, which had become cloudy from long-term alcoholism, and said solemnly, "Master Sun, we're not here to ask you to be our consultant. We want to do business with you."

"Business?" Sun Dahai frowned.

"Yes." Luo Xiyuan took the top-grade pork belly wrapped in oil paper from her father and handed it to him. "Master Sun, I know that your 'Rose Dew' sausage is a specialty of Qinghe County. It's a pity that we can't eat it anymore."

"The business I want to do with you is this: we'll provide the capital, the meat, and the equipment. All you need to do is bring out your unique recipe and collaborate with us. We'll recreate it so that people throughout the county, and even the city, can taste that same flavor again."

"We'll turn it into a brand, called 'Master Sun' sausages. We'll share the profits with you. You don't have to do anything; you can just sit at home and collect your share. Do you think this is a worthwhile business opportunity?"