The Stepmother's Counterattack: Raising a Child in a Bygone Era-Chapter 851 - 850: The Trump Card

""""

For Mai Qiu, Shen Chaobei’s impression still lay in the lively and enthusiastic nature of the young girl, but if his wife said there was something wrong with the other party, there must be a reason.

He said, "No matter if you want to use Xiao Fu, Xiao Che, or whoever, I only know one thing, the people you keep by your side must be loyal and reliable, and that’s also Mingzhu’s principle in choosing her staff."

Du Juan nodded, "That’s what I’m concerned about too, Xiao Fu and Xiao Che might be capable, but their characters still need to be observed. Hiring new people would mean starting from scratch with their training, and right now, I just don’t have the energy or time for that."

Seeing her troubled, Shen Chaobei sat down next to her, took her hand, and comforted her,

"Take it slow, Xiao Mai is still capable, you use her for now, and then you can replace her once you find the right person."

Du Juan squeezed his hand in return and softly acknowledged with a yes, then asked, "Chaobei, honestly, are you scared?"

"Scared of what?"

"Scared that I’ll fail at starting the business, squander all the savings we’ve accumulated over the past ten years, and fall back into the hard times we used to live through."

Shen Chaobei looked at her, "Do you want to hear the truth?"

"Of course."

Shen Chaobei took the wine glass from her hand, drank all the wine in it, then held the cup contemplatively before speaking,

"I often think, now we have a car, a house, and savings of ten million. Even if we did nothing, we could live a life of luxury and comfort for the rest of our lives."

"But starting a business is your dream. As a man, being unable to give the woman I love the life she wants would be a failure in itself. What I can do now is support you with all my might."

"If we fail, it’s no big deal. We’re still young, and we can always start over."

Touched, Du Juan leaned her head on his shoulder, "We will definitely succeed. Fu Wang is a century-old brand; the products are reliable and competitively branded. We’ve managed to sell spicy bean curd strips nationwide, and we will surely make our egg rolls a household name too."

"Yeah, and I’ll be here to help you."

"I want to ask you something, why did you suddenly change your mind and resign to join me in starting a business?"

"That day, Sister Shen came to see me..."

After hearing what Shen Mingzhu had said to Shen Chaobei, Du Juan couldn’t help but feel admiration.

"I thought Sister Shen would hold a grudge because I resigned and withdrew my shares, that it would make us drift apart. It looks like I was the one with the mean thoughts."

"Sister Shen is not a petty person."

"Yeah."

...

Quancheng.

Through the glass, watching the equipment and machinery inside the aseptic laboratory, Xia Wushuang voiced her confusion, "President Shen, what are these for?"

"You’ll know soon enough. Come on, let’s get changed and get to work."

Hearing Shen Mingzhu’s call, Xia Wushuang touched her flat stomach, "President Shen, can’t we go grab something to eat first? Aren’t you hungry?"

After picking up the car keys and leaving the factory in the afternoon, Shen Mingzhu and Xia Wushuang drove straight to Quancheng.

Four hundred kilometers; it took them six hours even when they took turns driving.

Though they had some sweets along the way to hold them over, not having a proper meal didn’t feel right. ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com

"Don’t worry, you’ll get to eat in a bit."

Hearing this, Xia Wushuang thought Shen Mingzhu had already made arrangements, that someone would bring dinner over soon, or there might be a banquet or something, so she happily followed Shen Mingzhu to change.

After changing into a disinfection cap, face mask, goggles, gloves, and shoe covers, Xia Wushuang followed Shen Mingzhu into the aseptic lab.

It was already 9 p.m., but the lab was still brightly lit, apparently waiting specifically for Shen Mingzhu’s visit.

"""

"Sister Shen."

Seeing Meng Xiaoyang, Shen Mingzhu was quite surprised.

Though Meng Xiaoyang was an employee of Lihua, the entire group’s businesses were extremely wide-ranging, and the Electronics Information Department where Meng Xiaoyang worked was a completely different department compared to the Engineering Department.

"Technician Meng, long time no see."

Meng Xiaoyang smiled like a flower, "I heard you were coming and specially came over to wait for you. Have you guys had dinner yet?"

"Not yet!" Xia Wushuang blurted out.

Shen Mingzhu gave her a stern glance and explained to Meng Xiaoyang with a smile, "We’ll eat after finishing the work."

Meng Xiaoyang immediately said, "Then I’ll book a restaurant in advance, and we’ll go together after we’re done."

"Okay."

Led by the laboratory staff, the three of them arrived at the CNC console of the machinery.

The staff quickly set various parameters at the console, and the towering machinery began to operate.

Afterward, the staff led the three to the production line.

The staff loaded the fermentation-ready dough and prepared fillings into different containers in sequence.

Following the roar of machinery in operation, perfectly standardized and rounded pieces of dough dropped onto the conveyor belt like eggs laid by a hen, advanced to the pressing line for uniform molding, then entered the oven for the first bake.

Five minutes later, the mooncakes from the first bake were transferred to the next step—the cooling stage.

The cooled mooncakes were then moved to the next step—egg wash brushing, before going through the second baking.

During this process, the previous phases continued making and producing mooncakes.

The entire production process was fully automated, with no need for manual intervention.

Xia Wushuang watched, utterly astounded, "President Shen, is this what you meant by true strength?"

Shen Mingzhu nodded with a smile, "Replacing manual labor with a fully automated production line can not only increase productivity but also save a significant amount of manpower."

"But can machine-made mooncakes taste good?"

"Whether they taste good or not, we’ll know after we try."

Twenty minutes later, the first batch of mooncakes was officially completed.

The freshly baked mooncakes were steaming hot, yet Xia Wushuang couldn’t wait for them to cool and forked up a small square piece, blowing on it before popping it in her mouth.

"Sister Shen, here."

Meng Xiaoyang also was curious about the taste of the assembly line-produced mooncakes. After gallantly forking a piece for Shen Mingzhu, he sampled one himself.

"The taste is average, the crust is a bit hard, and it’s not as fluffy as the ones our workers make," Xia Wushuang was the first to express an opinion.

Meng Xiaoyang wasn’t knowledgeable about mooncakes and rarely ate them, so he kept quiet.

Shen Mingzhu explained, "It’s not a major problem, the issue is that the dough hasn’t risen well, and the ratios of water, oil, and syrup are off, plus the filling is a semi-finished product from the market. Once we switch to our own dough and fillings, the mooncakes will definitely be different."

Hearing this, excitement showed on Xia Wushuang’s face.

"With these machines, how much can our mooncake production increase?"

An R&D staff member explained, "One assembly line can produce 1,500 mooncakes per hour, which is 15,000 in ten hours. With a 90% pass rate, that would be around 13,500."

Xia Wushuang’s eyes widened slightly, "Ten hours can produce 13,500 qualified mooncakes—so in 24 hours of continuous operation, the output would be 32,400."

"President Shen, if we had three production lines, wouldn’t we be able to produce a hundred thousand mooncakes in a day?"

The R&D staff hurriedly explained, "That won’t do. Just like humans, machinery needs rest and adjustment, and everyday maintenance and repairs are also necessary. We recommend not exceeding ten hours of work per day."