1283 “Osmanthus Braised Meat”
After careful consideration, Qiao Mei came up with a temporary plan for now. There were still many rough edges that needed to be gradually smoothened out. She would slowly make improvements as she went along.

In the wee hours every morning, Chi Ze had to do the difficult task of going to the slaughterhouse to buy the freshest batch of pig offal. When he returned, he would hand it over to the womenfolk. By the time the women finished processing it, it would be around 7 a.m.

The space at home was not big enough to accommodate the pig offal from 20 pigs, nor did they have a pot that was big enough to contain everything. Qiao Mei was currently buying the pig offal at the price of 25 cents per pound and about five pigs’ worth at a time. The price was high, so Director Qiao naturally did not say anything.

Once Xia Wen completed the renovations on the other place, they would be able to move to the suburbs to work and would not have to work tensely in this cramped and small courtyard.

Zhao Fei had bought a new van and it was now even more convenient for him to transport the goods. There were many people helping him with the sales now. Zhao Fei had asked many of his relatives and friends to help out. As his business grew bigger, he kept an even lower profile. It seemed that this person was a good business partner.

Every morning, Zhao Fei would drive to Qiao Mei’s place to pick up the goods. No matter what he picked up, he would proceed to sell it. He accepted whatever cost price and selling price that Qiao Mei stated.

At first, he was a little unwilling to do so. After all, the cost price which Qiao Mei offered him was very close to the selling price. What he wanted was to earn more money! Qiao Mei said that his idea was termed market disruption and that although he could make huge profits in the short term, it was not a long-term solution. It was better to be down-to-earth and sell the goods in a slow and steady manner.

When Qiao Mei decided to sell braised meat, she had asked her elderly neighbor to help her modify the three-wheeled vehicle. They could now put four gas stoves at the back and connect them to the gas pipe at the side using wires at the bottom. One gas pipe was enough for Li Gui to use for more than a week!

Braised meat did not taste good once it got cold. It was best to sell it while it was hot. It was a good time to enter the market now and they did not want to miss out on the opportunity.

They had so much pig offal that they could not manage to process everything for sale. A lot of it was given to the neighbors for free as compensation for the disturbance caused to them during this period of time. With that, everyone’s attitude towards Qiao Mei running a business secretly softened a lot. Who did not like having things for free every month?

Other people could not even manage to buy the goods that Qiao Mei was selling. It was so good that they could get it for free! It was not right to be picky.

“Mom, go and try it out today and see if it sells well. We’ll just sell a bit over the next two days. The main thing is to introduce our products to the market and let everyone know about us,” Qiao Mei pulled Li Gui aside and reminded her.

“What market?” Li Gui asked.

“It’s the way everyone buys and sells things. A market is a place where you conduct business. What we call a black market means an underground market!” Qiao Mei explained patiently.

Li Gui carefully noted down everything that Qiao Mei said. If she did not understand something, she would write it down with a pen in her notebook. She carried a small notebook with her every day so that she could write down the things that she did not understand. If she did not know how to write the word, she would replace it with phonetics. If phonetics was also not possible, she would do drawings. It was fine as long as she could understand it when she got home.

There were so many educated people in the family, so she could ask anyone and have them explain it to her. Qiao Mei had said before that their family business must eventually expand and become the best in the country!

In the beginning, Li Gui just wanted to make enough money to support her family. However, since Qiao Mei said that they could do more, then she must study hard! According to Qiao Mei, they had to have standards and rules and could not do things in a haphazard manner anymore. This was the only way they could do business for a long time and grow it bigger.

This was what was meant by “nothing can be done without rules”.

“I understand now. Then what should I tell people? We don’t have a brand name yet, so it’s not that convenient to introduce ourselves,” Li Gui said as she looked at the four big metal containers in the vehicle.

Qiao Mei thought about it seriously. Li Gui liked to grow flowers the most and she even had the word “Gui”, meaning osmanthus, in her name. In that case, let’s use the name “Osmanthus Braised Meat”!
“Mom, what do you think of this name? In the future, our products can all be branded with the word ‘Osmanthus’. It’ll be so recognizable!” Qiao Mei said excitedly.

“Good, good, good. That’s a good name! I like it very much!” Li Gui said happily.

It was almost lunchtime. Li Gui did not continue to talk to Qiao Mei. She had to hurry up and sell the goods at this hour. If she delayed any longer, it would be too late!