Chapter 48: Chapter 48: Truly Unbelievable
Red Earth Industrial Zone.
Loud firecrackers echoed in front of a factory, where the newly hung sign for the Qingfeng Tea Factory was particularly eye-catching.
Passersby in the industrial zone merely glanced over, unfazed. After all, new factories frequently opened and closed here.
Especially a tea factory.
There were far too many people in Youcheng in the tea business.
This Qingfeng Tea Factory might open today and be out of business by next month.
At the factory entrance, Lu Feng, the boss, was naturally present.
The only others there were Da Fei and his two underlings, Chen Hai and Lin Qian.
Chen Hai and Lin Qian had already joined the factory as salespeople and would soon have to start drumming up business.
The two were street toughs who just messed around. If they had been asked to run errands and make sales for any other company, they definitely wouldn’t have done it. But since they ran with Da Fei, working for the Qingfeng Tea Factory was different.
As for Yang Ming’s other men, they had wanted to come, but both Lu Feng and Da Fei had told them not to. After all, Lin Xuecheng, the deputy county head, was on his way.
Amidst the sound of firecrackers, Lin Xuecheng’s car appeared, followed by Hu Quan’s car.
But to Lu Feng’s surprise, after the two men got out, another seven or eight middle-aged men and women stepped out of the cars.
"Boss Lu!" Lin Xuecheng spotted Lu Feng and immediately walked over with a smile. "Congratulations on the factory opening!"
"You’re too kind, Deputy County Head Lin." Lu Feng quickly replied, shaking Lin Xuecheng’s hand with a smile.
"Boss Lu, we meet again." Hu Quan also came forward, his face full of gratitude upon seeing Lu Feng. "I really have to thank you. I went to the hospital for a check-up, and it turns out there really was a problem with my lungs."
"President Hu, it was nothing," Lu Feng said with a smile.
Hu Quan immediately gestured for the seven or eight middle-aged men and women to come forward and introduced them to Lu Feng. "Boss Lu, these are all tea merchants. I invited them especially for you. They just arrived, so I brought them right over."
Lu Feng looked at the group in surprise, then greeted them warmly. "Welcome, everyone, to my tea factory."
He had a good idea of what Hu Quan was up to.
’Still, this is definitely a good thing for me.’
’After all, there’s no question about the quality of his Qingfeng Tea, but aside from those few bosses in Youcheng, he had no other sales channels.’
’Those bosses could make one box of tea last a long time; they weren’t going to buy Qingfeng Tea every day.’
’So, under normal circumstances, he would have to rely on Lin Qian and Chen Hai to drum up business and slowly open up the market.’
’Now that Hu Quan had helped by inviting these tea merchants, as long as they were satisfied with the Qingfeng Tea, they would surely place orders. This would be a great head start.’
’Besides, he was confident in his Qingfeng Tea.’
Lu Feng immediately invited Lin Xuecheng, Hu Quan, and all the tea merchants into the factory.
The tea production line had been draped with red silk for a more festive opening.
When the tea merchants saw the production line inside, their brows furrowed slightly.
"President Hu, didn’t you say this Qingfeng Tea was exceptional? Why is it being processed on a standard assembly line like this?"
"That’s right. For high-quality tea, even if you use machines for processing, it should be a specialized production line. Certain steps still require hands-on supervision."
"..."
Hu Quan didn’t know how to explain. He also knew that the more standard the assembly line, the lower the quality of the tea.
He could only look at Lu Feng questioningly.
Lu Feng naturally knew what they were thinking and said at once, "Everyone, nothing is absolute. Why don’t you wait for the tea to be processed and try it for yourselves?"
Hearing this, Hu Quan could only say awkwardly to the tea merchants, "Everyone, Boss Lu is right. Let’s try it first before we say any more."
The tea merchants already looked disappointed, but since Hu Quan had said as much, they gave him face and nodded.
But their interest had clearly waned. They didn’t seem to have much hope for this Qingfeng Tea.
No matter how much Hu Quan hyped it up, they would only believe what they saw with their own eyes.
"Da Fei, start the production line. Let’s process the tea!" Lu Feng instructed.
"Got it." Da Fei nodded.
A moment later, the production line started up.
The first step was pouring the tea leaves into the line’s hopper, which then began feeding them into the system for production.
Of course, none of this was the most crucial part.
After all, the key to Qingfeng Tea was the special tea powder.
The machine that mixed the special powder would certainly not be turned on in front of these outsiders. They had already prepared the powder and loaded it into the production line’s additive dispenser.
Watching the production line run, the disappointment in the tea merchants’ eyes deepened.
They were familiar with this type of production line. Based on its processing steps, it was simply impossible to produce any high-quality tea.
This kind of line was most commonly used for tea that sold for around 50 yuan per pound.
「Time passed.」
As the tea merchants were growing impatient, the first batch of tea for the grand opening was finally processed right in front of Lin Xuecheng, Hu Quan, and all of them.
Da Fei placed the tea leaves into a small bamboo basket and brought it before everyone.
Lu Feng also said, "Deputy County Head Lin, President Hu, all you bosses, now you can taste the tea."
Naturally, there was a tea table set up in the factory.
Da Fei sat down at the table and began to brew the tea.
A moment later, a pot of Qingfeng Tea was ready.
Lin Xuecheng and Hu Quan led the way and sat at the tea table.
Seeing this, the others had no choice but to sit as well. Since Hu Quan had invited them, they still had to show him some courtesy.
Da Fei immediately poured a cup for everyone.
Seeing this, everyone at the table picked up a cup and took a sip to taste it.
The moment Lin Xuecheng took a sip, his eyes lit up. He had tried Qingfeng Tea before, and this was exactly the same!
But the expressions on the faces of the tea merchants were a little strange.
"Huh?" one tea merchant exclaimed in surprise. "The flavor of this tea is unexpectedly good."
Another tea merchant said in amazement, "What a rich aroma, and that aftertaste... I’m afraid even teas that cost over ten thousand a box can’t compare."
A third merchant added, "I stock a tea that sells for 15,000 a box, and its aroma and aftertaste are inferior to this. It’s not as refreshing, either. This is incredible! To think this kind of tea can be produced on such a simple production line."
The tea merchants were clearly in disbelief.
In other words, this defied their common sense. Neither the production line nor its processing steps should have been able to produce such high-quality tea.
One merchant asked in amazement, "Boss Lu, how many servings are in a box of your tea? What’s the retail price?"
Another merchant also asked, "Yes, what’s the wholesale price if we order from you? And what’s the suggested retail price?"
This was clearly what they were most concerned about.
This was definitely a premium tea. Even if it were sold for 15,000, it would still taste better than other teas at that price point.
Lu Feng smiled and explained, "A box contains 16 servings and costs 7,500 yuan. As for the retail price, if you want to stock it, you can set your own price for now. We still need to do some market research before setting a standard price later."
’Actually, 7,500 yuan was the retail price at the Qingfeng Tea House. But that didn’t really matter—the Qingfeng Tea House was his, so it was basically a direct-from-manufacturer sale.’
’These people were all saying Qingfeng Tea was better than teas that cost 15,000 a box. Now that he had outside distribution channels, there was no need to sell it cheap.’
Hearing Lu Feng’s words, the tea merchants’ eyes lit up.
’Sixteen servings a box... selling this for 15,000 shouldn’t be hard at all. With this tea’s flavor and aftertaste, it would probably sell very well.’
’A wholesale price of 7,500 meant there was definitely a profit to be made.’
At this thought, one of the tea merchants said, "Boss Lu, as for this Qingfeng Tea, I can start by taking 200 boxes on a trial basis."
Another tea merchant chimed in, "I can also take 100 boxes to try out."
"I can take 200 boxes as well."
"I’ll take 200 boxes, too."
One by one, the tea merchants stated their intentions.
Their current eagerness was a stark contrast to their earlier skepticism.
Nearby, Da Fei’s face was filled with delight as he heard them. He silently calculated the total number of boxes they wanted to order, which came to a grand total of 1,300.
At 7,500 yuan a box, that was a total of 9.75 million yuan—nearly ten million.
This was definitely a roaring start.
