Chapter 28: Chapter 28: Before the New Year
The 2025 Chinese New Year fell on January 28th.
As a result, the company adjusted the eel farm’s production schedule. They produced around 22.8 million glass eels in the first half of the month and sold them quickly. All sales and shipping for the period before the New Year were concluded by January 15th; afterward, the company only accepted pre-orders.
In fact, of the 22.8 million produced in the first half of January, 14.36 million had already been ordered by various farms at the end of last December, so the sales pressure wasn’t high.
On the afternoon of the 21st, the cold wind whistled, and the winter sun set exceptionally early.
Jiang Miao had just returned from Nanhu Farm.
As soon as he got back to his office, a group of managers came over.
"Boss, here are this month’s sales figures," Li Zhou said, handing him the sales report.
Jiang Miao glanced through the report, then nodded with a smile. "Not bad."
Although the sales price had dipped slightly, the sales department’s revenue for January still reached 49.82 million yuan, for an average of 2.51 yuan per glass eel.
Next, Zhang Xinyi submitted the January sales report for the online store department. The figures on this report showed a significant improvement over the previous month.
"Good work. Keep it up," Jiang Miao encouraged.
The online store department’s total revenue for January was 8.09 million yuan. Of that, 7.37 million came from existing customers ordering eel fry online, while the remaining 720,000 was from sales of feed and canned eel.
Regarding the canned eel, the retort-pouch grilled eel developed by Li Xinhua in October had become the main driver of sales. Inexpensive Japanese restaurants and Japanese takeout places in the Pearl River Delta and Chaoshan Regions were purchasing it in bulk to use as an ingredient.
The reason the retort-pouch grilled eel became a hit was that the culled female eels were raised in ponds for about a month and fed a specific diet, which metabolized most of the geosmin in their bodies, removing the muddy taste.
Anyone who has cooked fish knows that the muddy taste is often masked when the fish is served hot, right out of the pan.
However, once the cooked fish cools down, the muddy taste in lower-quality fish becomes obvious.
This is why, for many Japanese restaurants, there’s often a noticeable difference between the grilled eel served for dine-in and the same dish for takeout, even when using the same techniques and ingredients.
Therefore, Hailufeng’s retort-pouch grilled eel—being moderately priced, high-quality, and without a noticeable muddy taste—became the top choice of raw material for many budget Japanese restaurants.
Of that 720,000 yuan in sales, at least 580,000 was generated by the retort-pouch grilled eel.
As for the traditional tinplate cans, their sales performance was difficult to describe. If it weren’t for a bulk purchase by local and Chaoshan Region supermarkets, they likely would have struggled to gain any traction online.
After reviewing the sales reports from the sales and online store departments, Ye Meijing, seeing that Jiang Miao had a moment, seized the opportunity to quickly report on the company’s financial situation for January.
"...Boss, based on the data from the sales and online store departments, plus the technology licensing fee, the company’s total revenue for this month is 162.91 million yuan. The sales department contributed 49.82 million, the online store department 8.09 million, and technology licensing income was 105 million."
In reality, 15 million US dollars of that technology licensing fee had not yet been received. That money was expected to arrive in April, as Rokkaido Eel Company needed to complete its technical verification before they would pay the final installment to Hailufeng Company.
Ye Meijing then went on to report the company’s expenditures for the month.
"...Salaries, performance bonuses, and special subsidies totaled 1.13 million yuan. Property management fees were 1.74 million. Utilities—water, electricity, and gas—came to 187,532 yuan. We spent 13,200 on office supplies, 70,000 on holiday gifts, 520,000 on raw materials, and 3.57 million on purchasing mature eels..."
"The bids for the two laboratories came to 72 million. The industrial land purchase was 2.46 million, farm equipment was 160,000, and the purchase of trucks and company cars was 2.75 million..."
"Total expenditures amounted to 85,718,509 yuan."
Jiang Miao reviewed the figures. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
The property management fees were so high because the rent for some of the sites was paid annually or quarterly, with almost none being paid monthly.
As January was the first month of 2025, many of these property fees came due.
However, the company’s biggest expense was still the investment in the two laboratories.
The company contracted to build the two labs was a specialized laboratory engineering firm from Peng City. They had already sent someone over to sign the contract a few days ago.
Construction on the laboratories would begin after the Chinese New Year.
The site chosen for the laboratories was in Nanhu Village, right across the highway from the company headquarters, less than a hundred meters away.
The location was a 50-mu plot of open land at the foot of a mountain.
Land leveling and foundation work were already underway.
Although the expenditures were substantial, the company’s revenue could support them.
"January’s profit is 77,201,438 yuan. Last year’s surplus was 36,832,581 yuan. The company’s current liquid capital is 114,034,019 yuan."
Clearly, Hailufeng Company was in excellent financial health, with over a hundred million yuan in liquid assets on its books.
However, considering that last year’s surplus was post-tax profit, Jiang Miao had already transferred that money into his personal account to avoid mixing it with the company’s corporate funds.
Since Hailufeng Company was a sole proprietorship, he didn’t need to go through a board of directors or anything similar and could, of course, transfer post-tax profits into his own account.
If the funds were needed later, he could always reinject them as new capital.
After hearing the financial report, Jiang Miao moved on to arranging the company’s holiday schedule. He had already promoted HR Manager Jiang Haibo to Deputy General Manager to help him manage the company’s daily affairs.
Therefore, creating the holiday leave schedule was Jiang Haibo’s responsibility.
"Boss, this is the staggered holiday schedule I’ve prepared. Please review it."
Jiang Miao examined it carefully.
Jiang Haibo’s plan was decent, taking employees’ family situations into account.
Out-of-town employees would start their leave on the 25th to travel home to visit family and return to work on the fifth day of the New Year.
Local employees were divided into two groups. One group, consisting of employees whose families lived right in Magong Town, would continue to work as usual. This was especially true for security guards, farm growers, and the technicians and keepers at the breeding base, as some staff had to remain on duty.
The other group, whose families were local but not near Magong Town, would start their leave on the 27th and also return on the fifth day of the New Year.
However, the three industry managers all chose not to take a break.
His brother-in-law was worried about the eels at the breeding base.
Li Xinhua planned to bring his family over to Magong Town to celebrate the New Year.
Lü Weibin was tempted by the triple pay during the holiday period. Plus, his home was in nearby Jinting Bay, so it wouldn’t stop him from having New Year’s Eve dinner with his family.
As for Jiang Haibo, his hometown was in Gannan. He planned to go home for the New Year and bring his parents back with him. He had decided to settle down in Shanmei City after the holidays, mainly because he was dating a local girl.
There was another reason: Jiang Miao’s uncannily accurate "medical skills."
That fellow Li Ke from the tax bureau had already had his surgery a while ago. Just a few days back, he had even come by with a fruit basket to thank Jiang Miao.
Combined with Jiang Miao’s previous demonstrations, the company’s employees were thoroughly convinced of his medical abilities. When it came to diagnosing illnesses, at least, his perception was considered infallible.
Because of this, many employees planned to take advantage of this special perk. If their family members lived nearby, they could ask the boss to take a look if anyone wasn’t feeling well.
Jiang Miao didn’t refuse. He just asked the employees not to be too public about it and to limit it to their immediate family.
After all, this was good for internal cohesion and increased Jiang Miao’s authority within the company.
Just because Hailufeng Company was a sole proprietorship, one shouldn’t assume Jiang Miao could just strong-arm all his employees into submission. Being the sole owner only meant he could make unilateral decisions within the company; the genuine admiration of his employees was not something that could be obtained so easily.
By providing free medical consultations, Jiang Miao had cultivated an excellent image in the hearts of his employees.
It was a classic case of "love me, love my dog."
This was something Jiang Miao could sense in his daily interactions.
If someone was hiding something, unless they were a highly trained agent, he could easily tell what they were thinking as soon as their heart rate sped up and their hormones fluctuated.
After all, while a person might be able to hide their joy, anger, sorrow, or happiness behind a poker face, it was much harder to hide their body’s hormonal secretions.
When a person got excited, their brain’s dopamine secretion increased.
Other emotions also came with their own hormonal fluctuations.
In Jiang Miao’s eyes, practically nothing could be hidden.
