Chapter 423: Chapter 423: Ran into the Manager
"Hey, stop right there, what are you doing? Stealing in broad daylight."
This sentence made everyone present pause for a moment, and they turned around to look. At that time, a middle-aged man approached them.
"Who are you?"
He looked up at the man. Liu Zheng just felt this person was somewhat unfamiliar, and judging by his appearance, he didn’t seem to be an ordinary villager.
"Who am I? Shouldn’t I be the one asking you that question? I belong to this factory. Who are you and what are you doing here in broad daylight?"
"Look here, young man, you should speak respectfully when talking to the village chief. This is our new village chief, his name is Liu Zheng."
Upon hearing this, Li Dazhuang was somewhat displeased, so with a leap, he jumped down from above.
After he finished speaking, the middle-aged man was clearly startled, but eventually, he sized up Liu Zheng from head to toe once again.
"Oh, so you’re Doctor Liu. I’m terribly sorry, Chief Liu; I didn’t recognize you. I have had no idea, despite having lived in the village for several years now. I’ve never had the chance to meet you."
Hearing Liu Zheng’s identity, the man’s attitude changed significantly right away.
"I don’t think I’ve seen you around the village. Are you from this village? And what is your relationship with the breeding farm?"
"Doctor Liu, you really don’t know me? But then again, I’ve been away from the village for so many years, and even though I work at the breeding farm, I usually drive in and out, so I’ve had no direct contact with you all. I’m Liu Erdong."
Liu Erdong—Li Dazhuang had just mentioned this name; he was the person in charge of the breeding farm.
It turned out Liu Zheng had, indeed, summoned the person running the breeding farm. However, Liu Zheng felt this trip was worthwhile, as at the very least, he came to understand the full picture and what was on his mind.
"So it’s you, Director Liu. It’s not easy to finally meet you. I’ve only heard your name before but have never seen you. Here we are, having heard so much about the breeding farm of the past, but never before realizing the situation. I’ve just taken office, so I wanted to see if there were any current difficulties."
"Well, speaking of understanding the people’s conditions, Chief, let me tell you, the breeding farm has been losing money for years. There’s no helping it, I’m barely clinging on here, struggling to survive. That’s why I run some small side businesses when I have time and come here occasionally to check on things. Come on, everyone, please come in."
He appeared quite warm and hospitable, not seeming to have anything to hide. Eventually, he took out a set of keys and opened the large iron gate.
After the big iron gate was pushed open, Liu Zheng truly got a sense of the scale of the breeding farm—it was incredibly large, and he could hardly see the end of it.
All around were sheds, and upon entering, he didn’t notice any particular odors.
"The scale of this breeding farm really isn’t small."
"Yes, indeed. A lot of money was invested when it was built, and this entire expanse is encompassed by the farm. In its heyday, it indeed bred many, many things—at one point, there might have been around 40,000 heads. But now, there are only a few animals left."
As Liu Erdong explained the situation, Liu Zheng followed him farther into the facility.
First, they passed a chicken coop with approximately 40 chickens inside, which seemed in good condition.
Beyond that, he saw some sheep and two cows.
Other than that, Liu Zheng didn’t spot much else.
"What’s going on here? Are these all the animals you have? Are there any others?"
"Oh, that’s not it. Further over there, we have some ducks and geese, and also some birds. Although few and scattered, if we talk about the overall scale, it’s much less than it was at the beginning."
"So, what are you relying on for profits now? I checked the village committee’s accounts, and I found that it’s almost living on loans year after year, spending more than it’s earning, not even able to pay the staff’s wages."
"Initially, it was just about manageable for a while, but then an epidemic hit two years ago. I believe you would have heard about it at that time. Many animals died, and to prevent the epidemic from spreading, we had to bury them all in lime. We lost a lot of money in that disaster."
"But if things continue this way, won’t it just get tougher? And you need to find a way to self-rescue. Moreover, another thing—if you don’t have any animals now, you could breed some, purchase new breeds, couldn’t you? Slowly, you could scale up, couldn’t you?"
"Breeding, purchasing new breeds—I’ve put forward these ideas before. I discussed them with the old village chief too, but he always deflected, saying the village committee’s accounts simply had no money left. I couldn’t finance it all out of my own pocket, could I? Even these chickens were initially brought from elsewhere and then bred to this point."
"Director Liu, you can’t just let these difficulties continue, can you? And as the person in charge of the factory, you must find a way to help yourself, right?"
"Yes, certainly, I’ve wanted to find a way to get through this, but the key issue is, I currently lack the capacity to do so. Chief Liu, do you know how many people the breeding farm has now? Including me, I’m afraid it’s no more than five."
"I heard about some of these issues while I was on my way here; so essentially, the farm’s account is nearly empty, is that correct?"
"Yes, practically out of money. Come, let’s go inside and talk."
As they talked, they walked toward an office building on the premises, and several people followed him inside.
