Chapter 415: Finally Obtaining the Distillery

Due to the tight schedule, the group only exchanged simple pleasantries and rested briefly at the bride's home before returning to Sijiucheng.

Hurrying along, they made it back before twelve o'clock; as soon as the He Daqing brothers heard the firecrackers outside, they began wielding their spatulas, and soon, dish after dish of delicious food was served on the table.

"Fragrant! I've been eating the food made by this Master Worker since Ping'an held the roof-beam ceremony for his house, and even now, it still leaves a lingering aftertaste."

"Indeed, it's super fragrant; I feel like I'm floating on air."

"Me too."

"Hahaha."

The atmosphere at the banquet was joyful, and everyone was satisfied with both the food and the wine. Soon, Weiping came out with the bride to toast the guests, and friends and family showered the pair with more praise.

The banquet broke up at one in the afternoon. The He Daqing brothers did not accept payment, and both cut off some meat to take home for their wives and children to taste.

Zhang Qingwan's employment file was also transferred here, and like Liu Shujun, she began teaching at Hongxing Primary School.

"Aunt's husband, the matter in Yantai City has been completely resolved. Uncle Liu asked me to let you know."

"Good, I understand. This time, I owe a lot to Big Brother. I will go visit him in a couple of days."

"Mm, okay, I will tell Big Uncle. Then, Aunt's husband, I'll head back first."

"Mm."

It seems the matter has come to an end, and it is time to take a trip to Yantai. This distillery is something I have been longing for; I hope it doesn't disappoint me.

Two days later, on his day off, Zhang Ping'an brought wine and tea leaves to the Zhong Family.

"Father, Mother, Big Brother, Second Brother, Eldest Sister."

"Mm. This time, you acted a bit rashly. Don't mess around with those security details of yours in the future; the country is not as simple as you think."

"If they want to investigate you, your every move will be under surveillance. The State has its own laws and regulations. If everyone acted like you, wouldn't it be total chaos?"

"Yes, Father. I was indeed lacking in consideration."

Zhang Ping'an felt a chill in his heart at Zhong Laotou's words. He had indeed been a bit muddled; for the sake of his own selfish desires, he had dared to monitor a State Cadre without authorization. Fortunately, they were all people he could trust, and Zhong Laotou was still there to cover for him from above.

"Mm, you still need to consider things from multiple angles in the future. I won't be able to protect you for many more years."

When Zhong Laotou said this, Zhang Ping'an subconsciously scanned his physical condition. It was not bad; barring any major accidents, living another eight or ten years would not be a problem.

As long as Zhong Laotou was still around, the Zhong Family would be different. The two Zhong Zhenbei brothers would reach retirement age in seven or eight years, but fortunately, the third generation of the Zhong Family had also grown up.

"Father, what are you saying? Ping'an, hurry and check on Father."

"Okay."

"I'm fine." However, Zhang Ping'an still reached out to take his pulse.

"It's indeed fine. Father's body is in great shape, similar to the state of a seventy-year-old."

"Phew~"

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. They had just been startled by Zhong Laotou's words and thought…

After leaving the Zhong Family, Zhang Ping'an rested at home for a few more days before setting off for Yantai to meet with Liu Haiyang.

"Little Brother, I still underestimated you. I didn't expect you to be so resourceful, but you should use such methods less in the future."

"Mm, okay. I was indeed too rash this time."

Liu Haiyang had clearly also been admonished by the elders in his family. He was unable to remain in Yantai and would instead go to Luzhou to take up his post.

"I have delayed my appointment in Luzhou until July. Everything is waiting until I help Secretary Liu and Mayor Wei get familiar with Yantai before I go to Luzhou."

"The current Secretary Liu and Mayor Wei were both parachuted in from above. They both come from the Discipline Inspection Commission, which shows how disappointed the higher-ups are with Yantai."

"Indeed, who could have imagined it was so deeply intertwined? But after experiencing this growing pain, I believe Yantai will get better and better."

"I hope so. You should make a contracting plan for the distillery; there is a high probability that you will get the green light now."

"However, the distillery is a mess right now. Most of the factory leaders have been arrested, and there aren't many people left in the factory who can take charge."

"It's fine. I've said it before, as long as the Old Cellar Pool is intact, that's all that matters."

"Alright, as long as you have a plan in mind. The Old Cellar Pool is fine; I even went to take a look at it myself."

The next day, Zhang Ping'an's contracting plan was submitted. If nothing went wrong, there would be results in a few days.

Sure enough, a few days later, the Industrial Bureau finally approved Zhang Ping'an's contracting plan, and Zhang Ping'an was finally able to see the splendor of that old cellar pool from the previous dynasty.

Then, led by people from the Industrial Bureau, Zhang Ping'an toured the distillery. The distillery was not large, covering less than three hundred mu, with over six hundred employees.

Finally, Zhang Ping'an followed the Master Worker down to the cellar pool alone. This cellar pool was actually made of yellow mud. He looked at it carefully; the dozens of pools at the very inside were indeed old cellar pools, with at least two hundred years of history.

"General Manager Zhang, there are a total of forty-two old cellar pools here that are over two hundred years old, plus over two hundred cellar pools that we built later, which also have several decades of history."

"Mm, not bad, not bad."

Although the scale was a bit small, they could continue to build more later. Smelling the rich aroma of the wine, Zhang Ping'an was more satisfied the more he looked.

After years of accumulation, although Zhang Ping'an had sold quite a bit of the old wine from his space, he still had several hundred thousand tons left, which was enough to support this distillery without any problems.

"Master Yu, how many Master Workers do we still have in the factory?"

"Including me, there are fifty-two in total. Our ancestors basically all worked in this distillery."

"Good, good, good."

These people were all treasures. Their ancestral brewing skills, like the Yang-style Lei, were all the more valuable the older they were.

Moreover, most of these people were over fifty years old and would retire in about ten years. He had to find a way to preserve the brewing techniques in their heads.

Although he also knew how to brew wine, Zhang Ping'an was worried that rashly changing the brewing method would cause the microbial flora in the cellar pools to change as well.

Half a month later, the Oriental Group completely took over the distillery and changed its name to the Eastern Distillery.

Zhang Ping'an had not been idle during this half-month; he had sent people to visit and investigate the situation of all the employees in the distillery. They were basically all honest and hardworking people, with very few troublemakers.

After taking over, Zhang Ping'an posted the Group's 10S Management System in every workshop, just waiting for a troublemaker to make an example of.

"Everyone, our distillery is privately contracted, which means it is a private enterprise. You should have all seen the employee regulations and the distillery management system."

"I hope everyone can abide by them. We..." Zhang Ping'an was interrupted before he could finish.

"This leader, the regulations you mentioned, all those rules and restrictions, aren't they just binding us? You Capitalist want to suck the blood of us Workers, don't you?"

"Exactly."

"Exactly."

When someone took the lead, others responded, and Zhang Ping'an noted them down one by one.

"Good, for those who object, we can discuss it slowly."

Six people stood up directly, looking at Zhang Ping'an with provocative expressions.

"Very well, you six are fired. We will arrange the relevant compensation in place; we will not mistreat any employee."

"You dare? I'm going to report you to the government."

Zhang Ping'an couldn't even be bothered to pay them any mind; he simply waved his hand to have security kick them out.

"Is there anyone else who objects now?"

"Good, then let's talk about our wages and benefits: five days on, two days off, eight to five, with a thirty-yuan increase on the original base salary."

"There will be varying benefits for holidays, and later on, we will also build a staff residential compound; everyone present will have the opportunity to obtain one."

"..."

Zhang Ping'an spoke about a series of other benefits and perks, and one by one, they looked at Zhang Ping'an with surprise, also feeling fortunate that they hadn't been the ones to stick their necks out.