Chapter 279: Large Yellow Croaker

As soon as Factory Director Chen entered the meeting room, the previously lively space instantly fell silent. He then said, “This meeting was initiated by me. Comrade Zhou Yimin, our newly arrived expert here to support us, has proposed a set of safety production regulations for the workshops.”

“Everyone, take a look and share your thoughts.”

The leaders present began reviewing the proposal carefully. They soon found it to be excellent, and a unanimous vote passed it swiftly.

Seeing this, Section Chief Wang finally felt relieved, having been worried that such a good proposal might not be approved.

Factory Director Chen then said, “Since no one has any objections, reforming all four workshops at once would definitely stretch our manpower. Let’s start with Workshop No.1 and roll it out step by step.”

Over the following days, the staff at Workshop No.1 not only had to standardize the placement of materials—unlike before, when things were placed randomly—they also had to adjust to the new habits. Although it was uncomfortable at first, they gradually adapted and began to see the benefits.

Everyone had different habits, which meant materials used to be placed in all kinds of locations. Sometimes it took a while just to find something. But now that everything was organized and placed uniformly, it was much easier to find items right away.

This significantly improved efficiency.

Moreover, the tidiness of the workshop also enhanced the working environment. Although the initial deep cleaning took some time, from then on, as long as the space was cleaned daily, it remained neat.

When Factory Director Chen and the others came to inspect, they were quite pleased. It might have been just their imagination, but it felt like even the workers’ spirits had lifted.

It seemed this reform had been quite successful, and everyone’s contributions would certainly be recognized—making many people very satisfied.

After all, who wouldn’t appreciate credit that came easily?

Most of the leadership at the rice cooker factory had taken quite a liking to Zhou Yimin. With such a capable employee, many hoped he could stay—after all, it would be a win-win for everyone.

Several people even went to speak with Factory Director Chen to express their hopes.

Factory Director Chen also very much wanted Zhou Yimin to stay. Lately, he’d been asking Master Jian to prepare all kinds of delicious dishes in hopes of winning Zhou Yimin over through his stomach.

Truth be told, compared to other factors, the biggest advantage of their factory was being an export-oriented one, which meant slightly better benefits.

But the steel plant was the largest in all of Forty-Nine City and had its own natural advantages.

After all, many resources were prioritized for the capital, Forty-Nine City. The only unique edge he could think of now was food. For the time being, he had no better idea.

Over the past few days, Zhou Yimin had been living quite comfortably. Other than being busy in the beginning, the R&D department had been swamped from morning till night and had no time to consult him.

Each day, he just strolled around the workshops, inspecting for potential issues and improvements. Whenever he thought of something from the future that might be useful here, he’d propose it, to see if it could help the rice cooker factory.

One day, while wandering the factory, Zhou Yimin saw someone transporting something into the cafeteria. Curious, he followed them.

He arrived at the kitchen’s cold storage and saw boxes being moved inside.

The cafeteria manager quickly stepped forward and greeted him, “Expert Zhou, it’s not meal time yet. Are you hungry? I can have Master Jian whip up a couple of quick dishes to tide you over?”

Zhou Yimin was now quite the big name in the factory, and as cafeteria manager, this man dared not offend him.

Zhou Yimin shook his head. “No, I’m just curious what’s being delivered.”

After all, he’d worked in procurement—if he could bring some seafood back for his grandparents to try, that’d be a nice gesture.

Even though his internal store had such items, it always felt a bit awkward to pull them out without explanation.

The cafeteria manager breathed a sigh of relief—he’d thought it was something serious.

“If you want to see, come take a closer look. It’s nothing rare.”

As he spoke, he opened one of the boxes, revealing golden-colored fish.

Zhou Yimin was instantly shocked.

These were large yellow croakers. In the future, these would be rare delicacies—expensive and hard to find even if you had money. Wild large yellow croaker, in particular.

The large yellow croaker is a valuable edible economic fish, one of the traditional four major marine fisheries in China.

It has high economic value, tender meat, and is rich in protein—an excellent fresh delicacy. It can be sold fresh, canned, or processed into “melon-style dried croaker” or “yellow croaker jerky,” and is suitable for comprehensive utilization. The fish bladder can be dried into a delicacy called “fish maw,” and also processed into yellow croaker glue, a high-grade adhesive used in industry.

Additionally, it’s said the large yellow croaker has medicinal value. It serves as an ingredient in both Chinese and Western medicine. The roasted and yellowed fish bladder becomes a traditional Chinese medicine known as “fish maw gelatin pearls,” used to treat peptic ulcers, kidney stones, etc. The otoliths, when ground into powder and combined with other herbs, become “fish brain stone powder,” effective in treating sinusitis.

In the box Zhou Yimin saw, some of the croakers weighed over three to four jin. In the future, such fish would easily cost tens of thousands of yuan—and even then, you might not be able to buy one.

He hadn’t expected people in this era to also live such a “Versailles” lifestyle—it caught him off guard.

In fact, large yellow croaker at this time wasn’t considered rare at all. There were plenty of them, and they weren’t worth much.

Noticing Zhou Yimin’s obvious interest, the cafeteria manager offered, “Expert Zhou, would you be interested in experiencing the joy of fishing at sea?”

As someone who had managed to become cafeteria manager, he clearly had some skills—at the very least, he was observant.

He had relatives who went out to sea to fish, so seafood didn’t surprise him. But considering that Forty-Nine City didn’t have such delicacies, this was a great opportunity to build rapport. Maybe, if the higher-ups saw how well he took care of Zhou Yimin, it might earn him a promotion. Otherwise, he’d probably be stuck in this position until retirement.

The next step up from cafeteria manager was deputy director of logistics. A promotion would mean a completely different landscape, and the perks would increase too.

Hearing the suggestion, Zhou Yimin was a bit tempted but still asked, “Wouldn’t that be too much trouble?”

After all, he was here for work, not to have fun.

“Not at all. Tomorrow’s Sunday, a rest day. If you’re interested, I’ve got a relative who can take you out to sea,” the cafeteria manager replied.

Zhou Yimin, hearing this, stopped playing coy. “Alright then! I’ll take you up on that. And don’t call me ‘Expert Zhou’—that’s too formal. Just call me Zhou Yimin or Yimin.”

Since the other party had already said so much, it wouldn’t be right for him to keep acting distant. He’d been wanting to try the thrill of sea fishing anyway. Besides, he’d never eaten wild large yellow croaker before—this would be a perfect chance to have a taste.

(End of chapter)