"What did you say? Say it again? You've gone too far!"
The production director pointed a finger at Yu Dong's nose, surprised by his retort.
Yu Dong squinted at him and said word by word, "The production formula is fixed, the materials are your responsibility to store!
I already warned you that the product color is unattractive, you said it's fine to use it as it is, now the product has defects, and you blame the technician? I'm not serving you anymore!"
"You're shirking responsibility! You've gone too far, I will report to the manager, and have you fired!"
"Fired? Perfect! If you don't keep me here, I'll find a place that will! I'm not serving you anymore! Hurry up and report, so I don't have to resign!"
After enduring for a long time, Yu Dong had never been this relieved. He had already secured another job, so he had no psychological burden and finally stood firm in the workshop.
With heated words exchanged, the workshop director, in his anger, immediately reported it. Yu Dong didn't resign voluntarily, but was rather dismissed by the company.
Yu Dong was clearly the innocent party, being dismissed was more advantageous than resigning himself, and he got quite a bit of compensation money effortlessly.
...
Within two days, Yu Dong completed all the resignation procedures and directly contacted Zhang Yang.
On the third morning, Zhang Yang personally brought Yu Dong to the company office to meet with President Zhao for new employment procedures.
"This is the research expert I found, Yu Dong! This is our company's general manager, Manager Zhao, Zhao Bingguang!
President Zhao will handle your employment, and for the subsequent laboratory setup, the materials, equipment, and supplies you need, you are responsible for reporting them, and the company will approve them!
The short-term goal is to set up the laboratory framework first!"
Upon meeting, Zhang Yang immediately introduced both parties.
"Hello, President Zhao, my name is Yu Dong!" Yu Dong greeted with neither humility nor arrogance.
Zhao Bingguang rose to shake hands with him, "Welcome aboard! Zhang Yang trusts you, and I trust you too. You can directly liaise with me for any requirements, and I'll do my best to accommodate you!"
Privately, Zhang Yang had already briefed President Zhao, who trusted Zhang Yang's judgment and was very courteous towards Yu Dong.
With the technical talent recruited, Yu Dong and President Zhao spent the next ten plus days in busy preparations.
Building a small laboratory from scratch sounds easy but is actually very tedious.
Next to the company premises, they rented an additional eighty-square-meter space and procured simple equipment and supplies according to Yu Dong's initial requirements, initially organizing the laboratory; though little had been accomplished, over a hundred thousand was spent.
Given the company's current scale, investing this amount in other areas might yield no noticeable return in the short term, yet President Zhao was extremely supportive of spending on research and development.
He and Zhang Yang are smart people, knowing this stuff is the core competitiveness; Zhang Yang's rice for making wine and molasses had proven commercial potential in advance!
Besides the courage of President Zhao and Zhang Yang to nurture research personnel and build a laboratory, there was another reason.
The company's order volume is increasing, and Zhang Yang's newly launched small yellow bait has seen a steady rise in order volume recently, with an impressive repurchase rate.
Last month, Zhang Yang sent the first batch of the small yellow bait to Xinda Wholesale where the proprietress gladly helped with small-scale promotion, generating astonishing practical feedback results, with first batch order distributors taking more than those of the previously launched Chinese medicine rice.
The factory received more and more orders, raw materials were trucked in, processed, and trucked out, generating stable profits for the company every day.
With these profits fueling Yu Dong's laboratory setup, it awaits successful research outcomes as new profit growth points, forming a healthy cycle.
As the laboratory began to take shape, Zhang Yang officially issued Yu Dong the first new product research task.
Fishing Bait Additives!
Yes, you read that right! Fishing Bait Additives!
Even a mere bottle of molasses can create dozens of times the profit; this realization had Zhang Yang highly invested. To witness short-term results, developing effective fishing bait additives is the most efficient research direction.
...
In the laboratory.
Zhang Yang entered while holding a stack of handwritten materials.
"President Zhang, any instructions?" Yu Dong asked upon seeing Zhang Yang come over.
Zhang Yang handed the materials to Yu Dong, "This is the direction for fishing additive flavors that I sourced from other channels! You need to organize the raw material sources, and also try to blend some mature samples! Later, I'll take people for practical trials!"
Yu Dong glanced over the materials and began reading them individually.
Barley Sweet Potato Syrup, Composite Fruit Acid, Honey Date, Chinese Herbal Wine, Egg Milk... A list with over a dozen names.
These names were both unfamiliar yet somewhat magical to Yu Dong, immediately capturing his attention.
These were the most recognized and widely used bait additives in the fishing community in his past life, but looking at them now, they might have already become commonplace, lacking mystery.
However, in 2013, they had yet to broadly emerge in the market.
With Zhang Yang leading, the flavor research direction was directly pinpointed, greatly saving time for screening and market validation.
"Some of these aroma bases can be bought as food-grade flavorings, but some can't be procured online!" After a general look, Yu Dong slightly furrowed his brow.
Zhang Yang smirked, "If everything could be bought, why would we need professionals like you! Use all your contacts and channels to find a way!
If you can't buy them online, look offline; if not domestically, then internationally! Don't worry about spending money, we'll use only the highest-grade materials!"
"Uh... I'll try to figure something out!" Yu Dong nodded and quickly began searching online.
Many things, if not researched, might never yield results, but if there's determination to solve a problem, there's always a way.
Yu Dong researched online information and reached out to classmates and friends, and after diligent efforts, he found a lead.
Through an introduction from his mentor, Yu Dong contacted a Netherlands-based artificial essence manufacturing company, which, in its product catalog, could provide all the bait flavor profiles Zhang Yang had identified!
With import channels established, the next steps became easy: apply for purchase funding, procure samples, and within around twenty days, receive the flavor samples shipped by them.
With the main imported flavor bases, the subsequent work became simpler. Yu Dong devoted himself to blending ratios akin to his molasses blending spirit.
The related research at the company steadily proceeded; meanwhile, Zhang Yang stayed busy too.
Driving around with Wang Yan, the duo toured various local fishing spots, uploading fishing videos every week to attract followers through their public account.
It had been over a month since the first formal appearance of the small yellow bait, and Zhang Yang, with his superb fishing skills and exceptional bait, almost reached slowing down nothing less than an unstoppable success across local fishing spots, achieving over an eighty percent landing rate.
After the Kinlong Carp formula bait was disclosed, it only briefly struggled within local fishing gear stores; within less than a month, the small yellow bait completely overshadowed it.
A good product speaks for itself; the small yellow bait's easy use and excellent fishing effect rapidly spread around.
Unlike other formula baits, the small yellow bait's W City agent was with Xinda Wholesale, not held tightly by Zhang Yang, so local fishing gear store owners, faced with daily inquiries from anglers, quickly contacted the Xinda proprietress.
Even Lang Junfeng couldn't resist, reluctantly becoming a second-tier distributor.
With Zhang Yang's frequent practical fishing promoting it, the small yellow bait had exploded within W City's surroundings in less than two months!