I See through Everything

Jiang Miao wasn’t too concerned about the tax audit. After all, he had nothing to hide.

After giving Li Zixuan some instructions at company headquarters, he drove Shuya to the temporary lab at Nanhu Farm.

Only then did he head to the aquaculture base in Salt Town Village.

As soon as the pickup truck reached the main gate, the security guard, Old Lin, pressed a button, and the automatic barrier lifted.

His brother-in-law and father were waiting at the main gate of the new aquaculture base with about thirty employees.

The main gate was draped in red cloth, with a string of firecrackers laid out in front. For safety, several employees stood by with a water hose and fire extinguishers.

"Ah Miao, you do the ribbon-cutting," his brother-in-law said, handing him a pair of scissors.

"Alright."

With all eyes on him, Jiang Miao cut the ribbon.

At the same time, his father lit the firecrackers.

CRACKLE... POP... POP...

As the firecrackers erupted in a cacophony of pops, the employees burst into applause.

Once the firecrackers died down, Jiang Miao picked up a megaphone. "Today is an auspicious day, the day our new aquaculture base officially goes into operation! I hope that moving forward, we can all work together with one heart and mind to make our eel farm bigger and stronger. Thank you, everyone!"

CLAP! CLAP! CLAP! The employees applauded again. Spurred on by the thought of their paychecks, they clapped with great enthusiasm and vigor.

Inside the farm manager’s office.

Jiang Miao grabbed a bottle of mineral water and sat down.

His brother-in-law spoke first. "The mature eels we’ve purchased these past few months have filled all the outdoor ponds. In January, thirty thousand eels will reach the standard for sex reversal and reproduction. We project a production capacity of 7.6 million glass eels every five days."

"Ah Miao, isn’t that capacity a bit too high?" his father asked, somewhat concerned.

Jiang Miao shook his head. "Not at all. The domestic market demands at least 100 tons of glass eel fry annually. Our current monthly capacity is around 4.5 tons, which comes to 54 tons a year. That’s less than half the domestic demand."

Jiang Miao then shared some feedback that the sales department had gathered from various regions.

"According to the sales department, the drop in eel fry prices, combined with the glass eel farming techniques and Hai Xue feed we’ve distributed, has lowered costs for many eel farms. They now see eel farming as profitable, so they’re all expanding their operations."

"Specifically, the scale of farming in the Chaoshan and Min Nan regions is expected to double this year. Other regions haven’t caught up yet, but it’s only a matter of time."

His brother-in-law inquired, "Ah Miao, what’s your take on this? Are we going to keep expanding?"

"That’s right. After the New Year, we’ll rent more fish ponds from the surrounding villages. The plan is to double our scale again."

"Double? Isn’t that too aggressive? Didn’t the Japan Kagoshima Eel Company buy our technology? When they..." His brother-in-law was taken aback.

Jiang Miao explained with conviction, "Brother-in-law, you have to understand something. Even if the Japanese master artificial eel breeding, they won’t be able to compete with us on the international market. There’s a massive gap in our production costs."

This wasn’t Jiang Miao looking down on the Japanese; it was a harsh reality dictated by the different conditions in their respective countries.

Domestically, China has significant advantages in the costs of utilities, infrastructure, labor, and feed.

Japan, however, has no advantage in these areas. This is especially true for feed like Duckweed, which provides essential nutrients that can’t be replaced by artificial supplements. They must either gather it in the wild or cultivate it themselves.

Given the nature of Japanese agriculture, the various costs of cultivating Duckweed would likely add up to more than ten times the cost in China.

This is the fundamental reason why many Japanese agricultural products can only target the high-end market. With production costs being so high, they would be guaranteed to lose money if their prices weren’t also steep.

That’s why Jiang Miao wasn’t too concerned about competitors from either Japan or South Korea. They simply couldn’t pose a threat to Hailufeng Company.

Instead, the real threats to Hailufeng Company were the eel fry breeding companies in Southeast Asia and other domestic firms.

"But sooner or later, other domestic companies will realize how easy our technology is to replicate. The market competition will become incredibly fierce," his brother-in-law said, clearly aware of the cutthroat nature of many Chinese businesses.

Jiang Miao shook his head. "Brother-in-law, that’s exactly why we need to expand now, before other companies catch on. We need to seize the largest slice of the pie. Then, by adopting a high-volume, low-margin strategy, we can deter new competitors from even entering the market."

"Besides, there’s another huge market for glass eels: Western Europe. They cook and eat glass eels directly. The Atlantic eel population is declining year after year, and with animal rights groups constantly kicking up a fuss, their only option is to import artificially bred glass eels as a substitute."

His brother-in-law considered this for a moment, then nodded. "Is that how it is? In that case, I have no objections. But doubling our scale again should be our limit, right?"

"Mhm, doubling it is enough. Any more would be counterproductive."

The three of them discussed matters in the office for over an hour.

After settling all the arrangements for the new aquaculture base, Jiang Miao hurried over to the farm in Nanhu Village.

Arriving at the west side of Nanhu Village, he immediately saw a building under renovation near the farm. It was a three-unit townhouse the company had recently purchased to serve as the offices and an ancillary factory for Nanhu Farm.

Lü Weibin, who had been hired by the HR department just a few days prior to be the industry manager for Nanhu Farm, was currently bustling about, handling various tasks.

Nanhu Farm was basically a blank slate. Aside from a few regular employees and one agricultural technician, the only other personnel were Lin Shuya and Li Wenna, who were affiliated with the site. But their work was confined to the edible fungi lab.

Lü Weibin now had to submit requisitions for all the necessary personnel, equipment, and office supplies to the HR and purchasing departments, which kept him running off his feet.

But there was no other way; Lü Weibin deeply cherished this job. He had previously been a project lead at a major tech company, working on an agriculture-related project. Unfortunately, he ran into the ’age crisis.’ At just 38, he was "optimized" by his company.

Although he had a million yuan in savings, he had once acted on impulse—persuaded by his parents, relatives, and friends—and bought a house in the Poly Jinting Bay development in downtown Shanmei City.

He had bought it when the housing market was at its peak. The total cost of the house, including the mortgage, was 2.18 million yuan. So far, including the down payment, he had only paid off 1.32 million, leaving 860,000 still to be paid. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

In other words, after using his so-called million in savings to pay off the rest of the mortgage, he would be left with only 140,000 yuan.

Lü Weibin had a wife and two children at home, as well as his elderly parents. His wife was currently a stay-at-home mom. His parents were retired, but their pensions were small—barely enough to cover their daily expenses and medical bills.

At his age, finding another high-paying job in Peng City would be difficult; 38 was an awkward age to be in the job market.

So, when he saw the job posting for Hailufeng Company, he hesitated for a few days before deciding to return to his hometown for work. It would also be more convenient for taking care of his children and parents.

Lü Weibin was the first local manager Jiang Miao had hired, but he was given no authority over purchasing or personnel.

Jiang Miao placed great importance on personnel authority. Nearly every hire required his personal approval. After all, the three pillars of power within a company were personnel, purchasing, and finance.

As long as he controlled those three pillars, there would be no major problems with the company’s management.

Besides, for a tech-driven company like Hailufeng Company, the standards for its managers could be relaxed somewhat. They didn’t need to be exceptionally brilliant; even a relatively mediocre manager wouldn’t cause any major issues.

After all, executives at large corporations are often masters of infighting, and situations where the management ousts the founder are not unheard of.

’He probably couldn’t handle that kind of "high-quality" talent anyway,’ Jiang Miao thought.