Chapter 243: Product Manager

Chapter 243: Product Manager

The yellowish rumors and the operas like a gust of wind were completely overshadowed by the bloody atmosphere from the Bai family and that old scholar.

Xianjin returned to her busy schedule. Although "Cheng Heng" had been listed, there was still much room for improvement in the official examination papers.

Scholars endured decades of hard study, all for this one moment to step onto the battlefield!

Literary talent was one thing, but the weapons on the battlefield needed to be sharp to avoid failure—Xianjin remembered from her previous life that in one year's college entrance exam, the test papers in a certain province smudged and did not absorb ink, causing many candidates who used fountain pens to fail miserably in the first subject, which happened to be Chinese, a subject with a lot of writing. Many candidates cried as they left the exam hall, and... the factory that made the test papers was immediately cyberbullied...

Although there was no cyberbullying in this era, one must always act with a clear conscience.

Inspired by the Bai family’s paper-making techniques, Xianjin attempted to make the test papers more robust (less prone to wrinkling and suitable for distribution), more exquisite and beautiful (pleasing to the eye and bringing a good mood when answering questions), while also ensuring they were easy to preserve (in case any of these scholars became a legendary minister, they could revisit their old test papers in their twilight years, what sentiment! It would be off the charts!)

Xianjin’s demands were too high, like an unreasonable product manager or a capricious client.

Chief Development Engineer Li Sanshun thought Xianjin was talking nonsense, “Hard paper, just add more tree bark and kiwi vine juice, that’s easy to achieve—but! You want it to be exquisite too! Exquisite things are fragile; fewer paper fibers make it look more refined, but how do you maintain its hardness with fewer fibers?”

He casually pulled someone into the conversation, “Zhou Ergou, what do you think?”

Chief Front-end Developer Zhou Ergou felt his master was setting him up, looked up at the sky, and mumbled, “I think... both sides have valid points. Who wouldn’t want paper that is durable, robust, and exquisite? Hehehe—”

Zhou Ergou quickly passed the buck to his junior, Zheng Er, “Zheng Er, don’t just stand there silent. The boss said everyone is a participant and everyone is a decision-maker.”

Zheng Er: F*ck... When you guys were adding stripes to your cuffs, did you think everyone was a participant?

Zheng Er thought about it seriously. Even if he agreed, the R&D task wouldn’t fall on him, so he said firmly, “I think the boss is right!”

“Slap—”

It was Li Sanshun slapping Zheng Er on the back of the head, a crisp sound.

Supervisor and Financial Officer Heng Wuniang was very worried, “... If we need to adjust the paper materials, it involves costs. Our initial quote to Yingtian Prefecture was very tight. Any additional expenses will have to be borne by us!”

“Lu Accountant, calculate—” Xianjin started to say, then remembered that Lu Badan had been fired, and glanced around the room.

Stubborn Donkey Li Sanshun, illiterate Zhou Ergou, sycophantic Zheng brothers, innocent-looking former Jixi Workshop manager Qu Damao, and perpetually gloomy former “Fubai” manager Zhao Dezheng...

Behind Heng Wuniang were three people, one supposedly the backbone of Heng Kee’s papermaking, another his apprentice, and the third a clerk skilled in documentation.

First, she ruled out Heng Kee’s people. She wasn’t exclusive; since she decided to collaborate, she naturally accepted Heng Kee, but accounting matters must be handled by trusted insiders.

Second, the entire pig team present was excluded. These people either looked like fraudsters or fraud victims, none of them suitable for managing finances.

Finally, the accountants at the shops couldn’t be moved. At “Fubai,” Aunt Zhong managed the accounts, and at “Xuantian,” Dong Guanshi’s eldest son held three positions and worked overtime at night. Pushing him too hard would be inhumane...

Wait!

Dong Guanshi!

Cheap father Chen Fu, who lent her a reason to vent, had returned to Xuancheng, leaving Dong Guanshi in Jing County. If... if Chen Fu were replaced, and Dong Guanshi brought in, wouldn’t his role be even more valuable?

Xianjin immediately wrote a letter and sent it to Jing County. Three days later, Dong Guanshi replied, his tone sincere and respectful, essentially saying: Since his eldest son held a key position in Xuancheng, it wouldn’t be appropriate for him, an old man with gray hair and wrinkles, to occupy an important post. He was honored by the trust placed in him, but as an employee, he should know when to step aside. If he must come, he would have his son resign first.

Xianjin: Sob, the best Dong Guanshi in the world! Sob, thinking of you, the wind has blown to Xuancheng Prefecture.

It was two pages long.

Xianjin turned the page and found five names Dong Guanshi had drafted for her, people he believed capable of taking over the accounting position.

Xianjin: No one stop me! I will visit Jing County three times! I will bring Dong Guanshi back; having such an old partner with Chen Fu is like embedding a pearl in a straw mat! I don’t know what it’s worth shining for!

Xianjin held Dong Guanshi’s list, like Liu Beidou with the Memorial of Departure, listening to everything the old manager said, checking each name one by one. When she reached the last name, she squinted, “Have we met?”

The newcomer was a boy with a baby face, probably fourteen or fifteen years old, with a round face and bright eyes that showed two tiger teeth when he smiled, “Hello, Boss He. It’s my first time at ‘Fubai,’ and I led you around. My name is Nan Xiaogua!”

Oh, the first young man to show her kindness at “Fubai.”

Xianjin smiled, “How old are you?”

Nan Xiaogua: “Seventeen!”

Xianjin was taken aback.

Nan Xiaogua tried to look serious, “I just look younger.”

“Can you write?” Xianjin asked.

Nan Xiaogua nodded vigorously, “Manager Zhao taught me the Three-Character Classic, and I can read and write.”

Hmm... Manager Zhao had a bad temper, but he wasn’t a bad person and was skilled in papermaking, otherwise he wouldn’t have joined the ten-person special team.

“Can you use an abacus?” Xianjin asked a harder question.

Nan Xiaogua’s eyes lit up, “Yes! I heard you use an abacus for calculations, so I bought one with my monthly salary and practiced secretly after work!”

Xianjin nodded, “Come to Jixi Workshop tomorrow as the accountant.”

Nan Xiaogua was overjoyed, “So, I’m hired?”

Xianjin handed the paper with Dong Guanshi’s list to Nan Xiaogua, “Here, only your name has a circle in front of it. Dong Guanshi thinks highly of you.”

The special team was fully assembled.

Although Xianjin’s demands faced resistance from the algorithm, development, and testing teams, she was persistent. Li Sanshun led the team and worked hard, the key to making paper being the raw materials and their proportions. The softness, hardness, and flexibility of the paper depended on the ratio of paddy straw, blue sandalwood bark, and paper glue. They had to try bit by bit to find the perfect balance.

Li Sanshun’s head ached from the trials, directing Heng Kee’s clerks to keep detailed records, “Three parts straw, seven parts bark failed again. Try three and a half parts straw and seven and a half parts bark, and thicken the paper glue by three parts.”

The clerk acknowledged.

Xianjin crossed her arms and looked with a stern face.

A soft, tinkling laugh echoed from outside the door.

Xianjin and Old Li's faces fell simultaneously as they turned to look.

Zhou Ergou's heart sank. At this moment, who in their right mind would provoke both the old demon and the female demon!