And didn't you notice a detail? Quite a few guys who come to fish grass carp take one or two home with them,
after all, whether farmed or wild, most of them eat grass as feed. Taking them back as gifts is no worse than market fish!
Let's skip the dinner. Think over what I've told you. Once you master fishing, I'll bring more people!"
Zhang Yang, a seasoned expert, hit the core point of fishing black pit grass carp with just one sentence. Liu Mazi, who was confused just a second ago, suddenly saw the light.
Half an hour later, Zhang Yang and his group found a small eatery. Just as they sat down, Han Qiang couldn't hold back his curiosity.
"President Yang, today doesn't seem like your style. Why give a lecture to someone like Liu Mazi? That guy isn't even honorable about returning fish money!"
Zhang Yang grinned: "What, you think I'm running my mouth?"
"You don't usually act this way!"
Zhang Yang continued: "I initially didn't plan to say much, but hearing him invite us to eat softened my heart!
Liu Mazi isn't particularly bright, but he's a bit more reliable than Diao Changhe from the oil workshop, right?
Besides, our fishing has commercial interests. I think this grass carp bait has business potential, planning to sell it on the side!
If he never gets over another loss, who will I sell my grass carp bait to?"
"Damn! You're shrewd!" Wang Yan, who had been listening silently, couldn't hold back.
Everyone burst into laughter.
Meanwhile, as Zhang Yang was having lunch with others outside, President Zhao was going through some distress at the company's premises.
Yu Dong, whom Zhang Yang personally invited, had been there since a little after nine in the morning and still didn't leave by lunchtime. His main demand was funding to add new research projects.
Because of Zhang Yang and President Zhao's instructions, the company was quite generous with investments in the laboratory,
spending at least three hundred thousand in the past few months, putting a significant portion of available profits into lab research.
President Zhao approved costs with clear objectives, at most just notifying Zhang Yang.
But now, Yu Dong was making new demands for money to expand the lab and add live fish comparison experiments.
Seeing "comparison experiments," one might think it's just large tanks with common freshwater fish for various material experiments.
In theory, that's the idea, but Yu Dong's requirement for a large number of tanks was much; initially applying for thirty sets, more if needed later.
Each set has two tanks, making sixty tanks for thirty sets, requiring at least two more large rooms due to the size constraints and also involving drainage, maintenance, and records, which are particularly meticulous.
"Yu, it's not that I don't want to approve the funds. Our company currently faces real difficulties!
For a project as perfect as your proposal outlines, equipment + space + maintenance would need another over twenty thousand. It's been such a short time. Can you let me delay a bit?"
President Zhao spoke softly, feeling discomfort with Yu Dong's persistence.
"President Zhao, this control group experiment is an urgent need!
Many things in books differ from practice. We can't rely solely on theory for research! That's working blindly!
I've produced some semi-finished reagents per President Zhang's direction, but I need actual data from control experiments for validation!
You mentioned that we couldn't do large outdoor experiments for now, and I can accept that, but the control group experiments can't be saved!
I have many ideas now yet can't test them. Isn't this wasting time!"
Yu Dong, being a tech nerd and not great at communication, felt annoyed seeing Zhao Bingguang repeatedly delaying with "difficulties."
"How about this, leave the proposal with me, I'll study it, and get back to you!
I'm hungry, haven't had breakfast, let's go eat first!" President Zhao used a soft approach to ease the atmosphere.
Hearing this, Yu Dong looked even more displeased.
This was the third direct confrontation with no resolution, feeling like wasting time at work without progress each day.
"In that case, I'll call President Zhang! You go ahead, I'm leaving!" Yu Dong picked up his plan application and left the office.
Elsewhere, Zhang Yang was eating with others when his phone rang.
Many anglers knew Zhang Yang's number, but most calls were set to default tones, except close friends like Old Zhao, Yu Dong, Wang Jun, etc.
Before answering, Zhang Yang knew it was from Yu Dong. His ringtone was "Pursuing Dreams with a Young Heart," the only one. This talented guy was a treasured asset to Zhang Yang!
"Hey, Brother Dong, what's your command?" Zhang Yang answered.
"Zhang Yang, where are you? I want to talk about something serious!" Yu Dong cut straight to the chase.
"Just finished fishing, having lunch outside. What's up?"
"I can't explain over the phone; when will you come to the office? Or the store? Let's meet and talk!"
"About an hour, what's going on? Your tone makes me uneasy!"
"It's about the lab expansion. President Zhao has been holding me back, and after a morning of back and forth, we've hit an impasse again today.
You brought me to the company, I must take responsibility for my work! If there's no result, this job doesn't make sense to me anymore!"
Hearing this, Zhang Yang felt a twinge inside. A tech expert wants to quit? That shouldn't be!
"Alright, I understand. I'll be at the office in half an hour!"
"Okay, I'll be waiting in the office!"
With a click, there were no pleasantries, no wasted words, communication over, and Yu Dong hung up directly.
"What's wrong?" Zhou Chu put down his chopsticks and looked at Zhang Yang with concern.
Zhang Yang put down his chopsticks, took a sip of tea: "It's about the lab."
"Alright, you all continue eating. I need to head to the office! I've already paid!"
After a quick word, Zhang Yang got up, headed to the car, and drove to the company's office.
In less than twenty minutes, Zhang Yang met Yu Dong in the office.
"What's going on to make the atmosphere so tense? Let's eat and talk!" Zhang Yang smiled, placing a lunch box on the table.
"Here's my budget application! President Zhao rejected it twice! The live comparison experiment is the key to verifying the additive formula's effect. Without an experiment environment, I can't gather data, making further research impossible!
Once we have the control group, just test and filter the data to find the best formula, then we can produce the product!"
Zhang Yang picked up the budget application and reviewed it thoroughly.
Clearly, Yu Dong was meticulous, with researched equipment specs and estimated cost, following his budget would require about twenty-three thousand plus changes.
"The budget seems fine, what did Old Zhao say?" Zhang Yang asked.
Yu Dong shrugged, "President Zhao says the company's foundation is weak, there's no money!"
"That's odd, recent product sales have been quite stable," Zhang Yang frowned slightly after hearing.
"The actual issue is likely the short-term heavy lab investment, making President Zhao hesitant to commit further," Yu Dong added.
Zhang Yang nodded: "I understand, I'll talk to Old Zhao this afternoon! Once we promptly get the new equipment and materials, how soon can we produce the end product?"
"If we don't worry about effects, we could have the product formula now!
President Zhao subtly suggested being less strict, but I think it's irresponsible for the company's brand!"