Lin Qingqing replied, “You don’t understand. If it’s marinated chicken legs, duck legs, or eggs, I can accept two and a half cents per pound for those.

After all, we’re serving the people. But pig intestines really don’t work like that. You know how pig intestines taste, and they are difficult to clean.

For me, it’s impossible to clean a lot of pig intestines every day. I would need to ask the military wives from the family compound for help.

If I ask them to help clean, I would have to pay them. So, while this looks like a business between me and the cooperative, it actually involves the military wives from the family compound as well.

If you only pay me two and a half cents per pound, and if I bring in three people, I won’t make a single cent.

Besides, marinating takes a lot of firewood; to be frank, two and a half cents might not even cover the cost of firewood. Or are you providing firewood and pre-cleaned pig intestines?”

Lin Qingqing was speaking the truth; she genuinely planned to have everyone help with the cleaning. “Also, pig intestines at the market can be bought for two cents each, and a large bucket could easily weigh ten pounds. So for you, the cost of pig intestines is negligible; it’s just the material. But in reality, the nutritional value of pig intestines isn’t any worse than that of eggs or pork. It’s just that people don’t know how to cook them. If marinated properly, pig intestines could easily sell for four or five cents a pound without any problem.”

“Well…” When Director Ma discussed pricing with the president, they had assumed the cost of pig intestines was negligible, so they hadn’t considered setting a higher price.

However, now that he heard Lin Qingqing’s perspective, he found it reasonable.

The selling price of an item isn’t necessarily based on its cost. If we were to consider cost, eggs are raised by ordinary people, and they don’t have much of a cost basis.

Instead, the selling price is determined by nutritional value.

Fresh pork might sell for eighty cents a pound, but marinated, it would certainly exceed a dollar.

Selling marinated pig intestines for just a few cents per pound does seem feasible.

Moreover, he hadn’t considered the issues regarding firewood and labor.

“But twelve cents profit is still too high. Here’s the deal: cleaning pig intestines is troublesome, but cleaning duck eggs isn’t. So for salted duck eggs…”

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“A profit of two and a half cents per pound is the maximum; do you all agree?” Director Ma asked.

Lin Qingqing turned to Yu Xiuyou.

Initially, Yu Xiuyou thought that earning a profit of one cent per pound would be great, so now that they were discussing two and a half cents, she was all for it.

She said with a trembling voice, “I have no problem with that.”

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Hearing Yu Xiuyou say there were no objections, Director Ma turned to Lin Qingqing: “Then we won’t set a profit for the pig intestines just yet. After we sell the intestines, we can adjust the profit based on the situation. What do you think?”

Lin Qingqing replied, “Of course, that’s fine. But how do you plan to price the pig intestines?”

Director Ma said, “You mentioned earlier that selling a pound of marinated pig intestines for four to five dimes was reasonable, so let’s set the price at four dimes.”

He was a bit worried about pricing it too high, but having tasted the marinated pig intestines, he knew that if they set the price too low, they would definitely sell well.

Lin Qingqing responded, “That’s good. However, I have a suggestion: since this is the first time marinated pig intestines are being sold at the supply station, you could run a promotional event.

For example, for the first sale, if someone buys one pound, they get an extra two ounces; if they buy half a pound, they get an extra half ounce.

As for anything less than half a pound, we can skip it. But this promotion should only last for one day; otherwise, it won’t feel fresh.”

The idea of a promotion where you buy one pound and get two ounces free, or buy half a pound and get half an ounce free, was new to Director Ma.

In fact, it was the first time he had heard of giving things away for free, but upon thinking it through, it made perfect sense.

After all, who wouldn’t want something for free?

Even he, after trying the marinated pig intestines, thought that if there was a promotion, he might even buy two pounds.

After all, if he couldn’t finish it, he could just save it for the next day.

Realizing this, Director Ma said, “Let’s try it according to Comrade Lin’s suggestion. By the way, are you going back to the army right after this?”

Lin Qingqing answered, “Yes, do you have materials for us to take back?”

Director Ma thought about it: “If we send materials with you, when will you bring them back?”

Yu Xiuyou said, “The salted duck eggs need a month.”

Lin Qingqing added, “I can bring the marinated items back tomorrow.”

Director Ma asked, “Can you bring them before the supply station opens tomorrow?”

Lin Qingqing considered it and replied, “Would it be possible for you to send the materials to the army every day, and I’ll come by to pick them up every morning? Because starting tomorrow, I’ll be working in the army’s cafeteria. If that works, I can pass on some benefits.”

“No need for benefits, no need for that,” Yu Xiuyou interjected.

Xiuyao said, “I’ll come to pick up the goods every day and then return in the morning to deliver them.”

Lin Qingqing thought for a moment and replied, “That works too.”

She figured it would be better to give the profit margin to Xiuyao than to the cooperative.

Seeing that they had come to an agreement, Director Ma didn’t raise any objections. “We just slaughtered two pigs today, so we have over twenty pounds of pig intestines. How about you take them with you? Just let me know what materials you need, and I’ll prepare them.”

In this era, pigs were not very fat, especially since the three years of famine had just passed, so a pig weighing less than 200 pounds would only yield about ten pounds of intestines.

Two pigs would provide over twenty pounds.

“We slaughter two pigs here every day, so this will be the daily amount of pig intestines. If sales go well, I can also source pig intestines from other places,” Director Ma declared confidently.

Lin Qingqing replied, “That’s fine; in fact, pig heads can also be made into marinated dishes.”

Director Ma said, “Alright, then you can take two pig heads and over twenty pounds of pig intestines back with you. What about the materials?”

Lin Qingqing stated, “I’ll write down the general materials, but the other materials I need to purchase myself, so I can’t disclose them. However, I will give you a quote later. Of course, if you’re not at ease with that, then there’s nothing I can do.”

Director Ma assured her, “Of course, I trust your quote.”

He understood that if all the materials were revealed, it would allow them to figure things out for themselves.

As for Lin’s pricing, they would determine it based on the final price.

Lin Qingqing didn’t elaborate further and simply mentioned the materials: “Oil, salt, soy sauce, and sugar.”

In fact, oil wasn’t needed for marinating; the key seasoning was fermented broad bean paste.

However, Lin Qingqing chose to mention oil instead, planning to buy the broad bean paste herself.

As for the cost, she would offset it with the money for the oil, which they could use at home, while the broad bean paste cost would be covered equivalently.

This way, to outsiders, it would only appear as oil without revealing the broad bean paste.

After listening, Director Ma promptly went out to gather the materials, noting that the quantities Lin Qingqing requested were not large.

Director Ma soon returned and took Lin Qingqing and Xiuyao to the back of the cooperative, where they handled the pork.

Since this was the area for processing pork, there was a strong smell of meat.

The vendor at the pork stall was a man in his thirties.

Upon seeing Director Ma, he hurried over to greet him. “Director, you’re here!”

Director Ma nodded, “This is Lu Guosheng, who manages the pork stall at our cooperative. These two are military wives, Comrade Lin Qingqing and Comrade Yu Xiuyao. Are the pig intestines and pig heads still available?”

“There’s still half a pig’s head left, and the pig intestines are here, but no one bought them today. These leftover parts from the pigs are often processed without tickets,” Lu Guosheng explained.

Director Ma said, “Pack up the pig intestines and the pig’s head, and give them to these two comrades later.”

He didn’t elaborate, as he wasn’t sure how the future business would unfold.

If it went well, the two army wives would be in close contact with Lu Guosheng, and they could discuss things in more detail later.

Although Lu Guosheng didn’t understand, he didn’t ask any questions and quickly packed the items.

Yu Xiuyou said, “Let’s put them on my bicycle; you need to carry Hai Ci, and there’s no way to fit all this on your bike.”

Lin Qingqing agreed, “Then let’s put them on Sister-in-law’s bicycle.”

The pig intestines were placed in a wooden tub, while the pig’s head was in a burlap sack on the back seat of the bicycle, balanced with the duck eggs that Yu Xiuyou needed, making it convenient for transport.

After packing everything, Lin Qingqing and Yu Xiuyou were ready to leave.

As for the spices needed for the marinated dishes, like cinnamon, Lin Qingqing had those at home, so there was no need to buy them at the market for now.

Before leaving, Lin Qingqing gave the remaining marinated pig intestines in her lunch box to Director Ma, and Yu Xiuyou left the two salted duck eggs they brought with them for him as well.

“No, no, you should take these back,” Director Ma declined.

Lin Qingqing insisted, “This isn’t for you; it’s for your family to taste. We would appreciate their feedback on whether there’s anything they don’t like, so you have an important task here, Director.”

Hearing this, Director Ma didn’t refuse anymore, primarily because the young woman’s words were so pleasing to hear.

Even Yu Xiuyou felt that Lin Qingqing had said it beautifully.

Having left the supply station, it was already half past eleven.

By the time they reached the family housing, it was noon.

As they approached the entrance of the family compound, Lin Qingqing spotted Lu Cheng, who had just returned from the army.

“Lu Cheng…” Lin Qingqing called out.

Lu Cheng wasn’t alone; he was with a few comrades.

At Lin Qingqing’s shout, everyone stopped. Someone joked, “Deputy Regiment Lu, your wife spotted you from afar; she must have a keen eye.”

“Hahaha… Newlyweds are like this; we understand,” another chimed in. “Speaking of Deputy Regiment Lu’s wife, I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”

Lu Cheng didn’t pay attention to their banter; he stood there waiting for Lin Qingqing.