I See through Everything

"Meiya! You’re leading the tour!"

"That’s right!"

"I’ve got to go."

"Okay, bye-bye."

After passing the pedestrian walkway next to the security office at the entrance, Ye Meiya led the guests to a dedicated tour corridor.

The tour corridor was on the second floor of a steel structure. Through the glass floor and the windows to one side, they could see the Egyptian Catfish in the pools below.

"This water is circulated twenty-four hours a day. After multiple layers of filtration, it’s reused. This allows us to conserve freshwater and also maintain the water quality in the breeding pools at an excellent level."

Guo Xiaobo pressed his face against the glass, watching the active Egyptian Catfish in the pools. He asked curiously, "These Egyptian Catfish are huge. Do they only eat feed? You don’t use hormones, do you?"

"You must be joking, sir," Ye Meiya explained. "Hormones are too expensive. Egyptian Fish naturally grow very fast and have strong resistance to disease, so there’s no need for hormones or medication. At most, we use allicin, which is a natural antibiotic."

On the second-floor employee walkway.

One of two employees pushed a cart while the other, holding a large, custom-sized scoop, ladled out a scoop of granular feed and scattered it into the fish pool below.

Next, they tossed a large scoop of corn and soybean meal pellets into the pool, followed by two large scoops of pellets made from ground corn stalks, rice straw, and sweet potato leaves.

Past the indoor farming area, they arrived at the production workshop where the fish were processed. They continued to watch from the tour corridor as workers handled the fish through the glass windows.

They saw streams of Egyptian Catfish being poured into a machine. From the exit on the other side emerged four large fillets.

Workers on the assembly line skillfully sliced the fish meat from the skin. They also cut away the high-fat belly portion near the abdomen. The remaining snow-white fish meat then moved on to the next stage of processing.

"Are they making fish balls?"

Ye Meiya nodded. "Yes, this workshop makes golden fish balls."

Following that, they successively viewed the fish-tofu workshop, the seaweed-fish-ball workshop, and the semi-finished fish fillet workshop.

After leaving the factory, Gao Ya said in a low voice, "Honey, these products seem pretty good. There are definitely no issues with the hygiene."

"Of course," Guo Xiaobo said, shaking his head with a smile. "They dared to let us tour the place, so they’re not about to ruin their own reputation."

Ye Meiya led them on foot across the road to a nearby area of fish ponds where Egyptian Catfish were raised.

Concerned about rogue practices among the farmers, Hailufeng Company had already tightened restrictions on using kitchen scraps and leftovers as feed. They also required all farmers to ensure "human-fish separation," meaning their living quarters could not be directly adjacent to the fish ponds, to avoid any misunderstandings.

"These ponds are all for raising Egyptian Fish. This is the initial fattening phase. Later, they will be sent to the factory for a second phase of cultivation."

On the bank of one farmer’s pond stood a sheet-metal shed. Ye Meiya had the farmer open the metal door, revealing everything inside.

Besides tools like water pumps and lawnmowers, there were just large plastic barrels filled with feed.

"This is specialized fish feed." Ye Meiya picked up a handful of Number 4 feed.

Guo Xiaobo also took a handful and held it under his nose to smell it. "It has a strong fishy smell."

"This feed is supplemented with fish meal and fish oil." Ye Meiya then took some feed from another large plastic barrel. "And this is the general-purpose corn and soybean meal feed."

"Mm, you can definitely smell the corn."

"These fish eat pretty well!"

"I wonder if the cost is too high? If it’s all feed, they probably can’t make much money, right?"

The guests discussed quietly among themselves.

Ye Meiya quickly took the opportunity to promote the company’s local assistance program. "Everyone, our Egyptian Fish farming project is a key support initiative in Magong Town. Many of the farmers are from low-income households. If it weren’t profitable, not so many people would be doing it. By using feed, a farmer can earn over ten thousand yuan per mu of pond, with a harvest every three months."

"Over ten thousand yuan?"

"The project is okay, but earning just over ten thousand in three months seems a bit low!"

"What do you know? My uncle-in-law farms eels, and he only makes a little over ten thousand yuan a year from one mu of pond. In a good year, it’s just over twenty thousand. Earning over ten thousand every three months from Egyptian Fish is already very high."

"Is the profit margin for aquaculture really that low?"

"Why else do you think young people from the countryside go to the big cities to find work? It’s because agriculture isn’t profitable, and on top of that, it’s hard and tiring labor."

A shill, hidden among the crowd, guided the guests’ thoughts.

Led by Ye Meiya, they continued their tour, visiting the Magong Fishing Port Canning Factory, the central kitchen of the Nanhu Resort, and Nanhu Farm.

Everyone received either a can of eel or a small bag of red-hearted tomatoes.

On the way back, everyone’s psychological resistance to Egyptian Catfish had dropped significantly. At the very least, they no longer felt disgusted by the Egyptian Catfish produced by Hailufeng Company; it now fell into the category of acceptable food.

Hailufeng Company’s other products had also been a real eye-opener for the guests.

Clearly, this promotional event was a great success.

As busload after busload of guests toured the factory and farms, their perception of Egyptian Catfish transformed from something to be avoided at all costs into a delicacy that could be savored.

After these guests returned home, they, in turn, provided significant word-of-mouth promotion for Jianghai Restaurant and Hailufeng Company’s other products. This led to a steady increase in customer traffic at Jianghai Restaurant, and at the same time, sales of the company’s strawberries, tomatoes, Ginseng Fruit, canned eel, and White Truffles also rose considerably.

This kind of open and honest promotion, with its extremely high production transparency, not only led guests to recognize Hailufeng Company’s capabilities but also helped to clear up some misunderstandings.

After all, Hailufeng Company was completely confident in its own products, so there was naturally no need to be secretive.

The more secretive they were, the more it would have backfired if something was ever exposed, making them look obviously guilty.