Although Pingcheng Food Factory and Pingcheng Printing Factory were both subordinate units under the Pingcheng municipal government and were supposed to cooperate with one another, if the printing factory failed to provide packaging on time, it was perfectly reasonable for the food factory to seek out the provincial capital’s printing factory instead.
Even if the matter reached higher leadership, the printing factory would still be the side in the wrong.
Zhang Xinmin adjusted his glasses and didn’t feel in the slightest that there was anything inappropriate about assigning the task to a newcomer like Zhang Yunqing.
After all, in the entire printing factory, no one understood Zhang Yunqing’s abilities better than he did.
A simple mooncake package design was absolutely no problem for someone with her artistic foundation.
“The food factory’s requirements are rather specific. Start by making a draft according to their documents.”
Zhang Yunqing looked surprised. Clearly, she hadn’t expected Zhang Xinmin to skip over veteran employees like Ge Yanqing and hand the assignment directly to her.
Still, she would never foolishly push away an opportunity to display her abilities as soon as possible.
She immediately accepted the documents.
“Alright. I’ll go through everything first. If all goes well, I should have the rough drafts ready within the next couple of days.”
As soon as she left the office, Ge Yanqing leaned over and quietly asked, “Did Master Zhang assign you the food factory project?”
There wasn’t any reason to hide it, so Zhang Yunqing nodded directly.
“What’s wrong?”
Was there some hidden issue behind it?
“It’s not exactly a major problem…”
Though she said that, Ge Yanqing’s brows were tightly furrowed.
“Last year the director of the food factory’s purchasing department got transferred away, and the deputy director, Xu Jinming, got promoted. Xu Jinming’s brother-in-law happens to be a workshop director at the provincial printing factory.”
“For these recent print jobs, every single time they demand more than a dozen revisions. Then right before delivery, they suddenly finalize the very first draft instead, claiming it’s the one that best fits their requirements. Aren’t they just playing games with our factory?”
Thinking about how the printing workshop had to work overtime every time because of Xu Jinming’s deliberate troublemaking, Ge Yanqing became angrier the more she talked.
“As if nobody knows he wants to hand all the food factory’s printing jobs over to the provincial printing factory just so he can help his brother-in-law build prestige!”
Strictly speaking, their printing factory was only responsible for printing—not design work—and certainly not for dealing with such unreasonable demands.
But who could blame them when Master Zhang painted so beautifully? Every packaging design he created looked far better than anyone else’s.
Over time, the factories around Pingcheng had simply gotten used to dumping every aspect of the job onto the printing factory.
Not only did they act completely entitled about it, they also piled on all kinds of ridiculous requirements.
“I see.”
Zhang Yunqing nodded in understanding, though she didn’t look troubled at all.
After years of working, she had already encountered every kind of outrageous client imaginable.
From the brief glance she had already taken through the documents earlier, she had a vague concept forming for the food factory’s requirements. She only needed to review the details once she got back to the office.
Seeing her calm expression, Ge Yanqing assumed it was simply because she lacked experience and hadn’t yet suffered through difficult clients before.
Afraid Zhang Yunqing might become discouraged later, she tried reassuring her in advance.
“Everyone knows how troublesome the food factory is. Master Zhang assigned this to you not because he actually expects you to handle it perfectly, but just to give you some practice. So don’t put too much pressure on yourself.”
“Alright, thank you, Sister Ge. I understand.”
Zhang Yunqing smiled and nodded, though she didn’t mention her own thoughts aloud.
Once she produced the drafts, everyone would naturally see for themselves.
At this time, pastry packaging such as mooncake wrapping generally used kraft paper tied into bundles. Then a square sheet of red paper would be layered on top and secured with hemp string for easy carrying.
Originally, the red paper was usually printed with the food factory’s name and the pastry type using stencil mimeograph techniques.
Simply put, text and patterns were scratched into wax paper with a steel stylus. The stencil would then be fixed onto a mimeograph machine, with blank paper placed underneath while ink was manually rolled across the surface.
The ink would pass through the holes scratched into the wax paper and transfer onto the paper below.
This method of printing had relatively low costs, but it was cumbersome and inefficient. If the pressure or ink application wasn’t handled correctly, the ink would either be too heavy or too faint, leading to a high waste rate.
In earlier years, living conditions were poor and demand for pastries and snacks was low. Naturally, food factories didn’t require elaborate packaging, so small-scale mimeograph printing had been almost the best option available.
But over the last few years, people’s living standards had improved considerably.
Sales of all kinds of food beyond staple grains had risen noticeably.
Especially for high-oil, high-sugar treats like mooncakes and yuanxiao. During holidays, even families with modest means would buy a little to enjoy something sweet.
Once mimeograph printing could no longer keep up with production demands, relief printing became the most commonly used method instead.
Pingcheng Printing Factory was, after all, the second-largest printing factory in Jiang Province after the provincial capital’s factory. They alone possessed three or four different relief printing machines, and their cooperation with the food factory had always gone smoothly.
But now the provincial printing factory was using “color printing” as a selling point to steal business away.
Pingcheng Printing Factory could no longer cling stubbornly to old methods. They had to catch up.
For the entire day, Zhang Yunqing remained in the office pondering the mooncake packaging project.
She produced several drafts, but none of them satisfied her completely.
The issue wasn’t the designs themselves.
The main problem was that the level of technology available simply couldn’t achieve the degree of detail she wanted.
If this had been the twenty-first century, with advanced printing methods available, she wouldn’t have needed to think so hard. She could simply create whatever design she liked.
But after personally experimenting with those two precious offset printing machines, she now had a rough understanding of the actual production capabilities.
As a result, she could only repeatedly revise and simplify her designs.
Her goal was to maximize the advantages of offset printing as much as possible.
As the sun tilted westward, Zhang Yunqing rubbed her aching eyes and organized the draft sketches neatly before locking them in a drawer, planning to continue the next day.
Just as she stood up and stretched, she spotted a head peeking through the doorway.
Meeting her gaze, Liu Suqin smiled awkwardly.
Zhang Yunqing brightened in surprise.
“Suqin, how did you find time to come over?”
Seeing that Zhang Yunqing still treated her warmly, Liu Suqin finally relaxed and smiled sheepishly.
“These past two days I’ve just started in the printing workshop, and they’ve been showing me around and teaching me the work. I really couldn’t find any time to come see you.”
“Today the factory finally assigned me a dorm room. Our team leader specifically let me leave a few minutes early to settle my luggage, so I came over to say hello.”
“You’re staying in the dormitory?” Zhang Yunqing asked in surprise.
Hadn’t she heard that the deputy factory director was Suqin’s uncle by marriage? Why would she still need to squeeze into factory housing?
“Mhm.” Liu Suqin nodded and explained, “My home is in Banshan Township, which is pretty far from the city. My aunt and uncle’s house isn’t very spacious either. Staying there for a few days is fine, but living there long-term would be inconvenient.”
So as soon as she started work, she had applied for employee housing.
Bao Shouren might be the deputy factory director, but with many children at home already, their housing situation was cramped to begin with.
Adding his wife’s niece to the household would only make things more crowded.
After interacting with her several times, Zhang Yunqing could tell that Liu Suqin was a considerate and sensible girl. It was perfectly natural that she didn’t want to trouble others too much.