Seeing the staff's attitude, Zhang Tianxing could do nothing. One cannot force things; it requires strategy and method.
Fine, he'd use this as a promotion for crayfish.
Zhang Tianxing cleared his throat and said to the staff member.
"Comrade, listen to me. Our Zhang Ji Crayfish are meticulously selected. We reject any with plump bodies or black undersides, guaranteeing freshness and deliciousness. They are absolutely top-tier in the market."
The staff member, torn between laughter and tears, said to Zhang Tianxing, "Boss Zhang, I've eaten at your restaurant. The crayfish are delicious, and there's no problem with yours. But this isn't something I can decide."
Zhang Tianxing was bewildered. If there's no problem, why not let him register? What's holding him up? Could there be some inside deal for a green food certification?
The staff member explained, "It's like this. Because of that incident with the crayfish a few days ago, for your crayfish to participate in the selection, our leaders will have to vote to decide whether to let you participate in the evaluation."
"Alright, about when will the result be out?" Zhang Tianxing urged, planning to find another way if this failed.
A bald man emerged from inside and said to Zhang Tianxing, "We know about your situation. Come back this afternoon to hear the result."
Hearing this, Zhang Tianxing was resigned. What a mess this all was.
It seemed his crayfish had no hope. It was hard enough to get into the preliminaries, let alone a national green food certification.
Not every county would get one, and with some established strong contenders, very few new green food certifications were awarded each year.
In short, the prestige of this award was exceptionally high.
Back at the crayfish shop, Wen Qing smiled and asked, "Did you go to register?"
Zhang Tianxing nodded, "I put our name down, but there's a screening process. Wang Pangzi had that mass poisoning incident, so with crayfish, it requires a leadership vote, and I have to wait for news this afternoon."
Wen Qing was furious. "Why is there even a vote? So many people eat our crayfish every day. If there were food poisoning, there wouldn't be enough hospital beds!"
Li Fang nodded in agreement. Although she didn't understand the details, she knew one thing: if they succeeded, their crayfish sales would skyrocket.
Wen Qing was looking at the photos of the crayfish they had taken a few days ago. Looking at them closely today, she thought the effect was really good.
At this moment, Gao Tianming volunteered, "Let me find someone to print this book. I'll contact my uncle. He works at Zhonghai Publishing House."
Having connections made things easier. Zhang Tianxing was already fretting about which publishing house to approach. If all else failed, he'd find a small workshop to print it himself, as he didn't intend to make money from it anyway.
Wen Qing chimed in from the side, "Don't forget to credit us both for photography. We need a pen name, not our real names."
Zhu Dayong heard this and laughed heartily, "Tianxing is even writing a book about crayfish. I feel confident about this green food application. Our crayfish will definitely be on the list. Our crayfish are so delicious, so flavorful."
"If it were just about being delicious and flavorful, things would be simple," Zhang Tianxing said with a wry smile, his heart unsettled.
Just then, a courier from the post office entered and handed Zhang Tianxing a letter. "Boss Zhang, you're a busy man! Good business, and plenty of mail from outside."
Zhang Tianxing chuckled and took it. It seemed to contain a newspaper. He took a closer look at the return address on the envelope and was surprised to see it was from the People's Daily of China.
"Holy cow!" Everyone became curious. This was the People's Daily of China, the newspaper with the largest circulation in the country, the undisputed king of newspapers.
How could Zhang Tianxing be connected to the People's Daily? It seemed preposterous.
Gao Tianming said impatiently, "Hurry up and open it! Let's see what's going on!"
Zhang Tianxing opened the envelope. Inside was an A4 sheet, two newspapers, and a remittance slip.
It looked like his work had been published. Zhang Tianxing was somewhat surprised; he didn't recall submitting anything to the People's Daily.
First, he read what was on the paper.
"To Mr. Tianxing Jian, your article 'The Future and Prospects of Crayfish,' published in the Zhonghai Daily, has been featured in our newspaper's second edition on July 5, 1999. Enclosed are two copies of the newspaper and one remittance slip."
"Crayfish are about to become famous!" Zhang Tianxing's first reaction was.
The People's Daily had extremely high standards for publication. They wouldn't bother with something that came out of nowhere.
Zhang Tianxing never dreamed that the People's Daily would proactively publish his short piece, dedicating such a large space to promote crayfish.
After all, crayfish was still a niche industry at this time, far from being scaled.
Zhang Tianxing's mind was a jumble, unsure of what to do. Now, with the endorsement of the People's Daily, applying for the green food certification should be no problem.
Whether it would be selected depended on fate. However, what Zhang Tianxing was thinking about now was that the Crayfish Association hadn't been established yet, and there was still no news about his uncle contracting the shrimp ponds.
These were urgent matters. If they couldn't be resolved quickly in the next couple of days, he would miss this express train to prosperity.
What was going on? His brilliant idea, and now someone wanted to snatch it?
But this didn't seem like the work of nearby counties. This had the potential to be a major undertaking.
With such influence, they could easily make a fortune doing anything. Why would they focus on the crayfish industry? He couldn't understand it.
However, Zhang Tianxing had a virtue: if he couldn't figure something out, he wouldn't dwell on it. He would focus on his own affairs first.
Meanwhile, in Zhonghai City, Yan Ruyu received a phone call. "Yan Ruyu, I've done you a favor. Think about how you'll thank me!"
Yan Ruyu's face bloomed into a smile. "Isn't it just an advertisement? I'll pay whatever the advertising fee is. I'm all yours."
A clear, cold female voice came from the other end of the line. "I saved you money. I directly forwarded your Zhonghai Daily article 'The Future and Prospects of Crayfish' to the People's Daily. Isn't that better than your advertisement!"
These words stunned Yan Ruyu speechless. She had read that article and it had solidified her plans for the crayfish industry.
At this time, the crayfish craze had already begun in Zhonghai City. The poisoning incident in Yangcheng had barely made a ripple here.
To better promote crayfish and build her brand, Yan Ruyu had asked her college best friend, who was now the deputy editor-in-chief of the People's Daily, for an advertisement.
She never expected that she would ask for a date and receive a watermelon instead.
Well, it benefited the author. Forget it, he wrote an article that fit her product.
"Actually, this is also a win-win situation. Our newspaper also has a mission: to promote positive energy and open up new industries. I had agricultural university professors look at that article, and they all said it was a stroke of genius. Technically, there were no problems. Moreover, the crayfish you sent also conquered my palate."
"Alright, I won't say anything more. When are you coming to Zhonghai? I'll definitely take you sightseeing."
Yan Ruyu hung up the phone and then made another call. "Lawyer Zhou, has our brand registration been approved?"