Now things have changed. The eggs from rural areas are actually more expensive. Despite their small size, they’re sold for more than the ’imported eggs’ from the poultry farms. Hmm, it seems the term ’imported eggs’ is no longer used. Gradually, now imported eggs are mainstream, and those raised at home are called ’native eggs.’ Native eggs are the good stuff. In the past, people from Sancha River Township used to find connections everywhere to sell vegetables outside, and Zhou Dalian could still grab a consultant position for the greenhouse office. Now he’s got nothing to do as a consultant. The green vegetables from Sancha River Township have gained fame in several nearby cities, and even in several cities in the neighboring province of Jiang City, large trucks come regularly to pick up goods. The era where carrying a pager made someone seem important is long gone. Boss Yan’s phone kept getting smaller, and more people were carrying mobile phones. In the beginning, those massive old school mobile phones costing tens of thousands have been eliminated by the market. Now, you can buy a decent mobile phone for two to three thousand. Even cheaper ones are available at just over a thousand, and the key is that they’re small, with some being smaller than a girl’s palm. To be honest, the changes over these five or six years are often hard for most people to believe when they think about it. Yesterday, people were still shouting about getting electric lights and telephones in their homes, considering that a moderately comfortable life. Now, almost everyone carries a mobile phone. Such a transformation was unimaginable for people a few years ago! It’s only five or six years of change, from a village with only two or three black-and-white TVs to one where every household has a color TV. From a village with just a few hand-held tractors to now having several cars in the village, the changes are that significant. Actually, Yan Fei himself feels the change too, like with the computer at home. Before, it connected to the internet through a single phone line, taking a long time to connect. After opening a few web pages, he could go feed the dog and pick some vegetables before the page fully loaded. The monitor was convex, and besides being huge, a piece of glass had to hang in front of its small screen as a screensaver to protect the eyes—nowadays, the monitors everyone uses no longer need this, even the kids younger than Boss Yan don’t use this on their computers. Computers that cost tens of thousands back then can now be bought for four to five thousand with configurations tenfold better. In the past, ordinary families wouldn’t have a computer, but now there are internet cafes on the street. Kids barely taller than the computer desks wield mice, yelling and playing games, more adept than their grandfathers wielding hoes. Things once considered out of reach by ordinary folks are now being brought into homes. Back when beef was considered a luxury, if prices don’t go up, it loses value! What used to be an astronomical price in Wancheng City is now, without exaggeration, affordable to many in Wancheng City who want high-end beef. Although Zhang Haiyang doesn’t speak up, as an observer, he’s very clear about Yan Fei’s temper. Knowing he might not get approval if he applied for price increases, he just directly notified a few clients. No one had any objections. The steak that used to sell for over a hundred per serving has now seen prices double or even triple, at the very least. In coastal cities, steak restaurants have opened up, claiming to use imported beef, when in reality, the quality is only medium or even just standard beef. As long as the restaurant decoration is high-end enough, fooling the newly rich is no problem. For those like Old Chen opening restaurants, if prices don’t go up, they can’t establish different tiers—even though more and more people are raising cattle in both Sancha River Township and Wancheng City, it’s still insignificant for the already affluent market of over a billion people. With only so many top-quality ingredients available, the prices naturally have to be raised to establish clear distinctions between tiers. Take the beef some coastal city steak restaurants boast of being from Australia. Yan Fei, being present here, knows exactly the tier. Australia’s best beef is equivalent to Japan’s third-tier beef, and even when it arrives in America, it falls far short of America’s prime-grade standards. The beef used in those restaurants surely isn’t the top-tier from Australia. Compared to the Morning Glory brand’s beef, if one were to break down the quality, there’d be at least a four- to eight-tier gap — there aren’t more than nine beef grades total in Australia anyway. Those restaurants wouldn’t choose the worst beef, or else it wouldn’t even match up to that raised by domestic farmers. Because pasture-raised beef still falls short compared to farm-raised beef. This is where Zhang Haiyang’s confidence comes from. Boss Yan, having money to burn, never paid attention to market price changes. But Zhang Haiyang noticed, so after discussing with clients, all agreed that a substantial price hike was necessary. Even if business temporarily takes a hit, a significant hike is necessary. Otherwise, it’s like selling gold as scrap iron, eventually losing reputation. Price increases actually don’t matter to restaurant owners like Guo Jingya and Old Chen. They’ve already raised their restaurant prices before. Now it’s merely an excuse using ingredient price hikes to sharply increase prices again—Zhang Haiyang may at most double the price, and if they follow suit to double or even triple, it would far exceed the rise in ingredient costs. Chapters first released on N0v3l.Fiɾe.net This is nothing extraordinary. The most significant is the beef jerky production, which Zhang Haiyang adjusted. Now the field’s beef production—even the other beef parts—is following the tide and increasing prices, even becoming material for lower-tier restaurant ’steaks.’