Chapter 143: Investing in Vegetable Greenhouses

Chen Yang lay on the sofa watching TV, when Lin Wei suddenly darted into his arms like a kitten, her pair of big, watery eyes gazing at him affectionately.

"Speak up if you have something to say!" Chen Yang was used to her strong-willed side, but she suddenly became all delicate and dependent, which he found a bit hard to get used to.

"Hehe, my husband still understands me best." Lin Wei tilted her head up and kissed Chen Yang, then said: "Mayor Xu is preparing to pilot a large-scale vegetable greenhouse project in Qingshui County, helping the local farmers open up a brand-new path to wealth."

"There aren't many profitable industries in the countryside; building vegetable greenhouses is indeed a good development path." Chen Yang agreed with Xu Li's idea. That day, when He Yifei proposed that the Old Hundreds Agricultural Products Trading Company invest in establishing an agricultural products base, he had also thought about doing greenhouse cultivation.

Lin Wei sighed and said: "The problem now is that the investment for greenhouse planting is too high—at least three thousand yuan per mu on average. Although the government has offered substantial subsidies, few people are willing to try."

Chen Yang also came from the countryside, so he somewhat understood the farmers' worries. He gently stroked Lin Wei's hair and comforted her: "A typical farming family's total savings might not even reach one thousand yuan. Their annual income is only a few hundred yuan, so it's completely normal for them not to dare try this emerging industry."

Lin Wei said, not understanding: "We've already investigated—greenhouse vegetable farming would greatly improve farmers' incomes. The government will even send experts to give free guidance. What a great opportunity; why don't they cherish it?"

Chen Yang laughed and said: "Farmers' knowledge and cognition are limited; they're used to the farming methods passed down from their ancestors and may not accept the experts' advice. I think you should support farming groups with relatively higher cultural quality and awareness, or give policy backing to college students returning to start businesses in the villages. Let them blaze the trail first, then they can lead others to join this industry."

Lin Wei said, feeling dejected: "We've tried what you suggested, but not many are willing to respond; most people are still in a wait-and-see state."

Chen Yang proposed: "You can first focus on supporting those who are willing to participate. Once they see results and make money, others will naturally be moved to join."

Lin Wei blinked her eyes, then softly said to Chen Yang: "Honey, are you willing to be the one to take the lead?"

Chen Yang gave her a look, then immediately refused: "I'm at least somewhat of a notable figure in Qingshui City now. If you let me go plant vegetables in greenhouses, I'd be afraid people would laugh at me."

Lin Wei continued to act coquettishly: "Dear husband, you don't even have to do the work yourself. As long as the funds are in place, we'll take care of the labor issues for you."

When Chen Yang heard she was only seeking investment, he breathed a sigh of relief. He actually had his own plan to invest in agricultural product cultivation. Since Lin Wei also had a need here, he thought he could give it a try, so he asked Lin Wei: "How much money do you need me to invest?"

Lin Wei said: "We plan to set up sixty pilot sites in twenty townships of Qingshui County. Each pilot requires an investment of three hundred thousand yuan, for a total of eighteen million yuan."

Chen Yang jumped in fright. He had thought spending a few hundred thousand yuan would be enough just to go through the motions, but Lin Wei opened with eighteen million yuan right away—she really wasn't being polite with him!

The key point was, he didn't agree at all with Lin Wei's idea of scattering pilot sites everywhere; in fact, he was very worried about it.

"Honey, with sixty pilot sites, will the experts you've hired be able to handle traveling everywhere to give guidance? Also, if each township gets an investment of six hundred thousand yuan, will the local governments actually cooperate seriously? Doing it this way, my eighteen‑million‑yuan investment would be no different from throwing it into the water."

"Honey, you're overthinking it." Lin Wei said confidently: "This is a major beneficial policy for boosting township economies; they'll surely cooperate!"

"Whether they cooperate or not, I simply don't agree with setting up so many pilot sites." Chen Yang didn't want to over‑explain. Lin Wei hasn't yet gone down to the grassroots for training, so she basically has no idea of the real situation in the countryside. The poorer the place, the worse the corruption. If he doesn't personally send people to supervise, most of that money will just go down the drain.

Seeing Chen Yang's firm attitude, Lin Wei thought for a while and then compromised: "How about we first try ten townships, with an investment of 1.8 million yuan per township? Would that work?"

Chen Yang still shook his head, held up two fingers to Lin Wei, and said: "Just two townships as pilots, with 9 million yuan invested in each township. Besides, I need to assign dedicated personnel to supervise."

Lin Wei frowned tightly; the gap was far too large compared to what she had expected. But since Chen Yang hadn't reduced the investment, she found it hard to say anything.

Chen Yang added: "For these two pilot townships, one slot has to be reserved for Coiled Dragon Town."

Lin Wei couldn't help but snort upon hearing that, and said: "They treated you like that, and you're still planning to repay evil with virtue?"

Chen Yang said: "We don't need to talk about the folks back home; Zhou Zhengyang is still someone we can get along with. They've been wholeheartedly dedicated to my affairs—if we have a good thing and don't think of them, isn't that a bit unkind?"

"Alright, then let's give Coiled Dragon Town a slot." Lin Wei couldn't counter Chen Yang's reasoning. Zhou Zhengyang is a follower of Yexin and also the township cadre who cooperates with them the most; not looking after him would really be hard to justify.

Chen Yang then said: "For these two pilot sites, the vegetable varieties must be designated by our company, and the vegetables grown must be sold exclusively by us."

"All right." Lin Wei readily agreed to Chen Yang's demand, then went back to the room to write up the materials.

Chen Yang sighed. He had thought that after putting up eighteen million yuan, Lin Wei would at least spend some sweet time with him, but it turned out her mind was only on work.

Feeling bored and idle, Chen Yang called Shen Anna to tell her about the vegetable greenhouse investment pilot. She expressed support for Lin Wei's idea.

"Off‑season vegetables bring high profits and are popular with consumers. If the company takes part in the investment, costs will drop considerably."

Chen Yang said: "Then should the company re‑establish an Agricultural Investment Department, dedicated to handling this area of work?"

Shen Anna wasn't very keen on Chen Yang's idea, saying: "We're just a newly started sales company; setting up a dedicated investment department now would be a bit of a waste of resources. It would be better to simply sign some related contracts with the local government—let them handle production while we handle sales. That way both sides would save effort."

Chen Yang thought about it and agreed that made sense. Shen Anna is also very busy now; adding another department would be an extra burden for her. It would be better to just let the local government take charge. As long as there are contractual constraints, things usually won't go too wrong.

"Then let's also raise the investment money through bank loans!"

……