Chapter 254: Researching Cold-Resistant Vegetables

According to the documents sent by Manager Liu, this science-and-engineering man was named Zhu Sheng, a doctoral student from an agricultural university who had worked at his school's agricultural research institute for several years after graduation and had even improved a tomato variety; he was very talented.

"Your name is Zhu Sheng, right? I heard you used to be at the provincial agricultural research institute; why did you want to come work in the village?"

Zhu Sheng pushed up his glasses and spoke earnestly.

"Manager Bai, the truth is my parents are getting old, and I can't just leave them in the village while I struggle alone in the big city."

"My mother fell ill last year, and I was too busy with work to take care of her for more than a few days; I truly feel guilty in my heart."

"So, I resigned and came back. I think the roots of agriculture are in the countryside; whether in the city or the countryside, as long as one has ideas, one can build a career."

Bai Wei smiled and nodded, "You're right; even in this tiny Qingshan Village, as long as you have the heart, you can accomplish great things."

After chatting with Zhu Sheng for a few moments, she greatly admired this agricultural PhD.

This person was a typical engineering man—smart and full of ideas, with the only drawback being that he was a bit dull.

However, as long as there is talent, this small flaw is nothing.

Bai Wei chatted with Zhu Sheng for over half an hour, and the more they talked, the more enthusiastic they became.

Many of Zhu Sheng's concepts coincided with her own.

For example, she wanted to improve a vegetable variety that could grow rapidly in cold regions, and Zhu Sheng happened to have the same idea, only he had no one to invest in his research.

After all, in this country, there are too many warm regions where vegetables grow in abundance, so there is absolutely no need to specifically research vegetables that grow in cold regions.

Lacking funds, Zhu Sheng's research project had been shelved.

Bai Wei made the decision on the spot.

"Zhu Sheng, as long as you work at my Vegetable Base, I will allocate an experimental field for you to focus on researching improved vegetables."

"As for the funds for your research..."

She paused for a moment.

"No matter how much money it takes, I will be responsible for it all!"

"Manager Bai, really?" Zhu Sheng stood up excitedly, somewhat incoherent, "Thank you so much! If we can develop vegetables that can grow in cold regions, it will be another step forward in promoting the development of agriculture."

Bai Wei smiled and nodded.

In truth, she hadn't thought that far; she just wanted to cultivate a few types of vegetable seeds to send to Beijiang.

The winter in Beijiang is too long, and fresh vegetables cannot grow anywhere; for months on end, everyone can only eat stored grain from cellars, not even getting a single green vegetable leaf, which leads to vitamin deficiencies over time and easily affects digestive health.

Although she could provide a steady stream of produce to the Northern Frontier Camp, what about the common people nearby? Their living conditions were even worse.

If she could cultivate cold-resistant vegetables, the soldiers and civilians of Beijiang wouldn't have to spend the entire winter gnawing on sweet potatoes and eating potatoes.

"Zhu Sheng, from now on, you are the Field Manager of this Vegetable Base of mine."

"From now on, everything in the base is left to you."

Zhu Sheng was extremely excited and grabbed her hand.

"Manager Bai, thank you for your trust! From now on, I will definitely work hard at the Vegetable Base."

Bai Wei recruited all of the remaining seven people to serve as Interns.

The internship period is two months; the capable will take the position, and the incapable will leave.

Zhu Sheng serves as the Field Manager of the Vegetable Base, and all matters are handled by him, including managing these Interns.

Bai Wei still has to shuttle between the two worlds; she doesn't have the energy to manage the Vegetable Base, so she leaves it all to Zhu Sheng to handle.

"Zhu Sheng, you all go back and prepare, and come to the Farm to work in two days."

"As for the planning of the Vegetable Base, write me a proposal when the time comes; what vegetables to plant in the base will be up to you."

After sending off Zhu Sheng and the Interns, Bai Wei saw a message on WeChat from the construction company.

The other party asked her how she planned to expand and how many floors to build.

They wanted to send people over to measure and then provide a preliminary estimate of the total cost.

Bai Wei walked into the Warehouse and looked up.

The Warehouse used for storing vegetables was built as a single-story structure and currently only had two floors.

However, when building the Warehouse, she had informed the builders in advance that she might need to expand in the future, so the foundation had been planned for at least ten floors.

Currently, the first floor is a cold storage facility, installed with refrigeration equipment, usually used to refrigerate vegetables sent by villagers, which can keep them fresh for a long time.

The second floor was used by her to store antiques, and the safe was also placed there.

Bai Wei pondered while looking over the Warehouse.

"With the wardrobe, this Warehouse is equivalent to my own space."

"In the future, when I go to Daliang, if I encounter a war situation again, I will still need to move things from the Warehouse, so the space cannot be too small; 800 square meters is not enough, at least 5,000 square meters."

A 5,000-square-meter warehouse is equivalent in size to a small soccer field!

However, Bai Wei didn't care; she wasn't short on money now, and the size of the warehouse to be built was entirely up to her.

To expand the Warehouse to 5,000 square meters, the land of the Farm would not be enough.

The Farm must be expanded!

With this thought, Bai Wei walked out of the Farm.

Next to the Farm was a large patch of withered sorghum fields.

Originally, this land belonged to a family surnamed Wu in the village, but now the Wu family does business in the city, leaving only the elderly at home to watch the house, and the elderly have no strength to farm, so their land had gone to waste.

Bai Wei walked outside the Wu family's courtyard and called out loudly.

"Wu Grandma, are you home?"

An old woman with gray hair walked over from the backyard, stumbling while carrying a basin of chicken feed.

"Is that Bai Wei? What's the matter?"

Bai Wei smiled and tilted her chin, "Wu Grandma, those corn and sorghum fields of yours are all going to waste now; can you rent them to me?"

"Rent the land?" Wu Grandma looked at the sorghum field, "You want to plant sorghum? Such a large piece of land, and it's full of gravel underneath; it's not easy for crops to grow."

"No, I'm not farming, I'm building a Warehouse."

"Building a Warehouse?" A middle-aged man in a suit walked out of the main room, "Bai Wei, what kind of Warehouse are you building?"

Bai Wei took a look; this man was Wu Grandma's son, who ran a fruit shop in the city and usually stayed there to look after it, so she hadn't expected him to be here today.

"Wu Uncle, so you're home. I want to rent your land to build a Warehouse, will you rent it?"

"I'll rent it."

"How much? I'll sign a land lease contract with you."

Wu Uncle frowned and considered it for a few minutes, then slapped his thigh.

"We're all from the same village, and I heard from the village chief that you're also planning to build a school in the village, so I won't overcharge you; just give me three thousand yuan a year for these ten acres of land."

"Three thousand?" Bai Wei was also startled.

This price was much lower than she had imagined.

Usually, when villagers rented land, the rent for one acre was almost always between five hundred and one thousand yuan.

Wu Uncle renting these ten acres to her for only three thousand yuan was completely doing her a favor.