Carrying a Jurassic on me
Chapter 604 - 268: Senior Brother Liu Who Grows Mushrooms and his Beeper_1

Chapter 604: Chapter 268: Senior Brother Liu Who Grows Mushrooms and his Beeper_1

Wang Jiuming, who was standing by, saw it all clearly. He interrupted with a laugh: "Senior Brother Liu isn’t a small-time nouveau riche like you. He also started from scratch. His initial investment of five acres on the outskirts of Provincial City was quite substantial. The cost of an acre here and there is a vast difference! He initially took out a loan of tens of thousands of yuan. He lost dozens of catties in the first year setting up this business!"

Wang Jiuming further explained, and it was then that Yan Fei understood the hardships Liu encountered during his entrepreneurship.

Everything in Provincial City costs money, even cow dung! Yan Fei and Xu Xiaoyan found it incredible. Who could have thought one had to purchase cow dung? It was one of the reasons why Senior Brother Liu previously said to Yan Fei that he had an advantage in mushroom farming, at least the cow dung was from his home and didn’t cost anything.

The cost of a catty of dry cow dung may not seem much, but the required quantity is huge! Adding the labor and transportation costs, the investment isn’t small.

Moreover, the prices of everything in Provincial City are high, including the transport costs for straws purchased nearby, and hiring labor isn’t cheap either. Unlike Yan Fei, who initially had a small liquor business, earning a steady income, Senior brother Liu, in reality, was losing money the first year he started. It wasn’t until last year that he finally started turning a profit. Yet, he still hadn’t paid back his bank loan.

What were the costs of Yan Fei’s investment?

He rented a wasteland for ten years, which initially cost only five hundred yuan for about twenty acres. There was an excess of cow dung, and a pot of liquor could exchange for several carts of straws, and there were plenty of idle people to do the work at any pay. The only requirement was building a few greenhouses.

Speaking of building greenhouses, could the prices be the same as those in Provincial City? Liu had to pay for everything in Provincial City, even for a piece of wood or a brick. Most of Yan Fei’s supplies were free, and he had as much wood as he needed. His bricks were also considerably cheaper than in Provincial City, and to build an earthen house, he just needed to pay a few workers, there was no comparison!

It was then that Yan Fei realized he misunderstood. Feeling a bit embarrassed, he said, "Can I learn from Senior Brother Liu? Don’t worry, I can pay some tuition..."

Senior Brother Liu, obviously a scholar type, waved his hands at his offer: "No need, no need! If you could buy my fungus seedlings, it would already be a great help. The technology is simple; there’s no need for tuition. Now I can make several thousand yuan per acre per year. The debt will be paid off soon."

Wang Jiuming bluntly said: "Forget it, Xiao Fei, don’t talk about money with your Senior Brother Liu anymore. He hates discussing this. Just remember this favor, and when you have anything good in the future, remember to share it with Senior Brother Liu..."

Hearing this, Liu became embarrassed and insisted it wasn’t necessary.

Seeing his response, Yan Fei dropped the matter, and started thinking about an appropriate gift to give him.

After finishing the meal, the foreign guy still hadn’t shown up, so Yan Fei stopped waiting for him. He hadn’t planned on asking the foreigner to raise his price for the beef immediately anyway, and simply left.

Upon leaving, Yan Fei got the address of Liu’s Agaricus bisporus farm, and he and Xu Xiaoyan prepared to bid farewell.

Knowing that he and Xu Xiaoyan were headed to Agricultural University, Wang Jiuming drove them there, which saved them the taxi fare.

As the three of them got in the car and saw Liu waving them goodbye, pushing his bike by the road, Xu Xiaoyan muttered: "I think Senior Brother Liu doesn’t seem like a businessman at all. When Yan Fei mentioned tuition, his face turned red out of anxiety. How can he do well in business like this..."

Wang Jiuming burst into laughter: "Xiao Xing also noticed! Your Senior Brother Liu isn’t really fit for business. He wasn’t doing well in the research institute, which is why he started this business. Thankfully, his gbusiness is technology-heavy. There aren’t many people doing it now; if he were in another business, he would have lost money a long time ago."

Yan Fei laughed: "In that case, I’m even more confident now. I’ll work hard to grow this business. Once I start promoting earthworm breeding and mushroom farming techniques, I won’t have to worry about finding people to breed cows for me in the future."

"Exactly!" Wang Jiuming laughed. "The technique really isn’t complex, and its promotion would be fast. I only worry about Liu’s nature. He probably will only make money for a couple of years. Once the technology is promoted and others learn, he won’t be able to compete..."

"No problem, if he can’t continue this, I’ll hire him as my technician!" Yan Fei proclaimed confidently.

Xu Xiaoyan slapped him lightly, laughing: "Stop boasting, speak properly. You still have to go learn techniques from him tomorrow!"

Wang Jiuming didn’t laugh. He drove silently for a moment and then said: "This is actually a good idea. If you want to promote the technology in the future, you definitely can’t rely solely on yourself. Liu may not be good at business, but he is technically competent. Besides, he’s not only good at this. If you can really get him to help you, you definitely won’t lose. It’s just that he’s currently ambitious about his work, so you won’t convince him now. Once he can’t carry on, then it might work..."

"Well, that’s no problem, I can wait". Yan Fei had made an off-hand comment earlier, but now he felt quite excited about this idea. If he could really hire someone who had experience working in a research institute, the benefits would certainly be substantial.

As for the salary, the wealthy and extravagant Boss Yan never worries about money!

"What are you talking about? You haven’t even learnt his techniques yet, and you’re already assuming he’ll fail?" Miss Xu Xiaoyan scolded with a glare from the side.

"Yan Fei speaks the truth. If he does well, it’s obviously a good thing. However, if he cannot continue to work in the future, Yan Fei would have been doing him a favor." Wang Jiuming didn’t think there was anything wrong with Yan Fei’s comment. "We should be frank. We wouldn’t hesitate to say this even in front of him. It’s too early to discuss this anyway, let’s see how he does in the future!"

"Indeed!" Yan Fei nodded in agreement with Wang Jiuming’s words. "By the way, Senior Brother Wang, I mentioned the wine I brought for you last time. Did Professor He give it to you? I have to remember to bring more next time. I feel embarrassed making you run errands for us all the time."

"Don’t worry, how could he not give it to me! I haven’t even finished that jar yet!" Wang Jiuming affirmed with a cheerful grin. "Your wine is really good, after drinking it this period, I feel as if I’m back to my student days. I have more energy to do everything now. If anything, I should be the one thanking you!"

"As long as it’s helpful, it’s good. Please don’t be polite with me anymore, Senior Brother Wang. Whenever you finish, just let me know, I will bring it over anytime." Yan Fei smiled. "The favor you’ve done for me is worth much more than this little bit of wine..."

"Alright, let’s stop being polite with each other. Oh yes, now that you reminded me, Xiao Xing, pass me that bag. I have a small gift for Yan Fei!"

"What’s this small gift?" Yan Fei asked curiously.

"You’ll know when you see it!" Fortunately, there were sparse cars on the road. Wang Jiuming took the bag the girl handed over, and was rummaging through it while driving. He wasn’t worried about any potential danger. "Here, this is it..."

"Oh? It’s a beeper?" Yan Fei quickly received it, and Xu Xiaoyan exclaimed in surprise from the side.

"These things are not cheap, are they? I don’t really have a use for it! Besides, I’m planning on having a telephone installed soon. Be assured, probably in less than two months it will be ready. You better keep this for yourself!" Yan Fei attempted to hand the gadget back as he spoke.

"No need, our unit issued another unit recently, I already have an old school mobile phone, so I don’t need it." Wang Jiuming chuckled. "Just accept this free gift. You never know when you might need it as your business expands. Can you imagine how frustrating it would be if we urgently needed to contact you and couldn’t reach you?"

"I really don’t need it, I’m basically at the cattle ranch every day. Once I get the landline installed, you’ll be able to reach me anytime." Yan Fei tried to refuse.

"No, you just take it. I’m attempting to gain your good graces now, so I won’t run out of wine to drink later." Wang Jiuming said earnestly. "Furthermore, I saw that you were holding a contract earlier on. You’re selling beef, right? As your business grows, not having a way to contact clients would be inconvenient! Take it, take it..."

"Alright, I’ll take it then! Thanks a lot, Senior Brother Wang. The contract that the foreigners saw earlier is actually the first contract of my company, hehe, it’s a big one. But I promised them confidentiality, so I won’t disclose the details." Yan Fei gratefully thanked Wang Jiuming and then cheerfully added, "Later I’ll clip this onto my waist. It will look so awesome. Hehe!"

"Make sure you fasten it properly, this device even has a timer. You can set a specific time for it to beep, just in case others don’t notice that you’re wearing it..." Wang Jiuming, with no intention of asking further, suddenly seemed to remember something amusing and started to laugh heartily. "Oh yes, his number is written on the back. From now onwards, Xiao Xing will be able to beep you when she’s in the Provincial City. Once you’re beeped, you’ll have to respond, haha!"

"Once the phone is installed, I won’t even need to beep him, I’ll just call directly. I think I saw a public telephone installed at the entrance of our school when we came here. I’ll get an IC card later, it’s so convenient." Xu Xiaoyan interjected.

"The development is truly rapid. I believe that in the future, the usage of telephones will become even more widespread. This year, hundreds of public telephone booths were installed on the streets of Provincial City. I estimate that in a few years, the price of mobile phones will significantly decrease, so much that everyone will be able to afford one." Wang Jiuming mused.

Everyone noticed. The most prominent change in Provincial City this year is the installation of telephone booths, visible to everyone on the streets. There are several poles dug into the pits along the roadsides, each fitted with a card-inserting telephone on top. Perhaps other changes are barely noticeable, but this is an exception.

While they were chatting, the car pulled up at the entrance of the Agriculatural University. There were several students queuing to use a public phone booth!

The three of them couldn’t help but laugh...