Carrying a Jurassic on me
Chapter 805 - 435: An Old Man Growing Mushrooms

Chapter 805: Chapter 435: An Old Man Growing Mushrooms

Having seen off those people, Yan Fei didn’t continue to put on his headphones to learn a foreign language either.

Learning a foreign language is important, but the development of the company can’t stop either.

Lin Baoguo had come over a few days ago to ask if he should try to find out who the spy from Japan was working for. Yan Fei had said at that time that it didn’t matter since the person had been caught anyway.

At that, Lin Baoguo had lectured him severely, saying he didn’t understand the importance of planning ahead and preventing trouble before it arises. After all, this was a young and promising head of a local police station, who turned into a nagging old lady every time he saw Yan Fei. It was really quite helpless.

But Yan Fei didn’t have much to say in response; he wanted to say that there was really no need to ask, as the ones who knew about his cattle farm were the same people who had partnered with our city’s research institutes, the same ones who had come to invest last time. Didn’t you see that I’m already learning a foreign language? Not only am I preventing trouble before it arises, but before long, once my foreign language skills are good enough, I’ll be able to eradicate the source of this "trouble" completely.

However, these were words he would never say out loud, not even to Director Lin, let alone his wife, who had no idea why he had suddenly burst with enthusiasm to study foreign languages so diligently—aside from the cattle-raising aspect, it was rare to see him this serious about other things.

Now, ’wasting’ his study time, he was thinking about developing earthworm farming and the cultivation of Agaricus bisporus.

Both of these technologies had their pros and cons at the moment. Earthworms were best for consuming cow dung, but growing Agaricus bisporus currently seemed to be more profitable—which would definitely be the choice for farmers in urgent need of getting rich if they had the option.

So, he took the time to go over the plan he had already come up with for promoting Agaricus bisporus in his head once again.

After thinking it through, he put his headphones back on—he believed that this plan would soon come into use.

True to his expectations, before long, an old man sneakily came to find him: "Boss Yan, this, hehe..."

Seeing the sly look on the old man’s face, Yan Fei’s expression darkened: "Spit it out, don’t waste my time."

It wasn’t that Yan Fei had a bad attitude; this old man was just incorrigible. He loved to joke around with everyone, appearing jovial, but in reality, he was extremely shrewd. He often used to bring straw to the cattle farm, and having gotten along for a long time, they were relatively familiar with each other.

This person was a bit too shrewd, and didn’t get along well with others in the village—for example, he had once "purchased" other people’s straw and sold it to the cattle farm.

That’s why he couldn’t be treated too kindly; it would only lead to him overstepping his bounds.

Yan Fei’s expression didn’t bother the old man, who continued with a hehe and revealed his purpose: "Boss Yan, what do you say if I also set up a couple of acres, build some greenhouses, raise earthworms, plant some mushrooms, can I do this?"

Without waiting for Yan Fei to answer, he quickly said what he had prepared: "Don’t worry, I’m not capable enough to steal your business. We can write up an agreement, that whatever I grow or raise, I’ll sell to you. You take the bigger share and leave me a little profit. If you don’t trust me and are afraid that I’ll go solo after learning the technology, we can write the agreement for ten or twenty years. As long as I’m working on it, I’ll sell everything to you. What do you think? You’d have to pay hired workers anyway, and now I’m providing the land and taking care of it myself. This way, you’d have less to worry about, right?"

Shrewd people have their advantages; they handle matters efficiently. They’re not like the people led by the old Party Secretary—who seem savvy and foresighted but actually have very limited understanding. Calling them foolish wouldn’t be an exaggeration.

This old man is truly astute. Even though he hadn’t thought of this before, once he was inspired by those people, he immediately came up with a better solution. He also acted quickly, coming to pledge his loyalty, saying, "I’ll follow you—just give me a little soup to drink while you eat the meat." This was actually because he had gotten to know Yan Fei well after dealing with him for a long time and knew he wasn’t the kind to not allow others even a proper drink of soup.

"Ten or twenty years? Aren’t you afraid you’ll lose money and starve to death by then?" Yan Fei said this and didn’t drone on. "Here are my terms—you can think them over and decide. You build your own greenhouse, just talk to Boss Ma. I’ll provide the cattle manure, fungus seedlings, and technical guidance for free. You do the rest. How hard you work isn’t my concern, as long as you can deliver the goods to me. I’ll deduct my service fee based on my selling price, and the rest is yours. If the market is bad, don’t blame me for the losses."

A flicker of surprise flashed across the old man’s face, and without hesitation, he said, "No blame, no blame. I’m just this old bag of bones. If I can leave something more for my son and grandson, I will; if not, they can’t blame me either. Let’s do as you say."

This old man had certainly considered every aspect at home, agreeing promptly. When Yan Fei brought paper to sign the agreement, the old man pressed his thumbprint and immediately sighed with relief.

The old man’s subsequent behavior, however, showed Yan Fei what shamelessness really meant. After carefully folding his copy of the agreement and slipping it into his pocket, the old man squinted his eyes and said, "Boss Yan, I don’t think this is going to work! Look here, the free technical guidance isn’t much of a problem—after all, it’s just a matter of finding someone to give some advice in their spare time. But free cattle manure and fungus seedlings—that’s a bit inappropriate, isn’t it?"

With a look of ’I’m thinking of your best interest,’ the old man said, "You might have an excess of cattle manure now, but what if in the future more people start cultivating and you run out? And about these fungus seedlings, they are painstakingly produced by people you pay. Even though we’ve signed an agreement, what if I become familiar with the processes and secretly sell some to others without you knowing, right? Moreover, if the market turns bad and we all lose money, taking some money for the fungus seedlings in advance would mean losing less..."

Not only was Yan Fei dumbfounded, but so were the four or five female officers in the office, including Xu Xiaoyan, as well as Pang Fa, who was in charge of the people from Guan Village. They didn’t know what to make of this old man.

It finally became clear why this old guy was unpopular in the village. Despite having good connections with the cattle farm, when it came to discussions about cultivating in the greenhouse, they deliberately excluded him.

They knew he was cunning to the point of shamelessness, but they didn’t realize the extent to which his shamelessness could go. He truly broadened everyone’s perspective in the office.

Even a fool could see that he was ostensibly considering the cattle farm’s interests, but in reality, he was just seeking to secure an advantage for himself. He was convinced that Yan Fei wouldn’t tear up the agreement just because he had made a suggestion—thus guaranteeing that in the future, while everyone else would have to pay for cattle manure and fungus seedlings, his would be free...

However, Yan Fei had already considered this. It was entirely possible to charge these ’outsiders’ for those offerings. He had actually planned to promote this among the farmers who raised cattle for him, but those people didn’t have money right now. They had to wait until the cattle were raised and they had some money in hand, for without it, they couldn’t even afford meals, let alone invest in building greenhouses.

"Boss Yan, I’m going to see Boss Ma now. You should really think about what I’ve said. Please don’t tell anyone it came from me. I’m saying all this for your benefit!" Knowing that what he was doing was unscrupulous, the old man left as soon as he finished speaking, but not without cautioning Yan Fei to keep his name out of it...

After the old man had left, Pang Fa suddenly burst into laughter: "Haha, next time someone comes to negotiate this, I’ll make sure to tell them about this old guy when I’m charging money—to let people know we originally didn’t want to charge, but this old guy helped us see it differently..."

Yan Fei smiled without saying a word; it didn’t really matter. That old man was already unpopular, and this would just make him even less liked—but that was fine. If in the future someone tried to sell mushrooms behind his back, this tricky old man would definitely come to report it.

But he wasn’t going to worry about that. He had involved Pang Fa in the matter so that Pang Fa could handle these issues in the future.

As for the concern about producing too much and not being able to sell it, he wasn’t worried. He had been on television and in the newspapers. Another round out there, and he had learned a new promotional method—advertising. If mushrooms indeed became too plentiful, he could just find a television station! He could save his, others could save theirs, even Central Station was an option. Just like watching television in Hong Kong, a simple caption wouldn’t cost much...