Mountain Looting: Targeted by a Leopard at the Start
Chapter 323 - 322: Xu Yang’s Decision, A Collaboration That Satisfies Both Parties!

Chapter 323: Chapter 322: Xu Yang’s Decision, A Collaboration That Satisfies Both Parties!

"Big goose is here!"

Chef Niu Zhuang, with a smile on his face, brought a large pot of stewed big goose to the table.

The employees had been impatiently waiting, their eyes glued to the delicious food in the pot.

Xu Yang was also looking forward to tasting Niu Zhuang’s cooking skills.

The iron pot stewed big goose was steaming hot and fragrantly inviting, whetting one’s appetite at the mere smell.

"It smells so good!"

"Old Niu has great skills!"

"Our farm’s meals are really not bad at all!"

Everyone was full of praise, and then waited for Xu Yang to pick up his chopsticks first.

Xu Yang, holding a bowl, grabbed a big piece of goose meat and put it into his mouth.

Niu Zhuang’s skills were indeed good, the sauce was thick and savory, and it tasted quite nice.

The goose meat was particularly tender, and as you chewed, you could feel the juice squirting out.

It’s not easy to make delicious goose meat; stewing a big goose in an iron pot requires strong ingredients, making the flavor particularly penetrate well.

A characteristic of Northeastern cuisine is to emphasize a "chaotic stew," producing dishes full of aroma and a homely feel.

"This goose is not bad, acceptable."

Xu Yang smiled with admiration.

As soon as he finished speaking, everyone turned into fervent eaters.

In addition to the iron pot stewed big goose, there was also a stewed potato dish and a stir-fry of eggs with green onions.

All of these were farm-produced ingredients, and they tasted very good.

Everyone devoured their meals voraciously, and soon, the large pot of goose was polished off.

This meal was especially satisfying.

It was now the end of August, and the farm was very busy, often short-handed.

Eating a bit more also helped everyone get through the work.

In the afternoon, Xu Yang started to calculate this month’s revenue performance in his office.

The farm was indeed profitable, but after all, it had many employees; whether it was wages, meal costs, or other expenses, it consumed quite a bit each month.

The operating costs of the farm were still high.

It was only because Xu Yang’s crops were marketed to the high-end segment that the revenue was substantial.

Otherwise, a regular farm couldn’t afford such high wages.

After he sorted out the financial situation, he began to ponder over the construction projects for the farm.

Xu Yang called several employees over to discuss and hold a "farm affairs meeting."

Nowadays, no one liked to attend meetings; indeed, frequent meetings were not good, but gathering everyone once a month to talk about practical issues was necessary.

Xu Yang asked everyone for suggestions on the development of the farm.

Pooling ideas together could perhaps yield many suggestions that he hadn’t thought of.

Wang Wu proposed:

"Farm Director, didn’t our farm contract North Mountain? There’s a piece of land there that can be developed; we could build a mountain and water estate."

Wang Wu was obviously influenced by TV dramas, believing that opening a resort was sure to be good.

Whether it was the past Liu Laogen or the current Qi Tongwei, didn’t they both open mountain and water resorts?

Xu Yang waved his hand and said:

"Be realistic, a mountain and water estate would cost hundreds of millions. And I don’t want to deal with so many people; it’s not necessary to invest so much."

Upon hearing this, Ma Wen suggested:

"Farm Director, I still recommend planting fruit trees. The back mountain is so vast; if we don’t plant fruit trees, relying solely on pine cones and such, it will take at least ten years to break even."

"Or perhaps, we could dig a fish pond on the back mountain and raise some fish."

"Both are good businesses."

Actually, what Ma Wen said was very sensible; these were indeed profitable avenues.

It was just necessary to be on guard for people who might be envious.

Xu Yang pondered for a while, and planting some fruit trees wasn’t a bad idea.

In the Northeast region, where people didn’t have many other things to do, many were thinking about planting and breeding.

So, there were all types of planting and breeding.

Xu Yang had made his standing through planting.

The produce from his greenhouses was in such demand that he couldn’t meet the supply, even with just ten greenhouses; there’s not enough to go around.

"Alright, this proposal is good, precisely since there’s a large area of wasteland on North Mountain that I’ve been contemplating what to plant."

"I was thinking about planting Schizandra, jujubes, and such."

"But these things are not easy to sell; the mountain goods market is full of them; we shouldn’t compete with the mountain runners."

Xu Yang nodded.

Speaking of Schizandra, there were plenty of wild ones in the mountains.

Many mountain runners would go into the mountains to pick Schizandra to sell and make some money for their livelihood.

Thus, there was no need to snatch this kind of business.

Xu Yang had a lot to consider.

"However, planting fruit trees has to be done one by one; it will take quite an effort for us to plant these trees."

"We will need to hire people."

Xu Yang added.

Hearing his words, Ma Wen pondered for a moment, then said:

"We can contact Agricultural University, as their College of Agriculture has nearly 100 students in each class."

"100 people working together is more than ten times our number."

"Besides, the college students can consider it as practical training, so it probably won’t cost much."

Hearing Ma Wen’s words, Xu Yang shook his head with a laugh.

Indeed, in this day and age, college students have the lowest wages.

When he was in college, he also did a lot of miscellaneous tasks arranged by the school.

Now, his classmates who were in graduate school were still doing errands for their advisors every day.

"Let’s talk about this later; those students are tired enough. I’ll think of another way."

Xu Yang temporarily refused.

Then, everyone started discussing again.

Some suggested raising ostriches or Sika Deer, while others proposed growing vegetables, but Xu Yang thought these ideas weren’t very reliable.

After the meeting, he digested everyone’s suggestions on his own.

Though he often seemed carefree, Xu Yang was reliable when it mattered.

The development of the farm was something that needed thorough consideration.

Xu Yang decided to start by planting some fruit trees.

At first, he was worried about arousing envy, but he later felt he was being overly apprehensive. While there were examples on the internet, not all villages were like that.

There were quite a few fruit trees planted around the area.

Then Xu Yang didn’t stay idle, going around to understand what kinds of trees people were planting and what the harvests were like.

This kind of thing required proper research.

People were growing a variety of things.

For example, apples, dates, hawthorns, and even cherries grown outdoors, which definitely didn’t yield good results.

Xu Yang sat in his office, organizing the information about the fruit trees.

Employees occasionally saw him working overtime and knew he was busy.

In this respect, everyone admired him.

Xu Yang was indeed remarkable and full of ideas.

"What kind of fruit trees do you think the Farm Director will plant?"

Wang Wu and Li Shan chatted privately.

"Who knows, I think apples and dates are more likely, the village next to us has people contracting mountains to plant fruit trees," Li Shan pondered and said.

"That’s too common. The Farm Director doesn’t play by the book."

"I wonder if he will plant fruits from other regions."

Wang Wu was quite interested.

Li Shan shook his head, "You have to consider the environment for planting in the mountains; the climate conditions are what they are, so you can only grow crops suitable for the local area, hence you can’t plant others."

"It’s not like we have greenhouses."

Li Shan made a good point, there were only so many types of fruit trees suitable for the mountains.

There wasn’t much novelty to be had.

But Xu Yang always had an active mind.

He wrote down the names of several fruits on paper, and eventually, he circled apples and pears with his pen.

He didn’t plan to plant apples or pears, but rather, he planned to plant Apple pears.

A new product of grafting technology.

"Apple pears, this niche is quite unique and the requirements for cultivation and grafting technology are quite high."

"Besides, grafting technology can be completely cooperated with Agricultural University."

"I can supervise it myself."

"I can cultivate a forest of Apple pears."

Xu Yang thought to himself, finally settling on a plan.

The method for planting Apple pears needed clarity.

The difficult part was the first step, grafting apple branches onto pear trees.

Once the first step grew, planting could proceed directly with Apple pear seeds or branches.

Apple pear seeds could also be purchased online.

But Xu Yang still wanted to do some research on his own.

Especially through the system, he could extract some apple and pear saplings.

The fruit quality depended on the variety; different varieties had different flavors.

He wanted to make the fruit taste good, so he needed to work hard on the variety.

Thinking of this, Xu Yang contacted a mentor at Agricultural University.

He got in touch with Liu Boliang, who researched grass cultivation in the Northeast and Inner Mongolia regions, providing excellent grass seeds for these places every year.

When Liu Boliang heard Xu Yang wanted to plant Apple pears and conduct the first generation of grafting himself.

He immediately saw the rare practical opportunity and reported it to the university.

The university, hearing about such a good course, decided to include it in the students’ curriculum for the next year, for course credit.

It was like students in medical school encountering a good surgical operation, and everyone had their turn.

It was an excellent chance to improve skills.

After chatting with Liu Boliang for two days, Liu Boliang told him that once the saplings were ready, the students could start planting, and it would count for academic credit.

Xu Yang was somewhat surprised.

"Counts for academic credit? That’s pretty formal."

Upon hearing this, Liu Boliang responded:

"What a great opportunity this is."

"Classroom grafting and cutting lessons in the lab can’t compare to those in the real environment."

"Let me tell you, the complete recording of this class could probably become the best classroom session of our school."

"The data will definitely be preserved."

"As long as you agree to let the students do grafting in your orchard, we can definitely have deep collaboration."

Xu Yang naturally agreed with a smile.

It was clear that both parties were very satisfied.

Xu Yang would provide the land, and the school would supply the labor.

Planting trees was costly, and he didn’t have the machinery for mechanized planting. Relying solely on the farm’s employees, managing to plant a dozen trees a day was already good.

That’s if they didn’t do any other farm work.

With the help of students, things would be completely different.

After all, college students had plenty of energy.

The two sides struck an agreement immediately, and just like that, the matter was settled.

North Mountain would welcome a new appearance. Inside Agricultural University College of Agriculture, teachers announced the course to the students for next year, and upon hearing they would go to the large mountain contracted by Xu Yang to practice grafting, the students also boiled with excitement.