Chapter 109 - 89: The Experiment Succeeded! Time to Go Big

Chapter 109: Chapter 89: The Experiment Succeeded! Time to Go Big

Old Guo looked up, saw Zhang Lin, and hurriedly said with respect, "Boss!"

He then quickly said to his two sons, "What ’sir’? This is the boss!"

Guo Huai and his brother were instantly surprised.

They had come back to learn the craft of making bamboo products from their father, so of course they had learned about Li Yuan Farm. They knew how big a deal Li Yuan Farm was in You City, but they never imagined the boss would be so young.

A few tourists nearby subconsciously glanced at Zhang Lin, their eyes filled with disbelief.

He really was just too young.

Li Yuan Farm was already very popular online, but no one really knew who the owner was. He was too low-key, never appearing in front of a camera or showing off.

People had assumed he was a wealthy tycoon with deep pockets. After all, with Li Yuan Farm launching one project after another, the amount of capital required couldn’t have been small.

But no one expected him to be so young. The key question was, how could someone at his age manage to be so low-key?

’Shouldn’t he be showing his face every day, full of himself and ordering people around?’

Old Guo, however, hurriedly explained, "Boss, these two are my sons. I’m having them come learn the craft of bamboo products from me so they can find work here at the Bamboo Culture Park in the future."

"Mm," Zhang Lin nodded in response.

’This is all just part of the way the world works. As long as their skills are up to par, it’s fine.’

After looking around the Bamboo Culture Park, Zhang Lin left. He rode his scooter over to the service center, not expecting to run into a man and a woman who greeted him.

"Zhang Lin!"

"You’re Zhang Lin?"

"Chen Hao, Wu Ling!" Zhang Lin was taken aback for a moment when he saw the man and woman. They were his university classmates, and the man had even been the organizer of the last class reunion.

When he had asked Zhang Lin to come, he’d been rejected outright.

But his gaze lingered on the two of them with a strange expression.

’Didn’t someone in the alumni group chat expose a story about the class reunion? A male and female classmate were caught playing some intimate game by his wife, and it ended in a huge fight (Chapter 17).’

’The main characters of that story were these two right here.’

’And now the two of them are brazenly visiting my farm. Did that incident cause them both to get divorced, and now they’re just together?’

’If that’s the case, I really feel sorry for the other man and woman.’

’And if they aren’t divorced yet, I feel even sorrier for them.’

"Zhang Lin, you’re working here at Li Yuan Farm?" Chen Hao asked in surprise.

"Zhang Lin, what are you doing working here?" Wu Ling asked, her face full of mockery as she glanced at his old scooter. "Are you an employee at Li Yuan Farm? Got any internal perks you can give us?"

Zhang Lin saw the mocking look on Wu Ling’s face and said self-deprecatingly, "Do I look like someone who gets internal perks? I can’t chat right now, I’ve still got work to do!"

With that, he hopped on his scooter and zipped away.

Some classmates are worth being friends with, like Huang Tao.

Others, it’s best to stay as far away as possible.

Chen Hao and Wu Ling watched his retreating back as he rode away, the amusement on their faces growing stronger.

"No wonder he didn’t dare come to the class reunion. Turns out he’s just a worker at this farm!"

"Well, yeah. If it were me, I’d be dying of embarrassment. I definitely wouldn’t go either."

...

Zhang Lin rode his scooter to the service center and found that girl, Lin Mengxi, busy again with people from the Agriculture Bureau.

"President Zhang!" Lin Mengxi greeted him enthusiastically as soon as she saw him.

Zhang Lin smiled and said, "Miss Lin, is the third farmer-aid livestream happening tonight?"

Lin Mengxi nodded. "Yes, the first two were very effective. Now that we’ve got momentum, we plan to strike while the iron is hot. To be honest, this plan couldn’t have succeeded without your willingness to help, President Zhang."

"It’s a small matter. It’s mutually beneficial for both of us," Zhang Lin said with a smile.

Lin Mengxi replied, "You could say that about the relationship between the farm and our bureau, but for me personally, this is a huge political achievement. I still have to thank you properly, President Zhang. Would you mind if I treated you to a meal tomorrow?"

"In that case, Miss Lin, just let me know the time and place tomorrow!" Zhang Lin politely accepted and then returned to his prefabricated office.

He had just sat down when he noticed he was being tagged like crazy in his university alumni group chat.

He checked the messages and saw that everyone was casually discussing him working at Li Yuan Farm:

"Zhang Lin, why’d you go work on a farm? Wasn’t your old job pretty good?"

"Zhang Lin, we’re all classmates. Why don’t you come work at my company!"

"I’m a department head now, I can hire someone!"

"..."

Zhang Lin looked at his classmates’ comments. They seemed concerned, but in reality, each of them was just showing off their own minor accomplishments.

He hadn’t expected Chen Hao and Wu Ling to spread the news so quickly.

Shaking his head, he simply put his phone down.

’They’re a bunch of people I’ll never see again anyway. Let them say what they want.’

「Time passed.」

Early the next morning, the first thing Zhang Lin did after getting up was check on the sweet potato plant he had planted at home.

The sweet potato plant had just been trimmed yesterday, but with its [Growth Speed +1] attribute, it had already grown a new section overnight.

After that, he went straight to the farm to check on the few sweet potato cuttings he had transplanted there yesterday. They had also grown a new section, which meant they had retained the [Growth Speed +1] attribute and had already taken root.

At this rate, if he had a month, he could cultivate enough sweet potato seedlings. That would bring him to mid-August, just in time for the autumn sweet potato planting season.

Then, he called Liu De over and took him to see the two sweet potato vine cuttings that had been transplanted outside the farm. There was no change in them. In fact, one of them even looked a little withered, proving that they really couldn’t be cultivated outside the farm’s boundaries.

"Liu De, from now on, I want you to focus on cultivating these sweet potato seedlings. The more, the better," Zhang Lin quickly instructed Liu De.

Once they had cultivated enough of these seedlings, it would be time to go big.

"Yes, Boss!" Liu De nodded.

After checking on the cultivation status of the sweet potato seedlings, Zhang Lin returned to his prefabricated office, got on his scooter, and headed for You City.

Today was the You City top business conference he’d been invited to by Liu County.

Entering the county government building, he immediately found a place to park his scooter properly. There was a designated parking area for two-wheeled vehicles inside.

It was right next to the car parking lot.

He had just parked when a Mercedes S480 pulled up next to him. In a small county town, anyone driving a car like this was undoubtedly a boss from You City, most likely also here for the conference.

A middle-aged man got out of the car. He glanced at Zhang Lin but didn’t think much of it. After all, plenty of people came to the county building on business every day. In any case, judging by his clothes, the young man certainly wasn’t a county official.

So, he walked straight inside. Upon reaching the lobby, he saw the sign for the conference and headed in that direction. It wasn’t his first time attending such a meeting, so he was quite familiar with the specific conference room.

What he didn’t expect was for that young man to follow him inside. This prompted him to offer a well-intentioned reminder, "Young man, you’re going the wrong way. The offices for general business are on the other side!"

"Uh!" Zhang Lin was taken aback. ’Well, wasn’t that... kind of him?’

Just then, Zhao Han walked out from ahead.

When the middle-aged man saw Zhao Han, he said with a broad smile, "Bureau Chief Zhao, I just heard your guidance at the last tourism industry briefing. I didn’t expect to see you again so soon."

"Ah, President Li!" Zhao Han immediately shook the middle-aged man’s hand. Then he saw Zhang Lin behind him and quickly walked over with a wide smile. "Boss Zhang, I was worried you might get lost. Liu County specifically instructed me to meet you and guide you to the conference room!"

Standing to the side, President Li’s head snapped toward Zhang Lin upon hearing this, his eyes wide with astonishment.

’This Bureau Chief Zhao may only be in charge of tourism, but his position isn’t low. Why would he need to be so polite to a young man?’

’And more importantly, this young man is also here for the conference?’

’I couldn’t have misheard, right?’