Chapter 136 - 102: A Clash of Flower Seas

Chapter 136: Chapter 102: A Clash of Flower Seas

Huang Tao explained, "This is my brother-in-law, Wang He. He got some inside information from the county earlier, heard that You City’s bamboo products were a good bet and that there was money to be made, so I took the opportunity to invest a little. But my brother-in-law is the one managing it; I’m not involved in the operations."

"I see," Zhang Lin nodded.

For someone like Huang Tao, who had connections and a network in the county, it wasn’t hard to get this kind of information. It wasn’t strange at all that he’d get a tip about which businesses were profitable.

But Huang Tao added, "Oh, right. Speaking of which, this is all thanks to you, Zhang Lin, for creating the Bamboo Culture Park. Otherwise, You City’s bamboo products would never have made a name for themselves."

The words "Bamboo Culture Park" immediately caught the attention of Wang He beside him, and the gazes of the surrounding bamboo product bosses followed suit.

After all, they were all in the bamboo products business in You City. They had recently felt a real increase in orders, and business negotiations had become easier. Everyone’s orders had increased by a large margin. If this trend continued, doubling last year’s order volume by the end of this year wouldn’t be a problem.

Besides, they weren’t fools. They naturally knew this was all related to the Bamboo Culture Park at Li Yuan Farm. If he hadn’t produced such exquisite bamboo products and built up the reputation of You City’s bamboo industry, this wouldn’t be happening.

"Huang Tao, this is...?" Wang He asked subconsciously.

Huang Tao immediately smiled and made the introduction. "Zhang Lin is the owner of Li Yuan Farm. Didn’t you always say that the bamboo products business is only doable thanks to Li Yuan Farm, and that you wanted to meet him? Well, now you have."

Once he had confirmation, Wang He’s face lit up with enthusiasm as he shook Zhang Lin’s hand. "So you’re President Zhang! It’s an honor to finally meet you."

At that, the surrounding bamboo product bosses all crowded around.

"So President Zhang is the owner of Li Yuan Farm...!"

"President Zhang, I’m the owner of Taihe Bamboo Products Company. It’s a pleasure to meet you!"

"President Zhang, you’re the God of Wealth for our You City bamboo products industry!"

"..."

You could say that these bamboo product bosses were all heaping superficial praise and respect upon him.

After all, it was the truth.

They were even hoping to get closer to him. If they could build a connection, a casual video from him that mentioned their factories would bring them endless benefits.

Just as things were getting lively, Liu County entered with a few people from the county government, which also caught the attention of the bamboo product bosses.

"Boss Zhang, you’re here!" Liu County had also spotted Zhang Lin and greeted him exclusively, ignoring everyone else.

Although this meeting was called the "Bamboo Products Quality Guidance Summit," to be honest, while You City’s bamboo industry was large with many companies, not a single one was truly large-scale.

At the very least, no bamboo product company was qualified to attend the county’s official business conferences.

Therefore, none of these bosses really warranted his special attention.

"Liu County!" Zhang Lin replied politely.

Liu County nodded and then addressed the other bamboo product bosses. "I’m sure everyone knows who Boss Zhang is by now. Our You City bamboo products industry really ought to thank him properly. Therefore, everyone’s quality must be guaranteed. You can’t let down all the work Boss Zhang has done. If anyone acts as a rotten apple, our county government will not stand for it."

With that, he had everyone take their seats and began the meeting.

Zhang Lin read between the lines; Liu County’s words seemed to be pointed at someone.

It was likely that some of these bamboo product bosses were having quality issues with their products, which was why Liu County had called this meeting.

After all, this was a critical stage for the promotion and development of You City’s bamboo products. The county definitely wouldn’t allow the existence of such a black sheep. It was likely that after this meeting, some bamboo product companies were in for a bad time.

’This world is full of people who lack foresight and only focus on short-term gains.’

However, it was none of his business. He didn’t run a bamboo products company. He just sat there quietly like a mascot, listened to Liu County talk about bamboo product quality control for an hour and a half, and then arranged to leave with Huang Tao when the meeting was over.

It was a rare chance for the old classmates to get together, so they had lunch.

Just as Zhang Lin had thought, over the next two days, news came from the county that three bamboo product companies had been shut down.

The county really acted with lightning speed on this matter.

But it made sense when he thought about it. This was the "Hometown of Mao Bamboo," yet its bamboo products had always been difficult to promote. Now that he had used the game system to create the Bamboo Culture Park and build a name for You City’s bamboo products, the people in the county weren’t stupid; they knew this was a chance to ride the wave.

That was why the county’s tourism bureau was constantly paying attention to the Bamboo Culture Park, providing support, and bustling about to help.

Now that the entire industry was improving, they definitely wouldn’t allow anyone to ruin its reputation.

Besides, one rotten apple really could spoil the whole barrel.

Just think about other places. How much effort did those tourism bureau directors spend bustling around on promotion?

Some directors even resorted to cross-dressing just to attract a bit of online traffic, completely shameless. But even such dedicated promotional efforts couldn’t stop an ignorant villager from setting up a private roadblock to collect tolls, or a greedy driver from abandoning tourists halfway.

These were all classic cases of one rotten apple making an entire region’s tourism promotion efforts go to waste.

Naturally, Zhang Lin didn’t pay any more attention to the matter. He had plenty of his own farm business to worry about.

Then, a week later, a notification finally appeared in the game in his mind:

[Congratulations, the Seven-Color Flower Sea has been completed!]

As soon as he got the message, Zhang Lin immediately looked at the game screen in his mind. At the location of the Seven-Color Flower Sea, the construction site warnings had indeed been removed.

Compared to the construction of the 2,000-mu campsite, planting a 500-mu flower sea was incomparably faster.

"Finishing up around this time is just about perfect," Zhang Lin murmured to himself upon seeing this.

Over at the rapeseed flower sea, as the blooming season began to end, the flowers were dwindling while the rapeseeds were multiplying. It was becoming less and less scenic. Even with the buff from the game’s attributes, it was getting a bit shabby.

There was no need to cling to the last few days of the blooming season. Many rapeseed viewing gardens would try to trick the very last tourist into visiting even on the final day of the season when only a few flowers were left, which was a scummy thing to do.

So, it was the perfect time for him to decisively end the rapeseed flower sea project. He could just replant it in two months. He’d just have to be more careful when planting it then, since the growth speed was astounding.

It would be best to enclose the outer perimeter with vines.

Although it would be a lot of extra work, it was also the safest method.

Of course, the immediate issue to consider was how to properly promote the new flower sea.

As the construction crew in the game screen retreated from the Seven-Color Flower Sea, the real-life construction crew could also be seen withdrawing in an orderly fashion.

This scene naturally fell into the eyes of interested parties.

Since Kailin Investment had made their plans, they naturally had people keeping a constant watch on the situation at Li Yuan Farm.

News that the Seven-Color Flower Sea was complete and the construction crew was leaving quickly reached Zhao Neng.

After getting the news, Zhao Neng immediately summoned his assistant and asked, "How much longer until our Meadow Sage Flower Sea is finished?"

The assistant immediately reported, "President Zhao, our Meadow Sage Flower Sea is only 65% complete!"

Zhao Neng’s brow furrowed when he heard this. "How can the gap be so wide? Li Yuan Farm’s flower sea is already finished, and we clearly spent so much extra money to hire so many more workers."

The assistant didn’t know how to answer that. The construction crew Li Yuan Farm hired was truly something else; they worked as if their lives depended on it. Who knew how much money Li Yuan Farm was paying them.

Zhao Neng said at once, "No, we can’t fall too far behind Li Yuan Farm. We have to start promoting our flower sea immediately. It’s 65% done, which is still over 300 mu of flowers. Cordon off the unfinished parts and open for business while construction continues."

Then, he immediately ordered his assistant, "Get someone to shoot a promotional video for the flower sea right away. Our Tiao Yin account has to put out a promotion before Li Yuan Farm does. We have to strike first!"