Chapter 94 - 82: Special Fertilizer

Chapter 94: Chapter 82: Special Fertilizer

"Okay, I’ll leave this to Lin Muxue." Zhang Lin nodded, then saw her and her team off in a taxi from the farm.

Just as he was returning to the service center, he got a call from Huang Tao. "Zhang Lin, the contracts for the brickyard and cement plant are ready. I’m also having a batch sent over for you to use first. Where should I have it delivered?"

Zhang Lin immediately replied, "Just have it delivered over by the prefabricated steel houses."

’The wall for the core area will be built by the game’s employees, so naturally, the closer the materials are, the better. Otherwise, if they were dropped off at the entrance by the service center, it would be a huge hassle to transport them to the core area.’

"Got it. See you in a bit!" Huang Tao said before hanging up.

Not long after Zhang Lin returned to the prefabricated buildings, he heard the sound of transport trucks. He saw trucks loaded with bricks and cement driving in and starting to unload.

Huang Tao’s car also pulled in. When he saw Zhang Lin, he handed him several documents. "Here are the contracts and the inspection reports. The contracts took so long because we were waiting on these reports. If you find that the bricks or cement don’t meet the requirements of the reports, you can just refuse to make the subsequent payments to them."

"Yeah, I appreciate it," Zhang Lin said with a smile and a nod.

’Going out of his way to get these inspection reports... Huang Tao wasn’t giving the owners of the brickyard and cement plant any chance to cut corners.’

’The way he handled things was very reassuring.’

Huang Tao smiled and waved his hand dismissively. "It’s no trouble at all. It’s what I should do. You trusted me, so I can’t let there be any slip-ups, or we couldn’t even call ourselves old classmates."

Zhang Lin appreciated the gesture. Since Huang Tao was being so upfront, he returned the favor and decisively paid the 200,000 yuan deposit.

After that was done, he asked Huang Tao, "Huang Tao, do you know any car dealership owners you’re close with?"

Huang Tao smiled and asked, "You’re looking to buy a car? That makes sense. You’re a big boss now, so you should have a car. It’s more convenient sometimes. I have a friend who runs a dealership. He deals with models under a million yuan. What kind of car do you want? I’ll have him take care of it for you."

’Zhang Lin knew it. With Huang Tao’s family background, his connections in the county were on a different level from someone like him. For something like this, he had definitely asked the right person.’

He thought for a moment and said, "Get me a 7-seater Voyah Dreamer, and a Mercedes S-Class as well."

’The 7-seater Dreamer would, of course, be the company vehicle for Lin Muxue’s operations team.’

’As for the Mercedes S-Class, he planned to use it himself.’

’While he didn’t think there was anything wrong with riding his scooter or even Bailong out, Huang Tao was right. He was the boss of Li Yuan Farm now, and having a car would indeed be more convenient at times.’

’At the very least, he couldn’t use a scooter or ride Bailong when picking people up or dropping them off.’

’The Mercedes S-Class was already a luxury car. It wasn’t so expensive as to be ostentatious, but it wasn’t lacking in class either.’

Huang Tao nodded. "No problem. I’ll give my friend a call right now!"

Just a moment later, Zhang Lin received a screenshot from Huang Tao. His friend had already ordered the cars from the 4S dealership, and Huang Tao had even fronted the 300,000 yuan deposit for both vehicles.

Seeing this, Zhang Lin immediately transferred 300,000 yuan to Huang Tao.

’The other guy trusted him, so he couldn’t afford to be indecisive.’

"My friend said the van can arrive tomorrow. The Mercedes S-Class needs to be special-ordered from the manufacturer, so it’ll take some time!"

"Okay, I’m not in a hurry for the S-Class!"

The complimentary first batch of bricks and cement was quickly unloaded. Huang Tao said his goodbyes and left with the transport trucks.

Zhang Lin returned to the prefabricated building and looked at the game screen again. Now that the bricks and cement had arrived, it was time to start walling off the core area.

He also checked the data in the game in his mind.

After hiring another 40 people for the Bamboo Maze, the farm now had 88 employees!

As for the farmhands, aside from their daily task of planting the fast-growing, white-fleshed sweet potatoes, they were all focused on planting the mature honey peach trees.

’So, he decided to hire another 20 farmhands to build the wall to enclose the core area.’

’But at this rate, the prefabricated dorms would soon be full again. He needed to find some time to have Huang Tao get a few more built.’

[Congratulations! You have spent 150,000 yuan to recruit 20 farmhands. The farmhands are now materializing...]

"Card No. 62122... expenditure: 150,000.00 yuan. Balance: 2,649,517.05 yuan!"

Just like before, a radiant light appeared in the office of the prefabricated building. Figures materialized one by one, along with their employment contracts.

After the employees were recruited, they all greeted Zhang Lin respectfully. But at that moment, Zhang Lin was staring in surprise at a milestone reward notification that had suddenly appeared in the game:

[Congratulations! You have completed the ’Recruit 100 Employees’ milestone and received a special milestone reward. The Procurement Market has been refreshed with a special product: Special Enriched Fertilizer (Quality 1). Cost: 100,000 yuan per pound. Daily refresh: 5 pounds!]

Zhang Lin was stunned when he saw this reward.

’This was the first time he had ever seen an item in the procurement market with such a high unit price. 100,000 yuan per pound, and it seemed only five pounds were refreshed each day.’

’This was just unbelievable.’

He knew what enriched fertilizer was, of course. It was something used to increase the nutrients and fertility of the soil. Ordinary farmers used it to enrich their land when planting crops.

’The fact that this game-produced version had such a high price meant it was anything but simple.’

’Besides, Quality 1 meant it had a special attribute.’

’This was making him excited.’

Looking at the newly recruited employees before him, he immediately called his mom.

Ever since his mom had suggested working at the farm, he had put her in charge of managing the employee dormitories, living supplies, and other similar matters.

She was also doing the work cheerfully. When she had free time, she would stroll around the farm.

Her mood improved, and her health visibly improved along with it.

"Lin, did you hire new employees again?" Lin Yan asked as soon as she came in and saw all the people.

Zhang Lin nodded and said, "Mom, they’re all new hires. Can you take them and get them settled into their accommodations? I have a job for them to do later."

"Don’t worry, leave it to me." Lin Yan immediately called for the farmhands to follow her out.

Only then did Zhang Lin turn his attention back to the Procurement Market, and he clicked to purchase the five pounds of Special Enriched Fertilizer that had just refreshed.

[Congratulations! You have successfully purchased 5 pounds of Special Enriched Fertilizer. It has been deposited into your warehouse!]

"Card No. 62122... expenditure: 500,000.00 yuan. Balance: 2,149,517.05 yuan!"

After completing the purchase, Zhang Lin immediately headed to the warehouse.

’After spending so much money on this stuff, he definitely had to see what its attributes were.’

When he arrived at the warehouse, Zhang Lin saw the fertilizer. It was all packaged in small, one-pound bags, which were surprisingly exquisite.

Zhang Lin immediately picked up a bag of the Special Enriched Fertilizer to inspect it. When he saw the item description, he was astonished. He finally understood why it was so expensive.

[Special Enriched Fertilizer: Quality 1]

[This is a special fertilizer. After being mixed into the soil, it can grant the soil a special attribute effect: Cultivate Special Crops, Chance to Retain Attributes +1]

Seeing this attribute information, he recalled his previous attempt when he had Liu De and his men try to transplant the fast-growing, white-fleshed sweet potato seedlings. The result, of course, was a failure; they couldn’t retain the game-like attributes.

’It seemed there was no way to cultivate products with the attributes from the game.’

’Now, seeing the attribute of this special fertilizer, did this mean that if he experimented with cultivating game-produced items on land mixed with this fertilizer, there would be a chance to retain their attributes?’

’No wonder this stuff was so expensive.’

’But it was worth the price! Even though it was just a chance, it represented the opportunity to cultivate the game’s products outside the system’s direct control. It would no longer be limited to just the farm’s system, and it wasn’t just about the fast-growing, white-fleshed sweet potatoes, but also the Flower Sea of rapeseed flowers, the special mature honey peach trees, and so on.’

With this in mind, he immediately called Liu De, telling him to get his tools ready. Then, he carried the five pounds of special fertilizer out of the warehouse.

Liu De quickly arrived with tilling tools and a hoe, as well as shears for trimming and transplanting the sweet potato seedlings.

"Boss, are we transplanting sweet potato seedlings again?" Liu De asked as soon as he saw him.

"Yep!" Zhang Lin nodded. He led Liu De to a plot of land near the prefabricated buildings and handed him the five pounds of special fertilizer. "Mix this fertilizer into a patch of soil here."

"Alright." Liu De took the fertilizer and began to work with his hoe.

Just then, Zhang Lin received a phone call. It was from the young Fu Yao.

He answered the call and asked, "Are the design plans for the campsite ready?"

"No way, not that fast! I’ve been so busy lately. I’ve had to read books on plumbing and electrical wiring to learn what I need to know, and I also have to prepare for my second-year high school finals." Fu Yao explained briefly, then asked expectantly, "Uncle, my summer break officially starts right after my exams. You haven’t forgotten what you promised me, have you?"

"What promise?" Zhang Lin froze, unable to remember for a moment.