I See through Everything

Chapter 119: Chapter 94: Gift

Before he knew it.

Another four days had passed.

Jiang Miao was still selecting genetically mutated oil tea seeds.

At the same time, he planted a portion of the more promising ones in the experimental greenhouses at Nanhu Farm.

As soon as the seedlings sprouted, he could perform a second round of screening and begin tissue culture propagation.

Indeed, the number of oil tea seedlings could also be rapidly expanded using tissue culture. The initial research for this technology dated back to 1986, and it was now incredibly mature.

Over the past few days, Jiang Miao had selected another 1,375 beneficially mutated seeds from the batch of 600,000 genetically mutated tea seeds.

The Oil King series’ designation had now reached No. 11.

As for Oil King No. 1, its title of having the highest oil yield per mu lasted for a mere two days before it was dethroned by Oil King No. 7.

Under ideal conditions, Oil King No. 7’s oil yield per mu could reach 230 kilograms. This variety also boasted high-quality oil and rapid growth. Its only drawback was poor cold resistance, making it unsuitable for cultivation in regions north of the Yangtze River.

This yield was already on par with the oil palms grown domestically in Qiongzhou.

Although it couldn’t compare to Southeast Asian oil palms, which could easily produce 300 kilograms of crude oil per mu.

However, the two weren’t in direct competition. Palm oil primarily dominated the industrial-use market and was rarely sold directly for daily cooking. At most, some would be mixed into blended oils.

Whereas tea seed oil was an edible oil of the highest quality, primarily marketed for daily culinary use.

However, Jiang Miao knew it would take at least another two to three years for the Oil King series to truly make its mark.

That was the trouble with woody oilseed crops.

With over a dozen good varieties already in hand, Jiang Miao put the oil tea screening on hold for now. If his old classmate, Li Hao, was serious about growing oil tea, he could now offer him some new varieties without breaking his word.

He shifted his focus back to the durians.

Inside the genetic modification lab in the experimental zone.

Jiang Miao planted the 300 tissue-cultured, genetically modified kapok seedlings he had cultivated a while ago into special nursery pots. He also set aside a dedicated tissue culture room as an exclusive cultivation chamber for the GM kapok seedlings.

He had removed some of the growth-restricting gene fragments from the GM kapok. He had also enhanced the roots’ nutrient absorption and the leaves’ photosynthetic efficiency.

In just ten-odd days, the seedlings that were previously the size of a little finger had now grown to over ten centimeters tall, growing at a rate of almost one centimeter per day.

Of course, this growth wasn’t unlimited. Jiang Miao had implemented genetic restrictions. After six months, the GM kapok would stop growing taller and switch to lateral growth, increasing its stem diameter and the probability of lateral bud germination.

In other words, the GM kapok would not grow taller than 2 meters.

The purpose of this design was to ensure the total height of the tree wouldn’t exceed 3 meters after the second grafting, effectively creating a dwarf durian tree.

Looking at the sizable GM kapok seedlings.

Instead of waiting for them to grow larger, Jiang Miao began experimenting with grafting durian scions onto them.

The reason he didn’t graft them onto ordinary kapok first was because the GM kapok itself was designed using ordinary kapok as the parent stock. Furthermore, Jiang Miao had removed some of the gene fragments related to immune rejection. As a result, the probability of graft rejection between the GM and ordinary kapok was only about one in ten thousand.

That’s why he chose to first test the grafting affinity between the durian and the GM kapok.

Thanks to his Appraisal Panel, Jiang Miao knew that about ten-odd days after grafting, he would be able to see the results. This included which genes were in conflict, allowing him to make secondary adjustments to the GM kapok’s genetic sequence as needed.

He selected some fresh durian buds and grafted them onto the lateral branches of the GM kapok seedlings.

He worked diligently for most of the day, grafting 400 durian buds onto 100 of the GM kapok seedlings.

Now, all he could do was wait and see how they grew and healed over the next ten-odd days.

Just as he finished his work and walked out of the lab,

he saw a beaming Jiang Haibo.

"Haibo, what’s the good news?"

Jiang Haibo glanced around before whispering, "Boss, according to this morning’s news, Baisan Investment’s domestic branch was raided and shut down. They’re saying it’s connected to a case involving illegal benefit transfers and corporate espionage."

"Oh? That really is good news," Jiang Miao said with a faint smile.

Jiang Haibo shared the sentiment. "Exactly! An investment shark like that has a complex web of connections both at home and abroad. If they’d really set their sights on our company, it would have been huge trouble. Now that they’re in hot water, they won’t have time to bother with us for a while. This gives us more time to develop peacefully."

Jiang Miao washed his hands, dried them with a paper towel, and looked up at Jiang Haibo. "Right. By the way, Haibo, I need you to prepare for something. We’ll be doing a major recruitment drive for real estate talent soon, especially for management."

"Oh? Is the company getting into real estate?"

"It’s for another company that’s registered under my name, but I want you guys to handle the initial recruitment."

"I understand." ’The company is going to build housing for its employees,’ Jiang Haibo realized. ’Starting a real estate company is the logical next step.’

The two of them walked over to the meal-box shelf in the cafeteria. Jiang Haibo grabbed a random one, while Jiang Miao picked up the box marked with his name. Then, they found a place to sit.