Chapter 320 - 161: A Tool of Rationality

Chapter 320: Chapter 161: A Tool of Rationality

The morning passed by in a flash, and soon it was noon.

Jiang Miao stripped off his protective suit and helmet in the laboratory’s changing room, switching into a set of casual clothes before heading out.

The moment he stepped out, he saw Li Zixuan and Ke Yong working at a temporary setup by the door.

Li Zixuan immediately stood up. "Boss, a research team from the Provincial Agricultural Research Institute stopped by two hours ago. They’re hoping to meet you. Should I schedule it for noon today, or have them come back another time?"

"Oh? Which research team?" Jiang Miao accepted the request form, his eyes scanning the applicant’s name and the purpose of their visit. "Ah, so it’s Professor Wang Yingxiang’s team. They’re in the field of soybean breeding and want to discuss the new traits of the Immortal Bean varieties. In that case, let’s meet at noon today. Are they still here?"

Li Zixuan snapped his laptop shut as he replied, "Yes, they are. Researcher Huang Xinghe from the Technology Division is hosting them. I believe they went to tour the experimental planting base on the mountain behind the facility."

"Then let’s meet in the private room on the second floor where I usually host guests."

"Understood."

Meanwhile, Professor Wang and his group, who were in the middle of touring the experimental planting base, received the call from Li Zixuan and hurried back down the mountain.

「In a private room on the second floor of the staff cafeteria.」

Jiang Miao had already asked the kitchen to prepare a simple meal to welcome Professor Wang and his party.

「Fifteen minutes later.」

Li Zixuan knocked and entered, followed by a square-faced, middle-aged man wearing glasses.

The moment he saw the man—and the familiar face of Dean Xiao Jieshi behind him—Jiang Miao smiled and stood up. "Professor Wang, Dean Xiao, and all of our friends, welcome. I’m Jiang Miao."

Professor Wang smiled as well, shaking Jiang Miao’s hand. "A pleasure to meet you. I often hear the students at my university talking about General Manager Jiang and Hailufeng Company. General Manager Jiang, I hope my visit today isn’t an intrusion."

"General Manager Jiang, long time no see." Xiao Jieshi gave a slight nod.

"Dean Xiao, please, have a seat. There’s no need for formalities." Jiang Miao then turned to Professor Wang and the others. "Professor Wang, everyone, please sit. I’ve already ordered lunch, so please allow me to extend a host’s welcome."

"Haha, in that case, we won’t stand on ceremony! Thank you for your generosity, General Manager Jiang," Xiao Jieshi said, guiding Professor Wang and the others to their seats.

「After they were seated.」

Li Zixuan poured tea for everyone.

While they waited for the food to arrive, Jiang Miao initiated the conversation. "Professor Wang, I heard you visited our soybean experimental fields in Red Grass Town today?"

"Yes, that’s right. My colleagues, my students, and I are currently preparing to collect a batch of wild soybean seeds in Eastern Guangdong for some genetic research. We happened to be passing through Shanmei this morning, and Dean Xiao mentioned that Hailufeng Company has experimental soybean fields in Red Grass Town, so I decided to come take a look." As he spoke, Professor Wang turned to his doctoral student, Xiaosong.

"Xiaosong, bring out those samples."

Xiaosong hurried to pull five uprooted soybean plants from his backpack.

"This is indeed our company’s variety." Jiang Miao recognized the characteristic root system of the Immortal Soybeans at a single glance.

Professor Wang took the sealed bag, opened it, and removed one of the root nodules. He asked with great curiosity, "General Manager Jiang, I’m fascinated by the root nodules on this variety. It would be very difficult to achieve this through conventional breeding, wouldn’t it? I also noticed the leaves of this soybean have an exceptionally strong water absorption capacity, which is another highly unusual new trait."

Jiang Miao carefully selected what information he could share and offered a brief explanation. "I utilized some new techniques, such as cell fusion, followed by hybridization and induced mutation. After repeating the process several times, I was able to obtain the current Immortal Bean varieties."

"You didn’t use transgenics or gene-editing technology?" Professor Wang asked, finding it hard to believe.

"I did not. The parent stock for the cell fusion consisted entirely of cultivated and wild soybeans."

Professor Wang was stunned by this explanation. "Incredible. That must have required an immense number of experimental samples, wouldn’t it?"

Jiang Miao did his best to make the process sound plausible. "Yes. The initial parent stock alone involved nearly 200 varieties. In total, we performed cell fusion on approximately 200,000 soybean seedlings, which was then followed by nursery cultivation, hybridization, observation, re-fusion, induced mutation, and so on."

"Such a massive scale?" Professor Wang had never imagined Hailufeng Company’s soybean breeding project would be this enormous.

"Yes. I used what’s become a fairly popular technology: metagenomic sequencing."

A thoughtful look appeared in Professor Wang’s eyes. Of course, he knew what metagenomic sequencing was.

The so-called metagenomic sequencing is a technique that doesn’t rely on microbial cultures. Instead, it allows for the direct extraction of DNA from environmental samples. After obtaining these genetic samples, high-throughput sequencing is used to acquire a vast amount of gene sequence information.

The technology is currently used primarily to study the diversity of microbial communities, including identifying the types of microorganisms present—such as bacteria, archaea, and fungi—and determining their relative abundance.

Another researcher, who also worked in the field of transgenic soybean breeding, asked curiously, "General Manager Jiang, metagenomics can certainly obtain genetic data from microorganisms and even large cell populations quickly. But how do you sort through it all? As far as I know, there aren’t any rapid analysis tools for plant genes like those in soybeans, are there?"

"Our company designed its own screening and analysis model, specifically for the rapid analysis of plant genes." Jiang Miao wasn’t lying.

He had indeed designed a screening and analysis model specifically for analyzing plant genes.

A significant portion of the technology for this model had been ’borrowed’ by him through certain internet ’channels,’ drawing from various global metagenomic sequencing software and the databases of the biotech companies behind them.