Chapter 259 - 260: Riding the East Wind to Build a Factory

Chapter 259: Chapter 260: Riding the East Wind to Build a Factory

"Alright, let’s cut to the chase!" Professor Jin sighed. ’This man is so shrewd. He’s not taking the hint, so I’ll just have to say it outright.’

"I’m planning to build a feed mill to capitalize on this momentum and establish our brand. The feed I want to produce is one with the exact same effect as yours. What do you say? Interested in partnering up?"

Li Yang looked at her and said with a smile, "I’m always interested in making money. But what sort of partnership do you have in mind?"

"I’ll put up the money and the labor, you provide the raw materials," Professor Jin said. "We’ll split the shares fifty-fifty."

Li Yang was surprised. ’That’s a very generous offer.’

"I know what your raw material is, and you’re the only one who has it..." Professor Jin shrugged, her tone a little helpless. "You’ve leased a lot of the fields in the village, so you’ll be able to keep up with supply, right? Besides, the purity of your current feed is too high. If we’re going to mass-produce it, we’ll definitely have to dilute it. There are two reasons for this. First, the diluted feed will still work, just not as powerfully. We’ll control its potency. This way, it won’t create a conflict of interest with the animals you’re raising yourself."

Li Yang laughed. ’This woman really is clever; she knows exactly what I’m thinking.’

"Furthermore, what you have now probably isn’t enough!" Professor Jin said seriously. "Even if you leased all the land in the village, it might not be enough to meet the demand. So, we have to be very careful with our planning."

Li Yang smiled and said, "Professor Jin, you really are a sharp one. It seems you’ve already thought everything through."

"So, what’s the verdict? Are we doing this or not?" Professor Jin asked with a smile. "I’m a straightforward person and I don’t like to dither. When I want to do something, I say so directly. If you have any reservations, you can voice them. If it’s something we can solve, we’ll solve it together. Doesn’t that sound good?"

Li Yang thought for a moment and said, "I have no objections."

Professor Jin was overjoyed. "So it’s settled then?"

"However, my fields are still being developed, so it might take some time!"

"That’s fine!" Professor Jin said. "If we’re really doing this, I have to set up the feed mill from scratch anyway, so we have plenty of time. I do suggest, however, that you designate a large new area for growing corn. It’s the best raw material for feed, after all."

Li Yang had actually planned for this before, but only on a scale for his village’s own use. Now that they were scaling up, he would definitely need to acquire more land.

"Alright, I get it!" Li Yang said. "I’ll adjust my plans."

"So, I’ll head back and start on the factory, then?" Professor Jin asked. "We have to ride this wave of momentum. We can’t stop now."

"Alright!"

...

After Professor Jin left, Li Yang went to find Mr. Zhong.

Mr. Zhong’s full name was Zhong Lin. He seemed quite happy living in the village and was a diligent and responsible worker.

"I see..." Zhong Lin’s brow furrowed the moment he heard Li Yang’s proposal. "I’ve actually already finished planning the layout for the village fields. But if you want to build a feed mill... you’ll need a huge amount of raw materials. The current land isn’t nearly enough."

"There’s another large tract of land in our village!" Li Yang said. "If we can get our hands on it and plant corn, that should be enough."

"That’s your problem!" Zhong Lin said, his interest waning. "My job is just to handle the planning and provide technical guidance. On that note, the irrigation pipes are in place over there. I’ve already told your people to prepare for planting."

"Thank you, Mr. Zhong!" Li Yang said with a smile. "I’ll let you get back to it, then. I’ve got my own things to take care of."

With that, Li Yang hurried away.

Zhong Lin watched him go. ’That kid... Where in the world does he get that water? It’s simply magical.’

He shook his head and got back to his own work.

Li Yang arrived at Li Shunsheng’s house to find him basking in the sun.

"Uncle Shunsheng..." Li Yang called out as he approached.

"Heh..." Li Shunsheng’s eyes crinkled into a smile. "That little feed operation of yours is doing great business these days. The villagers have been able to earn a bit of money, too."

He had hired them as temporary workers, so Li Yang paid their wages daily.

They worked in three eight-hour shifts, at a rate of twenty yuan per hour.

That came out to 160 yuan a day, which was a very high wage for the villagers.

After just over a week of this, they had already earned more than a thousand yuan.

"Uncle Shunsheng, I have a big business proposition for you. Are you in?" Li Yang said with a slight smile, deciding to hit him with the big news right away.

Li Shunsheng was startled but remained firmly seated. "What proposition? Be more specific!"

"My feed is excellent, right? It’s selling like crazy in Ningzhou. If Director Xu hadn’t been holding people back, they’d be rushing to our village to grab it. Now that our reputation is out there, someone wants to partner with me to open a large-scale feed mill..."

"Here in our village?" Li Shunsheng asked excitedly.

"No, no, no..." Li Yang shook his head. "A factory is too noisy; it’s not suitable for our village. If we built one here, we’d never be able to develop tourism. It’ll definitely be built over in Ningzhou, but the raw materials will have to come from us. To be more precise, the most critical raw material has to come from us. I want to lease all the remaining land in the village and use it to plant corn!"