Chapter 260 - 261: A New Method for Renting Land

Chapter 260: Chapter 261: A New Method for Renting Land

Hearing the factory wouldn’t be built in the village, Li Shunsheng was a little disappointed. He asked, not quite ready to give up, "Xiaoyang, are you really sure we can develop a tourism industry in our village?"

’If that’s really the case, then it doesn’t matter whether the factory is built or not.’

Li Yang hummed in thought for a moment. "Uncle Shunsheng, this is just what I’m thinking right now. If you’re asking for a guarantee... I can’t give you one."

Li Shunsheng understood. He nodded and said, "Alright then, I get it. Go talk to them and see if you can lease the land."

"Okay!" Li Yang went happily to the village’s broadcasting station.

"Fellow villagers, this is Li Yang. I’m at the village committee office right now. I have something important to discuss with you all. I need at least one person from each household to come here and talk with me. As soon as possible!"

The villagers were all a little surprised.

’Li Yang is calling everyone over again. What’s he planning this time?’

Everyone looked at each other, but they had no choice but to head over.

Before long, they arrived at the village committee office.

"Xiaoyang, what’s going on now?" someone asked Li Yang.

Li Yang chuckled and had everyone sit down before he began to speak. "Things have been busy here the last few days, and I’m sure you’ve all seen it. Someone has invited me to open a feed mill in Ningzhou."

The crowd was in an uproar.

Everyone was filled with envy.

’Look at Li Yang! Now that’s what you call capable. He’s done so much, and now he’s even opening a feed mill.’

"What’s more, they need to grow corn here. Right now, more than half the fields in our village are already leased to me for growing vegetables. I want to lease all the remaining land to grow corn. We’ll supply them with the raw materials. What do you all think?"

Li Yang looked at everyone.

"Can’t we just grow it ourselves?" one of the villagers asked, voicing what was on everyone’s mind.

’Yeah, if someone’s buying, we can just grow it ourselves. Why does it have to go through you?’

Li Yang wasn’t surprised. ’It’s better that they brought it up.’

"Why does it have to go through me?" Li Yang said with a smile. "That’s a good question. But let me ask you all something. Take a look at those vegetables. You can grow them too, but why do the ones I grow taste better and sell for a high price?"

Everyone was taken aback for a moment, but then they understood.

"But Xiaoyang, that land is all we have left!" a villager said with a hesitant expression.

It was no wonder. They were all country folk, and their land was their lifeline. It was impossible to expect them to give it up so easily.

Li Yang understood that.

Li Shunsheng sat on the doorstep, smoking his rustic pipe without a word.

"I know!" Li Yang said to them earnestly. "That’s why, for leasing this land, besides giving you rent, I’m also offering profit sharing."

Profit sharing!

The villagers’ faces lit up with joy, and they quickly looked at Li Yang.

Li Yang knew that to secure this last piece of land, he had to give the villagers a cut of the profits. Otherwise, they wouldn’t agree.

’Just as I thought!’

"What profit sharing means is, from the money we make selling the corn—the net profit—I’ll personally take half, and you all will split the other half. Your share will be based on what percentage of the total land you contribute. That’s fair, right?"

Everyone immediately started doing the math in their heads.

Li Yang didn’t rush them, just letting them consider the offer.

After who knows how long, someone finally spoke up. "Your terms sound pretty good... but can you really pull it off?"

"Uncle Shunsheng is right here!" Li Yang said with a smile. "If you don’t trust me, you can have Uncle Shunsheng be the accountant. All the numbers will pass through his hands. What’s more, Uncle Shunsheng, I’m willing to set aside ten percent of the profits for the village fund. There’s just one condition: the village committee has to help manage the fields. Deal?"

Li Shunsheng broke into a wide grin and nodded without a second thought. "Of course I have no objection."

The others thought it over and felt this was a very promising venture, so they all agreed one after another.

"Then let’s sign the contracts!" Li Yang let out a sigh of relief and immediately finalized the agreements with everyone.

After the contracts were settled, Li Yang said to Li Shunsheng, "Uncle Shunsheng, now that the contracts are finalized, I’ll have Mr. Zhong come here to install the pipelines for everyone. You’ll need to help coordinate things then. Also, tell the villagers to harvest whatever they need to harvest. We need to start planting the corn very soon."

"Planting now?" Li Shunsheng asked.

"No problem!" Li Yang said. "If I say we can plant, we can plant."

Li Shunsheng thought for a moment, recalling that Li Yang had also grown quite a few off-season vegetables, and decided to keep his mouth shut.

Just as he had settled this matter, Hua Lvlan arrived in the village.

"I heard you solved the chicken plague in Ningzhou?" Hua Lvlan asked, looking at Li Yang in astonishment.

Li Yang gave a dry laugh, looking a bit embarrassed. "I wouldn’t say I solved it. I just gave them a little guidance, and they were able to solve it themselves."

"It was the feed, right?" Hua Lvlan had clearly done her homework, so she knew the details. "I’m really curious, how on earth did you do it?"

Li Yang just chuckled.

"Alright, forget it. I was worried before that you might bring over pheasants that had caught the plague, but it seems I don’t need to worry anymore. How about this: find some time to have them send the pheasants over. We can start raising them very soon."

"Okay!"