Chapter 51

Half an hour later, Qin Yun and Liu Wensheng arrived at the rice paddy. Song Yueshan was rolling up his pants and inspecting the rice growth with the researchers. Now, the ten acres of rice fields were fully mature, with a fresh mix of green and yellow rice plants.

“What’s the yield per mu?” Liu Wensheng rolled up his pants and stepped into the field.

“Two thousand two hundred jin.”

Song Yueshan handed Liu Wensheng a tablet. This was the rice data researched by the Agricultural Research Institute. The farm’s rice not only had excellent yield per mu but also higher protein and dietary fiber content, meeting residents’ daily nutritional needs.

Liu Wensheng looked over the data for a while and asked, “How about hybrid rice?”

“Academician Zhou and the scientists are conducting experiments. They have hybrid data for Longfeng 001 and are starting to get some clues.”

Wheat and rice are different species but both monocots. Previous research data showed some overlap, providing many directions for hybrid rice development.

“Good!” Liu Wensheng was delighted inside. Now that Su, Zhe, and An provinces had bumper harvests, and hybrid rice had made significant progress, Longxia gained more initiative amid the acid rain. Qin Yun and Liu Wensheng toured the rice field and arrived at the southern side of the farm. There was a three-meter-high protective greenhouse in the open area, housing Hope Tree seedlings.

“Commander Liu, Secretary Qin.” The monitoring staff greeted them upon seeing the two.

“How’s the research going?”

Liu Wensheng looked at the Hope Tree. The seedlings had grown from thirty centimeters to eighty centimeters, with some willow-like leaves and some branch buds sprouting from the trunk.

“The leaves contain organic compounds and a type of protein component. This component accounts for 62%, but there has been no breakthrough in research yet.” The Hope Tree grows based on residents’ willpower. The seedlings had reached fifty centimeters, but their exact function and component analysis had yet to see breakthroughs.

Qin Yun listened for a while and opened the Farm Sandbox. In the upper right corner of the sandbox was a 3D simulation of the Hope Tree. The Hope Tree had four stages: seed, seedling, growth, and maturity. According to system annotations, the Hope Tree was currently between the seedling and growth stages. There was no detailed explanation of when it would fully mature.

“Commander Liu!” After watching for a while, a soldier outside the door reported.

“What is it?” Liu Wensheng stepped out of the protective greenhouse.

“There’s progress on hybrid corn!”

Liu Wensheng: !!!

Corn is a monoecious cross-pollinated plant, with yield second only to wheat and rice.

Qin Yun and Liu Wensheng, like spinning tops, headed straight for the corn laboratory.

“This is a new variety of corn, taking 120 days from sprouting to maturity, suitable for the climate of Longzhong and Longbei.”

Inside the lab, Fu Chuanshu explained carefully. Fu Chuanshu was a well-known corn expert in Longxia, researching hybrid corn for the past six months. Since the farm upgraded, he had been stationed there with researchers. According to the original plan, progress on corn would come by year-end, but after multiple hybrid experiments in the past half-month, they made an unexpected breakthrough.

Qin Yun and Liu Wensheng looked at the corn in the experimental field. The whole plant was two and a half meters tall, each stalk bearing two to four ears of corn. The husks were blue-green, with some leaves slightly yellowing. Liu Wensheng broke off an ear of corn, studied it carefully, and asked, “Is this the new corn variety?”

“The farm’s corn is hybridized with Liaoshan L6, continuing the large ear and large kernel traits of Liaoshan corn. The yield per mu can guarantee over two thousand jin.”

Liaoshan L6 is a corn variety from northern Liaoning Province and is one of the most common types there. Liu Wensheng measured the corn length with his hand. Ordinary corn is 15–25 cm long, with about 100 grams edible weight per ear. The corn before him was thirty centimeters, noticeably larger than usual.

“Is it edible?” Liu Wensheng immediately thought of food safety issues.

“The corn’s protein and dietary fiber meet human needs. The lab is conducting further testing.” Corn is a warm-temperature plant. If it passes quality inspection, it can be sown right after wheat.

In the next two days, the farm conducted further research on oil wheat breeding and corn testing.

…

“Are we there yet?”

“Almost.”

On July 15, at the town entrance of Taoyuan Town, Sichuan Province, Zheng Xinlin carefully watched the direction of the national highway. Three days ago, after signing the grain contract, they returned to Taoyuan to wait. Now, the flour was being transported by logistics trucks—Wangwang’s largest investment in nearly half a year.

During this anxious wait, at one o’clock in the afternoon, a dark red truck appeared from the direction of the highway.

“Here!” Zheng Xinlin quickly waved.

The truck stopped on the emergency lane nearby. After exchanging some information, Zheng Xinlin pointed toward the factory, “The factory is just ahead. There are many mountains here, so the route is a bit winding.”

The truck driver smiled, “We all have navigation, not afraid of getting lost.”

“I’m just free anyway.” Since signing the contract, Zheng Xinlin had been too nervous to sleep. Now that the convoy arrived, half his worries eased.

An hour later, the flour was unloaded at the Wangwang factory warehouse. After settling the final payment, Zheng Xinlin asked, “Staying in Taoyuan for two days?”

“No, there’s a lot of goods these days.” The truck driver drank some water and left. Wheat buyers came from all over the country to Changlong Town. After they left, they could make three more trips. After the driver left, factory workers came over.

“Are we making instant noodles?”

“First unpack the flour and test the taste.”

The workers unpacked the flour and made dough. Soon, after kneading and drying processes, two baskets of flour cakes were made.

“Can we eat this?”

“Should be okay…”

…

Although Longfeng 001 passed Longxia’s quality inspection, it still grew under acid rain, so people had some worries about the new variety.

“What’s there not to eat?” Zheng Xinlin broke off a piece of flour cake directly. He had come from hard times—his family was poor when he was young, and everyone dug yams in the mountains. Now, amid a food crisis where many starved worldwide, they were still picky, fully supported by sufficient food.

Hybrid wheat generally tastes coarse and sour. He was prepared for the flour cakes to taste sour and bitter. But at the first bite, he was stunned.

The flour cake was fragrant and crisp, with a fresh wheat flavor. He immediately thought of Fengshan Flour. Although the cake wasn’t as fragrant as Fengshan’s, the taste was definitely top-notch.

Zheng Xinlin turned on the induction cooker to boil noodles.

Longfeng flour was elastic and chewy; he hadn’t eaten such comfortable flour cakes in the past half month.

“Manager Zheng?” The assistant looked at him eagerly.

Zheng Xinlin served him a bowl. “Give it a try?”

With the mindset of “eat or starve,” the assistant took a bite.

“It’s pretty good!” Longfeng flour’s taste exceeded expectations.

“Everyone, get ready. We’ll resume work at three o’clock.” Zheng Xinlin clapped his hands.

Now, instant noodles had gone from four yuan to six and a half yuan per pack. He had already contacted other distributors, and as long as this batch of flour cakes was produced, they would sell out.

Wangwang’s flour mill was working overtime to produce, while companies like Xile and Qinghe had already received flour and moved straight into production lines.

Longfeng wheat grows in a unique environment. According to national regulations, flour manufacturers must label their products with “Longfeng 001” on the packaging to ensure that consumers have the right to be informed. One week later, the first batch of Longfeng products entered the market. Amid the global food crisis, Longfeng’s main products included instant noodles, biscuits, and bread—practical foods that sold easily.

As Longfeng food products entered the market, opinions on the internet were divided. One side trusted the national quality inspection, while the other felt that acid rain wheat was unreliable and needed further market validation.

…

“End-of-month benefits are set.” On July 17, at Jinghe High-tech Software Company, Gao Xiaocheng returned to his office holding documents. Jinghe Software was a small company with fifty employees. Though small, employees started with a monthly salary of 30,000 yuan, making it an entrepreneurial company.

Gao Xiaocheng sat at his desk, and other employees curiously asked, “What’s the benefit?”

Jinghe provided monthly benefits based on performance. In addition to financial rewards, employees often received unexpected gifts like mobile phones, power banks, and keyboards. These rewards weren’t expensive, but they were like blind boxes, and everyone always looked forward to them.

“I don’t know. It seems like they’ll announce it soon.” Gao Xiaocheng said. He had learned about it when submitting documents, but he hadn’t paid much attention to the specifics.

“I guess it’s toner.”

“Male colleagues don’t use toner. It’s probably new headphones.”

Everyone made their guesses.

After chatting for a while, Gao Xiaocheng looked at his colleague nearby. “Mike, do you have a guess?”

Mike, 37 years old, was a Cyboran national. Having lived in a foreign country alone, he had a good relationship with his colleagues.

Mike smiled subtly. “Maybe headphones.”

“Here it is!”

Half an hour later, an employee pushed a large box into the office.

“What is it?”

“It doesn’t look like headphones.”

…

Everyone gathered around, curious.

The employee opened the box and pulled out smaller boxes. “These are the Qinghe bucket noodles the company ordered. Six buckets per person. You can choose your flavor.”

“Bucket noodles…” Everyone felt a bit disappointed.

Though there was a food crisis, their salaries were sufficient, and they weren’t affected by the shortage, except for some employees who had families to support.

Everyone went to collect their noodles. Soon, Gao Xiaocheng and Mike each received six buckets. These were Qinghe’s premium bucket noodles, priced at 15 yuan per bucket, now raised to 20 yuan.

They flipped through the packaging, and one colleague complained, “Longfeng 001 bucket noodles.”

“Although Longfeng passed quality inspection, it still feels a little unsettling.”

“The wheat roots soaked in acid rain for five days. Is it really okay?”

“I heard a lot of plants have acid rain aftereffects. Longfeng seems fine, but I’m a little scared to eat.”

…

The hot topic online was the discussion of Longfeng 001. People remained somewhat biased against new things.

“Longfeng 001’s…” Gao Xiaocheng listened for a while and packed up his own bucket noodles. He had no prejudice against Longfeng 001, but since money wasn’t an issue, he preferred food that had been tested in the market.

“There’s a good dumpling shop on Nanning Road.”

Gao Xiaocheng mentioned a nearby restaurant to Mike. They were in Jinghe, the CBD(Central Business District), and aside from food price increases, they hadn’t felt much impact from the disaster.

“There’s also a good Western restaurant on Zhonghe Road. Their steak…” Gao Xiaocheng casually continued, but halfway through, he felt something was off.

He turned and saw that Mike’s eyes were red.

“What’s wrong?” Gao Xiaocheng was startled.

Mike rubbed his eyes, originally wanting to say nothing was wrong, but after a long silence, he finally spoke, “It’s just… really good.”

Gao Xiaocheng: ???

“You guys have food to eat, and you can choose what you don’t like. Your country is so great.” Mike opened a news website.

Gao Xiaocheng glanced at it; it was the latest disaster news from Cybora.

Cybora was the country hardest hit by this year’s disaster. Its economy had collapsed, with three million people facing food and water shortages, and some even ended up in the hospital over a bag of rice. Compared to Cybora, Longxia seemed like heaven.