Chapter 56

Longxia was known as the defier in the acid rain world, but relying solely on sweet potatoes and wheat could not meet the residents’ needs. This year, in addition to researching staple crops, Longxia had also been exploring other acid rain-resistant plants.

The magical lettuce seeds were a mission reward from a shop. Since obtaining the lettuce seeds, the agricultural research institute had set up an lettuce base near the earth towers. lettuce is a type of lettuce plant. Longxia had previously cultivated varieties like Evergreen and Fragrant Queen, and after a month of research, the institute finally developed lettuce seeds this morning.

When Qin Yun and Liu Wensheng received the news, they immediately went to the lettuce base. This was a small, ten-acre lettuce base. The hybrid lettuce grew to a height of 30-50 cm, with a weight of 1-3 pounds per plant, yielding 2,000 pounds per acre. Qin Yun walked around the base and touched the nearest lettuce plant. At the moment he touched the seed, the system updated, and the current scene appeared.

“Do we need to breed more?” Liu Wensheng asked after looking at the plants.

With a yield of 2,000 pounds per acre for hybrid lettuce, and assuming three harvests a year, it would require 20 million acres of land. Longxia could take on 20 million acres for vegetable cultivation, but breeding hybrid crops was a challenge. The winter planting season was approaching, and there weren’t enough acid rain-resistant seeds on the market. If they switched to lettuce at this point… it would be difficult.

Song Yueshan noticed Liu Wensheng’s frustration and thought for a moment before saying, “lettuce has a short growth cycle. As long as we breed the first batch of seeds, we can sell them to seed companies.”

Farm seeds were always reliant on seed companies. Previously, wheat and corn had long growth cycles, so they needed to be bred in-house, but since lettuce had a short growth cycle, cooperating with seed companies was the best option. In fact, during this period, the farm had already partnered with dozens of state-owned seed companies, such as Longyuan and Longye, and it was their full cooperation that allowed Longxia to rapidly expand planting in such a short time.

“I’ll go contact them,” Liu Wensheng said, and left directly.

lettuce seeds primarily came from the flower pods of mature plants. That afternoon, Longxia reached a cooperation agreement with several state-owned vegetable seed companies. In addition, Longxia would also bid with some high-quality private enterprises, further expanding the reach of lettuce.

“We’ll be busy for a while now,” Liu Wensheng said, calculating the time. Seed breeding and sales would take some time. According to the team’s estimates, it would take about three months for the lettuce seeds to go from breeding to maturity. By the time all the planting was completed, it would be spring 3029.

After chatting for a while, Liu Wensheng handed Qin Yun a photo. “Do you recognize this person?”

“Grandfather?” Qin Yun froze for a moment after taking the photo. It was a black-and-white photo of a three-month-old baby wrapped in a cotton jacket, with bright, spirited eyes.

“Do you recognize him?” Liu Wensheng asked, surprised.

Qin Yun smiled. “I’ve seen a photo of my grandfather when he was one year old. These two pictures look the same.”

Liu Wensheng didn’t beat around the bush. “Your grandfather’s relatives have been searching for him.”

A year ago, Longxia had conducted a thorough investigation into Qin Yun and Qin Hai’s family connections. According to the investigation, Qin Hai had been abandoned right after birth, and there were three siblings on his parents’ side. This was old history, and after Longxia completed the investigation, they moved on to looking into Qin Yun’s other connections.

Qin Hai’s siblings were just a side story. However, last week, someone had taken a photo of Qin Hai and gone to Gaojia Ridge to search for relatives. Longxia had previously communicated with the Gaojia Ridge officials, and upon receiving the news, they obtained information about the investigator immediately.

This was a private matter for Qin Yun, but after thinking it over, Liu Wensheng decided to tell him.

“It’s your grandfather’s younger brother. His son had a car accident and is looking for you to see if you can donate a kidney to save him,” Liu Wensheng continued.

“Hmm,” Qin Yun nodded.

When Liu Wensheng said the word “relatives,” he knew it was the Qin family—Qin Hai and Zhao Xiuli, whose son had caused a car accident. They had been trying to find a suitable kidney donor among family members. In his past life, Qin Yun had been harassed by them for six months, but this time, after his rebirth, he immediately informed Gao Hongwei.

Qin Yun thought the matter was over, but unexpectedly, after a year of searching, they had finally reached Gaojia Ridge.

From what he had learned in his previous life, before contacting him, the hospital had already matched several kidneys. Qin Yun was impressed that the Qin family had spent an entire year without finding a kidney…

Qin Yun’s attitude was calm, and Liu Wensheng was a bit taken aback. “Do you want me to contact them?”

Qin Yun asked, “Do we need to contact them?”

Liu Wensheng quickly said, “Absolutely not.”

Longxia had already investigated Qin Hai’s current situation. His child was a delinquent. The car accident had happened earlier, and now the reason they weren’t seeking treatment was because they wanted to escape legal consequences. The victim had already filed a lawsuit against Qin Hai’s family, and a court hearing was scheduled for the end of the month.

“Their son is fine. The hospital has had a suitable kidney available for a while, but they’re just not cooperating.”

Qin Hai’s son had a criminal record, and Liu Wensheng strongly suspected that their main goal was to avoid jail time. Experts had reviewed the case, and while Qin Shaofeng’s kidneys were indeed problematic, it wasn’t life-threatening. Even if both kidneys were removed, he would still be able to run and jump.

The more Liu Wensheng thought about it, the more frustrated he became. “You’ve already gone beyond the third generation. Don’t worry about the Qin family. The state will handle it for you.”

After saying this, Liu Wensheng immediately contacted the Longxia Team. Qin Yun was a key figure for Longxia, and even if he were an ordinary person, he would not help with such a foolish matter. He became increasingly worried and was genuinely afraid that Qin Yun might act like a saint and donate a kidney to the Qin family…

Liu Wensheng left in a hurry. After Qin Yun was reborn, he had already planned how to handle this kind of situation if it arose again. However, he didn’t expect that before he even reached the point of dealing with Qin Hai’s family, the issue would be resolved so simply…

In today’s society, everything should be handled according to the law. Qin Yun looked at Liu Wensheng’s departing figure, with only one thought in his mind: Thank you, Longxia. Thank you, the law!

In the following two days, Longxia communicated with seed companies regarding the planting, and the first batch of seeds was officially bred.

On August 30th, the Longxia Ministry of Agriculture released the news: [Longxia has reached a strategic food cooperation agreement with twelve countries, including Bolton and Qiobiya.]

Currently, 70% of the world’s countries were facing a food crisis, and even if Longxia wanted to, it couldn’t help every country. According to the “Food Strategy Agreement,” Longxia would provide wheat and corn to the countries severely affected by the crisis, while these countries would sell their natural resources, such as crude oil and natural gas, to Longxia.

Currently, international food prices are high, but Longxia did not take advantage of the situation, and everything was kept within a mutually acceptable range. In addition, countries such as Guqiya and Loba, which were recovering from disasters, also wanted to engage in food trade with Longxia. These countries did not face a food shortage at the moment, and Longxia, considering its own reserves, temporarily declined cooperation.

This move by Longxia helped more small and weak countries within its capacity, and though other countries did not explicitly state it, Longxia’s spirit of a great nation deeply surprised and moved them.

While the entire nation was focused on the “Food Strategy,” on August 31st, the Ministry of Agriculture of Longxia issued another news release:

Longxia has developed acid rain-resistant lettuce seeds, named lettuce 01. The seeds will be officially sold starting from September 15th.

The food and planting environment in Longxia remains severe, and residents are urged to cherish and conserve food.

“Ahhh, Longxia is so mighty!”

“My balcony is small, and most of my vegetables were bought online from Longbei. Now I can grow vegetables outdoors!”

“We have a small garden on the first floor. The rose and walnut trees have all died. We want to plant green crops!”

Since the heavy rains on March 15th, 33 out of the 55 provinces in Longnan were affected.

The food crisis, the reduction in aquatic products, and the unemployment crisis…

The aftermath of acid rain is even more terrifying than expected. According to Longxia’s latest monthly environmental report, vegetation damage in August increased by 22% compared to July. The damage to vegetation from acid rain is a gradual process, and if it continues to corrode, by next July, except for a few acid-loving plants, the country’s greenery will decrease by 87%.

Greenery is an indispensable part of the ecological environment. Many cities are already experiencing the death of green plants, and vegetable cultivation is becoming difficult. In Longnan and Central South, besides vegetable greenhouses and residents’ own planting, most vegetables are sourced from unpolluted areas like Zhongbei and Longbei.

According to meteorological reports, in mid-September, the areas of Jinghe, Qin Zhuang, and other central and northern regions will experience the Harma Storm. By mid-November, Harma will land in Longbei, and once Longbei is affected, the whole country will be a complete disaster zone from Harma.

Many residents are already worried about the vegetable shortage after the new year. Now that lettuce 01 has been successfully developed, it shows that Longxia can research more acid rain-resistant vegetables. Excess lettuce can be processed into vegetable dried goods and mixed with grains to make animal feed. While animal feed has low nutritional value, it can solve the feeding problem for poultry and livestock, which is significant news during the acid rain disaster.

“Thank you so much!”

Every research project requires huge human and material resources. Although lettuce 01 is just a simple news release, people can imagine the hardships Longxia faced during the research process. Netizens remembered the recent news where Longxia was called a defier in the acid rain disaster, going against the tide!

“lettuce rice noodles are delicious, you can even add ham sausage.”

“I like stir-fried lettuce with meat.”

Netizens were passionately discussing lettuce 01. As for conserving and cherishing food… now, they don’t even want to waste a single grain of rice! When going out to eat, if someone wastes even a small portion of food, they don’t need the waiter to educate them; the judgmental looks from the neighboring tables are enough to make them feel deeply embarrassed.

With the global food crisis, food has become the most valuable resource.

In the next half month, Guqiya and Natal went through three rounds of verbal conflicts over cargo ship issues, and many countries reported food shortages. As netizens watched the international news, they grew more appreciative of the peaceful environment at home.

In the midst of everyone’s hard work, on September 15th, lettuce 01 was officially put on sale.

“Old Zheng, you’re out here so early to queue?”

“I’m buying some seeds for the company.”

“We’re buying for the company too.”

At 9 AM on September 15th, Zheng Jiawang, the procurement manager of Delong Property, was queuing in front of the Xinxin Seed Store in Sichuan Province.

Since the Ministry of Agriculture released the information about lettuce 01 seeds, Delong Property had held three meetings. After getting agreement from all the residents, they planned to plant lettuce in the residential gardens and along the roadsides of the community.

Delong Community is one of the most famous garden communities in Liunan City. The community has 33 floors, with 30% green space. Previously, from the upper floors, residents could overlook the entire community. But after the heavy rains in Central South, the community’s flowers and plants were severely damaged. The property hired professional flower experts to trim and tidy the flowers, plants, and saplings, but less than a month later, all of them died.

The Liunan Environmental Protection Bureau sent officials to inspect, and it was concluded that the damage was caused by excessive sulfur dioxide intake. It wasn’t just Delong; 90% of the communities in Liunan faced the same situation, and this kind of excessive pollution is irreversible, and the plants cannot be saved.

Now, Delong’s 30% green space had turned into just 3%, and the only remaining green were a few old apricot trees with yellow leaves, unsure if they could survive until winter…

Many communities in Liunan had started planting sweet potatoes and wheat in green spaces, though no one knew if they would survive. Still, it gave them something to hope for.

Last month, Delong bought a batch of wheat seeds, and just as everyone was hesitating about whether to plant them, lettuce 01 was released.

The property management and all the residents discussed the situation and, due to wheat’s long planting cycle, decided to plant wheat and lettuce in separate areas, mixing them. Zheng Jiawang was sent to buy the lettuce seeds. He thought he was the only one from property management, but when he looked around, he saw familiar faces from Spring Breeze Property, Xiao Wang Property, and Qianfeng Community… Everyone was here to buy lettuce for greening.

“We’re the first to use lettuce for greening in the last ten years,” joked many property managers.

After some joking, at 9:30, the seed company opened.

Zheng Jiawang put away his horse-drawn cart. While they joked, there was still a sense of helplessness.

The disappearance of green plants reduces photosynthesis. It was still only September, but it already felt colder than usual.

Cities need greenery, communities need greenery, and humanity needs green air to survive.