Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

Chapter 327: Chapter 269: A Fish Finally Takes the Bait! The Lower-Tier Market Shows Initial Success

It looked fine, but how could Chen Yansen possibly let him get his way?

「Elsewhere.」

Chunshen, Bagong Mountain Village.

In the peach orchards blanketing the mountainside, branches hung heavy with plump, juicy honey peaches. Amidst the verdant trees, hundreds of farmers were hunched over, engrossed in picking the fruit.

Even though it was the height of summer in June, everyone wore a smile, working with exceptional vigor.

In previous years, these nearby 4,000 mu of peach orchards would only bring in 5,000 yuan per mu. This year, however, was a completely different story.

Organized by Tang Lixin, the farmers of Bagong Mountain Village had sold nectarines and yellow apricots on Pinbei Mall in May, and were now selling honey peaches in June.

Coming up, they would sell yellow peaches and grapes in July, followed by crisp pears and brittle jujubes in the golden autumn month of October.

The work hadn’t increased, but their income had multiplied several times over.

Take the honey peaches, for instance. Previously, a mu yielded 3,000 jin of fruit, which sold to wholesalers for 1.5 to 1.8 yuan per jin. After deducting the costs of tools, fertilizer, and pesticides, each mu only netted a profit of 3,000 yuan.

Since the Bagong Mountain Fruit Association opened an online store on Pinbei, a six-pack of honey peaches could sell for 39.9 yuan, and a twelve-pack for 69.9 yuan.

True, there were additional costs for packing and shipping—corrugated boxes, shock-absorbent foam, fruit nets, styrofoam containers, dry ice packs, and Cloud Speed’s cold chain logistics. But the net profit per jin still reached an impressive 6 to 8 yuan, meaning one mu of land could now earn over 20,000.

Two Cloud Speed couriers stood by the roadside. Assisted by a few farmers, they loaded box after box of fresh honey peaches into the truck, stacking them neatly.

"Sister Juan, with your family’s dozen-plus mu of orchards, you’ll probably earn hundreds of thousands," one of the Cloud Speed couriers said, waving his hand to signal for a break.

In this summer heat, their uniforms were already soaked with sweat after just an hour of work.

"Heh, no... not that much. A few tens of thousands at most," the farmer, Zhou Lijuan, replied with a grin, fibbing out of habit.

Back home, you had plenty of friends and relatives who’d look down on you for being poor but resent you for being rich. Zhou Lijuan was terrified that if word got out she’d made two or three hundred thousand, people would come asking to borrow money. And what would she do then? Refuse?

The courier smiled. He knew full well what these honey peaches sold for on Pinbei. Even after deducting costs for cold chain transport, packaging, and labor, making a five-yuan profit per jin was a piece of cake.

But since she didn’t want to say it, he saw no reason to call her out.

He accepted the bottle of mineral water from Zhou Lijuan, passed another to his colleague, and then tilted his head back to take a long drink.

The farmers of Bagong Mountain were making good money, and that meant even better commissions for the two of them.

Just then, someone in the distance shouted, "Mr. Tang is here!"

Zhou Lijuan and the others hurried to the side of the road, craning their necks to get a look.

They saw a middle-aged man with salt-and-pepper hair getting out of a black Audi. He looked to be in his late forties, approaching fifty. Beside him was a young man in his early thirties, whose demeanor and posture suggested he was a secretary.

It was none other than Tang Lixin and his secretary, Zhao Siyuan.

A dozen or so staff members from Bagong Mountain Village trailed behind them.

"Mr. Tang, this is the Bagong Mountain honey peach cultivation base. Our annual yield is 12 million jin, with a production value of around 18 million yuan," a man in glasses and a short-sleeved shirt explained, wiping sweat from his brow.

"Eighteen million? I think it should be one hundred million!"

Tang Lixin’s expression turned stern as he immediately corrected him, though he couldn’t hide the broad smile on his face.

Four months ago, he had shamelessly latched onto Chen Yansen.

Although Senlian Capital hadn’t invested in building factories in Chunshen to directly boost employment, they had given him an even greater opportunity.

Over the past three months, Pinbei’s farmer support project had been booming in Chunshen.

Over fifty online shops selling agricultural products had popped up, each with monthly sales exceeding one million yuan.

The Saopei Grain and Oil Processing Plant outside the city, selling products like rice and rapeseed oil, brought in over 16 million yuan in sales during the 618 festival, instantly becoming Chunshen County’s star enterprise.

Furthermore, a farm in Sanjue Town was selling over ten thousand ducks and mature geese online daily. Their own breeding operation couldn’t keep up with the sales volume, so they had to source from neighboring towns and villages.

For a while there, it was a rough time to be a chicken, duck, or goose in Chunshen. The moment they were old enough to leave the coop, they were sent to the slaughterhouse, never getting to enjoy a single second of adulthood.

"Yes, of course. One hundred million is correct," the head of Bagong Mountain Village replied with a laugh.

Tang Lixin slowly strolled over until he was in front of Zhou Lijuan and asked casually, "Is it hard to sell things online?"

"Mr. Tang, the village organized training classes for online stores. The computer part was too difficult for me, but my husband is a fast learner. He was the first person in our village to open his own store," Zhou Lijuan answered, a proud smile on her face.

Selling through the fruit association’s channel meant paying a technical service fee on every order, but if you opened your own store, you could save that money.

About thirty percent of the farmers in Bagong Mountain chose to open their own stores, while the other seventy percent entrusted their produce to the fruit association for centralized management.

Tang Lixin nodded with satisfaction.

Chunshen had over 5,000 fruit farmers. Previously, when the fruit season began, they typically sold to wholesalers or small and medium-sized supermarkets within the county. Prices were low, and consequently, so were profit margins.

Now, by selling online to customers all over the country, both prices and profits had soared.

This initiative alone had made all the farmers in Bagong Mountain Village wealthy.

Tang Lixin had heard that vegetables like cucumbers, eggplants, tomatoes, and green beans from surrounding towns, and even products like sweet potatoes and corn, could sell tens of thousands of orders on Pinbei every month.

’Something like this would have been unimaginable in the past.’

Lately, whenever he attended meetings in the city, officials from neighboring counties would try to get close, hoping for a slice of the pie. Tang Lixin shut them all down decisively.

’Having it all to yourself feels good. And the feeling never gets old.’

’Share with other counties and towns?’

’No way!’

Tang Lixin kept a tight grip on Pinbei’s farmer support program slots. He would only give them to local businesses and farmers. If others wanted in, fine—as long as they relocated their companies to Chunshen.

As a result, two tofu factories and starch noodle factories from Zhou Lai actually moved their companies to Chunshen and hired hundreds of local employees.

True to his word, Tang Lixin immediately delivered on his promise.

Regardless, by leveraging the appeal of Pinbei Mall’s platform, Chunshen’s "Investment Attraction" efforts were proving to be a resounding success.

What he didn’t know, however, was that Zhou Lai had been watching him for a while. Once they figured out Tang Lixin’s hand, they immediately dispatched a team to Xucheng to vie for Chen Yansen’s traffic support.

...

...

「National Guest Bookstore.」

Chen Guobin sat enjoying the air conditioning, engrossed in a history of the Ming Dynasty.

Opposite him sat several mature geese, two boxes of yellow apricots, and two boxes of honey peaches. A corner of the room was piled with local specialties: silverfish, mung bean starch noodles, stinky tofu, and more.

All of these items were gifts from beneficiaries of the Chunshen farmer support program.

Initially, Chen Guobin had tried his best to refuse the gifts. But soon, people started dropping things off and running away before he could even catch them.

There were even a few shameless fifty-year-olds who insisted on calling him "Uncle Chen" or "Brother Bin" to his face.

Sometimes, Chen Guobin felt truly helpless, but he also knew that because of the farmer support program, his son was now the God of Wealth to these people.

Even Tang Lixin and Zhao Siyuan would occasionally visit.

’Hui Zhen, our son is all grown up. He’s not only successful, but he also has a girlfriend. If only you could see it with your own eyes.’

Chen Guobin sighed, thinking to himself.

「Meanwhile, two hundred kilometers away at Zhuxianzhuang Science and Technology Park.」

Just as Chen Yansen was finishing his lunch break, the front desk called. A few people claiming to be from the Zhou Lai State Central Bureau were downstairs, and they were asking if he would see them.

’A fish has finally taken the bait!’

A faint smile touched Chen Yansen’s lips as he walked toward the elevators.