Chief Zhao flipped through the news with today’s newspaper and replied without looking up, “Don’t give me that. 6,300 stalks can only be produced next year. It’s already good enough that I can squeeze out this amount for you!”

Wu Jin directly reached out and pulled Chief Zhao’s newspaper to the side, then folded it. He looked at him with a long face. “Chief Zhao, when I pay you next year, I’ll give you an extra penny for each tree! That’ll be a total of 63 yuan!”

When Chief Zhao heard this, he didn’t say anything. He pondered for a while, then said, “No, you want a tree that can bear fruit next year!”

Wu Jin cursed him inwardly, but put on a helpless expression. “I want an apple tree seed that will bear fruit in one year. As for the cherry tree, you can just give me a seed that will bear fruit next year. I’ve already compromised. If you still won’t agree, I can only continue to nag you every day!”

Chief Zhao was so angry that he laughed at Wu Jin’s shameless behavior. The He Mountain Brigade wasn’t rich, but the seedlings cultivated by the Agriculture Bureau had to be taken back and sold for money. He couldn’t lower the price, but now that the other party was willing to compensate him, he would treat it as a favor.

“Alright. I’m really helpless towards you. I’ll give you an approval slip. Don’t come tomorrow! You always follow me around like a bodyguard. Others will think that I’m stuck up!”

Wu Jin immediately smiled and said, “That won’t do. Who doesn’t know that you’re the most approachable leader?! Besides, we want seedlings that will bear fruit next year so we can pay you back quickly.”

Chief Zhao started writing with the approval slip.

Wu Jin said again, “Chief Zhao, there’s something else. I want two people from the village to learn the daily maintenance of these two tree seedlings. You can approve them together. This is also for the sake of paying off the loan as soon as possible.”

Chief Zhao’s hand that was holding the pen paused. He really had no excuse to retort with. “Mr. Wu, not only did you borrow fruit tree seeds from me, but you also want me to help you nurture talents.”

Wu Jin touched his nose sheepishly as he looked at Chief Zhao. “It’s all for the sake of creating a robust economy and letting the villagers live a good life. The number of technical staff in the county is limited. I know they’re busy. We just want to learn more and solve our own problems, so we don’t have to keep troubling the county to send people down.”

Chief Zhao rolled his eyes at Wu Jin. “How can technical skills be so easy to learn? I can approve a ten day leave for your people to come over and learn, but there’s no guarantee that they’ll be able to master it.”

Wu Jin nodded eagerly. “Yes, I understand.”

Just like that, Wu Jin succeeded in getting the first batch of fruit trees. Following that, he obtained pesticides, fertilizers, and chicken sprouts in the same manner. After this round, Wu Jin felt that he had become much more thick-skinned and his acting skills had improved. However, when he thought of the final success, he felt that it was fine even if it was embarrassing. After all, the benefits that he obtained were the most important!

Yu Bing also began to recruit people, mainly daily maintenance personnel. During the harvest season, the entire village would work together. The recruitment process was very smooth. Although they were all farmers, planting fruit trees was still easier than farming.

Yu Bing chose 20 people. One of them was a young woman named Ou Qin. Yu Bing had specifically asked her to join after asking around. Because she was the child of a city pesticide factory worker and had a high school education, Yu Bing chose her and a young man from the village, Li An, to go to the Agriculture Bureau for training.

Yu Bing divided the twenty people into two groups. One group was led by Ou Qin to look after the cherry trees, and the other by Li An to look after the apple trees.

Work in the garden proceeded methodically.

On the other side, Yu Yan finally received a package from home. However, at this moment, Yu Yan and Xu Ling’s relationship had already become strained. It was basically impossible for the two of them to reconcile.

In the letter sent from home, her adoptive parents also explained why the things had not been sent in time. Both of them had happened to be on a business trip, so the letter had not been received in time. That was why it had been delayed.

However, Yu Yan felt that this must be an excuse. How could it be that both of them were on a business trip? Now, she had already been ostracized in the dormitory before sending it over. What was the use!

Yu Yan blamed her adoptive parents while eating the red dates and osmanthus that her family had specifically asked someone to bring back from the Western Region to nourish her body.

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