In just half a year, Xiao Lingyu built a farm in seven regions of China. Every farm had its own characteristics.
Of course, other than being a tourist attraction, these farms were used to grow vegetables, grains, and fruits.
Xiao Lingyu’s investment in these farms had already reached tens of billions.
After all, not every place had ready-made conditions like Phoenix Ridge. The other farms needed to be built from the ground up. It required time, effort, and cost.
However, this also meant that they were relatively remote. The cost of buying land or renting land was a lot less than that of the city. The compensation given to the farmers for their relocation was much lesser than otherwise. Of course, Xiao Lingyu didn’t take advantage of anyone. She was merely paying according to the market price.
Xiao Lingyu was a merchant. She wasn’t to go around printing money to give the locals as compensation for relocating.
To put it bluntly, she wasn’t a saint. Why would she give them so much money? Was it because they were poor?
Of course, there were many disputes during the construction process, especially when the villagers felt that the compensation was too little.
Of course, unless these matters could not be resolved, Xiao Lingyu would leave it to the person in charge to handle them.
If she handled everything on her own, why would she hire so many people at her company?
The farms were built. As for the planting, the spring water and seeds were transported from Taoyuan Village. Even if many people had doubts, they knew that this was a trade secret.
They guessed that this transparent liquid was the secret that made these vegetables and fruits taste unique. However, they had no way of knowing what this transparent liquid was.
Perhaps one day, this secret would be exposed, but when that day came, Xiao Lingyu would have made a fortune already.
Once the farms were ready for the harvest, it was time to sell. Each fruit and vegetable had its production cycles.
Even if the growth cycle could be shortened due to the effect of the spiritual spring water, it would still take at least two to three months to produce a large number of them.
In this buffer period of two to three months, it was time to choose the location of the supermarkets.
Xiao Lingyu chose to open the chains in big cities close to the farms. No matter how poor the county was, there would be rich people.
Xiao Lingyu’s goal was to open a supermarket chain in every city. Therefore, she was not opening one or two chains but more than a hundred of them. Naturally, this would require a large sum of money.
However, whether it was buying or renting, the cost of opening a supermarket store was much lower compared to investing in a farm. The biggest problem was the recruitment of employees.
Green Fresh Supermarket always looked for employees with good character and ability. However, it was hard to tell a person’s character in a short amount of time.
Due to Taoyuan Village and Green Fresh’s reputation, many people queued up to apply when they heard the news. Whether it was for ordinary employees or high-level executives, many people came to apply.
Some of them just came for food.
After all, they had heard about how delicious the things in the supermarkets were. However, the stock at the supermarket was not cheap. The rich and powerful could afford to buy them daily but not the normal citizens. Therefore, if they wanted to eat them daily, the best solution was to become an employee there. This was because the supermarkets had their own canteens. The canteens provided food cooked with vegetables sourced from the supermarkets. To have this delicious food daily, even if the salary was lower, they were willing. Furthermore, Green Fresh was famous for its good treatment and benefits for its employees.
The basic salary and commission of the ordinary employees of the supermarket reached four to five thousand a month, which was almost double the salary of other supermarket employees.
Also, the Taoyuan Village Green Fresh supermarket’s employees had shorter working shifts than other supermarkets. It went from six-thirty in the morning to one-thirty in the afternoon, seven hours per day.
Who wouldn’t want to go to a place that had fewer working hours, good pay, and high wages?
Of course, Green Fresh wouldn’t hire people casually. It was very good to get a job at the supermarkets.
Many people were lucky enough to get in, but after a period of time, they might be fired.
Then, everyone in the industry would know that these people had bad morals. The employees at Green Fresh would be given a chance if they made a technical mistake. However, they would be fired instantly if they had bad characters. As for the standard used by Green Fresh for hiring and firing people, only the people in charge would know.
“President Xiao, the general managers of the supermarkets have reported the recruitment situation.” Xiao Lingyu’s secretary gave the report to Xiao Lingyu.
Xiao Lingyu quickly flipped through the report, then nodded and said, “Yes, you did very well. Pass the message on and train these employees as soon as possible.”
“Yes, President Xiao!” The Secretary replied.
The Secretary had just reached the door when she saw Gong Tianhao coming in. Her body trembled for a moment, then she called out very respectfully, “Mr. Gong!”
Gong Tianhao only nodded slightly and walked straight to the office.
When Xiao Lingyu saw Gong Tianhao come in, her eyes lit up, and she said happily, “Hubby, why are you here?”
Gong Tianhao smiled and said, “I haven’t seen my wife for a long time. Is It not okay for me to come to see my wife?”
After saying that, he walked behind Xiao Lingyu and extended his broad hands to her shoulders. Then, he massaged her skillfully.
He looked at the fatigue on Xiao Lingyu’s face and said with heartache, “Yu ‘Er, I know you’re very busy, but you have to rest. Look, your eyelids are turning blue. How much sleep are you getting every day?” At this point, he did not wait for Xiao Lingyu’s reply and said, “No, it looks like I have to come back and supervise you every day. Otherwise, you’ll work yourself to death!”
Xiao Lingyu leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes to enjoy the massage from her husband. She smiled and said, “You call me every night from nine o’clock and video calls me to supervise me to rest. How is it possible that I don’t have enough sleep?”
Gong Tianhao said, “You clearly don’t notice your dark circles. It’s obviously caused by lack of sleep.”
Xiao Lingyu took a small mirror from the drawer in her office and opened it. She looked at it and touched the spot where the dark circles were. She smiled helplessly and said, “They are really heavy.”
“…” Gong Tianhao said with heartache, “Yu ‘Er, you can take things one step at a time. There’s no need to work so hard. You’re doing very well now. In just three to four years, you’ve grown from a small and unremarkable company to a large company worth ten billion. That’s already very impressive.”
Xiao Lingyu said with a smile, “I have a secret space and a rich husband. If I don’t have the results I have today, I would be a very useless person.”
Gong Tianhao, “…”
“Oh, right, hubby, why did you come back all of a sudden?” Xiao Lingyu asked.
Gong Tianhao stopped what he was doing. He said helplessly, “This afternoon is our son’s kindergarten parent-child activity day. We need to participate in it. Did you forget?”
Xiao Lingyu rubbed her forehead when she heard that. She said with some self-blame, “Oh, right. I almost forgot if you didn’t mention it. Our son even reminded me in the morning. Both parents need to be there.” She sighed again. “Time really flies. In the blink of an eye, our son and Ling ‘Er have entered kindergarten for almost a semester already. Do you still remember the scene of our son entering kindergarten on his first day?”
…
After the new year, Xiao Letong and Xiao Ling would be three years old and could meet the conditions to enter kindergarten. After some discussion, the family felt that it was better to send the two children to kindergarten.
Although Tong Tong was a child prodigy and could read and write expertly, he would find his company in kindergarten.
Tong Tong seemed to be sensible and obedient, but he still needed a happy childhood, and kindergarten was the source of happiness.
“I’m not going!” Xiao Letong refused to go to kindergarten.
He was not a real child but an old monster who had lived for thousands of years.
He felt goosebumps all over his body just thinking about playing with a group of little kids who could only cry and yell and look for their parents.
No, he didn’t want to play with a group of little kids.
No matter how the adults tried to persuade him, Xiao Letong refused.
But…
“Brother, I want to go to kindergarten.” Xiao Ling carefully pulled Xiao Letong’s sleeve and said in a low voice, “I want to play with the children!”
Xiao Ling and Xiao Letong were at the opposite age of maturity.
Xiao Ling could now return to the appearance of a teenager, but his mind was still as pure as a child’s. When he heard that he could play with many children at the kindergarten, he was immediately intrigued.
Xiao Letong looked at his little brother, who was looking at him with hope. He could only sigh softly and smile, “Okay. I’ll go with you.”
Xiao Ling was too innocent. If he didn’t follow him, he wouldn’t be at ease.
All the adults, “…”
They had been trying their best to persuade him for a few days, but it was not as good as Xiao Ling’s words.
If they had known earlier, they would have just let Xiao Ling persuade Tong Tong.
Later on, the two children happily went to kindergarten.