Chapter 52: Impossible, Absolutely Impossible

Chapter 52: Chapter 52: Impossible, Absolutely Impossible

The next day, as soon as Zhang Lin woke up, he grabbed his phone and started scrolling through Tiao Yin. After just a few videos, he came across one slandering Li Yuan Farm’s canola Flower Sea. The smear videos he had secretly paid to boost were now blowing up.

The hype was indeed even higher.

Influenced by these smear videos, many people believed Li Yuan Farm was guilty of false advertising, treating it as if it were a confirmed fact.

Seeing this, Zhang Lin’s smile widened.

’As long as the hype is growing, that’s all that matters,’ he thought. ’It doesn’t matter if it’s slander or negative publicity. The story isn’t over yet.’

Next, he turned his attention to the game in his mind and opened the purchasing market interface.

1,650 pounds of honey peaches, 1,100 pounds of Sunshine Rose grapes, and 550 pounds of blueberries had refreshed.

With the increased wholesale quantities, purchasing all of these items would cost 14,000 yuan, but selling them would yield a profit of 92,000 yuan.

In addition, eleven pounds of canola seeds, 1.1 pounds of dried Honeysuckle, and 10,000 sweet potato seedlings had also refreshed. ℯℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

Zhang Lin purchased everything, but then he noticed a red exclamation mark over the icon for the employee list. Clearly, something was up.

He immediately clicked to check and saw a notification.

[An employee’s contract is about to expire. Please extend their employment period promptly, or the employee will automatically resign upon its expiration!]

The name of the employee with the expiring contract was displayed: Liu De.

Zhang Lin didn’t hesitate. He chose to renew Liu De’s employment!

After confirming, he received a notification that 7,500 yuan had been deducted from his bank account.

Liu De was the first employee recruited from the game, and Zhang Lin had grown accustomed to working with him. He now entrusted many tasks to Liu De, who was essentially a manager.

After eating the breakfast his mom made, he went straight to the farm to check on the roughly one-third-acre plot of fast-growing, white-fleshed sweet potatoes they had planted yesterday.

Thanks to their [Growth Speed +1] attribute, the vines of the seedlings had visibly lengthened overnight and sprouted more lush, green leaves.

’Sweet potato leaves are supposed to be delicious, too,’ he mused. ’I should try serving them in the restaurant when the time comes.’

Moreover, as he looked at the seedlings that had grown so much overnight, he recalled that new sweet potato plants are typically grown from cuttings taken from the vines.

’At this growth rate, I should be able to take cuttings for transplanting very soon.’

’Could I propagate these seedlings in the real world myself, instead of relying solely on the 10,000 provided by the game each day?’

It was worth an experiment.

If this method worked, he could cultivate these white-fleshed sweet potatoes on a massive scale. With their [Skin Whitening Effect +1] attribute, he’d have no trouble selling them.

He could lease huge tracts of land beyond the farm’s current 330 acres, dedicated solely to growing these sweet potatoes.

Besides making money, he could hire real-world farmhands to cultivate these outlying fields, creating local jobs. Coupled with his cooperation with the Agriculture Bureau, this would help him avoid a lot of unnecessary trouble. In fact, if he scaled up enough, You City’s government would have to roll out the red carpet for him.

However, this all hinged on two things: whether his idea was feasible, and whether the plants he propagated himself would still possess the game’s attributes.

So, after Liu De and his men returned from a fruit delivery, Zhang Lin called him over and explained the task.

Liu De readily agreed. "Don’t worry, Boss. Once these sweet potato seedlings have grown large enough, I’ll find a dedicated plot of land to run the experiment."

Zhang Lin felt at ease leaving the matter to Liu De. He then went to the warehouse, grabbed the dried Honeysuckle he had purchased over the past couple of days, and headed for the service center.

Mucheng and Zhao Lin, the two service supervisors, were already leading their teams through preparatory work.

Inside the lounge, the sales counter was set up with the system-produced blueberries, along with the new blueberry variety and Furong plums that the Agriculture Bureau was promoting.

All three types of fruit were clearly priced, and the display was starting to look quite professional.

Zhang Lin called Zhao Lin over. "Clear off this other sales counter," he instructed. "We’ll be using it today."

’The online hype is even bigger now,’ he thought. ’Even though some of it is from the smear campaign, this is the perfect time to introduce the Honeysuckle Tea and add more fuel to the fire.’

Just as he was thinking this, an employee led someone in. "Boss, this person is from the Tianrun Custom Cup Factory. He’s here to deliver the beverage cups."

The deliveryman was very polite. "President Zhang, we’ve brought an initial delivery of 3,000 small cups and 1,000 large cups this morning. Could you please have someone inspect the delivery and sign the form for me?"

"The rest will be delivered subsequently."

Zhang Lin turned to Zhao Lin. "Zhao Lin, take a few people and inspect the delivery. You’ll be in charge of this from now on."

"Yes, Boss!" Zhao Lin acknowledged, then led the man out of the service center.

With that handled, Zhang Lin took the dried Honeysuckle to the kitchen. Since he planned to launch the Honeysuckle Tea, he first had to brew it.

"Boss!" Lin Nan, the kitchen manager, greeted him as soon as he walked in.

Zhang Lin got straight to the point. "Get the supplementary ingredients for the tea that Liu De bought earlier. I’m going to teach you how to brew a specific Honeysuckle Tea today. From now on, you’ll need to make a fresh batch every day for the lounge."

"Yes, Boss!" Lin Nan replied immediately and went to get the ingredients.

This time, they weren’t just brewing a few grams of tea, but a whole pound’s worth. A small stove wouldn’t do; they needed a large stockpot.

Once Lin Nan brought the ingredients, he immediately found a large pot and lit the stove.

Zhang Lin then began to teach Lin Nan, following the recipe’s instructions step-by-step.

The employees recruited through the system were completely loyal and would never leak the recipe, so Zhang Lin taught him with confidence.

Lin Nan had an excellent memory. After just one demonstration from Zhang Lin, he had memorized all the steps and ratios. When asked to repeat them, he did so without a single error.

In a short while, a faint, herbal aroma wafted through the kitchen.

After about fifteen minutes of brewing, Zhang Lin told Lin Nan, "You can turn off the heat now. Cool the Honeysuckle Tea down quickly and take it out to the sales counter!"

"Yes, Boss!" Lin Nan nodded and immediately set to work.

As Zhang Lin came out of the kitchen and walked toward the lounge, he was surprised to find Lin Mengxi there. She had brought several people from the Agriculture Bureau, and they were busy in the lounge. One of them was holding a camera and filming the fruit display on the sales counter.

Seeing Zhang Lin, Lin Mengxi hurried over. "Boss Zhang, the smear videos against Li Yuan Farm are gaining even more traction online. Director Wei had me ask if you’d like the Agriculture Bureau to issue a statement. If we make an official move, Tiao Yin might restrict the traffic to those videos. At the very least, they’ll pay attention to the situation and won’t let the slander continue unchecked."

"No... absolutely not..." Zhang Lin said, suddenly alarmed.

’Are you kidding me?’ he thought frantically. ’I’m using this to build hype! Bad publicity is still publicity! If the Agriculture Bureau steps in, they’ll cut off my traffic. All the money I spent boosting those videos would go down the drain!’

"It looks like you have a plan, Boss Zhang." Seeing his confident expression, Lin Mengxi dropped the subject. Instead, she said, "I do have another favor to ask, Boss Zhang. Could you possibly ask Fu Yao to come over around noon to help us shoot our first video?"

"I’ll message her on WeChat in a bit," Zhang Lin nodded.

As they spoke, the first tourists of the day began to arrive. The days were still very hot this season, so many people chose to do their sightseeing in the morning. Locals from You City came early, and many out-of-town visitors had arrived the previous night, staying in You City’s hotels before heading to the farm first thing in the morning.

Chen He was one such person.

However, he wasn’t a tourist. He was here on his boss’s orders, looking for an opportunity to create a news story that would utterly destroy Li Yuan Farm’s reputation. If he succeeded, their Meizhou Flower Sea would once again be the most popular online, and he would naturally be greatly rewarded.

In society today, everyone wants to climb the ladder, but no matter how hard most people work, they’re just cogs in the machine. Opportunities are reserved for the lucky few.

This was his chance to climb.

After leaving his hotel, he hailed a taxi and headed for Li Yuan Farm.

"You’re from out of town, aren’t you, sir?" the talkative taxi driver asked with a smile shortly after they set off.

"Is it that obvious?" Chen He asked in surprise.

The driver laughed and explained, "Sir, you’re my second fare to Li Yuan Farm today. I have to admit, their canola Flower Sea is absolutely stunning. None of us locals in You City ever thought someone could create something like that here. I took my wife to see it, and we were completely blown away."

The driver’s tone, a mixture of pride and awe, made Chen He pause.

’Something’s not right!’

’He doesn’t sound like he’s just exaggerating,’ Chen He thought. ’Could the canola Flower Sea at Li Yuan Farm really be that beautiful?’

’But is that even possible?’

’Our Meizhou Flower Sea hired a master photographer, and even he couldn’t take pictures that beautiful. Even with filters, our photos paled in comparison.’

Harboring this sense of disbelief, Chen He arrived at Li Yuan Farm. He hurried into the service center the moment he stepped out of the taxi and went straight to the ticketing hall to collect his ticket.

He was currently in a state of anxious distraction, so even the service center’s [Improved Mood +1] attribute had no effect on him.

He got his ticket quickly. They had booked it before Li Yuan Farm started restricting reservations, having already planned to come and investigate.

When Chen He reached the ticket checkpoint, he saw that a fair number of tourists were already in line. ’That’s a lot of people for this early,’ he thought. ’It proves that many were really drawn in by the hype.’

’Evidently, Li Yuan Farm’s attempt to limit ticket sales came too late; a lot of people had already booked their tickets.’

’If the farm’s Flower Sea really is a sham, then the more tourists it attracts, the faster it will be exposed. Once the truth comes out, its reputation will be in tatters.’

But as he passed through the checkpoint, still clinging to that thought, he entered the area and laid eyes upon the flower sea. He was instantly captivated by the spectacular view and froze on the spot, utterly dumbfounded. "Impossible," he mumbled, rooted to the ground. "Absolutely impossible..."

...