Rural Farming: My Buildings Can Be Upgraded

Chapter 69: Chapter 68: Finally Encountered an Idiot

Perhaps aware that the wealthy people of Wuyuan County didn’t welcome them, the group stopped a short distance away after seeing the situation.

Staring at the grapevines that reached over the wall, they were all extremely envious, wondering how they could get their hands on the research findings for the Jade Grapevine.

If this type of grapevine could be transplanted, they could surely find a way to obtain some vines and grow them themselves.

Zhang Yong came up to Lin Feng and said, "These people are so shameless. They reported that your Medicinal Tea had problems, yet they still have the nerve to come here and see you."

Someone nearby chimed in, "Absolutely shameless. I heard they’ve pulled plenty of dirty tricks in the county, and even got people involved over in Jiangcheng."

Lin Feng had only heard secondhand accounts of these matters and didn’t know the specifics. It seemed these pharmaceutical companies had been making plenty of moves behind the scenes.

Of course, this group from Wuyuan County wasn’t entirely composed of good people. It was impossible to think they didn’t want to get their hands on Lin Xian Village.

It was only because someone was keeping them in check that they didn’t dare to make a move.

If he hadn’t become famous so quickly, attracting the attention of the higher-ups, he was certain some people would have already used their methods to take over the land contracting rights for Lin Xian Village.

The methods were simply too numerous—breach of contract, manufactured problems with the contract, and so on. Such tactics were all too easy to employ.

They could straight up seize factories that people had invested hundreds of millions in; dealing with someone like him would be no challenge at all.

So, sometimes, being famous was a form of protection in itself. At least some people wouldn’t dare to use illegal methods so brazenly.

"President Zhang, what did the two professors say?"

"They’re not sure what’s going on yet. They said it might be related to this sudden change in the environment."

"Boss Lin, I was wondering, once the vineyard area is expanded, will we have a chance to buy some Jade Grapes?"

"That will have to wait until I’ve paid off my loan. Then, we’ll see how many Jade Grapes there are, and we can all sit down and discuss how to distribute them."

Zhang Yong wasn’t very satisfied with Lin Feng’s answer. He would have preferred to secure a batch of Jade Grapes right now. That way, even if he didn’t end up getting any, he could still receive other benefits, like those people from last time.

Unfortunately, he knew that given the current situation, Lin Feng wouldn’t budge easily. If he did, everyone else would come knocking too.

He looked around Lin Xian Village, wondering what he could do to earn the privilege of placing an advance order.

He eventually realized he couldn’t compete on financial resources, and he definitely couldn’t compete on power. This was a difficult problem.

’Perhaps I can approach this from a personnel angle,’ he thought. He’d heard Lin Xian Village wanted to recruit some professional talent, but their efforts hadn’t been very successful.

This presented another problem: even after getting someone hired to work in Lin Xian Village, there was no guarantee they would be able to obtain Jade Grapes.

He wondered if he should follow the example of the Zhao Family and Hu Yousheng and send a suitable person from his own family to work in Lin Xian Village.

Being on the inside has its perks, after all. Weren’t they able to reap such huge benefits precisely because they received the information ahead of time?

The more he thought about it, the more feasible this plan seemed. He decided he would look into it as soon as he got back and see if there was a suitable candidate in his family to send to work in Lin Xian Village.

The moment Zhang Yong and his people left Lin Feng, the pharmaceutical representatives came over.

Li Lan, with her fiery enthusiasm, beat everyone to the punch. "Boss Lin, hello there! We meet again."

"Yes, you all certainly seem to pay close attention to Lin Xian Village. I heard you even had people in Mountain Ridge Town buying up Medicinal Tea at inflated prices. Why not just send someone to buy from me directly?"

Despite the faint mockery in Lin Feng’s tone, these people were thick-skinned—you couldn’t survive in this industry if you weren’t. They didn’t show the slightest bit of embarrassment.

"You’re joking, Mr. Lin. The Medicinal Tea here is so effective, so of course, we as a pharmaceutical company are paying close attention. We’d like to cooperate with you, Mr. Lin, but unfortunately, we haven’t had the chance."

Lin Feng had no desire to beat around the bush with them. He’d rather use the time to go back and drink tea.

"You’re all here for the Jade Grapes, aren’t you? In that case, I can tell you right now: don’t bother coming back. I won’t be cooperating with any pharmaceutical companies."

Someone spoke up, "Mr. Lin, don’t speak in such absolutes. Who knows when you might need a pharmaceutical company—for applying for a drug manufacturing license, for example. It’s always better to have more friends and more options."

"Which company do you represent?"

The man replied arrogantly, "Celestial Star Pharmaceutical Group!"

"Alright, you can leave now. You’re not welcome here, and I will never have any sort of cooperation with Celestial Star Pharmaceutical in the future."

"Don’t be so arrogant, young man. You just got lucky. For so many of us from pharmaceutical companies to come see you, we’re already giving you a great deal of respect."

The representatives from the other pharmaceutical companies instantly paled. ’Say what you want, but don’t drag us into it!’

’Besides, you should have just kept that thought to yourself. Are you an idiot? Saying it out loud like that? I guess you don’t want to cooperate anymore, huh?’

Of course, they weren’t going to stop him. It was actually good to have a moron like this around; it would make their own sincerity stand out in comparison for Lin Feng to see.

"Get out!"

"Fine. Let’s see you keep this attitude."

Lin Feng was left speechless. The man’s tone made it sound like he had him cornered. It seemed that applying for the Clearing Heat and Stopping Cough Pills had given certain people the wrong impression, making them think he wanted to enter the pharmaceutical field.

After the imbecile left, Lin Feng looked at the others. These guys all looked to be in a pretty good mood.

And why not? Someone had just acted as their mouthpiece, saying what was on all their minds.

"Everyone, if you have nothing else to do, feel free to walk around the village and enjoy the scenery."

As Lin Feng turned to leave, someone called out, "Mr. Lin! Mr. Lin, don’t be in such a rush to go! We can talk! Just name your conditions!"

Hu Xia walked over and said, "Our boss has already stated that he won’t be cooperating with pharmaceutical companies. Please stop harassing him."

"What kind of person is he? He won’t even give us a chance."

"There’s nothing to be done. He’s the one with the goods, so he calls all the shots. What can you do?"

"Sigh... If I had known it would be like this, I wouldn’t have taken this assignment. There’s just no opportunity here at all."

Some were already considering whether they could use some crooked methods—it wasn’t as if they were unaccustomed to using them.

Among the crowd, Li Lan’s expression didn’t change. She had known all along that this man was difficult to deal with.

She turned and started walking away. She had come to this village but hadn’t had a chance to look around properly yet.

Visiting this time felt completely different from the last. The air had gotten even better; it was the perfect place to build a wellness retreat.

Back at the pavilion, Hu Xia quickly caught up and sat down across from Lin Feng.

She asked in a low voice, "If there are really more grapes, could we pay to buy some extra?"

"Don’t worry, I’ll definitely set some aside for the village employees. Depending on the situation, we can reserve a tenth of the harvest. How does that sound?"

"That would be fantastic! You can’t go back on your word!" Hu Xia said excitedly.

"By the way, the archery competition starts this weekend. Not many tourists have signed up to participate.

However, I heard from Zheng Kang that a lot of people from the archery community, after hearing about it, want to come and take a look."

"That’s a good thing. I’m not in a rush when it comes to tourists. Not many people know about it since it’s the first one, so we can just treat it as a trial run. We can prepare some prizes for the future."

"There’s one more thing. The performance acts you asked the Bureau of Culture and Tourism to arrange are almost ready. They’re asking when they can come over."

"Oh! They’re ready? Then have them come over tomorrow. We’ll assess the situation first."

Uncle Ma’s specialty products are actually ready as well; he’s just waiting for the Marketplace to be built.

It was almost the end of the month. He thought about how the Lord’s Mansion would also be completed soon. The next tasks would be to construct the other special buildings while simultaneously developing the village’s tourism projects.