Chapter 130: Three Milestone Rewards!

Chapter 130: Three Milestone Rewards!

At Linyuan Farm, after Zhang Lin left his university classmates' group chat, he no longer paid any attention to people like Chen Hao.

These people, who didn't know their place, thought they were something special. Don't be fooled by Chen Hao's active presence in the group chat, earning 40,000 yuan a month, which might seem like the peak for an average person. However, to many others, 40,000 yuan a month is nothing. Just look at the rich kids who can spend hundreds of thousands of yuan in a single night out.

If these people want to visit the farm, they can, as long as they don't cause trouble.

Zhang Lin had no interest in pretending to be a nobody just to humiliate his old classmates.

Putting away his phone, Zhang Lin decided to check on the water peach saplings he had planted.

His farm had started with water peaches sourced from the game. Initially, without any peach trees, he had to pretend to be collaborating with other laboratories. Of course, there were no actual laboratories, and he just called it a "trade secret."

The appearance of the water peach saplings solved this problem perfectly. These trees could bear fruit by the second year, ensuring he would have a mountain of water peaches without anyone questioning their origin.

Moreover, the blooming peach blossoms would add to the farm's charm, and he could open a self-picking orchard for visitors. This was a common farm activity, as many people enjoyed the leisurely experience of picking fruits with friends, even if they didn't particularly like eating them.

Every day, he purchased the newly refreshed water peach saplings and had a dedicated team of farm workers plant them. However, with only 1,000 saplings refreshing daily, they could only cover 10 acres, so the 1,000 acres he had leased for water peaches were far from fully planted.

For now, he had no plans to experiment with special fertilizers. As the first product that had put his farm on the map, he wanted to make it a dedicated farm product. Even if outsiders managed to graft and cultivate the water peach saplings, they wouldn't retain the game's unique properties.

In August, the peach trees were still in their leaf-growing phase. When Zhang Lin arrived at the planting site, the first batch of peach trees had already sprouted many leaves, adding a vibrant green hue to the area.

Next, he visited the core area to check on the sweet potato seedlings. With their +1 Rapid Growth attribute, the new batch of seedlings was growing quickly and could soon be transplanted.

Thus, he could start large-scale planting. Fortunately, the farm still had nearly 40,000 acres of unused land. The county had even given him an additional year of rent to encourage him to take over these plots, so he was grateful for the generous offer from Kai Lin Investment.

When Zhang Lin returned to his office, Lin Mengyao was already there, handing him a document. "Mr. Zhang, you need to sign this. It's about the labor protection supplies. We were supposed to distribute them on the 5th, but I'm new to this and spent a lot of time selecting suppliers. I've finally chosen one."

"Sure!" Zhang Lin nodded.

Although Lin Mengyao had admitted her mistake, it was a minor issue. He glanced at the supplier's information and pricing on the document. The prices were naturally lower than market rates. Seeing no problems, he signed the document and handed it back to her.

"Mr. Zhang, do you want to meet the supplier?" Lin Mengyao asked.

"No need, you can handle it on your own," Zhang Lin replied, shaking his head.

He didn't want to get bogged down in such minor details, which would only add to his workload. This was his way of delegating responsibility to Lin Mengyao.

After all, the HR department often dealt with trivial matters, and he didn't want to get entangled in them.

Lin Mengyao, understanding his instructions, didn't dwell on the matter. She returned to the HR department and called the supplier to arrange a contract signing at Linyuan Farm.

The supplier, Ma Yong, arrived shortly after her call. He had been in the daily supply chain business for a long time and had offered significant discounts to secure the labor protection supply contract for Linyuan Farm.

Although the profit margin was slim, with 620 employees at Linyuan Farm, the total monthly labor protection cost was over 30,000 yuan. As the farm continued to grow, the number of employees would increase, making this a stable and lucrative opportunity.

After all, securing the supply contract meant he only needed to prepare and deliver the supplies monthly without any additional hassle.

"Manager Lin, thank you so much for this opportunity," Ma Yong said gratefully after signing the contract.

When he was selected, he had considered offering a kickback, but Lin Mengyao had firmly declined. She didn't want to be seen as someone who might tarnish her sister's reputation or disappoint Mr. Zhang.

In a small city like Youcheng, being a department manager at Linyuan Farm with a monthly salary of 20,000 yuan and bonuses was more than she could ask for. It already put her ahead of 99% of her peers.

"If you want to thank me, just ensure the quality and quantity of the supplies each month," Lin Mengyao concluded.

"Rest assured, Manager Lin, that's guaranteed. The first batch is already being prepared and will be delivered shortly," Ma Yong assured her.

By evening, Zhang Lin noticed people from various departments pushing carts toward the office center's warehouse.

The service department had the most people.

His mother was leading a team to inventory items like laundry detergent.

It seemed that Lin Mengyao had already handled the labor protection matters and distributed the first batch.

Seeing his mother's enthusiastic expression, he didn't want to disturb her.

The next day, the two finance officers officially started work.

The finance office was set up next to the secretary's office.

One of the finance officers, Wang Jingjing, was in her 30s and had returned to the workforce after having a child. She was very principled in her work.

The other, Chu Shang, was more flexible and knew how to adapt. He had worked for over a decade at his previous company, but his position was taken by a mistress when his old boss passed away and a new one took over.

Both were returning to the workforce and had been rejected many times before joining Liyuan Farm.

Therefore, they were very grateful to have landed this job with a high salary of 200,000 yuan per year plus bonuses.

When they met Zhang Lin again, they were a bit nervous and waited for his instructions.

Zhang Lin thought for a moment and instructed them, "The farm didn't have a finance department before, so nothing was recorded. I've prepared two tasks for you to handle separately and then cross-check each other’s work."

They both nodded and took the documents Zhang Lin had prepared.

Zhang Lin's arrangement was straightforward. Wang Jingjing, who was more principled, would handle the accounting for the sect, the camping grounds, the restaurant, and the Bamboo Culture Garden, which were straightforward projects.

Chu Shang, on the other hand, would handle the accounting for the fruit wholesale, employee salaries and taxes, and other project expenses.

These tasks were related to the system and required a bit of flexibility, and he trusted Chu Shang to understand his intentions.

Chu Shang naturally understood.

When he looked over the documents, he immediately spotted the issues. For example, the fruit wholesale lacked clear origins and pricing. Additionally, the employee salaries and taxes required two separate records, with some employees even receiving their first pay on the day they were recruited.

Clearly, these tasks required some creative handling.

However, as long as the taxes were paid in full, these issues weren't a problem. After all, every company had its quirks.

If the taxes weren't paid in full, he would definitely resign the next month.

But given that Liyuan Farm was a top-notch company in You City, he was confident they wouldn’t have such issues.

This thought gave him some peace of mind.

After the two finance officers left, Zhang Lin began to think about the accounting and cashier positions.

Right, he also needed a cashier!

While the finance officers handled the accounting, the cashier would manage the cash.

One of these positions must be someone he trusted.

However, he didn't have anyone suitable, so he put it on hold for now.

After arranging things for the two finance officers, Zhang Lin checked his game data:

Level: 4

Upgrade Requirements:

1. Hire 622 workers (622/200)!

2. Earn 30 million in profit (22,545,627/30,000,000)!

3. Develop 10,000 acres of agricultural land (6,795/10,000)!

4. Gain 1 agricultural honor (0/1)



Bank Account: 62122614

Balance: 22,545,627.15 yuan

Agricultural Area: 47,000 acres!

Game Structures: Prefabricated houses, warehouses, service center, bamboo maze, bamboo culture garden, office center, camping grounds.

The only requirement completed for Level 4 was hiring 622 workers. The other three were still pending.

Earning 30 million in profit was relatively simple.

Although the camping grounds' daily profit needed to be used to repay the bank, the sales of moisturizing cream, limited to 10,000 boxes a day at 208 yuan each, generated 2.08 million yuan daily, with the raw material cost being less than 100,000 yuan.

Thus, the farm was already making over 3.5 million yuan in profit daily.

As long as there were no major expenses, reaching 30 million in profit would be quick.

Gaining an agricultural honor was still unclear. He guessed it might involve winning some agricultural award, but he needed to research it further.

For now, he could focus on developing the agricultural area.

He needed to reach 7,000 acres, and he was only 3,000 acres away from the 10,000-acre goal.

Moreover, achieving 30 million in profit and developing 10,000 acres would both unlock milestone rewards.

Earning 30 million in profit would naturally be completed soon with the farm's daily operations.

Developing 10,000 acres required some action.

He could start with the rapid-growth white heart sweet potato seedlings.

He had already cultivated enough seedlings to plant a large area, and once these grew, they could be cut and transplanted to produce even more seedlings.

When the time came, he would have enough seedlings to promote in You City.

However, planting 3,000 acres would require more workers.

Given the rapid growth of the white heart sweet potato seedlings, he needed to recruit more game employees.

He left the office center and went to the core area's prefabricated house office, then opened the game recruitment page and clicked to recruit 30 more farm workers.

Congratulations! You have recruited 30 farm workers for 225,000 yuan. The workers are being materialized...

"Transaction completed... 225,000.00 yuan..."

As the game system announced the transaction, Zhang Lin saw a series of notifications appear before his eyes.

He then picked up the contracts materialized by the game system and called Liu De over.

"Boss!" Liu De, seeing the new farm workers, immediately understood why the boss had summoned him.

Zhang Lin handed the contracts to Liu De and instructed, "Take them to the HR department to register. Give these contracts to Lin Mengyao, and then arrange for them to plant sweet potatoes in the area next to the 1000-acre peach orchard."

This location was carefully chosen by Zhang Lin, situated beside the peach orchard, which was part of the original area leased by Kai Lin Investment. No tourists would reach this area, ensuring secrecy.

"Boss, I understand." Liu De acknowledged and led the new farm workers away.

After returning to the office, Zhang Lin checked the Shuangyin account of the farm.

Besides the milestones of earning 300 million yuan in profit and developing 10,000 acres of land, another milestone was close to completion: gaining 10 million followers online.

However, after the number of followers surpassed 8 million, the growth rate slowed down.

This wasn't because the farm's popularity had decreased, but because the audience for this type of content had reached saturation.

No matter how popular something or someone is, the audience has its limits.

Once the audience is saturated, even with more promotion, the increase in followers will be limited.

For example, the online celebrity "Grandmaster."

Was he not famous?

Who doesn't know his famous quotes like, "It's not about having no women in your heart, but no women by your side," or "Treat good girls well, and don't waste bad girls"?

Yet, his follower count never took off, simply because the audience was saturated.

The same applied to Lishan Farm. The current projects and events had reached their audience saturation point, so to quickly increase followers, there needed to be new attractions or breakthroughs.

For now, he had no ideas and could only rely on Lin Muxue and the operations department to maintain the status quo.

Overall, these three milestones were close to completion, and he was genuinely looking forward to the rewards.

...

The next day, Liu De began leading the newly hired workers to plant the fast-growing white-heart sweet potatoes.

What Zhang Lin didn't expect was that Wei Yuan, the head of the agricultural bureau, would suddenly show up.

"Mr. Wei, what a rare visit! Please, have a seat!" Zhang Lin greeted him with a smile, inviting him to sit at the tea table.

Wei Yuan, once seated, couldn't hide his eagerness: "Mr. Zhang, I heard you hired a new batch of farm workers. Do you have a new planting project?"

He was still thinking about the special fruit from Lishan Farm. If that fruit could be widely cultivated in You City, it would significantly boost the local agriculture.

"There is a new planting project, and it might be promoted on a large scale!" Zhang Lin smiled, not hiding the information.

The fact that Wei Yuan had come so quickly upon hearing the news showed how much he cared about the farm's developments.

Wei Yuan eagerly asked, "Can it be promoted in You City? Our agricultural bureau can fully support the farm."

He didn't even ask what was being planted.

First, he knew that whatever Mr. Zhang was doing wouldn't be simple; at the very least, it would be those special fruits.

Second, it might be a secret, and he didn't want to pry too deeply. If Mr. Zhang wanted to share, he wouldn't hide it.

Zhang Lin nodded and said, "It can be promoted in You City, and when the time comes, we'll need the agricultural bureau's help. For now, we need to wait a bit longer."

"Await a bit longer is fine, as long as it can be promoted in You City!" Wei Yuan was satisfied with this news.

He had been waiting for this opportunity.

No matter which fruit from Lishan Farm was promoted, it would surely become a hot economic crop, and any local agricultural bureau would welcome it enthusiastically.

By building a good relationship with Lishan Farm from the start, he aimed to seize this opportunity.

Satisfied, Wei Yuan left after getting the information.

Suddenly, Zhang Lin's phone buzzed with notifications, indicating that someone had added him as a friend, and not just one person.

He opened WeChat and, upon seeing who had added him, frowned and immediately rejected and blocked each request.

How could they still not understand after being removed from the group? These damn people, he had no time for them.

Meanwhile, in a hotel in Ming City, Chen Hao and Wu Ling were gathered with some classmates.

After deciding to visit Lishan Farm, they had agreed to meet in Ming City. They hoped to invite Zhang Lin to join them, saving them a lot of time.

"Looks like Zhang Lin doesn't think much of us classmates. He won't even add us on WeChat!"

"Yeah, I didn't expect him to be so unsociable after graduation. Must have a personality issue."

"It's not a personality issue. Someone who graduated from a 985 university wouldn't become a driver!"

"..."

Chen Hao said with a smile, "As old classmates, we should have a good chat with him and give him some advice. When we get to Lishan Farm, we'll have the management call Zhang Lin over."

Wu Ling was satisfied with this plan. She wanted to see what Zhang Lin, who had become a driver, had to be so proud about.

After making their decision, they set off for the train station to head to You City.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end