Chapter 121 - 94: Gift
This was followed by the aroma of mushrooms and nuts—a complex and profound scent. After that came a hint of sweetness and spice. These notes blended together to form its unique flavor.
Such a subtle aroma meant the White Truffle was not as straightforward as other ingredients; it had to be savored slowly.
The White Truffle’s flavor was also so unique that it was nearly impossible to replicate with other ingredients.
He pulled up the previously recorded data for wild White Truffles on the appraisal panel and compared it to the data from the cultivated ones. He found that while there were subtle differences between the two, they weren’t significant.
The biggest difference was that the wild White Truffles had a more pungent, earthy taste, whereas the cultivated ones were relatively milder—making them better suited for the Chinese palate.
Of course, the cultivated White Truffles had another advantage: their sweetness was about 36% more pronounced than their wild counterparts.
Jiang Miao placed the fungus back into the incubator, then looked up at Shuya. "Ah Ya, I need to start the grafting experiments with the genetically modified kapok trees and durians soon. I’ll leave the mass production of the White Truffles to you. Just discuss it directly with Lü Weibin. Take these next few days to rest. I’ll take you out to relax after a while."
"It’s fine. After more than half a year of research, I really should take a break," Shuya said, stretching lazily.
「Afternoon.」
In front of the Nanhu Farm office building.
Lin Shuya, Li Wenna, and An Ning, who had strolled over, watched the bustling packaging workshop.
A team of a dozen or so temporary workers, middle-aged women in their forties and fifties, deftly sorted, packaged, weighed, boxed, and sealed the products. Then they handed them over to a few full-time employees to apply labels and shipping slips.
Currently, all one hundred mu of the farm’s strawberries were in their peak fruiting season, yielding about 2,000 kilograms of strawberries per day. This was the production capacity after accounting for the strawberry greenhouses that needed to be rested, fertilized, and sprayed in rotation each month.
Two thousand kilograms might not sound like much.
But in reality, based on the online store’s best-selling one-kilogram packages, that was 2,000 orders a day, and nearly 60,000 a month.
To ensure quality, the strawberries couldn’t be picked or sorted by machine; the entire process had to be done by hand.
The middle-aged and older women from Nanhu Village and the town were fighting tooth and nail for a chance to be temporary workers at Nanhu Farm.
After all, the farm’s temporary workers were paid by the piece. Picking one kilogram of strawberries earned them one yuan. It was no problem to easily pick 200 kilograms in a day. If it weren’t for Lü Weibin’s strict quality requirements, the women could have been even faster.
Even the Shunfeng Express station in Magong Town benefited. After all, with one to two thousand packages a day, a shipping container could be filled up quickly.
"The boss’s wife is here!" an older worker called out with a cheerful laugh as she taped a box shut.
"Thanks for all your hard work," Lin Shuya said with a smiling nod. She then turned to the employee printing slips nearby and asked, "Xiaowang, is Manager Lü around?"
The employee hit the pause button and thought for a moment. "I think the manager went to check on the new greenhouses."
"Thanks, carry on!" Lin Shuya said, leading Li Wenna and An Ning toward the greenhouse area.
The rice paddies on both sides of the path were in their heading stage, a vast expanse of lush green. At the far end stood rows of white solar greenhouses, though since it was summer, their plastic films were all rolled up.
To the west of the solar greenhouses, on a section of the mountainside, was a steel-structured facility covering more than 150 mu. These were the fully-controlled smart greenhouses built for the White Truffles and other rare fungi. After more than three months of construction, they were complete and ready for use.
After walking for a while, she spotted Lü Weibin and his assistant.
"Researcher Lin, didn’t the boss come with you?" Lü Weibin asked, looking past Lin Shuya toward the greenhouses but not seeing any sign of Jiang Miao.
Lin Shuya shook her head. "He’s working on a research project right now. I actually came specifically to find you, Manager Lü."
"Oh? What can I do for you, Researcher Lin?"
"It’s about the White Truffles. The technology for large-scale artificial cultivation has been successfully developed."
Lü Weibin’s eyes widened. "It’s already done?"
He could hardly believe his ears. He exclaimed inwardly, ’Holy crap! Is this what they mean by "birds of a feather flock together"? The boss and his wife are both so damn incredible?’
At the same time, Lü Weibin felt his own intelligence had been thoroughly crushed several times over. Sometimes, the gap between people was even greater than the gap between a person and a pig.
Lin Shuya didn’t have Jiang Miao’s ability to read people’s minds, so naturally, she was unaware of the whirlwind of emotions in Lü Weibin’s heart. She simply smiled and repeated, "Manager Lü, the artificial cultivation technology for White Truffles is complete. We can start preparing for production now."
Snapping back to his senses, Lü Weibin quickly replied, "The 150 mu of smart greenhouses are all ready to go. The supporting facilities the boss planned, like the mixing room and monitoring room, are all set up too."
"Then let’s start procuring the raw materials!"
"Researcher Lin, let’s talk in the office. It’s not convenient out here."
"Alright," Lin Shuya nodded.
In fact, after learning their lesson from the industrial espionage involving the special eel feed, Jiang Miao had already made various preparations.
This included mixing the various raw materials in with those needed for the eel farm, purchasing them all together, and even intentionally adding a dozen or so ambiguous, useless ingredients to the procurement list.
He also eliminated the manual mixing stage, using a dedicated, fully automatic mixer for some of the most crucial raw materials that were used in smaller quantities.
For the secondary mixing phase that required manual assistance, employees wouldn’t be told the specific quantities. The process was broken down into as many steps as possible to reduce the chance of a single employee controlling the equipment.
The reason for this secondary mixing was mainly because seven of the raw materials were used in large quantities, including pine needles, pine cones, pine wood chips, two specific types of soil, slaked lime, and a natural phosphate.
If outsiders were determined enough, they could definitely gather information about these raw materials.
However, Jiang Miao was already prepared.
For example, the pine needles, pine cones, and pine wood chips seemed ordinary, but there were hidden complexities.
For instance, the quantities required when using Masson’s pine as the raw material were different from those for Chinese red pine, Chinese white pine, or cedar. Moreover, the ratios of pine cones, needles, and wood chips also varied.
These ratios had to be followed precisely to achieve the optimal effect from the mixture.
As for the two special types of soil, they were actually found in most parts of southern China. But to conceal this, the company planned to use construction materials from a real estate company as a cover, purchasing several different types of soil to make it even harder for outsiders to figure out.
Furthermore, the mixing room would be under complete lockdown. Employees handling the ingredients were strictly forbidden from bringing personal items in or out. Even when inoculating the spawn, they had to wear full-body protective suits, gloves, and helmets.
After all, without gloves, an employee could potentially carry a tiny bit of the mixture out under their fingernails.
In any case, both the inoculation room and the mixing room needed to be kept sterile. So they might as well go all out and have the employees wear full-body protective suits, respirator helmets, plastic gloves, and long plastic waterproof boots. This not only ensured the employees’ health but also enhanced security.