I See through Everything

"Hey, Brother-in-law, what’s up?"

The caller was his brother-in-law, Zhang Xincheng. On the surface, he had been suspended from his position as manager of the aquatic products division, but only the company’s top executives knew it was all just a ruse.

Zhang Xincheng was currently at the Gannan Branch, secretly handling some matters for Jiang Miao.

Similarly, Jiang Miao’s sister, Jiang Xia, was also on a business trip at the Qiongzhou Branch.

Once the matter with West Yuan Company was settled, the two of them would naturally be reinstated.

His brother-in-law’s voice came slowly through the phone, "Ah Miao, the Gannan Branch has run into a little something. Keji and I don’t feel we can make the call on our own, so I’m calling you."

"What is it?"

"Yesterday, the Bureau of Commerce from Gannan City sent someone to see Manager Sun. They’re hoping we’ll invest in their city and have offered a lot of favorable terms."

"Oh? How did they find out about our company?"

"It’s probably related to our company’s large-scale acquisition of oil-tea camellia plantations in Luling City."

Indeed, in recent months, the Gannan Branch had contracted a cumulative 120,000 mu of oil-tea camellia plantations across the various counties of Luling City. Many of these deals were facilitated by local town governments, who proactively helped transfer semi-abandoned plantations to Hailufeng Company for next to nothing.

After all, many investors had taken the subsidies and run. Now that they’d finally found a "sucker" willing to take over, they were naturally eager to help Hailufeng acquire even more plantations.

And Gannan City, Luling’s neighbor, was in the same boat.

The two cities each had just over 3 million mu of oil-tea camellia plantations, and more than half were now either poorly managed or, to put it bluntly, completely abandoned.

As soon as word got out that a company was contracting plantations on a massive scale and continuing to expand, Gannan’s Bureau of Commerce began to secretly investigate Hailufeng Company.

After discovering that Hailufeng Company was the very same one that had recently developed the technology for artificially cultivating White Truffles, they dug deeper. They found that Hailufeng also had a business in eel fry and had secured a 5 billion loan.

This convinced the Gannan Bureau of Commerce of Hailufeng Company’s enormous growth potential, so they wrote and submitted a report to their superiors.

Gannan moved very quickly. After a brief internal meeting, they immediately dispatched people to Phoenix Town in Luling to contact Sun Keji, the head of Hailufeng Company’s branch there.

Jiang Miao thought for a moment before asking for the details. "Brother-in-law, what terms did they offer?"

"There are five conditions. First, they’ll help us contract oil-tea camellia plantations in the Gannan Region. Second, if we decide to build a tea-seed oil processing plant there, they can approve 1,000 mu of land for us in one go, at a price of 6,660 yuan per mu."

"Third, they’ll give us a three-year tax exemption. Fourth, they can provide our branch with a 500 million yuan loan for developing the oil-tea camellia industry. Fifth, they’ll set up a special support office just for our company, dedicated to coordinating with all our local operations and resolving any potential issues for us."

Jiang Miao was surprised after hearing the terms. He hadn’t expected Gannan to be so bold. Still, he didn’t commit just yet and pressed for more information. "Brother-in-law, are these just verbal promises, or will they issue official announcements and documents?"

"They’re willing to issue official announcements and documents, making the support terms public. They’re also willing to hold a partnership signing ceremony for us there."

Jiang Miao made his decision right then and there. "In that case, accept their offer. We need a large-scale production base for oil-tea camellia anyway. Since Luling and Gannan are in the same region, it’ll be convenient for centralized management."

His brother-in-law quickly brought up another point. "By the way, I think once our partnership with the Gannan Region is announced, Luling won’t just stand by idly. They’ll probably ask to sign a cooperation agreement with us as well."

"If Luling really does approach you, accept their offer as long as the terms are similar to Gannan’s. But if any other regions come to us, just tell them the company lacks sufficient funds and has no plans to expand its investments at this time."

Jiang Miao knew that Gannan and Luling together had nearly 6.4 million mu of oil-tea camellia plantations. Even if Hailufeng Company only took on a tenth of that, they’d be biting off more than they could chew. That’s why he instructed his brother-in-law to keep the scale of contracted plantations in check.

After all, his real goal was simply to sell the new variety of oil-tea camellia seedlings.

Developing a few hundred thousand mu of plantations was just to create a proof of concept and, at the same time, to set an example for others.

As long as cultivating oil-tea camellia becomes profitable, Hailufeng Company wouldn’t even need to promote it. Other companies and growers would come knocking on their door.

It was a marketing strategy.

Then, they could make money just by selling grafted seedlings.

After all, there were currently over ninety million mu of oil-tea camellia plantations nationwide. With an average of 110 trees per mu, that added up to nearly ten billion trees.

For a high-quality variety, the wholesale price for seedlings was between 10 and 15 yuan each. This represented a market worth over a hundred billion.

Later on, there would be other services, such as guidance on management, yield enhancement, and pest control. This would provide a steady, long-term stream of income.

After all, an oil-tea camellia tree’s high-yield period can last for about fifty years, and it requires continuous maintenance during that time to sustain its output.

And Hailufeng’s three varieties—Fengcha, Hanxiang, and Nanwang—all shared a special trait: after bearing fruit in the first year, as long as they received proper care with sufficient fertilizer, water, light, and heat, they would enter their high-yield stage starting from the second year.