I See through Everything

Before anyone knew it, summer had quietly slipped away.

But in the Lingnan Region, autumn was hardly different from summer. Daytime temperatures still soared into the thirties, with only a slight cool-down at night.

Since this year’s National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival coincided, the company had already begun staggering employee holidays in advance.

In late September, Jiang Miao arrived at the head office right on time. There, he met with Jiang Haibo, who had just returned from Gannan the previous night after a business trip that had lasted over a month.

"You’ve worked hard, Haibo."

"It’s all part of the job." Jiang Haibo was several shades tanner; clearly, he had spent much of the past month trekking through mountains and wading across streams.

"How are things going with the Gannan Branch? Any problems?" Although Jiang Miao had been keeping up with the branch’s situation through WeChat, he wanted to hear about it in person now that Jiang Haibo was back.

Expecting his boss to ask about the branch office, Jiang Haibo was prepared. He took a folder stuffed with a thick stack of documents from his briefcase.

"Boss, this is a summary report of the Gannan Branch’s work over the past month."

Taking the folder, Jiang Miao began to flip through it and asked calmly, "How is Sun Keji, the manager of the Gannan Branch, doing?"

Jiang Haibo gathered his thoughts for a moment before replying, "Well, how should I put it? He’s a very hard worker, but he isn’t very flexible. He’s quite rigid in how he does things. Otherwise, he’s fine."

"So you’re saying he’s not a suitable branch manager?" Jiang Miao asked with a smile.

Having worked with Jiang Miao for nearly a year, Jiang Haibo had a good sense of his management style. He nodded and spoke bluntly, "I do think he’s not a great fit. Sun Keji would be better suited as an industry manager here at headquarters."

"I know, but we’re short-staffed right now. Besides, during the initial setup of a branch office, you know there are too many opportunities for people to skim off the top. Sometimes, a rigid manager is better for the early stages than a flexible one." It wasn’t as if Jiang Miao hadn’t wanted to find the perfect candidate.

But people who are flexible in their social dealings often have flexible morals as well.

Putting someone like that in charge of a fledgling branch is like letting the fox guard the henhouse. It would be impossible to prevent them from lining their own pockets.

This was precisely why, out of the five candidates for the management position, Jiang Miao had eliminated the three smooth talkers. He chose the quiet, taciturn Sun Keji simply because the man was dependably honest.

"That’s true," Jiang Haibo agreed with a resigned nod.

Faced with such a situation, they could only choose the lesser of two evils.

Jiang Miao finished reading the first document. It was a report on the purchase of a privately constructed building to serve as the branch office and employee dormitory.

The Gannan Branch’s office was located in Phoenix Town, a part of Luling City. This aligned with Hailufeng Company’s consistent strategy: avoid expensive urban districts and instead choose small towns on the city’s outskirts.

The decision to place the branch in Luling City was not made lightly. The branch’s business was to develop the oil tea industry, making Luling City—located in the heart of the Gannan Region—an ideal base from which they could expand their reach to the other cities in the region.

He flipped to the second document, a report on the acquisition of oil tea plantations around Luling.

The core acquisition area was Sui County, known as the "Hometown of Oil Tea." The Gannan Branch had already purchased 8,700 mu of semi-abandoned oil tea plantations there, all forming one contiguous plot.

In other counties around Luling, the branch had also acquired approximately 19,400 mu, spread across 28 separate oil tea plantations.

After consolidation, these 28,100 mu were integrated into seven large oil tea plantations.

The third document was the Gannan Branch’s recruitment report. While 31 people had been transferred from headquarters, they were all management staff. The rank-and-file employees would have to be hired locally.

To manage these over 28,000 mu of oil tea plantations, a total of nearly 300 general employees had been hired so far, making it the largest recruitment drive in the company’s history.

The fourth document detailed Jiang Haibo’s trip to Yuzhang City in Northern Gan, where he had initiated a partnership with a specialized agricultural machinery company.

"Haibo, what can you tell me about this Ganfa Machinery?"

Jiang Haibo took a moment to recall the details before explaining, "Ganfa Machinery Manufacturing Company was founded in 2000, so they have over twenty years of experience in agricultural R&D and production. Their factory is in the Xiao Lan Economic Development Zone in Yuzhang City, Gan Province, and they’re the leading manufacturer of specialized agricultural machinery in the province."

He paused for a few seconds before continuing, "The company has over three hundred employees, dozens of engineers specializing in agricultural machinery, and several hundred pieces of production equipment. Their products include the ’Ganjiang’ brand of agricultural transport vehicles and the ’Ganfa-Ganjiang’ brand Dongfeng 151 series of two-wheel tractors. These products have won national awards, including a National Silver Medal and a Golden Bull Award for being one of the nation’s top ten two-wheel tractors."

"Sounds like they’re a capable company," Jiang Miao said with a nod.

’After all, if the company was too weak, they wouldn’t have the capacity to develop the specialized oil tea harvesting equipment we need.’

Hailufeng Company had invested 10 million yuan, commissioning Ganfa Machinery Manufacturing Company to develop oil tea harvesting equipment suitable for mountainous terrain. The requirement was for them to deliver a fully developed system within two years.

This kind of investment was, after all, essential.

If they waited until the oil tea plantations reached mass production to start developing the harvesting equipment, it would be too late.