Chapter 120 - 94: Gift
After sitting down, Jiang Miao opened his lunch box and said, "As for the development of the real estate company, I’ll fund it personally. Help me handle any potential legal risks."
"No problem. As long as it’s the boss’s post-tax income and not a direct transfer from the company’s corporate account, there generally won’t be any major legal risks." Jiang Haibo wasn’t troubled by Jiang Miao’s instructions.
After all, the biggest worry for legal and finance departments is the boss trying to evade taxes, forcing them to clean up the mess or even take the fall.
But Jiang Miao had no intention of evading taxes, which made handling his legal and financial affairs a breeze. He didn’t have to worry about "furthering his studies" at Tilanqiao one day.
Just then, Shuya walked out of the lab carrying a box.
Jiang Haibo quickly grabbed his lunch box and said with a smile, "I’ll leave you two alone, then."
With that, he beat a hasty retreat to another table to eat his lunch.
Jiang Miao shook his head with a wry smile.
Shuya picked up her lunch box and saw that Jiang Haibo, who had just been sitting opposite Jiang Miao, had fled to the next table. A helpless look crossed her face.
"Vice General Manager Jiang is being too distant."
"Haha, not at all! General Manager Jiang and I finished our discussion, so I didn’t want to hog the seat." Jiang Haibo waved his hand dismissively and then buried his face in his food.
Jiang Miao changed the subject. "What’s in the box?"
"A surprise." Shuya gave him a playful wink and opened her lunch box. "Why don’t you guess?"
"I won’t guess. It wouldn’t be a surprise then, would it?" Jiang Miao shook his head. ’Actually, I don’t even need my appraisal panel to guess what’s inside.’
"Alright, then! We’ll open it together after we eat."
"Then I’ll be looking forward to it."
The two of them didn’t rush through their meal just to see what was in the box. They ate at their usual leisurely pace, chewing slowly for over twenty minutes.
Meanwhile, Jiang Haibo, worried about being a third wheel, wolfed down his food in less than ten minutes and promptly vanished from the dining room.
「After lunch.」
Jiang Miao and Shuya went to the third-floor lounge.
"And now, for the moment of truth..." Shuya opened the insulated box. Inside lay a White Truffle the size of a tennis ball.
Jiang Miao looked at the White Truffle, then smiled and congratulated her. "Looks like you’ve succeeded. Congratulations on taking the first step."
"Thank you, Ah Miao!" Shuya’s eyes welled with tears as she threw her arms around his waist. "I could have never done this without your support."
Jiang Miao gently patted her on the back. "To celebrate your success, I have a gift for you, too."
"You have a gift for me, too?" Shuya asked, wiping away her tears, her expression full of curiosity.
Jiang Miao retrieved a jewelry box from the third-floor safe and handed it to Shuya. "Go on, open it."
"What is it? So mysterious." Shuya took the box and opened it.
A glassy-type jadeite bracelet with a faint, sky-blue hue rested quietly on the box’s velvet lining.
Shuya gasped in surprise. "Is this a jadeite bracelet? It’s absolutely beautiful..."
"I had a piece of raw jade cut a while ago, and it yielded six bracelets. I saved one for you. Do you like it?"
"I love it!" Shuya slipped the bracelet onto her wrist. It was a perfect fit. "Thank you, Ah Miao."
Shuya admired the bracelet for a moment before turning her attention back to the White Truffle in the insulated box.
"Ah Miao, I believe the technology for large-scale White Truffle cultivation is now mature. Based on my estimates, by carefully controlling the temperature, humidity, and light, and using a specific substrate pack, we can compress the growth cycle to about three months while still preserving the truffle’s flavor."
"That’s plenty of time." Jiang Miao had a plan to shorten the growth period to about two months, but he kept it to himself.
Shuya picked up the White Truffle. "It can grow to the size of a tennis ball in about three months. I believe this is the most cost-effective stage. If we try to cultivate it longer, it can continue to grow, but the rate slows down significantly."
She had been running experiments on this for over a month. She found that after the first five weeks of cultivation, the truffle fungus enters the primordium stage. From that point on, its growth rate accelerates dramatically, and it’s also when flavor compounds accumulate the fastest. This phase lasts for about six weeks.
After this rapid growth phase, the fungus’s growth rate drops significantly, likely because the specific nutrients in the substrate pack have been largely consumed. For the following three weeks, the growth rate continues to decline steadily.
The entire cycle takes a total of 14 weeks, or about 98 days, for the fungus to develop into a tennis-ball-sized White Truffle.
If you want the White Truffle to grow even larger, there are only two ways.
One method is to use a larger substrate pack from the start, ensuring it contains enough total nutrients for the fungus to grow bigger.
The other method is to add more specially formulated nutrients later on.
However, after researching them, Shuya concluded that neither method was very cost-effective.
The first method requires larger packs, which take up more space and extend the growth cycle.
In that case, it would be more efficient to simply increase the number of packs.
The second method carries a risk of contamination from competing fungi and drastically extends the growth cycle.
With the extra time and effort that would require, you might as well just harvest the current batch and start a new one.
Jiang Miao cut off a small piece and held it to his nose, taking a sniff.
The first scent that hit him was a rich earthiness—a potent aroma reminiscent of damp soil.