Jiang Miao spoke as he led Lu Weibin toward one of the experimental greenhouses.
At the massive iron gate, he quickly entered the password and passed facial recognition. The greenhouse's iron door automatically sprang inward.
Inside, the fields of the half-acre greenhouse were densely planted with Sweet Cucumber, the solanaceous plant commercially known as "Ginseng Fruit."
Jiang Miao pointed to the Ginseng Fruit on the left. "The ones on the left are heat-tolerant early-maturing varieties. They can withstand temperatures below 35 degrees Celsius while maintaining normal growth, flowering, and fruiting."
"The ones on the right are cold-tolerant early-maturing varieties. They can withstand temperatures above 5 degrees Celsius while maintaining normal growth, flowering, and fruiting."
Then Jiang Miao crouched down, picked a ripe Ginseng Fruit, rinsed it with bottled water, broke it in half, and handed one half to Lu Weibin. "Try it. This variety is called Amethyst."
Lu Weibin quickly took it. After taking a bite, he savored it carefully for a while. "This variety has moderate sweetness, but the flavor is excellent."
Jiang Miao nodded. "That's Amethyst's advantage. When it ripens naturally, the skin turns completely pale purple. In other words, if it hasn't changed color, the fruit isn't ripe yet. Pick any purple one, and its flavor and sweetness will meet the standard."
"Oh?" Hearing that, Lu Weibin stepped between the rows, casually picked three purple-skinned Ginseng Fruit, washed them, and sampled each one.
"They really are almost identical. Every one of them is good."
Of course they were good. Jiang Miao had painstakingly selected these two varieties from hundreds of thousands of mutated Sweet Cucumber seeds, naturally taking every aspect into consideration.
The Ginseng Fruit currently on the market varied wildly in quality. When they were good, they had excellent flavor and decent sweetness. When they were