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"The average growing cycle for Yucheng Silage No. 9 is short too, only 113 days. This batch had good water and heat conditions, so it took only 102 days to reach this stage."

Shi Wen broke open an ear of corn. Unlike sweet corn, silage corn had pale, whitish cobs, but the kernels had already filled out. This batch of silage corn was indeed mature.

The staff member said, "We just published a paper. You can take a look at it too."

Shi Wen looked up and met the staff member's eyes. "Is there a link?"

The staff member hadn't expected him to actually want to read it. After a very brief pause, they pulled out a phone. "Yes!"

Beside them, Yan Kexing smiled faintly.

Standing on the field ridge, Shi Wen carefully read the paper on Yucheng Silage No. 9.

He had recently read quite a few papers by Yan Kexing's team in private and could now quickly pick out their main points.

A quick look showed him that Yucheng Silage No. 9 really was excellent. It ranked among the best silage varieties internationally, and people in the industry were quite optimistic about it.

That made sense. If it hadn't performed so well, Yan Kexing wouldn't have specifically recommended it to him.

The staff member watched his expression, their smile growing. "If you plant our silage corn, our technicians can provide free technical support whenever you need it during cultivation."

Shi Wen asked, "How much are your seeds per jin now?"

"The wholesale price is thirty-six yuan."

Shi Wen sucked in a breath. "That really is expensive."

The average price of silage corn seeds on the market was only twenty-something yuan per jin!

The staff member said, "You get what you pay for. Our seeds are more technologically advanced."

Shi Wen tried to negotiate, but he couldn't get the price down at all, so he had to agree to buy them for thirty-six yuan per jin.

He had fifty mu of land and had originally wanted to buy four jin of seeds per mu.

The staff member said corn was a classic C4 plant. It absorbed only carbon dioxide, not oxygen, when fixing carbon, and its photosynthetic efficiency was high, so planting it more densely was fine. Silage corn had a particular advantage in this respect.

In the end, Shi Wen worked out that he needed about six jin of seeds per mu. The total came to 10,800 yuan, without a single yuan knocked off.

The benefit was that they threw in a full package of technical support services for Shi Wen. If he ran into problems while growing the corn, they could send a technical expert out to him.

If he placed the order now, it would be a few days before the seeds were ready.

Shi Wen agreed. The land on his ranch hadn't been plowed yet, so he could use the time to plow it and apply base fertilizer.

They stayed at the cultivation base until noon. Only after they had eaten did Yan Kexing drive Shi Wen back.

Yan Kexing's car stopped at the entrance to the ranch.

Shi Wen unbuckled his seat belt and turned to thank Yan Kexing.

But Yan Kexing spoke first. "Are you a little short of money lately?"

Shi Wen looked surprised. That wasn't a question an ordinary friend would ask.

Yan Kexing didn't seem like the type to pry into a friend's private affairs either.

Shi Wen asked, "Why do you ask?"

Yan Kexing said, "If you're short of money, I can lend you some."

So that was it. Shi Wen felt a rush of gratitude and smiled at Yan Kexing. "It hasn't come to that. I applied for a 300,000-yuan subsidy before, and it'll be paid out in installments over three months. I've already received 50,000."

"I just have a lot of things to spend money on, so I need to plan things out." Shi Wen gathered his thoughts. "I'm being pretty careful with my spending."

Yan Kexing nodded and said no more.

Shi Wen opened the car door and prepared to get out, but before he did, he turned to look at Yan Kexing again.

Yan Kexing had spent half the day with him, and they were already at his door-

Holding the car door, Shi Wen asked tentatively, "Would you like to look around my ranch? It's changed quite a lot lately."

Yan Kexing asked, "Would that be convenient?"

"Of course!" Shi Wen's eyes were bright. "If you have time, you can stay the night too. I have guest rooms, and they're all clean."

Yan Kexing said, "Then sorry for the trouble. I'll park the car first."

Shi Wen got out and waited for Yan Kexing to park by the roadside, then led him into the ranch.

He had driven the cattle and sheep out to graze in the distance, and the dogs were watching over them. The ranch was quiet.

It was midsummer, and the grass on the ranch was growing well. Little yellow, pink, blue, and other flowers swayed in the wind. They looked unremarkable up close, but from a distance, they were like a painting.

Yan Kexing looked into the distance. "You've managed the ranch really well."

Walking shoulder to shoulder with him, Shi Wen looked up too. "It's my livelihood. I have to take it seriously."

Yan Kexing said, "It really is excellent. It's full of life."

Shi Wen took Yan Kexing home.

Inside, the house was pleasantly cool. A breeze passed straight through it, filling the whole place with the cool air peculiar to a ranch in summer.

Shi Wen invited Yan Kexing to sit and poured him some water. "Would you like to rest for a while? I'll take you to the back mountain to watch the sunset this evening. The sunsets here are beautiful."

Yan Kexing looked around the house, which was gradually taking on Shi Wen's style. "Sure."

Shi Wen stood up. "Then I'll go make your bed."

Yan Kexing said, "I'll help."

Since moving to the ranch, Shi Wen had bought quite a few household supplies, including several sets of bedding.

He took Yan Kexing to the room to get the bedding, intending to let him pick a set he liked.

The two entered the room, and Shi Wen opened the cabinet, about to ask Yan Kexing to choose.

To his surprise, Yan Kexing made no move behind him.

Puzzled, he turned to look and saw that Yan Kexing's gaze was fixed on his desk.

He followed Yan Kexing's gaze and saw a pile of printed materials on the desk. At the very top was a stack of papers, all of them by Yan Kexing's team.

Shi Wen: *!!!*

He had printed them along with some ranch management materials when he went to town before, mainly because he found paper copies of the papers more convenient to read.