Chapter 73

Qing Mengzhu, Zhao Hexi, and Gu Benshu went to several job fairs and successfully recruited three graduate students. They offered a monthly salary of 18,000 yuan plus room and board, which temporarily set up the team.

After recruiting people, they rented venues and bought equipment, driving around the city every day.

After running around for a while, the newly established small company finally got on the right track, and Gu Benshu immediately led his people to start looking for Livingston Bacillus.

Qing Mengzhu and Ming Chunxi felt that it was necessary to let Gu Benshu's team search for Livingston Bacillus independently first, at least to give them some research time. Otherwise, if they suddenly brought out Livingston Bacillus, it would be too suspicious and risky.

Let Gu Benshu's team search slowly first. If they can find Livingston Bacillus independently, then everyone will be happy.

If that fails, they will purchase Livingston Bacillus Preparation from the Interstellar Mall, then infect pests with the bacteria, and hand the infected insects over to Gu Benshu's team, thus disguising the Livingston Bacillus as a fake.

By then, with plenty of experience from past failures, most people will have no reason to doubt it.

Qing Mengzhu to the introduction on the Interstellar Mall, Livingston Bacillus, like Bacillus thuringiensis, belong to the broad-spectrum biological insecticide category.

The working principle of Bacillus thuringiensis is that after entering the digestive tract of insects, it can produce endotoxins and exotoxins to kill the insects.

Therefore, Qing Mengzhu and his team followed the same approach of working backward from dead insects when searching for Livingston Bacillus. They collected dead insects in the fields and sent them to the laboratory to see if they could isolate Livingston Bacillus.

It takes a bit of luck, and most people might never have that luck in their entire lives.

Bacillus is a very large family that is widely distributed in soil, plants, and animal intestines, making it difficult to isolate specific species.

Qing Mengzhu only allowed Gu Benshu and his team to try it because of the Interstellar Mall cheat.

If an average team were to start this project, they might never see any results in their lifetime.

Gu Benshu, a middle-aged employee from a large company, seems somewhat disheartened. He's become quite laid-back; as long as he's paid well, he'll do whatever the boss tells him to do, arriving and leaving on time, embodying the motto "You're in charge."

In a typical company, having such an employee might be a headache, Qing Mengzhu needs such employees right now.

The cooperation between the two parties went quite smoothly.

After a period of busy work with Zhao Hexi, Qing Mengzhu was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief.

That day, the two of them went to the field early in the morning to pick vegetables with Feng Ningxiang and the others.

When Di Caiyong came to buy groceries, he joked with them, "The big boss is really something else! What have you been up to lately? Haven't seen you in days."

Qing Mengzhu shook her head. "Don't tease me. What big boss? It's just a small startup company with tons of miscellaneous tasks. I don't even know what I've been doing."

Di Caiyong: "That's how it is when you run a company. Let alone your company, even if my family runs a small restaurant, there are a lot of miscellaneous things to do."

Qing Mengzhu: "Yes, things are more regulated now; you need a license for almost everything. And applying for a license usually requires you to do it yourself, which is quite troublesome."

Qing Mengzhu has big ambitions; the Livingston Bacillus project they are currently working on is related to pesticides.

To operate a pesticide business, they need to apply for a pesticide business license, and officials will come to verify their qualifications.

It's estimated that it won't pass the review now, and we'll have to work on it for a while longer.

Di Caiyong comforted him, "Making money is always troublesome; otherwise, there wouldn't be so few rich people."

Qing Mengzhu: "Thank you for your kind words, we also want to make money quickly."

Di Caiyong: "Yes, of course. Speaking of which, I noticed that the bamboo on your mountain is growing exceptionally well; it's grown so quickly, and I heard there are many bamboo shoots too?"

Qing Mengzhu nodded. "There are quite a lot of bamboo shoots, but most of our bamboo shoots are reserved to grow new bamboo shoots, which will be transplanted later. We may need to plant them all over the mountain, so we won't be selling them for the time being."

Di Caiyong was surprised by his quick reaction and asked with some regret, "Not selling at all? I heard that some bamboo shoots didn't grow well and couldn't become bamboo. Will those bamboo shoots be dug up?"

Qing Mengzhu: "Yes, but these bamboo shoots are still a minority. We dig some up to eat ourselves, make some pickled bamboo shoots, and dry some bamboo shoots, and there's not much left. Not to mention that our company provides meals now, and we have to send some vegetables to the company."

Qing Mengzhu's company provides meals and accommodation, and they hired a housekeeper to help with cooking.

Meat and vegetables are usually bought outside, while vegetables mainly come from the fields of Qing Mengzhu's family.

Their food is delicious; it tastes exceptionally good even with simple cooking. Besides being satisfied with his salary, Gu Benshu was particularly pleased with the meals, saying they were even better than what he ate at the factory. It truly lived up to its reputation as authentic organic vegetables.

Several researchers were also very satisfied with the food, saying that they could work at the company forever just because of it.

While everyone was being polite, they genuinely liked his food, so Qing Mengzhu naturally wanted to make sure to supply it as soon as possible.

The company has six people, including the finance and technical departments, as well as a cook. They consume a lot of vegetables every day, Qing Mengzhu really can't find any bamboo shoots to sell to Di Caiyong.

Di Caiyong was very disappointed. "Your bamboo is so good, and the bamboo shoots look delicious. If you have more bamboo shoots in the future, please consider my restaurant first."

Di Caiyong's restaurant has been selling well, and business has been booming in the past few months, giving him extra motivation.

Upon hearing this, Qing Mengzhu readily agreed, "As long as you are willing, we will definitely give you priority consideration."

While everyone was chatting, Tan Wenlei walked over.

Qing Mengzhu and Zhao Hexi had been collecting dead insects from his house these past few days and sending them to Gu Benshu's team for research. When they saw him coming, they greeted him.

After they finished talking, Tan Wenlei asked, "Mengzhu, is your company currently hiring?"

Qing Mengzhu: "What kind of people are you asking about? If we're talking about researchers, we've already recruited enough for now."

Tan Wenlei: "Just the people doing the work. Aren't you going to do agriculture? You'll need to hire people to do the farm work, right? I don't think machines can handle that much detail."

Qing Mengzhu assumed he wanted to introduce a relative, "Indeed, we are setting up a production department. You have someone on your side who is quick and efficient and of good character; you could introduce them."

Qing Mengzhu chose to locate his company in the town with the intention of contributing more taxes to his hometown, creating jobs, and driving local development.

If people are interested in their company and the people are suitable, he naturally won't refuse.

Tan Wenlei was a little nervous. "What are the requirements? Does the company consider education and age when hiring?"

Qing Mengzhu: "For production staff, we don't look at academic qualifications, as long as they are in good health. As for age, eighteen to fifty is fine; they need to be hardworking and have no underlying health conditions."

Feng Ningxiang chimed in from the side, "Wouldn't a woman be suitable?"

Qing Mengzhu: "Sure, why not? This job isn't purely physical labor; women can do it too. For example, aren't you doing it quite well?"

Feng Ningxiang and the others giggled, "If that's the case, then when you're hiring, why don't you hire us too?"

They had been working part-time at Qing Mengzhu's house for some time now, and both sides were having a good time.

Qing Mengzhu readily agreed, "Okay, once the production department is set up, you can come over. We'll pay you full-time wages and provide you with the five social insurances and one housing fund. Uncle Wenlei, do you have any relatives who want to come?"

Tan Wenlei said embarrassedly, "It was my own idea to do it."

Everyone was quite surprised by this statement.

Tan Wenlei scratched his head. "My farming isn't very good. I just got infested with bugs, so I probably won't make much money this year. Mengzhu, if you're interested in me, I'll work for you."

Chapter 73

Tan Wenlei's words surprised not only Qing Mengzhu, but everyone else as well.

Di Caiyong was the first to react. "Wenlei, you're not farming your family's land anymore?"

Tan Wenlei said embarrassedly, "I've wanted to go out and work for a long time, but I can't find a job. If I could, I wouldn't be farming anymore."