Chapter 80

Zhao Hexi: "It definitely will. You've finally seen the light at the end of the tunnel."

That evening, Qing Mengzhu asked Ming Chunxi, "What did you talk about when you saw Auntie out?"

Ming Chunxi: "Just let me stop bullying you. Let's go to her place for dinner sometime."

Hearing these words spoken to family members, Qing Mengzhu felt a mix of emotions. After a two-second pause, she said, "Then haven't we already considered the proper path?"

Ming Chunxi hugged him from behind. "I wasn't hiding it anyway."

Qing Mengzhu thought for a moment and said, "It's different. I used to feel guilty when I was in front of Auntie."

Ming Chunxi kissed his cheek. "You didn't need to feel guilty before, and you won't need to feel guilty in the future."

With a heavy weight lifted from her heart, Qing Mengzhu felt much lighter and turned to kiss Ming Chunxi in return.

They kissed face to face, the atmosphere heated up, and soon turned into more intense actions.

The next day, Qing Mengzhu couldn't get up again. When she heard her phone ring, she felt like she didn't know what day it was.

He paused for two seconds before pulling out his phone and glancing at the caller ID: "Fu Maike?"

A lively young female voice came from the other end of the phone. "Yes, boss, do you have a cold? Your voice is a little hoarse."

Qing Mengzhu coughed lightly to cover up her discomfort. "A little, I'm not feeling well because of the change of seasons. Have you arrived yet?"

Fu Maike: "Yes! I'm right at the entrance of your village. If it's convenient for you, boss, could you come out and show me around? If it's not convenient, you can find someone to show me, as long as you can explain things clearly."

Fu Maike the accountant for their company. She's a young woman who graduated just two years ago. She's here today mainly to take inventory of the assets of their Zhuxi Agricultural Technology Co., Ltd..

Qing Mengzhu started her first company, and her management wasn't very standardized. Some time ago, she mixed up company assets and personal assets.

After Ming Chunxi reminded him, Qing Mengzhu realized what was happening and decided to quickly have the finance department come over to register and categorize the cases before things got too bad.

Otherwise, as the company grows larger, it will be difficult to distinguish between them.

The fields and crops that Qing Mengzhu had planted before starting the company should be considered his personal assets, such as lotus roots, chili peppers, bamboo, as well as the shrimp, hazel grouse, and geese he raised.

Even though Feng Ningxiang and the others helped take care of the company after it was established, it should still be considered his personal property.

Only the newly rented fields, fishponds, and crops to be planted soon will be considered company assets.

Although the same group of people are working on both sides of the fields, they cannot be mixed up.

Fu Maike arrived in an electric scooter, and Qing Mengzhu also rode another electric scooter to show her around, pointing out the company's assets.

She took photos and made notes at the same time, writing down each one clearly.

Qing Mengzhu looked at the clear and concise table on her tablet and felt very satisfied.

This young finance lady, though relatively inexperienced, is very capable. She works for their company because she is a local and doesn't like living too far from home.

Qing Mengzhu felt that they had gotten a lucky break.

After nearly a day of work, Fu Maike finally managed to register all of the company's assets.

She photocopied all the contracts and certificates, attached them to the registration documents, and said to Qing Mengzhu with a smile, "Boss, remember to pay Auntie Feng and the others when you ask them to do work in the future."

Qing Mengzhu readily agreed, "I'll pay, I'll pay, I'll pay for the monthly subscription. I'll also transfer the money to them in the next couple of days for the bamboo planting I hired a while ago."

Fu Maike was satisfied. "Okay, then you can add a note, and I'll put the transfer record in the folder too."

Qing Mengzhu: "No problem, thank you for your hard work."

Fu Maike got on his electric scooter. "Work is work, so it's only right that it's a bit tough. Boss, I'll head back now. See you later."

Qing Mengzhu: "See you later, be careful on the road, and send a message in the company group chat when you get home."

Qing Mengzhu watched her retreating figure, thinking about how the accounts had been sorted out, he felt a little relieved.

The two mountains where bamboo is planted are ancestral properties of the Qing Mengzhu family, and the bamboo on them is all propagated from Cloud Mirror Bamboo cuttings, so it certainly cannot be attributed to the company's accounts.

He painstakingly cultivated lotus seeds for so long, and now that the company has made lotus seed and white fungus soup, they should transfer the money for the lotus seeds to him; they can't just give it to the company to use casually.

Similarly, since Feng Ningxiang and the others are now employees of the company and work for him every day, even if he's getting a good deal, he still has to pay them for their labor; he can't just use the company's people for free.

If it's used for free, the assets will become unclear later.

While Qing Mengzhu and her team were busy sorting out the assets, Gu Benshu called Qing Mengzhu: "Boss, my paper is finished. Where should we publish it? Should we publish it in a specialized microbiology journal or a general scientific journal?"

Qing Mengzhu: "What's your suggestion?"

Gu Benshu: "I suggest publishing it in a microbiology journal. Microbiology journals are more specialized, have a faster publication time, and their influence is not low. For us, this is more advantageous than publishing in a general scientific journal."

The discovery of a new Bacillus species is quite exciting for them, but it's nothing special for the academic community.

Many such scientific discoveries are made every year, and even many non-specialists make discoveries. However, their level of achievement may not be published in regular multidisciplinary scientific journals.

Qing Mengzhu had no objection, then remembered. "The new spore-forming bacillus we discovered, you named it Insect-Killing Bacillus, right?"

Gu Benshu: "Yes! It's concise, clear, and easy to remember, which will make our subsequent patent applications easier."

As he spoke, Gu Benshu became excited. "We've discovered a highly virulent strain, boss. Shall we apply for our first patent using this strain? We plan to name the first strain 'Insect-Killing Bacillus ZX01,' with 'ZX' being the initials of our company. We'll use this naming convention for the second, third, and Nth strains we discover as well. What do you think?"

Qing Mengzhu: "Sure, your naming skills are much better than mine. You guys continue cultivating the strains. I'll find a patent agency; we can leave the patent matters to them. We can't waste your research time."

Gu Benshu nodded happily in agreement, then added, "Boss, you might need to start looking for companies with level-three industrial fermentation capabilities. Once the patent is approved, you can begin cultivating the Insect-Killing Bacillus ZX01 and then prepare the formulation and such."

Qing Mengzhu smiled and said, "We're already investigating, but we still need to wait for our pesticide production and sales licenses to be issued. There's no rush, we'll take our time. Even if we do manage to produce it, it'll mainly be for our own use. A small company like ours probably won't capture much of the market share."

Gu Benshu: "Let's take it one step at a time. Anyway, I think our strain is very competitive. Boss, I'll get back to work now."

Qing Mengzhu: "Okay, thank you for your hard work."

Gu Benshu chuckled twice, "It's not hard work at all. I'm full of energy right now, I wish I could work eighteen hours a day."

Gu Benshu hung up the phone without hesitation after he finished speaking.

Qing Mengzhu looked at her phone, which had exited the call interface, and smiled.

Now that their company is thriving, everyone's spirits are quite different, and even Gu Benshu's personality has become much more cheerful.

That's really good.

Chapter 80

In the morning, Qing Mengzhu and Ming Chunxi drove to the foot of the mountain, carrying hoes and machetes, ready to go up the mountain to dig bamboo shoots.

With Feng Ningxiang and the others helping to take care of the fields, Qing Mengzhu was too lazy to go to the fields in the mornings, but she went up the mountain more often.

The bamboo in his yard is growing well, and there are more and more bamboo shoots. At first, he could only dig up 20 or 30 jin (10-15 kg), but now he can dig up 100 or 200 jin (50-100 kg) every day.

Qing Mengzhu went up the mountain at around 6 a. m. and dug until around 9 a. m., which was just enough time to finish digging up the bamboo shoots. She also had time to patrol the bamboo forest, cut down the shrubs that needed to be cut down, and transplant the bamboo that needed to be transplanted.

He was the main force in digging bamboo shoots. Ming Chunxi mainly accompanied him up the mountain. When they dug until around 7 o'clock, Ming Chunxi's driver came back to pick him up, and then he went down the mountain to work.