Chapter 245

Qing Mengzhu went to see the dried rice.

Their rice is of very good quality, with most of it reaching the "Fine Grade" standard. As commercial rice, this is already among the top in the market, and it's no problem to sell it for twenty or thirty yuan per kilogram.

The profits from this batch of rice alone could cover all of their company's expenses.

Thinking of this, Qing Mengzhu felt very gratified, looking at these golden rice grains as if they were gold.

The rice was of very good quality. Qing Mengzhu originally wanted to stay here for a few more days until the rice was completely dried, packed into bags, and new rye grass was sown in the rice paddies before returning home.

Unexpectedly, on this day, while Qing Mengzhu was inspecting rice at the factory, she suddenly received a call from Ping Lin.

Ping Lin's voice was excited. "President Qing, when are you coming? The durians on the tree are ripe."

Qing Mengzhu: "Is it ripe? So fast?"

Ping Lin: "Yes, they're already ripe, and some are even overripe. Today we saw a durian that had split open on the tree, picked it, and tasted it. The durian was fragrant, sweet, soft, and creamy—completely different from the durians you find in the market!"

Ping Lin: "When are you coming to take a look? Or should we harvest them directly? Otherwise, I'm afraid the durians will be overripe and we'll miss the best time to eat them."

Qing Mengzhu: "Don't pick them yet, let me go take a look."

Qing Mengzhu opened the ticketing app and looked at the flight tickets. "The earliest flight departs at 6:45 this evening, and I'm coming today."

Ping Lin: "Okay, see you tonight!"

After hanging up the phone, Qing Mengzhu called Ming Chunxi: "What are you doing? Are you at work?"

Ming Chunxi: "I just finished milking the cows and am coming to work now. I'm going to the farm for lunch in half an hour. What about you?"

Qing Mengzhu: "I'm still at the factory, but Ping Lin just called to say the durians are ripe, and I plan to fly to Qiongwei City this evening."

Ming Chunxi was somewhat surprised. "The durian ripened directly on the tree?"

Qing Mengzhu: "Yes, he just told me that some durians have already split open and need to be harvested as soon as possible. Do you want to come with me?"

Ming Chunxi: "I'm going to buy plane tickets now. We'll meet in Qiongwei City tonight."

Qing Mengzhu smiled and said, "I have a layover. Remember to pick me up and bring me some baked sweet potato with cheese. I want to eat sweet potato."

Ming Chunxi: "Okay, is there anything else you want to eat? I'll bring you a milk tea while I'm at it."

Qing Mengzhu: "You can arrange it. See what good food Brother Zhou and the others have. We've been eating lamb skewers and fried noodles every day for the past few days, and I'm getting a little hungry."

The two exchanged a few words before reluctantly hanging up the phone.

Qing Mengzhu quickly sent the plane ticket he bought to Ming Chunxi, and then told Zhao Hexi that the durians in Qiongwei City were ripe and he wanted to go check them out first.

Zhao Hexi's voice cracked. "Are the durians ripe yet? Why didn't anyone tell me? I want to go too!"

Qing Mengzhu: "What about the rice here?"

Zhao Hexi: "This part is all done. Just hand it over to Old Ge. Old Ge is a reliable person, there shouldn't be any problems. At worst, I'll have him send me the surveillance footage every day."

Hearing this, Qing Mengzhu had no objections. "Okay, I'll buy you plane tickets now, and we'll sit together."

Zhao Hexi rubbed his hands together. "I'll go ask Ping Lin to keep an eye out for ripe durians. I wonder what the first batch of durians will taste like?"

Qing Mengzhu: "He said it's fragrant, sweet, soft, and glutinous; I reckon it won't taste bad."

Putting everything else aside, after such a long period of care, their durian trees are now approaching the "Fine Grade+" standard.

"Fine Grade+" durians grow on tree-ripened durians, so how could they be bad?

It has to be way better than any durian on the market, right?

Qing Mengzhu also bought plane tickets for Zhao Hexi, and after thinking for a moment, she also called Zhou Yan.

Since we've already invited Zhou Yan, let's invite Chu Yanhuan too, since Chu Yanhuan also quite likes durian.

Qing Mengzhu originally wanted to name Ming Lexin.

Ming Lexin wasn't particularly interested in durian and had been quite busy lately, so she politely declined, only asking Qing Mengzhu to bring her some after they had tasted the delicious durian.

Qing Mengzhu readily agreed.

So, that very evening, everyone gathered in Qiongwei City in a great commotion.

Ming Chunxi drove to pick up Qing Mengzhu, and also gave Zhao Hexi a ride.

Zhao Hexi noticed that Ming Chunxi had brought baked sweet potatoes with cheese and milk tea, and was a little puzzled. "We're about to eat durian, why are you eating snacks?"

Qing Mengzhu: "It's alright, let's eat a little now, it'll still be more than half an hour before we reach the orchard."

Zhao Hexi: "Then give me some too!"

Qing Mengzhu shared half of the baked sweet potato with Zhao Hexi, and then shared the other half with Ming Chunxi. In the end, she only ate a small piece, barely tasting it.

Zhao Hexi, on the other hand, originally said she was saving room for durian, but after eating half a portion of roasted sweet potato and milk tea, she ended up feeling quite full.

Zhao Hexi regretted her actions, rubbing her stomach in the back seat and saying, "I ate too much, I don't know if I can eat anything else later?"

Qing Mengzhu: "Don't worry, we can definitely eat it all. We'll have to go outside to find durians when we get to the orchard, and then climb the trees. Think about all that effort involved; we'll definitely be able to eat everything later."

Zhao Hexi: "That makes sense. I'll go to the restroom first when I get back."

Zhao Hexi was filled with anticipation for the durians, as this was their first time harvesting durians, and they were genuine tree-ripened durians.

Zhao Hexi muttered, "I've never eaten tree-ripened durian before. I only eat durians from the market, and most of the time the durians I buy are either unripe or bitter. It's so annoying."

Qing Mengzhu: "Me too. I used to buy durians for one or two hundred yuan each, but many of them turned out bitter and didn't taste good at all."

Zhao Hexi: "Yeah, and the durians we bought just wouldn't ripen no matter what we did. They tasted like sweet potatoes. No, they weren't even as good as our cheese-baked sweet potatoes."

The two complained about the durian they bought earlier the whole way, and by the time they arrived at the orchard, they were practically wilting from all the complaining.

Ming Chunxi drove, listening to their chatter with a smile, without saying a word the whole time.

After finally arriving at the orchard, Ping Lin asked them to drive the car deeper into the orchard.

Durians on different trees reach different levels of ripeness, and the ripest durians right now are located deep within the orchard.

They have over 10,000 durian trees, Qing Mengzhu was initially worried that they wouldn't be easy to find.

Unexpectedly, upon hearing the sound of their car, someone deep inside the orchard waved a flashlight in signal.

The flashlight beam was particularly noticeable in the darkness, and they spotted it immediately, quickly moving on.

As soon as Qing Mengzhu out of the car, Chu Yanhuan's voice came running up to her. "Hurry, hurry, we've been waiting for you! I can already smell the durian!"

Qing Mengzhu laughed, "Why don't you try some first?"

Chu Yanhuan: "Brother Ping and Brother Zhou both said they'd be waiting for you."

Ping Lin, holding a flashlight, said, "It's the first time we're all tasting durian together, we can't leave the boss behind!"

Chapter 245

Qing Mengzhu looked up at the sky. There was no moon today, only a sky full of stars.

The orchard is not in the city center, so there is little light pollution nearby, and the stars are very visible.

The night sky was very bright, and the fruit trees on the ground were also very obvious. After the human eye adjusted to the brightness, it was even possible to see the durians growing on the durian trees.

Qing Mengzhu shone a flashlight on it and saw that the durian wasn't very yellow; most of it was yellowish-green, but it looked round and cute.

Standing at this distance, they could already smell the aroma of durian.

Qing Mengzhu took a deep breath and carefully smelled the durian. She quickly confirmed that it was indeed a fragrance, but it was different from the strong smell of durian that had been stored for a long time. Instead, it was a very clear fragrance.

Zhao Hexi stood under the tree, impatient. They shone their flashlights on both sides and shouted, "Where's the ladder? I can't see it!"

Ping Lin: "Stay over there, I'll go carry it over."