Zhao Hexi

Biodata

Power Progression

Background / History

Friendship with Qing Mengzhu

Zhao Hexi and Qing Mengzhu have been friends for years, with their shared history extending back to high school. After Qing Mengzhu’s father died, Zhao’s family gave him considerable support; Zhao’s parents continued giving him generous New Year lucky money whether or not he visited 5 59 120.

During his first visit to Pingkou Village, Zhao admires the surroundings and listens to Qing Mengzhu’s farming plans. He considers the venture feasible after hearing about the village’s conditions and possible sales channels. Before leaving, he reluctantly reveals that Ming Chunxi has returned to the country, knowing how deeply the news may affect his friend 5.

Helping Qing Mengzhu Reconnect with Ming Chunxi

Zhao acts as an intermediary when Ming Chunxi asks for Qing Mengzhu’s WeChat contact, obtaining Qing’s permission before sharing it. He later notices Ming Chunxi’s unusually affectionate social-media behavior and insists that it indicates romantic interest, despite having no dating experience himself 9 31.

After Ming Chunxi confesses, Qing Mengzhu turns to Zhao for advice. Zhao identifies his fears about incompatibility, a painful breakup, and Ming Chunxi’s mother. He also challenges Qing’s tendency to shut people out following his father’s death. That evening, Qing asks Ming Chunxi to begin dating slowly 94.

Joining Zhuxi

When Qing Mengzhu considers establishing an agricultural technology company, he specifically asks Zhao for his opinion. Zhao encourages the plan, praising Qing’s seriousness and practical agricultural experience. Qing offers him shares and a salary to help manage the business; Zhao is moved by the offer but initially hesitates because he lacks management experience 116 117.

Zhao subsequently agrees to join Qing Mengzhu and Ming Chunxi in the venture and returns to the city intending to resign from his existing job. He participates in the registration process, leads workers in clearing land and transplanting bamboo, and becomes Zhuxi’s vice president. He rents a house in Pingkou Village rather than continuing to commute from the city 119 120 122 127.

Expansion and Public Recognition

As Zhuxi grows, Zhao takes on land leasing, recruitment, member activities, supplier coordination, and negotiations. His work allows Qing Mengzhu to concentrate on cultivation and take time away from company affairs when needed. Qing explicitly recognizes that he could not keep up with everything without Zhao holding the company together 149 196 199 287.

Zhao arranges the recommendations needed to enter the International Rice Competition. After their rice wins a gold medal, he accepts the award abroad, appears in a news interview, and flies home overnight to celebrate. He also passes along experts’ requests to visit their paddies, leaving the decision to Qing Mengzhu 314.

He later negotiates the acquisition of an oilseed sunflower crop and the lease of its farm in the frontier region, while coordinating contract manufacturing for tomato sauce, tomato paste, and dried peppers. During Qing Mengzhu’s wedding preparations, Zhao accompanies him to Ye’erqingele and back as Qing creates a sixty-hectare sunflower landscape for Ming Chunxi 362 384.

Appearance

• After months of working outdoors in changing weather, Zhao becomes noticeably darker-skinned and thinner 254.

Personality

Zhao is lively, expressive, and fond of teasing his friends. He closely follows Qing Mengzhu and Ming Chunxi’s developing relationship, even recognizing the mountain behind Qing’s home in a corner of Ming’s sunset photographs. His joking confidence as a “romance strategist” contrasts with his lack of personal dating experience 31 70.

Beneath the jokes, he is attentive and dependable. He quickly notices Qing Mengzhu’s distress, speaks frankly about his pessimism, and stays to help when Ming Chunxi wants to make a family visit less awkward. At work, he combines a talkative manner with a willingness to shoulder substantial responsibilities 94 131 287.

Good food and fishing are recurring enthusiasms. He eagerly praises Qing Mengzhu’s produce, joins meals and cookouts, and repeatedly returns to the river despite broken lines and disappointing catches. Although he initially declares himself suited only to city life after encountering snakes, he eventually grows so attached to the village that being away from the company and fields feels incomplete 36 73 97 164 210 340.

Abilities & Skills

Company Management

Zhao’s strongest documented professional skill is management, which develops substantially after he joins Zhuxi 117 340.

• Workforce coordination: Leads land-clearing and bamboo-transplanting teams, helps recruit staff, and relays decisions to human resources 122 149 340.
• Operational continuity: Oversees company affairs while Qing Mengzhu concentrates on bamboo cultivation or attends to home responsibilities 259 287.
• Prioritization: Recognizes important issues among numerous daily tasks and follows up even on apparently minor matters 340.
• Expansion planning: Discusses December work schedules and advocates a separate company office tower, noting that the workforce already exceeds three hundred employees 322.

Negotiation and External Coordination

Zhao becomes increasingly capable at securing land and handling outside organizations 199.

• Orchard leasing: Secures agreements for three orchards in less than two days, allowing the company to choose the lowest-priced option, covering more than eighty mu 199.
• Land acquisition: Finds fields without accepting unreasonable terms and handles negotiations for the frontier sunflower farm 234 362.
• Research liaison: Discusses Insect-Killing Bacillus with a research institute and prepares to negotiate partnerships with Cheng Yizheng’s and Bai Wenru’s laboratories 240 367.
• Quality-control logistics: Sends a suspect fertilizer sample for urgent testing, which confirms excessive copper and zinc levels 203.

Member Relations and Promotion

Zhao manages direct contact with Zhuxi’s community-supported agriculture members and represents the company publicly 196 314.

• Membership coordination: Reports 36,733 sign-ups as the company prepares to cap membership at 38,000 196.
• Farm visits: Organizes and guides a thirty-member visit involving planting activities and a meal made with local produce; the response prompts plans for further events and an assistant 196.
• Customer announcements: Posts the notice ending fresh bamboo sap production; the remaining stock sells out within seconds 164.
• Public representation: Accepts the company’s international rice gold medal and gives a news interview 314.

Product Development Ideas

Zhao frequently identifies possible uses for the farm’s resources.

• Bamboo-sheath incense: Notices the pleasant fragrance of burning shoot sheaths, suggests making incense, and helps grind and mold the material into sticks 183.
• Earthworm breeding: Proposes using the company’s compost beds to breed earthworms for sale 234.
• Weed utilization: Suggests raising cattle to turn weeds into feed 213.
• Bamboo-leaf tea: Proposes making tea from fragrant leaves, though Qing Mengzhu explains that only one bamboo plant has the desired fragrance 354.

Practical Farm and Outdoor Skills

Zhao willingly assists with physical work, but his cultivation knowledge and field technique remain weaker than his management abilities 143 185 338.

• Food preparation: Can clean and singe a duck, assist with grilling, and prepare kiln chicken 71 167 210.
• Field assistance: Helps dig bamboo shoots, transplant earthworms, harvest lotus roots, and move fruit trees 117 186 192 205.
• Foraging limits: Needs Qing Mengzhu’s guidance to identify mushrooms safely and initially mistakes amanitas for termite mushrooms 56.
• Planting limits: Sows seedbeds unevenly enough that Qing Mengzhu takes over the task 185.
• Stamina: Village farm work improves his endurance, but steep mountain outings still leave him struggling to keep pace 166.
• Fishing: Owns several rods and fishes regularly, though his enthusiasm frequently exceeds his results 97 164 210 347.

Equipment / Items

• Fishing gear — Rods, replacement hooks and line, a folding stool, bait buckets, and a keepnet accompany his frequent river outings 97 210 347.
• Electric scooter — Used to take Qing Mengzhu around nearby villages while searching for water bamboo seedlings 236.
• Motorcycle — Used for local travel; Zhao finds it more convenient than a car during the increasingly prosperous town’s evening rush hour 347 379.

Relationships

• Qing Mengzhu — Longtime close friend and business partner. Their bond combines mutual teasing, practical help, and emotional trust; Qing recruits Zhao into Zhuxi and relies on him to keep its operations running 59 94 117 287.
• Ming Chunxi — Business partner and the frequent target of Zhao’s affectionate “study god” address. Zhao helps reconnect him with Qing Mengzhu, supports their relationship, and assists with their wedding preparations 9 70 119 384.
• Zhao’s parents — Supportive toward Qing Mengzhu after his father’s death, but persistent in pressuring Zhao to attend blind dates. By a later New Year, they are no longer pushing him to marry 59 70 210 340.
• Ming Lexin — Ming Chunxi’s mother. Zhao stays to ease the atmosphere during her visit and takes a family photograph at her request 131.
• Zhou Yan — Friend and frequent dining companion. Zhao enjoys his cooking, shares produce with him, and joins him in food preparation and outdoor activities 134 245 292 379.
• Dharma Protector and Guard — Qing Mengzhu’s dogs, whom Zhao pets, feeds, and accompanies on outings. They become jealous when he lavishes praise on Little Otter; Zhao later conceals their rough encouragement during a hike to keep them from being scolded 160 165 166 170.
• Little Otter — An animal companion Zhao openly admires for its fishing ability. Little Otter gives him a freshwater mussel, and Zhao often hopes to improve his own catches by fishing nearby 164 165 236.
• Red fox — Zhao repeatedly tries to befriend and pet it, but the fox strongly favors Qing Mengzhu and sometimes rejects Zhao’s attention 165 179 249.

Notable Quotes

“Life is so short. It’d be such a shame to live at twenty the same way you would at eighty.” 94

“I won’t let you down either. Come on, let’s celebrate the start of our venture!” 119

“I’ve grown fond of living in the village. If I stay at home and can’t see our company and our fields, I always feel like something’s missing.” 340