NOVPUB
Chapter 722: Chapter 712 The Little White Mouse
Of course, it was difficult for these homemaker women who hadn’t even finished elementary school to learn such complex knowledge and operations in one go, so Shen Yunfang specially invited a professional teacher from the university to come here and teach every employee how to mix feed for various livestock.
After they had learned how to do this, Shen Yunfang organized a workforce and spent three days inoculating all the livestock in the factory building.
Still feeling it was not safe enough, she secretly added an Essence of Life to the feed of each factory building. With this protection in place, she believed the chickens, ducks, and geese would all grow up healthy. n𝚘𝚟pub.𝚌o𝚖
"Sister-in-law, the area up in the mountains is too vast. Just relying on these twenty-some people to develop it, we definitely won’t make it in time. Didn’t you say that the Honeysuckle in the fields must be planted on the mountain between March and April?" Zhang Chunwang, sweating profusely, ran over to discuss important matters with the boss.
"Let’s go have a look." The mountain was the key development area for the farm this year and could not be postponed.
So, Shen Yunfang and Zhang Chunwang went together to take a look around the foot of the mountain.
From a distance, the mountain did not appear very large or tall, but once you actually walked around it, you realized just how big it really was. Indeed, the twenty-some people could not manage it if they were pressed for time.
After pondering for a moment, Shen Yunfang said, "We indeed don’t have enough people. Even with the speed at which these few are working, we still wouldn’t be able to get this mountain sorted out in a year. Go to the surrounding villages today and see if you can find people to come over and help temporarily. We’ll still calculate their pay based on the area they clear, and as for the specific wages, you can decide."
"Alright, I’ll go take care of it right away." With the boss’s instructions, Chunwang ran off as if he had Wind Fire Wheels on his feet.
That very afternoon a truck brought over more than forty men, each looking like a solid farmer. They brought their tools and dispersed over the mountain as soon as they arrived.
The next day even more than a hundred showed up, and after nearly a month of continuous work, they finally managed to clear and prepare the area at the foot of the mountain by planting pastures and inserting Honeysuckle.
The seeds for the grass were obtained by Shen Yunfang from someone at the school’s laboratory. It was said that this pasture was very resilient, grew fast, and was highly nutritious, making it ideal fodder for cattle, sheep, and pigs. However, it was still at the experimental stage and had not yet been introduced to the market. Shen Yunfang was essentially using her farm as a trial ground.
In the meantime, they continued to clear the land and plant Honeysuckle, but being the first year, the sparse appearance from the foot of the mountain wasn’t too impressive.
However, this was still not enough for Shen Yunfang. Her plan was to plant a ring of Honeysuckle around the middle of the mountain so that every summer, her mountain could attract a large number of tourists, gradually getting her farm’s agritainment business off the ground.
But a month later, Chunwang couldn’t hire that many people anymore because spring plowing had started, and everyone needed to stay home to farm their land.
Shen Yunfang looked around and sighed, "If there’s no one available to hire then don’t bother, we’ll just do what we can with our own people this year. As long as we can get some of it done, that will be enough." One cannot become fat with just one bite; it’s better to proceed step by step.
"By the way, later on go talk to the construction team about building some shallow concrete pits next to the methane pool by the breeding farm, I’m planning on raising earthworms." Shen Yunfang instructed.
To get the chickens and ducks to lay eggs earlier and increase the egg production, it wasn’t enough to just feed them grains and fodder, they also needed proper nutrition. That’s when Shen Yunfang thought of earthworms.
"Earthworms?" Chunwang was surprised. They had never heard of specifically raising earthworms to feed chickens and ducks in their area.
Shen Yunfang then explained the use of earthworms to him.
Chunwang was so amazed he looked almost able to swallow a fist, having never heard of such a thing before. Sister-in-law truly deserved her agricultural education; she knew so much more.
"All right, I’ll get the information to you tomorrow, and you go talk to Chen Jing about it. This will fall under their department’s responsibility," Shen Yunfang said straight out. "Also, keep a close eye on the pasture at the foot of the mountain, when the grass is nearly grown enough, let Chen Jing know to start training, and move the cattle, sheep, and chickens over there. Grazing will improve the meat quality, keeping the livestock healthier and saving us some grain."
Chunwang nodded continuously, "Okay, I got it. I’ll pay extra attention."
"I think three new greenhouses have been completed over there, right?" Shen Yunfang said, looking towards the greenhouses.
"Yes, I checked them. The fourth will be finished in another two days, and we now have three new ones," Chunwang quickly reported the progress of the construction.
After the start of spring in March of this year, the construction team reestablished their base; the biogas digester was already completed, and now the construction of the large storehouse, the greenhouses, and the breeding factory was underway.
"Mhmm, now that it’s built, let’s not let it go to waste. See if you can transfer a few people over there, oh, right, and a few to Chen Jing’s side too."
Zhang Chunwang had a troubled look on his face, "Sister-in-law, all four departments are short-staffed right now. Not even one of the twelve people working the fields can be spared. If we transfer more people to the greenhouses and the breeding facilities, it will have to be from the mountain. That would mean even slower progress with the mountain clearing, would you be okay with that?"
Shen Yunfang frowned, originally thirty-plus employees weren’t enough, and now with over seventy employees, how come there still weren’t enough of them?
"I’ll handle this. I’ll go see a few of those regiment commanders, see if there are any decent ex-military personnel left. If there are, we should recruit them in tens or twenties."
"Sister-in-law." Zhang Chunwang hesitated after she finished speaking.
"If you have something to say, just say it. Don’t beat around the bush." Time is so precious right now, we need to move quickly.
"Hehe, sister-in-law, what I wanted to ask was, can I recommend a few of my comrades-in-arms to come over? I guarantee their character is impeccable, they’re in good health, all capable of working, and their wives too, nothing to say there, all diligent people." Zhang Chunwang chuckled and finally voiced his thoughts.
Shen Yunfang looked at him in astonishment, "You have comrades-in-arms?"
His question left Zhang Chunwang speechless.
"Heh, I got a bit carried away there, but that’s also fine. Check how many people like that you’ve got, make a list. If that’s not enough, I’ll go get some more."
"Ah, that’s great, I’ll get on it right away." And with that, Zhang Chunwang rushed off again as if he had Wind Fire Wheels under his feet.
Shen Yunfang was left behind by her staff once more, thinking to herself that these people must have been thinking about this for a while, biding their time until the opportunity arose to speak up.
By the time Shen Yunfang cycled from the foot of the mountain to the dormitory building, and had just poured herself a glass of water but hadn’t yet brought it to her lips, Zhang Chunwang had already hurried back.
"Sister-in-law, I asked around and made a list, there are thirty-two people ready to come over." Zhang Chunwang handed over the list he had compiled.
Shen Yunfang’s mouth twitched. Where did all these people come from? They were even more than she had recruited herself.
"The ones below aren’t ex-military, they’re relatives of our employees, but their character can also be vouched for," Zhang Chunwang explained.
"That’s indeed a lot of people, but with our current accommodation situation, if we were to hire all these people, even if I could afford to pay their wages, there would be nowhere for them to live," Shen Yunfang worried.
Had she known this would happen, she would have built the dormitory buildings ten or eight stories high from the start, so there wouldn’t be a problem now.
"It’s not necessarily a problem, sister-in-law. There are still over ten rooms left on the fourth floor, and more than ten can be made available on the first floor with a bit of sorting out. If these people come on their own, we can totally put them in four-person or eight-person rooms. In the end, we might even have some rooms left over," Zhang Chunwang helped her do the math.
In his eyes, living in four-person or eight-person dorms was already quite good, an upgrade from what they were used to. Back when they were in the barracks, it was common to stay in sixteen-person rooms without even having a private bathroom.
Could it be done like this?
"Alright, you take care of it. You know better than me where people are missing. If all these people are good and you can find accommodation for them, then hire them. And while you’re at it, see if you can add another person to the canteen staff. Watching those two girls struggle to cook for seventy or eighty people seems a bit overwhelming," Shen Yunfang decided to let go and allow Zhang Chunwang to handle these things.
So, shortly after the arrival of the second batch of employees, the farm began recruiting for the third batch.
