Chapter 286: The Wind Rises

After dinner, Li Xian sent Wang Xu, Wang Lin, and the others back to the Berry Research Institute. By the time he got back to the residence, it was already late. Since he had driven himself and wasn't confident in driving after dark, he decided to stay overnight at the house.

The next noon, he took the Su siblings back to the forest farm.

Although he wanted to hold Su Ya's hand and improve their relationship, the presence of Su Hui—who was glaring at him with a stern face—made him keep his distance and drive silently.

Feeling the intense hostility from his future brother-in-law, Li Xian's handsome face was twisted into a frown.

He needed to figure out a way to deal with this annoying obstacle!

On the way back, Li Xian was deep in thought about how to handle the situation.

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During the two days Li Xian was away, the 89 Forest Farm remained calm, but rumors about the raw processing plant for mountain specialties kept circulating. Li You had been the factory director for over ten days, and the factory had been established for more than a week. The yard was piled high with Schisandra chinensis and Eleutherococcus senticosus, but while the materials kept coming in, none had been shipped out. People began to worry that the raw processing plant for mountain specialties might fail.

Harvesting mountain produce wasn't as strenuous as autumn harvests, but it was still hard work requiring both mental and physical effort.

The cold weather in the forest arrived suddenly. Just a few days ago, it was so sunny that people were sweating, but now the temperature had dropped to around seven or eight degrees Celsius.

The temperature in the mountains was even lower. In the morning, it was no longer possible to wear just a single layer of clothing. Harvesters dressed in heavy layers, including big cotton-padded coats and pants, to withstand the low temperatures in the morning and evening.

Additionally, this season saw the appearance of grass ticks, which, if they latched onto a person, would embed their mouthparts into the flesh. These small bugs could cause painful swelling from sucking blood and carried bacteria and viruses. A single bite could be life-threatening. Hence, everyone had to tightly secure their sleeves and pants, and everyone, regardless of gender, wore large headscarves to prevent the ticks from getting into their ears or hair.

The rugged mountain paths and increased dew in autumn made it common to see accidents like broken legs.

Seeing the factory's poor performance and the harsh conditions for mountain harvesting, the enthusiasm for the raw processing plant slowly waned.

Aunt Ma and her husband, as old neighbors of Li You, were among the first to respond to the mountain harvesting task.

Although both were employees of the forest farm, they ignored the recent tasks. They felt that the farm had been poorly managed recently, with pointless or optional tasks being assigned, seemingly to challenge the new factory director, Li You. As old neighbors, they needed to support him. Moreover, Aunt Ma had seen Li Xian profit immensely from walnut skins last year, so she didn't want to miss out on this processing plant opportunity.

With her exceptional organizational skills, Aunt Ma became the leader of the mountain harvesting team, leading a group of neighbors up the mountain every day. Initially, over fifty people joined, but now only about thirty were left.

As autumn arrived, the days grew shorter. The forest darkened as soon as the sun set, so people had to return by around four in the afternoon.

While Aunt Ma and her team chatted loudly and walked back to the forest farm, they encountered the forest farm's women's director, Sun Fulai, and Zhang Dayou.

"Ah, the mountain harvesters are back?" 

Sun Fulai, who seemed to have been waiting for them, stubbed out his cigarette and approached.

At the forest farm, most workers were men except for the nursery staff. Even though the women were not directly employed by the farm, they were still under its management.

Although the women's director had a relatively minor position, her authority over the assignment of female workers was significant.

However, Sun Fulai was known for taking advantage of women working under her—something Aunt Ma despised.

Suppressing her smile, Aunt Ma adjusted her shoulder-slinging heavy basket and asked, "Isn't this Director Sun? What's the matter? Any instructions?"

Sun Fulai grinned and circled Aunt Ma and the others, observing the baskets filled with Schisandra chinensis and Eleutherococcus senticosus. He then patted Zhao Dagu's shoulder and said, "Look at how the basket has bruised your shoulder. Tsk tsk, did you not get the notice? Didn't we tell you yesterday that we need you to help with clearing the drainage ditches today? Why are you helping old Li's family with this stuff?"

Everyone knew well about the forest farm's issues and realized that Sun Fulai was looking for trouble. They kept silent.

Seeing their silence, Sun Fulai put on a "sincere" expression and said, "It's been over a week, and the factory hasn't paid you yet, right? If the factory doesn't get up and running, haven't you worked these ten days for nothing?"

Her words struck a chord with some of the workers.

Among the thirty or so people, some were Li You's old neighbors and friends, but a portion were recruited by Aunt Ma to support Li You.

Regardless of their connections, with the forest farm's production stopped and money being tight for everyone, the initial enthusiasm had faded. After more than ten days of hard work without seeing any payment, some were beginning to waver.

Seeing the doubt among the workers, Aunt Ma glared at Sun Fulai and raised her voice, "Everyone, think carefully. Li You was collectively chosen as the factory director by the workers. Even if the factory doesn't succeed, it won't make much difference in the grand scheme!"

Noting Aunt Ma's firm defense, Sun Fulai chuckled and said, "Well, if you've made up your minds, just remember this: the timber factory will start full-scale logging the day after tomorrow. We're recruiting women for cooking now. If you don't come this time, you won't be considered for future work."

With that, Sun Fulai waved goodbye to Zhang Dayou and left.

"Aunt Ma, is the old Li family really going to make it? It's been over ten days, and the pile of mountain goods at the sawmill hasn't moved. We haven't been paid yet, and I've got over a thousand pounds of goods myself… If the factory fails and we offend Director Sun, we might not make it through the winter."

"Yeah, Aunt Ma, why not ask Li You when we'll get paid?"

Hearing the probing questions from those around her, Aunt Ma adjusted her basket and began to have doubts.

Meanwhile…

In the hotel room of the Forestry Bureau, Wang Hongfei was discussing Li Xian with Xu Mao.

"Old Xu, what do you think of Xianzi's health product?"

Wang Hongfei and Xu Mao had been friends since they were teenagers. Although not blood relatives, they were closer than many relatives, and their conversations were always direct.

Xu Mao didn't think much of it, "What's there to think about? Xianzi asked me to join him in making money, so I'm in."

"But I find this business quite risky. He's never dealt with health products before, and his funds are tight. I doubt the chances of success. I'm considering going south to deal with mahjong machines and other things. Why don't you come with me?"

Hearing Wang Hongfei's plan, Xu Mao curled his lips, "Old Wang, even if I don't know what Xianzi's up to, let me tell you this: my little brother won't get involved in anything that doesn't make money! And to be blunt, his brains might be better than ours combined. So don't be too quick to judge whether this oral liquid will succeed. Let's wait and see."

Just then, the phone in the room rang.

Xu Mao lazily put it on speaker.

"Who's this?"

"It's Wang Lin!"

Upon hearing Wang Lin's voice, Xu Mao straightened up and asked, "What's up, Wang? Is there something?"

"Yes! The rest area just called, saying they've ordered over sixty boxes of oral liquid. They also mentioned some general agent discount policies. I'm not sure what's going on! Maybe you should go check it out?"

Hearing this, Xu Mao and Wang Hongfei widened their eyes and exchanged glances.

In just one day, sixty boxes had been sold?

Wang Hongfei smacked his lips, feeling it was a bit unbelievable.