After hearing what Liu Jinhai said, Li Shaozhong exchanged glances with Ye Shuning. Ye Shuning said, "Brother Zhong, how about we go and take a look?"

Li Shaozhong nodded. "Okay, let's go take a look. Comrades, we have a car, so let's go in it."

Ye Shuning didn't want to squeeze in with two men, "Honey, let me drive."

Li Shaozhong immediately understood what his wife meant, "Okay, you drive."

The two clerks were impressed by Ye Shuning when they saw that she was a female driver. There were very few female drivers these days. They were both male and didn't know how to drive.

After everyone got in the car, Ye Shuning started the car and drove to the weather observation station that Liu Jinhai mentioned according to his instructions.

The weather station wasn't too far from the county seat, about twenty miles away. However, the roads were all dirt, making them difficult to navigate. The car jolted along for over half an hour before arriving.

From a distance, I could see a neatly arranged courtyard nestled in the wilderness, complete with a house. Not far from the courtyard, some meteorological observation facilities were erected, surrounded by a fence. It seemed someone had once been stationed here.

Following Liu Jinhai's instructions, Ye Shuning drove the car to the gate of the yard before stopping.

Only then did Ye Shuning and Li Shaozhong see clearly that the walls surrounding the yard were actually made of red bricks. The walls were quite high and the gate was also an iron gate. It looked really nice.

Liu Jinhai jumped out of the car and took out the key to the gate, opened the gate, and asked Ye Shuning to drive the car into the yard. Ye Shuning drove the car into the yard directly.

Once inside, I saw that the yard was quite large, at over a thousand square meters. On one side of the yard, facing north and south, stood a row of red brick and tiled houses. These houses were considered quite upscale for the area.

After everyone got out of the car, Liu Jinhai said, "These houses are all very nice. If they weren't so remote, they wouldn't be left empty like this. What a pity. What do you think?"

Ye Shuning looked at the yard, which was overgrown with weeds because no one cared for it. She walked into a room Liu Jinhai had opened and saw that it was an office, as there was a desk inside. The house had been unoccupied for a long time, and there was a lot of dust inside. It seemed that it needed to be cleaned up.

Afterwards, Liu Jinhai opened several adjacent rooms, which turned out to be dormitories. Ye Shuning discovered that upon entering the dormitory, there was a large room with stoves built on both walls, and then there were doors on both sides, leading to two bedrooms, each with a large kang.

However, since the staff here had all left and most of the things had been moved away, the place was very empty and there was almost nothing. This was exactly what Ye Shuning and the others wanted, as it saved them from having to pack up their belongings.

Liu Jinhai said, "Outside is the main room. The stove can be used for cooking and heating the kang. If you think this is okay, I'll find someone to clean up the stove and kang for you, and also clean the house. After all, no one has been here for several years."

Ye Shuning said, "Let's go take a look at the geology and surrounding conditions outside. If it's suitable, we'll choose this place."

Then everyone went to take a look at the surrounding fields. Ye Shuning looked carefully and found that the soil here was indeed not very good, at least not suitable for growing crops, but it should be fine for growing mushroom grass.

She also saw a river a few miles away. Liu Jinhai said that the river was formed by the snow water from the distant mountains. There was not much water in the river now, but when the weather got warmer, the river water would rise and become much more abundant.

Ye Shuning said, "I see someone has cultivated the fields here. Wouldn't it be bad if we took over?"

Liu Jinhai said, "The fields here belong to Baning Township. Although we have a large population and a large land area, some land is simply unsuitable for farming, and even if it is cultivated, much of the land wouldn't produce much grain. Even though there's a river nearby, the grain yield here is still very low. Even if you take some of it, it won't matter. We'll coordinate it."

Ye Shuning thought that the land here was barren, and there was no fertilizer. Even if there was water, it wouldn't increase the grain yield. Furthermore, there were almost no irrigation facilities here, so the water utilization rate was probably very low.

Ye Shuning said, "We can't just occupy other people's land for nothing. We should give some compensation. We should compensate the village whose land we occupied. How about a one-time compensation of ten yuan per mu? And we will definitely need to hire people to work in the future, so we will give priority to people from this village and pay them for their work."

Upon hearing such a good offer, Liu Jinhai said in surprise, "You've offered such good conditions. The surrounding villages will benefit greatly. They will definitely be happy for you to occupy their land. I'll report your opinions later and discuss this with the officials in Baning Township."

Since you've chosen this place, I'll report it and then have someone come and clean up the house for you. It'll be ready tomorrow, and you can come over the day after tomorrow."

Li Shaozhong immediately made the decision, "Then we'll settle on this place. We'll have to trouble Comrade Liu later."

Liu Jinhai waved his hand and said, "What's the problem? The fact that you chose our county also brings hope to our county."

Everyone drove back to the county town. Li Shaozhong parked the car at the county party committee compound, and then Liu Jinhai took Li Shaozhong and his wife to a guesthouse not far away. After settling Li Shaozhong and his wife down, he quickly went to make a report and then quickly found someone to clean up the house.

Li Shaozhong and his wife checked into their room at the guesthouse and returned to the research institute to rest that night. After dinner, they studied for a while before going to see the seedlings they were cultivating.

The seedlings they had cultivated before had already taken root and sprouted the next day, and Li Shaozhong also had a new understanding of this research institute space.

Now the seedlings they have cultivated have grown very tall and are no longer small seedlings.

Li Shaozhong said, "This is growing too fast. It can't be planted outside as a seedling."

Ye Shuning said, "Maybe it's because of some kind of energy in this research institute's space. All living things here grow very fast. Since cuttings can take root and sprout in one day, let's grow a batch of seedlings the day before transplanting them after the greenhouse is built."

Li Shaozhong nodded, "That's the only way."

The two of them went to look at the patch of mushroom grass in the garden. Now the mushroom grass had been inoculated with seeds, and the seeds were ready to be harvested.

Li Shaozhong suddenly pointed to the side and said, "Xiao Ning, look at what this is. Wasn't this what was planted here before?"

Upon hearing her husband's words, Ye Shuning immediately came over to check. She discovered several new plants sprouting alongside the tall grass. Each plant had grown in two neat rows. The appearance of new plants excited Ye Shuning.