At first, Xu Zhitie thought it was just planting grass, how difficult could it be?

But when he took Ziyun to his friend in the city, he was told that he had never seen this kind of grass before.

He tried having his friend plant the purple cloud with him, but before the next day, the purple cloud had already wilted.

He tried many methods, such as soaking it in water, applying farmyard manure, and using special soil to grow purple clouds... but all ended in failure.

He panicked a little. How could this be? This purple cloud looked like a weed, but he never expected it to be so precious.

It's already difficult to grow it by hand, let alone mass-produce it and increase its yield.

No, he has to win!

"Zhihao, where can I still buy that kind of planting soil?"

"Ah, these are from Haicheng. It took me a lot of effort to buy some. If you need them in the future, I can give you the source."

"Thank you very much."

With the planting soil given to him by his friend, Xu Zhitie finally managed to get Ziyun planted. Ziyun grew more and more vigorously, with the tips of its leaves turning emerald green, full of vitality.

"Third brother, your purple cloud vines are growing very well. I've seen other people's, and theirs all look wilted and dying."

"Zhitie, it seems I should congratulate you in advance."

Xu Zhitie smiled modestly, "No way, elder brother, please don't make fun of me. When it comes to farming, I'm definitely not as good as you two. I'm just using a trick."

"By the way, have you seen the plants Chen Yunyun grew, brother?"

Xu Zhijin shook his head. "She grows it in her own private plot in the yard and won't let us see it. But third brother, she doesn't know anything about farming, she's definitely not as good as you."

That makes sense. The potting soil that Xu Zhitie bought is no ordinary soil. He heard from a friend that it contains a lot of organic matter, and even half-dead plants can be saved with this soil.

Chen Yunyun never leaves her home; what good things could she possibly have to offer?

Xu Zhitie washed himself thoroughly, inside and out, before going to bed.

In the early morning, a gentle breeze was blowing.

The large open space in Xujia Village, where grains are usually dried, was filled with people.

There were villagers, as well as many people from the commune and county town who came to see the spectacle.

The news that Xiyun Commune was going to publicly select a factory director had already spread far and wide.

Charles, having nothing better to do, also came with Risen to see what was unusual.

In the front row of the dam, a group of people dressed in Zhongshan suits with pens clipped to their chests sat. This election was crucial for the selection of the factory director, and the county government and commune leaders attached great importance to it.

"Captain Chen, Captain Zhang, we can begin."

Everyone had arrived, and Captain Chen stood in the center of the stage. "Folks, please be quiet for a moment. Our fair election is about to begin."

"Those who are running for office, write down your ideas and thoughts, and submit them with your names on them. When your names are called, come up one by one to present your results."

Xu Zhitie had filled three whole pages with writing on the paper in his hand. He looked at Chen Yunyun, who was in front of him in line.

The paper in Chen Yunyun's hand was just a thin sheet, like a scrap of newspaper, with a line of words faintly written on it.

Xu Zhitie thought to himself, "This woman has really given up on herself."

"Alright, all collected. First one, Xu Jia."

The man called up to the stage carried a pot of sickly purple cloud plants. "To grow purple cloud plants in large quantities, you need to fertilize them more so they will grow well."

"Also, the weather can't be too hot, or Ziyun will die easily."

......

Charles sat below and shook his head. "Our company previously operated a Ziyun planting base, with 3,000 seedlings, and not a single one survived. The methods he mentioned won't work."

After Xu Jia, several other people followed suit, and their accounts were all similar.

The judges below looked serious, their expressions unreadable.

The onlookers began to whisper among themselves, "Is Purple Cloud really that hard to grow?"

"You don't know this, do you? The first person to go up was the best farmer in our team. Even he couldn't grow it, so no one else can grow it well either."

"Hey, look at the stage, this person has grown!"

Charles looked at the stage with great interest. The man on the stage was somewhat thin with sunken eyes, and he was holding a greenish-purple cloud in his hands.

This is the only green-clad purple cloud among the previous dozen or so candidates.

"Hello everyone, my name is Xu Zhitie, and this is the purple cloud I grew."

All eyes were drawn to the plant in his hand; its leaves were broad and emerald green, and its roots were thick and robust, making it look very vibrant.

"This is well grown."

"Looks like he's going to be the factory manager?"

Who is this?

"Liu Xiulan's third son, from the Xu family."

"Oh, it's him. Wasn't he working in the city on a government job? How come he's so good at farming?"

Exclamations of praise rose from the crowd, and Xu Zhitie felt a little smug.

A dignified voice silenced all the discussion, "Let me ask you, how did you grow your Purple Cloud? Do you have any good ideas for mass cultivation?"

The one who spoke was an elderly man sitting in the front row, who had never said a word before.

"I was able to grow purple cloud trees after observing their habits. Purple cloud trees are afraid of light and heat and prefer to grow in shady places."

"Secondly, purple cloud has very strict requirements for its growing environment. Applying farmyard manure will not only fail to grow purple cloud well, but will also accelerate its death."

The people below suddenly realized that the more fertilizer they applied, the faster Ziyun died. It turned out that Ziyun had a cleanliness obsession!

Under the admiring gaze, Xu Zhitie made his third point: "The main reason I can keep Ziyun alive is because of a special type of planting soil."

"This soil comes from Haicheng and has obvious effects. It is just right for Ziyun to grow. Moreover, this soil has a significant effect on accelerating crop growth."

Upon hearing this, the expressions of the leaders sitting in the front row visibly softened, but Charles still shook his head.

"Young comrade, tell us about this kind of soil."

Seeing that even the old man in the middle was treating him kindly, Xu Zhitie was overjoyed, thinking that the position of factory director was within his grasp.

He cleared his throat and said seriously, "Planting soil is 10 cents per cubic meter, which is not expensive. Moreover, I know someone who can get it for about 12 cents per cubic meter. We don't need to worry about transportation. If we buy a lot, they will transport it to us."

This price isn't actually that expensive. After all, Chen Yunyun sells the raw materials to Charles for two yuan per kilogram, while the extracted raw materials would sell for a hundred yuan.

The investment in planting soil is actually not much.

"Hmm, not bad, you can go now."

Xu Zhitie walked off the stage with his head held high and deliberately bumped into Chen Yunyun as he passed by.