Time flies like an arrow; in the blink of an eye, more than half a year has passed.
Zhang Guodong's life has basically returned to normal. He has devoted a lot of time to meditation in Ningyunkou and Shatian, carefully contemplating the "laws of life".
Every day, I tend to my crops, bask in the sun, or go to the second floor to cultivate my magical power in a gravity environment, or study formations.
Three months ago, seven more permanent members joined the Shatin team. These seven included three elderly men, three young assistants, and one member appointed by the municipal party committee and government to handle external liaison and logistics. They came from the Agricultural University, the Provincial Agricultural Research Institute, the Yangling Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and the Agricultural Bureau, respectively.
"Since last time we agreed to let the municipal party committee and government accept experts to track and study the growth and cultivation of 'Northern climate crops' in the Shatian area, these old men have gone crazy!" Through the window, Zhang Guodong looked at the old men and their assistants talking and arguing under the few parasols in the Shatian area. They seemed to be having a heated argument.
Zhang Guodong had just emerged from his two-day second-level cultivation session when he witnessed this scene.
In fact, such scenes of arguing over research are common. At first, Zhang Guodong was somewhat curious, but as these scenes became so frequent, he grew accustomed to them.
In any case, he only provides some constantly evolving seedlings, and ignores the rest.
For example, on one side of the water cellar, directly opposite the three stone houses, several houses were built for these experts with funds provided by the municipal party committee and government. These houses were used for living, storing supplies, and storing equipment. As for the water used for eating, drinking, and washing, they used water directly from the water cellar, and Zhang Guodong had no objections.
Anyway, transporting water in was a piece of cake for Zhang Guodong, so he couldn't be too unreasonable.
However, Zhang Guodong also stated that this room was only for these researchers; no one else would be admitted. This was to prevent just anyone from coming and disturbing the peace and quiet of the place.
Supplies are replenished here approximately every two to three weeks; otherwise, the area is mostly isolated.
Of course, this is only what's out in the open.
Zhang Guodong's three stone houses are usually kept private; he doesn't allow anyone to disturb them, saying it's to avoid affecting the cultivation of the seedlings. Only on specific occasions does he open the doors to invite three experts in to conduct follow-up research on each newly cultivated seedling.
What did he do during this time?
Running two restaurant businesses, spending time with family, and practicing spiritual cultivation!
This third stone house has a teleportation array, making it very convenient to come and go.
Zhang Guodong used the teleportation array to travel between five locations: the "Wanxian Restaurant" in the Southwest City, Taoyuan Xiaozhu, the Provincial Government Villa, the "Slogan Shatian," and the newly established "First Restaurant" in the Northwest City. He could travel back and forth between these five places without interfering with his business, and he could also cultivate to his heart's content.
The "Number One Restaurant" in the Northwest Imitation City was built at Xuan Qinghui's request. Zhang Guodong had promised that it must be built. Besides, even a small mosquito is still meat. A large amount of crystals is the main means to ensure that their own people can cultivate quickly.
However, Zhang Guodong did not personally oversee this "First Restaurant," but instead sent Wei Yan to manage it. Only a very few people knew that the owner of this new restaurant was also the owner of "Wanxian Restaurant," meaning the two restaurants were owned by the same person.
The most crucial element, the chef, was chosen by Xiao Hu. He was also a little kid, and after a short training period, he was given ready-made ingredients and supplies and started working. "His culinary skills are naturally far from comparable to Xiao Hu's, but they're enough to handle the business over there."
Zhang Guodong originally thought that "First Restaurant" was far less successful than "Wanxian Restaurant," and that a monthly income of ten or eight thousand low-grade crystals would be quite good.
Unexpectedly, the business here gave Zhang Guodong a pleasant surprise. "The First Restaurant's monthly crystal income is not small, actually reaching ten to twenty thousand yuan."
The reason is that the development of the "Northwest Imitation Market" has exceeded expectations. Although it is far smaller and less influential than the "Southwest Imitation Market," with the presence of this village of two restaurants favored by outsiders, the "Northwest Imitation Market" has become the second largest imitation market in the outside world.
In this way, Zhang Guodong could earn about 70,000 low-grade crystals by visiting "Wanxian Restaurant" once a month, which is similar to "First Restaurant".
This number is substantial. Currently, the "Cultivator Guild," the "Random Cultivator Alliance," and other private forces are actively searching for crystal veins and other material mines, but there is still no news. Naturally, every crystal used is one less available. And the crystals Zhang Guodong consumes are a drop in the ocean compared to his income; the piles of low-grade crystals on the first level of Peach Blossom Spring are getting higher and higher.
Of course, only low-grade crystals appear on this first level. Mid-grade crystals, and the occasional high-grade crystal, are all placed by Zhang Guodong in the "Heavenly Platform" of the "Mountain and River World."
It doesn't matter if there are fewer high-grade crystals, but if Qingzhu secretly hoards some of the mid-grade and high-grade crystals, he'll be heartbroken.
That purple intermediate-grade storage bag must have a capacity of at least one cubic meter. If it were filled with high-grade crystals, it could hold thirty million low-grade crystals!
"It's time to go back to the city!"
Zhang Guodong withdrew his gaze, thinking to himself. Half a year ago, he took Wei Yunwang as a disciple, implanted a soul in him, left him the "Azure Profound Heart Sutra" and some low-grade crystals, and then disappeared.
He wondered how Wei Yunwang's cultivation was progressing, and whether he had followed his advice to distance himself from the decadent lifestyle of those playboys and focus on his cultivation. Frankly, this nominal discipleship was a result of a spur-of-the-moment decision. Wei Hong's father had wanted to visit him personally, but Zhang Guodong had refused.
Now, Xiang Chunyan has successfully taken office as the head of the High-tech Zone, promoted to the deputy ministerial level. With the support of several standing committee members who are staunch supporters of the gambling king, as well as Vice Mayor Wei, she is enjoying a very comfortable position as the head of the district.
At 35, the position of a deputy director-level government official is already quite high.
As for Zheng Le, after more than a year of training in the Personnel Department of the Provincial Party Committee Propaganda Department, she was promoted by Wang Yunyi to become the Deputy Secretary-General of the Provincial Government, which also put her at the deputy ministerial level. She was even younger than Xiang Chunyan, only thirty-one years old.
The two are considered to be very prominent political stars among female deputy-department-level cadres in the province.
Aside from the two women who had close relationships with Zhang Guodong, Fatty was not promoted to the position of secretary and mayor of Zhangba Township for a year and a half, less than two years, during this reshuffle. At the age of 28 this year, his qualifications are slightly insufficient for promotion to the position of director.
Moreover, the grand opening of Zhangba Township has only just begun, and the development has only just reached the "high crossroads." If we stay for another six months and wait for the new year's data to be released, that will be more useful than any seniority. It won't be too late to promote him to the position of director then.
However, while the fat man remained unmoved, some of his trusted subordinates were. Zhao Xiaowang, Ye Yun's half-brother, who was connected to Zhang Guodong, had matured considerably and made significant progress after his experience as deputy director of the Zhangba Township Police Station. Xiang Chunyan, Zhang Guodong, and the fat man discussed the matter and concluded that, having just assumed the position of district head, she needed to further cultivate her own personnel, especially in key government departments such as the Public Security Bureau and the Finance Bureau.
Although Jiang Lihan of the district public security bureau had a decent relationship with Xiang Chunyan, it was previously based on the alliance between Luo Jianhui and Xiang Chunyan. In this competition for the district head position, Luo Jianhui wanted to promote one of his trusted confidants, but Xiang Chunyan snatched the position, causing a significant rift in their relationship. Zhao Xiaowang was promoted from the Jiaba Township Police Station to become the captain of the Second Criminal Investigation Team in the district public security bureau, a position equivalent to a section chief. Although the rank wasn't high, at least he had someone on his side providing information and assistance to Xiang Chunyan.
As for the others, Zhang Guodong had no interest in paying attention to them.
Overall, however, with Wang Yunyi's successful appointment as governor of Xiqin Province, the Wang faction's influence throughout the province has been greatly enhanced and expanded.
Of course, this was inseparable from the support of Secretary Ying. Ying Chenggong provided significant support to those promoted by Zhang Guodong. However, Zhang Guodong did not recommend anyone; Xiang Chunyan and Zheng Le were simply promoted by Wang Yunyi.
"Xiao Zhang, you're finally out! Come over here quickly!" Zhang Guodong came out of the stone house, intending to greet the group and prepare the new seedlings, but as soon as he came out, he saw them and one of the old men waved and called out.
Zhang Guodong was puzzled, but he walked over anyway.
He doesn't participate in any research normally.
"Professor Liu, what's going on here?" Zhang Guodong walked over and saw that they were all tanned, but their spirits were high. Speaking of which, Zhang Guodong occasionally brought them some "second-grade spiritual fruit," which was very good for the health of the elderly.
Three old men and three young male and female assistants gathered together, pointing and gesturing at a patch of land.
It seems we've discovered some valuable information?
"A great discovery! A great discovery!" Before Professor Liu could speak, Professor Yan, the dark-skinned, thin old man next to him, shouted excitedly.
Zhang Guodong didn't know what the so-called "big discovery" was. Upon closer inspection, he saw a patch of seedlings that had grown to half a foot tall in the area the group had surrounded. There were no extras.
After six months of cultivation, the seedlings can now survive for up to 28 hours with adequate water! This is a significant research advancement.
However, this is nothing compared to the three-month growth cycle.
"Huh, these seedlings have grown so big?" Zhang Guodong suddenly wondered, "Can these seedlings grow this big at 28?"
Clearly, this height is far beyond the 28-hour growth period.
“That’s right! These are the plants that were transplanted when we expanded the area two weeks ago! A large number of them died after 27 hours, and these are the ones that were left over,” Professor Liu Zhengxun said with a smile.
However, a few plants were growing stubbornly on this small patch of land, which no one noticed at first.
Moreover, because so many plants had died, the area designated for transplanting had been shrunk significantly again, and watering of these few remaining plants was no longer carried out. Unexpectedly, an assistant accidentally discovered these few plants just now, leaving everyone speechless. This is unbelievable!
“This was definitely transplanted the week before last, but I'm also certain it hasn't been watered for over a week, I can guarantee it!” a young assistant excitedly chimed in. “It’s truly a miracle!”
"It grew this big without any watering?" Zhang Guodong's interest was piqued, and he was quite surprised.
Zhang Guodong took a half-foot-long seedling that had already been dug up and immediately determined that it was just an ordinary plant! His understanding of the "laws of life" was now much deeper than it had been six months ago.
He can instantly determine the growth status of any ordinary plant.
"This is just an ordinary crop; it doesn't seem to have 'evolved' much," Zhang Guodong said, feigning concern. He glanced at it.
"This is obviously an ordinary crop. A few hours ago, Lao Liu, Lao Kang, and I sliced it up and studied it! The content of various elements is normal, within the normal range. However, this small patch of land where the plant is growing is not simple! You should take a closer look!" Professor Yan said bluntly.
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