CHAPTER 355: CHAPTER 79: FARM CROPS

"Brother-in-law, we wouldn’t dare," said the person in charge of the Milk Feed Factory, who had infuriated Zhuo Feng not long ago. The grass feed for the factory was sourced from Inner Mongolia.

To have a boy in his family, he was caught by the village’s birth control team and fined, so he diverted the money elsewhere.

With not enough funds and unable to find cheaper feed, he hastily let the cattle and sheep out of the Milk Feed Factory, disregarding the complaints of the local residents and Zhuo Feng.

He certainly didn’t dare tell Huang Tengchong about this privately. When there was not enough feed, he simply drove the cattle and sheep out. When questioned, he was stubborn as a dead duck, refusing to admit that he had embezzled the money for the feed.

"If you weren’t Meixin’s biological brother, you’d be the first one I’d fire," scolded the man named Huang Tengchong, sporting a Seven-pointed haircut, slick with wax, but still looking somewhat decent.

This person was familiar; he was the toady translator whom Xiao Xian had encountered a few years ago at Bai Family Ancient Town.

He owns this Milk Feed Factory and is also the general manager of a well-known breeding company in Beijing.

"Brother-in-law, listen to what you’re saying. You’ve been with my sister, an unmarried maiden, for two years without formal status; you should look after me for her sake," pleaded the person in charge of the Milk Feed Factory with a sycophantic smile.

Previously, he was a pig farmer back in his hometown, very poor, but thanks to having a charming sister, he followed Huang Tengchong to Beijing and managed to become the factory head through nepotism.

Little did he know he would face trouble when they had to call a vet who said the animals had eaten spoiled feed and needed time to recover; hence, their milk couldn’t be sold for a while.

"Idiot, you think the grass in spring can be eaten carelessly, especially in the wild, without someone watching? Haven’t you heard of ’running green’?" (The phenomenon of ’running green’ refers to grazing cattle and sheep in spring, where they often eat quickly without ingesting enough, perpetually running forward in search of more grass, leading to exhaustion and poor weight gain)

Huang Tengchong, with a vocational diploma and fluent English, educated himself further in animal husbandry after entering the breeding industry, making him somewhat of an expert.

"I wouldn’t know, right? When I raised pigs, they just ate and slept; they never ran around like this," the in-charge thought. He was exasperated by how troublesome it was to rear these four-legged creatures.

"Such a fool, keep milking those sick cows. Get someone to give them more antibiotics. As for those sheep, emaciated from running, have them all slaughtered. I’ve negotiated with several hotpot restaurants in Beijing; urban folks are into hotpot these days. Just say our mutton is from Inner Mongolia, got it?" Seven-pointed Head indeed had some business acumen, which made the person in charge nod vigorously.

"But brother-in-law, giving cows too much of that stuff isn’t good, is it? The last time the vet came, he mentioned that it would get into the milk, and it wouldn’t be good for people drinking it," the in-charge thought, remembering how he used to only feed pigs spoiled feed and never dared to medicate them.

"It’s not a big deal. That stuff is called antibiotics; overuse might disrupt the human immune system and reduce disease resistance, but it won’t kill anyone. Also, where exactly did those sick cattle and sheep graze?" With so much milk causing diarrhea and vomiting, there must be an unexplained cause, surely it’s the wrongdoing of the local residents.

Damn these country bumpkins; I responded to the district government’s call to build this Milk Feed Factory here in this godforsaken place, raising transportation costs, creating job opportunities for them. And instead of being grateful, they bite back. If they aren’t dealt with, they really might think "Huang’s Breeding" is easy to mess with.

"The problem-causing cattle and sheep were all kept on that barren land one kilometer away; it’s been deserted for decades. I even had it checked before letting them graze, the grass was growing well then. Just last month, a young couple moved in, argued over the feed, and I drove them out," the in-charge quickly reported.

"Did you check that couple? Young people living in this desolate place, I suspect it was them who tampered with the feed," said Huang Tengchong as he lit a cigarette and put it in his mouth.

"They shouldn’t have, they seemed educated, said they were college students," the in-charge, who hadn’t even completed elementary school, always held a degree of reverence for those who were literate.