Chapter 847 - Ocean Plantation
It has almost been a year since he arrived in Penglai.
Zhou Qiang never imagined that with his ordinary life, he could become a millionaire one day.
In 2017, under the influence of his family members, he went through the online recruitment process and went to Xin for work. Penglai was just under construction at that time. With a good physique and hard-working spirit, he was transferred to the deck crew.
The name “deck crew” sounded sophisticated, but in reality, his everyday work involved tossing “boxes” into the water. When he was free, he helped unload the supply ships or helped with cleaning.
To be honest, until the completion of Penglai, he couldn’t believe that the giant city floating up from underneath the ocean was a project he participated in.
After the completion of Penglai City, everyone received a 20,000 dollar bonus. Because of their good performance, after the deck operation team was disbanded, he was very fortunate not only to become a member of Future Heavy Industries, but he also received the opportunity to purchase an apartment in Penglai at an employee discount price. At a price of 90,000 US Dollar, he bought a property in a remote area.
Now, the market price of this Class One unit was already close to 500,000 US Dollar.
And there was no supply on the market at all!
Converted into his hometown’s currency, his assets were over the one million mark.
However, despite this, he still worked at a very basic job in Penglai. His educational level wasn’t high, and he couldn’t do anything else.
There was a provision in the purchase agreement which stated that although this internally purchased property was regarded as his one of his assets, it couldn’t be leased within three years and couldn’t be sold within ten years. Otherwise, he would’ve really liked to rent the house, rake in Xin New Dollars, and return to his hometown to live…
In the past year, he worked as a plumber and worked on sorting. His work duties changed every few months. Fortunately, every job move brought a raise; otherwise, he was almost certain he’d have gone insane.
However, this time, the company’s orders this time left him completely confused.
[Transfer to Future Biology? Penglai Oil Crops Plantation?]
He predicted that this order came in because when he first submitted his resume, he included a line that said he worked in forestry before. However, it was hard to even see soil on Penglai, let alone work on a plantation?
Also, what were oil crops?
With his many years of experience, it was his first time hearing that oil could be grown from the ground!
However, this question didn’t linger in his heart for too long. When he was taken to the workplace to see things with his own eyes, all the doubts in his heart turned to shock.
The rectangular floating plantation held by a material he didn’t know was stably floating on the ocean. The soil was half a meter above sea level and was protected by clapboards to prevent high salinity waves from entering.
Zhou Qiang estimated that the length of such an expanse of a floating plantation was probably about two hundred meters, with an area of about 100 acres. If just palm trees were planted, about ten thousand trees could fit. Planting trees wasn’t as troubling as planting crops; trees didn’t need much care. With two people managing this floating plantation; the job shouldn’t be exhausting.
After boarding this floating plantation, Zhou Qiang glanced at the ditch around the wall and saw that the ditch was filled with clear water. He didn’t know if the water was saline or fresh.
However, if it was used for irrigation, it shouldn’t be saline.
Constrained by his level of education, he didn’t know much about semipermeable membrane technology. However, he didn’t have to know. The people on top didn’t need the workers to understand the principles; they simply needed to follow the instructions to plant the transported palm trees into the ground.
After a while, this floating plantation carried about a hundred people.
After being greeted by the leader, Zhou Qiang followed behind others and stood in the middle of this floating plantation.
“In a while, the researcher of Future Biology will come to teach you how this tree should be planted and what you need to do…”
“Boss, I know how to plant trees!” Someone hiding in the crowd shouted out in a hippie tone.
“Aren’t they palms? I’ve planted them before!”
“We don’t need university students to teach us; just give us the saplings!”
Seeing as these people apparently weren’t taking his words seriously, the leader with a beer belly scoffed and suddenly increased his volume by several decibels.
“I know you’ve planted trees before, and don’t give me that hippie attitude. I’m telling you – the trees you’ll plant in the future won’t grow fruit; they’ll grow gold! You hear me?!”
Gold!
Everyone was shocked.
Although many people thought otherwise, their impatient attitudes disappeared and gradually turned into curiosity.
This type of palm tree was really this precious?
“Okay!”
At this time, a very, educated-looking young man dressed in jeans and a white shirt came out.
The boss with a beer belly, after seeing the researcher, suddenly put on a flattering smile and politely invited him to the front. The researcher skillfully turned on the hologram function on his Future phone, cleared his throat and got straight to the point. He explained the details of the job to the new plantation employees.
This included how much water to be used for irrigation every day, how much oil should be extracted each week, and how to extract oil. Every step had to follow the procedure! Everyone, including Zhou Qiang, was starting to feel confused. And the few who shouted they planted trees before were also dumbfounded.
After the lecture was over, the researcher turned off the holographic screen and looked around at all the employees present.
“If you don’t understand anything, just ask.”
The crowd lingered for a long time but no one spoke out. They didn’t understand anything and they didn’t even know where to start.
The researcher apparently expected this and he didn’t expect these people to digest the techniques in such a short period of time. All he needed was for these people to understand the planting process. The floating plantation workers’ huts were equipped with computers that were connected to the company’s intranet. They could refer to the details there.
As long as they were willing to learn, nothing would be a challenge.
“I hope you’ll take this job seriously.” The researcher pushed up his glasses and glanced at everyone’s faces. “In the future, you’ll be divided into one hundred production teams, two people per team. Each team will be responsible for one hundred acres of floating plantations. For the top ten production teams, the company will provide bonuses ranging from 100,000 to 10,000 XND, which will be paid along with the year-end bonus.”
“The things I just talked about are in your dormitories – that is, your huts.” The researcher pointed to the iron houses on the edge of the floating island. “If you don’t understand anything, you can ask through the intelligent program.”
“Time is money. The earlier you start, the further ahead you’ll be of your competition.”
“But let me emphasize this again – if the saplings die, your bonus will be reduced.”
The researcher stressed the last sentence then looked at the leader with a beer belly and gave him the remainder of the time.
“Do you all understand?!” The leader shouted at the top of his lungs.
“Understand!”
With the incentive of bonuses, everyone’s eyes were burning with a fighting spirit. They were eager to rush into their dormitories now and study the planting techniques. As the researcher said, time was money! If they started production one day earlier, they would have a lead over their opponents’ output by a day!
100,000 XND, converted into his hometown currency, was more than 600,000!
Even if the bonus was divided into two people, one person could receive 300,000!
It was the first time they worked in a positio with such a ridiculous bonus.