Chapter 32: Non-Salty Hospitality Water
Guo Yang came to Jiuquan specifically to find Xiang Tianshan, but he came from Jinda County.

At the provincial meeting, Guo Yang chose the contracted land locations in Jinta and Minqin counties, which had the largest areas of saline-alkali land.

But in fact, Guo Yang prefers Jinta County.

It is close to Jiuquan, and its natural geographical advantages make Jiuquan a globally recognized golden area for seed production.

Its vegetable and flower breeding and seed production enjoy a high reputation all over the world.

Many multinational seed companies have also set up operations here.

Therefore, considering the acquisition of natural energy, the production and propagation of 'Alfalfa No. 1' and the future development of seed companies, Jinta County is more suitable.

After the meeting, Guo Yang took Zhang Wei and Dr. Zhou’s team from the Planning and Design Institute to Jinta County for an inspection.

When passing Jiuquan, he asked Zhang Wei, Dr. Zhou and others to go to the Golden Pagoda first.

He stayed alone and contacted Xiang Tianshan, inviting him to meet to discuss the position at Alfalfa Agricultural Company.

Xiang Tianshan claimed that he was doing well at Huihuang Seed Industry, but when Guo Yang promised to hire him with a high salary, he hesitated.

He agreed to go with Guo Yang to check out the land first and then make plans, but Guo Yang had to pay him for his technical services over the next few days.

Listening to Xiang Tianshan also persuading him not to contract saline-alkali land in Jinda County, Guo Yang smiled and explained:
"Mr. Xiang, I know that the natural conditions in Jinchang, Qingyang and other areas are more suitable for growing alfalfa."

"But my main purpose is to improve the saline-alkali land, and growing forage grass is secondary."

Xiang Tianshan's dark face was full of confusion, but after thinking about it, he said, "Jinta does have a lot of saline-alkali farmland, and the price is cheap. If it is managed properly, there is still hope of profit in the future."

"Boss Xiang, my plan is to contract the uncultivated saline wasteland, not the arable land in the hands of ordinary people."

Xiang Tianshan looked at Guo Yang in disbelief. He regretted getting into Guo Yang's car a little.

"Why? The cost of saline-alkali wasteland is too high. The cost of improving wasteland cannot be recovered even if we plant grass for many years."

"Mr. Xiang, I have a recently approved alfalfa seed, 'Alfalfa No. 1', which is an extremely salt-tolerant forage grass variety. It may be able to survive effectively on moderately and severely saline-alkali land."

"Clover 1?"

Xiang Tianshan was still very skeptical.

Salt-alkali land is a comprehensive problem faced by many countries in the world, even though many countries and regions have established germplasm banks of halophyte resources.

But there are really no plants that can grow normally in moderately or severely saline-alkali land.

Guo Yang said: "How about it? Are you interested? Maybe we can change this era with seeds."

Xiang Tianshan remained indifferent and said, "I'm only interested in money."

The car was driving on a bumpy road, so Guo Yang had to pay attention to the road conditions at all times.

But he still said proudly: "Tell me the salary. How much do you want to switch from Brilliant Seeds to Alfalfa?"

Someone from the Beijing Human Resources and Social Security Bureau had previously given him a brief introduction to Xiang Tianshan's experience.

He spent the first half of his life working in an agricultural technology center in a coastal province on research and improvement of saline-alkali land, and in middle age he rose to the leadership level of the unit.

But a few years later, he was sentenced to three years in prison for embezzling project funds.

Therefore, he had long known that Xiang Tianshan was a greedy person.

But from today's contact, it seems that he is not only greedy for money, but also really short of money.

When Xiang Tianshan heard Guo Yang let him set his own salary, the corners of his dark eyebrows twitched involuntarily.

I thought carefully about how to answer.

But at this moment he sensed something and quickly said, "Mr. Guo, pull over."

"What happened?"

The car stopped on the country road, Guo Yang asked anxiously.

But Xiang Tianshan quickly got out of the car and started peeing on the poplar tree by the roadside.

My mind was immediately filled with question marks, "Can't you hold it in at all?"

Half an hour later, in Jinta County, Guo Yang met up with Zhang Wei, Dr. Zhou and others.

Dr. Zhou’s full name is Zhou Wenyang, but everyone is used to calling him Dr. Zhou.

In addition to him, the Planning and Design Institute of the Ministry of Agriculture also sent him two assistants: Zhang Xiaochuan and Liu Zan, both of whom were young men.

But they are only here to explore the way. The rest of the exploration and surveying teams will arrive only after they have understood the basic situation.

After giving Xiang Tianshan a brief introduction, the six people in two cars headed straight for the location selected on the map.

The county government had no idea when they would arrive, so they had to take this opportunity to check out the land.

If the situation gets bad, you can get away in time.

……

The two cars drove past the wastelands sandwiched between villages, and occasionally, scattered plants could be seen on the wastelands.

Xiang Tianshan has been working in Long Province for several years and is curious about what he sees.

Then he introduced: "Those are some salt-tolerant halophytes, including Suaeda salsa, Eupatorium odoratum, Nitraria sibiricum, Salt claw, and Reed grass."

"It looks pretty good, and the land is also okay." Guo Yang said with a smile.

Dr. Zhou and others couldn't help rolling their eyes at Guo Yang. Even this land, which was mostly white, could be said to be good.

How low is your goal?

Xiang Tianshan said pessimistically: "These are dry saline soils and meadow saline soils. All layers of the soil generally contain soluble harmful salts. Ordinary plants cannot survive. Ordinary alfalfa may not even grow seedlings."

Dr. Zhou, Zhang Xiaochuan and Liu Zan all looked solemn and were about to persuade Guo Yang to give up.

But they saw Guo Yang looking at the wasteland with satisfaction.

For a moment, it felt like there was something stuck in my throat.

Continuing along the country road, the two cars entered the only village in the nearby wasteland.

The road was a bumpy dirt road, and the car would raise a lot of dust when it passed by.

The abandoned land was covered with weeds taller than people. The walls were made of mud and stone bricks, and the doors and windows were made of wood. All I could see was poverty and backwardness.

From the map, this place belongs to Shuangqiao Village in Tianxing Town, and the nearest Yuanba Village is more than ten miles away. According to their calculations, the wasteland and cultivated land of the two villages add up to about 20 mu.

Two cars suddenly drove into the desolate and remote village, attracting many onlookers from the village.

Guo Yang got out of the car and asked the crowd, "Where is your village committee?"

In the crowd, there was a skinny old man, with a cigarette in his mouth, who said, "We don't have a village committee here."

"Then where does your village chief live? I'll look for him."

The old man puffed out a thick cloud of smoke and asked, "What do you want to see the village chief about? What are you doing here?"

"Uncle, we are here to inspect the saline-alkali land and plan to invest and contract the saline-alkali land here."

"Rent a piece of land?" The crowd suddenly exploded and started to move.

The old man even brought out a few benches from his home and asked everyone to sit down and wait, and then asked the onlookers to notify the village chief to come over immediately.

After waiting for a while, the village chief didn't come, but the old man and his family came out with a few bowls of water.

"It's so hot, come and drink some water."

The old man greeted everyone warmly, and afraid that everyone would not drink, he added a sentence.

"I just got this 'guest water' from the well. It's not salty."

Guo Yang took the bowl with a smile. The weather in June and July was indeed very hot.

But as soon as the water entered his mouth, he couldn't help but spit it out.

Is this the non-salty hospitality water? Then what did I drink before?
(End of this chapter)