Chapter 70: Greenery in Winter
"It's snowing again!"

Guo Yang and the other two covered the last farm machine with the tarpaulin tightly, and the work was done.

Walking out of the warehouse, goose feather-like snowflakes fell from the sky and landed on the alfalfa meadow.

It was a vast expanse of white, as far as the eye could see, just as the poem described: "The scenery of the north is covered with ice for thousands of miles and snow for thousands of miles."

The three of them sat in the corner of the warehouse, admiring the snowy scene which they were a little tired of.

Cai Bin looked at the snow on the pasture and asked worriedly, "Boss, the signs of a cold winter are obvious this year. The alfalfa we sowed last on the pasture is only a few centimeters tall. Can it survive this winter?"

Guo Yang smiled and also stared at the improved saline-alkali pasture intently.

"Have you ever heard that children have a hot temper? The same is true for plants. Young plants are more resistant to cold than old plants. As long as a few leaves with three leaflets grow, alfalfa will develop cold resistance."

"But I looked at the weather forecast recently and the temperature is going to drop to minus 20 to 30 degrees Celsius, and there will be several heavy snowfalls."

"It's good to have heavy snow. The heavier the snow, the thicker it is. The thicker the snow, the easier it is for alfalfa to survive the winter."

Of course, Guo Yang also knows that he cannot escape this cold winter, and alfalfa planted in the north often suffers from frost damage.

However, Alfalfa Agriculture and Animal Husbandry has taken all possible cold-resistant measures. It built drainage measures during land preparation, selected cold-resistant and disease-resistant varieties of Brilliant and Oasis as seeds, and applied sufficient potassium fertilizers before winter.

Cai Bin still had a puzzled look on his face and turned to look at Zhang Wei.

"Why are you looking at me? I only know that the snow is thick and the temperature down there will be higher."

Seeing this scene, Guo Yang continued to explain to the two.

"It doesn't snow every day in winter. Sometimes the sun comes out, which causes the temperature on the snow surface to fluctuate greatly."

"When the temperature rises, dormant alfalfa will break dormancy, the crown buds will begin to grow, and the nutrients accumulated in the roots will be consumed. When the temperature returns to low temperatures, the crown buds will be killed."

"The deeper the snowpack, the more it insulates the alfalfa from the very cold and wildly fluctuating temperatures on the snowpack surface, and the alfalfa actually experiences less freeze damage."

"While ice can harm alfalfa, snow cover is beneficial because it acts as a good insulator and protects the plant from extreme cold and fluctuating temperatures."

Zhang Wei and Cai Bin seemed to understand what was said, but they understood the general meaning.

Cai Bin exclaimed: "I didn't expect the boss to understand this."

"The boss is a graduate student from the Agricultural University, so of course he knows a lot more."

Cai Bin was suddenly stunned, because the boss was more skilled in driving and maintaining farm machinery than he and Zhang Wei, and he often ignored Guo Yang's academic qualifications.

It wasn't just him, many people in the company were like this. It was often said at Tianhe that the boss liked to go to the base alone, and by the time the management found out, he might have already become one with the workers.

"The boss is awesome!" Cai Bin couldn't help but compliment him.

"Nonsense, the speed of a train depends on the locomotive. Tianhe has developed so fast because of the support of the boss."

Listening to the somewhat awkward flattery between the two, Guo Yang couldn't help it.

"Just two sentences are enough, the more you say, the more outrageous it gets."

"And this has nothing to do with academic qualifications. Just like a room needs to be cleaned regularly and a mirror needs to be wiped regularly, people grow through continuous learning."

"I learned all this from Master Xiang."

From what Guo Yang had learned in the past, plants in nature often grow in one place and cannot move.

But the plants do not stand there getting wet in the rain, freezing, being eaten and waiting to die. Instead, they respond to the misfortunes in life with a positive attitude.

If a seed is pressed under a stone, it will find opportunities to grow out of the cracks in the stone by all means.
In the land away from the sun, the plants will grow thin and tall to where there is sunlight; persimmons avoid accumulating flavor substances before they mature, and they are relatively hard to avoid predators;
Peppers accumulate capsaicin and garlic accumulates allicin to reduce palatability and produce toxicity, thus preventing them from being eaten in large quantities;
When the mimosa is touched, its open leaves close up;

Tobacco accumulates nicotine…

Thinking of Lao Xiang, Guo Yang recalled the scene when he sent him to the airport.

Lao Xiang seemed to be hesitant to speak, and Guo Yang thought he didn't have enough money, so he again proposed to advance his salary.

But Lao Xiang held it in for a long time before he said quietly, "Is Alfalfa No. 1 a real alfalfa seed?"

Thinking of this, Guo Yang stood up, put on his hat, and wrapped himself up tightly. "Come on, accompany me to see the seed field of Alfalfa No. 1."

The three of them were walking in the snow. The snow was not thick, but it still left shallow footprints, and sometimes they would make crackling sounds when they stepped on dead branches.

A guardhouse has been built on the seed field side, and a layer of snow has been covered on the roof, fence and isolation belt.

When Guo Yang and the other two arrived here, a white dog tied with an iron chain jumped out and barked at them.

It looks extremely brutal!

It has a furry tail, a big head, a short and wide mouth, and exposed sharp teeth that show its strong bite force.

“When did you get the dog?”

Zhang Wei said, "This was brought by Grandpa Wang who is in charge of the seed fields. It is a native dog from the Longnan mountainous area. It is very good at guarding the house. It was previously raised by Grandpa Wang's son on a construction site."

"Two strangers came here some time ago, probably intending to steal seedlings. After being discovered, they tried to escape, but were caught by Erwazi from Shuangqiao Village."

Cai Bin also said loudly: "Boss Xiang had those two thieves beaten up. They must have suffered some serious injuries and were sent to the police station in the end."

"What nonsense! Was that something that Xiang Zongrang asked? It was something that everyone did spontaneously."

Guo Yang knew about the thief who broke into the alfalfa No. 1 seed field, and Lao Xiang had reported the matter specifically.

Stealing seeds and seedlings is a common occurrence in the industry, and even large seed companies and international giants cannot avoid it.

People in China steal from foreign countries, and people abroad steal from domestic countries. They are very busy and have a lot of fun.

Fortunately, for subsequent seed production, alfalfa has a sterile breeding method provided by seed stores.

If we just want to expand the original species, we can only strengthen management and protection.

Business wars in the real world are often so plain and simple. For example, the Guangdong Province likes to sneak into the rival company and then kill the fortune tree with boiling water.

The door of the nursing room was opened, and Uncle Wang came out wearing a thick polar military coat and a military green velvet hat on his head.

"Who?"

"Uncle Wang, it's me, Zhang Wei! I brought the boss over to see the seed fields."

Uncle Wang came out, took the dog and opened the simple guardrail.

Guo Yang then noticed that this local dog was a bit old, with dirty fur, and he didn't know how long it could live.

When they were outside the fence, the view of the seed field was not clear due to the obstruction of snow, but when they looked closer, Guo Yang understood why Lao Xiang asked that question.

Amid the flying snowflakes, the green scenery cannot be suppressed.

The alfalfa is already nearly twenty centimeters tall, standing tall in the snow!

(End of this chapter)