After Apocalypse, I Got Rich With Superpower

Chapter 101: Chapter 99: Consultation

Chapter 101: Chapter 99: Consultation

After discussing, everyone decided when they would take their days off. These two months were relatively idle, as the large-scale harvest had not yet come. They agreed that they would not take a break during the harvest season. It was fine if the renovations weren’t finished this year; they could also be done after the coming spring.

However, for the furniture, they needed to arrange for someone to come and make it, which required visiting the house first to see what needed to be done.

“There’s another thing, the farm’s output is increasing, and I need to focus on nurturing the medicinal materials and Spirit Plants. I might not have much time to supply superpowers to the fields in the future. The Spirit Plants need more superpower than I thought. I want to ask everyone if we should hire two more superpower users. We definitely need a middle-level Wood Power User, and I feel we lack one for both Water and Earth Elements. What do you think, are temporary workers better, or should we hire permanent staff?”

In their farm, everyone would discuss and decide on matters together, and both Li Pan and Xue Dong were not domineering in nature. They disliked autocratic decision-making and were open to everyone’s opinions.

“I’ve calculated our basic finances and suggest that we first hire temporary workers. It’s mainly during spring plowing and harvest that we’re the busiest. At other times, we can manage on our own. This would save quite a bit in expenses.”

Qin Jianzhong suggested hiring temporary workers to save money.

“I also agree with Jianzhong’s suggestion. Other farms are managed by large families who work without salaries. We all are paid salaries and even receive bonuses, so this expense isn’t small. My thought is, when Zhang Qi, Xie Linglin, and Tian Yi are promoted to high-level superpower users, we won’t lack Wood Element superpower users anymore.”

“Exactly, saving whatever we can is beneficial. We can wait until we’re promoted to high-level before worrying about a shortage of superpower users in other elements, which will allow us to cover a larger area of land. Hiring temporary workers is definitely more cost-effective. You’ll face lesser pressure, and if we really need more people later on, we can wait until the nurturing of the Spirit Plants has significantly improved and the farm’s revenue has increased before hiring.”

Jiao Ming also disagreed with hiring more permanent staff as the pressure on Li Pan was already substantial.

“Okay, I’ll listen to you.”

“Sis, don’t worry, I can take care of a lot of fields now. I’ll reach high-level very soon, you can trust me.”

Xie Ling was exceptionally talented and had top-tier superpower abilities; she was only limited by her young age and lacked time.

Li Pan smiled and pinched her face, “Good, sis believes in you. Once you reach high-level, we can research together on nurturing Spirit Plants. That’s where the big money is. If we get this right, the revenue for the farm is no big deal.”

“Mhm.”

Xie Ling nodded with a smile curving her eyes.

Since everyone was against bringing in new people, they would let the matter rest for now. Xue Dong had mentioned on his way there that they might not agree; it wasn’t about the money—as the farm was making money, otherwise they wouldn’t distribute such generous bonuses—but rather that harmonious relationships take time to build and involve emotional investment. Interpersonal relations can be tricky.

They would all be living under one roof, seeing each other every day, so it was understandable to worry that new people might affect their relationships.

People from inside the East Mountain Base had their own tasks and were unlikely to come here to work. After forming the Patrol Team, they were actually short-staffed and had rehired some of the combat superpower users who had previously resigned to do temporary work.

Thus, any new people would likely be outsiders, which was why there was some resistance.

Familiar faces like Qian Xi and Liu Hu from their ‘brotherhood’ couldn’t come, nor could Zhao Quan, who had advanced to a High-level Space Superpower User and gained significant attention along with a higher salary. Hiring from outside was the only option left, and the group was not receptive to strangers, fearing conflicts and backstabbing.

Another reason for their consideration was genuine concern for Li Pan’s welfare. Her stress was indeed overwhelming, involving not just financial aspects but also resource distribution.

To raise everyone to high-level superpower users required Crystal Cores and resources, all of which were currently Li Pan’s responsibility. Meanwhile, their Contribution points had barely been spent. If the newcomers were insincere and only wanted to take advantage of the farm’s benefits, it would be unfair to her, which was something they could not tolerate.

Almost all the farm’s members were orphans who had lived and fought together for many years. Knowing each other inside out, with no concerns about betrayal, allowed them to trust one another implicitly.

They intended to do it for a lifetime and never thought about leaving the farm.

If someone enjoyed the treatment given by Li Pan and rose to a high-level after a few years, then left, there would be nothing wrong with that, but fundamentally, it’s exploitation.

Jiao Ming and the others were very stubborn, thinking that if you enjoyed the benefits, you should stay for life, just as they also never planned to betray the Base Commander.

If you climb over Li Pan to get ahead, not to mention Xue Dong won’t accept it, they also can’t tolerate it, and there will be strict scrutiny for newcomers.

The issue with Ma Yan hasn’t been settled yet and has served as a warning to everyone, making them much more vigilant for fear that someone might exploit loopholes.

There’s no need to tell Li Pan certain things, to avoid overthinking on her part, such bothersome matters are the men’s responsibility.

Li Pan doesn’t care about Ma Yan’s issue anymore. Even if she wanted to sell shares, she couldn’t decide alone and would need the approval of Xue Dong and everyone. Elders like Jiao Ming and Qin Jianzhong would never agree to sell any shares. At present, everyone agrees on giving salaries and bonuses; no one has been treated unfairly. Why bother scheming and plotting?

Qian Xi caught Ma Yan and her daughter, and after several days of meticulous interrogation, he actually found out something.

He went to report to the Base Commander first.

“Boss, Ma Yan’s father has confessed. It was the Zhang Family from the rich district who gave him money. His family suffered severely during the frost disaster, almost completely wiped out. It was the Zhang Family that provided the money at the crucial moment, taking half the shares in return, and since then he has been following the Zhang Family’s orders. The Zhang Family has been eyeing Li Pan for a long time.”

“The first few times they secretly sought treatment, they caught onto something. To confirm their suspicions and guesses, they sent people in for treatment. Also, the quality of the produce from the farm is extremely good, the energy is high and it has an obvious nourishing effect on the body. That’s how they more or less confirmed it. Later, when you semi-publicly visited Dongshan Base with Pan’er sister, that completely confirmed their speculations, so they planned to scheme against Pan’er sister.”

The Base Commander snorted coldly, looking at Qian Xi and the other team leaders, tapping on the table.

“What did I say, there must be schemes behind this, right? It’s hard to guard against.”

“Are these people too idle, always plotting and scheming, really annoying.”

Liu Hu’s face was black as could be. He almost fell into their trap, which was quite embarrassing, and he could have put his brothers in trouble as well, truly disgraceful.

“Should we tell Pan’er and Xue Dong about this? It’s only fair to be more cautious.”

“Inform Xue Dong, but there’s no need to tell Pan’er. That girl is simple-minded, focusing all her thoughts on farming. Telling her wouldn’t be very useful. Both kids are of good character and won’t betray me, we just need to prevent others from exploiting loopholes.”

“Understood, we will strengthen patrolling and protect all the farms well. What about No. 4 Farm?”

The Base Commander sneered, “The Zhang Family is afraid I’ll discover they didn’t sign a contract. Now that the Ma Family has made a mistake, secretly cultivating prohibited medicinal materials, we’ll uproot them entirely, shut down No. 4 Farm, and sell it off to someone else later. I’ll make sure they lose everything.”

“Alright.”

Ma Yan’s family, in an attempt to make money, secretly cultivated prohibited medicinal materials on the farm, which were discovered. The evidence of their wrongdoing was readily available.

The Ma Family collapsed in less than a month. The base published photos, showing that the Ma Family, in pursuit of profit, cultivated forbidden medicinal materials, a grave taboo, and their punishment was justified.