Divine Level Witch Doctor

Zhao Yuan knew the old village chief was helping him cement his prestige, so he didn’t refuse. He stood up and said, ”Here’s the situation. I plan to lease the barren mountain west of the village to start a Chinese medicinal herb cultivation base. When the time comes, I’ll be hiring a large number of employees. My idea is to give first preference to people from our village and the neighboring ones. If any of you are interested, you can register with my dad.”

A well-meaning villager questioned, ”A Chinese medicinal herb cultivation base? Brother Yuan, you need to think this through. Transportation around here is inconvenient—it takes two hours just to get to the county town. If you grow Chinese medicinal herbs here, will you be able to sell them?”

Zhao Yuan smiled and said, ”Uncle Ma San, don’t you worry about sales. I’ve already sorted out a channel. To be honest with everyone, I’ve partnered with someone in Rongcheng City to start a pharmaceutical factory. Even if no one is willing to buy the herbs produced at the cultivation base, I can just ship them to my factory to be used.”

This was said to reassure the villagers. After the Chinese medicinal herb cultivation base was built, would no one be willing to buy the herbs it produced? ’What a joke!’ Zhao Yuan firmly believed that with the Five Elements Gourd and the Chinese Herbal Cultivation Technique left by Wu Peng, the herbs grown here were destined to become medicinal treasures that people would fight tooth and nail for!

But he couldn’t say any of this to the villagers. Even if he did, no one would believe him. It was better to use other words to put their minds at ease.

And it worked. The villagers were now optimistic about the prospects of the Chinese medicinal herb cultivation base. At the same time, they were surprised and impressed that Zhao Yuan had gone to Rongcheng City and, in just a few months, partnered with someone to start a pharmaceutical factory.

Inside and outside the courtyard, waves of admiration and praise broke out.

Hearing this, Zhao Shiquan and Shen Lijun both straightened their backs. When their children were successful, parents couldn’t help but feel immensely proud and honored.

Zhao Yuan continued, ”For employee wages, I’m thinking a base salary plus bonuses. The base pay will be two thousand a month. The bonuses will be distributed based on the annual profits from herb sales and the shares everyone holds in the cultivation base. I guarantee the annual bonus will be several times the base salary—maybe even more!”

The moment he finished speaking, an uproar erupted.

Many people even jumped to their feet in excitement, asking loudly, ”Brother Yuan, what did you just say the monthly salary was?”

Zhao Yuan replied, ”A base of two thousand plus a bonus. I’ll give every employee a certain amount of shares. These shares can’t be traded, but they will entitle you to a year-end bonus.”

”Really, two thousand a month? That’s over twenty thousand a year, isn’t it? My god, that’s so much money!”

”Two thousand a month? That’s more than I make working in the county town!”

”I’m a security guard in the county town, and I only make a thousand or two a month.”

A salary of two thousand yuan a month would be nothing to write home about in a big city. But in this remote little village, it was definitely a high salary. You have to understand, there were many families in the village where the entire household’s annual income was only a few thousand yuan. Now, a job that paid one person two thousand a month was right in front of them—and right on their doorstep, no need to leave their homes and families to work far away. How could they not be thrilled and excited?

As for the bonus, they had completely ignored it.

It wasn’t that they didn’t trust Zhao Yuan, but the bonus seemed too abstract compared to the concrete salary. Besides, they didn’t have high hopes for it; a bonus of two or three thousand a year would be fantastic, and they didn’t dare to dream of more. After all, one should be content with what they have.

Little did the villagers know that in the future, this bonus would far exceed their base salary many times over! And it was with these bonuses that they would walk the path to prosperity...

After the excitement, some people grew worried:

”Brother Yuan, what if I don’t know how to grow Chinese medicinal herbs?”

”Me too. I’m good at growing vegetables, but I’ve never grown medicinal herbs before.”

Zhao Yuan smiled and said, ”Growing Chinese medicinal herbs is very similar to growing vegetables. You are all expert farmers. With just a little study, you’ll be able to master the techniques. You don’t need to worry about that at all.”

Someone else felt the salary Zhao Yuan was offering was too high and worried he couldn’t afford it. They tried to persuade him, ”Brother Yuan, two thousand a month is just too much. Even if you gave us a thousand... no, even eight hundred would be fine!”

These incredibly simple and honest words moved Zhao Yuan, but he didn’t agree to the suggestion. He smiled and said, ”The base salary is set. I’m not changing it. As for it being too much? Heh, wait until a year from now when the bonuses are paid out. Then you can tell me if the base salary is too high or too low!”

Zhao Yuan knew very well that the medicinal herbs cultivated at his base would definitely sell for a handsome price!

After all, wild herbs over a hundred years old were sold at astronomical prices on the market! And with the Arrays and techniques left by Wu Peng, cultivating wild herbs of that age was as easy as flipping one’s palm! In fact, Zhao Yuan had already lost interest in these hundred-year-old wild herbs; his only hope was that he could nurture a few stalks of Spirit Medicinal Materials.

With the good news Zhao Yuan had announced, the villagers were all incredibly excited and happy. Many immediately ran to find Zhao Shiquan to sign up. Even some of the young people working in the county town were planning to quit their jobs and come back to work.

Amid their happiness, the villagers didn’t forget Zhao Yuan, and one after another, they came over with their cups to toast him. Fortunately, Zhao Yuan’s Cultivation had already reached the Mid Stage of Marrow Cleansing Realm, and his ability to break down alcohol far surpassed that of an ordinary person. Otherwise, he would have been drunk under the table by the enthusiastic villagers!

After lunch, Zhao Yuan decided to go take a look at the mountain he had leased.

The old village chief, his face flushed from drinking, led a few young men along with him. As for his father, Zhao Shiquan, he had taken the village committee’s accountant into town on his motorcycle. They were going to the bank to handle the paperwork and transfer the lease money into the village committee’s account so it could be distributed to the villagers.

The mountain was collectively owned by the villagers, so the money from the lease naturally had to be divided among them.

In addition, Zhao Shiquan also needed to buy some construction materials. Although the village could provide the manpower to repair the dilapidated temple and build the housing for the cultivation base, the materials still needed to be purchased.

In Zhao Yuan’s plan, they didn’t need to build too much housing for the cultivation base, but an office building, a drying yard, and a processing workshop were essential.

Soon, Zhao Yuan, the old village chief, and the others arrived at the mountain.

The soil on this mountain was much poorer than in other places, making farming it twice the work for half the reward. That was why it had been left barren, with only a few scattered fields. There weren’t many large trees on the mountain, just some weeds and low shrubs, giving it a desolate air.

Perhaps feeling guilty that Zhao Yuan was spending so much money and offering the villagers such good benefits only to lease the most barren mountain, the old village chief said, ”Brother Yuan, the soil on this mountain is too poor. Why don’t you pick a different spot?”