"Brother Yang, Manager Liao didn't know who I was just now; one can't blame him for not knowing. How about giving me some face and offering him a chance to make amends?"
Seeing the pitiful look on Manager Liao's face, Liang Fei couldn't bear it and pleaded on his behalf to Yang Jingtian.
Manager Liao had been working in the hotel for many years, and though he might not have great achievements, he certainly had experienced hardships. In truth, Yang Jingtian did not have the heart to fire him.
Now that Liang Fei was pleading for him, Yang Jingtian quickly took the opportunity to help and glared fiercely at Manager Liao, barking, "Did you hear that? Afei is a righteous man who repays evil with kindness and is pleading for you. Aren't you going to thank him right now?"
Manager Liao had thought that today was the end for him, never expecting Liang Fei to actually plead on his behalf. Overjoyed upon hearing this, he quickly bobbed his head and bowed to Liang Fei, saying, "Thank you, Afei... no, no, thank you, Brother Fei. If you ever need anything in the future, just let me know and I'll take care of it!"
"Alright, alright, get back to hosting the guests!"
As Manager Liao was babbling on, Yang Jingtian couldn't hide his impatience and kicked him, then turned to the security guards and service staff gathered around and shouted, "What are you all looking at? Get back to work now!"
The crowd quickly dispersed, and Yang Jingtian also laughed heartily to Liang Fei, saying, "Come on, Afei, let me take you to meet my business partners."
"Great!"
Liang Fei answered and followed behind him.
"By the way, Brother Yang, you seemed very anxious just now. Did you run into some sort of trouble?" While walking and chatting, Liang Fei asked casually.
"Ah, it's nothing too serious, just some trouble with the vegetable supply in the hotel," Yang Jingtian said with a sigh.
"Vegetables?" Liang Fei's mind stirred at the mention.
"Yes, it's like this..."
Seeing Liang Fei's interest, Yang Jingtian then opened up about the trouble he had encountered.
It turned out that Yang Jingtian operated several chain hotels in Binyang City, and the vegetable demand for these hotels was substantial. Previously, Yang Jingtian had always entrusted a few large vegetable companies within the city to supply them.
However, a recent investigation by the market quality supervision department revealed that the vegetables supplied by these large companies contained excessive amounts of heavy metals and chemical residues.
The worst of it was that some unscrupulous vegetable suppliers soaked the vegetables in sulfur water to improve their color, making them look more appealing.
After undercover reporters and TV stations exposed this scandal, the business and quality inspection departments immediately dealt with the companies involved and started a strict investigation of the problematic vegetables in the market, especially in the catering industry, intensifying inspections.
Yang Jingtian had received a call earlier and left because the quality inspection department had found problematic vegetables in the hotel's warehouse and had taken action.
Hearing Yang Jingtian explain the situation, a thought that had been brewing in Liang Fei's mind suddenly became clear. He asked, "Brother Yang, now that the market's problematic vegetables have all been sealed off, does that mean the demand for vegetables has increased?"
"That might be the case, but it's not entirely true," Yang Jingtian said, nodding and then shaking his head. "What the quality supervision department dealt with were just those few local companies involved. Vegetables from other places are still continuously being transported here. The supply of these vegetables can still meet the demand of the citizens."
"However..."
Pausing, Yang Jingtian continued, "Even though these out-of-town vegetables can pass the initial quality inspection, they're all grown in greenhouses, fed with various fertilizers, and lack flavor. The citizens don't really like them."
Hearing this, Liang Fei felt the flames of hope within him flare up even more.
He was worrying about having nothing to do in the future, and wasn't this a great business opportunity right before his eyes!
If he went back to the village to lease dozens of acres of land, applying the Shennong Scripture's secret technique for farming to grow vegetables, and then irrigated them with Immortal Lake Water, they would definitely be very popular with the citizens.
The vegetables sold in the market were expensive and not tasty, so city dwellers usually scrambled to buy the crops farmers brought into the city to sell.
Liang Fei was fully confident that vegetables watered with Immortal Lake Water would be even more delicious than the ordinary farm crops; if he developed his vegetable farming enterprise, it would surely be very promising!
"Afei, what are you thinking about?"
Lost in thought, Liang Fei remained silent until Yang Jingtian, noticing his quietness, asked in confusion.
"Brother Yang, I have an idea..."
Liang Fei didn't hide his thoughts and shared his plan to go back to the village to grow vegetables.
"Growing vegetables... that's indeed a good path!"
After hearing this, Yang Jingtian expressed his agreement but couldn't help expressing his concern, "However, Afei, you must ensure that the vegetables you grow have a specialty and taste good! If they are just average, the market outlook is not optimistic..."
"Brother Yang, don't worry, I assure you that my vegetables will be tasty. I'm going to go back right now and start planting!"
With the Shennong Scripture's agricultural secret in hand, and the addition of Immortal Lake Water, Liang Fei was full of confidence. He slapped his thigh and was ready to head back.
"Hey, Afei, don't be in such a hurry to plant vegetables, let's go have a meal first, and then you can go back to plant after we've eaten."
Before Liang Fei had taken two steps, Yang Jingtian, smiling wryly, pulled him into the elevator...
The friends that Yang Jingtian introduced to Liang Fei were elites from various sectors of Binyang City society; although their social statuses were high, they were very approachable and didn't look down on him because of his clothes or age.
Moreover, when they learned that Liang Fei was skilled in medicine, having cured Yang Jingtian's years of heel pain with just one prescription, they began to see him in a new light.
After a satisfying meal, Liang Fei bid farewell to everyone, boarded a bus, and rushed home.
Liang Fei's home was located in Hengqiao Village, twenty miles outside Binyang.
Although Hengqiao Village was a mountain village, the transportation was very convenient, with regular buses from the city center passing through the village entrance.
Just as Liang Fei reached the village entrance, he saw his neighbor Auntie Wang approaching. He was about to greet her when she hurriedly exclaimed, "Xiaofei, you must rush home to check, your father has had another attack, and your mother can't manage by herself."
Upon hearing that his father had fallen ill, Liang Fei, deeply alarmed, didn't even have time to thank Auntie Wang before he hurriedly dashed toward his house.
Liang Fei's father had suffered from serious cerebral thrombosis for many years, with high blood pressure, and had been bedridden for a long time. The family had visited many hospitals for his treatment, spending nearly all their savings without seeing any improvement.
Seeing no money left for his father's treatment, the family had no choice but to let him recuperate at home. Being a dutiful son, Liang Fei had heard that traditional Chinese medicine could cure his father's illness. Without completing high school, he went to Wu Liang's clinic, hoping to learn traditional Chinese medicine while treating his father with herbal remedies.
But who would have thought, Wu Liang had no real interest in teaching him medicine, instead, he deducted many herbal medicines from his salary.
Over the years, his father had taken many herbal medicines prescribed by Wu Liang, yet the cerebral thrombosis showed no signs of being cured. Not only that, but it often flared up.