I'm in the county town, and you say I'm a big shot?

Chapter 623, Section 622: "Truly, life is full of unexpected encounters."

Ma Yun and Zhang Xuhao arrived first, along with their driver. Ma Yun also brought two attendants who appeared to be bodyguards.

"Welcome, welcome." Fang Qingye personally greeted the guests at the door.

Ma Yun walked at the front, and upon entering the nursery, she slowed down to look at a row of blooming bonsai flowers in the southeast, with red, pink, and white flowers interspersed.

What kind of flower is that?

"Camellia sasanqua, belonging to the Theaceae family, has leaves that resemble tea leaves and flowers that resemble plum blossoms. It is a variety that is between camellia and tea flower."

"First time I heard of it."

Ma Yun walked up to it and admired it carefully.

"Hmm, and it has a faint fragrance."

“Yes, the elegance of the flower and the grace of the plum blossom.” Fang Qingye replied, and seeing that Ma Yun liked it very much, she said, “If you like it, Ms. Ma, which one do you prefer, I will give it to you.”

"Really? Then I'll accept it without hesitation." Ma Yun pointed to a pot of white camellias: "This one is nice."

Fang Qingye immediately asked Zhang Xiaorui to bring out the pot of camellias.

After wandering around for a while, the group finally arrived at the courtyard, where tables, chairs, and tea sets had already been set up.

"Today I'd like to treat you to some local tea, Langshan Green Tea."

Ma Yun is also a tea connoisseur. It is said that she grows her own tea garden in her hometown of Hangzhou. Upon hearing Fang Qingye's words, she immediately became interested, but seeing that there were chairs around the table, she couldn't help but feel puzzled.

"Chairman Fang, it seems that it's not just me and General Manager Zhang who came today."

"Yes, Mr. Ma from Tencent, along with several other executives who attended the Wuzhen Summit, will also be coming over for tea today," Fang Qingye said truthfully.

"Oh my, Ma Huateng and the others are here too?" Ma Yun was a little surprised, but quickly smiled and said, "We didn't drink together the day before yesterday, but we're having tea together today!"

After settling Ma Yun in, the sound of car horns rang out again at the entrance of the nursery. Fang Qingye hurried over. This time, there were more vehicles, a total of five, and people got out of each car.

Ma Huateng, Zhang Chaoyang, Lei Jun, and Li Yanhong are all internet moguls, and the last person to get off the bus was a thin, middle-aged man.

Zhu Yun is here!
What the hell!

This is the most low-key boss ever!
Fang Qingye shook hands with everyone to welcome them and led them into the nursery.

"Everyone, welcome to my nursery for tea. We already have one guest ahead of us."

"Who?"

"Jack Ma of Alibaba."

Everyone was taken aback, and sure enough, they saw two people sitting in the courtyard not far away. One of them was older and was leisurely drinking tea.

"Life is full of unexpected encounters."

Ma Huateng and the others smiled as they entered the courtyard.

Ma Yun also saw the crowd walking this way, and stood up with a smile to greet them: "Come on, the tea prepared by Chairman Fang is quite good, everyone come and have a taste."

After everyone took their seats, Fang Qingye personally poured tea for everyone, and then asked Fang Fei and Zhang Xiaorui to invite the entourage of the big shots to sit at another table not far away to drink tea and rest.

Seven or eight luxury cars were parked at the entrance of the nursery, which quickly attracted the attention of passersby. Everyone was speculating that some important figures had come to visit Fang Qingye!

It's unclear who reported this to the community staff, who then reported it to the office leaders, and it quickly reached the ears of the county leaders.

Fang Qingye was still serving tea to the guests when her cell phone rang. Seeing it was her second uncle, Fang Jianhua, calling, she stepped aside to answer. "Second Uncle, what is it?"

"I heard from Director Wang of the office that there were many luxury cars parked at the entrance of the nursery. Did important guests arrive?"

"Yes, Ma Yun from Alibaba, Ma Huateng from Tencent, Lei Jun from Xiaomi, and Li Yanhong from Baidu, etc. They came here to have tea and chat after the first World Internet Conference in Wuzhen," Fang Qingye said.

Hey, hey.
So many influential figures from China's internet industry have come?
Fang Jianhua was startled and immediately said, "Then I will report to Secretary Lu and County Chief Wang, and we will receive them in the name of the county tonight."

"Please don't," Fang Qingye quickly dissuaded them. "They're just here for a private visit, there's no need to involve the authorities. To be honest, these people are always honored guests of local leaders wherever they go, and they're getting tired of it. Let them just have some tea here in peace."

Fang Jianhua thought that what he said made sense.

If county leaders get involved, these bigwigs will find it annoying, even if they don't say it, they might not come next time.

So he replied, "Okay, I'll report to County Chief Wang. But security needs to be strengthened. I'll call Director Liu of the Public Security Bureau and ask him to send a few police officers to guard the area near your nursery."

"That works too, plainclothes officers, okay?" Fang Qingye instructed.

After finishing the call, Fang Qingye called Fang Fei over and whispered a few instructions. Fang Fei immediately assigned two quick-witted workers to guard the entrance of the nursery.

It's not so much that I'm worried about anyone causing trouble, but mainly that I'm trying to keep out reporters.

Online information is so readily available; perhaps even reporters have caught wind of it.

These people make headlines wherever they go.

The courtyard became lively, with some drinking tea, others chatting, and still others strolling around the nursery to admire the various flowers and seedlings. Fang Qingye asked Fang Fei and Zhang Xiaorui to act as guides and introduce the plants.

At this moment, Zhu Yun walked over to Fang Qingye.

Zhu Yunlai, the oldest among them, was over fifty. He asked, "Chairman Fang, do you know General Manager Ning from COFCO?"

"Yes," Fang Qingye answered truthfully. "A friend and I jointly purchased a soybean trading company in South America. The soybeans we acquired were mostly transported back by COFCO, so we also have business dealings with each other."

"Your friend's name is Qiao Yongfeng, right? The CEO of Bangcheng International Trade Group," Zhu Yunlai replied.

"Yes, you know Mr. Zhu too?"

“I’ve heard of it.” Zhu Yunlai chatted for a couple of minutes before suddenly changing the subject: “A while ago, corn futures prices on the US CME futures market suddenly surged. It came without warning but with a fierce momentum. Even the four major grain giants, ADM and Louis Dreyfus, got involved, started going long on the futures market, and also stockpiled physical goods.”

Fang Qingye didn't interrupt, but listened quietly.

The recent rise in CME corn futures prices was largely due to the aggressive buying by these two companies. Otherwise, given the strength of Fang Qingye and his group of large investors, it would have been impossible for them to cause Panshi Agriculture to go bankrupt so quickly.

The rumors circulating about China importing large quantities of corn next year are likely fueled by these two companies.

Fang Qingye was unaware that these two companies were hoarding corn on the spot market.

Do they really think China will import large quantities of corn next year?

Seeing Fang Qingye's somewhat surprised look, Zhu Yunlai smiled and said, "The Ministry of Commerce has publicly stated that the corn import quota will increase next year, but the increase will not be significant. Therefore, corn prices have fallen sharply in both the US futures and spot markets."

Fang Qingye was aware of this, but what did it have to do with her?

They had already withdrawn long ago.

"ADM and Louis Dreyfus have been scammed. People in the industry say that the sudden surge in CME futures prices was caused by a group of Chinese speculators. Mr. Fang, were you the one who led this? I admire you."

(End of this chapter)