Back to 2008: I Helped My Dad Become the Richest Man

The Luo family spent the next two days in anxious waiting.

Luo Xinde polished the telephone until it shone every day and placed it in the most conspicuous place, afraid of missing a call from the Golden Bay Hotel.

He was always distracted while working, frequently running to the office door to ask, "Is there a phone call?"

Li Minxia did the same; while preparing the feed, she listened intently to the sounds coming from inside the house.

Every time the phone rings, her heart skips a beat, but most of the time it turns out to be a wrong number.

Only Luo Xiyuan appeared the calmest on the surface. She went to school as usual, and after school she came back to help out and look up information, as if she had forgotten about the incident. But only she knew how nervous she was inside.

This operation can be considered the biggest gamble she has ever taken since her rebirth. If successful, the Luo family farm will rise to prominence and usher in a completely new era.

If we fail, the loss of over a thousand yuan is secondary; more importantly, it will be a heavy blow to the confidence of the whole family.

On the afternoon of the third day, Luo Xiyuan had just returned home from school when she saw her father, Luo Xinde, rushing out of the house with an excited expression.

"Xiyuan! It's here! It's here! The phone's ringing!" He was so excited that he was almost incoherent.

"Whose call was it? From Jin Haiwan?" Luo Xiyuan's heart jumped into her throat.

"Yes! It was Manager Wang who called!" Luo Xinde nodded vigorously. "He...he said...he wants to come to our farm in person tomorrow!"

"What? He's coming in person?" This news was completely beyond Luo Xiyuan's expectations.

She thought the other party would at most make a phone call to inform her of the result—either cooperate or forget it. Unexpectedly, this Manager Wang actually came to her door in person!

What does this mean? It means that their pork not only met the standards, but far exceeded the expectations of the other party. It was so good that a purchasing manager from a five-star hotel was willing to personally travel to the countryside to find out for himself!

"That's wonderful!" Luo Xiyuan was so excited she almost jumped up. "Dad, what did he say? Is he satisfied with our pork?"

"Satisfied! Extremely satisfied!" Luo Xinde's face lit up as he spoke. "You wouldn't believe it, Manager Wang's tone on the phone was completely different from last time! He was incredibly polite! He said their head chef used the pig we sent to make a braised pork belly and a honey-glazed char siu, and the customers who tried it raved about it! They said they'd never tasted pork that was so fragrant and had such a great texture!"

"He also said that their hotel's head chef, Chef Li, personally cut open that piece of pork belly and said that the layers and marbling were even better than many so-called high-end black pork he had ever seen! He even specifically asked me how we raise our pigs!"

Luo Xinde mimicked Manager Wang's tone, speaking with great enthusiasm and spittle flying everywhere. He had never felt so triumphant in his entire life.

Li Minxia and Grandpa Liu also rushed over upon hearing the news, and were both surprised and delighted.

"I knew it! Our pigs are top-notch!" Old Liu stroked his beard, his face full of pride. He had personally selected these pigs, and he had also determined the feed formula, which was tantamount to praising his skills.

"Well...he's coming tomorrow, we need to prepare properly!" Li Minxia started to get nervous. "Will our farm...be too messy? Should we wash the pigsty again? And what should we serve him for lunch?"

"Right, right, right! We need to prepare properly!" Luo Xinde also came to his senses and started to wander around like a headless fly, not knowing what to do.

"Dad, Mom, don't panic." Luo Xiyuan once again became the pillar of the family. "What he wants to see is the most authentic version of our farm, not something we put together at the last minute. So, we definitely need to clean, but we can't make it too deliberate."

She began to assign tasks systematically.

"Dad, your task this afternoon is to take the workers and thoroughly clean all the main roads and public areas of the farm. Pay special attention to the main gate and offices; they must be spotless."

"Mom, you take charge of preparing the meal. There's no need to prepare any delicacies; we'll just use what's from our own farm. We'll pick the freshest vegetables from the field and slaughter our own chickens. We'll make a truly authentic farm-style meal. That's what you call eco-friendly, and city people love that."

"Grandpa Liu," she said, turning to Grandpa Liu, "Manager Wang is coming tomorrow, and we'll need your help with the questions about aquaculture techniques. You're an expert, and your words carry more weight than ours."

Mr. Liu nodded: "Don't worry, leave this to me."

"Brother," Luo Xiyuan said, looking at Luo Wen one last time, "you organize all our record books, especially the feed formulation records, medication records, and growth data records, and put them in the most conspicuous place in the office tomorrow. We want him to see that we not only raise pigs well, but our management is also scientific and standardized."

Everyone's schedule was clearly arranged.

At 10 a.m. the next day, a black Audi sedan slowly drove into the village.

This was a rare sight in the rural areas at the time. When the villagers saw this gleaming car, they looked at it like it was a magic lantern show, following behind the car and pointing and whispering.

"Whose car is that? It's so impressive!"

"Judging by the license plate, it's from the city. What are they doing in this poor, remote area?"

"Look, the car is heading towards Old Luo's pig farm!"

Amid the curious gazes of the entire village, the Audi came to a steady stop at the entrance of "Luo's Farm".

The car door opened, and a middle-aged man in his forties, wearing a sharp suit and gold-rimmed glasses, stepped out. He was Wang Defa, the purchasing manager of the Golden Bay Hotel.

As soon as Wang Defa got out of the car, he saw the clean and tidy farm with a wooden sign hanging at the entrance and exclaimed "Huh?" in his heart. This was completely different from the sewage-filled, stinking pigsty in the countryside that he had imagined.

Luo Xinde and Luo Xiyuan were already waiting at the door.

"Manager Wang, welcome, welcome! You must be tired from your journey!" Luo Xinde quickly went up to greet him and warmly extended his hand.

"Boss Luo, hello, hello." Wang Defa smiled and shook hands with him, but his gaze fell on Luo Xiyuan beside Luo Xinde. "This must be Comrade Xiyuan, right? Judging from his voice on the phone, I felt he was someone who would do great things. Meeting him today, I can confirm he's no ordinary person!"

"Hello Uncle Wang, welcome to our farm to guide our work," Luo Xiyuan said humbly.

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Wang Defa got straight to the point: "Boss Luo, let's skip the formalities. To be honest, the pig you sent us was a real surprise. I came here today to see for myself what kind of magical place you have that can raise such a fine pig."

"Of course, of course. Manager Wang, please come in!"

Luo Xinde led Wang Defa into the farm.

Upon entering the gate, Wang Defa was once again shocked. He saw a wide and clean cement road, with neatly arranged pigsties on both sides. Although there was a smell of pigs in the air, it was not as pungent and unpleasant as he had imagined.

"Manager Wang, according to our regulations, you need to disinfect and change your shoes before entering the production area." Luo Xiyuan pointed to the disinfection pool and changing room next to her.

Wang De was stunned for a moment, then laughed: "Wow, Boss Luo, you guys are even stricter than our hotel kitchen!"

He cooperated by stepping through the disinfection pool and changing into the special rubber shoes provided by the farm.

When he walked into the pigsty and saw the rows of plump, healthy pigs jumping around in the clean pens, the surprise in his eyes turned into genuine appreciation.

"Excellent, truly excellent." He nodded repeatedly. "The design of this pigsty is excellent, with great ventilation and lighting. The pigs are also very healthy and energetic; you can tell they've been carefully tended to."

Just then, Grandpa Liu came out of the feed room next door.

"And this is...?" Wang Defa asked.

"This is our farm's chief technical consultant, Liu Jianjun, Master Liu," Luo Xinde quickly introduced.

"Master Liu, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Manager Wang." Mr. Liu simply nodded, exuding an aura of expertise.

"Master Liu, if I may be so bold as to ask, how do you formulate the feed for your pigs? You must have a secret recipe to raise them to produce such good meat quality, right?" Wang Defa asked tentatively.

Grandpa Liu glanced at him and slowly said, "There's no secret formula. It's just about strictly following the nutritional needs of different growth stages, using conventional raw materials like corn, soybean meal, and wheat bran, plus premixed feed from reputable manufacturers, and scientifically proportioning them. The most crucial thing is the quality of the raw materials. The corn we use is all new corn from the current year, and the moisture and mycotoxins are controlled within national standards. The soybean meal must also be defatted. It's that simple."

Although he explained it simply, Wang Defa, being an expert, understood it immediately. The simpler something is, the harder it is to achieve. Behind this lies an extreme pursuit of detail and quality.

Luo Xiyuan invited Wang Defa to her office at the opportune moment. Inside, Luo Wen's neatly organized notebooks were arranged on the table.

"Manager Wang, these are some of our farm's management records. You are welcome to take a look."

Wang Defa curiously picked up a book and opened it. Inside, in childish but neat handwriting, were detailed records:

"August 15th, pen number 8, feed intake 12.5 kg, water intake normal, stool normal..."

"On August 18th, the entire herd was vaccinated against swine fever, and the stress response was mild..."

He flipped through several books in a row, from feed formulation to medication records, from weekly weighings to cost accounting, every piece of data was clear and easy to understand.

He put down his notebook, looked at the Luo father and daughter before him, and his eyes had completely changed. He knew he had made the right decision to come today.