I was married off to a disabled hero in lieu of marriage; my in-laws doted on me and I aspired to gr

Back at the guesthouse, Zhou Zhonghai tried on the woolen overcoat. It fit him perfectly, made him look very dignified, and gave him an even more official air.

"Wear this to the agricultural university tomorrow," Luo Meiyun suggested.

"No, absolutely not! I'm going begging. Wearing such nice clothes, how will they give me food?"

Zhou Zhonghai quickly refused. He had experience in this area; the more desperate the conversation, the more likely the other party would offer their best.

"They've developed high-yield seeds, but they won't let farmers plant them. Are they going to keep them for themselves?"

"Seeds also have value; you have to pay for them. The Ministry of Finance only provided 100,000 yuan. Piglets, rabbits, chickens, ducks, and geese all have to be provided to farmers on credit by the government. This is a considerable sum. I can only pay half of the money I owe the agricultural machinery station. Everything is difficult at the beginning. Once Tonggang County achieves results, next year will be much easier."

Zhou Zhonghai took off his woolen overcoat, carefully hung it in the wardrobe, and put on his military cotton-padded jacket.

"Why does your job seem a bit like a scam?" Luo Meiyun frowned.

"The officialdom is all about deception and trickery; it's all about who can fool whom. In this world, no one can fool me except you."

"What could I possibly lie to you about?"

"You're deceiving me. Come, sit down for a while, don't be busy."

Zhou Zhonghai pulled Luo Meiyun down to sit and asked, "Go back to the hospital and start as a regular doctor. Can you adapt? If you're not comfortable, you might as well go home and take care of your grandson."

"Look at what you're saying, you're allowed to have a career, but I'm not? Wenjing still owes a lot of money. Surgical salaries are high. As long as I can work on the operating table, it doesn't matter whether I'm the head surgeon or not."

"Meiyun, I've been in a coma for over a year, didn't you ever think of giving up?"

"No, not at all. Wenhui and Qiaoqiao went to Beijing to see you. Commander Pu was afraid you wouldn't come back, so he wanted the children to see you one last time. Wenhui kept wailing, saying that he would do anything as long as you came back. At that moment, I thought of the scene of Wenhui's suicide. Old Zhou, we love the children, but the children love us too. When you were in a coma, could you hear us talking?"

"I can't hear, and I don't even know that I've been in a coma for more than a year. It's like I was on the battlefield yesterday and I'm in the hospital today."

"Qiaoqiao said she's pregnant, so why did you move your hand?"

"Did it move? I don't know."

"No wonder you were full of energy when you woke up; you just had a good night's sleep."

"Yes, I'm full of energy, and I feel restless if I don't do something."

"I should have known better than to cry, I made so many tears."

"Hahahaha... My mother gave me my first life, and you gave me my second life."

The next day at work, all departments were waiting for Zhou Zhonghai to start a meeting, but he took Gu Quan to the Agricultural University Research Institute instead.

In the rudimentary research institute, a few researchers were busy at work. Upon seeing Zhou Zhonghai, they asked with displeasure, "Which department are you from? Who are you looking for?"

Zhou Zhonghai asked humbly, "Comrade, I heard that your research institute buys superior wheat varieties, is that true?"

"We're not an agricultural machinery station, where can we buy seeds?"

"Comrade, is this so? I heard you've developed high-yield wheat and corn varieties. But when I asked at the agricultural machinery station, they didn't have them and told me to ask you at the agricultural university. I'm also confused about where to buy high-yield wheat varieties."

"Who are you?"

"Grassroots cadres, grassroots cadres."

"Comrade, we have developed a batch of high-yield wheat and corn seeds, but the price is too high. The agricultural machinery station can't afford it. They want to buy them on credit, but we need to eat. There's no reason for us to buy on credit. Besides, the first batch of wheat and corn seeds is already in small quantities. We can sell them to other provinces."

"That's what a researcher wearing glasses said."

"No, no, please don't! Can you sell it to me?"

"You? Let me tell you, ordinary wheat seeds cost 50 cents a pound, but our new variety costs 2 yuan a pound, and the yield can be increased by 500 pounds."

"Comrade, it's a good deal no matter how you look at it, so why doesn't the agricultural machinery station want new wheat seeds?"

"Sigh, a new batch of seeds came out the year before last, but after planting them, the yield didn't increase, it even decreased, so they stopped believing us."

Why is this happening?

"For ordinary wheat seedlings, watering once every five days during the sowing period is sufficient, while new varieties must be watered within three days. During the seedling stage, watering should be adjusted according to soil moisture and weather conditions, especially during the heading stage, when sufficient water is needed."

New wheat seeds are like infants, they need careful nurturing. They don't follow our instructions at all; they either irrigate them thoroughly or ignore them for ten days or half a month. Everyone eats from the same pot, who's willing to take good care of them? Rice yields in the south have increased, but in our province, the Minister of Agriculture is just eating shit…”

Gu Quan's expression changed, and Zhou Zhonghai quickly put on a fawning smile: "How much wheat seed do you have? Is it enough for one county?"

"Are you the county magistrate?"

"Even so."

"Can you ensure that farmers plant according to our requirements?"

"Sure."

"We only have 20,000 jin of wheat seeds. Each mu (unit of land area) requires 10 jin of wheat seeds, which is not enough for one county."

"Then give me all of them."

"No, it's 20,000 jin! At two yuan per jin, that's 40,000 yuan. Do you have that kind of money?"

"Yes, don't worry, there are also corn seeds. Give them all to me."

"Let me see your letter of introduction." The research colleagues didn't believe Zhou Zhonghai at all.

Gu Quan couldn't help but say, "Comrade, don't worry, this is the newly appointed Minister Zhou of the Ministry of Agriculture. He promised it, so it definitely will."

"Oh, you're the minister? Please come in, let's talk in the office."

Zhou Zhonghai entered the office with a hearty laugh. His research colleagues quickly poured him tea and said, "My name is Xia Lei, and I'm the head of the institute. With you here, we have a way out."

"How come there's no way to survive?"

"The agricultural machinery station owes us money for seeds for three years, which has affected our ability to pay salaries. I've contacted them many times, and they always say the same thing: no money. We need money to research new varieties too."

Those research plots were cultivated by the students through their hard work, and they weren't given a single penny in compensation. The students are very unhappy, saying that we teachers are exploiting their labor. Minister Zhou, you must stand up for us!

After Xia Lei's rant, Zhou Zhonghai realized that being the Minister of Agriculture was far more troublesome than fighting a war.

Led by Xia Lei, Zhou Zhonghai went to the Animal Husbandry Research Institute. There were so many good things there, including Angora rabbits, which could produce five kilograms of rabbit hair a year, and that was a conservative estimate.

There are also meat pigs, which can be raised to over 300 jin (150 kg) a year.

Zhou Zhonghai wished he could move all the various broiler chickens and laying ducks to Tonggang County.

The same problem applies: if you want good breeds of livestock, you have to spend money. 100,000 yuan is not even enough to buy seeds, so where will the money come from?

After a day of visits, they ate lunch at the university cafeteria. On the way home, Zhou Zhonghai said to Gu Quan, "Call the leaders of the various agricultural machinery stations and tell them to come to the Ministry of Agriculture for a meeting tomorrow."

"You...you're helping the research institute collect debts?"

"Of course, the three-year debt must be paid back. Whoever fails to pay will be dismissed from their post."

"But you still don't have the money to buy new wheat and rabbit seeds."

"They paid back the money, and the research institute trusted me, so they were able to extend credit."

"I understand. You're patching up the old hole, only to dig an even bigger one for the research institute."

"What did you say?"

"I...I was wrong..."