Forced to marry a disabled man in the countryside? I'll repay you tenfold!

"If it could be eaten all over the country, then the number would be much more than that."

Chen Jianhua was taken aback, then became somewhat anxious: "Comrade Xiao Su, you can't speak carelessly. The higher-ups have been researching this for over a decade, and they still haven't solved the mycelium problem. How could you possibly... Do you know that even a million catties is just the tip of the iceberg if we want the whole country to eat shiitake mushrooms?"

Su Wanqing smiled and said, "As long as I teach the technology to everyone, our group can learn it first, and then we can differentiate tens of thousands of original mother cultures into production strains. We can distribute one hundred test tubes of common strains to each place, and then follow the promotion method of oyster mushrooms. Wouldn't that allow the whole country to eat shiitake mushrooms and white fungus?"

Of course, this needs to be done faster, because I have more than just these kinds of fungi. In fact, I've almost finished developing the fungi for cultivating wood ear mushrooms.

She received a reward of original fungus when she upgraded her space a few days ago.

She immediately returned tenfold the amount and cultivated it again in the space. After about a month of cultivation, the mycelium of these bacteria grew wildly under the tenfold growth stimulation of the space. She kept differentiating and multiplying, but it would take another month or two to multiply it into a large number of usable strains, but that was about it.

Old Shen was shocked: "What? You little rascal, when did you secretly start researching wood ear fungus? Even the central government hasn't started researching wood ear fungus yet. It's not easy to cultivate!"

Although wood ear mushrooms have been cultivated for at least seven or eight hundred years, but!

They used to be cultivated in the wild, meaning we would preserve the wood with wood ear mushrooms, leave it to grow wild, and collect them every now and then...

In fact, this can only be called semi-wild harvesting at most, rather than true cultivation of wood ear mushrooms.

In short, most of the wood ear mushrooms on the market now are artificially harvested wild ones, basically picked up from the ground.

Chen Jianhua and his grandfather were both shocked: "You mean the cultivation of fungal strains, purely artificial domestication and cultivation, not the kind of fungus isolated from wild fungus and raised in captivity, right?"

The yield of that kind of wood ear mushroom... depends entirely on the weather, the environment, and the whims of nature.

Su Wanqing nodded: "I have already cultivated and extracted the mother culture mycelium. If I spend some time on it, the cycle will be about 45 days, and the yield of ten test tubes will be around 1,500 catties. But I have to wait until I finish the tasks for shiitake mushrooms and white fungus."

After all, she came here with a mission: to promote shiitake mushrooms and white fungus!

Everyone was deeply shocked!

"My goodness, it's amazing that they can even grow oyster mushrooms, but now they can grow shiitake mushrooms, white fungus, and even wood ear mushrooms?"

"What price do wild shiitake mushrooms and wood ear mushrooms sell for in the market? If we could grow them..."

The reason everyone is shocked now is the same reason why people in later generations will be shocked to hear that Cordyceps sinensis can be cultivated.

As we all know, cordyceps in Tibet are all picked by hand, one by one. A single cordyceps can cost tens or hundreds of yuan, and a gram can be quite expensive. Those Tibetans can make hundreds of thousands of yuan selling cordyceps in a few days!

But now, some people say that they can grow something that looks just like wild cordyceps. In short, artificial cordyceps is not valuable, but it was valuable when it was first passed off as wild cordyceps!

"Xiao Su, you've really given me a wonderful surprise! After I finish my lecture these next couple of days, you must show me your wood ear mycelium." Old Shen felt that he had underestimated Su Wanqing.

Su Wanqing smiled and nodded.

Old Master Chen even forgot that he had already retired, immediately pushed his son aside, and began to arrange the work on site:

"Everyone in the other departments, hurry up and disperse. Go do what you need to do. Although there's less work in winter, you should still carefully study how to grow vegetables in winter. Look at other places, they say they can grow cucumbers and green peppers in winter. You should learn from them."

Then he said to the rest, "It just so happens that Comrade Xiao Su is here too. Come on, Xiao Su, I'll assign you six people from the mushroom strain department and the research lab. Let's go talk about oyster mushrooms first, and then about shiitake mushrooms and white fungus."

Su Wanqing had no objection.

On her first day, Old Shen was still setting up a plan for her, so of course she had to show off her skills. She also had Chen Xiuer's planting records, which she was sure would give these people a shock.

Chen Jianhua shook his head helplessly, but became even more curious about Su Wanqing, so he went along to take a look.

Although his current main research focuses on rice yield increase projects, which are a national strategic priority, the value-added cultivation of oyster mushrooms and shiitake mushrooms are clearly the things Bincheng should do next.

The agricultural research institute here is very large. It used to be located in the suburbs and had many experimental fields. However, in recent years, the population has grown rapidly, and the construction of houses has taken over the surrounding area, which is why it looks crowded. But in essence, there are still quite a few experimental fields here.

Su Wanqing followed them to the oyster mushroom cultivation site. There were rows of low greenhouses with multi-layered wooden frames inside, each layer filled with mushroom bags. Several technicians in white coats were recording the temperature and humidity, and bags of cottonseed hulls and bran were piled up in the corner.

"These are Xiao Li and Xiao Wang; they usually take care of cultivating oyster mushrooms. Xiao Su, you said you can propagate the mycelium independently, so could you help us increase our production as well? Currently, only state-run restaurants in Bincheng have oyster mushrooms, so ordinary people can't afford them. Besides, oyster mushrooms are one of the few vegetables that can be eaten in winter, so they're very important. Old Shen said your cycle is even shorter..."

As Grandpa Chen was speaking, Chen Jianhua added, "If we can break through 50,000 jin of oyster mushrooms, then at least some places in Bincheng will be able to supply the goods."

Su Wanqing nodded: "That's exactly what I was going to talk about. I propagated the mycelium myself; it's a mature technology. I signed a contract with your Academy of Agricultural Sciences in my personal capacity to sell the mycelium for production purposes at the same price as the mycelium price allocated by the central government. What do you think?"

Grandpa Chen hurriedly said, "I can't let you suffer a loss, Xiao Su... The mycelium sent down by the central government comes with subsidies and allowances; it costs about two yuan per test tube."

Su Wanqing shook her head: "I only have one condition. Now that we have reform and opening up, the government encourages individuals to do business. My former employees and I are planning to open a private oyster mushroom cultivation point in Bincheng, growing oyster mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, etc., and selling them at the same price as what our Academy of Agricultural Sciences sells to outsiders."

The benefit of doing this is that more people can eat oyster mushrooms, and my colleagues who came from the countryside with me can also have a stable income. However, although I have mycelium, I don't have a channel to purchase the auxiliary materials. Therefore, I would like to trouble the Academy of Agricultural Sciences to bring us some as well when they purchase the auxiliary materials from there.

Su Wanqing certainly had her own selfish motives for doing this.

She has plenty of the most important mycelium of oyster mushrooms, and Chen Xiuer has also learned the technique of propagation on her own. However, the preparation and purchase of auxiliary materials are difficult to obtain due to a lack of channels.