Chapter 320
Next, Stephen concentrated on the tea leaves. Ethan planned to get Hill City to sell tea leaves, but he didn’t say which kind of tea.”
The survey asked about the tea leaves, but since no one had planted them before, they were unfamiliar with the subject. There were countless tea trees in the world, so which one of them would be suitable for planting in Hill City and could bring economic value?
Stephen realized that he was sailing on uncharted waters here.
If he could find the correct tea leaves, it would equal finding new land for the city. He could then rival Ethan in terms of achievement.
Without further ado, he spent several days asking professionals and specialists, trying to learn more about tea.
Half a month later, he finally came up with a decision. He could ask the people to start planting flower tea trees and also utilize the mountainous terrain of Hill City to try planting oolong tea leaves. He also decided to give them an incentive to do it.
Over this time, asking the people to change the tree species and planting tea trees cost Hill City fifty million. In addition to the cost of fixing the road, Hill City’s GDP has dropped from 2.8 trillion to 2.7 trillion.
If it had been before, Stephen would have panicked when he saw the GDP drop, but he had grown up and matured, and he knew one must sacrifice before making progress. He would just have to sacrifice 0.1 trillion which he could earn back in the future through a sustainable method.
While Stephen was busy dealing with the trees, Julius and George were busy fixing the
roads.
The construction of the freeway progressed smoothly, extending its reach to connect with Stone Village.
Meanwhile, in Stone Village, Nico allowed the villagers to hunt animals after allowing them to log rare trees. Even the protected animals could fetch a good price beyond the borders.
He had completely controlled the village. Even if someone raised a question against him, the villagers would protect him and even beat the deviant up.
The timing was right, so he decided to lift the restrictions on the mine and improve the villagers‘ income. He also told the villagers to produce some illegal products to sell beyond the borders and promised them that they would earn a lot more in the future.
As for those who disagreed, Nico said he would give them a million a year to make them shut their mouths.
+25 BONUS
Chapter 320
The villagers took turns in keeping watch at the entrance. If anything happened, they would inform Nico and the others to keep the illegal production away.
Nico also planned to excavate more mining spots and maximize the profits.
One day, a villager went to Nico in a hurry. “The freeway is coming!”
Nico’s lips curled into a grin. “They are finally here!”
He had been waiting for this day since the day he saw the mayor and the governor. He decided to raise the price from the initial 7 grand to 10 grand per square meter. If they refused to pay, then he would reject their construction.
He knew that the freeway construction was carried out in phases, and if a certain point faced problems and the course had to be altered, the entire progress would be affected.
Therefore, he did not mention anything about raising the price until now when the freeway was stretching to their village. Altering the course would cost more and drag the construction longer, so they would be forced to agree to a price hike.
Nico said to the villagers, “Go stop them. They can continue building their freeway, but they have to pay up. It was 7,000 before but it’s 10,000 per square meter now!
“We can make a few hundred million more and everyone can get a share!”
The villagers were moved by the alluring profit, so more than a hundred of them stopped the construction team.
Julius and George soon found out about the price hike–it was a huge spike from the initial number, more than fourteen times the original!
Julius frowned and said, “I’ll talk to the village chief and see what’s going on.
They had agreed with the price previously, so what could have changed? The villagers must take them as fools.
George followed Julius to the village as well.
Soon, under the villagers‘ lead, they met Nico.
George frowned. “We are looking for Hendrick, the village chief. Why did you bring us to this
