HLM – Chapter 733 The Grand Orchard

Spring had arrived, and with it, the start of many new projects.

Wang Bo had coordinated with Portar: construction of villas in Sunset Town would begin with laying the foundations. He had already placed a “residential heart” by the lakeside, the designated villa site chosen by Portar’s designers and engineers.

This task could be left entirely to Portar; Wang Bo’s role was just to provide the funds. For the first phase, he planned to invest 20 million New Zealand dollars—half of his entire fortune!

This also showed that real estate was not for ordinary people. Even someone as lavish as Wang Bo felt the pinch when handing over such a large sum.

And spending money was not limited to a single villa district. His farm in Kulau was about to begin operations too.

On nine hundred acres of land, Wang Bo ultimately decided to plant only fruit trees.

The biggest advantage of growing fruit was that it didn’t require constant attention. He could let the trees grow naturally, then harvest the fruits in autumn.

He chose kiwifruit, Gala apples, golden pears, and one more fruit—New Zealand lantern fruit—on Eva’s suggestion.

Lantern fruit, native to South America, was a small deciduous shrub with sweet and sour fruits. It could be made into jam or fermented into wine. In South America, it was a rare wild fruit, and only after artificial cultivation did it become more common.

Wang Bo had seen lantern fruits in supermarkets. They were spherical with vertical ridges resembling the frame of a lantern, which is how they got their name.

On a weekend in early September, he set out for Kulau with Eva, Dale, and a large team of sled dogs.

The journey wasn’t long, but driving was always slow. Wang Bo gazed out at the fleeting scenery and sighed, “We have to buy a helicopter when we go back!”

Eva chuckled, “Honestly, we don’t really need one. Besides, you’ve invested a lot this time. Do you even have money left for a helicopter?”

Wang Bo winked at her proudly. “Your man’s wealth isn’t just this much. I’ll show you some treasures when we get back.”

Eva shrugged, pulling out her bank card. “Then I guess I gave my favor for nothing. I thought you might need to borrow money from me.”

Wang Bo, steering the car, asked in surprise, “You have a lot of money? Helicopters aren’t cheap.”

They weren’t married, so their finances were private, and neither knew how much the other had.

Eva mimicked his expression, winking playfully. “Thanks to choosing a decent job after college. Even though I was eventually fired, the severance was quite generous.”

“What job was so good? Let me guess—you worked for the government. Only the government is that generous.”

“Bingo!” Eva snapped her fingers with a mischievous grin. “You’re right, I did work for the government. But that has to stay secret—it’s better if you don’t know.”

Wang Bo glanced at Dale playing on her phone in the back seat and whispered, “A spy?”

He had always suspected it. Eva’s skills, driving, shooting, vigilance, combined with Charlie’s previous warnings, made the guess logical.

Eva hadn’t shared much about her past life or work, so Wang Bo had never asked. Today, he brought it up casually to probe.

Eva paused, then smiled faintly. “Wrong. Look at me—I love sleeping, how could I be a spy? But you’re half right. I work for the intelligence department. Do you want to know the details? But I should warn you, knowing might not be a good thing.”

Wang Bo shook his head, smiling. “You know, your man isn’t that curious. It’s up to you. If you want to tell me, I bet I’d be a good listener. But if you don’t, let’s drop it.”

Eva hesitated, blinking. “It’s complicated. Maybe I’ll tell the story later when I feel like it.”

The car reached the small town, and Wang Bo drove straight to Wensi Ranch. Previously called Sled Mountain Ranch—he had no idea why it had that name. He could rename it, but chose not to.

At the ranch entrance, a trailer was already waiting. It was a large machinery vehicle, capable of carrying up to 500 tons—but it wasn’t carrying seedlings. It carried giant water tanks.

Yes, a massive water tanker.

The ranch sat by the roadside, with cars passing continuously. People noticed the tanker and wondered: Has Kulau been this dry this year? Do they really need to bring water from elsewhere?

Indeed, the water came from afar. Wang Bo had spent half a week extracting water from two spiritual springs, planning to use it for orchard irrigation.

New Zealand orchards typically used open-field planting. The first three fruit types each required roughly the same area. Wang Bo chose a 3×3 meter planting layout.

This meant one kiwifruit, apple, or pear tree per 3×3 meter plot. One acre could plant around 70 trees.

Lantern fruit, however, could be planted densely using a 1×1 meter high-density layout.

The shrubs were low, only about 1.2 meters tall. When mature, their crowns would bear clusters of very sweet fruits, ideal for jam.

Wang Bo’s plan: 250 acres each for kiwifruit, apples, and pears, and 150 acres for lantern fruits.

One acre could accommodate over 400 apple, pear, or kiwifruit trees—or nearly 4,000 lantern fruit trees.

This meant Wang Bo would plant 100,000 apple trees, 100,000 kiwifruit trees, 100,000 pear trees, and 1 million lantern fruit trees!

For an orchard, this was massive. The investment required was even greater.

During the last farmers’ meeting, many hesitated to convert farms into orchards because the investment was enormous.

For example, one million lantern fruit seedlings, sold in batches of 100 at a minimum of 500 NZD per batch—just the seedlings alone would cost 5 million NZD.

Additionally, the farm needed tilling and labor for planting. Starting such a large orchard could easily cost over ten million.

But there was one issue: would the trees all survive? Would they bear fruit successfully? Could the fruit be sold properly?

These risks were huge. One wrong step from planting to harvest, and it could mean total loss.

So Wang Bo made a clever risk-avoidance move: he didn’t buy trees—he bought seeds.