“You’ve already eaten it, are you going to throw it up?” Mr. Chen took a breath. “Do you think we should inform your elders? The village will be sending people tonight to witness the proceedings.”
When it came to business, Su Yunzhi was taken aback. "So fast?"
"The sooner it's notarized, the more at ease you'll all be. Besides, the year's plan starts in spring, so Qiuqiu can get started sooner."
Su Yunzhi glanced at Shen Wuqiu and muttered, "I wonder if it's a waste."
Mr. Shen really didn't hear it, so Shen Wuqiu pretended not to hear it and went into the kitchen to prepare breakfast as if nothing had happened.
A note from the author:
As expected, everyone needed my encouragement.
Also, it's not that I don't want to update more, it's that I miscalculated the dates and started writing two days too early. I've been keeping my word count low to keep the story from ranking. I have a small dream: after it becomes a paid subscription, I've decided to update six times a day.
Also, don't be scared by my previous update speed for "The Best Actress". To be honest, I started those two novels when I was quite busy in real life, and they weren't exactly my forte, so I wasn't able to write them as smoothly.
But I think I'm good at writing farming-themed stories. Really, I'm happy writing every day, so don't worry about the update issues.
Finally, I want to tell everyone that since the word count has reached 30,000, I need to reduce the word count on the ranking list. So I will be taking a break tomorrow and will update normally on Thursday.
Lastly, I want to encourage everyone to leave a comment on this chapter. The first 200 comments will receive 100 Jinjiang coins, and the rest will receive 20 Jinjiang coins.
Chapter 12 Anger
After breakfast, Shen Wuqiu's cousin, Shen Xianghua, came over.
Shen Xianghua used to operate excavators, but now that his family owns four, he no longer operates them. He spends most of his time helping his father with chores. Today, he's here to take Shen Wuqiu to Xishan for an inspection, accompanied by two fruit farmers.
Although Xishan belongs to Jingrong Village, it is separated from Jingrong Village by two villages. Strictly speaking, Xishan cannot be called a mountain, but a hillside with an area of nearly 500 acres. It was originally a barren mountain with only grass and shrubs. Only the fertile black soil area at the bottom of the mountain has been cultivated by some villagers, while the rest is still wasteland.
Because it had been abandoned and no one cared for it, Mr. Shen started to "build his empire" here. The village even granted him a seventy-year usage period at the time.
However, so far, this land has not created much wealth for Mr. Shen. In the past thirty years, until last year, this land only produced 480,000 osmanthus trees.
Now that the osmanthus trees have been sold, the earthen slope has become bare again. There's not much life in sight, but the open view has a unique and refreshing quality.
Shen Wuqiu sat on the tricycle, quite satisfied with the scenery around him, and closed his eyes to reminisce about the past:
"This place is still the same as when I was a child, not much has changed. I remember digging sweet potatoes here with my parents when I was a child."
“Your memory is quite good. When your parents first contracted this place, they worked day and night to clear the land, and a large area of it was planted with sweet potatoes.”
Thinking back to her childhood, Shen Wuqiu couldn't help but recall those scenes: "Back then, I loved coming here with my parents to dig sweet potatoes, especially the top plot, where the sweet potatoes were big and didn't stick to the soil."
As he spoke, Shen Xianghua pulled the tricycle over to the side of the road. “The soil in this area gradually forms layers. Let me show you around first.”
Shen Wuqiu jumped off the tricycle with the two fruit farmers and looked at the land full of pits around them, wondering, "Were osmanthus trees always planted here before?"
"Your father initially planted a batch of peach trees, which grew quite well, but unfortunately, there was no harvest. In the fourth year, he cut down the peach trees and left the land barren for a year. Your Aunt Xiangxian wanted to raise chickens, so he let her raise chickens here for two years. Later, he started planting osmanthus trees. In recent years, the osmanthus tree market has become saturated, and many trees have been planted. It wasn't until last year that a big boss contracted out this batch of osmanthus trees in one go."
Shen Wuqiu nodded, bent down and scooped up a handful of soil from beside the pit, grinding it in his palm.
Seeing this, an older fruit farmer joked, "Young lady, you even know how to identify this soil?"
Shen Wuqiu sprinkled some soil and smiled, "It's just that the soil looks quite fertile, I'm just taking a casual look, it's definitely not as professional as Uncle Zheng's."
Uncle Zheng used to work as a contractor of orchards and was considered an experienced fruit grower. Three years ago, he accidentally broke his leg. His children are all successful and there is no one in the family to help him, so he had to stop. He is one of the professionals invited by Father Shen.
"You have a good eye, young lady," Uncle Zheng said, grabbing a handful of soil and weighing it in his hand. "It's about 500 meters up from here. The soil in this area is fertile, deep but not compacted, with good drainage, and slightly acidic..."
At this point, Uncle Zheng changed the subject and looked at Shen Wuqiu, "According to your father's previous plans, he has decided to continue with the orchard. In your opinion, what kind of fruit trees would be suitable to plant?"
Shen Wuqiu: "Is Uncle Zheng testing me?"
Uncle Zheng did not deny it, "You know that the land your father owns was all bought with money. If he is not careful, this deal could result in a huge loss."
This was the truth, and Shen Wuqiu also spoke frankly: "I haven't thought about what to plant yet, but I heard that the county has been vigorously promoting the local bayberries in the past two years, so I think we can take advantage of this trend."
Uncle Zheng looked at her, and for a moment he was unsure whether she was genuinely ignorant or pretending not to.
From his professional perspective, this fertile area is indeed the best choice for planting bayberries.
He didn't respond, but another younger fruit farmer came over and clapped his hands in approval. "It seems we have the same idea. I had already discussed it with Lao Zheng before. We can plant bayberry trees in the empty space where we planted osmanthus trees."
Shen Wuqiu said modestly, "It seems I've stumbled upon the right thing by accident."
"I didn't expect that you, a girl, would know so much."
Hearing what they said, Shen Xianghua looked at Shen Wuqiu with new respect, saying, "No wonder your father wants to hand over his family business, which he has worked so hard for all these years, to you."
Shen Wuqiu just smiled and didn't say anything.
The group walked up the road while talking.
The higher you go, the lighter the black color of the soil becomes, turning yellow, and the soil becomes looser.
After conducting on-site investigations and carefully listening to the analysis of professionals, Shen Wuqiu also agreed with the decision to plant ponkan oranges in the upper part of Xishan.
Although Xishan is not considered a mountain, it is still quite high. Standing on the top, the villages and mountain villages of Xizhou appear small and low. The only thing blocking the view is the mountain to the east that seems to soar into the clouds.
Shen Wuqiu hadn't noticed it when he was little, but now, looking at this obstructive natural barrier, he was quite curious and couldn't help but ask Shen Xianghua beside him, "Uncle, what's that mountain over there called 'San'?"
Shen Xianghua glanced at it and said, "Yashan."
"That's Yai Mountain?" Shen Wuqiu was a little incredulous. "Yai Mountain isn't that far from our village, but from here it doesn't look that far."
"You don't understand, do you? We've passed the east side of Yai Mountain, and what you're seeing now is its west side. To be honest, I'm quite puzzled too. No matter where you look, Yai Mountain is always towering high, but the highest point in our town is the western mountain we're standing on now, not Yai Mountain."
Shen Wuqiu couldn't understand it. "Yashan looks obviously higher than Xishan."
Uncle Zheng also looked at the cliff opposite, took out cigarettes and a lighter from his pocket, and said, "I suspect that over the years, no one has ever measured the altitude of the cliff. After all, everyone has heard the legends of your cliff."
Uncle Zheng is not from Jingrong Village; he is from Zhengjiawan next door.
Shen Wuqiu: "Huh? Do people really believe these things?"
Uncle Zheng glanced at her, his expression enigmatic.
Shen Wuqiu asked with a hint of curiosity, "Uncle Zheng, have you been there?"
"I've been there, but never to the mountain." Speaking of this, Uncle Zheng first took a deep drag on his cigarette, and after several seconds, he slowly explained, "There's a bottomless reservoir on one side of Yai Mountain. One summer, the old man next door invited me to go fishing there to escape the heat. We were fishing happily when suddenly someone asked us if we wanted a smoke. We looked around for a long time but couldn't find anyone. Isn't that strange?"
Shen Wuqiu blinked. She didn't find this anecdote particularly strange, not even as strange as her cat.
Speaking of which, her cat appeared in the Yai Shan area.
Thinking about it, Shen Wuqiu started to miss her cat again, so she didn't stay in Xishan for long.
As soon as they got home, Shen Wujun excitedly told her, "Sister, your cat really knows how to come back."
No sooner had he finished speaking than a white blur darted out of the bedroom and rushed straight at her, meowing.
Shen Wuqiu grabbed her by the back of the neck. "Get down."
The white cat looked aggrieved: "Meow~"
Seeing that she had stopped tugging at him, Shen Wuqiu put her on the ground. "I'll settle the score with you later."
White cat: "Meow~"
Shen Wuqiu didn't know how to cherish a beautiful woman, but Shen Wujun felt extremely sorry for her and reached out to hug the white cat.
Of course, his efforts were met with indifference. The white cat ignored him, baring its teeth and claws at him. Only after he withdrew his hand did it follow Shen Wuqiu upstairs with an air of nonchalance, leaving Shen Wujun standing there bewildered.
Shen Wuqiu went back to her room to wash her face, then went downstairs to see her father, ignoring the white cat meowing behind her.
Mr. Shen seemed to be in a good mood today. When he saw her, his usually stern face broke into a smile. "So, is there any news about that piece of land in Xishan?"
As he spoke, he even waved to the white cat behind her, "Meow~"
Shen Wuqiu glanced at him, then at the white cat, finding it quite strange that her father had this hobby.
"I've looked into it, and I'll make specific plans after communicating with the village."
“You took over in a hurry, there’s no need to rush,” Mr. Shen comforted him for a moment, then went to play with the white cat.
The white cat replied lazily, its mind still entirely on Shen Wuqiu, either rubbing its head against her feet or pawing at her with its little paws.
Her pitiful, coquettish appearance made even Mr. Shen feel a little sorry for her. "You should pay attention to her. Look how anxious the child is."
"..." Shen Wuqiu bent down and picked up the white cat. "Do you know you've caused trouble?"
The white cat drooped its four paws, not daring to move, and looked at its father with a pitiful expression.
That little look in his eyes melted Mr. Shen's heart. He quickly took out a blood-red stone from under his pillow. "Alright, alright, they did borrow and take back."
"..." Shen Wuqiu looked at the blood-red stone in his hand, completely puzzled. "What does this mean?"
Mr. Shen held out the stone to Shen Wuqiu. “Look, this stone is what she brought back. I guess she took some dried fish from home and felt embarrassed, so she gave this to me. I don’t know where she found this thing.”
Shen Wuqiu put down the white cat and took the stone.
Calling it a stone isn't entirely accurate, because she couldn't tell what it was made of. It was a very translucent red, somewhat like ruby. It was about the size of a thumb and felt a little warm to the touch. If you looked closely, the red color in the center seemed to be flowing.
Shen Wuqiu held it in her hand and examined it for a while but couldn't figure out what it was. However, it looked quite valuable. "You didn't steal it from somewhere again, did you?"
"Meow~~" The white cat instantly exploded.
Shen Wuqiu waved the item in front of her, asking, "Where did you get this from?"
The white cat ignored her, took the red jade from her hand, put it in Shen's father's hand, and then meowed loudly at Shen Wuqiu.
"..." Shen Wuqiu felt a little uncomfortable, but on the surface she was very disdainful, "He probably knew it was your dried fish and specially sent it to you."
"Why would I keep this thing? Here, take it..."
"Meow~" Before she could finish speaking, the white cat got anxious and stretched out her little paws to press down on her father's hand, preventing him from giving it away.
"..." Shen Wuqiu turned her head away, "I don't want to."
After saying that, he went straight outside.
"..." Mr. Shen belatedly realized, looked at the white cat, and chuckled, "Why is Qiuqiu angry?"
A note from the author:
Gu Lingyu: "Meow~~" You're the one who stole it!
Love you all, muah!