Her Cultivation Diary-Chapter 123 - : 123. Money trees all over the hills and fields_1

Chapter 123: 123. Money trees all over the hills and fields_1

Song Tan turned and shouldered her hoe up the back hill.

The hilltop was a scene of bustling activity.

The excavator had just a small area left unfinished, and the young lads, with a robustness different from Zhang Yanping’s, were working hard.

Zhang Wang’s family divided the weeds and debris into small piles, stacking them with pig manure and soil, then sprinkling different kinds of fermentation bacteria into them.

At the edge of Peach Garden, they had enclosed a rather impressive mound of compost.

In three more months, this compost could be put to use.

Song Sancheng, as usual, went to Chestnut Garden to air and dry the black fungus, while the Golden Sakura seedlings that had been planted earlier had now stoutly sprouted leaf buds, unfurling soft green leaves, full of vigor and particularly delightful to see.

The one who stood out as the odd one out was Zhang Yanping.

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To avoid looking too idle, he took the opportunity to observe the fingerlings in the pond down the hill.

Since the fish were too small and could be eaten by other fish, small enclosures were specially made at the edge of both ponds, to be opened once the fish grew bigger, naturally ensuring their growth.

Right now, he was walking around the pond, estimating how to properly construct the duck shed, and also considering where to place tomorrow’s water pump.

If the peach trees arrived this afternoon, then watering would have to be done the day after tomorrow.

This mountainous land wasn’t neatly squared off; there were inevitably some rough corners and bumps that the excavator couldn’t handle.

Song Tan, hoe in hand, was helping three uncles level the land when someone said:

“Tantan, with over a hundred fruit trees in your acre of land and such a large area to cover, relying on just a few of us, we definitely won’t finish planting by tomorrow.”

“If you’re in a rush, you’ll have to call for more help.”

In a rush? How could they not be?

In some places, the peach trees had already started blossoming; they were only just planting now. Could they afford to delay?

Song Tan looked out over the barren expanse of hillside, which had seemed too small when she leased it, and had even considered expanding the area in the future.

But now that they were getting down to work, these twenty acres felt endless!

She also asked, “Uncle Banli, how many people will we need?”

Zhou Banli, always honest, looked around and then asked her, “How big are each of your saplings?”

Song Tan gestured, “About six centimeters in diameter.”

Zhang Yanping might be lackadaisical, but he was reliable when it came to business.

Being able to procure five-year-old saplings at the price of three-year-olds in the market was no small feat thanks to him.

So Song Tan decided to overlook his abandoned halfway rehabilitation.

Zhou Banli breathed a sigh of relief, “Then the trees aren’t that big. One person can probably plant about seventy to eighty a day.”

But she had twenty acres to plant!

Alas, there was nothing to do but hurry up and call for help.

Song Tan put down her hoe and turned back to Chestnut Garden to call her father.

Rounding up help in the village had to be done by her father.

First, her father knew who was reliable at work and who would just skimp, slack off, or muddle along.

Second, regardless of the size of her business, she was currently seen as just a girl who might not know how to farm, so naturally, she didn’t have the credibility of the head of the household, Song Sancheng.

Song Sancheng also grimaced with alarm at the headcount:

“We really need that many people?”

Twenty or so people… there were only about thirty households left in their village!

The only consolation was that this job didn’t require great physical strength, so both men and women could do it.

Song Tan thought for a moment, “Twenty people then.”

“Brother Zhang said he’d help me transport the manure from his land to lay a base of fertilizer before planting the trees, and that needs more hands as well.”

It was already past two o’clock, and they were still cleaning up the mountain; by the time the fruit trees arrived at about four or five o’clock, it was too late to start planting today. They planned to finish all the planting the next day and water them with Rooting Water by evening.

“Isn’t this going to require rallying the broad masses of people?”

Song Sancheng thought for a moment and couldn’t help feeling worried again, “Then tomorrow, we’ll need to find two more people to help your mom with cooking.”

“How about this,” Song Tan scratched his head, “Two people to assist with cooking, a hundred each. Twenty for planting trees, a hundred and fifty each.”

Song Sancheng pondered, “The price is reasonable. But Tantan, of course, we should give priority to the villagers for this good opportunity. Men and women who can work, I’ll call them all.”

“For the rest, I’ll call some fellows from other villages.”

“Okay.”

When it came to hiring people for work, Song Tan still didn’t quite match her father’s expertise, “You arrange it.”

Just as she was about to turn around, she suddenly remembered something—

“Dad, I think the Peach Garden also needs something planted around it as a barrier. Otherwise, with open access from all directions, even if Big King had three heads and six arms, he wouldn’t be able to keep up.”

Song Sancheng gasped for air,

“Girl, oh! Give it a rest, will you? We’ll talk about this in a few days; let’s get the peach trees planted first.”

Song Tan had already turned around, quite pleased with herself,

“I know, I’m just giving you a heads-up to think about what else we could plant.”

She took a couple of loops around the back mountain and realized that, apart from Golden Sakura, there really wasn’t anything else suitable for their local area.

So—

“Brother Yanping, Brother Yanping!”

Zhang Yanping was hunched over by the pond playing a game. Hearing her voice, he immediately shuddered.

“What’s up? What’s up? I’m right in the middle of looking up information on Eagle Beak Peach for you!”

Timi’s voice was so distinctive that Song Tan could hear it from the mountain.

But she didn’t let on and simply asked, “Can we get more Golden Sakuras?”

She pointed towards the back mountain, “I plan to encircle the whole Peach Garden with it.”

Zhang Yanping let out a wry smile, “Sis, you suddenly want such a large quantity; where am I supposed to find that for you?”

“Nowadays, they all grow the thornless variety, and you’re specifically looking for the original thorny type.”

He immediately called Old Zhou from the nursery.

Old Zhou was simply heartbroken!

To plant along nearly a thousand meters of length, even spacing them two meters apart, that would require five hundred trees! It wasn’t so much about how much money he would make, but about missing out on such an opportunity!

Golden Sakura was so easy to cultivate, propagation through cuttings would suffice…

Regret flooded him, but it was too late to propagate them himself now; they needed well-grown, large plants to serve as a deterrent.

He watched the business opportunity slip away and couldn’t express how bitter he felt as he worked hard to secure the supply for his client.

Luckily, as a middleman, he could still make a small margin on the deal.

Old Zhou was honest, “If you’re looking for large plants at this time of the year, they’re going to be more expensive than the ones I have here.”

Zhang Yanping looked at Song Tan, who nodded, “There’s no rush, as long as they’re planted before the end of May.”

The weather wouldn’t be too hot by then, so the survival rate would be high and they would grow quickly after planting.

After hanging up the phone, Zhang Yanping also sighed,

“You said you’d just set up a fruit garden, so why are there so many places that require spending money? Planting Golden Sakura alone isn’t enough; you’ll also need to erect a wire fence, right?”

That was a must.

Song Tan had already looked up the prices of Eagle Beak Peaches from previous years; they normally sold for over ten yuan per half kilogram, not to mention those produced in her orchard.

The whole area wasn’t just filled with peach trees; it was practically a grove of money trees!