Chapter 112

Wang Wang Lifen had already earned one or two thousand yuan from picking tea leaves in March. Although her speed was a bit slow, the quality wasn't bad!

She couldn't stand hearing such words now!

She immediately asked: "Am I old at my age?"

Mao Li was stuck again.

She calculated the old lady's age in her heart: You're already seventy or eighty, and you don't count as old?

Wu Lan didn't think this remark was implying that she was ordering the old lady around at home—after all, everyone eating together and helping to pick vegetables wasn't hard work!

Instead, she responded with a smile: "Not old, really not old. This year, both you and Dad look spirited and energetic; you're doing great!"

That's for sure, spiritual energy was scattered around the house, in the food, and in the tea leaves. Subtly, even if it didn't cure illnesses, it was definitely enough to boost their spirits.

Wang Wang Lifen thought for a moment and became even more convinced of that old saying: "Sure enough, we're just born to be poor; the more work we have to do, the better our spirits are."

Wu Lan smiled at Mao Li again: "Big sister-in-law, since there are many people at noon today, I was thinking of booking a table at the village's family canteen. That place has good craftsmanship and serves pot-cooked rice. But Mom insisted on not doing it."

Upon hearing this, the eldest aunt decisively took over: "That's right, we can't do that. We have vegetables in our own fields, why spend money to eat someone else's? How expensive!"

Without hesitation, she sat down in front of a basin of Chinese milk vetch and began to pick through it, saying: "Where's Tan Tan? She didn't say how much this vegetable cost when she sent it to me last time. You tell me, this child, she should keep good things to sell for money; why send them to us? We're family, we can eat anything."

Looking at the large bundle in the basin in front of her, mostly Chinese milk vetch with pink flowers, she couldn't help but feel even more regretful: "It's all getting old now."

Wu Lan laughed: "Tan Tan said when she came back that her aunt specifically took her to buy a duck, which saved her dozens of yuan."

"Besides, it's because we're family that we should keep the good things."

She looked at the Chinese milk vetch in her hands: "It was just because money was tight this year that we thought we'd try selling it. Who knew it would taste so good? But now that it's bloomed, it can't be eaten anymore. There's only this much left, so let's just stir-fry it all at noon."

Why was there only this much left?

Mao Li also quickly laughed:

"I was wondering why you sent Chinese milk vetch over so eagerly. I only found out later at the market that this stuff sells for so much. Look at me..."

She put on a look of shame: "I thought it was two yuan a jin, so I went and said I wanted to buy ten yuan's worth. Tan Tan, that child, even got angry and refused to sell it."

Song Tan hadn't mentioned this at all when she came back, and this was the first time Wu Lan had heard of it.

Hearing this insincere tone, she felt angry in her heart, thinking: Vegetables that cost twenty yuan a jin, and you wanted to buy five jin for ten yuan. What kind of dream are you having?

Even relatives can't calculate accounts like that!

Sending is sending, and buying is buying; these are two different things.

However, before she could say anything, she saw Song Song Sancheng walking back happily, accompanying Uncle Song and the eldest uncle. He turned and went into the house to pick up a bag of yellow paper:

"Let's go, let's go visit the graves first."

Uncle Song looked around the courtyard: "Where's Dad?"

Speaking of this, it was hard for Song Song Sancheng not to show off, so he lifted his chin with restraint: "On the back hill. Tan Tan wants to plant fruit trees there, and Dad is watching over it there now."

Uncle Song was shocked: "Planting fruit trees?"

"That's not something to play around with. She's a young girl, and you're just letting her have her way? If she loses money in the end, that's not a small amount."

"Besides..." He looked toward the back hill: "I don't see any movement up there?"

Family members speak with practical considerations, and Song Song Sancheng didn't dwell on the money-losing thing he mentioned, just proudly added:

"As soon as our Tan Tan came back, the village secretary said she was a college student returning home to start a business, and insisted on begging us to contract that piece of the back hill."

"So, they're giving subsidies and helping to organize things, and now we're planting fruit trees on that barren hill. We're digging holes today, and I reckon the saplings will be transported here by the afternoon."

The young man with the excavator is really capable; the work originally scheduled for five to seven days was finished in less than four.

Now, using that large bucket to dig holes, one dig is accurate, and the rest of the people can just tidy up and wait to plant the trees.

Oh my, the young man Zhang Yanping found is really honest!

But he went to the city to pick up fruit seedlings this morning, which is why he wasn't seen just now.

Speaking of this, Song Song Sancheng was still vaguely worried: "Planting trees a few days late, I wonder if it will affect the harvest."

Wu Lan couldn't stand his smug look, so she quickly interrupted:

"You guys hurry up and go burn the paper; it'll be noon if you don't. By the way, tell the person plowing the field not to leave today; stay and have a meal."

The person plowing the field was quite firm about wanting money, but it was agreed at the beginning that meals weren't included, and they really didn't eat.

They had relatives in this village and always went to their relatives' houses to freeload.

Today, the field was almost finished being plowed, so it wouldn't be appropriate not to keep them for a meal.

Song Song Sancheng checked the time; it really wasn't early, so he hurriedly took the eldest uncle and the eldest aunt's husband and walked toward the back hill.

Visiting graves, local customs mostly still involve the men. If the eldest aunt and Mao Li want to go, they can go; if they don't want to, forget it.

However, Mao Li and Sun Sun Yanyan were thinking about more and better things in the fields, while the eldest aunt was busy helping to organize the vegetables for twenty people and couldn't spare her hands.

Just then, Song Tan drove back with Song Qiao Song Qiao.

The car also parked at the courtyard gate, vaguely emitting a smell. She connected a water hose from the outdoor faucet and was currently washing it down with a splash.

Seeing this, Wu Lan couldn't help but be puzzled:

"Didn't you say you were driving to the back hill for a spin? What did you load? There's a smell."

Song Tan laughed: "Dad was right. My Uncle Zhang went to the back hill early this morning to help. He collected all those broken branches and leaves."

"Then he piled them up by the edge of the orchard and asked me to take them to the back hill to introduce them to Da Wang—he's going to take the manure from the pigsty and the chicken and duck pens and compost them together."

Speaking of this, Song Tan really felt that the two-thousand-yuan salary was well worth it.

Because although Zhang Wang was slightly lame, he worked quickly and had a lot of strength. Don't look at him as someone who doesn't say a word; his mind is very progressive.

This morning, Song Tan saw with her own eyes how he mixed pig manure, chicken and duck manure, and broken grass and mud according to his experience, piled them up in heaps, and took a bag of farm fertilizer fermentation bacteria from a basket to pour on top...

Song Tan was truly surprised.

If you say the villagers know how to use chemical fertilizers, urea, and pesticides, she would admit it 100%, but this kind of fermentation bacteria is a variety of beneficial bacteria, and the range of bacterial strains is very wide. She doesn't know about other villages, but the people in this village have definitely never heard of it.

---Side note---

This fermentation bacteria is really good, but I don't have the conditions for composting, so I just looked up the information. Currently, the potted plants at home use simple Bacillus subtilis and the like...

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