Chapter 27: Still You

"Dad, when is the person sending the netting coming?"

"They'll be here in a while."

Song Tan looked at the chestnut trees on the hillside that were sprouting buds and intended to enclose the entire forest, then plant black wood ear and silver ear mushrooms in the forest.

As for this chestnut forest, she knew in her heart that the family hadn't taken care of them for so many years, so the annual harvest depended entirely on God's will.

Chestnuts, you have to graft, prune, and fertilize; it's not easy to take care of them.

Their Yunqiao Village was too remote, and chestnuts weren't any famous product. The acquisition price was only one or two yuan a year, which was quite a bit more expensive than the eight cents in Song Tan's childhood memory.

But the problem was, the young people in the village who could earn this money had already left their hometown for the city.

The older ones, like Song Sancheng and the others, couldn't do such heavy farm work now.

Time makes people old!

And in the center of the hillside, there was a wild chestnut tree that was three stories high, covering the sky and the sun, just growing in the middle of the slope.

This was a wild old tree, which the family had never taken care of. The chestnut balls weren't bigger than ping-pong balls, and the chestnuts peeled out were only as big as a thumb, but they were fragrant when eaten.

It was left by Grandpa Song Youde on purpose.

Song Tan looked up at it, not knowing why her mouth was watering. Thinking of the time when they gathered around the stove in winter, listening to the chestnuts "bang" and exploding...

Fragrant, soft, and sweet.

She didn't hesitate to gather a soybean-sized spiritual energy, patted the trunk slowly, feeling the tree roots stretching freely in the ground, and then reluctantly withdrew her gaze—

"Grow well! I'm counting on you for the New Year!"

Song Sancheng was already calling to her from the front: "Come take a look, can we drive the stakes and set up the netting here?"

It was too expensive to enclose iron wire netting here, so it was just ordinary rope netting. Most of the time, it was just a hint to those who were used to taking things—

It has an owner, don't move.

The so-called preventing gentlemen but not villains, most of the facilities in rural areas were basically like this.

Song Tan estimated in her heart, then nodded: "Alright, just here."

Song Sancheng laughed when he saw her serious posture: "Look at you, you're doing it properly—as if you really know how."

Song Tan also coaxed her father: "What if your daughter really has talent? It's still my father who is willing to listen to me and give me space to display my talent!"

Song Sancheng was indeed coaxed into a daze: "That's right, when you were little, I let you ride on my neck every day—"

After saying this, Song Sancheng looked around to see no one, and said secretly: "Tan Tan, look at how much you've earned during this time, right?"

It was mid-March now, and Song Tan had sold wild vegetables six times—she had indeed earned quite a bit, fifteen thousand already, half the car was back.

Song Tan looked at her father with a smile: "I do have some money in my hands, Dad, what do you want to do?"

Song Sancheng was overjoyed, twisting and turning: "That—you like eating fish, right? Dad intends to go fishing when it rains and there's no work. You remember Uncle Wu in our village, right? He bought a new fishing rod, over five hundred!"

"Look, how about... you buy one for me too? If your mother asks, you just say it's 80."

Sigh, he didn't have any other hobbies now, he just wanted to fish!

Song Tan felt a sourness in her heart—the family was so frugal, wasn't it all for the two children?

But speaking of fishing rods...

Song Tan also discussed with her father: "Dad, if you can quit smoking, you can save one or two thousand yuan a year. When the time comes, I'll add another 2000, and we'll buy a 4000 rod!"

Song Sancheng:...

He was silent for a moment: "You don't understand, those who really know how to fish don't look at the fishing rod at all. Thousands of yuan of fishing rods aren't used, and this one feels quite smooth now."

Forget it, this is a fishing rod and tobacco, and tobacco is even better!

It didn't seem realistic to ask her father to quit smoking for a while.

Song Tan thought for a moment, simply took out her phone: "But Dad, you've worked hard during this time. Isn't it just a fishing rod? A few bundles of wild vegetables! Pick whatever you want, you choose first!"

The sound of the car came from far to near—the person sending the netting arrived.

Returning home, Wu Lan was still inoculating mushroom spores at Song Youde's place—it should have been arranged long ago, but because the trees cut down a while ago were too wet, they had to dry them for a few days before drilling holes.

Only now were they officially inoculating.

Song Sancheng also smiled: "The ones who came are all your grandfather's and grandmother's generation. They chat with your grandfather and grandmother every day, and their spirits are much better."

"All the older people in our village came, but there are two I didn't invite—those two are hard to deal with."

Song Tan knew which two.

One was the famous unreasonable person in their village, the kind that even his own children couldn't do anything about.

One was a fierce person who dared to poison someone's livestock (attempted) just to steal a pumpkin...

That is to say, people like this are everywhere, and they can only be avoided.

Song Sancheng thought of this and was speechless, and at this moment simply said another thing:

"But Tan Tan, we didn't mention money at the beginning—they are old after all. If you say you give money, and if they have a headache or fall on the road, their family will say this is employment and we have to compensate, and we can't explain it clearly."

Don't look at them all as fellow villagers, there are quite a few unreasonable people in the village.

It's better this way. Wang Lifen shouts in the village, whoever wants to come can come, and they are fed and watered and have someone to chat with. For lonely old people, it's enough to make them happy.

Not to mention Song Sancheng also said that after the work was done, he would take two knives of meat to everyone, and everyone would work even harder.

But Song Sancheng was careful, and at this moment discussed with Song Tan again:

"But I think, when we plant so many things in our family, Tan Tan, you don't let them use pesticides, isn't this what they call green organic? The price must be expensive, right?"

That's a must.

Song Tan now insists on twenty yuan a jin for wild vegetables, just to create this price advantage.

Song Sancheng has been in the village for a long time, but what he thinks is more comprehensive:

"I think, if this thing is only available in our family, and people pick it easily later, we can't say anything, right?"

The hometown is like this, with advantages and disadvantages.

"Even if they don't pick it, what if the villagers want to buy it? If it's expensive, people say we are heartless. If it's cheap, it's not appropriate—how about this, after the work is done, send everyone a black wood ear stick and a silver ear stick."

"Tan Tan, what do you think?"

Song Tan really didn't think of this—cultivators have formation plates or barriers when farming, and no one would consider others taking it!

Now she nodded repeatedly, giving Song Sancheng a thumbs up:

"Dad, it's still you!"

Song Sancheng laughed proudly: "That's right! The salt I've eaten is more than the rice you've eaten!" ===== CHAPTER 28 =====