Chapter 782

With several people on her mind, Song Tan wasn't driving nearly as fast.

The car had gone quite a distance before she complained: "Sigh! There's no shortage of people for harvesting rice these days."

Grandpa Qi Lin, who was following along, remained silent.

That's right, the one following this time was him—this was Professor Song's suggestion.

His exact words were: "Xiao Qi, you should go along this time. Listen to how people raise sheep. If you learn it well, I remember your hometown has quite a lot of yellow soil, right?"

He was genuinely planning for his student: "The crops grown there tend to be on poor soil, and it's tiring. Your grandfather is getting on in years; if you learn this well, you can teach him to raise a few sheep at home later on, so he'll have something to do."

Farming doesn't earn much money anyway, and Grandpa Qi Lin is filial, giving his grandfather a thousand yuan every month—that's better than the old man working himself to the bone, right?

And because the land is so barren, it's not safe for a lone elderly person to raise cattle... Cattle are too expensive, nearly ten thousand yuan each. In a poor area, who knows if someone might target the cow, and would he risk his life for it?

After thinking it over, Professor Song felt that sheep were the most reliable option.

After all, when prices are low, you can get a lamb for 200 yuan.

"Let nature take its course. You're in charge of promotion; if they're willing to film, let them. We'll set a deposit to persuade a batch of people first."

"Huh?" Wu Lan was stunned.

Thinking of this, Song Tan couldn't help but add: "If I can bring over even one-tenth of his fans through his traffic, then the sales of this batch of kudzu powder won't be a worry."

But now, he hesitated.

However, when it comes to agricultural development, Song Tan is truly more professional than you.

Of course, because Grandpa Qi Lin succeeded so easily, Chen Chi thought he could do it too, so he enthusiastically started a livestream.

He thought of those few acres of land on the back mountain.

Compared to Chen Chi's massive, wealthy, and free-spending high-net-worth fan base, those two or three thousand jin are like a clay ox entering the sea—gone without a trace.

He suggested: "Your mother—I mean, didn't Auntie livestream before? Let her try."

"Auntie has lived in the village for years and must be more familiar with kudzu. She can livestream the process of making kudzu powder once or twice. If you have the footage, just edit a video and build some hype."

"Prepare a new online store and put the link in Auntie's livestream room."

"The whole mountain is fenced off. It will definitely look beautiful in spring and summer—are you really not planning to open it up for photography?"

Qiao Qiao forgot about the fans, but the fans slipped away faster than loaches in a paddy ditch. This left her mother feeling extra embarrassed, and in the end, she just stopped livestreaming.

And even when she set up her phone, although the bright red stand was very eye-catching, she would forget all about it once she got busy.

Kudzu is the kind of thing where you're lucky to get one jin of powder from three or four jin of raw material; sometimes the yield is low, and ten jin to one is possible.

Grandpa Qi Lin was usually a man of few words, but judging by his slightly reddened eyes, he had clearly taken those words to heart.

There are hardly any people left in his hometown now.

His only thought was to let his grandfather, who had worked hard his whole life, live a good life.

"My mom? My mom's livestream room hasn't even reached 100 people yet."

Return to his hometown, settle down in a nearby city, and then bring his grandfather over. If the old man isn't willing, he can stay in the hometown, and he can drive back every weekend when he's off.

Chen Chi said "Hmm," then added:

"I know," Song Tan nodded: "But I don't suggest saying this directly in Grandpa Qi Lin's livestream room. It's easy to cause disputes or confuse the philosophy that customers have worked so hard to cultivate."

"I see the Japanese roses you planted on the mountain are doing quite well; they've already sprouted new branches."

"Song Tan, people always have to face partings."

Wu Lan:... No, how did this topic change so quickly across mountains and ridges? Is this conversation really unavoidable?

It's just...

The livestream didn't have any specific content either—today showing everyone a shovel, tomorrow showing everyone a hoe, the day after wandering around the stove...

"Then let's talk about the kudzu on the back mountain. Does it still belong to Uncle Zhang this year?"

"If I were to work for you, is there a place for family members to stay?"

Yet at this moment, this old, dusty livestream room was actually unearthed by Song Tan.

Of course, he is a child from a poor family and doesn't have such grand ideals of transforming his hometown and leading everyone to prosperity.

Wu Lan said the truth: "I've reserved a 30-square-meter room for you. If you want to partition it into two bedrooms, that's no problem."

At that moment, she also asked curiously: "After you finish your PhD with Professor Song, you could go to the Academy of Agricultural Sciences or any research institute—do you have any plans now?"

Therefore, Wu Lan also nodded honestly: "Yes, it still belongs to him. But I mentioned before that I'd help by having Grandpa Qi Lin mention it in his livestream to help the old man earn a bit more money—Uncle Zhang works so hard!"

However, there clearly wasn't a good solution to this problem in the short term, and it was too awkward for the two of them to be silent in the car, so Chen Chi changed the subject:

After all, the Japanese roses are planted in two layers, inside and out. When the flowers cover the hillside, people taking photos on the perimeter will have to suffer a bit to get in, so safety isn't even an issue.

After a long while, Wu Lan heard him ask softly:

As for that...

Things in this world are just so strange.

If you had said that half a year ago, Song Tan could have said decisively that he wanted to return to his hometown.

This is a realistic problem. After all, everyone is in their twenties, graduate school hasn't ended, and there are plans for a PhD. If Song Tan doesn't bring it up, his grandfather will be anxious too.

Wu Lan thought for a moment: "Actually, I don't forbid photography."

"But let's try a different method. Let Grandpa Qi Lin introduce it in his livestream, then introduce Auntie's livestream room to help divert some traffic."

"Even if the fans find out the truth, such a hassle is very damaging to goodwill. That's why I said Grandpa Qi Lin isn't suitable."

"It's like this: selling other people's goods in Grandpa Qi Lin's livestream room makes it easy for haters to buy them and then maliciously give bad reviews on the grounds of being uninformed."

These are all things for next year; she doesn't want to think about them now.

Grandpa Qi Lin forgets about the fans, and the fans shout "He doesn't have me in his heart," but they still follow him unwaveringly.

Those few acres of land at Zhang Wang's house—if you calculate an average yield of 600 jin of powder per acre, the total is only two or three thousand jin.

Don't look at Qiao Qiao being busy in her hometown now; if you really bought her a house in the city and told her to live there, she wouldn't necessarily be willing.

"But the problem is, the room is only so big. If you fall in love, get married, and have children in the future... you can't always take your grandfather wherever you go, right?"

And because of this, Song Tan also found someone to talk to on the road.

Moreover, the older generation believes that "a person is worth less when they leave their hometown" and "it's hard to leave one's native soil."

Chen Chi thought for a while and finally sighed: "I'll consider it some more."