Chapter 1003: 983. Departure ti
Great, great, great!
This lifesaving benefactor truly knows how to be considerate. Song Tan had been fretting over the endless options online! Oh my, when we go for the pig-slaughtering feast, will he even drive himself? No matter what, he’s gotta take back a couple of sacks of sheep manure as fertilizer!
She casually added all the business cards one by one and, at the sa ti, hurried to pick out a bunch of packaging boxes. After that, she swiftly paid and headed back ho.
anwhile, Lun Chuan checked the ti and tagged two friends in the group chat:
[How are you guys planning to get to the pig-slaughtering feast? @He Kuang @Qing Yun]
A reply quickly ca through: [I’ll drive there with He Kuang. Checked the GPS—nine hours. Driving alone would be too tiring.]
Lun Chuan was a bit puzzled: “Weren’t you guys planning to buy train tickets?” High-speed rail only takes about four hours, saving nearly half the ti.
He Kuang grumbled, “We WERE thinking of buying tickets. But, first of all, getting tickets so close to the holidays is a hassle. Second of all, we calculated: It takes an hour to get to the train station, plus another half hour wasted walking from the station once we’re there. Adds up to seven or eight hours anyway. Might as well just drive ourselves.”
Plus, driving ans if we stumble across anything good on the way, we can just toss it in the trunk and bring it back. Who knows? Folks we et might even sell us a thing or two.
“What about you? How are you and Aunt getting there?” Qin Yun asked him.
Lun Chuan answered without hesitation: “My mom and I are planning to drive, too. For one, she’s from Ning City. And two, it’s the end of the year, so there’re too many people on public transport. I don’t think I can deal with it.”
Hiss!
The mont they thought about this, everyone imdiately rembered Lun Chuan’s current “Daiyu-like” delicate constitution. Qin Yun laughed unreservedly: “Chuan Er, you know what kind of character soone like you would be in n’s fiction?”
But Lun Chuan wasn’t bothered. He just quietly sent a voice ssage: “Then why don’t you think back to the last ti you ca over for dinner and broke the leg of that table—now tell , what kind of character are *you* in a novel?”
Well, if you’re brothers, you might as well roast each other a bit. Qin Yun was left speechless.
After a good stretch of banter, the three started discussing their departure ti: “Set off on January 8th at 9 a.m., book a hotel online, and stay in the urban area overnight. Leave for the village on the 9th? Plus, we can stroll around the mountains over there.”
“I checked the route—it takes about an hour to get from the village to the city. Worst case, we can just head back to the city and stay at a hotel that night,” Qin Yun suggested.
He Kuang hesitated a little: “I read their announcent. They’re super busy and don’t host fans who show up early. Should we skip the 8th and go on the 9th instead?”
Lun Chuan pondered for a mont: “Let’s stick with the 8th. Even though there’s still so ti before the New Year, we can’t guarantee the highway won’t be jamd, or that there won’t be rain, snow, or heavy fog along the way. Leaving a day earlier gives us a ti cushion.”
“If visiting the village on the 9th is inconvenient, we can spend the 8th exploring the urban area and its surroundings.”
“Alright!” Qin Yun agreed readily. “We’re both riding on your coattails this ti, so whatever you say goes—except leaving at 9 a.m.? That ans waking up by 8?! Old Lun, man! Just because your routine is regular doesn’t an the rest of us don’t stay up all night cultivating immortality!”
Both he and He Kuang were night owls, getting bursts of inspiration and insane writing speeds as the night deepened. They often couldn’t wrap up until 3 a.m.… Honestly, what creative people don’t work like mad late into the night?!
Clearly, Lun Chuan was the one who wasn’t normal!
He Kuang also pulled a long face: “Exactly… How about we leave at noon? Get to Yun City’s hotel by night, and while you sleep, Qin Yun and I can continue writing?”
Lun Chuan was baffled: “Don’t you guys have a buffer of pre-written material?”
Qin Yun argued shalessly: “What pre-written material? Without a deadline, where’s the motivation? I’ll let you know at midnight on the 8th how much we’ve got saved up.”
Lun Chuan: …
…
Song Tan lugged a giant stack of packaging boxes ho. As soon as Qiaoqiao helped her unload them, Secretary Xiaozu’s call ca through.
“Song Tan, are you ho? I wanted to run sothing by you.”
This ti, the matter was simple:
“Didn’t you already pay part of the fee for Shitou Slope over there? Now that the villagers have gotten their money, so are coming to , asking if you’d be interested in leasing their land too.”
Song Tan was montarily stunned: “That area’s a bit far, and it’s not part of our village. I hadn’t planned on leasing land over there for now.”
“It’s not that far,” Secretary Xiaozu showed her a video. “Rember the last ti you were at Shitou Slope and saw that large area of abandoned tea gardens and hillside? Does that ring a bell?”
It did, though not because Song Tan had so amazing mory. She normally wouldn’t keep track of these everyday little things.
The reason she rembered was that during the trip to Shitou Slope, there were lots of tall, wild persimmon trees scattered across the hillside. Despite the freezing cold, a few bright orange persimmons still clung stubbornly to the branches.
Although, so had been pecked to bits by birds.
Secretary Xiaozu explained, “I asked around and found out that while nobody tends to that land, those persimmon trees still yield a good harvest every year. The villagers have eaten so much of them that they’ve grown tired of it and can’t finish them all.”
“I was thinking, if you ever want to lease more land for growing fruit trees, that area might not be a bad choice.”
“Plus, right now, because your reputation hasn’t spread yet, any additional leases at Shitou Slope would still go for the old price. They won’t overcharge you.”
The cost of leasing the land wasn’t a big deal for Song Tan at this stage anyway.
But she frowned slightly, feeling a bit hesitant.
What Secretary Xiaozu said about the prices was practical. But she hadn’t even fully sorted out the managent of her existing few hundred acres. If she added more acreage in a different village, managent costs alone would shoot up.
“I need to think about it.” She tried to brainstorm if there were any crops she liked to eat but hadn’t yet planned to grow.
Secretary Xiaozu wasn’t pushy. He simply brought it up as a suggestion, leaving the decision entirely up to her. “No problem. They just asked
to check with you. Take your ti to think it over.”
“Besides, even though there are plenty of persimmon trees, local persimmons aren’t worth much. You could always uproot them and plant sothing else instead.”
Out of nowhere, Lady Tang chid in: “Are those soft persimmons or firm persimmons? Are they the kind of soft ones you have to pick early and cure to make Fire Crystal Persimmons? Or are they firm ones that could be made into dried persimmon cakes?”
Though she wasn’t young anymore, the lively old lady had plenty of hobbies, and dried persimmon cakes happened to be one of her favorite foods.
But Secretary Xiaozu clarified: “They’re not Fire Crystal Persimmons, just your standard local variety—very ordinary. You have to store them alongside apples to ripen them properly before eating, so they’re not easy to transport.”
“That said, planting crispy persimmons over there could work. Even though it’s labeled a tea garden, there are hardly any tea trees left. These days, who still tends to hillside plots like that?”
“It’s over 30 acres, and no one has touched it for more than a decade.”
Vegetable plots might still get so attention, but managing the hillside land? That would require serious effort! Given the choice, people would much rather head out and work in the city for wages.
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