Chapter 7: I’m a big spender!

Chapter 7: I’m a Big Landowner!

There was no need to queue at the town’s police station, and Song Tan finished reissuing her ID card in just ten minutes. She efficiently picked out a three-thousand-yuan domestic smartphone, though as she pondered the remaining money in her pocket, her heart was filled with melancholy.

She only had sixty thousand yuan (to be precise, a little over sixty-two thousand, plus the two thousand yuan Wulan had given her, making it sixty-four thousand). Last night, Song Tan had planned out a budget.

How to plan it?

Buy a phone, buy farm tools, buy seeds, and fertilizer...

Could she keep the rest? No. She had to hire people to dig up the mountains, the fields, and every other place she wanted to plant...

With this little money, she wouldn't be able to afford labor for very long.

"Dad, Mom said I could mess around with the fields and the mountains, as long as I leave the vegetable garden alone—is there any machine that can till the soil?"

If you can't afford to buy, you can rent!

Song Sancheng was still a bit hesitant. "Tantan, are you really going to farm? It’s fine to experience it for a patch or two, but if you spread yourself so thin and the villagers find out, won't they say you're being arrogant?"

Song Tan herself was very open-minded about it, but Song Sancheng and Wulan had lived here their whole lives; it was impossible for them to completely ignore gossip.

Therefore, she persuaded him: "Dad, even if I only plant one patch, people will talk anyway. Since that's the case, I might as well do it with a bang."

Song Sancheng wasn't good with words and didn't know what to say, so he could only sigh again. "Your mom and I discussed it last night. We can't touch the two hundred thousand yuan set aside for my and Qiaoqiao's retirement, so we can only give you sixty thousand."

"Tantan, earning money isn't easy. Don't squander it."

Song Tan’s eyes suddenly grew hot.

She knew her father wasn't lying. In a rural family, supporting a college student and a son with a disability—even the couple had to take turns working odd jobs—how much could they possibly save?

This was truly their entire life savings.

Song Sancheng didn't know what his daughter was thinking and was still worrying

"Since you're going to do it, you have to think about why you’d be able to make money. Otherwise, there are so many people in the village who farm; isn't every one of them better than you?"

"If you aren't sure, then think about it some more."

Song Tan fell silent.

In the cultivation world, as long as one’s realm was high enough, no one cared what you did or didn't do. It was just like her Water-Wood Spirit Method; she had spent a hundred years at Yin Yue Peak planting spiritual herbs just to seek a breakthrough.

There were plenty of people like that.

But this was the world of ordinary people. She could squander sixty thousand yuan, but how could she bear to make her parents worry like this with their hard-earned money?

But how could she explain the matter of cultivation?

Song Tan pondered for a moment. "Dad, to be honest, I've wanted to come back for a long time. Our village is close to a water source and tucked away in the mountains. It hasn't been polluted over the years; it's a truly excellent place."

That was true, but it was a desolate wilderness. The mountains weren't majestic or steep, and most of the forest and farmland had been left to grow wild...

Even if one wanted to develop it, there was really no way to start.

For so many years, there really hadn't been any pollution.

Otherwise, Song Tan wouldn't have succeeded in drawing Qi into her body so quickly last night.

"What's so good about it?" Song Sancheng said dismissively. "There are villages like this all around."

Song Tan said in a low voice, "Dad, the reason I dared to come back to farm is that an expert came here to test the soil and water. They said the quality is very high, and the crops grown here will taste better than those from other places."

"They are a professional, and what benefit would they get from lying? That’s why, when I felt I couldn't handle the work anymore, I wanted to come back and give it a try."

"Dad, if I succeed, I can stay in the village and keep you and Mom company from now on."

The last sentence touched Song Sancheng.

Raising children—didn't he want the whole family to be together? But the children had lived in dorms in town since middle school, then high school, college, and work... Counting it all up, the time they spent as parents with their children was very little.

Now that his daughter said this, Song Sancheng couldn't help but believe it—yes, someone had come specifically to test it, what if it was true?

So, he convinced himself and chimed in, "That's right, the vegetables we grow here have more 'vegetable flavor' than the ones sold in those supermarkets!"

The father and daughter marched off with high spirits to look at farm tools.

"By the way, Dad, how much do these soil-tilling machines cost?"

Song Sancheng thought for a moment. "I think you can get one for five thousand yuan..."

Song Tan immediately decided, "I'll buy one!"

"Buy what!" Song Sancheng glared at her. "This thing needs repairs after being used twice. Besides, from our bamboo forest to the pond, we have seven or eight large fields. Can you fix it, and can you finish it all in one go?"

The fields here were terraced, suitable only for small farm machinery. But the small ones were cheap and prone to breaking down.

On this point, Song Sancheng had much more experience than Song Tan, who only knew how to use spells.

So, Song Tan followed Song Sancheng into a shop that sold farm machinery. With a few words, he settled on a price of 500 yuan per day for tilling the land.

"That's really expensive..."

Song Sancheng was still muttering as they left the shop.

There weren't many people farming now, but there were still some. Since it was time to prepare for spring plowing, it was a small peak season.

On top of that, they weren't just renting the machine; they needed someone to operate it, and the fields had been half-abandoned for years. Hearing the price, Song Sancheng couldn't help but click his tongue.

However, he was clearly an optimist and soon cheered up again. "Having a machine saves trouble. Their shop is a bit expensive, but they till deeper than others, which is also good."

In reality, this was the only shop in town that sold and rented farm machinery; to find another, one would have to go to the next town over.

Song Tan looked at her father, feeling that he was adorable in every way.

"By the way, Tantan, what do you plan to plant first? If you're planting rice, you'll need to clean up that top pond. No one has managed it for years, and it's full of water caltrops."

People here loved to eat; they used to grow both rice and wheat, but generally speaking, they grew more rice.

Of course, no one was growing it now!

Song Tan looked at her father, feeling like the child of a low-key billionaire. "That pond is ours too?"

The pond was lined with weeping willows, wild grasses, and vegetables, and the water was clear and clean.

In Song Tan's memory, although the water caltrops inside were small—only the size of a chestnut—the fresh, sweet, and tender taste after peeling them was completely different from what was sold in the market outside. She hadn't eaten them in so many years!

"What else?" Song Sancheng said as if it were obvious. "We used to grow rice at home. If we used someone else's pond and they didn't let us release the water, how could we grow rice?"

"Not just that, this whole area of the bamboo forest, including the pond by the gate, is ours."

"I'm the youngest, so when the land was divided, your uncle took the other mountains, and we got the ones nearby."

"Only the pond on the far hillside was dug by the production brigade originally."

Song Sancheng sighed, clearly starting to worry about money again.

Song Tan was too shocked to speak.

She had planned to come back and lease mountains and fields, but looking at it now, why would she need to lease anything?

She was a big landowner herself!

At this moment, Song Tan was full of spirit, so she pointed at the seed shop ahead

"Dad, let's buy a few dozen pounds of Chinese milk vetch first!"

...

...

[Chinese milk vetch can be planted in both spring and autumn. Its root nodules can fertilize the soil, making it an excellent fertilizer. It’s also quite nutritious and tastes good. It blooms in a pale purple color... and has a short growth cycle; it can grow in a month or two. People can eat it, and pigs, cows, and sheep can eat it too!]

[Note: I see many friends in the comments asking, so let me explain: some small farm machines aren't expensive in terms of unit price, but they require skilled manual operation, fuel consumption, and it's true that they often need repairs. What Tantan's dad negotiated here is 500 yuan for an all-inclusive day, covering labor, fuel, and repairs. When initial capital is insufficient, renting can save both labor and money.]