บท 25: Seventy-Five Thousand for Five Years
บรรณาธิการ: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The summer rain came fast and was gone just as quickly.
The heavy rain the night before cleared up as the scorching sun once again enveloped the earth.
The body of the She-Viper had been chopped up and buried on the two acres of land, waiting to become fertilizer.
When the second uncle was burying the corpse, he kept muttering, "Where's the meat from the Palace Suppressing Noble in this place? How come we can't see any of it?"
It had been only a week since they fertilized the field with the meat from the Palace Suppressing Noble, but now no trace of it could be found in the field—it had been completely absorbed by the two acres of land.
"I made some inquiries."
Mr. Chi squatted on the ground, smoking a Chinese pipe. Basically, he never went anywhere without the pipe in his hands.
Chi Qiaosong asked, "About what?"
"About leasing the First Ridge. The Department of Forestry from Chengguan Town said that the First Ridge has an area of 5,000 acres. So even what's considered to be barren costs $3 a year per acre."
"One acre of land for $3 a year?" Chi Qiaosong calculated silently. "So we can get it for $15,000 a year?"
The second uncle said, "$15,000 is a lot. What can we grow to produce $15,000 worth of grains? Even the paddy at the foot of the mountain was too expensive to be leased for $3 an acre."
Jiangyou Province had no shortage of arable land, but it did have a shortage of labor, so the leasing price for the land was well below average.
Chi Qiaosong didn't respond to the second uncle's complaints but said, "If it is $15,000 a year, we can sign a five-year contract with the Department of Forestry."
"Five years? Five years would cost..." The second uncle calculated on his fingers. "It's $75,000 for five years! We haven't paid off our debts yet. Where are we going to find this kind of money?"
Previously, the proceeds from selling the black bears and the honey were used to repay their debts, but it was not enough. They still owed $300 for the materials used to build the greenhouse.
Chi Qiaosong decided. "Wait for this crop of jade lentils to be harvested, and we will see. If it proves to be good, we can sell it for money and take the lease for the First Ridge."
The jade lentils, planted in one acre of the field before, had been transplanted by his parents and were now sprouting.
Chi Qiaosong had also set up a control group for testing, and the control group consisted of two types—the common lentils and the ones planted in the greenhouse. The three groups were compared with each other based on their growth results.
The jade lentils sprouted a little faster than ordinary lentils, and the sprouts were stronger.
But compared to the lentils that were planted in the greenhouse, they were a little bit inferior on all fronts.
So.
As long as these crops did not look too bad, they could be marketed under the brand "Jade Lentils." Then, he could take advantage of the situation to save other vegetables and fruits in the greenhouse for further cultivation.
This way, high-quality ecological agriculture could be created.
After he was more accomplished in martial arts and more in a position to protect his properties, he could open up the farmhouse for specialized businesses catering to the rich. Then, maybe Commander Zhu would want to come to the First Ridge to enjoy fresh and authentic farm food.
Of course, all this hinged on whether the jade lentils would be a success or not. If it failed, all his plans would have to be revisited.
"Do you really want to lease the land?" the second uncle asked earnestly.
"Yes."
"Okay, Qiaosong, you are ambitious, and I believe in you."
Then, the second uncle suddenly sighed again. "Say, brother, Qiaosong is so good at martial arts. Does it mean that our family has a natural talent for learning martial arts?"
Mr. Chi was far more reserved. "Whether we have the talent for martial arts depends on the achievements of Qiaowu, Qiaodong, and Qiaoshui, as well as Moshan and Moshui, and whether Qiaosong can make something out of them or not."
"It is hard to say for that kid, Moshan. I think he is a lot behind compared to Qiaowu. Qiaowu's form was quite good in sparring and swordsmanship, but that was not the case with Moshan. He always ends up in a mess."
"Alas, Moshan is like his father, with the same impatient nature."
"In any case, if Qiaowu is trained, it means that our family has a talent for this. Tsk tsk, we were too poor and couldn't afford to practice martial arts. Heck, we didn't even know where to start learning martial arts. Otherwise..."
The second uncle took a puff from Mr. Chi's Chinese pipe and puffed out a smoke ring. Then, he said quietly, "Maybe we could have made something of ourselves too, in martial arts, and followed Commander Zhu in revolution, and claimed some territories and made ourselves kings!"
Chi Qiaosong thought to himself. This was some extreme overreaching. The truth was that the Chi family really had no requisite talent whatsoever to practice martial arts.
Of course, he was not going to be a wet blanket and douse his uncle's idealization.
If a person had no dreams, what was the difference between a man and a fish? Maybe the second uncle had regrets in the past, so he doubled down on looking forward to the future and strived to nurture his son so that Chi Qiaoshui could be cultivated into someone greater.
So, he smiled and said, "Dad, Uncle, why don't you practice the Yu Sword Skills with me? This swordsmanship is very good for self-cultivation and is a good way to exercise the body."
Learning martial arts from his own son was too much of a reversal of roles, something that Mr. Chi couldn't look past. He shook his head. "Look at my age. Don't bother with me. Maybe your second uncle will take you up on your offer."
Indeed, the second uncle was eager to give it a try, "Yes, yes!"
Chi Qiaosong added, "The Yu Sword Skill is most suitable for laying the foundation. In the future, not only Qiaowu and Moshan will learn the Yu Sword Skill from me, but Xiaoya and Wen Ting will also take lessons from me."
"Do the girls have to learn martial arts too?" The second uncle asked in amazement.
"Boys and girls are the same, Uncle. So let's not have some archaic ideas in our family and treat them differently."
"Married daughter, spilled water..."
"Uncle, that is an antiquated idea. No matter what, I think the girls in our family should also learn martial arts. It doesn't matter if they achieved anything or not. This is the attitude we must have. In the future, when they marry and start their own families, they will have the idea of practicing martial arts, which will certainly influence the next generation."
The second uncle was a conservative with a deep sense of tradition. He muttered, "Then, the outsiders would get all the benefits..."
"Are Mo Shan, Wen Ting, and Moshui outsiders?"
"That's different."
"How is it different?"
"Uh..." The second uncle couldn't think of anything to retort.
The three siblings had lost their parents when they were young and grew up taking care of each other. They had never regarded their little aunt as an outsider and had accepted their little uncle, her husband, as one of their own.
The cousins grew up as close as could be.
Chi Qiaosong had been watching the greenhouse all day.
Because of the She-Viper, he felt that the two-acre field might have been attracting some spirit beasts and other foreign creatures, so he planned to carry out the night watch duty himself.
He no longer allowed his father and uncle to come for the overnight watch.
It didn't matter that the farmhouse had no electricity. It made no difference to him whether there was electricity or not because the house had no TV, no radio, no refrigerator, no air conditioner, and no electrical appliances whatsoever.
It was enough for him just to have some old newspapers.
He liked to read newspapers, from which he learned about the affairs of the Daxia Republic and all major events overseas. In fact, the Daxia Republic was the kingdom at the center of this world, a real superpower.
The administrative district was divided into 48 provinces and seven municipalities directly under the central government.
From the land of sunrise in the east, like Fuso and Ezo, to the tropical rainforest country of Jiaozhi in the south. Further south, there were enclaves such as Borneo, the great Lake Balkhash in the desert, and the Arctic Ocean in the north.
The territory covered some 20 million square kilometers and boasted a population of 100,000,000.
Whether from south to north or east to west, it took anywhere from ten days to half a month to travel by train. Even by plane, it would take seven or eight hours.
The territory was far too vast, and the binding force from the central government was limited, which was a major factor leading to the rise of the warlords. They took advantage of the fact that they were out of reach of the government, and each wanted a piece of land upon which they could claim to be king.
In the evening, the sky seemed filled with burning clouds, and the entire First Ridge was reddened.
The change that Chi Qiaosong was expecting finally happened.
[Grade 2 field: Two acres
Fertilizer storage: Five bags
Spirit root source (2): Bay tree (...), Saturn peach tree (...)
External spirit toot (0), None
Spirit plants: ...]
"What!"
Chi Qiaosong was pleasantly surprised.
The greatest change was the fertilizer storage. From nothing to now, it had gathered five bags of fertilizer, which excited him beyond words—the She-Viper's power to fertilize turned out to be five times that of the Palace Suppressing Noble.
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