The Little Life of a Big Landlord

Chapter 59 Prosperity

flap flap...

A commotion arose, the sound of wings flapping wildly. The yellow bird finally succumbed to Su Zi's temptation, stepped onto the canopy, and fell into the trap, where it was captured and made a caged bird.

"Oh! Great, we caught him..." Xiao Bao cheered.

"Haha, I decided to stay, that was the right decision..." Old Huang was also excited. He got off to a great start on his first day, which was very encouraging.

"Please, it was my decision to stay, okay? Some people seem to be scared by the cat..." Old Liu couldn't help but interject, making Old Huang quite embarrassed.

The yellow bird was caught, and the tree planting activity, which had been suspended because of the bird's capture, resumed. By noon, the pomegranate tree was finally planted.

"Oh, I remember now, our greenhouse hasn't been opened for several days, has it?" Wei Qingqing suddenly thought of her family's greenhouse.

"Of course!" Yang Ming also remembered. "You go home and cook, I'll go check on them..." They haven't seen the sun for two days, wouldn't all those seedlings turn yellow from being suffocated?

Yang Ming went straight to the greenhouse. When he entered, he saw that, sure enough, the seedlings had turned a tender yellow after two days without sunlight. Fortunately, it had only been two days, so the yellow color was not yet obvious. Yang Ming quickly opened the greenhouse to let them see some sunlight.

After working for half an hour, Yang Ming finally managed to open all the greenhouses. He sat on the edge of the field, panting heavily, and said, "This is too much work. We should hire a few people to help."

"If we're talking about hiring people, the best option would be to buy a few cyborgs, but cyborgs aren't human, and having them around would be really unsettling. So, I guess I'll just have to hire a few farmhands from the village. I'll discuss it with Qingqing when I get home... Oh, right, I think I still have a plant spirit in my warehouse..." Yang Ming thought to himself, and suddenly remembered that he had once bought a plant spirit.

Yang Ming took out the plant spirit directly. It was a small animal that looked like a mouse, about the size of a house cat. Its entire body was covered in black and gray fur without any other colors. The fur was shiny and glossy. Its body was round and short, with strong and powerful limbs and a long, fluffy tail.

It has a round head, a pointed nose, and bright, shiny black eyes. Two round little ears stand upright on top of its head, with long tufts of fur on the tips of its ears. Two large front teeth protrude from its mouth, and its two front paws habitually hold its mouth. Its mouth keeps moving, as if it is eating something.

Yang Ming carefully examined the plant spirit and felt that it was really cute. He tentatively reached out his hand, and the little guy did not run away. His hand slowly touched its body, feeling its heat and softness. He pinched the armpits under its two front legs and gently picked it up.

"It feels so good. If only I could skin it and make a leather coat..." Yang Ming fantasized in his mind, but before he could finish his fantasy, the little guy's belly suddenly swelled up, and then he sprayed a mouthful of saliva all over Yang Ming's head and face.

"Hehehe, sir, the plant spirit is also called the gray spirit mouse. It is very intelligent, most sensitive to danger, and likes to play pranks. You must not have been thinking anything good just now..." In the farm space, Ya Ya held her stomach and laughed.

"This bastard..." Yang Ming put the little guy down, quickly wiped his face, and when he opened his hands, they were covered in sticky liquid and had two strangely shaped seeds attached to them.

"Squeak squeak squeak..." The little thing didn't run away. Instead, it stood up, covered its mouth with its two front paws, and squeaked like a sly laugh. Its big tail was flapping and swaying behind it.

"What kind of seeds are these?" Yang Ming asked Ya Ya curiously, placing the two seeds in his palm.

"Wow, these are seeds of the butter tree and the golden tree!" Ya Ya exclaimed.

"Huh?" Yang Ming raised an eyebrow.

"The Cream Tree and the Golden Tree are unique tree species on Planet Xite. Of course, their original names aren't Cream Tree and Golden Tree; those are translations from Chinese. Let's talk about the Cream Tree first. As the name suggests, the Cream Tree produces cream-like fruits that taste and feel like cream, hence the name. Cream fruits are very effective for beauty and skincare. From seed to fruit, it only takes two years. The Golden Tree has a magnificent trunk, entirely golden in color. Its golden fruits stimulate the secretion of growth hormone, accelerating animal growth and having a very good effect on treating dwarfism in humans. From seed to fruit, it takes three years," Ya Ya explained.

"A man can't get rich without unexpected wealth, and a horse can't get fat without night grazing. Picking up bargains is the shortcut to getting rich!" Yang Ming's eyes gleamed with a sly glint as he stared at the plant spirit like a wolf eyeing its prey. The plant spirit shrieked and tried to flee, but Yang Ming was quick as lightning. He took three steps in two and pinned the little guy to the ground. "You little fur coat, you can't escape now..."

"Pfft pfft pfft..." Sure enough, the little guy's belly kept bulging, then he turned his head and spat at Yang Ming. This guy didn't know how much he had eaten, but he actually spat out a few more seeds.

"Wow, they're all butter tree species. This little thing doesn't eat butter fruit, does it?" Ya Ya exclaimed in surprise.

Finally, after vomiting several times, the little thing was too weak to vomit anymore, so Yang Ming let it go and happily picked up the seeds on the ground. After searching for a long time, he picked up a total of 29 seeds, which, together with the one he had picked up earlier, made a total of 30. Yang Ming put all 30 butter tree seeds and one golden tree seed into the farm space and let Ya Ya plant them in the orchard.

"From now on, your name will be Wangcai... understand?" Yang Ming chuckled, stroking the little guy's smooth fur and bestowing upon him a rather outrageous name. "Yaya, is this little thing male or female?"

"A male..." Ya Ya said.

"Ya Ya, buy a female Gray Spirit Rat from the sales system to keep it company," Yang Ming instructed, picking up the little creature. "Given your outstanding contributions to your master, I'll reward you handsomely and give you a companion."

Before long, Ya Ya bought a slightly slender gray spirit mouse, which was a female. As soon as Yang Ming took the female out, Wang Cai stopped moving, staring intently at the female with its big, dark eyes, drooling.

The female gray rat glanced at Wangcai with disdain, then lashed out with her large tail, slapping Wangcai's nose until it swelled up. His little nose turned red and swollen at a visible speed, almost like a clown's nose. However, the little guy wasn't unhappy at all; instead, he excitedly kicked his limbs and squeaked.

"Why does this guy seem a bit like a jerk?" Yang Ming's forehead creased with black lines.

"In the world of gray spirit rats, gray spirit rats will never come into contact with other gray spirit rats of the opposite sex who are not their partners. This female gray spirit rat flicked Wangcai with her tail, which means that she is also interested in Wangcai, which is why Wangcai is so excited," Ya Ya explained.

"So that's how it is?" Yang Ming carried the two gray spirit rats and walked home.

When Yang Ming got home, he went through the back door. The front and back doors of the outer room were wide open, and smoke and moisture poured out through the wide-open doorway. Wei Qingqing was wearing an apron and was cooking vegetables by the stove with a spatula. Liu Nannan was tending the fire. Inside the room, Xiao Bao was watching TV while peeling an apple with a small fruit knife, trying to make a fruit platter.

The two old men strolled around the front yard, commenting on the persimmon tree. It is said that the persimmon tree, which has become a tree of life, has an extremely tenacious vitality. The fruits it grows are a size larger than in previous years, each one like a green lantern, weighing down the branches. No wonder Grandma Bao picked one on a whim.

"Oh... what's that in your hand?" Wei Qingqing heard Yang Ming's footsteps, turned her head and saw the two 'big rats' he was carrying, and couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.

Wei Qingqing's scream drew everyone's attention, and even Xiao Bao'er ran out of the inner room with a small fruit knife in hand.

"Hehe, it's nothing. I caught them in the field. They're quite cute, so I brought them back for you to keep as pets. Don't be fooled by their appearance; they're not mice..." Yang Ming said with a smile.

"Yes, rats aren't that big. It looks a bit like a badger, but this head..." Old Huang's attention was drawn, and he frowned as he approached.

"A badger looks like this? What kind of eyes do you have? Badgers have pointed heads and patterns on their backs. Besides, badgers are a whole size bigger than this." Old Liu also curiously came over.

"It's not a cub, is it? Besides, I only said it looks like one, not that it is," Old Huang argued.

"It's really not a rat?" Wei Qingqing had been frightened by a rat twice and was particularly sensitive to such things.

"Sister Qingqing, these really aren't mice. Look at their fur, it's so long! The mice here all have short fur," Liu Nannan said.

Liu Nannan is only four years younger than Wei Qingqing. According to Bao'er, she should call Wei Qingqing "Auntie." However, she really couldn't bring herself to call a woman who was only four years older than her "Auntie." Even Wei Qingqing felt awkward hearing a girl four years younger than her call her "Auntie." So the two of them were quite tacitly in agreement... let's each call each other our own way.

"Hmm! At least it's not a rat. I'm most afraid of rats now." Wei Qingqing patted her chest and rolled her eyes at Yang Ming. "If you want to keep them, get a cage and put them in it. Don't let them crawl into your bed at night."

"Why don't I just make them a nest? They're a couple who live together at night, why would they crawl into bed for no reason?" Yang Ming carried the two gray mice to the front yard, put them in the east wing, and made a nest for them in a cardboard box.

"Yang Ming, you have quite a few pets at home? Cats, dogs, pigeons, parrots..." Old Huang followed Yang Ming into the east wing.

"What do you mean 'not too few'? This is not a lot! There's an old Chinese saying that goes, 'Six kinds of livestock should thrive.' A household should raise at least six kinds of livestock to be considered a well-off family," Old Liu said from behind.

"What do you mean by this?" Yang Ming grabbed a handful of weeds and stuffed them into the cardboard box, then put the two gray spirit mice inside. The two little creatures curled up into a ball as soon as they entered their nest.

"There are many interpretations. The six domestic animals are cattle, horses, sheep, dogs, pigs, and chickens. Cattle are used for farm work, horses are for transportation, sheep produce milk and wool, dogs are used to guard the house, pigs are fattened up and slaughtered for meat, and chickens are used to lay eggs and crow at dawn. It can be said that these six domestic animals are related to people's clothing, food, housing, and transportation. In the past, people who kept six kinds of livestock at home found it easy to get married," Old Liu explained.

Oxen can also be used to pull carts and as a means of transportation, but they can't go very fast. Therefore, some people say they are one of the five domestic animals.

"We also raise pigs, but we've scattered them in the mountains. We have tractors for farm work, and we don't lack any farm tools. We also have cars for transportation. The only other animals we have are sheep. However, we also raise ducks and geese. Duck and goose eggs are just as nutritious as milk. We'll also get some duck and goose down, which is warmer than wool. So, we're a family with thriving livestock," Yang Ming said with a smile.

"...That's really the case..." Old Liu thought for a moment and nodded.

After lunch, Liu Nannan left to help her aunt with farm work. Old Huang and Old Liu also left, as they were looking for a place to stay temporarily in Zhengjia Village. Only Yang Ming, Wei Qingqing, and Xiao Bao'er remained at home.

"Bao'er, tell Dad what happened today? What happened while your godmother and I were away?" The three of them sat on the kang (a heated brick bed) leaning against the quilt. Yang Ming sat on the edge of the kang, while Wei Qingqing and Xiao Bao'er sat on the inner edge, watching TV together. Yang Ming asked.

"Grandma wants to take me away and won't let me and Mom go to Grandma's house..." Little Bao'er was too young to know what her mother and grandmother were arguing about. As for the real reason, Aunt Liu would never tell her daughter.

"What did Mom and Grandma talk about?" Wei Qingqing asked.

"I don't know either. They always speak in riddles, saying things like 'it's here, it's gone, it's gone, it's here, it's gone again.' I can't understand them," Xiao Bao'er said.

"What do you mean by 'it's here and gone, gone and then here,' 'it's here and then gone again'? Do you understand?" Yang Ming asked.

"I don't understand..." Wei Qingqing shook her head.

"If you don't know, you don't know. We'll ask Aunt Liu tonight," Yang Ming said. "I'm thinking of hiring a few people in the village to help us set up the greenhouse. What do you think?"

"Okay, I think it's great. We're both so tired of messing around with that stuff all the time..." Wei Qingqing said.

"You and Bao'er can take a nap at home. I'll go to the brigade headquarters and ask the loudspeaker to broadcast something for us," Yang Ming said, getting off the kang (a heated brick bed) and putting on his shoes.

"How many people do you plan to hire, and how much salary will you pay them per month?" Wei Qingqing asked.

"Let's hire six people, 800 yuan a month. Two long-term workers, and four temporary workers during the off-season, which is our busiest time." Yang Ming straightened his clothes, turned around and walked out.

"Attention, members! Attention, members! Yang Ming's family in the village is hiring! Yang Ming's family in the village is hiring! Four temporary workers, four temporary workers, two long-term workers, two long-term workers... The temporary workers' work period is four months during the off-season, the long-term workers' work period is four months during the off-season, the long-term workers' work period is one year, the long-term workers' work period is one year... The monthly salary is 800, the monthly salary is 800..."

Before long, the village loudspeaker broadcasted Yang Ming's job posting. Everyone working in the fields or taking a nap on their kang (heated brick bed) craned their necks to listen carefully.

"This city lad is hilarious. He has the nerve to hire someone with only two acres of land. If he can't farm it, he shouldn't..."

"You're just burning money. How much grain can you harvest from two acres of land? There are four months of slack season in a year, so you'll have to spend 4800 yuan a month, which is almost 20,000 yuan. Add the eight months of work for the two long-term workers, and you'll need at least 30,000 yuan a year. If you can harvest 5000 yuan worth of grain from your two acres of land in a year, that's already pretty good."

"This city lad is really dim-witted..."

The villagers of Zhengjia Village have taken a step further in their opinion of Yang Ming. However, they are also becoming more interested in the job. It is indeed quite attractive. During the off-season, they can earn a salary and have a good year-end.

This afternoon, people started coming to Yang Ming's house one after another; they were all interested in the job.

The geographical features of Zhengjia Village can actually be considered a valley, but this valley is quite large. The valley floor in the middle is flat and soft, and a small river flows out along the valley floor, making it very suitable for planting. Therefore, the villagers' land is concentrated in the valley floor, while their houses are built on the mountainside.

In Aunt Liu's cornfield, little Liu Nannan was absent-minded as she picked corn. Her mind raced, calculating, "800 yuan a month, that's 9600 yuan a year. My brother's tuition and other expenses have already cost 7 or 8 yuan. My parents are borrowing money everywhere, and the tuition every year will probably be even higher. If I could work for him long-term, wouldn't I be able to support my brother's schooling? In two years, when I take the college entrance exam, I won't have to worry about not having enough money to go to university..." The little girl had a secret: she had deliberately gotten a few questions wrong on this year's college entrance exam, intentionally failing. However, the girl was too good at studying; even with her deliberate mistakes, she was only one point short of being admitted to a second-rate university. When she saw that one-point difference, she was terrified. If both siblings had been admitted to university, wouldn't the family have to sell everything they owned?

"Oh!" Liu Nannan was absentmindedly breaking off corn cobs when she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her finger. She cried out in pain and pulled her hand back. It turned out that she had cut her finger on a broken corn stalk, and bright red blood was gushing out from her fingertip.

"Nannan, what's wrong?" Aunt Liu emerged from the green gauze curtain.

"It's nothing, I just cut my finger..." Liu Nannan said, peeling back the outer layer of a straw and rubbing the white frost on the wound. The bleeding slowly stopped. Normally, when doing farm work, if you get a cut, you just treat it on the spot and then continue working.

"Be careful, if you're distracted again, there won't be any dinner for you tonight..." Aunt Liu gave the little girl a reproachful look.

"Ah? Auntie, you are the wicked exploiting class, the detestable landlady..." Liu Nannan immediately looked bitter.

"Hmph, you little brat, do you think I don't know you? Do you want to work as a long-term employee?..." Aunt Liu rolled her eyes at her niece.

"Huh? How did you know?" Liu Nannan's mouth dropped open in surprise.

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