Her Cultivation Diary

Chapter 67: 67. Nursery Changes Meals_1

Song Tan’s eyebrows rose as she looked over with clear piercing eyes, making Zhang Yanping feel as if the familiar, good-tempered cousin he knew had not only changed her personality but also seemed to have gained a penetrating look in her eyes.

But soon enough, a very accommodating smile appeared on Song Tan’s face:

“Brother Yanping, do you have a recommendation?”

Zhang Yanping felt somewhat uncomfortable.

When it comes to spiny plants that can be used for defensive walls, actually, there are many options. However, Zhang Yanping ruled out a series of plants such as goji berry and sea buckthorn, which can be found in most nurseries.

Of course, if we’re talking strictly about defensive power, these plants really can’t compare to Golden Sakura.

This plant grows completely unruly, with large and small thorns together, and its fuzzy thorns cover its entire body.

From the leaves to the fruit, not a single part is innocent.

Most importantly, its branches are flexible yet long, with vines intertwining with each other, and the old branches are very hard. And it isn’t short either!

If this were to form a protective layer, it would be both high and thick, the kind you could snip at with large scissors for ages without tearing open a gap.

If someone could actually make their way through it, they would truly be considered a brave warrior, and his recommendation wouldn’t be in vain.

But now it seemed as if his little cousin understood everything in her heart, which caused him a slight embarrassment even with his thick-skinned nature.

However, this did not stop him from continuing to express his thoughts:

“You see, Golden Sakura nurseries are hard to find, right? But your modest cousin here just so happens to know of one.”

Up close, Zhang Yanping’s face, pale and round, appeared especially sincere.

“But look, Tantan, isn’t this a skill of mine? Don’t be like my mom, thinking that I’m just fooling around.”

“Since we’re family, I won’t charge you a middleman’s fee. All you need to do is have me eat well and live comfortably at home during this time—aside from fieldwork, of course.”

Song Tan smiled too: “Brother Yanping, under normal circumstances, I would definitely agree with you. But you must not forget that you’re here in the village for labor reformation this time.”

“If you don’t work, you won’t be able to stay here for long, because aunt will definitely feel that you’re holding up our work.”

Just look at Brother Yanping, such a sturdy figure! Not to put him to work would be an incredible waste.

Song Tan also gently persuaded:

“Cousin, there aren’t any particularly heavy manual labor tasks in our household right now, just some miscellaneous jobs.”

Her words were true, up next was only breeding plants, picking tea, harvesting vegetables, digging ditches, and picking tea again.

Oh, and also one has to add, digging holes to plant Golden Sakura, feeding pigs, chickens, ducks, and teaching the puppies.

In general, these tasks are much easier than moving a mountain.

Song Tan mainly wanted to proceed step by step.

Today digging ditches, tomorrow going up the mountain to plant Golden Sakura, and later transplanting seedlings in the fields… it’s not too much, is it?

Therefore, her voice became even more alluring:

“Back home, aunt complains about you every day. Even though you’re the one who found the channel for imported fruits, she still thinks you’re just freeloading. Doesn’t that make you feel wronged in your heart?”

It’s not that the aunt and her husband were too harsh on their son; it’s that their generation feels anything other than honest labor is not respectable.

As for finding a channel for imported fruits… What kind of channel is that, with prices so high! If the market weren’t so booming, the overly honest couple wouldn’t dare to try it.

“But it’s different here. My mom likes you, and with just a little bit of help from you, the treatment at home would absolutely be top-notch!”

“Besides, you know how the vegetables from my land taste. Just think, with a little movement, you can exchange it for a big bowl of a good meal. Isn’t that worth it?”

Zhang Yanping opened his mouth, but, in the end, he was at a loss for words.

He was well aware that by not working every day at his aunt’s house, not to mention how his own mother felt, his aunt’s household couldn’t handle it either since they were truly busy.

After thinking for a while, he finally said, “Qiaoqiao mentioned there were some purslane buns at home, heat two more for me. If they are good, I’ll go and contact the nursery for you.”

Thinking further, he added, “Tantan, actually, those plants can be propagated by cuttings, and you can also sow them. They are easy to grow. If the forest protection is not urgent, with this weather, go find one in the wild, take cuttings and plant them. In two or three years, you’ll almost be there.”

Song Tan felt helpless—propagation by cuttings was possible, but with Spiritual Energy enhancing growth, how could everything grow all at once?

“It’s quite urgent, the Chestnut Woods are far, and the area is also big, almost four acres of land with more than five hundred chestnut trees.”

This was not considered large locally, because looking around, there were many larger Chestnut Woods on the rolling hills.

However, as years passed, many farming households no longer relied on this for their livelihood, and the care for the chestnut trees had noticeably declined.

Some were cut down, others were left standing, but were no longer properly tended to.

In Song Tan’s memory, when she was a child and the chestnuts were about to ripen, she often had to go up the mountain to watch them to prevent theft.

But now, when they ripened, they ripened—nobody even gave them a second glance.

If there were buyers in the town, they would harvest some chestnuts to sell, and if not, let it be.

After all, there were not many able-bodied workers left in each household.

The capable workers, during the chestnut harvest season, many had already packed up and left to work elsewhere.

The woods lacked even the basic fertilization, as farmers found it hard to make money, having the willingness but not the power to improve things.

“Right now, our family can’t spare anyone to watch over the forest day and night; in the woods, the black and white fungi only take up a part, and subsequently, we need to plant something else—in the current situation, who has the time to wait for Golden Sakura to grow? Better to buy mature plants,” Song Tan explained.

Zhang Yanping frowned and hesitated, “If you want one that can grow within a year, you are going to need three to five-year-old saplings—those won’t come cheap.”

“Especially since you need the original thorny variety. Nowadays, with industrialized planting, most of the varieties cultivated are thornless.”

“Counting it all up, one plant would be about fifteen dollars. How many do you need?”

Song Tan considered the boundary of the Chestnut Woods. With the aid of Spiritual Energy, the planting of mature plants could be more sparse. The double-layer fence inside and outside, each layer staggered with a two-meter interval between each plant—

“Two hundred plants in total will be enough.”

Zhang Yanping pondered for a moment and cautiously asked, “Tantan, you’re really investing a lot in farming since coming back. Are you planning on sticking with this for good?”

He did not believe Song Tan was just hoodwinking his mother by saying she was just home to recuperate for a while and incidentally do some farming…

Song Tan nodded:

“Brother Yanping, don’t worry about the money. I’ve been selling vegetables every day recently. The Milk Vetch you ate today sells for twenty dollars a pound.”

The money from selling wild vegetables was all put into that pickup truck. She had been selling Milk Vetch for several days now, with an income of ten or twenty thousand already.

Moving forward with outer region and bulk transactions, earning another thirty thousand wouldn’t be a problem.

Although Song Tan had many tasks lined up, her overall investment was already beginning to pay off.

Not to mention that there was tea as well! This season’s spring tea harvest would be enough to make their family a tidy profit.

Zhang Yanping did not express surprise at the twenty-dollar vegetables nor think that Song Tan shouldn’t have come back to farm. Instead, he nodded:

“It’s worth that much. As long as you have a plan.”

He then picked up the phone without hesitation, “I’ll contact the nursery for you right now.”

“Oh yes, and heat up those purslane buns for me quickly.”