Song Tan's Notes

This old green bean stew was so delicious that Vice President Chen only took one bite and then fell silent.

The overripe green beans have their strings removed, making them soft and tender in the mouth, and they blend with the broth to create an indescribable aroma.

Even if some of the tough parts haven't been removed, they still taste delicious when eaten with the soft beans.

exile?

What kind of exile?
nonexistent.

This is clearly a great benefit that Chairman Yang secured for himself!

Of course, the green beans are delicious, and the meat is pretty good too.

Mr. Chen had no idea that this was a large, fat pig carefully raised by the Song family. But when he took a bite of the twice-cooked pork, he was immediately amazed!
Good heavens, the organic ingredients from their farm are truly organic! That green label—it takes at least two years of rigorous standards to get approved. So how come the difference is so huge now?! Could it be…?

He is, after all, a manager, and when he gets his mind working, he gets very serious.

He ate his meal quickly, but still had the mind to think things through slowly:

Why did Chairman Yang send me here? Is he genuinely interested in helping farmers, or does he have another task to assign?

For example, how do you observe how others farm?
He ate voraciously yet reservedly, eventually unable to resist adopting a contradictory posture.

For Lao Song's family, this situation was all too familiar; almost every newcomer was in the same state.

So after everyone ate two bowls, they took spoons to scoop up the tender corn and bamboo shoot soup.

These were scraps I pulled down from the top when I was tidying up the corn stalks. There wasn't much, but since they were just sitting around, I figured I had nothing to waste.

The Song family had never eaten these before.

Although villagers often grow corn, it's quite wasteful for rural people to harvest such small ears of corn for stir-frying or stewing.

Therefore, if it weren't for Seventh Uncle making this dish, the whole family would never have tasted it.

Now, after taking a sip of the soup, everyone felt a little regretful:

"If I had known, Tan Tan, you should have brought a basket. Before the corn was sent to be crushed, you could have picked some of these baby corn first."

Song Tan imagined herself having to rummage through all this before the machine fed it—

Even plucking a goose's feathers as it passes by is an understatement, isn't it?
She's really something else.

But Comrade Lao Song has been subjected to a lot of complaints all afternoon, so she still won't say anything.

Seeing everyone drinking, Mr. Chen poured himself a bowl and was just taking his first sip when he suddenly heard this!
He was immediately shocked: "What do you mean? What do you mean by 'crushing'? Why did you crush such good baby corn? Are you going to process it further?"

Song Tan nodded: "It rained, and fearing a poor harvest, they took it all to be crushed and made into silage."

How can this not be considered further processing?

The tender and sweet baby corn in Vice President Chen's mouth suddenly turned into a bittersweet tear filled with jealousy.

But Song's family didn't take his suffering to heart. Song Sancheng just sighed, "The forecast says this heavy rain will last a long time. What are we going to do with our peanuts? They're due for harvest in another month."

There's nothing we can do about it.

When peanuts reach maturity and are exposed to these conditions, being soaked in watery soil every day, it's already a challenge if they don't rot.

As for anything else, we can only leave it to fate.

Song Tan thought about it and felt it was a pity, as peanuts are most prone to rotting and moldy this way, and some might even sprout directly.

He sighed and said, "There's nothing we can do about it. We'll see when the time comes. Eating more fresh peanuts this month, or boiled into salted peanuts, would be good too."

At this time, the peanuts are milky white, the shells are very tender, and water will come out when you pinch them.

You don't even need to cook it. Just pull it out of the ground, wash off the mud, put it in your mouth, and bite into it. It's so refreshing!

Raw peanuts are crisp and tender, a flavor completely different from cooked peanuts.

Ulan sighed, "It's a good thing that no one farms anymore, otherwise, after this rain, I don't know how the village would survive."

Something's not right! Just as she was sighing to herself, she heard Mr. Chen, who had been listening quietly, suddenly ask:
"Hey, don't you make a living by farming?"

The Song family: ...

It's true! They really do make a living by farming!

Ouch, the couple felt even more pain instantly:

Why would they forecast rain for so many days straight?!

But then again, if it weren't for the terrifying continuous rain that followed, they would have stopped Song Tan from harvesting the corn.

Everyone finished the meal with mixed feelings, but Secretary Zhu remained enthusiastic, pretending not to know about General Manager Chen's previous bad mood.
"Mr. Chen, how's the food today?"

Mr. Chen couldn't bring himself to say anything insincere; at that moment, he only focused on the core question: "Will you be eating here again in the future?"

“No, that’s not it.” A simple yet helpless smile appeared on Xiao Zhu’s round face.
“Our village is poor and can’t afford to provide such meals. But don’t worry, we will make sure to arrange it. Old Song’s family has a factory on the mountain with a canteen. They provide four dishes and a soup every day, and the food is very well prepared. We can just go there to eat.”

It's obvious that it's not on the same level as this.

Mr. Chen stood silently in the rain, the sound of the water splashing against his umbrella like the sound of his heart weeping.

……

Mr. Chen carried the rice crust and fermented bean curd he had been struggling to find food back to the guesthouse, while Secretary Zhu was still busy!
She had just arrived at the village office when she saw villagers also coming over with umbrellas, and then she asked:

"Secretary Zhu, we were talking before about buying grape seedlings from Baiyu County to plant—my family was already preparing the land. Should we still plant them?"

"We'll definitely plant it." Party Secretary Zhu opened his phone on the spot. "Wait while I check the weather."

Upon investigation, it turned out that the entire Ningxia province was likely to be in the rainy season from now on.

In that case, the grape seedlings are in a scientific plantation with ridges and ditches. In terms of drainage and rescue measures, they are definitely better than the extensive planting in their village, right?
Therefore, all I could do was sigh and say, "Planting is fine, but there's no rush. You should prepare the land first, and we'll talk about it after the rain stops."

Since there won't be any grapes this year anyway, the villager just asked casually, and wasn't in a hurry.
"I'll let them know in the group chat; I've seen quite a few people asking about it."

Party Secretary Xiao Zhu was so busy he didn't even have time to check his phone, so he just nodded. Then he asked:

"You came all this way just to ask about this in this heavy rain?"

"No, that's not it." The other person chuckled. "My granddaughter is on summer vacation. I brought her back this afternoon and she said she'd be staying for a while. I saw that it was raining quite heavily, so before it got completely dark, I came to buy some tofu to stew for them tonight."

I should also mention: "She bought a little duckling at the school gate, but it grew into a goose. It grew bigger and bigger at home, eating and pooping a lot... So, we sent it back to our hometown, and it's giving this old lady a lot of trouble."

"It's not a good idea to raise these geese in Old Song's fishpond now, since their fish are so expensive..."

That is indeed a difficult problem.

Although geese don't eat fish, to be fair, even if they eat pond plants, it must be something different.

Besides, if you let your family keep geese out, and then I let my family keep a few ducks out, one person will say the geese are vegetarians, and another will say the ducks will only take a couple of bites...

In the long run, it's not good to start something like this.

Party Secretary Xiao Zhu simply pointed in another direction:
“Over there, isn’t there a small pond in front of the house of Old Lady Qin, who is on welfare? Let the geese learn the way and go there every day.”

He added, "You'd better watch your voice, it's too loud. Don't let it ring out in the middle of the night, or everyone will complain."

Anyone who's ever owned one knows that when these things get noisy, it's absolutely deafening!

Otherwise, why would so many places in the countryside still use it to guard the gate?

Many people may not pay attention to the barking of dogs, but the voice of a goose can pierce half the sky.

In the past, if someone raised chickens, another raised ducks, or someone else raised geese, no one would say anything.

But right now, the villagers are all busy, so they don't have time to raise these things. At most, they can raise a few chickens to nourish their families.

If I raise another goose, it'll be noisy day and night, especially now that there are so many people working night shifts, it'll make a lot of noise...

The other person chuckled in response, neither confirming nor denying. After all, what could she do if the goose started honking, right?
In contrast to the worries and preparations of the Song family, the rest of the villagers were much calmer.

After all, heavy rain is quite normal in summer! It often rains for two or three days at a time.

When the old Song family saw the weather forecast—after all, they were college students!—they believed in scientific predictions.

The moment they said it would rain next month, they immediately started gathering tea branches and corn.

You said the corn was growing perfectly well, and then you harvested it all, leaving only a small patch, saying you'd eat it yourself later...

It's so heartbreaking to see.

But since it's their land, and they make more money than them, no one can really say anything.

But the weather in July and August is unpredictable, like a child's face, changing in an instant. The weather forecast says it will rain for a month, but maybe in two or three days it will be sunny again.

They murmured to themselves, feeling it was a bit of a shame that it was raining this weekend, and obviously there weren't many tourists coming to buy groceries.

Many of the vegetables in their fields ripen quickly in the summer. If it's still like this tomorrow, they'll have to hurry up and go to their own gardens to pick and prepare them.

You can hear all sorts of languages ​​in the village.

Some people believe it, and some people don't.

The only people who truly believed in the Song family's assessment, besides Lianhua's family, were Qi Lin's grandfather.

Old Qi wasn't particularly insightful; it was just that the place he used to live in rarely received any rain throughout the year.

Planting on such fertile land with such good seedling emergence was a first for him in his decades-long life.

He's never grown it before, but since others have, he naturally follows their advice.

So while Old Song's family was busy, he wasn't idle either, taking the time to tend to the vegetables in his own garden.

It was getting dark, but he still had something on his mind, so he called Qi Lin back.

In the rented house, Qi Lin bought a rural TV for him; it cost 300 yuan and he could watch several programs.

Now that the old man has some free time, he sits there, has a small drink, a plate of peanuts, and watches TV, which makes him happy to pass the afternoon.

Now, Qi Lin returned with an umbrella and saw his grandfather sitting upright on an old-fashioned wooden sofa in the countryside:

"If it rains for a month, what will our sheep eat?"

What do sheep eat?

Qi Lin had done his homework properly in order to teach his grandfather, and at this moment he subconsciously wanted to say, "Eat some dry feed, sweet potato vines, peanut vines, and dry straw."

Before she could even speak, she realized what was going on: "Grandpa, what are your plans?"

Old Qi hesitated, "Didn't Boss Song use the corn stalks from the mountain to make feed? Did he have any left over? Our sheep don't eat much, could we buy a bag? I see their cattle and sheep are growing well—"

That's right, Grandpa Qi Lin often goes to the ranch to talk with Chen Xi and Zhang Wang's family.

Especially for Zhang Wang's family, everyone is around the same age. Since Qi Lin is not their biological grandson, it's as if Zhang Wang's biological son is no better than having none at all.

The two old men hit it off immediately, and they often got together after get off work to drink, watch TV, and chat.

A person can drink two liang (100ml) of Niulanshan Erguotou and talk for half the night.

Since we couldn't communicate in the first place, we each spoke our own language.

Now that I understand a bit better, I have more energy to talk about it.

Over time, the scientific feeding knowledge that Qi Lin taught him didn't leave a ripple in Old Man Qi's mind, but he regarded what Zhang Wangjia said as gospel.

Zhang Wangjia was too busy a few days ago to notice, so he was a step behind and only then learned about Lao Song's plan to raise cattle and sheep.

Now, isn't that why we're in a hurry?
At this moment, the old man cautiously asked, "I see that their cattle and sheep are well-raised, strong, and jump with great energy. Our sheep seem a bit lacking; I guess it's because they're willing to spend money on feed. I haven't been willing to spend that money, and I've just taken them out to eat wild grass..."

"Lin, just ask around and see if it's possible to buy it."

Qi Lin didn't dare to make a guarantee. He just advised his grandfather, "Even if it's possible to buy it, the price will definitely not be cheap."

"Of course I know," Grandpa Qi Lin glanced at him. "I'm not stupid. If good things could be obtained so cheaply, would they still be considered good things?"

“But we only have a dozen or so sheep, and they eat less than a few cows a day. If we can only feed them for a month or two, I’m willing to grit my teeth and spend the money.”

It still hurts so much; I just can't bear to part with it.

But Qi Lin's grandfather signed his grandson up for that blind date event—

The elderly are anxious because their children and grandchildren are not getting married or finding partners.

No matter where they are, when magpies are looking for a mate, the two of them still need to build a nest!

Even if he thinks the village is great, he knows that young women nowadays prefer to stay in the city. If he wants to keep them here, the real solution is to save more money for his grandson.

But how can an old man like him save money?

Besides relying on the vegetables grown in the fields, we also have to rely on the sheep we raise ourselves.

He had inquired and found out that the cattle and sheep at Boss Song's house cost 200 yuan per jin (500 grams), while the local sheep, after being slaughtered and resold, could fetch 20 or 30 yuan per jin.

If he raises it well, Qi Lin said he knows many people and can sell it for a higher price.

If you raise a dozen or so pigs a year, you'll gradually build up your savings, won't you?
But he couldn't say these things to Qi Lin first.

When I mentioned it, the young man said something like, "You don't need to worry about my affairs. I have my own plans for the future."

What are your plans?
Raising a child means worrying for ninety-nine years of life, even at the age of one hundred. That's what this old man is hoping for.

In short, with this in mind, Old Man Qi asked very seriously.

Qi Lin didn't give a perfunctory answer: "Then I'll ask tomorrow."

"Alright." Old Qi had heard from the young people in the village that jobs were hard to find these days, so he was particularly easygoing.

"Just ask. It's okay if it doesn't work. Aren't there feed stores? We can go buy some dry feed and feed them the same thing."

"When the rain stops, I'll let them eat more tender grass, and they'll grow plump just the same."

Although they haven't yet left the ivory tower to experience the harsh realities of society, there are plenty of hard-working people on the mountain who have suffered greatly—like the guy who had his stomach cut open, or the girl who studied for her own degree.

By following them around, Qi Lin learned some workplace knowledge and interpersonal skills, both appropriate and inappropriate.

Instead of asking Song Tan directly, he went to Yun Duo and brought it up.

Yun Duo laughed: "Actually, it's fine to just tell the boss about things like this; she doesn't care."

But if there are things she wants to refuse, then her role as an assistant becomes very necessary.

The clouds silently learned this lesson as well, and nodded in agreement:
"Don't worry, I'll ask around for you tonight. If it works out, Grandpa's lambs will have some good grass to eat tomorrow; if not, they sell it in town. Ask Master Jiang and tell the vegetable delivery guy to bring you two bags from town, so the lambs won't go hungry."

but--

She laughed again: "When Grandpa sells the sheep, if the price isn't too high, could you save one for me?"

Qi Lin was a little puzzled: "Didn't you say you would never go back to your hometown?"

There's a canteen in the village, so there's no room for her to showcase her culinary skills.

Yun Duo laughed and said, "I'm not going back to my hometown. Wherever my sister is, that's my home. They work so hard, I'll buy them one."

"Okay," Qi Lin readily agreed.
"If the sheep eat the boss's feed for a month or two, they probably won't be cheap to sell."

Ugh.

Speaking of this, Yun Duo, a working-class girl, sighed wistfully:
"If what we eat can turn into money, I might as well eat that bag of animal feed myself." (End of Chapter)