After returning from my cultivation journey, I built a farm through fortune telling.

Chapter 25 Isn't anyone going to compliment my cooking skills?

Bai Lu dragged the small bamboo chair closer to the two of them, placed her hand on Qin Xiu's knee, and sincerely tried to salvage the situation: "Dad! Mom! I really do have a talent for farming, really! Believe me!"

"I just checked, we transplant rice seedlings after the Spring Equinox and before Qingming Festival, but raising seedlings takes about twenty days—I looked at the calendar, oh dear, the Awakening of Insects is in three days, we'd better hurry up and prepare the seedbeds! Otherwise we'll be late!"

Bai Jiang rubbed his face, his head aching.

Qin Xiu also said with a stern face: "This year, we'll plant on the eight-tenths of an acre of land near Guhuangpo. As for what kind of rice paddies we need, we can just share one with your second uncle's family."

"Just eight-tenths of an acre?" The egret pursed its lips. "That's a bit little—"

Qin Xiu rolled her eyes: "If we do any more, the family will be too busy. Your dad has to go to work, and I can't do much. This rice isn't something you can just throw down and expect it to grow. Just killing pests and weeding on eight-tenths of an acre will exhaust you!"

"I'll do it! I can do it! I'm not afraid of getting tired!"

Now that everyone's back from the cultivation world, who's going to personally kill pests and weeds? Can't we use some other methods?

Bailu glanced at Baiwei, who had just come out of the shower, and decided not to take her with her for the time being.

"Tsk! Don't make me angry! Lulu, you're good at making money, but you really don't know how to farm."

Qin Xiu tried to persuade her earnestly, but Bai Lu wouldn't listen. She asked, "Mom, how many acres of land do we have in total?"

"Why do you ask?"

"I was just asking!"

"There are 20 mu of paddy fields and only 6 mu of sandy land. Some of them are cultivated by other villagers, and some have been abandoned."

"Where's the mountain?"

"That mountain next to Black Stone Pit belongs to our family. What are you trying to do?"

"I was thinking of raising some free-range chickens."

"Oh dear, you have enough chickens at home for you to keep doing! Don't overdo it! Farming and raising chickens at the same time will ruin your health!"

The egret ignored the second half of the sentence and said, "I don't just eat it myself—no, my family eats it too, but the most important thing is to sell it!"

"There's only your dad and me in our family—okay, including you, there are only three of us. How much work do you want to do?"

Soon it won't be just the three of us anymore!
The egret thought to herself, but she didn't dare say it.

"Forget about the mountain for now. The most important thing right now is to plant rice. Mom, let's do this: we'll plant 20 mu of paddy fields to test the waters first, ten mu for rice and ten mu for vegetables!"

Qin Xiu and Bai Jiang exchanged a glance, and both saw two words in each other's eyes—shock!
This ancestor really dared to think big!
This is pushing those two old bones to their deaths!

“Lulu, rice isn’t worth much. It’s less than two yuan a pound. The rice we usually grow here only yields a little over a thousand pounds a mu. Ten mu of land, even if you work yourself to death, you’ll only earn a little over twenty thousand yuan. You really can’t make any money. Why…why…oh dear!”

Why force yourself to suffer when there's no suffering to be had!

Bai Jiang wasn't trying to be mean, but that's just the truth.

If it weren't for the fact that the rice I bought wasn't as fragrant as the rice I grew myself, Bai Jiang wouldn't be willing to farm. After all, there's plenty of rice in supermarkets that costs only two or three yuan per kilogram, and you don't have to harrow the fields, raise seedlings, transplant rice, irrigate, fertilize, or kill pests and weeds!
Only two or three dollars! That's all!

Egret: "Our rice is definitely worth more than two yuan! Look, even wild vegetables can sell for thirty yuan a pound, so rice must be at least fifty!"

"Are you dreaming? Wild vegetables are expensive to begin with! If you sell rice for fifty yuan a pound, see who would even bother with you! Lulu, can't you just go to work? You're not suited for farming, much less for business!"

Qin Xiu's heart pounded—her child had always been well-behaved, almost thirty years old, and suddenly rebellious. What to do? She was panicking! She had a feeling this little devil was about to...

"Oh dear—I suddenly feel so weak, I'm going back to sleep, we can talk about it tomorrow!"

Bai Lu stopped talking to Qin Xiu and rushed back to her room.

She finally understood that her claim of going back to farming was completely unconvincing.

No one would believe that she could make money by farming!

Even though she sold over a thousand wild vegetables today and received four thousand five hundred pre-orders, in her mother's eyes, she wasn't the one who deserved the most credit.

Wild vegetables grow naturally, and it just so happens that some people like them and some people are willing to give them up. That's all.

They strongly disapproved of her planting rice, thinking she was foolish for trying to endure hardship when she couldn't.

Bailu didn't mention the matter of spiritual energy, and she was lazy when it came to work. Her greatest contribution was suggesting selling wild vegetables and forcing her two younger siblings to pick them. That was all.

So there's no point in saying more; the only option is to escape.

Isn't it normal to act spoiled with your parents?

Anyway, Bailu was determined not to go out and get scolded, and she believed that her parents wouldn't rush in and drag her out to scold her.

Let's wait a bit longer.

Wait until her wild vegetable business matures a bit more, until her vegetable garden opens up, until her rice is planted, until she earns a little more money.

I need to earn three months' salary first, otherwise my parents will nag me every day and try every means to get me back to work.

Going to work is absolutely out of the question!!!
Outside the living room.

Although Qin Xiu was angry, she was completely helpless against Bai Lu, and could only stare at Bai Jiang blankly.

"Tell me, what's wrong with this brat? She's decided to come back to farming, isn't she? Fine! When you go plow the rice paddies tomorrow, take her with you! Let her stand in the scorching sun all day, let's see how long she can keep up this act!"

Although we share a rice paddy with Second Uncle's family, we still have to help out.

Bai Jiang frowned: "She needs to recover..."

Bai Chen frowned: "No, Mom, we're going to pick wild vegetables tomorrow. We ordered 4,500 yuan worth of wild vegetables in the group chat."

Bai Jiang and Bai Chen spoke in unison.

Qin Xiu's eyes widened: "Young Master Duoduo?"

"Four thousand five! You heard right, that's four thousand five hundred yuan!"

"That startled me! I thought it was four thousand five hundred bundles!"

Qin Xiu breathed a sigh of relief, but was still very happy: "How much is a bundle this time? Is it fifty yuan for three bundles or thirty yuan for a bundle?"

"Thirty yuan a bundle—thank goodness I listened to my sister and didn't lower the price! If the price had been lowered, I would have lost so much money!"

"Money-grubber!" Qin Xiu laughed.

Bai Chen has been a money-grubber since he was little. When he was just two years old, we took him to buy New Year's goods. When we paid the bill, we gave the shopkeeper fifty yuan. That guy cried as if someone had forcibly taken fifty yuan from him and refused to let go of the money.

She was just a little worried: "Was it a bit too expensive? What if people feel they paid too much and come back for a refund? Wouldn't all these vegetables be a waste?"

"How could that be! All the people who are making reservations now are repeat customers, people who have eaten our wild vegetables before. They're ordering five or ten bundles at a time. Many people want to buy but can't get a reservation! Besides, don't you know how delicious our wild vegetables are? They're absolutely worth the price!" Qin Xiu savored the taste of lunch today and felt a little more at ease. She hadn't read many books, but she still understood the principle that money can't buy what you love.

"Four thousand five hundred yuan, that's 150 jin of wild vegetables!" Bai Jiang said, "You picked a hundred or two hundred jin today, and you're going to pick another hundred and fifty jin tomorrow. Do you think wild vegetables grow in the ground and you can just cut them down? Where in the mountains are there so many wild vegetables for you to pick! The orders have already been placed. If you can't come up with that many wild vegetables, be careful they'll make you pay them back!"

Bai Chen shook his head firmly: "No, my sister said there are definitely 150 catties of wild vegetables over at Black Stone Pit. Even if there aren't, I can just climb a couple more hills!"

"You believe her too?" Qin Xiu glanced at the closed door and said in a low voice, "Her eyes are like a scale, she can't just say how many kilograms there are, can she? No way—we definitely won't be able to handle it tomorrow, Bai Lu has to work, I'll go with you tomorrow too!"

Bai Chen picked his nose: "Didn't you tell my sister to plow the rice paddies tomorrow?"

Qin Xiu waved her hand: "It's only eight-tenths of an acre of rice seedlings, enough to cover a few rows. Let your grandfather and your second uncle keep busy!"

Grandpa Bai Chen is seventy-five years old today, and Grandma Bai Chen is seventy-four years old. The old couple lives in the old house and are very good at farm work.

"Oh!"

After Bai Chen finished speaking, he realized something was wrong: "Didn't my sister say she wanted to plant ten acres?"

Qin Xiu dismissed it: "Don't listen to her raving!"

Unless they intervene, let alone ten acres, even one acre won't be enough for egrets to grow.

Children are unpredictable, and parents can't let them act recklessly.

Bai Chen didn't think so. If his sister said to plant ten acres, then it had to be ten acres. Not a single acre less was acceptable.

-

The next day, someone else woke Bai Wei and Bai Chen up. Qin Xiu pulled the covers off and dragged them out of bed, and Bai Lu was no exception—poor thing, she had just finished cultivating and gone to sleep.

Qin Xiu shouted, "I cooked noodles today. Hurry up and wash up and go eat, or they'll get soggy."

"Oh dear—Mom!"

Bai Chen kicked his legs on the bed: "It's only five o'clock!!! Does it have to be so early!"

"Don't you know how many wild vegetables you're going to pick!" Qin Xiu said. "If you don't get up earlier, you'll have to pick them all by yourself when the sun gets too strong! Hurry up, no dawdling!"

After mechanically washing up, Bai Chen went downstairs to the kitchen next door with his eyes half-closed, and ate noodles with his eyes still half-closed.

After just one bite of noodles, he perked up, frowned, and spat twice: "Mom, when you go to the mountains later, pick as many wild onions as you can. These noodles aren't very good."

Qin Xiu angrily said, "If you don't like it, then don't eat it! You're so spoiled! Go and cook some pig feed for me!"

Bai Chen: "..."

Not daring to make a sound or move, they obediently ate their noodles without leaving the stool.

Bai Wei remained largely silent.

The egret isn't picky about food; she eats whatever is available. Even if the noodles aren't very tasty, she still finishes four bowls before taking water and an umbrella and getting into the car to pick wild vegetables.

Qin Xiu was happier to see the wild vegetables in the Black Stone Pit than to see her own son, and she went up and started picking them!

She was impatient and quick-witted, and soon she had laid out half of the small basket.

But Bailu didn't dare let her go too far. Seeing that she couldn't persuade her, she had no choice but to give her another wisp of spiritual energy. Qin Xiu immediately became like a wound-up toy, using both hands to strike with such speed that it seemed as if she was leaving afterimages.

After the four of them picked vegetables for half an hour, Bailu, seeing how much wild vegetables there were, put up an umbrella and asked Qinxiu to bring a stool to sit under the shade of the umbrella to pick and bundle the vegetables. They decided to leave the muddy wild onions and other vegetables aside and deal with them when they got home.

Because it absorbed spiritual energy, not only did the wild vegetables like purslane, lamb's quarters, and wild onions grow well in this field, but a large patch of shepherd's purse also sprouted. The ferns on the hillside sprouted up all at once, tender and robust, a sight to behold.

Are these wild vegetables?

This is money!
Bai Chen was overjoyed. Those ruthless hands swept away everything in their path until nearly eleven o'clock, when the sun was high in the sky, before finally stopping.

The lush hillsides had been stripped bare, but Bai Chen was overjoyed!

The trunk was overflowing with wild vegetables; two baskets were already full, and the rest were packed in bags. Bai Lu sat in the passenger seat with a bag, as did Bai Wei in the back seat, and even the front and back floor mats had bags.

Qin Xiu fell asleep in the car. Around 10 o'clock, the sun got too strong, so we told her to go back to the car and enjoy the air conditioning.

Back home, Bailu cooked again. She cooked some rice noodles, lots of lean meat, lots of wild scallions, and also stir-fried a plate of meat with bracken. She also made a large plate of cold lamb's quarters salad. Baiwei washed the shepherd's purse and chopped it into minced meat, preparing for Qinxiu to make dumplings.

—She doesn't listen to Qin Xiu.

—Why don't you eat all these wonderful spiritual plants at home and just sell them all?
What's the difference between this and being an idiot?
She does want to make money, but she can't have come back from the cultivation world just to make money, can she?
Isn't this putting the cart before the horse?

Dinner will be served when Bai Jiang returns!

In such a simple meal, Bai Chen's appetite was almost as big as Bai Lu's.

Fortunately, Bailu had the foresight to prepare generous portions of each dish; even so, it was still almost not enough for us!

Every single one of them had eaten until their bellies were round and full. Leaning back in their chairs, their big bellies sticking out, they let out a satisfied sigh.

"I'm so full, I really want to sleep, but I don't want to move!"

Bai Chen burped: "This food is so delicious! If I could eat like this every day, I'd have to sit at the same table as our second senior brother."

"Yeah, it's so delicious! Could this wild vegetable really have been imbued with Taoist spiritual energy?"

Bai Wei was also very full, but her sharp eyes noticed that there was still a bracken fern in the bowl. In the end, she couldn't resist picking up her chopsticks and exclaimed, "It's so delicious!"

Bai Jiang and Qin Xiu also felt that if they ate like this every day, apart from being a bit expensive, there would be no problems at all!

"Wow... nobody wants to compliment my cooking skills?!"

Bailu spread her hands, looking quite hurt: "I admit, the wild vegetables are of good quality, but without my culinary skills, they wouldn't taste this good!"

……silence.

No one echoed the egret's sentiments.

Qin Xiu, a woman who has been working in the kitchen for over forty years, is the most qualified to speak on this matter. She can guarantee that this wild vegetable, even stir-fried with shoehorn, is delicious, regardless of who cooks it!
Bai Wei, giving the creditor face, said, "Sister, your cooking skills have improved again!"

Bai Chen despised her second sister.

"Alright, now that you're full, let's get to work." Qin Xiu put the wrapped shepherd's purse and lean pork dumplings in the freezer and called to the lazy kids who were too lazy to move.

"Work, work."

Bai Chen slowly got up, supporting his back: "Not only do I have to wash and pick the vegetables, but I also have to pack all the wild vegetables according to the customers' orders. It's so troublesome—tsk! Why should I do such a thankless job as taking orders?"

He has regretted it countless times since last night and into today!
Selling them individually would be so much better!
Revise the chapter.
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(End of this chapter)