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

Chapter 37 Taking pig-like steps
Why do the three of you go out so early every morning?

Qin Xiu saw Bai Lu returning from outside with two cubs once again.

"Why go out so early every morning when you don't need to pick wild vegetables now?"

Bai Chen and Bai Wei went out to cultivate every night, or rather, to take a nap under the ancient ginkgo tree, but they couldn't sleep well!

Neither of them had the energy to pick wild vegetables early in the morning, so they could only pick them in the afternoon, rest after their cultivation the next day, and then sell them, and catch up on sleep after selling them.

But starting today, the sale of wild vegetables will be suspended for three days. After all, we can't just let people pick them all at once, even if they have spiritual properties! People are going bald!
Qin Xiu felt it was a pity, but the wild vegetables in the vicinity had indeed been secretly picked clean by their family—they had to do it secretly, otherwise, if people found out that these wild vegetables were selling for such a high price, what chance would they have!

"We're exercising!"

Bai Chen yawned: "Health is the foundation of everything—ha—ha—ha—ha—"

He couldn't even finish a sentence before yawning incessantly, tears streaming down his face, and his vision blurred. He didn't look like he was coming back from exercising; he looked like a thief returning from a crime.

"We're weighing pigs today, so hurry up and change your clothes and come help us."

The day Bailu returned, the pigs had already been reserved, but the ear tags for disease prevention hadn't arrived yet, which caused a delay of a few days. Qin Xiu kept complaining about losing money on feed for a few days, since the pigs hadn't gained much weight even after eating so much!

The price of pork is cheap, only 8.6 yuan!
Back when it was 20 yuan per kilogram, you could make 3000 yuan from a pig!
Now?

I'd be grateful if I could just break even!
Moreover, many households buy feed on credit, settling accounts with the feed supplier only after the pigs are sold. However, it takes 7-8 months for pigs to reach market weight. With such a long cycle, buying feed on credit comes with conditions: it costs 20 yuan more per bag than buying in cash. Some people raise a lot of pigs and need 10 bags of feed a day, which adds up to 200 yuan a day, 6,000 yuan a month, and 40,000 to 50,000 yuan over 7-8 months. Where is the money to be made?
However, Qin Xiu never buys on credit, and even makes advance payments.

For example, you might prepay 50,000 yuan to a feed shop and sign a contract based on the feed price of that day. If the feed is 120 yuan per bag that day, then all the feed you get there afterward will be at that price. Even if the feed price rises to 150 yuan per bag, the settlement will still be based on 120 yuan per bag. But if the feed price drops, then the settlement will be based on the market price.

Sometimes, you can get three bags of feed for every ton of feed, which makes the cost even lower!

The only downside is that you have to put up a sum of money first, but Qin Xiu thinks it's worth it, and this has been the case for years.

"This is the batch of pigs we're selling. You can mix the pig feed I've prepared into their feed and feed them as much as they want, however much they want."

The pig buyers have requirements for the pigs they sell. Some allow you to feed the pigs until they are full, while others require the pigs to be on an empty stomach. The former is not a big deal, but with the latter, even if it is forbidden, some people will still secretly feed them, at most not as excessively as Qin Xiu, who fed them until they were stuffed.

"Good boys, eat more! Slurp slurp slurp—"

The second senior brothers were really too full to eat anymore, so Qin Xiu grabbed the pig's head and tried to push it into the pig trough. The second senior brothers resisted to the death, and if they weren't so bad at talking, they would have spat at her.

Seeing that he really couldn't feed him anymore, he asked Bai Chen to wash his second senior brother's mouth and give him some water.

"Axiu!"

Not long after, the pig broker arrived with the pig buyer. A large, double-decker truck followed behind them, already carrying quite a few pigs, which must have been purchased from another village.

Qin Xiu exchanged a few pleasantries with the pig broker and then arranged for them to put on their coats and change their shoes.

In recent years, there have been many diseases in the pig industry, and some pigs die off in an instant. In the year of African swine fever, a family in their town had already placed an order for pigs and received a deposit. They were just waiting to transport the pigs out the next day. However, overnight, all the pigs died.

Not a single one was left.

The couple cried and wailed, then jumped into the river.

Therefore, shoes and clothes worn outside cannot be worn into the pigsty of the farmers. Even if they don't change their clothes, they must at least wear a long, knee-length blue coat specifically for feeding pigs.

Buyers and pig brokers understand this and readily accept it.

Pig brokers act as a bridge between pig farmers and pig buyers, much like real estate agents. They profit from both sides, earning money from both farmers and buyers. Generally, they charge ten yuan per pig.

If Bailu sells thirty pigs today, they have to pay a brokerage fee of 300 yuan.

The first step in selling pigs is herding them.

The pigs were driven from the pigpen into an iron cage, and then carried by two people to the scale.

Perhaps knowing their future fate, no matter how much Bai Chen and Qin Xiu beat them, the second senior brothers huddled in the corner of the pigsty and refused to come out.

"Hey!"

Qin Xiu struck the black-haired second senior brother with a stick, and the black-haired second senior brother screamed shrilly. Then, a chain reaction was triggered, and all the pigs in the pigpen screamed, as if they were crying, as if they were mourning their impending death.

Bai Lu couldn't bear it, so she turned her wrist and a bean-sized amount of spiritual energy condensed at her fingertip. As if a switch had been flipped, the pigpen fell silent instantly. Pairs of pig eyes that looked just like human eyes stared intently at the spiritual energy at Bai Lu's fingertip, making "oink oink" sounds, and one by one they moved closer to Bai Lu's heart across the pigpen.

The egret walked out, and the pigs in the pigpen also wanted to go out, but they were blocked by the iron fence. Only the fence of the pen that was about to be sold was open. As if being led, they obediently followed the egret out of the pigpen.

A pretty little girl was followed by a line of pigs, all neatly lined up. They held their heads high, trotted around with their pig-like gait, and swished their curly tails back and forth...

The dying embers of Bai Chen and Bai Wei's desire to cultivate immortality have been rekindled!

What the hell!

Perfect for showing off!
If we replaced all the pigs in this circle with tigers—

That's just too awesome!

修！
It's just cultivating immortality!

With spiritual roots, how could I not cultivate immortality!

"This is so good!"

Qin Xiu lightly tapped the last pig's rump with a stick, and the plump rump bounced a few times with a "duangduang."

She didn't even realize that the pig's "goodness" was related to the egret. She just felt that this batch of pigs was extremely easy to manage today, and that the egret had finally been of some use. She didn't even need to use a stick; she just grunted twice, and the pigs went into their cages on their own.

Weighing the pig went very smoothly today. In the past, it would have taken me all morning to finish, and it would have been chaotic – a 300-pound pig, when it rampages around, the impact is really powerful, and no one dares to go head-to-head with it!

But today, the bus departed smoothly in less than an hour, and the second brother on the bus was still looking longingly at the spiritual energy that had disappeared from the tip of the egret's finger.

Hum!
This smells so good!

We're all going to die, aren't you going to give us something to eat?
The egrets seemed to understand their longing, and with a flick of their finger, they bestowed upon them a bean-sized amount of spiritual energy—something only they could have, while their fellow sufferers in the same carriage were not entitled to enjoy.

Unfortunately, such a small amount of spiritual energy cannot improve the quality of the pig's meat, otherwise it wouldn't be sold so cheaply.

Raising spirit beasts is different from growing spirit plants.

Spiritual plants can be nurtured by spiritual energy, but spiritual beasts need to be raised from a young age. For example, it is very difficult to remove all the impurities from the body of a two- or three-hundred-pound pig. However, it is possible to greatly change the taste of the meat by carefully nurturing it with spiritual energy for a period of time. But why bother? It would be better to start catching piglets after the sow gives birth.

“Separate the fattest and the leanest two, for a total of twenty-eight pigs.”

The buyer was settling accounts with Qin Xiu. The pigs varied in size and weight, with the fattest weighing 323 jin (161.5 catties) and the smallest 210 jin (100 kg). The others weighed between 260 and 310 jin (130-150 catties). The owner didn't want the fattest or the thinnest pigs. If the pigs were too fat, they would just have loose fat and wouldn't look appealing, while if they were too thin, they wouldn't fetch a good price.

He was rapidly calculating on his calculator: "A total of 8120 jin, multiplied by 8.6, that's 69832 yuan. You do the math—"

Qin Xiu did the math himself. After the money and goods were settled, the boss was about to leave when Bai Lu quickly called out to him, "Uncle, can we add each other on WeChat?"

Pig broker: "..."

He looked at Qin Xiu, his eyes clearly conveying the message: What does your child mean by this?
Qin Xiu had no idea what Bai Lu was planning.

Farmers – intermediaries – buyers.

This is a closed loop.

While farmers can indeed contact buyers directly, they generally don't do so. They know many pig brokers and contact buyers through them. Although they have to pay brokerage fees, they have always adhered to this unwritten rule.

Today, it was broken by egrets.

She not only added the buyers' WeChat, but also the pig brokers' WeChat, which confused the pig brokers—could it really be just a simple matter of adding each other on WeChat?
Of course, the egret is looking for a market for its future pigs!

Just as I finished adding their WeChat contacts, I suddenly heard Qin Xiu say, "Since you've already added your Uncle Zhu on WeChat, you can pay for my tea!"

Egret: "..."

She's like a real mother, as if she's afraid her daughter won't be able to swindle all her money.

Today was another day of spending money.

The expenditure was 300 RMB.

"Chenchen!"

Perhaps because she had made money, Qin Xiu was in a good mood, and she was smiling when she called Bai Chen. She said, "Mom wants to discuss something with you?"

"Just tell me, what's there to discuss!"

Bai Chen kept yawning. Luckily, he fell asleep right there in the pigsty. He just wanted his mother to finish so he could go to sleep.

"I'm thinking, maybe we shouldn't buy this new car yet!"

Qin Xiu glanced at Bai Chen's expression—sigh, who says parents can have the final say? Being a parent is tough too; sometimes you have to read your children's faces!

She sighed, afraid that Bai Chen would be unhappy: "Your sister, that spendthrift, wants to come back to farming. These past few days she's been buying things and hiring people to tend the fields, and she's already spent more than ten thousand yuan. She can't just give up halfway through!"

Qin Xiu had already planned that the money from selling the pigs would go to Bai Chen—no, to Bai Lu—to buy a car, and she didn't plan to continue paying for the feed.

But the plans couldn't keep up with the changes.

Didn't that idiot egret come back to farm?

She's already set up such a huge operation. Even if she didn't ask for 100,000, 200,000 wouldn't be enough for her to squander!

He quit halfway through the job because he ran out of money?!
That would be a truly terrible sin!
For example, the rice seedlings have already sprouted ears, but because there's no money to buy fertilizer, the fertilizer level can't keep up later, so the rice doesn't grow well, and the rice grains that grow out are all shriveled. What kind of field is that?
So, Qin Xiu thought it over and over again. In order to prevent the money from going down the drain, she had to keep a close eye on it and, if necessary, even put some money in herself, as if she were investing in something else.

Therefore, this year is not a good time to buy a car!

"If you don't want to buy it, then don't buy it!"

Bai Chen had given up on buying a new car as soon as he learned about Bai Wei's debts. Even though he knew Bai Lu was a good earner, he had thought about it, but he was too busy and hadn't thought to tell Qin Xiu. Now that she brought it up herself, it was exactly what Bai Chen wanted, saving him the trouble of making excuses. He was already tired enough every day and didn't want to use his brain at all.

"Really?"

Qin Xiu was somewhat skeptical.

She knew all too well how much Bai Chen wanted to buy a new car.

"Really!" Bai Chen nodded firmly. "My family farms now, and we'll be hauling farm tools and stuff all the time, which will get all dirty. It'll just make my new car even dirtier! Let's wait a few years. My current car is fine; I don't mind if it gets dirty, scratched, or broken. I'll just keep driving it for now!"

Seeing that Bai Chen didn't seem to be saying anything insincere, Qin Xiu felt relieved and began to plan how to spend the money.

The situation with Bailu is uncertain, so she can't put all the money into feed. She calculated that the next batch of pigs won't be ready for market for another month, so another 20,000 yuan should be enough. She'll add a little more after the next batch of pigs is ready for market.

Ugh.

Qin Xiu sighed silently.

She hopes pork prices will rise, but not by much; she'd be perfectly content if they reached ten yuan.

"Mom, my older sisters and I are going out for a bit, so you don't need to cook dinner for us tonight!"

After waking up from a nap, Bai Chen and Bai Wei went to complete their resignation procedures. They wanted to take advantage of the free time they had these next couple of days to finish these miscellaneous tasks, otherwise they wouldn't have time to start planting vegetables.

It was also because of their resignation process that Bailu began to struggle with a very important matter, which was—

Should she pay for her social security out of her own pocket?

Does a Xuan Master, a cultivator, need social security?

"need!"

Bai Wei and Bai Chen spoke in unison.

They discovered that cultivating immortality is truly difficult. To this day, they haven't even touched the threshold. If they don't even pay social security, they'll feel too insecure when they get old!
Fine.

The egret pays the money.

She suddenly realized that Qin Xiu was right. At her rate of spending money, 200,000 yuan wouldn't be enough to keep her from squandering it all. But no worries, she had 1.2 million yuan!
They can cause trouble for a while no matter what.

Bailu discovered that a million was a very comfortable amount of savings.

The money isn't a small amount, enough to guarantee a good quality of life, and there's also savings, giving a strong sense of security. But the money isn't much either, and the value shrinks drastically after buying a house, which can create a sense of crisis.

Bai Lu finished the paperwork just before the social security bureau closed. At that moment, her phone rang. The contact name was "250,000".

She raised an eyebrow and answered the WeChat voice call: "Go ahead."

Tian Yao's happy voice came through the phone: "Big sister, thank you so much! I'm so glad I listened to you and ordered a batch of high-grade anti-rust paint from the paint supplier—"

(End of this chapter)