Returning to the small mountain village of '86, intelligence updated daily.

The tea trees in this tea garden were planted by Zhang Chengyun himself, which cost him a lot, but in fact, the biggest cost was time.

Tea seedlings are not as expensive as mature plants, but after two years of harvesting, the returns have not met his and several others' expectations.

Zhou Rui walked through the entire tea plantation, then returned to his original spot. Looking at the tea plantation, he muttered to himself:

If it were to be contracted out, the land in this location is not fertile and is considered barren. The village collective would have to pay 15 to 30 yuan per mu (unit of land area), depending on how the negotiations and procedures are carried out.

We'll see if we can pull some strings to lower the price a bit, ideally keeping it under 300 yuan for 20 mu of land. That would be the best outcome.

Considering the yield per mu (unit of land area), judging from the half-dead state of these tea trees, even with several tea-picking seasons combined this year, one mu can only yield a maximum of 200 jin (unit of weight) of fresh tea leaves, and 20 mu can yield less than 4,000 jin (unit of weight) of fresh tea leaves...

Based on market purchase prices, a pound of fresh tea leaves, sold unprocessed, would fetch about 5 cents. Therefore, Zhang Chengyun's gross income would be around two thousand yuan...

Excluding labor costs, fertilization, management... labor costs are the biggest expense, as he needs to hire people to harvest the crops, and he simply cannot manage 20 acres of land by himself.

He doesn't make any money at all in a year; in fact, he loses a lot of money.

The key issue is that, for some reason, he doesn't know how to roast tea leaves. If he could roast them into dried tea, the overall price would increase by at least 30%...

Zhou Rui recalled that the purchase price of one pound of dried tea was about two yuan and thirty cents or more, and it took about four pounds of fresh tea leaves to produce one pound of dried tea leaves.

But why doesn't Zhang Chengyun know how to stir-fry tea? Logically speaking, that shouldn't be the case.

It could also be due to limited sales channels; dried tea needs good sales channels to quickly generate income.

As a result, labor costs are the biggest expense. Based on current labor costs, a tea picker needs to be paid at least one yuan a day, plus a lunch.

A tea garden of twenty acres requires at least twenty tea pickers during the peak spring tea picking season, which lasts about 30 days.

The cost of meals plus wages means that the labor costs alone in the spring can amount to several hundred yuan.

Although the following summer and autumn seasons are not peak periods, there will still be a shortage of workers, at most two will be laid off.

Then, during the summer and autumn seasons, the average working hours are 50 days, which costs nearly a thousand yuan.

Over the course of a year, the labor costs alone amount to several thousand yuan, plus a minimum contract fee of three hundred yuan that needs to be paid to the village collective...

The labor costs plus the cost of contracting the land alone, even at the lowest estimate, amount to two thousand yuan. No wonder Zhang Chengyun is reluctant to fertilize.

Even Zhou Rui speculated that Zhang Chengyun probably hadn't fertilized the plant last year.

Chemical fertilizers are scarce and hard to buy now, so he can only buy natural fertilizers or compost his own.

These all come at a cost.

Add in other miscellaneous expenses, and when you add it all up, you end up losing money, don't you think?

Having thought things through, and seeing that the sun had already risen, Zhou Rui started walking home.

He realized that he had just made another mistake: being too eager for quick success.

Since his rebirth, he should be quite mature, considering he was older than his father in both his previous lives.

However, he kept making the same mistake: being impatient and always eager to do better. For example, his last time hunting water deer deep in the mountains was a case in point.

This is also related to his experiences in his previous life. He felt too much powerlessness in his previous life, which led to this opportunity for rebirth, and he wanted to do exceptionally well.

Zhou Rui belatedly realized the problem.

He just now actually thought about buying all 20 acres of tea trees in one go, which is simply unrealistic.

Even if you try to bargain, a mu (unit of land area) of tea trees, especially mature ones, will still cost over 100 yuan.

Twenty mu (approximately 6 acres) is worth a little over two thousand yuan. Given the Zhou family's current financial situation, even all their savings wouldn't be enough.

Sigh—I was too anxious and too optimistic.

As Zhou Rui walked home, he sighed deeply and muttered to himself.

He was too eager for his family to prosper quickly, to the point of being impatient for quick success, which was Zhou Rui's weakness.

We still need to be down-to-earth... First, secure the contract, then agree on installment payments.

We still need to buy tea trees; this will lay the foundation for future business.

However, you can't buy it all at once, since you need to save money for other things.

It's not advisable to wait too long. If we wait a few more years, when society has developed and people are more informed, Zhang Chengyun might not be willing to watch Zhou Rui make money if he finds out that tea prices have risen.

Therefore, we need to race against time and try to earn enough money to buy these tea trees within the next year.

With a more complete plan in mind, Zhou Rui didn't linger on his way back. He politely greeted the villagers he met and left without stopping.

This trip was necessary for Zhou Rui; he needed to know himself and his opponent in order to gain the upper hand in the subsequent negotiations.

If you don't even bother to visit the tea plantation and instead go off to discuss contracting it out like an idiot, it's no wonder they'll rip you off.

When I got home, my grandparents had already returned; it was around 10 a.m.

Grandpa lay on the woven bamboo chair by the front door, smoking a cigarette. He watched his eldest grandson return, but unusually, he didn't ask where he had been.

He just looked at Zhou Rui kindly twice and didn't say anything.

Upon seeing this, Zhou Rui also felt a strange sensation.

Why has Grandpa changed too?

Since last night, he's been acting differently after he started scolding Wang Er, which is unusual for him.

The old man used to be known throughout the village for his kindness and compassion, and he also cared for the younger generation.

However, Zhou Rui didn't think much of it. Perhaps the old man didn't want to be friendly anymore. He had fought against the Japanese and had a certain air about him.

Having been stabbed in the back over the years, I've witnessed the coldness and indifference of human nature, unlike in their time.

He originally had no intention of competing with outsiders anymore; he only wanted his own children to grow up healthy.

Things are different now. The old man noticed the change and things are not the same as before.

"Grandpa, I'm going to steam the rice. It'll be ready soon. We'll eat together in a bit."

Zhou Yong'an smiled and nodded, saying, "Go ahead."

Stepping into the inner room, Grandma Meng Dan was embroidering.

After greeting his grandmother, Zhou Rui went to the stove.

However, what happened next was somewhat unexpected.

Zhou Guo'er, who was not tall, was wearing an apron that was out of place and coarse cloth gloves. She was adding firewood to the stove, on which was a steamer for cooking rice.

"Big brother, you're back."

Zhou Guo'er greeted the newcomer with a smile.

Zhou Rui was surprised to find that her younger sister was very clean and had mild obsessive-compulsive disorder.

She even went to the stove, covered in soot, to start a fire and steam rice.

This changed his opinion of the younger sister.

Zhou Guo'er is not just a pretty face; despite her young age, she knows how to share the burdens of her elders.

Zhou Rui walked over, took a piece of dry firewood from the younger sister, and put it into the stove.

"Little sister, let me do it. If you get tired of reading in the morning, go play for a while. You can turn on the radio and listen to storytelling. Grandpa loves to listen to it too."

Zhou Rui wanted to get Zhou Guo'er out of the way so he could do the work by himself, but Zhou Guo'er refused to play, though she did give up her spot.

She took off her gloves, untied her apron, and pulled a comic book from her pocket, waving it around.

"Hehe, big brother, I'll just read a book here for a while. There aren't any good shows on right now."