A small plot of land in a mountain village

It's been several days since the babies went back, and the second batch of cherries in the orchard should be ripe in a few more days. Last time, they mostly picked the ripe ones.

When Zhang Niu went shopping in town, he would occasionally hear people talking about these milk-flavored cherries, and he would chuckle. This small place was quite well-informed.

After a month of rest, King Kong is now able to roam freely in the orchard, occasionally disciplining his little wild boar.

Early this morning, Zhang Niu was carrying the bamboo he had cut down over the past few days, preparing to build another bamboo shed on the open space near the duck shed.

That place is near a pond, which is suitable for raising rabbits. There's also a patch of tender green grass. But Zhang Niu, that lazy bum, has been busy lately and forgot to cut the tender green grass.

I'm busy moving the rabbits into the space to feed them water late at night, and then taking them out again around morning. Anyway, Fatty loves to sleep in, and he won't come to his little yard early in the morning unless he has to.

Zhang Niu woke up with panda eyes during the day, which made the fat man laugh and ask him if he was thinking about a woman, or else his brother would help him find one.

There were still enough materials to build a bamboo shed, so Zhang Niu got busy and worked quickly. He built the bamboo shed in two days and fenced off a large area of ​​tall grass with wire mesh so that the rabbits could hide in it.

There are always a lot of wild boar piglets and cats surrounding the outside of the barbed wire fence. This guy loves to fly in, flapping his wings, chasing after little rabbits, and occasionally making purring noises.

This led Zhang Niu, who passed by every time, to catch this mischievous boy and give him a good scolding.

Zhang Niu himself doesn't know how to raise rabbits, but he has his own space and water, so raising them shouldn't be a problem.

When this wasteland was acquired, the area was mostly empty. The pond was left over from before. A fairly large patch was cleared out and grass seeds were sown, thus providing a source of food.

After finishing up the rabbit business, Zhang Niu decided to go back and discuss with the village chief the possibility of building a bamboo factory near the mountain to see if it was feasible.

Zhangjia Village is surrounded by mountains with abundant bamboo resources. Zhang Niu often sees villagers working hard under the scorching sun. He thinks of his grandfather who passed away early. It was all because of his hard work that he collapsed and there was nothing he could do to save him.

I secretly made up my mind to help as much as I could.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

Carrying a basket of early-ripening yellow plums, I stepped into the village chief's house.

"Auntie, you're soaking bamboo leaves." Upon entering the house, I saw the village chief's wife busy by the well.

"Hey, isn't this Zhang Wa? What brings you here?" He wiped his wet hands on his clothes and led Zhang Wa into the house.

"It's almost Dragon Boat Festival, so let's soak these bamboo leaves until they're soft and wrap the rice dumplings sooner," he replied with a smile.

I didn't even realize that the Dragon Boat Festival was so close. My family must be busy preparing for it too.

The village chief was in the inner room, reading the newspaper to find out what had happened recently. "Wife, Zhangwa is here."

I took off my reading glasses and stepped out of the room.

"Sit down, sit down. Why did you bring something with you?" Seeing Zhang Niu's basket of yellow plums.

He handed the basket to his aunt, saying, "Why don't you try some of this?"

The cherries Zhang Niu brought last time surprised the village chief. These cherries could smell fragrant. He had lived most of his life, and this was the first time he had ever seen them smell like a bride getting married.

The aunt washed a large bowl of plums and placed it on the table before returning to the well to continue her unfinished work.

"I came here today to discuss some matters concerning our village with you."

The village chief was a little surprised. Why would Zhang Wa say something like that today? It was a bit unbelievable.

"What could be going on in the village? Don't keep me in suspense, just tell me!" It's better to be straightforward.

"The village chief should know that our village is considered better than most other villages, but it's a pity that we have such great resources but don't use them."

The village chief thought Zhang Niu's words made a lot of sense. No one knew better than himself how his village was developing, and he wanted to do something practical, but there weren't any good projects to develop.

"It's difficult for the village to develop!" he said with a wry smile.

That really speaks to the villagers' true feelings. Getting things done is difficult, especially with the xenophobia. For example, a man from out of town saw that the stream outside Zhangjia Village was rich in sand, and he decided to buy a large tract of land there. The price was quite good.

The village chief announced the news to the village with great enthusiasm, but no sooner had he finished speaking than the village elders rushed over that evening, pointing at him and berating him. They grumbled all night about how he could sell the sandy land by the stream.

When the older generation mentioned it, the deal fell through immediately, and the outsider could only buy land in downstream villages.

Although it caused quite a stir back then, I later realized that the older generation had a good eye for opportunity. Selling the downstream land meant the streams would immediately suffer from torrential rains every summer.

After this incident, outsiders who contracted mountains or land were viewed differently.

Zhang Niu is a true local; otherwise, it wouldn't have been so easy to lease this barren mountain, not to mention the trouble that might arise after leasing it. It's quite troublesome for outsiders to lease mountains in the countryside, and the villagers find it hard to accept.

"I went up the mountain a few days ago to dig for bamboo shoots and saw that the mountain was full of moso bamboo. I thought of a way to do that."

"What's a good method?" Upon hearing Zhang Niu's question, the village chief's face lit up with joy, eager to hear what good method he had.

"Our village is rich in resources. Let's not even talk about the mountains. Just look at these bamboo forests. They stretch out in large areas. Are we just going to make a living by producing bamboo shoots and selling bamboo every year? I see many places in the county selling bamboo furniture and the like. We have more resources than others, so why don't we make full use of them?"

His long speech was simply a reflection on the affairs of his own village. Everyone knows that Zhangjia Village has many bamboo forests, and many people like to come to this village to buy bamboo.

Strong young men usually go out to work. They don't really care about the bamboo on this mountain; they only cut down a few stalks when they need bamboo.

"You mean setting up a factory?" He stared at Zhang Niu.

The village chief's sharp gaze made Zhang Niu feel that even a minor official's eyes were incredibly intimidating.

"I just remembered this, we can set up a small workshop first, we can save on the use of bamboo, and we won't have to worry about wasting it if we don't use it." He blurted out his idea all at once.

"A workshop? That's feasible. Do you mean we can make chairs and bamboo beds?" The village chief still didn't quite understand.

Zhang Niu's eyes lit up. "There are many bamboo products. We can start by making bamboo mats. If we make them well, we can ship them all over the country. Bamboo mats are so comfortable in the height of summer."

"The kind made by piecing together small bamboo pieces?"

"Yes, it doesn't require a lot of money. All the women in the village can contribute. I have a friend at my resort who does this. If our village wants to do it, I can help invite him over."

The delicate work of piecing together bamboo mats still relies on the village aunties. It seems that many villages in the distance are also doing this. This idea can be discussed with the village committee.

"That would really trouble you. I'll hold a village meeting later to discuss your idea. If it's feasible, our village should give it a try. We have enough resources, so we should give it a shot." He said, bowing his head in thought.

Zhang Niu came over and said that whether it could be done depended on whether the village agreed.

"In that case, I'll head back now."

After Zhang Niu left, the village chief returned to the inner room, took out a stack of white paper from the drawer, and wrote on it while occasionally looking down in thought.

. . . . . . . . .

"Mom, are you soaking bamboo leaves?"

Passing through the village alleys, I saw many people soaking bamboo leaves. As soon as I got home, my mother set up a large wooden basin and soaked the dried bamboo leaves in water, with a large stone on top of it.

The bamboo leaves used for wrapping zongzi are all picked from the mountains, so there's no need to buy them in town. They're dried, and when you want to use them, you just soak them overnight, and then you can use the bamboo leaves to wrap zongzi.

"Yes, that's why we need to quickly soak some bamboo leaves, otherwise we won't have time to wrap these rice dumplings."

Zhang Niu really likes to eat zongzi (sticky rice dumplings). The filling is made with red beans, and he will occasionally try chestnuts and lean meat. Generally, rural people make these two types of zongzi.

Things have been pretty quiet at home lately. Zhang Niu has used a lot of money from selling cherries to supplement the family income.

I just got back to Happy House, and there were already cars parked in the open space.

After walking around the vehicle, the fat man in the pavilion waved to Zhang Niu, signaling him to come over.

"They're only getting back now; we've been waiting so long."

As Zhang Niu stepped onto the small bamboo bridge, he heard Boss Wang's voice coming from the bamboo pavilion: "Damn, you came here so early in the morning!"

"The busy man is back!" the fat man shouted.

Boss Zhou was still sitting in the chair. These two really are inseparable; you can see them everywhere. Judging from their smiling faces, they must have come for the cherries on the mountain.

No sooner had they sat down than Boss Wang said with a smile, "We came early this morning, but we didn't expect you to have come down the mountain even earlier than us. We've been waiting for quite a while."

"Why don't you call me? It would be easier to find someone," he said with a smile.

"Don't even mention it. Your phone is switched off, so how can you make a call? Why don't you check it yourself?" Boss Zhou said with a wry smile.

What? My phone isn't working? I think I charged it a few days ago. I took out my phone, and it really wasn't turned on. It seems like the radiation is too strong if I leave my phone on while I sleep, so I turned it off.

He scratched his head, looking embarrassed, and said, "I turned it off tonight and forgot to turn it back on. I'll definitely turn it on next time."

"To run a resort, you have to keep your phone on all the time. Our phones are even dual SIM, just in case someone comes to cause trouble. We also carry a battery pack with us at all times," Boss Wang explained, sharing his experience.

"The two of them arrived here early this morning, were they after Cherry?" He cut to the chase and said it straight.

It's better to get straight to the point, rather than going through a bunch of unnecessary details like, "Well, those hundred crates of cherries from last time are almost empty after just a few days, so this is a lifesaver."

"Me too. If you hadn't told me sooner, you wouldn't have had to make another trip to the provincial capital. We weren't as lucky as last time." The two of them talked about what happened last time, and their luck was exceptionally good.

"Okay, but the price will go up." I saw the fat man winking at me from the side.

A price increase is reasonable; otherwise, they'd think we were fools. These days, quite a few people come every day just to eat cherries—the customer is king, after all.

"It's okay, as long as you can prepare some cherries for us." We can accept the price as long as it doesn't rise too drastically.

"I almost forgot to ask you, do you want to sell the cycads with flowering pillars around your bamboo house? You really have a lot of strange things going on. When these cycads bloom, all the ones around them bloom too, no less than a hundred pots."

I originally planned to sell some of the cycads myself. But the cycads that were swapped into my space are starting to sprout new buds, so I'd better sell some quickly.

"The cycad is for sale, but it will be quite some time before it fully blooms. Cycads rarely bloom, so the price..."

After going around in circles, it all comes down to price.

The fat man looked at Zhang Niu, who had learned to raise prices on the spot. He was quite quick to learn; young people were indeed quick learners and could apply what they learned to other situations.

P.S.: Third update! Every draft I write is done on the fly. Please consider giving me a few tips to show your support for my hard work. (To be continued... For more chapters, please log in to support the author and read the official version!)