A small plot of land in a mountain village

After dinner, Zhang Niu and Fatty started discussing outside where it would be best to plant the tree. Planting it too far to one side wouldn't look very nice.

Zhang Niu already had a plan regarding the sycamore tree. Since Da Hong and the others liked to stay on the cherry tree in the yard, he decided to plant one in the corner of the courtyard wall.

If we plant a few more trees by the pond outside, it will be just right, passable, and we won't have to worry about it.

Zhang Niu had no idea how tall the sycamore tree was. Judging from the size of the tree, the fat man probably wouldn't bring a small, thin sycamore tree. If it was too small, it would be easier to just go to the mountains and dig up any tree he could find.

As for the osmanthus trees, plant two on the uphill slope, and plant one in the flower bed next to the bamboo house. You can also plant one in the middle where it looks spacious. Anyway, there's still a lot of cement left. Once it's planted, we can fix it back up, and it'll be the same.

Now Zhang Niu and Fatty can only wait, not knowing when the other party will arrive. Fatty, however, says there's no rush. He says the road is more convenient now than before, and they should arrive by noon at the latest. He pats his chest and repeatedly assures them.

Fatty's promises are useless; he's always bragging and never seems to care when they'll fall apart. So, we always just ignore Fatty's promises.

Seeing that it was still early, the guy called out to Xiao Hei and chased after him into the orchard to taste the peaches and plums.

In the orchard, quite a few peaches have already turned red, but only a few are red at the tips. Actually, peaches taste best at this time.

As for the peaches softening later, Zhang Niu felt they didn't taste very good; only old women would like them because they wouldn't have to worry about their teeth when eating peaches.

Only people with good teeth dare to eat peaches that are still green; they make a crisp sound when you bite into them, and they taste quite good.

Besides these large white peaches, the orchard also has a few yellow peaches that ripen a little later. They're called yellow peaches because they start to turn pale yellow after they begin to bear fruit.

Although its color is different from that of a ripe white peach, its taste is something most people wouldn't expect, because it's sour.

Yellow peaches, also known as sour peaches, can make your teeth sour if you eat too many, but they taste better than regular white peaches. They ripen later in the season, so not many people grow them and they are not popular.

Zhang Niu planted about twenty to thirty trees himself, but he couldn't remember the exact number. He could only occasionally see these yellow peaches when he walked through the orchard.

After lunch, the sound of trucks came from the mountain road.

The saplings have arrived, and Zhang Niu, standing in the bamboo pavilion, is a little excited, wondering how tall the sycamore and osmanthus trees will be.

This truck transporting fruit seedlings is not the blue truck that loaded fruit last time. This one has no roof, and if I'm not mistaken, it should be used for freight transport.

The first truck was loaded with osmanthus trees, six of them arranged inside. The leaves were intertwined, and there were many ropes tied around them, presumably to prevent the osmanthus trees from swaying on the road.

Following closely behind the truck that came to load the sycamore trees, at a glance, there were five sycamore trees on the truck, many of their branches and leaves had been pruned, and now they looked a bit bare.

The car was parked directly on the concrete ground, leaving a considerable gap between the two cars. Fortunately, Happy Cottage is a spacious place, so there was no need to worry about turning the car around.

After lunch, the fat man said that the sycamore tree was already with him and would be delivered at noon, just like the osmanthus tree.

After the car came to a stop, Zhang Niu ran out of the bamboo pavilion and headed towards the truck.

This sycamore tree is taller than I had imagined. It looks at least six meters tall. Although it has fewer branches and leaves, I can still imagine how lush it used to be.

As for the osmanthus trees, there's not much to say. The entire tree rises from the ground, still carrying a clump of soil, and is wrapped in thatch. This is all technical work done in a fruit orchard.

"How's this tree?" the fat man who came up from behind said with a smile.

"That's good. With trees this tall, there's no problem with providing shade, especially your osmanthus tree. I reckon it will bloom by autumn! Then this place will be filled with fragrance." He replied, looking at the osmanthus tree on the car.

"If you hadn't entered the business in the first place and planted the wrong tree, these remaining osmanthus trees would have been sold long ago, and you wouldn't have had a chance to buy them. You've already gotten a pretty good deal yourself. These trees are taking up space, so why don't you hurry up and start selling them?" The fat man said, putting on a sour face, as if everyone owed him money.

The locations for planting the trees have been basically determined. As long as we dig the holes, there shouldn't be any problems. Quite a few people have come this time, and they've brought a lot of tools.

The thick cement floor was quickly excavated with tools, creating a large pit about one meter square.

"Once the tree is planted, you can build a flower bed around the trunk. It won't cost you anything, and you can sit and rest by the flower bed whenever you want. Wouldn't that be killing two birds with one stone?" the fat man suggested cheerfully.

It's no exaggeration to say that Fatty was happy to have sold the remaining osmanthus trees today. In fact, he had been eager to sell them as soon as possible, but no one had come to buy them.

If Zhang Niu hadn't planned to plant trees, who knows how long the osmanthus tree in his garden would have remained. Nowadays, people who want to plant trees generally don't have large estates; they prefer small trees.

The remaining few osmanthus trees are not suitable for attracting customers, so they have been left there. They have grown from two meters to more than seven meters, standing there lush and green, which is quite beautiful.

All the workers who came were from the park, and everyone worked extra hard, digging and everything else proceeded in an orderly manner. With the boss here, everyone naturally had to work harder.

Moving the tree took quite a while, as the osmanthus tree was tall and large, so the problem could only be solved by slowly spending time.

Watching the saplings rise from the ground, adding a touch of green to this happy little abode.

For every tree planted, Zhang Niu would fetch a bucket of clear water from his house and pour it into the pit.

The fat man was a little confused. There were workers here, so why bother to carry the water himself? He was too diligent.

Actually, the fat man didn't know that the clear water was drawn from the space lake. Zhang Niu was worried that the newly planted osmanthus trees wouldn't survive, so he watered them to ensure their survival.

Although it's troublesome, the increased survival rate makes it quite worthwhile.

The workers, however, didn't think much of it. Since you're watering it yourself, it saves everyone a lot of effort.

"Ah Niu, you're really too hardworking. Aren't you tired after going back and forth like this?" Fatty asked when he saw Zhang Niu about to go into the yard to fetch water again.

Zhang Niu turned around and smiled, "It's good to be hardworking, why be lazy over such a small thing? It reminds me of the money tree I learned about in my old books."

As the fat man watched Zhang Niu walk into the courtyard, he realized that if Zhang Niu hadn't brought up the story of the money tree, he probably would have forgotten it—it was a piece of knowledge from a very distant past.

Yes, being more diligent is definitely the right thing to do. Besides, I need to lose some weight, but whether I can actually do that is another matter entirely.

After two hours of work, all eleven saplings were planted. The most troublesome one was the one in the small courtyard. After discussion, it was finally planted on the outside wall.

The sycamore tree is right next to the wall; the distance is just right, enough for auspicious things to fall on it.

"Boss, there's a banyan tree in Fan Ming's garden that takes two people to hug. He asked if we could sell it." An employee in a work uniform reported to the fat man.

A banyan tree that takes two people to hug—isn't that something only found in Yunnan? Why would Fan Ming bring it in for no reason? When did his taste get so bad?

Fan Ming and Fatty work in the same industry and both have good track records, so why did this happen this time?

The fat man spent quite a bit of time at Happy Cottage. Since it was the season when not many people were buying trees and there weren't many worries, he didn't bother to inquire about it for a while.

"What are you thinking about with that frown? Are you upset that I didn't buy enough saplings?" I noticed the fat man with a frown as I walked over after watering the last tree.

"It's nothing, a friend and I bought a large banyan tree and are now looking for a buyer." It's not a big deal, so he just said it casually.

"Oh, it's a banyan tree. I didn't know what it was." I had heard of banyan trees before.

"Boss, I heard that his banyan tree is almost dead and can't be planted, which is why he's going to have a big sale." Then he said another piece of news.

"These are just rumors circulating outside, but I went to check them out myself, and they do indeed show signs of withering."

"I was wondering why this guy would bother with this banyan tree. It was about to die. He's really just looking for trouble." The fat man said with a chuckle.

When planting saplings, many people buy them from elsewhere. During the digging process, the roots may be broken or there may be other accidents, making it quite normal for the trees to be difficult to grow.

Fan Ming's situation was essentially the same: initially he showed signs of being alive, but later he died.

"What a pity. It was such a big banyan tree. I heard it was bought specifically for that residential area. Who knew it would turn out like this?" The employee shook his head and said with some regret.

"Your feng shui is good. How about I buy it for you? Maybe it will survive. It's a huge umbrella. You've never seen anything like it. It'll definitely exceed your expectations," the fat man suddenly said, remembering something.

Damn it, why does Fatty keep saying my feng shui is good? I feel like it's just so-so. Ever since the last time the rabbit was good, Fatty has been talking about how good the feng shui is.

They say that every time, I'm sick of hearing it. But Zhang Niu said it that time, and now Fatty has confirmed it: the feng shui of this place is indeed good.

"This isn't a good idea! Look at this spot, where would I possibly plant it? Wouldn't that just be asking for trouble?" Zhang Niu said, puzzled.

"Don't worry about that. If you want to plant it, there's definitely still space available here." It seems this fat man wants Zhang Niu to buy it.

Looking around, there was indeed still plenty of space. The banyan tree, which would take two or three people to encircle, looked enormous; it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it an umbrella.

A giant umbrella is being erected over this Happy Little Abode. Zhang Niu can hardly imagine what it looks like. Perhaps only by planting it can he know!

I've seen the banyan forests in Yunnan on TV, and they're absolutely stunning. The banyan forests stretch for miles, with their dense roots intertwined like spider webs.

If I had a banyan tree here, it would be a nice place. If it were really like in the TV shows, I could build a small bamboo house on it and hang a swing underneath.

Thinking about it, Zhang Niu couldn't help but chuckle.

This guy's dreaming again," the fat man thought, looking at Zhang Niu's absent-minded expression.

PS: Third update. (To be continued. For more chapters and to support the author, please log in and read the official version!)