The Little Life of a Big Landlord

Chapter 83 Feeding

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When it got completely dark, Wei Qingqing returned with Xiao Bao'er. The two of them had gone to the construction site to supervise the work, and they were covered in mud.

"You guys talk, we're going to take a bath..." Wei Qingqing smiled when she saw the five people in the room discussing something, and then pulled Xiao Bao'er to the hot spring pool.

"My goodness, what have you done? Where have you all been?" Aunt Liu, uninterested in the men's conversation, followed them out, complaining somewhat.

"It's nothing. I went to supervise the work. I told them that if it's finished within ten days, I'll pay them whatever they owe. If it's finished within three days, I'll give them an extra ten thousand. If it's finished before sunrise tomorrow morning, I'll give them an extra one hundred thousand. So, they brought in two or three hundred people to work through the night. I was worried that they would only pursue speed and not quality, so I went to supervise the work," Wei Qingqing said with a smile.

"You're really rolling in money," Aunt Liu rolled her eyes at Wei Qingqing. "Is 100,000 yuan a small sum?"

"Hehe..." Wei Qingqing smiled and didn't say anything more. She couldn't very well tell you that she was eager to see her seven-colored bird, could she?

The construction team finally finished on October 13th, before sunrise the next day. A three-meter-high red brick wall encircled the two mountains, forming an arc that encompassed both Caomao Mountain and Huagu Mountain. Only the small gully leading into the mountains directly opposite Yang Ming's backyard had a cold steel gate. On the left side of the gatepost, there were two large characters carved in cement: "Backyard".

In the mountain valley, apart from the paths leading from the main gate to the hot spring pool and from the main gate to the greenhouse, all other places were enclosed by three-meter-high steel gates, which were locked, and it was impossible to enter without a key.

The mountain valleys are ravines between mountains. These hundreds of acres of mountain land are separated by iron fences, leaving gaps of varying sizes in between. These gaps are used as livestock farms, each about the same size as the small valley near the hot spring pool.

"Brother, sister, how's it going? Not bad, right?" Foreman Huang accompanied Yang Ming and Wei Qingqing as they inspected the results of their work that night.

"Hmm! Not bad, with Uncle Huang leading the team, the quality is guaranteed..." Yang Ming said with a smile.

"Uncle Huang, how much did it cost to put up such a long wall?" Wei Qingqing asked.

"The total is 500,000. We used too much bricks, cement, sand, and iron fences. The materials alone cost 450,000. The construction team mobilized a total of 300 people. With the 100,000 yuan reward you offered, each person gets exactly 500 yuan," said Foreman Huang.

"Uncle Huang, don't worry. We've troubled you more than once or twice. That 100,000 yuan will definitely be there," Yang Ming said with a smile.

"Hehe, I'm getting a little curious, brother. What are you doing? It feels like you're raising something. Are you raising pigs? When we were putting up the fence, we saw four little fat pigs lying in the ditch..." said Foreman Huang.

"We're not just raising pigs, we also plan to raise sheep and dairy cows..." Yang Ming said with a smile.

"They really know how to make a fuss..." Foreman Huang shook his head and chuckled.

After settling the bill, the construction team drove off in their vehicles in a grand procession.

After the construction team left, the couple went into the innermost partition. This was a three-layered farm, meaning that no matter which road you entered from, you had to go through at least three layers of iron gates to get here. It was a winding, mountain-covered area, so you couldn't see what was inside from the outside.

There are many such three-tiered breeding farms.

"My seven-colored bird..." Wei Qingqing said coquettishly, pulling on Yang Ming's arm.

"Right away, right away..." Yang Ming hurriedly released the two colorful birds.

Actually, he was anxious too. Who says men can't be curious?

This seven-colored bird is about the size of an ostrich, but its legs are not as long. Its fiery red crest is somewhat like a phoenix or a rooster, as red as fire. Its thick, short wings are tightly tucked between its sides, and its long, seven-colored tail feathers trail behind it, reflecting a rainbow of colors in the sunlight.

"So beautiful..." Wei Qingqing was stunned.

"These seven-colored birds eat grains, so just feed them millet from now on..." Yang Ming said, waving his hand. Strands of golden millet, the size of soybeans, were scattered from his hand. When the two seven-colored birds saw Yang Ming waving at them, they thought he was going to attack them and hurriedly dodged backwards warily. Only when they saw the millet all over the ground did they realize that this strange person was feeding them, and they quickly bent down to eat.

Judging from their greedy way of eating, it's clear that this grain suits their taste.

Yang Ming, pulling Wei Qingqing along, went to a nearby three-story breeding farm and released the egg-laying dragons. These dragons were 5 meters long. The male was covered in emerald green scales, shimmering like jade, while the female was covered in milky white scales, radiating a warm glow like jade. Despite their fierce appearance, these two enormous creatures were actually quite docile. As soon as they were released, the pair lazily lay down at the foot of the mountain, basking in the sun on their bellies. It is said that cold-blooded animals need to absorb the heat of the sun to maintain their body temperature.

"Now the egg dragons eat fish, but they don't have big appetites. They only need to eat about ten catties of fish a day..." Yang Ming threw two large sea fish to the two lazy dragons.

The couple then went to a two-story breeding farm and released the two one-horned golden-eyed bulls. These bulls were about 5 meters long and 3 meters tall at the shoulder. The female was slightly smaller, but not by much. They had golden eyes that were gentle and bright. The female had a black horn on her head, while the male had a red one. They had snow-white fur and strong, powerful limbs. The female had enormous breasts that emitted a strong milky aroma.

"These one-horned golden-eyed cows usually eat grass, and sometimes we feed them some salt grains to supplement their salt intake," Yang Ming said. He then led Wei Qingqing to a neighboring two-story farm and released the long-tailed purple-haired sheep. These long-tailed purple-haired sheep were about 3 meters long and about 2 meters tall at the shoulder. Except for one tail that looked a bit like a dog's tail, their other characteristics were roughly the same as sheep on Earth. As soon as the huge purple giant sheep was released, it bleated, swayed its tail slightly, and lowered its head to eat the weeds growing on the ground.

"These long-tailed purple sheep will eat anything that is plant-based, they are very easy to raise..." Yang Ming said, and then took Wei Qingqing to another two-story breeding farm, where he released the two puppies, Alac. These two puppies are about 3 meters long and about 2 meters tall at the shoulder, definitely giant dogs. They have milky white fur and a lithe and smooth body, and look exceptionally beautiful. The female one has large and strong breasts under her belly, which smell very milky.

Yang Ming released the fire goats again. Apart from their fiery red fur, the fire goats were exactly the same as goats on Earth, so they weren't particularly eye-catching. Yang Ming put the two fire goats into the second-floor breeding farm.

After releasing these six types of livestock, Yang Ming stopped releasing them. Releasing too many types of livestock would easily expose the farm. Yang Ming then released the pigs, sheep, pigeons, and other livestock raised in the farm space and kept them on the outskirts.

Besides Big Black and the other four puppies, Yang Ming also sent the rest of the puppies into the mountains, letting them roam freely and patrol their territory to prevent outsiders from sneaking over the walls.

"Ah... I forgot, they won't make noise, will they? Will their noises be..." Wei Qingqing suddenly remembered something and covered her mouth as she spoke.

"Of course they'll make noise, but Ya Ya took that into consideration when she was choosing them. For example, the egg-laying dragon's call sounds like a cow, the seven-colored bird's call sounds like a chicken, the one-horned golden-eyed cow's call sounds like a cow's call, and the Araks puppy's call sounds like a dog's call..." Yang Ming said.

"Moo..." Suddenly, a cow's moo rang out. The couple quickly looked over and saw that the sound came from the two egg-laying dragons. Wei Qingqing was relieved: "We should buy a cow..."

"We should buy a cow. Today is the county market, I'll go buy a cow in a bit..." Yang Ming nodded, and pulled Wei Qingqing to the hot spring pool. The couple went into the water and enjoyed a relaxing soak.

"Oh dear..." Wei Qingqing exclaimed, "What if there's an airplane in the sky and someone sees it from above? Egg-laying dragons are huge..."

"This..." Yang Ming was also speechless, he really hadn't thought of this at first.

"Why don't you collect them all? Keep them in your farm space..." Wei Qingqing said.

"No need for that. We'll plant more trees inside, pine and cypress trees, which are evergreen. That way, even from the sky, we won't be able to spot these livestock hiding inside," Yang Ming said.

"We strange beasts are all huge, how big of a tree would you have to plant? You know how we live in this mountain valley, the soil is shallow, and big trees won't be able to take root and might not survive..." Wei Qingqing said.

"That's not a problem. We'll dig up some big trees from the old forest and optimize them in the farm space first. Then I'll strengthen them with Life Tree Seeds. At the very least, big trees planted with Life Tree Seeds are Trees of Life, and their vitality is very strong," Yang Ming said.

"You're right. Honestly, at first it was quite novel, but once the novelty wore off, it became a burden. Just feeding it every day takes so much effort..." Wei Qingqing pouted.

"I'll be in charge of feeding them from now on. I don't know yet if those guys will hurt people..." Yang Ming took the initiative to take on the responsibility of feeding them. After all, these beasts are too big. Who knows if they will attack people? He has the protection of the farm space, so he will be fine even if he encounters an attack. But Wei Qingqing is not the same. If she gets hurt by the livestock while feeding them, he will regret it to death.

"You feed them carnivores, I feed them herbivores..." Wei Qingqing said.

"No... How about this, you feed the seven-colored bird, and I'll feed the rest," Yang Ming said.

"Okay..." Wei Qingqing said.

Therefore, the two divided the work of raising the animals.

After soaking in the hot spring for a while, Yang Ming decided to go to the market to buy cattle. He bought about ten calves, and their bellowing would cover up the dragon's cries of laying eggs.

Today is the sixth day of the ninth lunar month, and it's market day in the county town...

Yang Ming drove away, but Wei Qingqing stayed behind. She wanted to keep an eye on things to prevent the people managing the greenhouses from getting curious and climbing over the fence to discover the secrets inside.

Walking on the streets of Qinhuangdao, Zhang Fenghuang and Liu Lili were full of pride. They never expected that a trip would turn the two sisters into millionaires. Right now, the two sisters were shopping on the street.

The wide streets were practically spotless.

The two women were wearing sunglasses and casual clothes, with clothing bags slung over their elbows, filled with their newly purchased outfits.

"Ladies, your love stars are in motion, and you are destined for romantic entanglements. This is a calamity. Would you like to dispel the evil and avert disaster?" Suddenly, an old man dressed in a Taoist robe blocked the way for the two women.

"Tch... old man, you're so unprofessional. How can you jump out like this and insist on telling fortunes? You should pretend to be a master, say a few ambiguous things on the roadside to attract customers' attention, and then talk about fortune telling..." Zhang Fenghuang squinted and looked the old Taoist priest up and down.

"Exactly! They don't even have a sign. People might think they're a human trafficker. If they can't write 'Infallible Predictions,' they should at least write 'Master Calculator'..." Liu Lili also pouted.

"You two girls, do you think this old Taoist priest is the same kind of person as those fortune tellers who set up stalls on the roadside? I'm really furious..." The old Taoist priest's face turned red with anger.

"Grandpa, please don't be angry. After we leave, whether you get coronary heart disease or cerebral hemorrhage, it will have nothing to do with us..." Zhang Fenghuang said, pulling Liu Lili to the side.

The old Taoist priest trembled with rage, pointing at the two women: "You two little girls, I... I'm telling you, those who don't listen to their elders will suffer the consequences... Married men, you're immoral and disrespectful..."

"You old Taoist priest, how dare you curse me? What did I ever do to you? Do you believe I'll call the police right now and sue you for a serious crime of hindering the construction of socialist spiritual civilization?" Zhang Fenghuang immediately became indignant, turned around and pointed at the old Taoist priest's nose, cursing him.

"Forget it, Phoenix. If a dog bites you, you can't bite back, can you? Besides, this old man is already so old. Even if he can curse, how much longer does he have left to curse?" Liu Lili's words were quite sharp.

"Hmph, considering you're practically half-buried, I won't hold it against you..." Zhang Fenghuang hooked her arm around Liu Lili's, and the two sisters walked away with their heads held high.

"You will fall in love with a married man, and it will be the same man. You'll see, it definitely will. Then you'll know that what I said is absolutely true..." The old Taoist priest calmed down instead.

The two women were startled and stopped in their tracks. They turned to look at the old Taoist priest with suspicious eyes.

"Right and wrong, truth and falsehood, yin and yang, left and right paths..." The old Taoist priest left behind these sixteen words, which were neither a poem nor a verse, and turned to leave.

"Right and wrong, truth and falsehood, yin and yang, left and right paths... What does it mean? Does it imply that person's name?" Liu Lili looked at Zhang Fenghuang in surprise.

"Right and wrong? Truth and falsehood? Yin and Yang? Left and right paths?" Zhang Fenghuang's mind raced. "The first two lines are like proverbs. If there's a hidden name, it's the last two lines. The two characters 'Yin and Yang,' if you remove the 'ear knife' radical, it becomes 'sun and moon,' and combined, it becomes the character 'bright.' As for left and right paths, hmm, what's on both sides of the road? It seems to be trees? Mostly poplars or willows..."

"Yang Ming?" Liu Lili exclaimed in surprise.

"It's probably this kid. I never thought I, Zhang Fenghuang, would fall in love with him one day..." Zhang Fenghuang pinched her pointed chin, her voice filled with surprise.

"But to be honest, this stinky farmer is actually quite cute, especially when he wears Hanfu..." Liu Lili said.

"Who cares? Let's go. If we really fall in love with him, we'll snatch him away from Wei Qingqing. With us sisters working together, what can't we do?" Zhang Fenghuang dragged Liu Lili along and started walking.

"After we snatch it, how will we divide it?" Liu Lili asked with a smile.

"Hmm...you have an odd number, I have an even number..." Zhang Fenghuang said with a smile.

"That's a bargain for that stinking farmer..."

"What's cheap? One ox plows two plots of land, it won't kill him..." Zhang Fenghuang said.

The two women's voices gradually faded and receded into the distance. The old Taoist priest turned around anxiously, but there was no sign of the two women. They had long since disappeared into the crowd.

"Bad luck... What kind of people are these? Why are they so hard to fool?" The old Taoist priest hung his head dejectedly. "This outfit costs a hundred a day to rent. Sometimes I really want to sell myself, but, at my age, is there anyone who would want me?..."

Suddenly, a stylish and beautiful woman walked by. She was wearing brown sunglasses and had dyed blonde hair, so she didn't look like someone who was short of money.

"Young lady..." The old Taoist priest had barely uttered a word when the blonde woman's gaze swept over his face, causing her mouth to gape in shock. "Old man, you should hurry home and seek refuge! Your forehead is dark and your eyes are red, which are very ominous signs in physiognomy. Therefore, I predict that you will suffer a bloody disaster at the earliest today or at the latest tomorrow night..."

"You...you girl, don't scare me..." The old Taoist priest's face turned pale, and he stammered.

"This is what the 'Ma Yi Shen Xiang' says, not what I said, sir. I advise you to go home and hide, lest you really incur bloodshed..." The blonde woman advised with a concerned expression.

"Bad luck, bad luck, no wonder I haven't been getting any business lately, it turns out my bad luck has arrived..." the old Taoist muttered to himself, then turned and disappeared into a small street, running towards his home.

Watching the old Taoist priest flee in panic, the blonde woman chuckled wickedly: "Dare to try and fool your aunt? You'll be scared to death..."

Perhaps it was truly a year of bad luck, for as soon as the old Taoist priest turned into this small street, a bicycle came straight at him and crashed into him, knocking him flat on his back.

"Grandpa, are you alright?" The cyclist was terrified and quickly got off his bike to help the old Taoist priest.

"No bleeding? No... the bad luck hasn't gone away..." The old Taoist priest examined himself from head to toe, muttering to himself.

What does this mean? Is this an attempt to extort money or something? The cyclist broke out in a cold sweat at this thought.

The cyclist was sweating profusely when the old Taoist priest dusted himself off and sped away.

What do you mean? Are you calling someone? This old man has dementia. If you weren't watching me, do you think I wouldn't run away? This is a bicycle, it's not a hit-and-run, right? Besides, you ran away yourself. You can run and jump, which means you're not seriously injured, so...

The cyclist mounted his bicycle and sped away from the scene.

Wang Dafang woke up this morning. He was lying in his hospital bed, his whole body wrapped up like a mummy.

"Dafang, tell me, what exactly happened back then?" Wang Quangen asked with concern as he sat by the hospital bed.

Wang Dafang could only move his mouth and eyes. He said in a hoarse voice, "Uncle... I had just reached that place when I heard them talking about 'Wild Animal Park,' 'Easy Plant Park,' and 'Polygonatum Tree,' 'Love Oil Tree,' and stuff like that... I didn't understand what they were saying at all. Just as I was about to leave, a little black dog bit me. That dog was really awful; it didn't even bark. Otherwise, I would have run away long ago..." Thank goodness for the dialect; the word "love" is pronounced the same as "endurance" in some places.

"Wild Animal Park? Easy-to-Grow Plant Garden? Polygonatum Tree? Agastache rugosa? What are all these things?" Wang Quangen frowned and muttered to himself.

"I don't know..." Wang Dafang said hoarsely.

bang bang...

A knock sounded at the door. Wang Quangen got up and opened it, only to see two uniformed police officers standing outside with serious expressions: "Officers, what brings you here...?"

"Suspect Wang Quangen, you've committed a crime. Come with us..." one policeman said, taking out an arrest warrant. Another policeman took out a pair of handcuffs from his waist and put Wang Quangen up in a hot iron.

Around noon, Yang Ming returned home with a cart full of livestock. Smoke was rising from his chimney, clearly indicating that Wei Qingqing was cooking inside. However, when he went to the backyard, the door was locked.

Yang Ming didn't go into the yard. Instead, he opened the back gate, drove the livestock off the truck, and shoved them all into the back garden. He locked them in the outermost gate of the breeding farm. As soon as they entered the farm, they ran wild and started kicking around.

The sounds of cows mooing, donkeys braying, and horses neighing filled the air.

"Yang Ming, I heard you bought a lot of livestock. What are you planning to do with them?" Aunt Liu walked into the back garden at some point and came to Yang Ming's side.

"When did Aunt Liu arrive?" Yang Ming asked with a smile.

"You just arrived, and you haven't answered my question yet..." Aunt Liu rolled her eyes.

"I plan to start a livestock business. First, if I raise more livestock, I can slaughter them for meat, and Qingqing loves donkey meat sandwiches. Second, I can rent out the livestock. When someone is busy with farming and doesn't have any livestock, I can rent them out and collect some rent..." Yang Ming said with a smile.

"Hmph..." Aunt Liu peeked through the fence and snorted twice. "Let me tell you, there are quite a few people in the village with tractors these days. It'll be hard for you to rent out your animal..."

"It's okay. Once the roads in our village are repaired, I plan to set up a tourist resort or a farmhouse inn in our village. Hehe, when that happens, I'll set up a horseback riding activity and an oxcart ride activity. Wouldn't those two kinds of animals have a purpose then?" Yang Ming said nonchalantly.

Actually, he was just making it all up. He had no idea about tourist resorts or farmhouses at all. It was just an excuse he came up with on the spot, but...

"A tourist resort? A farm stay?" Aunt Liu's eyes lit up as she looked at the well-maintained hillside. "If you set this up properly, it might actually become a tourist attraction, especially your hot springs."

"No, no, no, Aunt Liu is wrong. This place is not open to tourists, especially the hot springs. They can't be open to tourists. They can just go play in the mountains..." Yang Ming said with a smile.

"Go to the mountains for fun? What's so fun about the mountains?" Aunt Liu was quite dismissive.

"There are many fun things to do in the mountains, such as picking wild fruits and fishing in mountain streams. We don't think much of these things, and we even think they are a waste of time, but city dwellers don't think so. They are far away from nature and are most interested in these kinds of activities," Yang Ming said.

"Hmm! What you said makes a lot of sense. How about I join you sometime?" Aunt Liu thought back to the first time she met Zhang Yang, when that guy took a small jar to catch fish in the stream. So she nodded in agreement.

"Sure, next year when your peach trees are laden with fruit, we can organize a peach-picking event. Any tourists who want to buy peaches can pick them from the trees themselves..." Yang Ming said.

"If that's the case, other villagers in our village can also join in. Wang Quangen will definitely have to step down from his position as village chief. If you tell the villagers about this idea of ​​opening a tourist resort, maybe you can even fill the position of village chief..." Aunt Liu's eyes had a strange gleam.

"My household registration isn't even in the village, how could I possibly be the village chief?" Yang Ming shook his head and smiled. "Why don't you run for village chief, Sister Liu? Using the tourist resort as a gimmick will definitely garner a lot of votes."

"How can I, a woman, manage? I still need to make Hanfu..." Aunt Liu rolled her eyes at Yang Ming.

"Why not? Do you think the village chief is a beast of burden? The village chief is a leader. As long as you assign tasks, the village cadres will naturally carry them out. Besides, if you become the village chief, we will be the village chief's neighbors, and no one will dare to cheat us anymore..." Yang Ming said.

"..." A glint flashed in Liu's eyes, and she pondered for a moment before saying, "How about, after that Wang guy leaves, I run for office too?"

"I firmly support it..." Yang Ming said firmly.

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(End of this chapter)