The small town's police station didn't require queuing, and Song Tan was able to get a replacement for her ID card in just ten minutes. Now, having efficiently picked out a domestically made phone for three thousand yuan, she pondered over the modest sum in her pocket with deep regret.
Just sixty thousand yuan (to be precise, over sixty-two thousand, adding the two thousand yuan subsidy from Wu Lan, making it sixty-four thousand), Song Tan had also planned a budget last night.
How to budget?
Buying a cell phone, farming tools, seeds, and fertilizers...
Could she save the rest? No, she had to hire people to dig up mountains, lands, and all the places she wanted to plant...
That amount of money wouldn't last long for labor costs.
"Dad, mom said that I can do whatever I want with the fields and hills, just not to touch the vegetable garden—so, are there any machines that can till the soil?"
If she couldn't afford it, she could rent!
Song Sancheng was still reluctant, "Tantan, do you really want to farm? It's okay to try a little for experience, but why are you spreading everything so big? When the villagers find out, wouldn't they say you're being reckless?"
Song Tan herself didn't mind at all, but Song Sancheng and Wu Lan had lived here their whole lives, and it was impossible for them to completely disregard gossip and rumors.
Therefore, she advised, "Dad, even if I just farm a small plot, people will talk. Since that's the case, I might as well do it with a splash."
Song Sancheng, not articulate, didn't know what to say and could only sigh again, "Your mom and I discussed it last night, we can't touch the two hundred thousand we saved for our retirement, so we can only give you sixty thousand."
"Tantan, it's not easy to make money, don't waste it."
Song Tan suddenly felt her eyes grow warm.
She knew her father wasn't lying. Rural families, raising a college student, along with a feeble-minded son, and even with both parents taking turns to work, how much could they save?
This was truly all they had.
Song Sancheng had no idea what his daughter was thinking, and at the moment, he was still worried,
"Since you're going to do it, you have to consider, why would you make money? Otherwise, there are so many in the village who farm, who wouldn't be better than you?"
"If you aren't confident, think it over again."
Song Tan fell silent, too.
In the Cultivation World, no one cared about what you did or didn't do as long as your realm was high enough. Just like her Water Wood Spiritual Method, she sought breakthroughs by planting Spirit Plants at Yinmoon Peak for a century.
There were many cases like this.
But now, in the ordinary world, she could squander sixty thousand yuan, but how could she dare let her parents worry about their hard-earned money?
But how could she explain the matters of cultivation?
Song Tan pondered for a moment, "Dad, to be honest, I've been thinking about coming back for a long time. Our village is close to a water source, and there are winding mountain roads. The area hasn't been polluted over the years, making it a particularly good place."
That was true, but with desolate mountains and wilderness, neither the mountains majestic nor precipitous, the forest lands and fields were mostly planted casually, and then most were left fallow...
Even if one wanted to develop the area, it really was difficult to know where to start.
For so many years, there really hadn't been any pollution.
Otherwise, Song Tan wouldn't have been able to succeed with qi induction so easily last night.
"What's so good about it?" Song Sancheng was indifferent, "Villages like ours are everywhere."
But Song Tan spoke softly, "Dad, the reason I dare to come back and farm is that an expert came here to test and said that the quality of the soil and water is very high. If we grow crops here, they will taste better than those from other places."
"He is a professional, and what good does lying do him? So, feeling I couldn't keep up with my job, I wanted to come back and give it a try."
"Dad, if I succeed, I could stay in the village with you and mom forever."
The last sentence moved Song Sancheng.
Raising sons and daughters, didn't he wish for the family to be together? But ever since the children went to a boarding school in town for junior high, and then high school, college, work...counting it all up, the time they as parents spent with their children was minimal.
Now with his daughter saying this, Song Sancheng couldn't help but believe—yes, someone came to test it specifically, what if it were true?
So he criticized himself a bit and chimed in, "Yes, the vegetables we grow here have a real veggie taste compared to those sold in your supermarkets!"
The father and daughter duo marched off to look at farming tools, full of energy and pride.
"By the way, Dad, how much is the tillage machinery we use to plough the land?"
Song Sancheng thought for a moment, "It seems you can get one for about five thousand yuan..."
Song Tan immediately decided, "I'll buy one!"
"Buy what!" Song Sancheng glared at her, "You'll need to fix it after using it a couple of times. Besides, from the bamboo forest to the pond, we have seven or eight big fields. Can you handle all that, and do it all in one go?"
The fields here were all terraced, suitable only for small machinery. While cheaper, the smaller machines were prone to problems.
In this regard, Song Sancheng, unlike Song Tan who only knew how to use spells, had more experience.
Following Song Sancheng, Song Tan saw him enter a machinery shop. With just a few words, he settled on a price of 500 yuan per day for tilling the land.
"That's really expensive..."
Song Sancheng kept muttering to himself even after leaving the shop.
Nowadays, not many people farmed, but there were still some, and it was the time to prepare for spring plowing, a minor peak season.
Moreover, they weren't just renting the machinery but also hiring labor. The fields had been neglected for years and were semi-fallow, which made the price jaw-dropping for Song Sancheng.
However, he was clearly an optimist and soon cheered up again, "Machinery makes the work easier. Theirs is more expensive, but they plow deeper than others, which is good."
In fact, this was the only shop in town that sold and rented out agricultural machinery. To go further, they would have to go to the neighboring town.
Song Tan looked at her dad and found him adorable in every way.
"By the way, Tantan, what do you plan to plant first? If you want to sow rice, you need to clean up the uppermost pond. It has been left untended for so many years, it's full of water chestnuts now."
People here liked to eat, so they used to grow both rice and wheat. But generally, rice was more commonly grown.
Of course, no one grows it now!
Song Tan looked at her dad, feeling like a low-profile tycoon's child, "Is that pond ours too?"
The pond's edge was lined with weeping willows and wild herbs, and the water was clear and clean.
In Song Tan's memory, although the water chestnuts were small, only the size of chestnuts, their sweet and fresh flavor after peeling was incomparably different from what was sold in outside markets. She hadn't tasted anything like it in years!
"What else!" exclaimed Song Sancheng as if it were obvious, "We used to grow rice at home. If we used someone else's pond, they wouldn't let us have the water, would they? How would we grow rice then?"
"Let's not talk about that. The bamboo forest area, including the pond in front of the gate, it's all ours."
"I was the youngest, so when the property was divided, your elder uncle got another mountain, and we were the ones nearby."
"Only the pond on the distant hillside was dug by the commune back in the day."
Song Sancheng sighed with chagrin, clearly beginning to worry about money.
Song Tan was too shocked to speak.
She had even considered coming back to lease the mountain fields, but after seeing this, what was there to lease?
She was the landowner to the core!
Filled with vigor, Song Tan then pointed to a seed store in front of them,
"Dad, let's start with buying a few dozen kilograms of milk vetch!"
…
…
[Milk vetch can be grown in spring and autumn. The rhizobia in it can enrich the soil, making it an excellent fertilizer. Plus, it's quite nutritious, tastes good, and blooms with light purple flowers... Moreover, it has a short growth cycle; it can sprout within a month or two. Both humans and livestock like pigs, cows, and sheep can eat it!]
[Supplement: I've seen many friends in the comment section asking, so let me explain. Some small agricultural machines are not expensive on their own, but they require skilled labor to operate and consume fuel, and frequent repairs are indeed a reality. What Tantan's dad was discussing is spending 500 yuan for a full day's package, including labor, fuel, and repairs. Renting can save labor and money when initial funds are tight.]