Her Cultivation Diary
Chapter 533 - Chapter 533 533. Jinhe River Bay_1

Chapter 533: 533. Jinhe River Bay_1 Chapter 533: 533. Jinhe River Bay_1 Professor Song looked again at the nearby land wrapped in vines with dark green leaves: “Is this too under your care?”

Song Tan nodded, “This land belongs to Uncle Zhang who helps out with Peach Garden; I included it when signing the contract. But it’s still not planned out, so his kudzu roots are left untouched for now. We’ll dig them out in the fall and winter and then sort it out–that was the deal we made.”

“Kudzu root…”

Professor Song touched the leaves and then squatted down to inspect the roots: “With the vines growing so robustly, the kudzu roots must be growing well too. There must be something about the soil and water here; otherwise, you couldn’t grow such beautiful plants–there’s probably another water source on the mountain.”

Song Tan looked around–she hadn’t thought of this yet. After all, her previous unscientific farming experience was that if it got dry, it would be fine after it rained…

“Regarding planning, I suggest you first hire professional well drillers to explore, to help us arrange more accurately.”

“And from the perspective of your long-term management, this is necessary. For such a large area, it’s not feasible to draw water from the pond below for all of it. Whether the electric pump would work is one thing, but cost and future water supply are also considerations.”

“Got it, got it.”

Song Tan listened intently, almost ready to take out a notebook and jot down the key points.

Professor Song paused and looked at the kudzu roots next to him: “These kudzu roots are considered wild, aren’t they? Looking at them, they don’t seem to be intentionally planted, probably not managed at all.”

After all, the vines and weeds were a tangled mess, dense here, sparse there–if they were attended to, it wouldn’t have been like this.

He sincerely suggested, “If you want to diversify the crops, after digging them out in autumn and winter, I suggest keeping the smaller kudzu roots and just making it a kudzu plantation.”

“I’ll pass on the kudzu roots,”

Song Tan waved her hand, “They’re just too much trouble to process, and it’s not worth it to hire someone for the task… Besides, my family doesn’t like that sticky stuff.”

Yan Ran spoke up for the kudzu roots: “They actually taste pretty good.”

“A senior from my institute gave me a box; I had it for breakfast.”

“Let me tell you, she made the kudzu root powder herself, the granules were of uneven sizes–each morning, I took a spoonful, mixed it slowly with a little cold water, and then poured in the boiling water that was just heated up, turning it into a thick consistency!”

“Once mixed well, you can add yogurt, or oats, even nuts and candied fruit. You can even add pork floss or lean meat bits, sweet or savory, it’s all up to personal taste.”

“If you add a bit of chili oil on top… wow, that breakfast is especially satisfying!”

What kind of devilish way of eating is this?

Hearing this, Qi Lin quickly shook his head, “No, no, no, just sugar is fine. I can accept oats and candied fruit. What on earth is chili oil?”

Tai Xiaodong was not pleased, “Why are your tastes so bland? I’d eat both!”

Yan Ran chuckled, “I eat both too–Oh, right, Boss Song, the kudzu roots in your field look really good, are you going to sell any? I want to buy some.”

Song Tan also smiled, feeling that Yan Ran’s tastes might match well with her household’s–

“Just call me Song Tan.”

“The kudzu roots here will definitely be for sale this winter, but it still belongs to Uncle Zhang for now. When he sells them, I’ll let you know. However, the price might not be cheap…”

She pointed to the Peach Garden nearby, “Nothing produced on my mountain comes cheap.”

“No problem,” Yan Ran thought back to the peaches she had eaten and then spit out, her expression full of anticipation: “Isn’t it just 50 yuan per half-kilo? I can afford that!”

“It’s not like you eat it every day.

Song Tan: …

She coughed once, “That, um… 50 yuan is the price for renting the whole garden, and you bosses sell the peaches in the premium supermarket for 144 yuan a kilo.”

Yan Ran: …

She instantly retracted her longing expression, looking serious:

“I’ve thought it over and decided against it. Kudzu root is quite a hassle to use. It’s nice to just make noodles for myself in the morning.”

Song Tan couldn’t help but laugh, “Don’t worry, the quality of the kudzu root from Uncle Zhang’s place isn’t strictly managed, it’s definitely inferior to ours, it won’t be that expensive. When I sell it, I’ll let you know, and you can consider your needs…”

As the group chatted, they watched the drone footage–

“It’s so beautiful! Look at that river ahead… Shimmering with golden light…”

Professor Song walked and observed the land beneath his feet: “The soil quality here is obviously much worse than at your place–It seems you’ve been very effective at improving the soil.”

However, he turned his head, looking slightly more serious, and asked Song Tan, “What’s the deal with these mountains in your village? Didn’t you say they were barren? There should be many tall trees… How come there are so few, just a few patches of woods?”

The rest are either not fully grown or just shrubs.

He looked around and said, “Although this place is a bit remote…”

It was indeed remote; apart from the small path leading to Song Tan’s home, there was only another dirt road that barely qualified as a main road and was not connected by the rural road network. Once it rained, the path was mired in mud.

Song Tan felt helpless, “When I was a child, for a few years people came to the mountains to buy trees. Each tree would fetch a few hundred yuan, and the villagers would sneak in to chop them down. Everyone turned a blind eye, and since the land was ownerless and barren… it ended up like this.”

“That was also the time when people came to collect orchids and azaleas… The mountains were stripped bare.”

Further ahead of these wastelands were the river bends of Jinhe River Bay, which were inaccessible by road, making the place even less frequented by people.

Jinhe itself didn’t have any special features. Its water quality was neither high nor low. Initially, the city hesitated over whether to designate it as a forest farm and water conservation area, but in the end, it wasn’t chosen.

And that was that.

“But this river is truly beautiful…”

Yan Ran watched the river surface under the setting sun captured by the drone, glimmering and glistening with golden light… truly beautiful.

Song Tan nodded and pointed towards the unseen area up ahead, “Down the mountain there lies River Bay; the water has been quite good in recent years. However, there’s an abundance of aquatic plants and shallow banks; only the occasional fisherman manages to reach there–it’s too far back, and in the shallow parts, the water plants keep tangling the lines, so people eventually stopped going.”

“That doesn’t make sense…”

Professor Song furrowed his brow, “A river bend like this, with gentle currents, suitable wind speeds, and an amenable climate, is economically the most ideal location for enclosing it for fish farming or starting a fishery… I wonder why you all seem to dislike it…”

“This darn place,” Song Tan chuckled bitterly, “Professor Song, look at our village now, how few people there are? Some years ago, before anyone at the village had leased River Bay, someone rented a fish pond. After an argument with the neighbor, they poisoned his entire pond of fish in the middle of the night and he lost everything.”

“Besides, with the standard of living in our village, who has the money to take that risk?”

In fact, the water over the hill in River Bay is even prettier, the scenery is better, more suitable–but still, no one wants it!