Her Cultivation Diary
Chapter 541 - Chapter 541 541. Old Leaf_1

Chapter 541: 541. Old Leaf_1 Chapter 541: 541. Old Leaf_1 Professor Song thought for a moment, “How much budget can you have?”

Song Tan hesitated for a while, “I should be able to have about 1.5 million?”

That was essentially all the income from Peach Garden.

There would also be income from Chestnut Garden, but she had to prepare to repay the village’s loan at the end of the year, so she excluded that for the time being.

She thought that this amount of money was quite little, considering the size of the land, just the preliminary preparations would cost a lot… But to her surprise, Professor Song nodded, “That’s good, the funds are quite sufficient.”

Song Tan: ???

“Really?” She was somewhat doubtful.

“Really.”

Professor Song looked at the land in front of him, “Isn’t this just over 300 acres? Including the river beach, let’s calculate it as 500 acres in total–you know how much land my last project covered? 3,000 acres.”

“3,000 acres, and in the first year, we spent just over a million.”

Of course, there were continuous improvements and follow-ups every year, as well as ongoing maintenance.

But by comparison, the land in front of him really wasn’t much… Even if we take a huge step back, such a small area wouldn’t have attracted Professor Song at all originally. But then, people requested fervently, insisting he must visit once, and it wouldn’t be a loss–

Thinking about it now, the other party must have tasted the local specialties!

It really wasn’t a loss!

Professor Song also thought to himself: actually, if one wants to maximize benefits, it would definitely be better to plant the same type of crop all over. It’s easier to manage, and labor can be arranged more efficiently.

Doing it this way, mixing things haphazardly, not only complicates the process but also undoubtedly increases the costs.

But there was no helping it.

The requirement was to prioritize supply for the household.

Professor Song did some mental calculations, “If you want to reclaim the land, the biggest expenses in the early stage are water, electricity, and finally, roads.”

“As for electricity, the price is fixed, and your land isn’t big, so it won’t amount to much more than usual.”

“Water is even simpler.”

“Didn’t you say that the mountain has never been deliberately irrigated? This proves that there’s abundant water underground, and unless it’s during a drought, you generally don’t need to worry at other times.”

The initial investment would be for pond arrangement, river beach reclamation, and mountain water source development as well as the subsequent pipeline costs.

But to be fair, for rural farming, it’s not like constructing courtyards in the city. You don’t even need to consider burying water pipes underground; cheap flexible hoses can be bought–a big roll for a thousand yuan.

Moreover, developing a water source here isn’t necessarily for regular use, but rather for emergency needs.

If push comes to shove, there’s still the slightly distant river beach and the underground ponds, just a matter of adding a few electric pumps.

The biggest expense would be in building roads.

After all, village-to-village roads can get government funding, and the road to the back mountain can wait for policy support.

But just for the back mountain, where different things will be planted, a few more passable roads for tricycles need to be made.

As for other divisions, even if only simple steps are created, that still takes quite a bit of effort.

He spoke while making gestures, and although he didn’t provide specific routes yet due to the undecided water sources, he was already rather detailed in his planning.

“As for the planning of the planting coordination that comes after, we’ll have to wait until everything else is settled, then we’ll determine that.”

This was the most important reason for his visit.

…

Song Tan more or less understood.

Glancing at the three students who were silently following behind, they too seemed contemplative.

“Okay,” she agreed at once, “Let’s check the water sources first, then make the plan. Once it’s planned out, I will hire people to start working immediately.”

“But if you, Professor Song, and the others have the time, how about staying a bit longer? Otherwise, this place is so remote that it would be too inconvenient for you to travel back and forth for future communications.”

What?!

Professor Song’s eyebrows rose, and he nearly let out a chuckle, but he managed to hold it in with great difficulty.

Instead, the three students were overjoyed and hastily accepted the offer: “Is there really such a good thing?!”

“Yes, yes, yes! We’ve got time! We’re on summer vacation now.”

“What are you talking about? It’s just summer vacation? When are we not on holiday when we do things like this?”

Yan Ran had already picked up her phone: “I’ll have someone send my personal belongings right over–do we need to go to the town to get deliveries?”

“No need.” Song Tan shook her head: “My family has shipments going out every day.”

Even though the shipments were few these days, Brother Xiaozhang still made his daily visit, one day eating an egg, the next sipping on silver ear mushroom soup; it had become a routine, and he was willing to make the trip even for just one order…

“He can just bring the parcel along on the way when the time comes.”

Moreover, there wouldn’t be much downtime anyway.

She gestured for everyone to listen to the distant rumble of machinery: “We’re picking tea leaves up on the mountain, and when the old leaves are plucked, Seventh Uncle plans to mix up some tea egg spice marinade at home to sell in the store.”

…

So, Zhou Maozhu had barely been idle for two days and was just about to start tidying up the tea-frying equipment when he saw Song Sancheng coming over with a basket full of old leaves:

“Maozhu, do you think I can fry these leaves dry?”

Zhou Maozhu: …

His eyes widened: “Sancheng, what are you talking about?! These leaves are so old, how can you fry them?”

“If I give my tea tosser a spin in the pot, won’t it pulverize the dry leaves to bits?”

“It doesn’t matter if they break into smaller pieces.”

Song Sancheng waved his hand.

They were meant to be crushed into the marinade anyway, to facilitate packaging and shipping.

“That won’t do.” Zhou Maozhu was not going to earn money this way: “Look at that pot of mine, how big is it normally for frying sprouts? To fry these old leaves, I’d have to throw a handful in at a time; how long would it take me to fry your whole basket?”

“And besides…”

He looked at Song Sancheng doubtfully: “The tea leaves you clipped from the mountain, you’re not planning to fry them all this way, are you?”

Song Sancheng chuckled sheepishly.

Zhou Maozhu: …

…

After making his round, Song Sancheng came back with his basket, just as Wu Lan had stopped picking tea and was cleaning the house with Aunt Lianhua. Seeing this, Wu Lan rolled her eyes:

“I told you not to fuss about… And hiring someone to fry tea leaves? With such fierce sunshine, why don’t you just let them dry in the yard?”

Song Sancheng seemed somewhat deflated: “After all, we’re using old leaves. I thought that the more steps involved in frying, the more fragrant it would be compared to drying…”

Seventh Uncle was peeling garlic and didn’t even look up: “There’s no need to fry them. The tea leaves we used before for tea eggs were old and not even dry, and you didn’t eat any less of them at a meal.”

“Just dry them out, it will definitely be fragrant.”

“If you’re still not convinced, you can start up the roasting room and bake the leaves inside.”

“Forget it!”

Song Sancheng was out the door in a flash–in 38-39 degrees weather, him going to the roasting room?

Forget it, he’d better go harvest water caltrops!

Wu Lan called after him again: “Gather plenty, we can feed the pigs the aquatic grass. It’s hot, and they’ve lost their appetite.”

But Song Sancheng turned back again: “Then I’ll make a trip to my dad’s place first; he said when weaving straw mats, a lot of the soft rush went yellow and their stems were too sturdy to use… I’ll bring some over to spread in the pigsty.”

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