Her Cultivation Diary
Chapter 571 - Chapter 571 571. Work at farm field_1

Chapter 571: 571. Work at farm field_1 Chapter 571: 571. Work at farm field_1 Professor Song made calls outside the yard one by one–he was older and slow at texting, usually sending voice messages instead.

When it came to urgent matters, he still preferred to make phone calls.

In the yard, Zhang Yanping, having eaten his fill, felt like a new man and couldn’t help but sigh as he looked at Tai Xiaodong, “Just as well I was afraid of hard work and didn’t study agriculture, otherwise others work in the CBD while I’d be working in the fields… How tough that would be!”

Tai Xiaodong also sighed, “Actually, it’s not entirely like that. Many people who work in agricultural institutes stay in offices all day, from nine to five, regardless of weather conditions… Aren’t we lucky to have such secure jobs?”

And moreover…

He curiously looked at Zhang Yanping, “What major did you study? Aren’t you also working in the fields now?”

Zhang Yanping: …

That’s true.

He quickly changed the subject, “So does your university just farm all the time?”

“Not really,” Tai Xiaodong said honestly:

“University life isn’t that hard, just a small plot of land for practice, not tiring.”

“It was only when we became graduate students that we started to farm seriously–after all, we had to work on our projects! Hey, let me tell you, our institute’s senior professor had a project ten years ago with this orange tree, big and sweet! Every year, people scrambled for it!”

“There was also a project next door in the dorm, a local chicken breed. In the darkness of night, we’d pick an old hen that was about to graduate and stew it–oh, the fragrance wafted for miles! We just couldn’t stop eating it, and it was so close that the last chicken almost ended up in the pot for our thesis…”

He went on and on about the gossip: “And there was this senior of mine, really awesome! She went to a remote experiment station for her internship, where they had just dismantled the greenhouse. She thought it didn’t matter, since it was secluded and no one would bother her, the project was easy, so she just cultivated a new breed of rape in the open air…”

“Guess what happened?”

Tai Xiaodong was very animated.

“What happened?” Zhang Yanping played along: “Did someone come and pick the shoots to eat?”

Tai Xiaodong: “…With your line of thinking, I really can’t tell what you studied, but you do have a peasant’s way of thinking.”

“–What picking shoots! A web celebrity found the place and started hopping around and lying down for a photo session… By the time it was discovered, the whole field was a mess, as if wild boars had trampled through it.”

Zhang Yanping’s brows furrowed intensely: “That’s just too unscrupulous, experiment or not. Such a large patch of rape, couldn’t they have harvested the seeds to make oil? Why waste it like that?”

He recalled some online jokes and looked sympathetic at that moment.

But Tai Xiaodong just chuckled, “However, the senior didn’t lose out. Her thesis wasn’t about that anyway. She went ahead and sued! She even hired internet soldiers to hype it up online! That web celebrity nearly became famous!”

“She couldn’t have paid much though?”

Zhang Yanping still felt uneasy. Rape wasn’t a highly valued crop; even if they won the lawsuit, how much could they possibly get in compensation?

It wouldn’t be worth the loss of effort.

“Yeah, not much, a couple of thousand yuan at most–but because netizens pay a lot of attention to these matters, once that web celebrity met her lawyer and checked the big data… Unless she wanted to ruin her own career, she had to hide this blemish.”

“In the end, she offered fifty thousand yuan and asked the senior to write a letter of forgiveness, ah no, a settlement.”

Zhang Yanping: …Is this fantasy or what!

This senior is awesome!!!

Tai Xiaodong was all too familiar with these situations: “Let me tell you, what you need to watch out for aren’t the web celebrities, but the old men and women, the uncles and aunts… Web celebrities care about their reputation. As long as they aren’t infamous, they’re willing to pay for compensation.”

“But the older folks, oh boy, they’d go all out. Forget about lawyers, even if the police came, they’d dare to throw themselves on the ground, crying and making a scene… We’d be more worried about their blood pressure shooting up!”

Tai Xiaodong talked nonstop, “So, yeah, we’re afraid of this, teachers too. Now everyone’s following the trend, trying to build some kind of internet celebrity base or something, but he just won’t do it. There are people in our unit who accuse him of being stuck in his ways…”

Zhang Yanping, however, scoffed at the idea, “Building an internet celebrity base requires adapting to local conditions. Nowadays, it’s about following the leader… but I digress. My point is, we are simply plain farmers, we don’t need tourism and sightseeing to boost the economy.”

Tai Xiaodong laughed, “With the conditions in your village, poor transportation, ordinary scenery, and no distinctive landscapes… Talking about an internet celebrity base, there has to be something worthy of that, right?”

“Hey, that’s not right!” Zhang Yanping disagreed:

“Nowadays, any old flood discharge river section can become popular; netizens really aren’t picky! If we were to hype things up, just plant some wild peonies on some random hilltop, give them a name like ‘Highland Peonies from the Deep Mountains,’ and see if people wouldn’t flock here?”

Tai Xiaodong’s eyebrows knotted in confusion — because he thought about it and it actually seemed possible!

As they talked, night had fallen. Yan Ran, gazing into the vast twilight, suddenly ran upstairs to grab her camera and took a photo of Song Sancheng still bagging tea in the yard.

Before Zhang Yanping could ask what was going on, Yan Ran was clomping back upstairs, quickly coming down again with her phone:

“Look quick, I just edited it a bit on my phone, doesn’t this picture have a great mood?”

Zhang Yanping leaned over to look —

In the distance was the endless twilight and layers of mountain silhouettes, while up close was Song Sancheng’s relaxed profile. A hand, somewhat black and yellow under the lights and exuding a farmer’s simplicity, was holding a full handful of tea leaves…

“This photo is great!”

Zhang Yanping instantly grew excited, “Send it to me, send it to me, I’ll use it as a promotional picture for the online store –”

Song Tan also came over to look and took out his phone —

“Give me one too, I’ll get it printed. Yan Ran, you really took a great shot!”

Yan Ran was slightly embarrassed, “It’s okay, I’m used to taking pictures of mountains and fields, so I’ve got the experience.”

But taking pictures of mountains and fields requires attention to geographical details, not light and filter effects!

Tai Xiaodong couldn’t help feeling envious, “Clearly, it’s the five-digit camera and lens that are good…”

Yan Ran became proud, “Can’t help it… oh, who was it that won the national award last year!”

Winning the national award wasn’t enough; her family had to chip in an additional twenty thousand to put together that set of gear.

“That expensive, huh…”

Song Tan watched her camera thoughtfully and then began to smile, “So… Yan Ran, if you’re free these next couple of days, how about helping me take some more promotion photos?”

“The fields we plant, the pens we raise, photograph them all!”

“What?” Yan Ran was startled, then hesitated, “But whether it’s the crops in your fields or the animals in your pens, isn’t the production very small, with no plans to sell?”

Those pigs up on the back mountain… that good meat, how many people can it be divided among?

“It’s fine.”

Song Tan smiled slightly, “We don’t need it now, but next year we might, right?”

“Plus, I just love the feeling of netizens being able to see but not buy.”

Everyone: …

Just then, Professor Song entered the yard happily, “That… Zhang Yanping, I’ve already contacted them, and they’ll be sending samples over tomorrow — oh, here’s the contact information, take note of it.”

Zhang Yanping’s spirits lifted, “What samples are they sending? Start off with a few pounds of each! Even if they’re not suitable, we’ll need them for cooking at home.”