Chapter 453: The situation in Xiapu Village, disappointment

Leng Ziyue was surprised. "You are joking, Village Chief. We want to buy a lot of land, and we want to buy a lot of land. This kind of thing may not be possible without your intervention."

"Oh? How much is a lot?" The village chief looked at the couple in front of him curiously. To be honest, they didn't look like people from a small place like theirs. He really didn't understand why young people like them would come to buy land for no reason. They looked delicate and tender, and they didn't look like they were good at farm work.

Leng Ziyue looked at Zhang Wanwan and motioned for her to speak. Zhang Wanwan then politely said, "I need twenty acres of land."

"Hiss!" The village chief and the house owner both gasped, "What do you need so much land for?"

"Of course it's farming. What else can we do?" Zhang Wanwan said with a smile.

The village chief calmed down a little and said solemnly: "My lady, it's not that I don't want to help, but you want too much land, and it's in large tracts. The land in the village has been divided up a long time ago. In addition, the young people have all left, and the elderly can't plant so much land, so some of it is used to return the homestead. After so many exchanges, there is no family in the village that has so many large tracts of land.

Moreover, the older generation has a deep obsession with their fields. No one would sell their fields unless they really had no other choice. They would rather leave them alone and let grass grow than allow others to take their fields. It would be very difficult to persuade them to do so.”

He himself was a person of that era and could understand the villagers' thoughts, so he never thought of persuading them.

Zhang Wanwan heard this, turned her head and looked at Leng Ziyue, muttering softly: "What should I do?"

Leng Ziyue signaled her to be patient, raised his head and met the village chief's troubled eyes, "Well, village chief, I see your village is not small. If the villagers don't want to sell those fields, can you see if there are about 20 acres of wasteland here that can be reclaimed?"

Speaking of wasteland, the village chief's frown suddenly relaxed, and he laughed: "To be honest, there are quite a lot of wasteland here. To be honest, our village has tried to develop special agricultural products before to increase the income of villagers. At that time, the grapefruit of He County was famous at home and abroad. Although they were backed by the mountains, they were much richer than us because of their grapefruit. So we also planted grapefruit. We thought that since we were all in Pu City, there wouldn't be much difference. Could it be that the grapefruit they grow there is delicious and the ones we grow here are not delicious? That can't be possible!

Once someone took the lead, others followed suit. At that time, we leveled a piece of mixed woods west of the village to plant grapefruit. Everyone worked enthusiastically and had high hopes for the grapefruit. We finally waited for the grapefruit to bear fruit, but things did not go as we wished. The price of grapefruit was not good that year. Even the grapefruit in He County could not be sold at a good price, let alone the ones here. All the grapefruit we planted were sold at a low price, and we couldn't even get back our investment.

The second year, there were continuous rainy days and typhoons, and the harvest was dismal. Everyone worked hard for a whole year, but in the end they couldn't even afford the children's tuition. Some people gave up at that time. In the third year, half of the people planting pomelo were gone, and those who stayed were those who were unwilling to give up and wanted to keep trying. Those who left either went out to work or went to Vietnam and the Philippines to work. Those who had some skills could earn more than 10,000 yuan a month. Although it was hard work, the income was not comparable to that of growing pomelo. Those who went out to work came back during the Chinese New Year and spread the news. The young people who stayed in the village could not sit still and followed them away. Now the village gradually lost its young and middle-aged people, and there were less than 30 people left.

Those who stayed did not continue to grow grapefruits, but went to work in factories. To be honest, even if the work in the factory was hard, you were protected from the wind and the sun, and if you worked hard you could get 5,000 to 6,000 yuan a month. Sometimes, if you worked overtime, you could get 7,000 to 8,000 yuan.

No one takes care of the pomelo forest, and it has gradually become a wild land covered with weeds. The pomelo trees are still planted, but no one fertilizes or sprays pesticides, so the fruits are inedible. If you want the pomelo forest, I can sell it to you. The pomelo forest is not big, only about ten acres, but there are some wastelands on the edge, which together make up nearly twenty acres. However, this pomelo forest is public property, so if you really want it, I have to discuss it with a few elders in the village."

Zhang Wanwan did not make a decision immediately. To be honest, it would take a lot of effort to reclaim this wasteland, and the cost would also go up. These were not the most important things. The wasteland was relatively barren, and if vegetables were really to be grown, the soil had to be fertilized first. How long would this take?

Seeing her hesitation, Leng Zi asked the village chief, "Since the young people in the village don't grow pomelo, why don't the old people grow it? I see there are quite a few old people in the village."

"Why isn't anyone planting?" The village chief sighed. "Young people don't have perseverance, but the old people don't want to waste good things. Since their children and grandchildren don't want to do it, they will do it. But they are too old to do it even if they are willing. In addition, they have to take care of the children, raise chickens and ducks, and grow vegetables. They can't handle it after two or three months. In the end, they have to let go even if they are reluctant. If you want that pomelo forest, I guess the old people in the village will let me sell the pomelo trees first."

Zhang Wanwan knew the nature of the villagers very well. The corners of her mouth twitched, but she did not have any unexpected reaction. After thinking about it, she did not directly say that she wanted to buy the pomelo orchard, but suggested taking a walk there.

The road to the pomelo grove was difficult to drive on. Even though Zhang Wanwan drove the SUV that Leng Ziyue gave her, she was still jolted all over and couldn't stop cursing in her heart. What was even worse was that halfway through the road, the main road turned into a narrow path and her car couldn't get in at all. She had to get out and walk. Zhang Wanwan was so depressed that she had no temper. She started to retreat before she even saw the pomelo grove and wanted to go back several times.

If Leng Ziyue hadn't been walking in front of her, she would have really turned around and left.

Twenty minutes later, they finally reached the pomelo forest that the village chief mentioned. Zhang Wanwan looked around and her face turned completely black. "Village chief, the weeds here are half a person tall. Can you tell me if we can enter this pomelo forest? There must be a lot of snakes, insects, rats and ants in it. If I really want this forest and you want these pomelo trees, you will have to find a way to get rid of them. I don't want to be a sucker!"

More importantly, this place is too remote. If she really wants to buy this forest, she has to find a way to build a road leading to the outside of the village, otherwise how can she ship the goods? The cost will go up all of a sudden. Zhang Wanwan felt painful just thinking about it, and her heart was tightened.

The village chief laughed dryly. He hadn't really thought about it so much before. Now that Zhang Wanwan mentioned it, he naturally had to express his opinion. "Don't worry, Miss Zhang. If they are sure they want to keep these pomelo trees, we will find a way to move them out ourselves."

(End of this chapter)