Chen Hong was most annoyed by her mother's conservative and unchanging behavior: "A big bag of paper cups only costs a few yuan. In my opinion, it's worth wasting a little money to raise seedlings in nutrient pots."

Using seedling pots for cultivation allows the plants to absorb heat during the day and retain warmth at night, protecting the roots and conserving fertilizer and water.

Vegetables that are on the market a day earlier command a higher price and sell better than those from other vendors.

Transplanting is more convenient, saving time and avoiding damage to roots and seedlings. It retains its original soil without a recovery period, grows faster, produces more fruit, and significantly improves the fruit set rate.

Even if I tell you now, you wouldn't understand. Just wait and see. I'll be able to eat these cucumbers, persimmons, and peppers in no more than two months.

In spring, when there's a shortage of fresh produce, these vegetables, which hit the market half a month earlier, command a significantly higher price. We just casually plant some in our yard, but imagine how much more profitable it would be if farmers planted on ten or twenty acres!

Sister-in-law Chen Hong understood the point of her words. "Hey, you know what? That makes perfect sense. Mom, why don't we go back and lease some land to grow vegetables?"

I see the vegetables are growing well, and the income is quite good. Look at the market now, green beans, kidney beans, and cucumbers are all three or four yuan a pound.

This price will remain for three or four months until the local open-air vegetables are available, at which point the price will drop.

Growing vegetables in greenhouses can definitely make money. If done well, one mu (approximately 0.16 acres) of greenhouse can earn you 10,000 to 20,000 yuan.

"Going out to work is pointless without education; people might not even hire you. Staying home idle is pointless anyway, so I think growing vegetables is a good way out."

Chen Hong's sister-in-law suddenly had a brilliant idea: to grow vegetables.

Chen Hong secretly rolled her eyes and quickly dismissed his idea, "Sister-in-law, don't be so impulsive. It would be fine if our family owned our own land."

If you don't need to rent land, the initial investment is less. If you don't own land, leasing it from others is a huge investment.

Besides, building a greenhouse costs money, right? You know, the investment for just a greenhouse per acre is close to 20,000 yuan.

Besides, greenhouse farming is impossible without technology. Do you have the technology?

With the technology, if you don't have enough land, you won't make much of a difference if you slack off. If you want to make a profit, you need to start with at least three to five acres.

But to cultivate three to five acres of vegetable gardens, let alone the investment of 70,000 to 10,000 yuan, in terms of manpower alone, it's definitely not enough to rely on you and Mom alone.

If I were to involve my brother and dad, it would interfere with their earning potential, which wouldn't be worthwhile. Hiring someone else who isn't suitable simply won't work.

If you want my brother to come back and farm with you, you should ask him if he's willing first. I'm telling you, ask your mom. My brother has never even bothered to tend to the land when it's been abandoned all his life.

What he hates most is doing farm work!

Even if you lease land and invest in building greenhouses, if he's unwilling to work for you and you can't support yourself, it's all a waste of your family's savings.

If you want to do it, open up our whole yard and set up a small arched shed in the fall. It won't cost more than a hundred or two hundred yuan.

Growing some vegetables for our own consumption saves money, provides fresh produce, and doesn't interfere with household chores.

Chen Hong poured cold water on her sister-in-law's enthusiasm, saying, "That's true. Our family's savings are only enough to build two greenhouses. If we lose money, your brother will argue with me every day."

Xiaohong, what do you think I should do? Erni is getting older, and I don't want to stay home taking care of the child every day. I also want to go out and earn some money.

Can you help me think of something? What do you think I'd be good at? How about I set up a stall and sell some snacks or something?

Didn't you say that people in your village make a lot of money selling roasted sweet potatoes in winter?

I think selling snacks should be profitable!

Chen Hong: "Sister-in-law, stop right there! To be honest, your cooking is just so-so. You're not even good at running a small food stall."

Besides, Jinan is quite chaotic right now. Urban management officers are everywhere, randomly driving people away and issuing fines. If you're unlucky enough to run into one of the tough ones, they'll smash your stall and beat you up, and you'll have to take it.

In some streets, there are thugs who cause trouble and extort protection money. You might end up not only failing to make any money but also getting your property vandalized.

Don't even think about starting a small business these next few years.

It's better to work for someone else and earn seventy or eighty yuan a day. You don't need any capital and it's less stressful.

Sister-in-law, there's a job that would suit you, but it's a bit dirty. I don't know if you can handle it.

When Chen Hong's sister-in-law heard that her sister-in-law had a solution, she immediately perked up and said, "Tell me what I should do."

As long as we can make money, we're not afraid of getting dirty or tired. I've thought about it too. Both kids will need to go to school in the future. If we rely on your brother to earn money alone, we won't starve, but we won't survive either.

"The more I earn, the more I can save. If we move to the city in the future, we'll need money for everything—water, food, cooking, electricity, and the kids' schooling. There's no way to save; I can only try to earn more."

Chen Hong said, "A new industry has emerged that is suitable for women your age."

People in the city don't like doing it because they think it sounds bad, but it's perfect for us rural women.

"If you do well in this line of work, you can make a lot of money. If you make a name for yourself in it, you can earn more than any white-collar worker or college graduate."

Chen Hong's mother also became interested and urged, "What kind of work is it? Tell me quickly!"

"You brat, why didn't you tell your sister-in-law about the good job sooner!"

Chen Hong ignored his mother and said to his sister-in-law, "Doing postpartum care! Sister-in-law, did you give birth to Erni at the county hospital?"

When you're in the hospital, have you ever heard of families with good financial means hiring a postpartum nanny?

Chen Hong's sister-in-law was a little discouraged when she heard the words "postpartum nanny". "Xiao Hong, I've heard of it, but hiring a postpartum nanny costs quite a lot of money."

In our county, we've been looking for a postpartum nanny who only takes care of the baby and not the mother. I heard that just for daytime shifts, she costs five or six thousand yuan.

There are live-in postpartum nannies, all kinds of top-notch, who also take care of the new mother's four meals a day, and I heard they cost seven or eight thousand.

But they won't hire someone like us. Rural women like us only earn a thousand or two thousand yuan at most, and we can only do the work of a nanny.

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