After discussing the details of the contract with the three tea buyers, Su Ling borrowed the village committee's computer and printer, made a new contract, signed it, and the matter was settled.
After seeing off the three tea merchants, the village chief took Su Ling to climb Phoenix Mountain.
"When your grandfather contracted the mountain to plant tea trees, most villagers were skeptical. He lost money for the first five years, but by the eighth year, a harvest had begun to emerge. Now, twenty years later, the rain-dew tea produced in our Phoenix Mountain has become quite famous." Village Chief Jin, hands clasped behind his back, gazed solemnly at the neat rows of tea trees. "I just didn't expect your grandfather to leave so hastily."
Su Ling stood on the hillside, looking at the endless, bright green tea trees, and couldn't help but gasp in amazement. "So many tea trees, and was all planted by Second Grandpa alone?"
"How is that possible?" Village Chief Jin glanced at him and said, "Of course Old Man Su paid the villagers to plant it together."
Being despised, Su Ling touched his nose embarrassedly.
Village Chief Jin said, "Old Man Su was knowledgeable and educated. If it weren't for the Su family mansion, he wouldn't have stayed in the village as a farmer. But Old Man Su, after making a fortune, moved to the city and severed ties with his family. He ignored Old Man Su for sixty years and didn't even come to his funeral when he passed away."
Su Ling listened, his face getting slightly hot.
He had never heard his grandfather mention his hometown since he was a child. If Lawyer Liu had not called him, he would have forgotten that he had a relative in the countryside.
Two months ago, Lawyer Zhang accepted the commission from my second grandfather. Since he didn't have his contact information, he went to a lawyer friend in S City and went to great lengths to find his phone number.
When Su Ling received a call from Lawyer Zhang for the first time, he thought it was a scam and blocked the call directly. Later, Lawyer Zhang patiently called him from two or three different phone numbers and explained again and again. Su Ling finally remembered that when he was a child, he went to the countryside with his father and met this relative.
"Grandpa...has been busy with his career. He was ill a few years ago, so my aunt took him abroad to recuperate," Su Ling explained tactfully. Grandpa wasn't close to the younger generation like them. When he was little, Su Ling was a little afraid of him, and would stay away from family gatherings during the New Year. However, his third cousin, the son of his fourth uncle, was small and sweet, and he quite liked the old man.
Now that Su Ling has severed ties with the Su family, he knows nothing about what's happening there. He also has no idea whether the Su family knows about his second grandfather's death.
Village Chief Jin snorted coldly and said, "He's afraid that people will look down on him for being a peasant, right?"
Lidya Su looked embarrassed.
It was a difficult question for him to answer. No one could guess what his grandfather was thinking. But he knew that his grandfather was a business genius. The Su family's current status was due to his grandfather's investment vision and courage.
Seeing Su Ling silent, Village Chief Jin asked: "What are your plans for the future?"
Su Ling was slightly stunned. "Plan?"
Village Chief Jin asked, "You've inherited Old Man Su's inheritance. Do you want to keep it and continue running the business, or sell it and go back to the city?"
Su Ling was stunned by the question.
Due to his marriage being a setback, he decided to relax in the countryside and not stay in the city for the time being. He hadn't given any thought to what to do with his inheritance. The tea trees on this mountain were the product of the sweat and hard work of the people of Shixi Village. If they were sold, it would not only be a shame, but also an injustice to his deceased second grandfather.
But if he stays, what changes will happen to his future life?
Su Ling fell into confusion.
At noon, Su Ling had lunch at the village chief's house.
The meal was prepared by the village chief's daughter-in-law, and the vegetables were picked from their own garden. They were all natural, green, and pollution-free, fresh and tender, with a refreshing taste. I couldn't get enough of them.
After dinner, Su Ling and the village chief went to the village committee office to discuss tomorrow's tea picking.
"In previous years, tea merchants would send their own trucks to pick up fresh leaves. This year, the selling price you set includes the freight. Have you figured out how to transport it out of the village?" asked Village Chief Jin.
Su Ling said: "I want to go to town to hire some trucks."
Village Chief Jin shook his head: "Your idea is good, but I'm afraid the truck driver is unwilling to enter the village."
Su Ling was puzzled: "Why?"
Who would not do business if they have too much money?
Village Chief Jin stroked his beard and asked, "When you entered the village, you were riding on Lao Liu's tractor, right?"
Su Ling nodded: "Yes."
Village Chief Jin asked, "How do you feel?"
Su Ling frowned, thinking of the bumpy and sour feeling, and never wanted to try it again.
"The road is narrow, uneven, long and winding, making it difficult to drive," he commented.
"So, our village is isolated and poor," said the village chief.
"Isn't it possible to build a road?" Su Ling asked. As the saying goes, if you want to get rich, you must first build roads. Over the years, has Shixi Village never thought about building a better road?
The village chief said angrily, "Do you think we don't want to? We don't have money, so how can we repair it?"
Su Ling was stunned. "The government won't approve it?"
Village Chief Jin said, "The approval came a long time ago. Your grandfather and I went to negotiate it together, but we don't have the funds. How can we build it? Everyone in this village is poor. Even if your grandfather earned money from selling tea, it wouldn't be enough to pave the road. If the road is to be expanded, it will have to occupy farmland. The distance from the village to Liuhou Pavilion is two kilometers. A two-lane highway will pass through at least 200 acres of farmland. The government has limited funds, and the thousands of households in this village are not wealthy. Who can afford the extra money?"
Su Ling didn't expect that paving a road in the village would be so difficult. Without money and restricted everywhere, it's no wonder that Shixi Village has not been able to get out of poverty.
"How much do you need?" he asked.
Village Chief Jin lifted his drooping eyelids, took out his abacus, and began to tick. "We've agreed with the villagers on 60,000 yuan per mu (approximately 1,000 square meters) in compensation. Depending on the proportion of land occupied, the compensation ranges from 3,000 to 30,000 yuan. The government subsidized 1 million yuan, and we'll cover the rest ourselves. Road construction is an additional expense. All in all, building a standard highway will cost about 5 million yuan."
Five million yuan?
This is an astronomical figure for rural people.
Su Ling sat on the chair, holding his chin, and fell into deep thought.
Village Chief Jin put down his abacus, picked up the teacup on the table, and took a sip. "The tea production has increased this year. If we sell well, we can make a million. Your grandfather originally wanted to wait five years before building the road, but now that he's gone, the plan has to fall through."
"It won't go bankrupt, and it can't go bankrupt." Su Ling clasped his hands together and looked at the village chief with a firm expression, "I have money, I will repair the road."
Village chief Jin's hand shook and the water in the cup spilled out.
At one o'clock in the afternoon, Su Ling left the village committee, put his hands in the pockets of his windbreaker, and walked slowly on the gravel path, admiring the scenery of the fields on the roadside.
Most young people who are tired of the hustle and bustle of the city yearn for the tranquility and leisure of the countryside, and Su Ling is no exception. However, when he truly sees the poverty and helplessness of the rural people, he realizes that the countryside is not as pleasant as he imagined.
Where will the future go, where will he live, and whether his relationship with Lin Feng will continue? These are all fantasies for him now.
Right now, he needs to solve many problems.
For example, he had to go door to door, looking for villagers with tractors to negotiate transporting tea out of the village. He also had to negotiate compensation for the land he had invested in road construction. And, most importantly, how would he feed himself?
There is no vegetable market in the village!
Every household farms and leads a self-sufficient life.
So, he had to be self-reliant and grow his own vegetables!
besides--
He wants to buy a bunch of home appliances: washing machines, refrigerators, air conditioners, water heaters, dishwashers, water dispensers...
Standing on the bridge over the stream facing the wind, looking at the Su family residence in the distance, Su Ling suddenly felt a great deal of pressure.
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"Dongdongqiang——Dongdongqiang——"
"Crackle, crackle—"
At the entrance of Shixi Village, there were loud gongs and drums, and firecrackers were blasting, making it extremely lively.
Under the big banyan tree, a large number of villagers gathered to watch, and the children climbed onto the branches and sat high up to watch.
Su Ling's shoulder-length, slightly curly hair was tied into a ponytail. He wore a royal blue suit, a white Windsor-collared shirt, a silver-gray Windsor tie, a silver watch chain dangling from his waistcoat, and black inner-ear Oxford shoes beneath his straight trousers. His attire was refined yet elegant, like a prince from a painting. He stood at the village entrance with the village committee officials, solemnly welcoming the tea-picking team.
Qi Yue and three other tea merchants led the girls of the tea-picking team and approached with smiles on their faces. When they saw the handsome Su Ling, their eyes widened with amazement.
"Mr. Su, our tea picking team will be troubling you for the next half month."
Su Ling said politely, "As long as they get used to living in the village, everything will be fine."
Before coming to Shixi Village, Su Ling knew nothing about tea picking. Yesterday, after a long conversation with the village chief, he learned that there are many tricks to tea picking. The method of picking tea leaves is very particular, and tea merchants generally use the ancient hand-picking method to produce high-quality tea.
The villagers of Shixi Village can grow tea trees and naturally know how to pick tea. However, Qi Yue and others trust the tea picking team they hired more, so they bring people to pick tea every year.
Tea picking takes about two weeks. The poor road conditions in Shixi Village make it difficult to get there and back, so the tea picking team stays in the homes of villagers. The villagers, accustomed to this cooperative approach, are happy to accept the accommodation fees. They vacated their rooms early after receiving the notice yesterday.
Qi Yue said with a smile: "Of course they are used to it. Some of the girls in our team have been picking tea here for five years. By the way -"
As soon as he changed the subject, his narrow eyes gleamed with a gleam: "Mr. Su, have you found a transport truck to take us out of the village?"
Su Ling said calmly: "I've found it. There are no trucks, but there are hundreds of tractors."
Qi Yue was stunned for a moment, frowned and said, "Can a tractor do it? If the fresh tea is bumped around, the quality will probably decline."
Su Ling smiled and said, "Don't worry, Boss Qi, I promise that the road will be smooth within today."
It was too late to repair the road, but hauling in some gravel and using bulldozers and rollers to fill the mud pits could be done in a day. Early in the morning, before daybreak, the village chief went to town to contact the construction team.
Without any worries, the tea merchants held a tea picking ceremony and officially went up the mountain amid the loud sound of firecrackers.
The tea picking work was in full swing. Su Ling followed the village chief, busying around. Every day was extremely fulfilling, and he fell asleep as soon as he put his head on the pillow at night.
I have never been so tired in my twenty-five years of life.
Whether before or after marriage, he lived a leisurely and comfortable life.
Back home, he used to wake up at seven every morning, jog for half an hour around the neighborhood, shower, eat breakfast made by the nanny, and then go to the art studio to paint. If the weather was nice, he'd carry his sketchpad to the park to sketch. In the afternoons, he'd sit on the sofa in the living room, sipping tea and checking his phone. He'd watch TV shows, read novels, play games, and occasionally chat with friends. When Lin Feng got off work, they'd have dinner together, and afterward, they'd go for a walk hand in hand.
From childhood to adulthood, Su Ling's requirements have been very simple, to do what he wants to do, live a loving life with the person he likes, support each other, and grow old together.
But he didn't expect that such a small wish would suddenly be shattered in the third year of his marriage.
Problems unknowingly appeared in his relationship with Lin Feng. After repeated disappointments, he finally came to his senses, temporarily left his home, and escaped to the countryside.
Now here, things are very busy and I am exhausted like a dog every day. But I am doing things that I have never done before, and I am happier than ever before.
By the eighth day, the tea picking team had gotten their work on track, and supervision was taken over by the village head and village committee cadres. Su Ling was happy to relax and stayed in the study to calculate the bills.
What did he say to Lin Zhou when he left S City?
The expenses in the countryside are low and you can't spend much money.
Now I check the list, haha, five or six hundred thousand are easily spent.
It cost more than 100,000 yuan to level the road, more than 1,000 yuan a day to hire a car to transport fresh leaves, and buying furniture and appliances was the biggest expense, costing more than 400,000 yuan.
As for the income, the tea merchant boss only gave a deposit of 200,000 yuan, and the balance would be paid only after all the tea leaves were harvested and weighed.
The village chief said that this year's spring tea output exceeded last year's, reaching about 8,000 kilograms. After deducting costs and labor expenses, the profit may be more than 500,000 yuan. After the summer and autumn tea are harvested, the annual profit can reach more than one million yuan.
For rural people, more than one million yuan may not be earned in a lifetime, but for the generous Young Master Su, he can spend it all in a month.
Su Ling is not a person who would let himself be wronged. Although his second grandfather's house is antique, the interior configuration is too simple. As he is used to city life, it is natural for him to add some high-quality and modern things.
For example, in the study, there is a soft carpet on the floor, elegant gauze curtains on the windows, a calligraphy work of his own is framed on the wall, and in front of the antique round window facing the corridor, there is a set of mahogany chairs, and on the coffee table is placed a crystal clear white porcelain tea set.
The other rooms, like the study, are all brand new.
Of course, Su Ling knew nothing about housework. The day before yesterday, he went shopping in a mall in H City and bought a bunch of things. He paid a high delivery fee to have the things delivered to his home. Then he increased Aunt Zhang's salary to one thousand per month and asked her to help take care of the house.
Aunt Zhang was beaming with joy, and spent a whole day cleaning up everything neatly.
Having a refrigerator in the kitchen makes it convenient to store food.
Su Ling bought some fish, meat, crabs and shrimps at the town's vegetable market and stored them in the freezer of the refrigerator. He also put the vegetables that Aunt Zhang gave him in the fresh-keeping storage, so he had a meal for the week.
The induction cooker is a great thing. It can be used for both stir-frying and making hot pot. After discovering it in an electrical appliance store, Su Ling decisively gave up the earthen stove. In the past two days, he learned to cook according to recipes and successfully ignited his cooking skills.
After finishing the account, Su Ling bit the tip of the pen, frowned his delicate eyebrows, and sighed in his heart.
Only those who manage the household know how expensive food and daily necessities are. When he was in the city, he used the secondary card given to him by Lin Feng to spend money like water, buying whatever he liked. Now that he has to make money on his own, he feels very tired.
He wondered if the 10 million yuan he had on hand could last until the end of the year.
In addition to building the road out of the village, he also had to build the road from the village entrance to the Su family's old house. All in all, it would cost several million just to build the road.
Building bridges and roads is a good deed, and the money is worth spending. Su Ling does not feel bad about it, but instead has an incomparable sense of satisfaction.
This is a feeling he has never had before. Helping others within his ability and doing charity in a down-to-earth manner makes him happy from the bottom of his heart, making him feel that his life is meaningful and valuable.
After worrying about money for a while, Lidya Su relaxed his brows.
The ancients said: I was born with talent and it will be useful. Even if I lose all my money, it will come back.
He believed he could make money with his own hands. Overthinking it now was just groundless worry. At worst, he could paint a few paintings and entrust Lin Zhou to sell them at auction. He could probably get a few hundred thousand!
After coming to his senses, Su Ling closed the account book, raised his hands, and stretched.
The author has something to say: Ling Bao: Qianqian, you are a mature money now, you need to learn how to get into my pocket by yourself~~
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Note: Many people in the comments have mentioned that 5 million is too expensive to build a road, so I'd like to clarify here. ^ ^
What the village wants to build is not a small cement road, but a formal highway leading out of the village.
There are five levels of highway classification: expressway, first-class highway, second-class highway, third-class highway, and fourth-class highway. (If you don't understand, you can search on Baidu~)
According to the minimum standards, a two-lane fourth-level highway should be built here.
This road is not a privately built road, but an official highway that the village chief applied for approval from the town, so the families whose land was occupied can get some compensation.
The approved funds are insufficient, and the village committee needs to make up for it. If the village committee has no money and cannot build, it needs donations from kind-hearted people (such as some philanthropic businessmen, celebrities, etc.)
Here, Lidya Su is the donor.
If we assume that 200 mu of land was occupied, the compensation would be 3,000 to 30,000 yuan, which is a compromise of 10,000 yuan. The budget would be over 2 million yuan.
The cost of building a fourth-class highway is between 1.5 million and 1.8 million per kilometer (the actual price fluctuates according to different materials, which can be checked on Baidu).
The road in the village is about 2 kilometers long, but later it was shortened to more than 1,000 meters by taking a straight line, so it is calculated at more than 2.5 million.
The remaining hundreds of thousands are used for road greening, paving, street lighting facilities, various pipeline installations, labor costs, etc.
This is my estimate of five million, based on the lowest possible cost. Since I'm not a professional, I can only use an estimate.
[Finally, bold text: This article is fictional. If you feel that it differs from reality, it is the author's personal setting. Please follow the author's personal setting.]
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