Lu Ting took some time off to take Su Yan to the countryside. It was not a festival, and Hua Zhang was a little curious to see his eldest nephew bringing his wife to his house.
"Lu Ting, Xiao Su, how come you have time to come here?"
Lu Ting placed the cigarettes, alcohol, tea, candies, and snacks he had brought on the table. "Let's go see grandma and talk to uncle about something."
"What's up?"
"Uncle, how much land did you distribute last year?"
"We have many children in our family, both east and south. The more children we have, the more land we get. In total, we have four mu of paddy fields and two mu of mountain land.
Your second uncle's family was allocated a few acres of land, and since they couldn't grow enough crops themselves, they rented it to me. In order to grow more watermelons, I rented a total of ten acres of land."
"How much did my uncle make from selling watermelons this year?"
"This year, a lot of watermelons were planted, so they're cheap. People come to my house and buy them for a penny per pound. Ten mu of land has yielded 37,000 pounds of watermelons. Fertilizer and pesticides alone cost me over a hundred pounds, not to mention the rent. My neighbors all say we've made a fortune growing watermelons. But what's the big fortune? It's just a small profit."
Su Yan knew that farming was very hard work and it would take several months to harvest crops. This was also why people had a great demand for watermelons. If the market was not good, those watermelons would just rot in the fields.
Su Yan asked, looking at a pile of red bricks and wood in the yard, "Is my uncle planning to build a new house this year?"
"Well, we have too many children and there's not enough space at home. Xiangdong and Xiangnan's children are grown up, so we're planning to dig the foundation and build a new house next month. When the house is finished, you can come and have a drink at the roof-raising ceremony."
"Okay, we will definitely come. Is Uncle planning to build a red brick house?"
"They said they would build red brick and tile houses to the east and south, where we could live for decades. I'll pay the lion's share, and the other two brothers will each contribute a portion."
Lu Ting smiled and said, "Uncle, you can actually try to build a two-story courtyard. Uncle and Xiangdong's family can live on the first floor, and Xiangnan's family can live on the second floor."
Hua Zhang was tempted. Although he had earned more than 200 yuan from growing watermelons this year, he had used up all his family savings to find jobs for his two sons. Over the years, the couple had worked hard in the fields and had only saved more than 300 yuan.
After the sons got married, their salaries were not very high, so each of them gave the family five dollars a month for living expenses, and they saved the rest on their own.
Xiangdong and Xiangnan each have four or five children. With more children, the expenses are higher, and they don’t have much spare money.
"I, your uncle, don't have much skills. I probably can't build a two-story courtyard."
"Uncle, I can lend you some money to eat first. As long as you and my cousin are willing to work with us, I'm sure you'll be able to pay off the debt within two years and even buy some furniture and appliances for the house."
"What do you want to do?"
"I want to contract land in your village to build a flower garden base."
Yanyan said she would rent land in her uncle's village to grow flowers. The scenery here is beautiful and the soil is fertile, which is perfect for growing flowers. If she wants to grow fruits and medicinal herbs, she can go to Yanyan's hometown.
"Lu Ting, I heard you got a promotion, so why are you still growing flowers?"
"My wife wants to grow flowers. Uncle, does your village have land for rent?"
Hua Zhang looked at Su Yan and asked, "If you have money, you can rent land. What flowers do you plan to plant?"
Su Yan replied, "Orchids, peonies, tulips, peonies... whatever flowers are valuable, we plant them."
Rare orchids and famous peonies must of course be grown in space, and the flower garden base must of course be planted with common flowers on the market.
"But you and your aunt only know how to grow vegetables and melons, not flowers."
"Uncle, I can teach you how to plant flowers, but I want Xiangdong and Xiangnan to help. I'll pay them wages."
Hua Zhang actually knew nothing about growing flowers, but when Lu Ting's wife said she could teach them, he naturally believed her. But from the tone of her voice, she said she wanted his two sons to quit their jobs, how could that be possible?
While others are trying their best to develop in the city, Lu Ting’s wife actually wants his two sons to give up their factory jobs and return to the countryside to help them grow flowers. Isn’t that a bad idea?
"Lu Ting, Xiao Su, Xiangnan, and Xiangdong have several children to raise. Wouldn't it be a bad idea to quit this job and return to the countryside?"
Su Yan asked directly: "Uncle, how much is Xiangdong and Xiangnan's monthly salary?"
"Thirty-eight dollars a month to the east, and thirty-six dollars a month to the south."
The combined salary of the two is not as much as she gives to her mother in a month. Her mother helps her make braised dishes and sells them at the stall every day, and she earns a hundred yuan a month.
"Uncle, I can give you fifty dollars a month to help me take care of the flower garden, and I can hire someone to farm the land for one dollar a day.
My uncle is in charge of the people, Xiangdong is mainly responsible for the technical aspects of flower cultivation, such as how to prevent flowers and plants from pests, and Xiangnan is mainly responsible for transportation and sales.
The three of them, father and son, earn fifty yuan a month, which means each of them can earn six hundred yuan a year. With so much money, why would he still grow melons?
However, the food and vegetables for the family still need to be grown, and you can let your wife and daughter-in-law grow them since they don’t have jobs anyway.
Hua Zhang's eyes sparkled with gold as he said with a smile, "Are you really going to give us, father and son, fifty dollars a month?"
Su Yan nodded. "Yes, fifty yuan a month. When we make money, we will definitely give you a raise. But you have to sign a contract with me. It must be for at least five years."
Su Yan originally wanted to sign a ten-year contract, but she thought her uncle would definitely not agree. She was worried that the two brothers would see that they were making money and start their own business, contracting land to grow flowers, so she had to sign the contract.
If they have the ability to set up their own flower garden and start their own business in the future, she will definitely not be able to stop them. However, she will not worry about not being able to find people to help them even if they have money.
The most important thing now is to rent land. Lu Ting took Su Yan back and forth several times before they rented 100 acres of land in their village for 30 years. She originally wanted to rent it for 50 years, but the negotiation failed in the end.
In order to avoid random rent increases in the future, Su Yan signed an agreement with them to pay 30% of the rent in one lump sum, and the rent was also slightly higher than the annual rent.
After paying the money, she has the right to use these fields for 30 years. What she plants on the fields has nothing to do with them, and they are not allowed to interfere.
Many villagers were very happy to receive so much rent at once. Some used the money to buy jobs for their children in the city, and some built new houses at home.
When signing the contract, Su Yan also promised them that when hiring people to do farm work, the first choice must be villagers from their village.
Su Yan didn't care about this. After all, the local villagers were good at farming. Su Yan was just afraid that after she planted the flowers, the villagers would secretly come and destroy them.
Hua Xiangdong and Hua Xiangnan listened to their father's advice and were willing to return to the countryside to help their cousin grow flowers. Their wives were also unwilling to let them sell their jobs.
After Su Yan found out, she went directly to them to persuade them. If they really didn't want to, she could find someone else in the village.
Seeing that Su Yan really spent a lot of money to contract 100 acres of land in their village, they decided to let their men work with Su Yan.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
