Chapter 30 Resigning to Go Home and Farm (7)
The tomatoes grown by Baiye should more accurately be called cherry tomatoes.
He didn't expect that it would be so popular among all the fruits and vegetables; it seemed like everyone liked it.
Is it because cherry tomatoes are both a fruit and a vegetable?
When the strawberry babies made their request, Bai Ye immediately went to the neighboring greenhouse to communicate with them. The tomato babies clapped and welcomed the request, and were very happy to oblige.
The next morning, while the soil was still cool, Baiye began relocating the strawberry seedlings.
In return, a batch of green beans that didn't care about anything else were given to them.
Knowing they were moving, the vegetable babies held hands and walked forward, even greeting the watermelon babies as they passed by.
I looked up during a break from working late at night and saw this scene. I was so relieved!
If all vegetables were as easy to grow as long beans and green beans, that would be wonderful.
After replanting, the strawberry seedlings need to be watered thoroughly once again. However, the soil shouldn't be too wet; it's crucial to strike the right balance.
Therefore, Baiye uses a spraying method and occasionally squats down to insert his fingers into the soil to feel the moisture level of the soil.
Sometimes, if you accidentally bring out a baby with a strawberry-like nose, you have to quickly bury it back in its place, saying, "Sorry, I didn't know you were sleeping. Please continue, please continue."
A few days later, a mechanical voice sounded: [The first batch of customers is about to mature; players, please be prepared to harvest.]
Bai Ye looked at the screen, where a dynamic table was jumping in mid-air, with "Lettuce" written in the name column.
Come to think of it, it's definitely time to harvest the lettuce.
But he didn't completely trust the strangeness, so he went to his second uncle to assess the ripeness of this batch of lettuce.
Li Jianjun walked back and forth in the greenhouse, clicking his tongue repeatedly. "I didn't expect it, Xiao Fan, you're quite capable. The lettuce you grow is so lush and looks even better than the ones in my greenhouse."
"It's all thanks to these vegetables," Bai Ye said.
Li Jianjun looked bewildered, not understanding what his nephew was saying, but it didn't matter. "Let's do it tomorrow. Get up early and cut all the lettuce in this area first, then we'll take it to the wholesale market together."
"Okay, Second Uncle, I'll get up at five."
"What, five o'clock?!"
"...Is there something wrong?" Bai Ye asked anxiously.
Li Jianjun burst out laughing, "Xiao Fan, you still haven't experienced the hardships of vegetable growers."
"Second Uncle, please explain in detail."
Li Jianjun coughed and explained in detail, "Besides carefully tending to the vegetables in the greenhouse every day, the most important thing for anyone who wants to grow vegetables is to get used to getting up early. The vegetables we harvest have to be transported to the wholesale market. I have an electric tricycle, and it takes an hour to get there. The wholesale market opens at 3:30."
Then they continued pushing, saying, "If we take an hour to transport it, it all has to be finished by 2:30 at the latest. Cutting the vegetables will take two hours, and cleaning and washing them will take another hour. So, what time do you think we'll have to get up?"
By working backward step by step, Bai Ye concluded that he would have to get up around midnight.
"Second Uncle, just tell us we have to start work around 11:00 PM. This is practically pulling an all-nighter!"
Li Jianjun nodded, "That's right. When vegetables are available in large quantities, we have to get up in the middle of the night every day to cut, wash, and pack them, and then transport them to the wholesale market when it's darkest. The vegetable vendors come to buy wholesale at four o'clock, and the market opens at six o'clock in the morning."
"But you only ordered this much food, it won't take three hours. You can get up around 1 a.m. tomorrow and start cooking."
Before leaving, Li Jianjun gave him some tips on cutting vegetables, afraid that the fresh vegetables would be ruined.
During dinner, Bai Ye mentioned that he had to go to the greenhouse to work in the middle of the night, worried that his parents would be concerned.
To everyone's surprise, the two elderly people remained calm.
Ge Guifen nodded, "It's busy. Every year when the vegetables first come to market, your second uncle is the busiest. He's busy for more than half a month and doesn't get a good night's sleep. Especially during the Spring Festival, when the price of vegetables is high, he can't bear to spend the money and wishes he could stay in the vegetable field every night."
Some of Li Bufan's two-dimensional memories suddenly surfaced.
Bai Ye "saw" that during holidays and festivals, his second uncle was nowhere to be seen.
It wasn't until dark, when everyone gathered for dinner, that the man appeared unexpectedly, looking exhausted. After dinner, he lay down on the sofa and dozed off. While the other relatives played mahjong and chatted, the second uncle got up again to go home, saying he was going to sleep.
My second uncle switched from farming to growing vegetables, and it's been quite a few years now.
But for the first time, Bai Ye realized how hard it was for vegetable growers.
Li Dashi: "My second son has earned a lot of money over the years and has enough to build a new house, but no one should envy him. If you can't endure that hardship, then don't say anything."
The village has two sons. The elder son continues to farm steadily, and in his spare time he goes to the county town to do odd jobs to earn some money. He can't compare with the younger son at all throughout the year.
But people work six months and then rest six months, so it's normal that they don't make any money.
“We don’t want you and your second uncle to earn as much as you do. It’s too hard. We’ll just cultivate a few acres and make do with what we can to support ourselves.”
Ge Guifen has no ambition; as long as her grandson is healthy and eats well, what does it matter how much money she makes?
They even said, "If you don't want to grow vegetables anymore, Xiao Fan, you can go back to the big city. We'll support you."
Bai Ye nodded, then asked, as if remembering something, "How many acres did Second Uncle plant?"
Ge Guifen shook her head, "I don't quite remember, but there was a large area at the foot of the mountain with dozens of greenhouses set up."
At midnight, Bai Ye got up early.
As they walked out of the courtyard gate, a carrying pole held two large empty baskets.
Both baskets are used to hold lettuce, and according to Li Jianjun, they might not even be full.
In the countryside at midnight, it's pitch black, without a single urban neon light. The moon isn't very bright tonight, but the stars are scattered all over the sky.
Having lived there for several months, Bai Ye had gotten used to the darkness and didn't use a flashlight. He simply found his way to the greenhouse without any special knowledge of the area.
As soon as I arrived at the entrance of the greenhouse, before I even had a chance to turn on my flashlight, cheers erupted from inside.
The voice was clear and distinct, yet remarkably childish; it felt both familiar and unfamiliar.
The familiar white night is clear; it's the rapeseed babies in the same greenhouse, the little brothers of the lettuce.
As for the unfamiliar ones, I've hardly ever heard of them.
Bai Ye lifted the tarpaulin, pressed the flashlight switch, and the moment the light came on, all sound disappeared.
However, the scene inside the greenhouse was quite lively.
Bai Ye looked at the crowded piles of vegetables, almost all of them gathered together, their chubby bodies jostling each other, leaving no gaps in the entire greenhouse.
Oh wait, the middle part is empty, what's there?
Bai Ye craned his neck to look and understood. They were delicate strawberry babies surrounded by vegetable babies, looking both excited and frightened. They seemed to enjoy the carnival but were also at a loss, unsure of what to do.
Don't you guys sleep at night?
Bai Ye took two steps with difficulty, then gave up. "It's not time for you to harvest yet. Hurry up and go back to sleep, or you won't grow tall."
Closest to Bai Ye was the usually taciturn Sigua Ying, who was small in stature with a tiny yellow flower on her head.
One of the baby loofahs looked up and said, "The lettuce has grown up and is about to fulfill its mission as a vegetable. We've come to celebrate and send it off."
After that, all sorts of baby vegetables in the greenhouse started wailing and howling.
"Congratulations! Congratulations on the mission of a vegetable!"
"Our goal is to be completely natural and pollution-free."
"Make the most delicious vegetables, fragrant, crisp, and sweet!"
"The best lettuce, you can eat it raw without fear, every bite is a taste of happiness."
"Yay! Yay! The best lettuce, the best lettuce..."
The lettuce baby was squeezed in a corner, feeling the enthusiasm of the other lettuce babies, its face turning red as if it were about to bleed.
"Thank you, thank you! As a pure, natural, organic vegetable, I feel very honored..."
A long speech recounted how difficult yet worthwhile it was for her to grow from a seed into a head of lettuce.
Bai Ye listened for a while, and the more he listened, the more he wanted to laugh. These idiots were really good at talking. It was a pity they weren't running for president in the United States.
Finally, Bai Ye interrupted the speech, "Alright, you can all go back now. I need to start harvesting vegetables, otherwise I won't have time to load them onto the truck."
The vegetable seedlings receded like a flood, leaving the greenhouse empty.
Bai Ye carried an empty basket inside, walked up to Shengcai Ying, and held a curved sickle in her hand.
Are you ready?
Lettuce babies nodded, each standing in front of its own form.
Bai Ye was equally excited. These were organic vegetables that she had grown herself, and today, she could finally harvest them!
Every vegetable deserves to be treated with care.
The white leaves were uprooted, and the roots were carefully cut off with a sickle before being placed in the basket next to it.
A magical scene then unfolded: the lettuce seedlings, each the size of a watermelon, grew and changed rapidly the moment they were pulled up, like chicks hatching from their shells.
In just a few seconds, it grew from a watermelon to the size of a three-year-old child.
Originally, each of the vegetable babies was top-heavy and had extremely uncoordinated limbs and facial features.
But looking at it now, it's just like a human child.
No, there are still some. The child in front of me has even purer and brighter eyes.
"Xiao Fan, I've grown up."
The child leaned over the basket, looking down at his own head of lettuce, and was overjoyed. "What a beautiful lettuce! It must be very sweet and crunchy."
Bai Ye couldn't resist reaching out and touching it. The skin felt cool and refreshing, crisp like vegetables, yet incredibly resilient.
These advanced and bizarre phenomena are simply unbelievable.
As Bai Ye harvested the lettuce, he witnessed the changes in its shape. He went from being amazed at first to gradually getting used to it, and finally, as he watched a group of children holding hands, singing and dancing in the greenhouse, he fell silent.
Sure enough, whether it's humans or monsters, a large number of three-year-old kids can be a disaster.
It's so noisy, it's making my head buzz.
Bai Ye almost ruined a head of lettuce while cutting it, and finally couldn't help but stand up. "Can you all be quiet for a moment? I know you're excited, but please don't get excited. I still have a lot of work to do."
A group of children stood in the greenhouse, looking at each other, and then suddenly ran to the neighboring greenhouses.
They jumped and danced, singing and dancing.
white night:"……"
Fine, I'll let you off the hook since you're weird.
"Once the dungeon is over and I get the money, I'm definitely going to the convenience store to buy things, specifically to deal with those noisy weirdos."
Bai Ye stuffed two wads of cotton into his ears, daydreaming about how he would distribute the 6,000 he earned, while deftly cutting lettuce.
Around 1 a.m., both large empty baskets were completely filled.
At this point, the first batch of lettuce ready for harvesting was complete.
"Alright, let's go to the river first and wash them together when Second Uncle arrives."
Bai Ye carried his load out of the greenhouse, but after taking only a few steps, he turned back as if remembering something.
He shouted, "Hurry up and follow us, we're leaving!"
With a whoosh, about a hundred children ran out of the greenhouse, laughing and joking, and followed Bai Ye in a long line.
They all had bright red eyes, a vegetable on their heads, and glowing green bodies.
Look closer, because the teeth revealed by the grin are extremely sharp.
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