Chapter 021 The Land is Finished
"Eight hundred copper coins, no more." Bai Su thought the price he offered was fair. Under normal circumstances, a monthly salary of eight hundred copper coins was enough to cover the food and clothing expenses of a family of three.
"One thousand coppers, sir. Everything's going up in price now," said the foreman.
Bai Su raised a finger and shook it. "But the prices in Oat Town are still lower than in the capital, and I only pay my farmhands in the capital a thousand copper coins."
The two of them engaged in a heated argument, neither giving in.
During this period, Bai Su was waiting for the accompanying representative to come back - holding the deed to 150 acres of land, he would have the final say in the negotiations.
This foreman simply wanted to raise the price while the formalities were still underway.
But the goddess of luck still chose to stand on Bai Su's side. Before the sun set, the representative came back with the title deed and approval documents.
Seeing that the situation was hopeless, the foreman had no choice but to agree to Bai Su's offer of a salary of 800 copper coins.
"But when I do business, I never set a fixed price." After receiving the land deed, Bai Su didn't even look at it. Instead, he spread the approval document on the table and gestured to the foreman, "Have you heard of a modern farm?"
Bai Su took out a pen and paper and started writing and drawing while explaining to the foreman how this modern farm actually worked. By the time Bai Su finished drawing the pie, the foreman had been completely fooled by him.
"So, do you have the confidence to lead these farm workers and build a farm stay together?"
"Of course, sir!"
Bai Su was extremely satisfied with having successfully achieved his goal and gained a great general.
Obviously, the foreman, with his fists clenched and his face flushed with excitement, was also very satisfied with the job.
However, the representative who witnessed the whole process nodded secretly, thinking that this young farmer was also a promising talent in politics. He planned to report the matter to the deputy speaker after returning to see if he could try to get Bai Su to enter the city hall or even the Senate as an agricultural representative.
…
The next day, it was sunny.
Yesterday, dozens of farmers worked overtime and dug out standard-sized planting soil on 150 acres of land overnight. Early this morning, Bai Su rolled up his sleeves and trouser legs and personally led everyone, including the accompanying guards, to work in the fields, hoping to complete the sowing within a day.
A large group of people were working hard.
In a trance, Bai Su seemed to smell the childhood memories, the days of sowing rice barefoot, and the fragrance of green grass in the wind.
Those distant and nostalgic days.
"What are you thinking about?" Keos asked him.
Bai Su smiled and said, "Nothing, just remembering the good old times."
The nostalgic look on Bai Su's face just now made Keos want to ask what made him so fascinated.
For a few seconds, Keos felt that he and Bai Su were very far apart.
It wasn't the distance between them at the moment, but some strange gap that even Keos didn't understand.
"Those were busy but happy days. People sowed in the spring and harvested in the autumn. Their sweat condensed into golden rice, inside which were snow-white fruits, enough to ensure a sweet life from autumn to spring." Bai Su thought for a while and continued.
From childhood to adulthood, Bai Su has experienced countless sowing and harvesting, but none of them has given him such a strong sense of mission - the hybrid rice that is being sown now is related to the survival of tens of millions of civilians in this world.
It was also at this moment that he suddenly understood why Mr. Yuan had been rooted in the land all his life and had never stopped researching and improving hybrid rice.
After sowing the last handful of seeds, Bai Su put his hands on his hips, leaned back from chest to neck, trying to relax his stiff back. Seeing this, Keos simply put his arms around Bai Su's waist, pulled him onto his back, and took over sowing.
Bai Su was really tired. He had been working hard for the whole morning and was almost exhausted. Now he was riding on the centaur's horse, with his upper body lying on the tall and broad back of Keos as if he had no bones.
He felt so comfortable that he just wanted to take a nap.
"Take a nap for a while, I'll call you in an hour." The Centaur youth said considerately.
"Okay." Bai Su was really exhausted. He didn't pretend to be reserved. Instead, he naturally put his arms around the Centaur's waist and said, "Let me read you a poem."
【Fields in May
The fragrance of rice wafted from the soil
Resting in the cool under the wheat
It's your dream
From tomorrow
Every grain of rice in the bowl
It's all about the world and people's hearts
Every wisp of smoke in the world
……［1］
Gradually, the sound became smaller and smaller.
After Bai Su fell asleep completely, Keos carried him to a nearby shed to rest and told everyone not to wake him up.
On the way here, Bai Su gave Keos a detailed introduction to the entire process from hybrid rice breeding to sowing. Combined with Bai Su's previous personal demonstration, Keos has basically mastered the method.
Right now, he is supervising on behalf of Bai Su.
It was not until after one in the afternoon that Bai Su was awakened by the smell of food. The accompanying cook had completely fallen in love with the simple and quick marching food, pea noodles. In addition, Bai Su told him the recipes for tomato and egg stew and pork and cowpea stew. The cook had been busy frying the ingredients last night and was very successful.
At noon today, the chef set up a big pot next to the shed. All the farmers and guards stopped their work and lined up to get food.
This time, without Bai Su saying anything, Keos took the initiative to carry Bai Su to a high ground, and then stood in a lower place, at the same level as Bai Su, to eat together.
Keos discovered that Bai Su really liked talking to him on the same level.
And he has always allowed it.
"Keos, you didn't call me." The black-haired young man accused.
"You need to rest," Keos said seriously. "Bai Su, I know you're anxious about the hybrid rice project. I'm just as anxious as you are. With the crisis ahead, the entire nation, the royal family, and the Senate are all worried. But we don't want you to collapse from overwork. Perhaps you should consider handing over the farm work to the right people, and then be in good health to handle the more difficult tasks that only you can handle, like running the grain and oil store."
He gently consoled her, "You will own more land in the future, three hundred acres, three thousand acres... In short, you cannot cultivate it all by yourself, but as long as you teach your people and provide proper supervision, they will be able to cultivate it all."
Bai Su was stunned.
In fact, he had always forced himself to adapt to the role of farmer, but he could not help but still think of himself as a farmer. When it came to the land and farm work, he always wanted to do it himself, always worried that others were not doing it well enough, and he had to do it himself to feel at ease.
Keos' words woke him up.
"Maybe you're right, Keos." Bai Su smiled at him, "I should be like a real big farmer, giving orders and only doing management and research and development work."
Keos also smiled and said, "Of course you are, Bai Su, you have always been a real big farmer."
…
After a delicious lunch, the farmers were full of energy in the afternoon. They worked faster while discussing the new delicacy, Pu Gai Mian, which seemed to have come from Boeing Town in the capital.
After a few hours, all the sowing work was completed.
Realizing that all the farm work was done, the farmers couldn't help but feel a little confused - only then did they become afraid that if there was no work, they would lose their jobs.
They gathered together and looked anxiously at the people coming from the capital.
Bai Su stepped forward at the right moment and, using the "leader's speech" posture he had just learned from Keos, said loudly, "Please rest assured, I will never fire any of you."
"In fact, I have already promised the city hall that I will continue to employ you to work on my farm."
"The foreman will explain the specific regulations to everyone."
Bai Su stepped back slightly and let the foreman come forward to carefully introduce the modern farm he had mentioned earlier to the farmers.
The farmers, who are now the farmhands of Baisuxin Farm, were stunned by what they said.
On the side, Bai Su was discussing with his entourage.
"When are we going back?" Bai Su asked.
The deputy said, "That's all up to you."
Bai Su looked at Keos again, and Keos meant the same thing.
Bai Su: “…”
Well, I just mentally prepared myself to be a big farmer in charge of the overall situation in the future, and now it’s my turn to make the decision, right?
Bai Su pondered for a moment and asked Keos, "My rose gold." To prevent anyone from harboring ill intentions, he deliberately omitted the word "gold" and used a pronoun known only to him and Keos. "Does it still work here?"
Keos obviously understood what he meant. "It's effective. It actually works on the holder, not on a specific crop or a particular piece of land."
Fearing this wasn't clear enough, he continued, "In other words, as long as it's your land, regardless of whether it's blessed by the Archangel or not, rose gold will still work as intended."
The two of them were playing a riddle. Although the other accompanying personnel present realized something, they were all smart people. Even if they had some guesses in their hearts, they would not say it out loud.
Bai Su clapped his hands and laughed: "Great!"
He looked at everyone and gave the instructions from the temporary leader of the mission team: "Tomorrow morning, if we see the seedlings breaking through the soil, we will immediately set off back to Boeing Town!"
His confident attitude reassured everyone, especially the congressman who was accompanying him.
It's simple. As the core figure in the action of using hybrid rice to fight the food crisis, the more confident Bai Su is in his agricultural products, the more reassured these politicians in important positions will feel.
The farmers who were promoted to farmhands left happily after eating the second-hand pancakes that the foreman learned from Bai Su. However, Bai Su left the foreman alone:
"Dear John, I have an offer for a professional farm manager position. I think you might be interested in it. Would you like to talk about it?"
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The author has something to say:
[1] “Enjoying the Coolness Under the Wheat” by Chen Ang
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