Chapter 29 The Little Thief Who Stole Strawberries
It is easy to build a mountain but difficult to reclaim land. There are only a few people in the Yang family. The greenhouse has been built and the ridges for planting strawberries have been prepared, but thousands of strawberry trees have not been planted yet. It takes at least a whole day just to plant the strawberries.
The family members divided the work and cooperated with each other. Even the elderly Mr. Yang joined in the strawberry planting work. Yang Guojun and Yang Hongwen were responsible for digging holes, Xia Wu and Liu Guizhen were responsible for planting strawberry seedlings, and the old man was responsible for watering.
During breaks, Xia Wu would make honey water for the family to quench their thirst, and would often take the opportunity to add spiritual spring water into it.
Perhaps it was the effect of the spiritual spring water. After a period of nourishment, the Yang family's health became better and better. After working all day, apart from some back pain, they had no other problems.
The water used to water the strawberry seedlings was also mixed with spiritual spring water. Xia Wu planned to add spiritual spring water to the watering for the first three days, but soon she found that the strawberry greenhouse was too large and it would take a lot of time to water it every day.
After Yang Guojun finished his greenhouse work, he took his son up the mountain to weed and reclaim land. Xia Wu didn't plan to use the entire mountain land in the early stages. Prioritizing the pruning of abandoned fruit trees, clearing away weeds and overgrown trees, and then clearing a plot of land for vegetable planting, he'd get the initial start and wait until next spring to raise some chickens.
Xia Wu knew in her heart that the Yang family was so tired because she was too good at finding things to do. While everyone else in the family was working, she was not idle either. She went up the mountain with them every day to weed and open up wasteland. She was so busy that she even had less time to shoot videos.
She hadn't posted a video for a long time, and her accumulated fans were urging her to post more. Zhou Hui took advantage of this time to recruit many loyal fans to join the group, and now there are fifty or sixty people in the group.
Compared with ordinary bloggers, Xia Wu’s fans are definitely not enough, but Zhou Hui screens people when he recruits them. The people he recruits are of high quality, and they really like Xia Wu’s videos and have high stickiness.
As soon as these people joined the group, Zhou Hui painted a rosy picture for them, saying that Xia Xia had built a strawberry greenhouse, and within a month everyone in the group would be able to taste strawberries.
He also dug out the picture of taro chicken that Qi Miaomiao had sent them before, and told them that Xia Wu was going to rent a mountain to raise chickens next year to expand his business. Maybe they would even be able to eat pure free-range chickens.
The young man is eloquent and has a lot of free time, so he fools the people in the group into starting to fantasize about a better life.
Xia Wu only checks her mobile phone occasionally when she has time. She is busy every day. She gets up early in the morning to feed the rabbits, then water the strawberries. After breakfast, she goes to the mountain to prune fruit trees and weed and clear the land.
After working until noon, I came back to eat and rest for a while, and then continued to work in the mountains.
When Xia Wu first came back, he was not too weak, but at least he was too frail to take care of himself. But now he has been tempered and can pull weeds more skillfully than anyone else. He piles the weeds into a pile, then carries them to the car and takes them home, where they can be dried and used as firewood.
Some of the weeds had lush branches and leaves, and were as big as small trees. Xia Wu could easily dig out the roots with a shovel and throw them aside.
She didn't know how to prune fruit trees, nor did she know how to take care of grape vines and loquat trees. Every night she would go home and search for information online to study, and then practice again the next day.
Day after day, Xia Wu bought trimmers and various necessary tools online. As he continued to do the repairs, he mastered the skills.
Grape vines need to remove diseased, weak, dead and other redundant branches. This is to save energy for the winter and to avoid dispersing nutrients and affecting flowering and fruiting next year.
These grape vines on the mountain have no one to take care of them, and they are almost growing into ivy. Xia Wu can't tell which branches to keep and which not to keep, so he simply cuts them all off, leaving only some main branches, and applies wound protectant on the cuts to prevent water loss.
Every time after pruning the branches, Xia Wu would give the fruit trees some good food by pouring a bucket of water mixed with spiritual spring water. After a few days, she would see that the fruit trees that she had pruned bare were all alive and well, without any problems at all.
Although people are weak, they cannot resist the summer weeds. The spiritual spring water has a great auxiliary effect on the growth of plants. Even dying plants can be revived by watering them with the spiritual spring water several times.
Xia Wu used the same method to prune the loquat tree. It took her half a month in total before the loquat tree finally came back to life. Perhaps it was because she watered the tree too diligently with the spiritual spring water. By late November, the weather in Yanggou Village gradually turned colder, and flower buds began to hang on the branches of the loquat tree.
The family has been busy for more than half a month, and the hillside facing the village has changed a lot.
The fruit trees that were originally blocked by weeds have revealed their current appearance. The grassland near the foot of the mountain has been cleared and sown with seven or eight kinds of vegetable seeds, and new sprouts are now growing.
The road up the mountain can be seen clearly, and the weeds on both sides have been cleared. Xia Wu plans to plant some shade trees on both sides of the road in the spring of next year so that it will be cooler when working in the mountains in summer.
Time is the best catalyst.
The strawberries in front of the house are blooming and bearing fruit like crazy. The Yang family almost eats the strawberries as a meal, but they can't resist the excessive number of ripe strawberries.
The rabbits that Xia Wu picked up, which were only the size of a palm at first, have now grown to be as big as Yang Guojun's feet. They eat as soon as they open their eyes every day. The alfalfa field that Xia Wu planted has almost been eaten up by them, and they poop after eating.
Yang Guojun mixed the cleaned rabbit feces with the leftover vegetable leaves, dug a hole next to the vegetable field, and the piled fertilizer was the purest farmyard manure. It was not enough even if he spread it on the vegetable fields on the mountain.
Mr. Yang Si knew that Xia Wu was responsible for the mountain farming, so he helped her a lot. He had three buffaloes at home, and they defecated a lot every day, so cleaning it up became a problem. Now, all the feces were collected by Yang Guojun and taken home to be piled into fertilizer.
After finishing the work on the mountain, Xia Wu started to process the strawberries.
After a long time, she found the blocked fan group from the corner of WeChat and was surprised to find that there were almost two hundred people in it. She hadn't posted a video for a long time.
Xia Wu first asked Zhou Hui, "Are you there?"
Zhou Hui replied immediately, as if he had been waiting for her message: "In person?"
Xia Wu: “…”
"I've been a bit busy lately and haven't looked at my phone much. Why are there so many people in the group?"
"Scumbag! How dare you ask! You don't update your videos or tell me, don't you know how many people in this world rely on your videos for their meals? These people can't eat or sleep without watching your videos, and they keep calling out your loyal fans in the comments. I can't stand it anymore, so I've added them to the group one by one."
"Xia Xia, what are you busy with? Are you carrying us on your back?"
Xia Wu was embarrassed. She had only been making videos for a short time. How could they be so powerful and make people lose their appetite? If they were really that powerful, she would have made money from making videos long ago. Why would she need to borrow money from Miaomiao?
However, Zhou Hui's intuition is really accurate.
"Yes, I just contracted the hill last month, and I've been busy so I haven't had much time to pay you guys any attention. The strawberries are ripe, do you still want some?"
Zhou Hui, who was in class, chuckled excitedly and quickly took a screenshot and sent it to his roommates: "Sons! There are strawberries to eat again!"
He quickly cut back and replied to Xia Wu: "Eat, eat, eat! How much is one pound?"
"We agreed to send you food for free, no money required, but there are too many people in the group, and I can't tell who they were before. If you know who they were, please help me contact them and send me their address. I'll send it to you in the next few days."
"That's so embarrassing. We can just buy them. Don't you know, berries in our school's fruit supermarket are already 25 yuan a pound, and they're not even tasty. We can't just keep eating the things you worked so hard to grow for free, right?"
"Stop talking nonsense. I won't charge you this time, but we'll talk about it next time. The strawberries are ripe, so ask other people in the group if they want to buy some. Since this is your first time selling them, you can get a discount."
"Okay, let me ask, how much is one pound?"
When asked about the pricing, Xia Wu was really undecided.
The biggest problem she faces when selling strawberries online is the delivery fee. If she doesn’t find a good delivery company, the loss rate of strawberries, a fruit that is difficult to transport, will be very high.
Although we can find a good courier company, the freight prices are still high.
"I'll go to town and talk to Chengfeng Express first."
There are many express delivery companies in Donghua Town, but only Chengfeng Express can meet Xia Wu's needs.
She found the express delivery point, but the courier couldn't decide the price and asked her to contact the supervisor. Since Xia Wu couldn't determine the daily order volume, Chengfeng Express could only give her a 20% discount. The express delivery within the province cost ten yuan per kilogram, and the additional shipping fee would increase by 2-5 yuan for each kilogram of additional weight.
After some thought, Xia Wu decided to sell two kilograms of strawberries for fifty yuan, including shipping costs, and try to sell them that way first.
Firstly, the number of strawberries in the strawberry garden is limited, and secondly, packaging the strawberries is also a problem.
Xia Wu bought a lot of foam nets and boxes for strawberries online, as well as a courier label printer, and told Zhou Hui the price of strawberries.
"This price is really not expensive. After all, our school's strawberries are so bad, and you have the nerve to sell them for 25 yuan per pound. You even include shipping. Xia Xia, give me some pictures of the strawberries, and I'll help you shout in the group."
Xia Wu sent several pictures and videos in quick succession, "We haven't used any pesticides since we planted them. I guarantee you can eat them with confidence."
"Understood! I'll send you the addresses of the veterans in the group in a moment. It's free this time, but next time we'll pay for it, so don't refuse it!"
Zhou Hui was also a quick-witted person. He immediately went to the group and tagged everyone, "Xia Xia's strawberries are ripe. Those who want to eat strawberries are in luck. The tentative price is 50 yuan for two kilograms. As you know, Xia Xia lives in a relatively remote place. She has been negotiating with Chengfeng Express for a long time, but the delivery fee has not been agreed. 50 yuan for free shipping, absolutely conscientious. Quantity is limited, first come first served. Brothers who want to eat, please sign up for a chain. I'll count the number of people!"
This caused a huge stir, and someone in the group immediately asked, "Finally, the day has come. I absolutely must try it. I want two pounds!"
"Can I only buy two kilograms? Can I buy four kilograms? I have many children at home."
"Excuse me, have the strawberries been sprayed with pesticides? The elderly at home are obsessed with watching the news. They say a lot of fruits and vegetables are sprayed with pesticides now, and strawberries are especially hard hit. I don't dare let the kids eat them at all."
Seeing this, Xia Wu quickly posted in the group.
"I can guarantee that these strawberries are absolutely pesticide-free. I have video to prove it. I can pick and eat them myself. If you find any pesticide residue after buying them, I will compensate you tenfold. This is a permanent guarantee!"
"The current supply of strawberries is limited, and delivery isn't particularly convenient. You can buy two pounds first to try. If they taste good, it's not too late to buy more."
Xia Wu had never done business before, and the most sophisticated trick she could come up with was to be sincere, tell the whole truth, and consider the buyer's situation, that's all.
"Okay, I believe Xia Xia, then I want two pounds too!"
Zhou Hui took the lead in starting a chain conversation in the group, and soon, there were fifty or sixty people joining in.
Xia Wu hurried home, wondering if the boxes he bought last time would be enough. He would have to get up early tomorrow to pack.
She hasn't slept in for a long time.
"Yang Mingyuan! You little bastard, you're stealing strawberries again!"
"I made you spit out a lot of strawberry seedlings last time. If you hadn't run so fast, I would have beaten you up long ago. How dare you come here, you bastard!"
As soon as Xia Wu returned home, he saw Liu Guizhen holding a tree branch in one hand and holding a boy like a chicken in the other, cursing non-stop. Several other children rolled up their coats and ran away in all directions, with strawberries falling out of their coats as they ran.
"You bastard! It's fine if you just ate it yourself, but you even asked your classmates to steal it with you! You've got no morals!"
"Mom, what's wrong?" Xia Wu parked the car and picked up all the strawberries that fell on the ground. The children had already run far away, and only Yang Mingyuan was grabbed and couldn't run away.
"Let me go! I didn't steal!"
"You didn't steal it? Then what is this? You little brat are lying with your eyes open!"
"Xiao Wu, look, it's him again. Last time he came to steal strawberries, I told him to call his parents, but you were soft-hearted and let him go. Now look what's happened, he brought a bunch of people to steal our strawberries. Look at how they trampled on these strawberries!"
"I didn't step on it! I didn't call anyone here!"
Yang Mingyuan, about ten years old, is as thin as a malnourished sapling. His parents work away from home, leaving him and his sister in the care of their elderly mother. The mother suffers from rheumatism, and her legs are severely deformed, making it difficult for her to walk. She only cares for the two children and provides them with food.
Raising a child will at most keep him from starving to death, but he will definitely not grow fat, not to mention the hygiene issues. Last time, when Yang Mingyuan came to steal strawberries, Xia Wu saw that he was thin and dirty, and thought he was a homeless child from somewhere, so she softened her heart and let him go.
Later I learned about Yang Mingyuan's family situation.
Xia Wu frowned and looked serious. The children in the village didn't have much good food to eat, and it was not a big sin to steal a few strawberries out of greed, so Xia Wu could understand.
But looking at Yang Mingyuan today, he was caught in the act but still refused to admit his mistake. It was obvious that he had gone astray.
Then we have to take care of it.
"Mom, please stop scolding him. If he doesn't tell the truth, forget it. I'm going to call the police and have them question him."
As Xia Wu spoke, she took out her cell phone and was about to make a call. Yang Mingyuan tensed up and stared at her intently.
Liu Guizhen understood and chimed in, "Yes, call the police and have them go to the school to find their teacher. I don't believe he wouldn't tell the truth in front of the teacher!"
"Yang Mingyuan, I'll give you another chance now. Do you want me to admit your mistake or call the police?" Xia Wu asked him to look at the phone interface clearly. The 110 number that had not yet been dialed made Yang Mingyuan's eyes deeply red.
Finally, he stiffened his neck and yelled, "I did steal it! But I didn't call those people here!"
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