Her Cultivation Diary

There's another stranger in the village, and the Song Family finally has a new employee, but...

It's nothing surprising.

Days of heavy rain have swelled the rivers and ponds, and the furry young grass in the pastures is getting greener by the day.

The villagers are busy planning their own vegetable plots, and Secretary Xiaozu calls them for meetings three times a day... everyone is busy!

Everyone is really busy!

No one has the time to worry about strangers.

The only one showing a bit of concern is Secretary Xiaozu: "How is the new employee doing? I heard she brought a child."

"Pretty good," Aunt Lianhua said:

"She's living in my mother-in-law's old house, tidying up the place with her child when it rains, and taking the child for walks to the back hills when it doesn't, getting to know the environment... she seems diligent, but she's not talkative, so she comes off as honest."

"The child is also well-behaved, rarely cries, but looks quite frail... but that's normal, you see this mom hasn't really taken care of her own health, so the nutrition for the child is surely inadequate too."

"My mother-in-law said that when they start earning, they should be advised to buy some milk powder for the child. If the immunity is weak and they fall sick, medical bills will cost more than milk powder."

To be honest, ever since she's been able to make money, Aunt Lianhua's mother-in-law speaks with confidence and insight.

Upon reflecting on what she said, everyone agrees—it does make sense!

Song Tan added: "She indeed works hard and earnestly. Last night, despite the heavy rain, we told her to rest for a couple of days before starting work, but she grabbed a raincoat and boots and headed to the vegetable garden."

The child sleeps soundly at night and doesn't hinder her work.

Under the raincoat, she ties a small stool around her waist, finds a spot in the vegetable garden, sits down, and her hands never stop working.

"When it comes to sorting vegetables, she's even more skilled than Chen Yuan and the others. I heard she often sold vegetables at stalls in Ming City, probably quite experienced."

Secretary Xiaozu was also pleased: "It's good to have diligent people; we won't run out of money-making work this year. As long as she's willing, she'll surely earn a lot."

Song Tan then looked at Secretary Xiaozu: "How come you look thinner again? What's wrong? Haven't you explained the vegetable planting thing yet?"

Secretary Xiaozu's face crumpled: "The work is tough!"

But it's okay.

Originally, it's not easy to push forward rural work. Now, having been in the village for a year, with Lao Song's vegetable seedlings supporting from behind, despite doubts about concentrated vegetable planting, since it's just about swapping regular seedlings, it doesn't really change much, so most of the work has been done.

Secretary Xiaozu lamented: "It's actually thanks to the rise of short videos. Now everyone in the village loves scrolling through videos, getting exposed to information they hadn't before."

"I said a film crew would come, probably buying a lot of food from the village, and many understood that."

The disagreement was over whether your family should plant tomatoes, mine should plant eggplants, or someone else's should plant peppers...

After all, no one can be sure what kind of vegetables others will buy. What if they end up buying more peppers than tomatoes?

Wouldn't that mean the other family earns more?

They argued over this for a long time, nearly returning to planting as they pleased.

If it really came to that—separately sourcing family by family, it'd be better for the film crew to arrange with the town's vegetable vendors for regular deliveries!

But fortunately, now everyone has mostly figured it out, and that bit of wasteland's contracts have all been signed—

"Tsk, I was guarding against anyone trying to jack up prices, and there really was someone!"

"Luckily, I didn't mention it to the film crew, and just played it cool, letting them take it or leave it—if they don't want to sign, they shouldn't earn this money, and we won't look for them next time..."

Actually, there are risks too.

Many villagers are both stubborn and tough, and since the rent money isn't much, if you rushed them, they might just choose not to earn it.

But Secretary Xiaozu has got the hang of it, targeting accurately, so even though it's just about shooting some wild grass, she put a lot of effort in behind the scenes.

At this moment, Secretary Xiaozu was feeling proud:

"Some people are naturally timid and afraid of risk, I get that. But some clearly know there are other ways, yet stubbornly refuse to do it, dragging others down too..."

"Once your early batch of seedlings is sold this year, I'm eager to see who will cave in first..."

"When I'm promoting work, they neither cooperate nor stop complaining, but when they need me, I have to bend over backwards?"

A year and more of rural life have considerably tempered her character; Secretary Xiaozu gave a cold laugh:

"I must let them know the taste of driving the God of Wealth away with bad temper right to their doorstep."

But such complaints she only dares to voice in the Song Family's home, outside she is still the diligent ox and horse...

Secretary Xiaozu sighed.

And Song Tan totally agreed with that!

Before the New Year, when registering to plant her family's seedlings, people were mumbling and griping.

The contract sat there, and as long as they signed, there'd be no problem with procurement—could it be that she begged everyone to plant?

In the end, though, everyone did sign and agreed to help for the qualification to buy seedlings, there were still quite a few people with reservations.

Tian Tian had complained countless times behind their backs—willing to work for free at the Song Family for a year as long as Song Tan agreed to let her use all her savings to buy seedlings...

Of course, it didn't work out.

But while village folks muttered behind the scenes, Wu Lan was also irritated. She decided firmly when coming back:

These seedlings will never be sold excessively!

Otherwise, they'd be biting the hand that feeds them; what's the point?

...

Meanwhile, at the mountain canteen, Liu Liu fed her daughter a mushy piece of white radish, watching her slowly chew it, filled with joy.

Tonight, one of the dishes was white radish stewed with ribs, the meat deliciously tender and not strongly seasoned. Just right for the child, who can now eat a little bit of solid food, so she gave her a piece of radish.

"Can she really eat that at such a young age?"

Liu Ning frowned as he watched from the side.

"She can." Liu Liu smiled: "I'm raising the child on my own, can't keep up with everything, so Ran Ran is roughly brought up, she's put all sorts of things in her mouth... Besides, that piece of radish is smaller than a fingernail, she can handle it."

She couldn't resist drinking a bowl of soup herself, then said to Liu Ning: "Thank you, for finding me such a good job."

Working in the rain was indeed a bit of a hassle, but for Liu Liu, who used to harvest vegetables and ride a tricycle in the rain at midnight, it was no issue at all.

Plus, because it took a long time to collect vegetables and deliver them to market, she never dared leave her child at home alone—now it's different.

At night, she only works a couple of hours, Ran Ran sleeps soundly, and it doesn't delay anything.