CHAPTER 104: 104 INTRODUCTION

Yuanyuan might not have seen it or experienced it, but she roughly guessed the situation in her mind.

"What happens if you can’t complete the task?"

"Deduct money."

Yuanyuan laughed, remembering that classic skit.

"Can I ask how much can be deducted at most?"

"There’s someone with the same surname as you, also named Su. After two years, the couple only got a hundred yuan."

Yuanyuan raised her eyebrows. Could it be Su Daqiang and his wife? It probably is them.

"At my age, how much land should be allocated to me? Or what tasks should I complete?"

"Normally, at your age, there wouldn’t be any mandatory tasks, but if you don’t work, you won’t have food or money.

Moreover, you seem to have come here as a substitute, right?"

Yuanyuan nodded.

"Then you’ll have to take on the tasks of the person you’re substituting."

"Can I ask what an adult’s task involves?"

"Fifty acres, especially wasteland." Tan Shaoting said with a smile.

Yuanyuan nodded knowingly. Indeed, quite a bit needs to be done. Fifty acres, even with machinery, would take several days. With the climate here, the time constraints are even stricter.

Also, the seeds must not be given out for free.

"Does the farm provide any livestock?"

"For every hundred acres, there is a donkey, of course, other farming tools are available."

Tan Shaoting raised his eyebrows, wondering what this girl was thinking.

"Is there a requirement on what to plant?"

"Potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, soybeans, sorghum."

Pretty much, these are the main crops.

"Got it, I should be substituting for those fifty acres."

"It’s probably been two years; the land that’s been cultivated now is considered familiar ground."

Yuanyuan nodded, she understood that.

"With so much land, what about fertilizer?"

"You even know about chemical fertilizers?" He had just gone out for fertilizer affairs, but didn’t settle due to others underestimating him because of his age.

Yuanyuan looked puzzledly at Tan Shaoting, "We use livestock manure as fertilizer where I’m from."

"There is a fertilizer plant here, but production is limited, and demand is high."

Yuanyuan nodded knowingly and said nothing, understanding that this was the usual situation.

"So, there’s no fertilizer, yet they demand yield. That’s not quite fair."

"A hundred pounds of wheat per acre, a hundred pounds of corn, eighty pounds of sorghum, seventy pounds of soybeans, and a hundred pounds of potatoes and sweet potatoes.

The excess can be sold to the farm, and you’ll receive full pay, along with bonuses."

"That’s quite nice. By the way, can we prepare our own livestock?"

"Of course, but you also need money to buy it."

Of course, it costs money, nothing is free.

"Yuanyuan, do you have any thoughts?"

"I’m not sure, I’ll only know when I get there.

And by the way, how are the living arrangements?"

"Based on family, singles live on their own, usually in houses at the edge of the fields, rarely cohabitating, as the roads are too far."

Yuanyuan understood Tan Shaoting’s point. Fifty acres is indeed quite far.

But she felt reassured. This way, she was willing and felt safe. It was just right for her.

"Understood, thank you Mr. Tan for clarifying."

"Little girl, your surname is Su, what’s your relation to Su Daqiang?"

"I’m here substituting for him. We used to be father and daughter, but now there’s no relationship."

"Then we’re neighbors."

"Haha, please take care of me in the future."

"Let me tell you, their one hundred acres aren’t fully cultivated."

Three people handling fifty acres isn’t too much. In two years, they still haven’t got it done?

"They have one hundred acres." Tan Shaoting said with a smile.

Yuanyuan reacted as well. Right, Tian Xiaohua came as an official substitute too.

"If you’re replacing Su Daqiang, you’ll only have a hundred acres over there. Or else someone will step in. When the time comes, you’ll see."

"A hundred acres, I can’t handle that. Do they have a donkey for their hundred acres?"

"No, a livestock share is only provided for each person with a hundred acres."

Otherwise, things would get chaotic with two people working together needing livestock. Farming livestock on the farm is really scarce.

"Will we have to hand in the finished products directly? Like kernels of corn, grains of wheat?"

"Yes."

"And we’ll have to prepare everything for the threshing field ourselves, right?"

"Yes. You’re planning to plant wheat, huh? Let me tell you, if you turn in wheat, the bonus is double compared to other crops."

"Haha, I didn’t know that. Besides, with my small frame, even fifty acres would be tough."

Tan Shaoting just laughed, thinking if this girl could manage twenty acres, it would be impressive. But for Su Daqiang to let such a young girl take over? That’s truly selfish and indifferent.

The two had gotten to know each other quite well that afternoon, so they locked up for dinner together at the dining car.

Tan Shaoting looked at the little girl beside him; she really didn’t seem like a child doing farm work. In both physique and demeanor, she seemed different.

In the evening, Yuanyuan didn’t think much, leaving only her thermal underwear on. Opposite her, Tan Shaoting very gentlemanly turned away.

Only then did Yuanyuan realize. She found it amusing; she was all covered up with nothing showing!

At eight in the evening, Yuanyuan put down the newspaper and went to sleep.

She’d gotten into the habit of sleeping at eight. In the past, she would have just finished dinner at this hour.

The next day, the two continued chatting. Yuanyuan suddenly handed the newspaper to Tan Shaoting.

"Look, this is about a southern chemical plant that can produce herbicides. Why doesn’t the farm use them?"

Tan Shaoting took the newspaper and started reading. In his previous life, he hadn’t paid attention to these things, so he really wasn’t sure. He did know about herbicides.

"But just transporting them here would take too much freight cost and time."

"Haha, but it’s still faster than weeding with a hoe."

"That’s true enough. But who knows if the herbicides might kill the crops too?"

This was hard to say, given that the formula wasn’t perfected; such a situation was very likely to happen as Tan Shaoting said.

"Do you have this thought?"

"Yes, but I guess I won’t be able to go there. Looking at your situation, you might want to bring it up to the farm manager. I can be the first to try it."

"Alright, I’ll give this newspaper to the manager later."

"If we really get this herbicide, I think I can manage to plant a hundred acres."

Actually, weeding is the most laborious task, very tedious, especially with wasteland.

"This little girl sure talks big. I’ll try to bring it up with the manager but can’t guarantee it’ll succeed."

Yuanyuan understood this. Her first year was just fifty acres; the remaining fifty would be allocated as they saw fit. If she could handle it, she’d plant. Just planting those fifty acres would take a long time. Mechanization was truly the best solution.