“Hey, did you guys notice that the Xiao Chengbang’s tomatoes suddenly grew up so fast and well?”
Everyone who passed by Xiao Chengbang’s tomato field couldn’t help but be surprised when they saw the tomatoes that were as thick and round as red lanterns.
“Yeah, I noticed that too. It’s strange. Even though his tomatoes were not bad before, they weren’t as perfect as these. Look, the tomato stalks are as large as a tree. The fruits are big and round.”
“Their family always has a good tomato harvest. Some restaurants in Xing An Town and Yin Xing County Town order tomatoes from them.”
“That’s right, or else they wouldn’t plant tomatoes yearly! But the most recent harvest is amazing. It makes my mouth water just looking at them.” A villager reached out to grab a tomato. “I’ll pick one to have a taste!”
“Hey, what are you doing?” Zhou Yan went to check on the tomato field when she saw the crowd there. She also noticed someone picking her tomato. Her face darkened as she warned, “Zhang Qiuxiang, are you still stealing my tomato?”
After being caught red-handed, Zhang Qiuxiang’s face reddened. She said, “I wanted to pick one to taste because your tomatoes are too tempting.”
The praise didn’t go over well with Zhou Yan. She said directly, “Zhang Qiuxiang, you can taste the tomato, but at least you have to ask me first. I’m not a stingy person. However, you picked my tomato without asking for permission, and that is wrong.”
Zhang Qiuxiang was embarrassed and angered. She retorted angrily, “Do you need to criticize me so openly for a single tomato? Do you think they are made from gold?”
The other villagers nodded and said, “That’s right. It’s just a tomato. There’s no need to humiliate people like that.”
Once Zhou Yan heard that she slammed the hoe on the ground and crossed her arms. “It’s just a tomato? You tried to steal my stuff, and you’re being so righteous about it. Don’t you need to inform the owner when you need something from him? We have so many villagers. If everyone has your attitude and thinks they can just pick a tomato when they feel like this, what will I have left to sell? Liu Erying, does this mean that I can go to your farm and pick a peach without your consent? After all, it’s just a peach, right?”
Liu Erying’s family had a peach farm. Their family earned quite a lot from the sales. Of course, they wouldn’t allow people to walk into their farm to pluck the fruits just like that. Therefore, Liu Erying was stumped. She picked up her hoe and huffed, “Just say that you’re stingy! Why do you have so many excuses?!”
The others were embarrassed, and they quickly dispersed. “I didn’t pick any tomato. I was only looking!”
Zhang Qiuxiang also knew that she was in the wrong. She didn’t stay to argue with Zhou Yan. She picked up her bucket and left.
As soon as they left, Zhou Yan looked at the tomato field. Her eyes were filled with joy as she muttered to herself, “The Xiao Family’s calf is amazing. I used only some of its manure, and the tomatoes grew so well. The tomatoes taste fabulous too. They will fetch a good price.”
The abnormal growth of Xiao Chengbang’s tomatoes naturally attracted the villagers’ attention. The villagers guessed Xiao Chengbang and Zhou Yan had added some new fertilizers to their field.
Then, someone remembered Xiao Chengbang had led Xiao Lingyu’s calf to his tomato field a few days ago. He also fed the calf a lot of food.
“Do you think it’s because of the calf?” Someone speculated.
“Probably not.” Another villager answered, but he was already planning to go to the Xiao Family to borrow the calf. It might be false, but there was nothing to lose but everything to gain if it was true.
…
Xiao Lingyu was at home, writing down the proposal to contract the land. From what the village chief told her, there were three families who refused to rent their land. Two of them were not satisfied with the offered rental, while the last family simply refused to lease the land to the Xiao Family outright.
Of the two families who complained of the rent, one was a well-known village scoundrel. He was in his early forties and unmarried. He had a father in his seventies. This man was famous for taking advantage of others. For example, he would appear during mealtimes and stay to finish the meal before he was willing to leave.
He would go around the village eating other people’s food. It was very annoying, but the villagers didn’t do anything to him since they were from the same village. Furthermore, the man hadn’t done anything illegal. He was just a freeloader.
Once the man heard someone wanted to rent his unused land, his greedy nature surfaced. He knew there was money to be made, and in terms of money, the more, the better. His current goal was to force Xiao Lingyu to raise her offered price.
The other family didn’t have a good reputation either. They were lazy and often stole from others. For example, they would go out to the fields at night to harvest other people’s paddy, watermelons, peanuts, and so on. They would sell the stolen harvest openly the next day. They weren’t afraid of being confronted at all. When someone did, they would answer with a sickle or an ax. This family was rude and unreasonable. They were shameless.
The villagers didn’t want to provoke this family, so most of the time, they chose to endure it. It was better to have less trouble.
Fortunately, this family wouldn’t steal too much. They wouldn’t steal a whole Mu of harvest. They would cut off here and there. However, they would end up with a large harvest after combining their stolen harvest from the whole village.
Now, someone wanted to rent their sandy land at the back mountain. Naturally, they would demand more money.
As for the family that refused the rent the land no matter what, the reason was Xiao Zhengyang. They had a grudge against the Xiao Family. To put it bluntly, they were jealous of the Xiao Family.
They were annoyed that Xiao Zhengyang’s children were clever, and their family life was getting better.
Now that Xiao Zhengyang had need of them, naturally, they would use this opportunity to torture Xiao Zhengyang.
Xiao Lingyu frowned and decided to visit the three families in person to talk to them. She would offer them the same price. If they still refused to rent, then so be it. She would farm her land, and they could farm theirs.
While Xiao Lingyu was thinking, she heard someone calling her name from outside. As she walked out, she found three to four villagers in the courtyard.
Xiao Lingyu asked, “Auntie Liu, Auntie Zeng, Auntie Hu, what’s the matter?”
The few women looked at each other and immediately went forward to ask, “Lingyu, can I take your calf for a walk around my field?”
Xiao Lingyu, “…”