After breakfast, Shen Wuqiu’s paternal uncle, Shen Xianghua, came over.
Shen Xianghua used to drive an excavator, but now that his family owned four excavators, he no longer drove them himself. Instead, he spent most of his time helping Father Shen manage things, and today he came to take Shen Wuqiu to inspect the West Mountain, accompanied by two orchard farmers.
Although the West Mountain belonged to Jingrong Village, it was separated from the village by two other mountains. Strictly speaking, the West Mountain couldn’t be called a mountain at all, but rather an earthen slope with a circumference of nearly five hundred mu. Originally, it was just a barren hill covered only in cogon grass and shrubs, and only the fertile black soil area at the base of the mountain had been cleared by some villagers; the rest remained wasteland.
Precisely because it had been left deserted and unmanaged, Father Shen began carving out his empire here, and the village had even granted him a seventy-year lease at the time.
However, up to the present day, this plot of land hasn’t generated much wealth for Father Shen. For nearly thirty years, it wasn’t until last year that this land finally produced four hundred and eighty thousand RMB worth of osmanthus trees.
Now that the osmanthus trees had been sold off, this earthen slope had once again become completely bare. While it lacked much vitality, the open view also carried a uniquely refreshing and relaxing charm.
Shen Wuqiu sat on the motorized three-wheeler, quite satisfied with the surrounding scenery. She closed her eyes and reminisced about the past.
“This place is just like when I was a child, not much has changed. I remember following my mom and dad here to dig for sweet potatoes when I was little.”
“Your memory is pretty good. When your parents first contracted this place, they cleared the land day and night, and a huge area up there was planted entirely with sweet potatoes.”
Thinking of her childhood, those scenes involuntarily surfaced in Shen Wuqiu’s mind. “Back then, my favorite thing to do was follow my parents here to dig for sweet potatoes, especially that plot right at the top. The sweet potatoes were huge and didn’t have any dirt clinging to them.”
While they were talking, Shen Xianghua pulled the three-wheeler over to the side and stopped. “The soil on this tract gradually stratifies. Let me take you around to check it out first.”
Shen Wuqiu jumped off the three-wheeler along with the two orchard farmers. Looking at the surrounding land filled with large pits, she couldn’t help wondering, “Was this place always planted with osmanthus trees before?”
“The first thing your dad planted was a batch of peach trees. They actually grew quite well, but unfortunately they didn’t yield much of a harvest, so by the fourth year he cut the peach trees down and let it lie fallow for a year. Your Aunt Xiangxian wanted to raise chickens, so he let her raise chickens here for two years before they finally started planting osmanthus trees. In recent years, the osmanthus tree market became saturated with too many trees being planted, and it wasn’t until last year that a big boss came along and contracted this whole batch of osmanthus trees in one go.”
Shen Wuqiu nodded, bent down, pinched a handful of soil from beside a dirt pit, and rubbed it between her palms.
Seeing this, an older orchard farmer teased, “Does the young lady even know how to identify soil?”
Shen Wuqiu brushed the soil off her hands and smiled. “I just thought this soil looked pretty fertile and took a random look. I certainly can’t compare to Uncle Zheng’s expertise.”
In his earlier years, Uncle Zheng used to run contracted orchard businesses and could be considered an experienced fruit-growing farmer. Three years ago, he accidentally broke his leg, and since his children were all very successful and no one at home could assist him, he stopped doing it. He was one of the professional experts invited by Father Shen.
“Your observational skills aren’t bad, young girl.” As Uncle Zheng spoke, he also grabbed a handful of soil and weighed it in his hand. “From here upward for about a distance of five hundred meters, the soil in this belt belongs to the fertile zone. The topsoil is deep and loose, drainage is good, and it is slightly acidic.”
At this point, Uncle Zheng shifted the topic and looked at Shen Wuqiu. “Judging by your dad’s previous plans, he decided to continue running an orchard. In your view, what kind of fruit trees would be suitable to plant?”
Shen Wuqiu replied, “Is Uncle Zheng testing me?”
Uncle Zheng didn’t deny it. “You know that the land in your dad’s hands was bought with hard-earned money. If anything goes wrong, it’s not a small sum of money that this business will lose.”
That was the honest truth, and Shen Wuqiu answered honestly as well. “I haven’t thought about what specific things to plant yet, but I heard that over the past two years the county town has been vigorously promoting bayberries from our own city, so I figured we could ride this wave.”
Uncle Zheng looked at her, for a moment unable to tell whether she really understood or was just pretending.
From his professional perspective, planting bayberries in this fertile zone was indeed the best choice.
Before he could chime in, the other, younger orchard farmer walked over and directly clapped in approval. “Looks like our thoughts coincide completely. Earlier, Old Zheng and I discussed that the cleared space left by the osmanthus trees could be planted with bayberry trees.”
Shen Wuqiu spoke modestly. “Looks like I guessed right by blind luck.”
“I didn’t expect a girl like you to know quite a lot.”
When Shen Xianghua heard them say this, he held Shen Wuqiu in much higher regard. “No wonder your dad wants to hand over the family business he worked hard on for so many years to you.”
Shen Wuqiu just smiled and didn’t speak.
As they talked, the group walked up along the road.
The higher they went, the lighter the black of the soil became, turning into yellow, and the soil texture also became looser.
After inspecting the site in person and attentively listening to the professional analysis of the experts, Shen Wuqiu also agreed with the decision to plant ponkans on the upper half of the West Mountain.
Although the West Mountain wasn’t a towering peak, it still had some altitude. Standing at the summit, the surrounding villages and rural settlements all appeared small and low, and the only thing blocking the view was that mountain on the east side that seemed to pierce straight into the clouds.
Shen Wuqiu hadn’t paid attention when she was little, but now looking at this eyesore of a natural barrier, she felt quite curious and couldn’t help asking Shen Xianghua beside her, “Little Uncle, what mountain is that over there?”
Shen Xianghua glanced at it. “Mount Ya.”
“That’s Mount Ya?” Shen Wuqiu found it a bit hard to believe. “Isn’t Mount Ya pretty far from our village? Why does it look like it’s not far at all from here?”
“That’s where you don’t understand. What we passed was the eastern side of Mount Ya, and what you’re looking at now is its western side. Speaking of which, I find it pretty baffling too. No matter which angle you look at it from, Mount Ya is towering and bottomless in height, but the highest altitude point in our township is actually the West Mountain we’re standing on right now, not Mount Ya.”
Shen Wuqiu couldn’t wrap her head around it. “Mount Ya clearly looks taller than the West Mountain.”
Uncle Zheng also looked at Mount Ya across from them, pulled a pack of cigarettes and a lighter out of his pocket, and said, “I suspect that for all these years, nobody has ever actually measured the altitude of Mount Ya. After all, everyone has heard the legends about Mount Ya.”
Uncle Zheng wasn’t from Jingrong Village; he was from the neighboring Zhengjia Bend.
Shen Wuqiu asked, “Huh? Do people actually believe those things?”
Uncle Zheng glanced at her with an inscrutable expression.
Shen Wuqiu became inexplicably curious. “Uncle Zheng, have you been there?”
“I’ve been there, but I haven’t been up the mountain.” Speaking of this, Uncle Zheng first took a fierce drag of his cigarette, and after a good several seconds passed, he began to recount: “On one side of Mount Ya, there is a bottomless reservoir. One summer, an old man from the neighborhood invited me there to fish and beat the heat. We were fishing quite happily when suddenly someone asked us if we smoked. The two of us searched all around for a long time at that moment, but couldn’t find a single person. Don’t you think that’s strange?”
Shen Wuqiu blinked. As for such an anecdote, she didn’t find it particularly bizarre, and it certainly wasn’t as strange as her cat.
Come to think of it, her cat had appeared right around that Mount Ya area.
With this thought, Shen Wuqiu started missing her cat again and didn’t linger long at the West Mountain.
As soon as she returned home, Shen Wenjun eagerly rushed up to her. “Sister, your cat actually knows how to come back.”
As soon as his words fell, a white blur swooped out from the bedroom and bolted straight toward her. “Meow!”
Shen Wuqiu grabbed the scruff of its neck. “Get down.”
The white cat looked wronged. “Meow-woo.”
Seeing that it wasn’t clawing at her anymore, Shen Wuqiu put it down on the ground. “I’ll settle accounts with you later.”
The white cat responded. “Meow-woo.”
Shen Wuqiu didn’t know how to tenderly cherish fair maidens, but Shen Wenjun felt terribly sorry for the cat and reached out, wanting to hold it.
Naturally, he met with a cold reception. The white cat showed utter disdain, baring its teeth and flashing its claws at him. Only after watching him shrink his hand back did it strut swaggeringly upstairs right behind Shen Wuqiu, leaving Shen Wenjun standing in place in utter disarray.
Shen Wuqiu went back to her room to wash her face, then went downstairs to check on Father Shen, ignoring the white cat that was meowing all the way behind her.
Father Shen seemed to be in a good mood today. Seeing her, his usually stern face unexpectedly revealed a trace of a smile. “How was it? Do you have a handle on that West Mountain land?”
While speaking, he even took the initiative to beckon toward the white cat behind her. “Meow-meow.”
Shen Wuqiu glanced at her, then looked at the white cat, feeling quite amazed. She hadn’t expected her aging father to have this kind of hobby.
“I’ve got a basic understanding of it. After communicating with the village, we’ll make specific plans.”
“You took over in a rush, so there’s no need to be in a hurry.” Father Shen offered a couple of words of comfort, then went back to teasing the white cat.
The white cat languidly replied with a meow, its mind still entirely focused on Shen Wuqiu, either rubbing its head against her ankles or pawing at her with its little paws.
This pitiful, coquettish appearance made even Father Shen feel a bit soft-hearted. “Pay attention to her. Look how anxious you’ve made the little one.”
Shen Wuqiu bent down and picked the white cat up. “Know you messed up?”
The white cat drooped all four little paws, not daring to move at all, and looked aggrievedly at Father Shen.
That little look melted Father Shen’s heart entirely. He hurriedly pulled a blood-red stone out from under his pillow. “Alright, alright, the little thing did give and take, after all.”
Shen Wuqiu looked at the blood-red stone in his hand, extremely puzzled. “What is this supposed to mean?”
Father Shen extended the stone toward Shen Wuqiu. “Here, this stone was brought back by her. She probably felt embarrassed about taking some dried fish from the house, so she gave this to me instead. Who knows where she even found this thing.”
Shen Wuqiu put the white cat down and took the stone.
To call it a stone wasn’t entirely accurate, because she couldn’t tell what material it was. It was translucent red, somewhat resembling red jade, about the size of a thumb, and felt slightly warm to the touch. Upon closer inspection, the red in the center seemed to be flowing.
Shen Wuqiu examined it in her hand for quite a while without figuring out what kind of object it was, but it looked like it could be quite valuable. “Did you steal this from somewhere else again?”
“Meow!” The white cat instantly flew into a rage.
Shen Wuqiu waved the item in front of it. “Then where did you get it?”
The white cat refused to deal with her, snatched the red jade out of her hand with its teeth, placed it in Father Shen’s hand, and then meowed loudly at Shen Wuqiu a couple of times.
Shen Wuqiu felt a bit sour inside, though on the surface she looked completely disdainful. “She probably knew it was your dried fish and specially brought it as a gift for you.”
“What am I supposed to do with this thing? I will give it to you…”
“Meow!” Before he could finish speaking, the white cat panicked, stretching out its little paw to press down on Father Shen’s hand to prevent him from handing it over.
Shen Wuqiu turned her head away. “I don’t want it.”
With that, she walked straight outside.
Father Shen realized what was going on a beat too late, looked at the white cat, and chuckled helplessly. “Why did Qiuqiu get angry?”