“Uncle Yuan, could you please give me a two-day extension? The Farm has already found a buyer. As soon as the money comes in, I’ll transfer the payment for the Fish Fry, okay?”
“Yes, yes, Aunt Chen, as soon as the Farm is off my hands, I’ll have the money to settle the debt for the Grain Seed. For my mom’s sake, could you please spare me a few more days?”
“…”
Hanging up the last call from a debt collector, Fang Jinzhu chugged down a cup of water and walked out of the Farm’s office, restless and agitated.
A sea of golden rice instantly filled her vision, a full five hundred mu. It had to be harvested by the end of the month at the latest, or it would rot in the fields!
Shifting her gaze slightly, she saw the fishponds, which covered several mu. The fry had just been released over a month ago and were in a period of rapid growth.
Behind the fishponds was a large expanse of Breeding Sheds. Even from a distance, she could hear the clamor of chickens, ducks, cattle, and sheep inside.
This was the Fang family’s Farm.
It had originally been a joint venture established by Fang Jinzhu’s father and two uncles. The crops and livestock were raised to be robust and plump, but they didn’t understand management or business operations, leading to a lack of sales channels. In just two short years, they had lost everything.
Her parents died in a car accident while trying to find buyers. While they were still in the mourning period, her two uncles silently and swiftly withdrew their shares, taking the Agricultural Machinery that was easy to sell off at a discount and dismissing the workers.
They left Fang Jinzhu with only the farm’s plants and animals, and a mountain of debt.
This was Fang Jinzhu’s second day of taking over the Farm.
The immense pressure of the debt forced her to push past the pain of losing her parents and being betrayed by both her boyfriend and best friend right after graduation, and to pull herself together to deal with this huge mess.
There was no machinery and no manpower.
If she delayed for more than two days, the livestock in the sheds would starve to death. There was also a major rainstorm predicted for the end of the month. If the grain rotted in the fields then, the Farm would truly become worthless.
After assessing the situation yesterday, Fang Jinzhu had decisively chosen to sell the Farm!
She had already contacted the leaders in the industry, selected the one with the highest bid, and scheduled a time for them to come for the acquisition.
This afternoon, the acquiring party would arrive with a lawyer appointed by the local government. Once the transfer and acquisition contract was signed, the Farm would change hands.
Fang Jinzhu’s debt would be reduced from five million to one million.
“Sigh…”
With mixed feelings, Fang Jinzhu glanced at the vast Farm, then turned back to the office to grab a calculator and an inventory ledger before plunging into the farm grounds.
Before the buyers arrived, she had to take stock of the Farm’s current assets first.
“Cluck, cluck, cluck—”
“Cluck-cluck—”
As soon as she entered the Breeding Shed, Fang Jinzhu saw the flock of chickens inside scattering and jumping in alarm.
Through the fence, she vaguely saw what looked like two… children darting among the chickens?
Fang Jinzhu’s heart skipped a beat, and she quickened her pace to get a better look.
She discovered two children in ancient Han-style clothing, scrambling around in the Chicken Feeder, fighting with the chickens for food!
The two toddlers looked to be about three or four years old. Their little faces were identical, and their clothes were so filthy their original colors were unrecognizable.
If not for one having her hair in two topknots and the other having his tied in a single bunch at the crown of his head, it would be impossible to tell their genders.
“Sister, this is so yummy! Open your mouth, Brother will feed you!”
“Brother eat too—”
The two children were so thin their small faces were gaunt, and their loose clothes hung from their little frames. They were currently carefully picking out Crushed Corn and Wheat Grains from the cracks of the feeder, feeding each other with wide, sparkling eyes, their grimy little faces overflowing with happiness.
It was just a bit of leftover grain stuck in the feeder’s crevices that the chickens couldn’t peck, yet the two little ones treated it like a treasure, unwilling to let even the tiniest crumb go to waste.
The younger one could barely speak clearly, yet the sibling affection they displayed was so vivid it could soften anyone’s heart at a single glance.
It took Fang Jinzhu a moment to come to her senses. Though she felt reluctant to disturb them, she still called out softly, “Little ones…”
“Cluck, cluck, cluck—”
The two children trembled in fright, causing the chickens behind them to leap high into the air.
“F-Fairy Sister, spare us…”
The little boy immediately stretched out his short arms, tightly hugging the little girl beside him as he looked at Fang Jinzhu in terror. “We… we didn’t… didn’t steal anything. We… just ate a tiny bit of scraps…”
The little girl shivered in her brother’s arms, her face also filled with fear.
Seeing this, Fang Jinzhu didn’t have time to think. She quickly opened the gate of the enclosure and crouched down in front of the two children.
Unexpectedly, the little boy squeezed his eyes shut, not forgetting to cover the little girl’s eyes as well. “Fairy Sister, be gentle… be gentle, I beg you…”
Their terrified, trembling little forms made Fang Jinzhu feel a pang of guilt. She quickly reached out to pat their heads reassuringly. “Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid. I won’t hurt you…”
“Where… did you two come from?”
The Farm was in a remote location with no villages nearby. It took an hour to get here even by car. The appearance of these two children was too strange and peculiar.
Moreover, they were wearing ancient clothing and called her “Fairy Sister”…
As sharp as Fang Jinzhu was, she already had a faint guess about the situation. She suppressed her shock and asked gently.
The little boy’s eyes flickered with fear, but he obediently turned to look around before pointing a finger at the shed door at the end of the chicken coop and whispering, “Sister, we… we came from there…”
Fang Jinzhu’s eyelid twitched. Her suspicion was almost confirmed.
The shed door opened directly onto the fishpond. It had been designed that way to make it convenient to apply the collected and fermented Chicken Manure to the pond.
If what the little boy said was true, then they were definitely not from this world!
Fang Jinzhu swallowed, feeling a thrill of horror amidst her shock.
However, she had always been a calm and rational person. Even though she found it unbelievable, she didn’t forget to first reach out and carefully check the two children over.
They were very thin; her hand felt nothing but bones. But their little bodies were warm. They were undoubtedly living children!
“You’re very hungry, aren’t you? But this is chicken feed. It’s all raw and has bacteria. You’ll get a stomachache if you eat it.”
“Come on, I’ll take you to eat something else.”
Seeing that the children, despite their fear, couldn’t help but glance at the scraps in the feeder and swallow, Fang Jinzhu forcefully suppressed the surging shock and confusion in her heart and extended a kind hand to them.
No matter where they came from, they were just pitiful, starving children. The priority was to fill their stomachs!
The two little ones followed Fang Jinzhu to the farm dormitory, looking apprehensive.
After being nervously seated on small stools by Fang Jinzhu, the two children placed their hands properly on their laps, clutching their pants tightly, not daring to move. Their big eyes, however, were less controlled, flickering as they cautiously looked around.
Fang Jinzhu had grabbed a few eggs on her way out of the chicken shed and plucked a couple of handfuls of green vegetables from the patch in front of the dormitory. She skillfully made two bowls of egg noodles.
“Do you know how to use chopsticks? Or should I feed you?”
Bringing out the noodles, Fang Jinzhu asked gently, her face full of uncertainty.
She had no experience taking care of children. She could only rely on what she had seen and heard, subconsciously feeling that it was normal for toddlers this small to be chased around and fed.
The two children were stunned by the two huge, fragrant bowls of food. They stared blankly, nodding in unison, then shaking their heads in unison.
They were as adorably dazed as a pair of bewildered kittens.