The Little Life of a Big Landlord

Chapter 19 5 Valley

The lively conversation continued until midnight, when a small incident occurred: a phone call from S City. On the other end of the line was Yang Zhengfang's in-law, Wei Jianguo. Yang Zhengfang was not a talkative person to begin with, but Wei Jianguo kept him talking for half an hour. After hanging up, Yang Zhengfang's face turned into a bitter gourd.

As night deepened, the farmhouse courtyard was in a mess. After seeing off the head of the household, the family sat down on the sofa in the outer room to chat. Several boxes of gifts were laid out on the coffee table; these were Wei Qingqing's gifts for her parents-in-law. She had taken them out of the car after the head of the household had left.

"What did you say? You got your marriage certificate?" Hearing Yang Ming's confession, Zhang Shufang's expression turned somewhat unfriendly. This kid's heart has become wild. He dared to hide such a big thing as getting married from his parents, and he even dared to lie to me that he was afraid his wife would break up with him.

"Mom! You don't know, what if Qingqing gets kidnapped if I don't act quickly? It's better to keep her here for peace of mind," Yang Ming said.

Seeing her beautiful daughter-in-law blushing shyly with her head down, Zhang Shufang nodded in agreement, "That's true!" Actually, there was something else she didn't say: It would be safer to make it a fait accompli and get her pregnant!

"So when do you plan to hold the wedding?" Yang Zhengfang asked.

"You can talk to my father-in-law about this, and you can discuss it together. We'll follow your arrangements," Yang Ming said.

When his in-laws were mentioned, Yang Zhengfang fell silent. He was quite intimidated; his in-laws were simply too talkative.

"No problem, I'll tell your third grandmother right away and ask her to pick a few auspicious days for you. Then we can discuss it with your in-laws and set the date. You can decide on the best course of action yourselves." Zhang Shufang said, then got up and went to the inner room to call her third grandmother.

"Dad! How come your big yellow dog is so beautiful? How many years have you had it?" Zhang Yang sat next to Yang Zhengfang and shamelessly hugged Yang Zhengfang's arm.

Yang Zhengfang was somewhat helpless about this godson-in-law, who was too shameless: "I've raised him for three years, and he's just a stupid little dog."

"Can you catch rabbits?"

"Of course it can! Last month, I even took it to chase rabbits. Don't underestimate this dog just because it's a clumsy dog. It knows how to hold its tail. Once the rabbit sees it, it can't escape." Yang Zhengfang perked up when he mentioned catching rabbits.

"Holding the wrist? What does 'holding the wrist' mean?" Sun Fangfang was also quite interested in the story of the dog chasing the rabbit, and immediately came over.

"Let me tell you something. When a dog chases a rabbit, it's not just about the dog running faster than the rabbit to catch it. When the dog catches up with the rabbit, it has to bite it to death to be considered caught. Some dogs are stupid enough to chase after it without knowing how to bite, chasing and stopping until they're exhausted and still can't catch it. Our dog, once it catches up, just one bite and it can bite the rabbit's neck off. That's called 'taking the arm'..." Yang Zhengfang said with great enthusiasm.

"Really? Dad, shall we take the dog to chase rabbits tomorrow?" Sun Fangfang's eyes lit up with excitement.

"It won't work during the day! It has to be at night!" Yang Zhengfang said.

"Let's go now," Zhang Yang said.

"Alright! Let's go catch rabbits in the field now and stew them for tomorrow. And let me tell you, I've got a rifle hidden here." Yang Zhengfang had also drunk some alcohol that evening and was in an excited state.

"Mao gun" refers to a hunting rifle; in some places, hunting is called "da mao".

"Uh! You guys go ahead! We're not going, we're going to sleep!" Without saying another word, Yang Ming pulled Wei Qingqing into the west room and locked the door.

There were only two people in the room. They drew the curtains, took off their clothes, covered themselves with a towel, and leaned against the headboard to talk.

"Honey, coming to your house today wasn't as scary as my mom said," Wei Qingqing said.

"What's so scary about it? In the past, people would choose a wife like they were choosing livestock. A whole bunch of aunts and uncles would gather around to look at her, picking out all sorts of faults, and then they would try to make a fuss about the bride price. Back then, people would save as much as they could. Now, people's minds are more open, and men and women are equal. Who would dare to treat choosing a wife like choosing livestock?" Yang Ming said.

"Why do you talk like that? Do you think choosing a wife is like picking out livestock?" Wei Qingqing rolled her eyes at Yang Ming, annoyed.

"What do you think? My mom said that in the old society, the husband's family treated the daughter-in-law like livestock. She had to get up at three or five o'clock every day, first to boil water for her parents-in-law to wash their faces, then cook the meal. By the time the meal was cooked, it was almost dawn. Then she would help her husband get up, empty the chamber pot for her parents-in-law, and help them wash their faces. In some places with strict rules, the daughter-in-law was not even allowed to eat at the main table."

"Damn the old society! If you dare to treat me like an animal, I'll bite you." Wei Qingqing rolled over and pinned Yang Ming down, baring her small silver teeth as she spoke fiercely.

"How could I dare! I'll be your slave from now on!" Yang Ming said with a smile, hugging Wei Qingqing's waist.

"Hmph!" Wei Qingqing chuckled sweetly, lowering her head to gently kiss his lips...

"Hmph! My son knows how to sweet-talk his wife; no wonder he married such a beautiful one!" Zhang Shufang pulled her ear away from the door. "Look at the droopy faces of my second and third sisters-in-law; you can only be envious!"

The wind stopped, the clouds dispersed, the rain ceased...

The west room was silent. The clock struck three and chimed three times.

"Honey, do you think this big wardrobe is pretty?" Wei Qingqing leaned on Yang Ming, looking at the big wardrobe on the north wall.

"Do you like it?"

"If only we could get it to Zhengjia Village!"

"Then take it with you..."

"Honey, can't you grow something else in that farm space? I think the grapes Mom brought us today are really delicious. She said there used to be a huge grape trellis in the yard!"

"The yard used to be covered with grapevines. In previous summers and autumns, the heads of the household would love to come to our house to cool off. When they were thirsty, they could pick a couple of grapes to eat."

"Let's plant some grapes in Zhengjia Village and build a grape trellis..."

"Hmm..." Yang Ming was about to say something when suddenly, a thought struck him, and he fell silent.

"Honey, what's wrong?" Wei Qingqing sensed Yang Ming's unusual behavior and quickly raised her upper body to look at him with a puzzled expression.

"Shh! The farm space is reacting, don't make a sound..." Yang Ming said, his mind entering the farm space in his mind.

"Master, all the soybeans we put in the 'Sales System' have been sold out. The buyer is a large landowner from the Calabash Star in the Red Cloud Universe. He also left a message for you, Master. Based on the principle of agricultural product exchange, he hopes that you can put the seeds of the other four crops into the 'Sales System' for sale. The price is up to you." Yang Ming heard Ya Ya's voice as soon as his mind entered the farm space.

"The other four types of crop seeds? What are they?"

"Sir, the other party left pictures. The four crops in the pictures are the other four grains of the five major grains on Earth: hemp, millet, sorghum, and wheat."

"Five grains? Isn't it rice, millet, sorghum, wheat, and beans? Why is hemp here?" Yang Ming asked, somewhat puzzled.

"Well, according to Ya Ya's deduction, the reason should be like this: In mythology, the five grains were discovered by Shennong. At that time, humanity was suffering from hunger. Shennong, the leader of humanity at the time, felt this and prayed to heaven. So, the God Emperor sent a divine bird to bring a five-colored ear of grain, and thus the five grains appeared on the land of China, and humanity was no longer hungry... Although this is a myth, there may be some truth to it. According to the Chinese Five Elements theory, the five grains growing on one ear of grain may be a perfect grafting technique that transcends time. These five grains represent the five elements. It is said that rice originally grew in the south, while the birthplace of Chinese culture is in the Yellow River basin. Because hemp does not taste as good as rice, after the advent of rice, the cultivation of hemp was gradually abandoned, and rice replaced hemp in the five grains. This is Ya Ya's deduction."

"It's a waste that you don't write novels! Your imagination is too rich!" Yang Ming said admiringly.

"Ya Ya is an intelligent butler and cannot engage in literary creation," Ya Ya said solemnly. "Reminding you, sir, your account balance is currently 1154200 gold coins, which meets the system upgrade requirements. Would you like to upgrade the system?"

"You've already reached that? How much did you sell the soybeans for per pound?" Yang Ming remembered that there were only 4800 kilograms of soybeans, which is 9600 pounds. According to the system's assessed price of 100 gold coins per pound, even if all of them were sold, there would only be 960000 gold coins. Adding the original 2200 gold coins in the account, there would only be 962200 gold coins. There were still 37800 gold coins short of the 1000000 gold coins needed for the upgrade.

"Reporting to Master, because you require that the conditions for system upgrade be met as soon as possible, Ya Ya has increased the price of soybeans by 20 gold coins based on the system's assessed price."

"I see, then let's upgrade!"

"Landlord Farm Space Upgrade Program Activated..." Ya Ya's voice turned into an electronic voice, and then the entire space trembled. From somewhere, the space expanded at a visible speed. On one side of the purple land, as if blown by the wind, nearly a hundred acres of land quickly appeared. However, this land was not like the purple land, which was like thick paste, but a piece of soft and moderately loose land.

"...The ranch is established; please graze the livestock as soon as possible..."

The changes did not stop there. The land slowly rose in the middle, gradually forming a small hill covering 20 acres.

"...Ocean orchard established, please transplant fruit trees as soon as possible..."

The hill slowly rose, steadily increasing in height until it reached 30 meters. Suddenly, with a crack, the hill split in two, and two clear springs gushed out from the crack, flowing slowly outwards from both sides, circling the edge of the entire farm space, forming two circles that looked like the number '8'. One of the springs was clear, cold water, and the other was warm water with rising steam. Only the water in the hill's crack, a mixture of cold and warm water, had a suitable temperature.

"...Once the fish farm is established, please stock it with aquatic products as soon as possible..."

"...System upgrade complete. Please check system information..."

Another large screen appeared in front of Yang Ming, displaying the system's main interface. Of the six options, only planting, harvesting, and selling were still available; the other three options—exchange, link, and query—remained grayed out. Below that was his personal information. In his personal information, besides his level becoming level 2 and his space area increasing to 100 acres, he also gained three new items: 'Livestock Farming,' 'Orchard Varieties,' and 'Aquaculture.' Otherwise, there weren't many changes.

"Master, please use the new farm features..." Ya Ya's normal voice rang in Yang Ming's ears.

"..."

P.S.: Please recommend and add to your favorites...