Inheriting a Farm Made Me an Internet Sensation - Chapter 17

Lin Muhan calmly sized up the girl standing a meter away and asked in return, “Is there something I can help you with?”

The girl took off her sunglasses, a slight curve at the corners of her lips. “I only speak with the person in charge of Anxin Farm.”

Lin Muhan nodded. “Fine.” She pointed her finger toward the greenhouses. “She’s right there in the fields. Go find her yourself.” With that, she didn’t linger; she opened her car door, got in, and drove away.

The flying dust caused the girl to choke. A look of fury surfaced on her heavily made-up face.

She fanned the dust away with her hand and turned toward the greenhouses. She opened her mouth to call out to the workers busy in the fields, but fearing it would damage her image, she waved her assistant over instead. “Go and ask. Have the person in charge of this farm come over to see me.”

Tan Xiao, who had gone to inspect the tomatoes in the distance, rode her electric scooter back. Hearing this, she immediately said, “I am the person in charge.” She glanced at the nanny van and refused outright, “If you’re here about a livestream, please head back. Anxin Farm’s tomatoes will not be appearing on any livestreaming platforms for the time being.”

The girl pushed her assistant behind her, took a step forwar, and said, “I am one of the influencers with the largest following in all of Binhai City. The reason I made a special trip today is that I value the fact that your farm is pesticide-free, pure green, and healthy.” She pointed at the farm. “With me involved, these tomatoes will all be sold out within a month. But there is one condition: once I step in, you cannot allow this farm’s tomatoes to flow into the general market.”

Seeing that Tan Xiao remained silent, she continued, “Don’t worry, I won’t treat you unfairly regarding the price.” She stroked her chin. “How about I purchase them at fifty percent above the market price?”

Tan Xiao smiled. “Buy them at fifty percent above market price, then sell them to netizens at double the price? I’m sorry, I decline.” Having said her piece, she got off the scooter and headed toward the greenhouses.

The girl stared at her back and questioned, “Money is being delivered to your door; are you sure you want to refuse?”

“Nobody is a fool. If I really wanted to sell them online, wouldn’t the hype be higher if I started my own livestream than if you sold them for me?” Tan Xiao turned back and spread her hands. “And there would be no middleman taking a cut of the profits.”

The girl finally realized why Tan Xiao looked so familiar. It turned out Tan Xiao was the very person who had once been blacklisted and mocked across the entire internet.

Seeing how decisive Tan Xiao was, the girl let out a cold laugh. So confident? I’ll just wait and see if those anti-fans are willing to buy in once they find out these tomatoes come from your hands.

Tan Xiao, having walked away, did not notice the girl’s sinister gaze. She walked up to Chen Cuihua. “Sister Chen, I checked the tomatoes over there; they’ve also started to ripen. Arrange for some people to start harvesting from the reservoir side and work their way back.”

Before Chen Cuihua could respond, Zhang Da, who had overheard, took the initiative to speak up: “I’ll take some people over there right now.”

“Okay, thanks for the trouble,” Tan Xiao said with a faint smile. Since the incident with Yang Kaifeng, the atmosphere of the entire farm had become surprisingly harmonious. At the very least, she no longer heard voices pointing fingers at her behind her back.

Having arranged this, she turned to enter the greenhouse but was grabbed by the arm by Chen Cuihua.

“That beauty just now, what was she here for?” Chen Cuihua asked curiously.

Tan Xiao didn’t hide it and spoke truthfully: “She wanted to buy out all the farm’s tomatoes so she could sell them online at a high price.”

“If we can earn a lot, it’s not impossible. Why did you refuse?”

Tan Xiao pulled her arm back. “First of all, selling at a high price already goes against my original intention. Secondly, fruit and vegetable products are prone to problems during transportation. After-sales service would be far too much trouble.”

Seeing that Chen Cuihua didn’t understand, she added, “Suppose you are a buyer and the tomatoes you bought online arrived rotten. The first thing you’d do is look for customer service. At that moment, if the seller shifts the blame directly onto the farm and you can’t contact anyone at the farm, what would you think?”

“Then I’d definitely feel uncomfortable.” Chen Cuihua thought about it for a moment, and once she understood, her eyes widened. “Wouldn’t that mean the influencer gets all the benefits, while our farm takes all the blame for the bad stuff?”

“It’s good that you understand.” Tan Xiao pointed to the greenhouse. “I’m heading in.”

Chen Cuihua waved her hand. “Right, right, right, you go ahead. I’ll handle everything out here.”

With Chen Cuihua’s word, Tan Xiao felt much more at ease. Entering the greenhouse, she checked the seeds she had pre-soaked the night before. After confirming the seeds had absorbed enough water, she put them back in the basin, picked up a shovel leaning in the corner, and walked to the cleared land after the harvest to turn the soil.

Outside the greenhouse.

A group of students found their way over and asked timidly, “Auntie, are you hiring temporary workers here?”

Chen Cuihua stood up quickly. Seeing nearly twenty people had arrived, she beamed with joy. “Yes, yes, yes!” She walked over to the students. “The work here is simple—just picking tomatoes and picking out the ones that are oddly shaped or too small. We calculate pay by the catty (jin), pay is settled daily, and we even provide lunch.”

Hearing this, the students all broke into smiles. “Then we can do it.”

“Then what are you standing around for?” Chen Cuihua pointed to the fruit crates stacked by the roadside. “Grab a crate and get to work!”

While this group took their crates and scattered into the fields to harvest, Sun Le arrived with the group of students who had borrowed land.

From a distance, everyone raised their hands high and shouted in unison, “Sister Chen, we’ve come to help!”

“My goodness, you’re finally here! I missed you to death!” Since they had all become familiar with each other previously, Chen Cuihua and the other workers had learned quite a lot of young people’s slang from these students. Now, seeing them, she blurted it out without thinking.

Hearing this, Sun Le and the others burst into laughter. Without waiting for Chen Cuihua to arrange anything, they voluntarily picked up fruit crates and started busywork in the fields.

Having more people was indeed much faster. Throughout the day, the number of tomatoes harvested was more than double that of yesterday. But even so, it was still a bit of a struggle when it came time to deliver the goods each day.

There was no helping it; the bosses who ordered the tomatoes all ordered thousands or even tens of thousands of catties.

There was even one boss who drove a large truck over directly, with an order reaching 30,000 catties.

Fortunately, the rules of Anxin Farm had been established, and that boss also brought over a dozen people.

After some discussion, the regular workers and those dozen people worked in two shifts, striving to get all 30,000 catties done within three days.

When Lin Muhan returned to the small courtyard, she heard about this and asked Tan Xiao if she needed help.

“If I said I did, are you sure you could call over that group of friends of yours who drive luxury cars and drink Lafite to help pick tomatoes in the field?” Tan Xiao said nonchalantly.

Lin Muhan rolled her eyes and accompanied her in watering the flowers. “The conversation always dies when I talk to you.”

Tan Xiao put down the watering can and carefully pruned the rose branches. “Sister Chen said she has already asked her friends to go to the nearby villages to recruit people to help with the emergency.”

“That’s good then.” Lin Muhan breathed a sigh of relief and muttered softly, “Isn’t everything mechanized nowadays for sowing and harvesting? Maybe I should talk to Su Han and have her spend some money to buy a harvester, so we don’t have to worry.”

“Would you be willing to buy a tomato with broken skin?” Tan Xiao asked in return.

Lin Muhan pursed her lips. “Forget I said anything.”

“Mechanization can indeed save a lot of labor, but machines are inanimate. Anxin Farm grows more than one type of crop; there is currently no machine that can complete all the sowing and harvesting for us. Furthermore, there’s the damage rate. Most fruits and vegetables harvested by machines are intended for secondary processing. For example, grapes—after they are harvested, they are immediately sent to a factory for processing in preparation for winemaking. As far as I know, there isn’t a single farm yet that puts machine-harvested fruits and vegetables directly onto the market.” Tan Xiao explained patiently.

A flash of understanding crossed Lin Muhan’s eyes, and she simultaneously felt a bit annoyed at her own foolish question.

She hadn’t even looked into it before offering her opinion.

Ding…

After finishing the pruning, Tan Xiao put down the shears, took out her phone, and opened WeChat.

It was a voice message from Professor Wu.

Professor Wu: “Tan Xiao, I heard your farm is overwhelmed right now. How about it, do you need my help? Over a hundred students from the class, I’m in charge of have already returned.”

Tan Xiao: State your conditions.

Professor Wu: “I like talking to smart people. I’ll let them help you through this urgent situation, and in exchange, you teach them practical theory later. How does that sound?”

Tan Xiao: Is there a salary?

Lin Muhan leaned her head over, and what she saw was this sentence. Unconsciously, she rolled her eyes again.

This girl is obsessed with money!

Professor Wu: “At such a young age, you’ve fallen into a money trap. That’s not good.”

Professor Wu: “If you really want a salary, it’s not impossible. I’ll talk to the school and get you an off-staff position.”

Teaching students or teaching farm owners—it was all teaching; it wasn’t out of the question.

Having made up her mind, Tan Xiao replied quickly.

Tan Xiao: Deal.

Tan Xiao: I want to see people tomorrow.

Professor Wu: “Just you wait, I’ll arrange it for you right now.”

Tan Xiao: Pay them according to the rate for temporary workers and provide one lunch.

Professor Wu: “You certainly know how things work.”

Tan Xiao put down her phone and turned her head to meet Lin Muhan’s eyes.

She wasn’t sure if it was Lin Muhan’s illusion, but she actually saw a “sea of stars” in Tan Xiao’s eyes.

It was beautiful, attracting her to draw closer and explore.

And she did exactly that, leaning down unconsciously to close the distance between them. Staring at Tan Xiao without blinking, she asked in confusion, “Tan Xiao, exactly what kind of spell have you cast on me?”