Inheriting a Farm Made Me an Internet Sensation - Chapter 23

After hanging up the call, Lin Muhan went to the second floor. Seeing that Tan Xiao was busy, she clutched her phone and sat back down beside her, keeping a close eye on the activity on Tan Xiao’s Weibo.

As she expected, the five million followers on Tan Xiao’s Weibo were all active—unfortunately, they were all anti-fans.

Just look at these comments:

Caught red-handed and feeling guilty, aren’t we? Tell us, where did you steal these records from this time? You P-shopped them into this mess. If you’ve got the guts, release all the information.

I don’t believe a word you say. You’re really good at putting gold on your own face.

Exactly as I expected, utterly shameless. You’re just trying every possible way to make a comeback. Why don’t you go take a leak and look at your own reflection to see what kind of person you really are?

If this is true, I’ll eat dirt every single day.

Unless I see it with my own eyes, it’s all fake. Just you wait, I’ve already reported you for misappropriating someone else’s information.

Looking at these mocking comments one by one, Lin Muhan’s anger surged. This generation of anti-fans was far too good at picking fights.

However, she still replied to the comment about the report: 【The content in the photos is true and valid, and it is protected by law.】

After replying, she tossed Tan Xiao’s phone aside and turned her head to look at Tan Xiao, who was staring at her laptop screen, her brow slightly furrowed.

This person was always like this—whether it was the idle gossip at the farm or the mockery and smearing online, she remained completely indifferent.

Currently, Anxin Farm hadn’t planned on taking the e-commerce route yet, but if they did, these comments would become the biggest obstacle in the sales process. Of course, all that was secondary; she was simply upset that those people were slandering Tan Xiao so much.

Because she liked her, she cared. She didn’t want those ignorant people to misunderstand Tan Xiao.

Sensing her gaze, Tan Xiao turned her head to look over and remarked, “You don’t need to take those online comments to heart. Every successful beginning will first be met with voices of denial. If you actually listen and believe them, then you’ll only end up with the word ‘failure’ in the end.”

Lin Muhan glared at her. “Who am I getting this angry for?” She leaned in closer to the other woman. “Don’t be so ungrateful.”

“Thank you, Lawyer Lin,” Tan Xiao said helplessly, her eyes carrying a hint of indulgence that she hadn’t even noticed herself.

Lin Muhan gave a light huff, turned around, picked up her own phone, and went back to her room.

Not long after she left, Tan Xiao’s phone rang. It was a text message from Su Han.

Come to the house. I have something to ask you. Remember, don’t let Hanhan know.

Tan Xiao stared at the name “Hanhan” and fell into a daze. What did this “cheap” cousin-in-law of hers mean?

Her intuition told her it wouldn’t be anything good.

She hesitated for a moment before tapping the screen to reply.

The farm is a bit busy lately. Can we talk directly over the phone?

There was no lie in her words. Although the tomato harvest at the farm was nearing its end, the thousands of acres of honey sweet potatoes had reached their maturity stage, and the vegetables she planted in the greenhouses had also entered the flowering and pollination stage.

Most importantly, she had to avoid Lin Muhan. Lin Muhan was still on sick leave, and living under the same roof—facing each other across the hall—it would indeed be difficult to go see Su Han without her knowing.

Su Han replied quickly.

I hope you can recognize the gap between you and Hanhan. Right now, you have nothing and cannot give Hanhan the life she wants. If you persist in your ways, what you desire will turn out to be nothing but a dream.

So, was this a threat?

Was she using Anxin Farm to threaten her?

Realizing this, Tan Xiao’s eyebrows knitted into a deep frown.

CEO Su, there is one thing you should also understand. Part of the reason I agreed to come to the farm in the first place was because of my debts. Now that the six-month gambling agreement is almost over, I am confident I can win. Without those debts holding me back, does CEO Su think that I have nowhere else to go but here?

If Su Han hadn’t made a threat and simply didn’t approve of her and Lin Muhan, she might not have been so defiant. After all, she hadn’t decided whether she wanted to be with Lin Muhan or not. From Su Han’s perspective, she could understand why she would say such things.

Su Han’s mistake was using Anxin Farm to threaten her.

She was compromising for the sake of Anxin Farm, but it wasn’t as if she had no other options.

She tossed her phone aside and continued writing the thesis she hadn’t finished.

On the other side of the phone, Su Han was fuming at Tan Xiao’s words.

Tan Xiao’s statement was far too arrogant and conceited.

Lin Muhan was unaware of the text exchange between the two. Watching the reversal on Weibo, she felt a great sense of satisfaction.

After she used Tan Xiao’s Weibo to post that update, a crowd of anti-fans had come out to refute and mock her.

While the anti-fans were mocking her with great fervor, a netizen posted several photos in quick succession. The first few photos showed the farm bustling with activity, while the last two were of the honey sweet potatoes about to be harvested and the actual state of the potatoes themselves.

One person doing this wouldn’t have been useful, but what if it were a group of people? The content they posted was all different—some were photos of large trucks coming to haul away tomatoes, some were of the actual tomatoes, and one person even posted a testing report from a certified laboratory.

This was a big deal. The anti-fans who had been frantically spewing hate fell silent, replaced by another group of netizens who had bought tomatoes from Anxin Farm. Every one of them praised the taste of the tomatoes and shared their own photos.

When these netizens learned that Anxin Farm also had honey sweet potatoes, they left messages saying they not only wanted to buy them but also wanted to stock up.

The most common phrase used by these netizens was: “Thank you, Tan Xiao, for letting me eat vegetables without pesticide residues.”

With these comments, the voices of the anti-fans grew much smaller.

She could already imagine the expressions of those anti-fans, looking as if they had swallowed flies.

And most of the people who stood up to speak for Tan Xiao were the students who had come to the farm to help out.

Every time Tan Xiao went to the greenhouse, there were always a few students who went to visit and asked her about their studies. Tan Xiao was never stingy and would answer them one by one.

She could see that the gaze those students directed at Tan Xiao was filled with quite a bit of admiration.

After multiple urgings from Professor Wu, Tan Xiao had no choice but to decide to start classes at the farm next Monday.

Like Lin Muhan, those who felt a sense of relief were the students working in the fields, led by Sun Le, who was working toward her postgraduate degree.

Seeing that the anti-fans could no longer keep up the abuse, she jumped up happily and glared indignantly at her phone. “Keep talking trash, will you? Our Xiao Xiao Jie is beautiful and an expert at planting. If anyone comes out to curse her, I’ll deal with them.”

Beside her, Xiao Ran saw how childish she was being and couldn’t help but cover her mouth and snicker. “Lele Jie, do you know what you look like right now? A mama hen protecting her chick.”

Hearing this, Sun Le clenched her fist and raised it high. “Your skin is itching for a beating, isn’t it?”

Xiao Ran dashed away but didn’t stop talking. “I’m not talking nonsense.” She leaped over three rows of tomatoes in succession, and seeing Sun Le still chasing her, she hurriedly raised both hands and panted for breath as she surrendered. “Lele Jie, I was wrong.”

Sun Le finally stopped and gave Xiao Ran a fierce glare. “If there’s a next time, my fist will definitely serve you.”

Hearing the commotion, a freshman not far away had a strange expression and dark, murky eyes.

Her name was Huang Mengyao. After the semester started, she heard they were recruiting temporary workers here, so she came.

She never imagined that this farm would be managed by Tan Xiao. Every time she heard everyone praising Tan Xiao, she felt extremely uncomfortable.

Coming from the same womb, she didn’t understand why the gap between her life and Tan Xiao’s was so large.

While she was still worrying about her tuition and living expenses, Tan Xiao was already standing glamorously in front of the camera. Although the online abuse was constant, it didn’t stop Tan Xiao from making money.

She thought that after Tan Xiao’s suicide attempt on the live stream and the nationwide backlash, she would be demoralized and live a life as destitute as her own. To her surprise, Tan Xiao had come to this farm, where she not only made a lot of money but also saw her online reputation showing signs of improvement.

Was she jealous? She was indeed jealous, but it was more a sense of resentment and unfairness.

She had worked so hard, yet she was still worrying about food and warmth. Why? Why was the difference between people so vast?

Over there, Sun Le turned around and saw her standing dazed in place. She asked, “Hey classmate, what’s wrong?”

Huang Mengyao quickly shook her head, reached up to brush her hair, and asked hesitantly, “In your eyes, is she really that good?”

Her voice was quite low, and Sun Le had to guess a bit to figure out what she was saying. She immediately said, “Xiao xiao Jie is very good. If you have any confusion regarding your studies, you can ask her. I heard that Xiao xiao Jie will be in charge of practical teaching for planting later on. As long as you follow her and learn well, you can avoid many detours!”

Teaching?

Huang Mengyao’s brow furrowed. What right did Tan Xiao have to become a university teacher?

She turned to Sun Le and said stiffly, “I… I heard she didn’t graduate from the College of Agriculture. How could the school…?”

This time, before Sun Le could answer, Xiao Ran took over. “Isn’t it even more admirable that she’s so amazing despite not graduating from the College of Agriculture? Look at the tomatoes under your feet. We saw it with our own eyes—not a single grain of chemical fertilizer or a drop of pesticide was used during the planting process. In a purely green planting environment, she managed to make the yield reach the standard of using chemical fertilizers. This is over a thousand acres of planting; looking across the whole country, how many people can achieve this?”

Xiao Ran tilted her head, looking Huang Mengyao up and down, and muttered, “Why do I feel like you have an issue with Xiao xiao Jie?”

As soon as she said this, the students with her all looked over at Huang Mengyao, their eyes full of defensiveness.

In their view, whether it was Tan Xiao or the other workers on the farm, they were all a group of very lovely people, and they wouldn’t tolerate anyone’s suspicion.

Huang Mengyao naturally felt their hostility and immediately waved her hands in denial. “I haven’t been working here long, so I was just curious.”

“You probably watched too many of those ‘mad dogs’ biting Xiao xiao Jie online. Xiao xiao Jie is a very good person, not at all like what they say.” With that, Xiao Ran returned to her spot and continued picking the black tomatoes.

She held up a round tomato with black skin and muttered, “No matter how I look at it, it looks like a black pearl.” After saying that, she popped it into her mouth. After swallowing it, she added, “Once you taste it, it’s still a tomato.”

This amused Sun Le and the others. “Are you stupid? It was a tomato to begin with. But Xiao xiao Jie really is amazing. Although the yield of these colored tomatoes isn’t as high as common varieties—calculated at about eight or nine hundred kilograms per mu—once I get back to school, I’m going to tell those conceited brats and see them show off then.”

“Sounds good.”

The sun set in the west, and the bright moon arrived as scheduled. After a few rooster crows, the fiery sun appeared again, releasing its heat. Not only did it not scare away the people busy at the farm, but their enthusiasm even surged—simply because the honey sweet potatoes dug up for breakfast yesterday tasted so good that everyone was still left wanting more.

The helpers were busy digging up honey sweet potatoes in the fields, while Tan Xiao rode her small electric scooter around to check the maturity of the potatoes and, by the way, to check on the orchard.

She had just arrived at the orchard when she received a phone call from Lin Muhan. Lin Muhan said that the mother who had run away with someone when she was only a few years old had come looking for her and wanted to see her.