Inheriting a Farm Made Me an Internet Sensation - Chapter 3

Tan Xiao saw the impatience on the buzz-cut man’s face and the dismissive smiles of the other hired hands.

She took a step forward, pointed at the seeds in her palm, and explained, “Look, these seeds are relatively shriveled. The germination rate for seeds like this won’t be high.” She lifted her eyes to look at the buzz-cut man. “Its yield is indeed decent, but the taste is always a bit lacking.”

Her words hit a sore spot. The workers looked at each other, and the smiles on their faces faded slightly.

The buzz-cut man fell silent for a moment before waving his hand again. “There’s no such thing as a perfect deal. If you want yield, don’t demand flavor.”

“The vegetables in the field ultimately face the market. When prices are similar, most people will choose the ones with better flavor and abandon the ones that are slightly inferior.” She shifted her gaze toward everyone and asked, “I heard from Sister Chen that you’ve all worked at this farm for several years. You should know better than I do—has the surplus of stagnant vegetables been increasing over these past few years?”

Hearing this, everyone lowered their heads, their eyes flickering. She had clearly hit the mark.

“I studied crops in university—” Realizing something, Tan Xiao corrected herself, “I’ve studied cultivation and I know the importance of seed selection and planting methods. Besides, the revenue generated by the farm over the next six months is directly related to me. I want the farm’s produce to sell well even more than you do.”

The buzz-cut man hesitated and turned his head to look at Chen Cuihua.

Chen Cuihua gave a dry laugh and stammered, “Lawyer Lin didn’t mention this to me.”

Upon hearing this, the buzz-cut man continued his sowing. “We’re just workers. Those words are useless if you tell them to us.”

The others nodded in agreement. Although they felt Tan Xiao made sense, she wasn’t the one paying them.

Guessing their thoughts, Tan Xiao pulled out her phone and opened the call interface, only to realize belatedly that she hadn’t saved Lin Muhan’s number.

She put the phone down, turned around, and saw Chen Cuihua coming toward her. She rubbed her nose and said unnaturally, “Sister Chen, could you please give me Lawyer Lin’s phone number? I… I forgot to save it.”

After her initial surprise, Chen Cuihua took out her phone, found Lin Muhan’s number, and gave it to her.

After entering the number, Tan Xiao didn’t hesitate and dialed Lin Muhan directly, switching to speakerphone.

Once the call connected, she introduced herself: “Hello, Lawyer Lin, this is Tan Xiao.”

“What, regretting it already?”

She quickly replied, “No. The agreement states that the farm will be managed by me for these six months. Therefore, I should have the right to decide exactly which crops to plant.”

“Technically, that’s true.” Lin Muhan’s tone shifted. “Are you sure you don’t want to listen to the suggestions of the veteran employees? Their—”

Knowing what Lin Muhan was about to say and considering the expressions of the workers earlier, she interrupted in time: “I know what I’m doing.”

“Then I’ll give Sister Chen a call.”

“Sister Chen is right here next to me,” she responded.

“Sister Chen, let her plant whatever she wants,” Lin Muhan instructed.

Chen Cuihua glanced at Tan Xiao before hesitatingly replying, “Alright.”

After ending the call, Tan Xiao took two steps forward. Before she could speak, everyone had already stopped working.

The buzz-cut man put the seeds back into the packaging bag. As he turned to walk toward the road, he said, “What are you all standing around for? Isn’t it great to get off work early?”

Seeing this, the other workers followed suit, leaving only Chen Cuihua and Tan Xiao on the spot.

Chen Cuihua turned to look at the seeds already scattered in the field and stammered, “These in the ground…”

“We can only wait for them to grow a bit and then pull them out.” Tan Xiao glanced at the time on her phone. “Sister Chen, I’ll have to trouble you to take me into town. I want to select the new seeds as soon as possible.”

“Okay.”

Meanwhile, at Mulan Coffee in Zhucheng.

Lin Muhan carried an exquisite small square bag as she walked gracefully toward the second floor. Passing through the semi-enclosed booths, she placed her bag on the third fragrant wood table by the window. With one hand, she lightly adjusted her red long dress and sat on the wooden chair with a soft cushion, looking with a smile at Su Han, who was elegantly sipping coffee. “It’s rare to see you in such a leisurely mood.”

Su Han swallowed the coffee before slowly saying, “Unfortunately, it still can’t compare to your colorful life.”

“Someone invited me for a drink,” Lin Muhan said, glancing down at the small square watch on her wrist. “With Sister Chen watching, Tan Xiao won’t be able to cause any major trouble, no matter how much she messes around.”

“But how did I hear that you agreed to Tan Xiao’s request?” Su Han placed her coffee cup gently on the tray and met Lin Muhan’s eyes. “The farm has been losing money for several years. The gap isn’t that large yet, but if you indulge her like this, the hole will only get bigger.”

Lin Muhan shrugged indifferently and leaned back in her chair. “Isn’t that perfect? It will help you make up your mind to transfer the farm.”

“In that case, I should thank you.”

“Professionally, you are my boss; personally, you are my best friend. So—” The corners of Lin Muhan’s mouth curled slightly. “Don’t mention it.”

Su Han gave a soft snort. “You caused this mess, so you should be the one to solve it.” She stood up, ignoring Lin Muhan’s anxious gaze. “If you can’t solve it, you’ll be the one to fill the hole caused by the losses.”

Lin Muhan stood up quickly and defended herself, “Her request complies with the terms of that agreement.”

Su Han nodded. “That’s why you’re responsible, since you were the one who drafted the agreement.” With that, she picked up her black handbag from the table and headed downstairs.

“Su Han, can’t you be reasonable? Who knew Tan Xiao was being serious?” Lin Muhan’s words received no response from Su Han.

She had known Su Han for nearly ten years and knew that once Su Han made a decision, she wouldn’t change it easily.

So, she now had only two choices. One: go back on her word and tell Tan Xiao to stop immediately. Two: trust Tan Xiao.

The records showed that Tan Xiao studied Business Management in university, which had nothing to do with planting. Oh, Tan Xiao was born in the countryside, but she had moved to the city when she was five. Even if Tan Xiao had seen her parents or grandparents farming when she was a child, she had no practical experience—and even if she did, she had likely forgotten it by now.

So, how was she supposed to trust Tan Xiao?

Thinking of this, she rubbed her forehead in frustration. Should she really go back on her word?

At the farm.

Tan Xiao led Chen Cuihua to not only select the tomato variety but also settle on the sweet potato seeds.

By the time they returned to the lodging, it was already dark.

After saying goodbye to Chen Cuihua, she originally intended to head straight upstairs, but just as she reached the bottom of the stairs, her stomach began to growl. Left with no choice, she changed direction and went to the kitchen to scavenge for food.

Wanting to avoid trouble, she skipped the meat and vegetables in the fridge and grabbed a cup of instant noodles from the corner to make do.

Once her stomach was full, she rushed upstairs, washed up, and threw herself onto the bed.

The crescent moon withdrew, and the red sun peeked out from the east.

Sleeping soundly, Tan Xiao was woken up by the commotion downstairs. Habitually, she pulled the blanket up to cover her head, but it was to no avail. She eventually had to throw off the covers and sit up in bed.

She turned her head to look at the clock on the nightstand; it wasn’t even seven o’clock yet.

Her biological clock told her she could sleep a bit longer, but the noise downstairs was invisibly urging her to hurry down and get to work.

To clear her debts sooner and get the farm into her own hands, she gritted her teeth and rolled out of bed.

As she reached the stairs on the first floor, the sounds of discussion from the courtyard drifted over.

“Sister Chen, what do you think President Su was thinking, sending a young slip of a girl here to boss us around?”

“But I heard what she said yesterday; every word hit the nail on the head. I reckon President Su sent her specifically to manage this farm.”

“If you bring a student from a school, they might talk even better than her, but in reality, they have zero experience. If you ask me, those kids are just going to university to coast for a diploma.”

“If it’s that easy to coast, why don’t you go get one yourself?”

“Zhang Da, how can you talk like that? I heard you were humiliated by that little girl yesterday.”

Tan Xiao arrived at the door of the first-floor living room and saw the buzz-cut man from yesterday—Zhang Da—turn his head away, his expression sour.

She picked up the conversation: “I’m a newcomer, so it’s normal for everyone to have doubts. I can understand that.” She walked forward a few steps and looked at the crowd, who had stopped their discussion. “The lady just now was right; anyone can talk. Next, I will use actual results to answer everyone. My understanding of cultivation isn’t just talk.”

Most of the people present exchanged looks, still skeptical of her words.

A thin middle-aged woman wearing ice-silk sun sleeves asked, “I heard from Sister Chen that you’re not only changing the tomato seeds, but also the sweet potato seeds.”

Tan Xiao nodded. “Correct. According to market feedback, the market share for honey-sweet potatoes is higher than other varieties.”

“So according to you, we were all wrong before?” The woman looked around.

“When grown fruits and vegetables face the market, it is the market that makes the choice.” Tan Xiao’s voice was firm.

“But—”

Zhang Da impatiently interrupted the woman. “Yang Chunhua, are you done yet? If you’re so capable, why don’t you do it?”

Yang Chunhua immediately shut her mouth and turned away with a flushed face.

Tan Xiao knew Zhang Da was helping her and gave him a thankful smile.

After eating, she went to the fields with all the workers. Two-thirds of the workers went to turn the soil, leaving the eight workers from yesterday to sow seeds here. Some used hoes to dig drainage ditches, while others crushed large clods of earth.

She went to the crushed soil near the red wall. Holding seeds in her hand, she lightly scattered them. Before long, she heard a “cluck-cluck” sound, followed by the sight of a rooster with glossy feathers and a bright red comb flying over her head.

The rooster wasn’t polite at all; seeing seeds in the soil, it lowered its head and began pecking.

Seeing this, Tan Xiao felt as if she had returned to the moment before she came here, when her own tomatoes were pecked by a rooster. Her anger flared up instantly. Just as she was about to catch the chicken, a clear voice rang out.

“Spare the chicken!”

She turned around and saw a round head popping out from the top of the wall, giving her a dry laugh. “Sister, that chicken is my graduation thesis. If something happens to it, I won’t be able to graduate again this year.”

Nearby, Zhang Da put down his hoe and looked over. “So that’s how it is. What’s the longest anyone has studied here?” He gave a light cough. “I don’t mean anything by it; I just see a lot of chickens, ducks, and geese flying out of here every year.”

“I… this is my seventh year.”

Finally, she had found someone even unluckier than herself.

Tan Xiao’s urge to catch the chicken instantly vanished. She originally wanted to tell the girl to just come and catch it herself, but catching sight of the tomato seeds in her hand, she had an idea. “Get me some tomato seeds from your school, and I’ll help you catch the chicken.”

The girl blinked. “Okay.”

With the deal made, Tan Xiao put the tomato seeds back into the bag and said, “I’ll have to trouble everyone to put down your work for a moment and help me catch this chicken.”

Lin Muhan, who had come looking for her, stopped by the road and saw a group of people in the field, ignoring their proper work and huddling together to catch a chicken that was jumping all over the place.

In the blink of an eye, the chicken broke through the circle and flew toward her.