Inheriting a Farm Made Me an Internet Sensation - Chapter 5

After finishing her water, Tan Xiao placed the glass on the table. Her fingers tapped away at the keyboard as she said, “Thank you.”

Tan Xiao’s voice pulled Lin Muhan’s thoughts back to reality, and she turned away unnaturally to face sideways.

She shook her head. Surely it was just because the people she had seen lately were too plain; that had to be why she found Tan Xiao—someone who had looks but no brains—to be so “delicious” to look at.

Yes, she told herself, as soon as she returned to the city, she would definitely invite a few pretty girls out to hang out.

Once her mind calmed down, she turned back, intending to hurry the other woman along, only to find herself locking eyes with Tan Xiao, who was looking over.

Tan Xiao’s phoenix eyes were clear and full of spirit; the corners of her eyes tilted up slightly, possessing a softness that was also infused with a touch of the ethereal. Her snow-white skin paired with thick, dark eyebrows meant that in the entire entertainment industry, one look was enough to make anyone fall for her. The slight air of heroism in her facial structure gave Tan Xiao’s beauty a unique personality that few could surpass.

To come to a farm to plant crops with a face like that was truly a waste of God’s gift.

Aware of Tan Xiao’s gaze, Lin Muhan couldn’t help but recall the “scenery” she had glimpsed earlier. She raised her voice slightly: “What are you looking at? Do your work.”

With a dazed look in her eyes, Tan Xiao stood up from her chair and took a step forward. She sized Lin Muhan up, pondering aloud, “You’re nervous.”

Her words and her gaze made Lin Muhan increasingly uncomfortable. Her breathing became erratic as she denied it: “Nonsense.”

Sensing out of the corner of her eye that Tan Xiao hadn’t backed away, Lin Muhan tightened her slightly trembling hand and raised it high, threatening her: “Is your skin itching for a beating?”

Tan Xiao immediately pushed her chair aside. After a few steps, she threw herself onto the bed, saying weakly, “There’s no printer here. Send it to your phone yourself.”

Lin Muhan took a deep breath and turned around to see Tan Xiao lying sprawled on the bed. She asked, “It’s done? You’d better not be fooling me.”

Tan Xiao didn’t even lift her head; her eyelids were drooping heavily. She raised both hands above her head in a cupped-fist salute: “Even if I had ten times the courage, I wouldn’t dare fool you, Lawyer Lin.” She lowered her hands and turned her face the other way. “Because I haven’t seen the soil quality of the entire farm, the data I gave is just an approximation.”

Lin Muhan walked quickly to the bed and reached out to tug at her: “Then get up and go look right now.”

Tan Xiao tried hard to rescue her arm from Lin Muhan’s grip, only to be met with an even tighter restraint. She tried again but failed. Driven by drowsiness, the annoyance that had been building up in her heart exploded at that moment. She snapped her eyes open, no longer caring if her wrist hurt, and forcibly wrenched her hand back: “Let go!”

Lin Muhan was caught off guard by this move. Pulled by gravity, her body tumbled toward Tan Xiao.

Having been provoked, Tan Xiao shed her “soft bun” persona. The moment Lin Muhan fell toward her, she rolled her body to avoid the impact while simultaneously trying to free her hand.

Whether it was because Lin Muhan fell too fast or she was half a beat too slow, she was pinned down by Lin Muhan’s weight on her chest. The intense pressure and feeling of suffocation caused her to cough violently, her face turning red rapidly in the process.

Realizing what had happened, Lin Muhan belatedly let go of Tan Xiao’s hand. Using both hands to brace herself against the bed, she moved her body off Tan Xiao. Panting heavily, she sat on the edge of the bed, patting her chest in fear.

Was Tan Xiao angry just now? That’s why she had such a big reaction.

With the heavy weight gone, although Tan Xiao’s chest felt uncomfortable, it was better than before. Coughing, she rolled onto her side. Her voice carried a hint of hoarseness: “You told me… not to go this afternoon.” She raised a finger and pointed toward the door, her meaning very clear—she wanted Lin Muhan to get out.

Lin Muhan understood, and a flush spread across her face. She opened her mouth slightly but ended up saying nothing, leaving the bed to head for the door.

After a few steps, she turned back and sat on the single-person sofa, crossing her arms over her chest: “You have no right to order me around.”

If she walked out like this today and people found out, where would her dignity be? Even Su Han had never ordered her around like that.

Tan Xiao spared her a brief glance, stood up, walked to the computer desk, and picked up her water glass. She took several gulps of water until the remaining discomfort in her chest gradually faded. She set the glass down, took off her slippers, and lay flat on the bed as if no one else were there.

Before coming here, she had always maintained the habit of a midday nap. In her view, only with sufficient sleep could the brain remain clear, making learning or working twice as effective with half the effort.

Still maintaining her arms-crossed posture, Lin Muhan was waiting for Tan Xiao to back down. After waiting for quite a while without seeing Tan Xiao bow her head, she turned her head toward the bed, only to see Tan Xiao’s peaceful sleeping face.

The anger in her heart flared up instantly. She stood up and approached the bed, reaching out to drag the person up, but her hand hesitated when she saw Tan Xiao’s slightly furrowed brow.

“I’ll let you off this once. If there’s a next time, I’ll snap your arm,” she muttered quietly. Then, she lightened her footsteps and left the room.

The sun shifted westward, and just before it was completely submerged into the clouds, Tan Xiao finally woke up slowly from her slumber.

She raised a hand to rub her bleary eyes, propped herself up, and scanned the room. Seeing no sign of Lin Muhan, she flopped back onto the bed.

Knock, knock, knock…

“Little Tan, it’s time to eat.”

It was Chen Cuihua’s voice.

Tan Xiao quickly responded, “Okay, I’m coming.”

She put on her shoes and walked unhurriedly to the dining room connected to the kitchen. She caught sight of three dishes and a soup laid out on the jade-crystal dining table. Judging by the garnish of chopped green onions and cilantro on the braised dishes, this food did not come from the hand of Sister Song—Song Qinlan—who was usually in charge of the farm’s meals.

That left only one possibility: Lin Muhan had ordered takeout.

Chen Cuihua, returning from the bathroom, saw Tan Xiao dazed on the spot. She stepped forward, patted her shoulder, and urged, “What are you staring for? Eat.”

Sitting at the dining table, Lin Muhan gave a light snort. “Don’t mind her. Sleeping doesn’t exactly burn calories.”

“But, wasn’t it you—”

Lin Muhan interrupted her in time: “Sister Chen, I’m hungry. Let’s eat!”

“Alright.” While answering, Chen Cuihua sat down at the table.

Lin Muhan thought Tan Xiao would turn and leave, but to her surprise, Tan Xiao walked over.

“Thank you for the treat.”

After saying that, Tan Xiao picked up her chopsticks and began to eat with great relish. People are made of iron and food is their fuel; besides, she had no money right now, so she should save whenever she could.

“Oh, right.” Chen Cuihua put down her chopsticks and pulled a scooter key from her pocket, placing it on the table. She glanced at Lin Muhan, who was sitting opposite her, before continuing, “This is the key to the electric scooter. The farm is so big, it’s more convenient to have a vehicle.”

Tan Xiao glanced up at Lin Muhan. Seeing Lin Muhan’s eyes darting away, she knew this “electric donkey” had been arranged by her.

As for why it was arranged, she would just treat it as Lin Muhan’s way of apologizing to her.

“Thank you.” With that, she continued eating. She didn’t know where Lin Muhan had ordered the food from, but it indeed tasted better than Sister Song’s cooking.

Lin Muhan didn’t receive any more glances from Tan Xiao. While she felt a slight sense of relief, her mood became complicated.

After she had left Tan Xiao’s room in the afternoon, she had gone back and sent the plan Tan Xiao had made to a friend of hers who had graduated from agricultural college. Her friend said the plan was very detailed and that the person who wrote it clearly had rich planting experience. Combined with the friend’s knowledge of the local soil, the final data was largely accurate.

The most crucial point was that there was a feature in the plan that the market would love: pure ecological planting. Once tested by a professional institution to confirm there were no pesticides or other residues, this batch of tomatoes could quickly capture the market upon release and gain widespread attention.

Of course, it ultimately depended on whether the plan could actually be put into practice.

This reply from her friend exceeded her expectations, and a massive doubt arose in her heart: why would someone who studied business management know so much about planting and receive such high praise from a professional?

She thought about it for a long time without figuring it out, so she simply stopped thinking about it. She only needed to know that she wouldn’t lose this round and that the money in her pocket could be saved.

As for the secrets Tan Xiao was hiding, she would uncover them slowly. After all, she had plenty of time.

Tan Xiao had no idea what Lin Muhan was thinking. After finishing her meal, she returned to her room and began to study the tomato seeds Sun Le had brought her.

Looking at the tomato colors on the labels, an idea formed in her mind: to set aside a separate area to plant these tomatoes in a mixed fashion.

She was always a person of action. The next day, she rode the electric scooter to inspect the entire farm. After confirming that the soil quality was generally consistent, she began to plan the planting areas.

Some of the hired help had objections to her arrangements, but since Chen Cuihua had given the nod, even if they were dissatisfied, they could only keep it to themselves.

As the temperature gradually rose, the day for transplanting the seedlings arrived.

The soil had been completely loosened, and all the helpers had gathered here, waiting to take the seedlings for planting.

“I want to see just how well these seedlings grow after switching varieties.”

“I’ve seen her running over here quite frequently these past few days. I bet there’s an eighty or ninety percent chance something’s wrong with these seedlings.”

“They don’t listen to the wisdom of their elders, and they’ll suffer for it soon enough. They don’t think about how we’ve grown up from the soil; we have more experience than those agricultural university teachers, let alone a young girl in her early twenties.”

“Why do you care so much? She was sent by the boss. Whether it makes a profit or a loss, it’s still the boss’s.”

“You have a point. Anyway, we get paid to work. Whether the harvest is good or not doesn’t have much to do with us.”

“You bunch of old women, what are you mumbling about again? Go peel off the plastic film.”

With Zhang Da’s shout, the scene instantly went quiet.

Tan Xiao walked through the crowd and stood at one end with Zhang Da. They were the first to peel back the film.

With the film gone, the tomato seedlings inside—which were growing thick and tall—revealed themselves to everyone.

Zhang Da laughed. “I haven’t looked for just three or four days, and they’ve grown another stage higher.”

Chen Cuihua, who had just finished a phone call, walked over. Looking at the rows of excellently growing tomato seedlings, she swallowed hard. “My goodness, if I remember correctly, less than fifteen pounds of seeds were sowed here.” She turned to Zhang Da. “How many pounds of seeds did we sow for these many seedlings last year?”

Zhang Da scratched his head, thought for a moment, and replied, “We sowed twenty pounds last year, and they weren’t growing this well.” Then, he gave Tan Xiao a thumbs up. “You were right.”

Tan Xiao smiled and waved it off. “Now, one group of people will perform the first ‘pseudo-planting’ on these seedlings.” Seeing everyone’s confusion, she explained, “That means digging the seedlings out but not planting them immediately.”

No one present had heard of this method before, and they all looked at each other in bewilderment.

“The purpose of pseudo-planting is to suppress the wild growth of the root system. Don’t worry, there’s nothing wrong with planting this way.” The speaker was Sun Le, who stopped not far away and pointed to the six students following behind her. “Sister Xiao Xiao, I brought you some helpers. Leave the digging of the seedlings to us; you all can take a portion to go plant first.”

Tan Xiao nodded. Together with the others, they dug up the first row of seedlings. After listening to Tan Xiao’s detailed explanation regarding the spacing between seedlings and the depth of the soil covering, Zhang Da and Chen Cuihua led their groups away to begin the transplanting.

Once the hired help had gone to do their respective tasks, only Tan Xiao, Sun Le, and the other six students remained.

“Sister Xiao Xiao, which agricultural college did you graduate from?” a girl asked with a smile.

Lin Muhan, who had come to the farm out of boredom, stopped in her tracks as she drew near and heard this. She listened intently, wanting to know how Tan Xiao would answer.