Farmland

After lunch, before the afternoon break began, Zhao Danshi called his boss and told him he would not be going back for the time being.

His boss was extremely surprised and repeatedly asked over the phone, "What happened? Aren't you planning to come back to work?"

Zhao Danshi let out a long breath. "No, I'm not planning to work for the time being. Don't hold that position for me. I'll stay here for half a year or a year before deciding what to do. Boss, I want to work freelance for a while. If you have any design drawings that need an extra hand, you can come to me."

His boss still could not understand. "Why do you suddenly want to freelance from home?"

"It wasn't that sudden. When I left today, I saw my grandfather wiping away tears behind my back. He's getting old, and who knows how many years he has left? Seeing him all alone here made me feel terrible."

Zhao Danshi paused, and there was no sound from the other end of the line either.

He continued, "I still have some savings. I can get by working from home, so I'll try and see whether this path works out. I've already quit anyway. If it does work, I'll take on more projects. Being a freelancer should be enough to support the two of us."

His boss did not know much about his family and assumed the two of them had always depended on each other. At this point, he could not bear to say more and could only reply, "Then give it a try. If it really doesn't work out, come back. I'll help you ask around for a suitable job."

"Okay, thanks, Boss. I'll have to trouble you to send the luggage I mailed to you back to the village."

"Sure. Send me the address, and I'll mail it this afternoon."

Zhao Danshi chatted with him a little longer. After hanging up, he sent him the address on WeChat. Along with it, he sent a red packet of six hundred and sixty yuan to cover the shipping cost for the luggage.

His boss did not accept it, only saying, "You're already coming back without a salary. Save your money."

With nothing to do that afternoon, Zhao Danshi simply sorted out the things his grandfather had specially given him from his suitcase. He also bought quite a few local specialties in the village, packed everything into cardboard boxes, and mailed them to his boss.

His grandfather still did not know that he had made up his mind to settle down in the countryside. Cheerfully, he bought a chicken, killed it especially to make soup, then took out the cooked chicken afterward, chopped it into pieces, and ate it with dipping sauce.

Dahei ate nearly half the chicken and wagged his tail wildly in delight.

After mailing the package in town that afternoon, Zhao Danshi wandered around the village for a long time.

Back then, everyone had lived side by side, their houses built in rows with a large ancestral hall in the middle. At lunchtime and dinnertime, people would lively carry their bowls to the ancestral hall, eating and chatting as they went.

Now that everyone had money, they had moved out and built separate country houses, each family living quite far apart. The old houses had fallen into disrepair, some nearly ruined, and a few had even collapsed, with weeds taller than a person growing inside.

Other than a few especially poor households, no one lived in tiled-roof houses anymore. Even families in poor financial circumstances would borrow money to build small one- or two-story homes.

Their village was not large, surrounded by green mountains. Zhao Danshi carefully walked through the entire place in less than an hour.

After touring the village, he went to look around the farmland.

Most households now worked away from home, and the once fertile fields had been abandoned, turning acre after acre into wasteland thick with weeds. Because the soil was so rich, the weeds here grew even taller and denser than elsewhere.

Only a small portion of the once-fertile fields had been cleared and planted with crops.

Looking at the good farmland, Zhao Danshi began considering the possibility of leasing land.

That evening, while eating dinner, Zhao Danshi asked his grandfather about renting farmland in the village.

His grandfather said, "The village has become this abandoned. Who would still rent these fields?"

"Not even one acre has ever been rented out?"

"That's not it. A couple of years ago, someone said they wanted to grow rice here and rented several dozen acres."

"What happened afterward? Why didn't that person keep growing rice?"

"Transportation here is inconvenient. Machinery can't be brought in, and it's not easy to transport the rice out after growing it, so the costs are much higher. There are plenty of abandoned fertile fields in towns outside too. It's far more convenient to farm there, so naturally they stopped coming here."

"So how much does it cost to rent an acre of land here?"

"Two or three hundred yuan a year, I suppose. I heard that when they rented land for rice, it was around two hundred and forty yuan per acre." His grandfather was puzzled. "Why are you asking about this?"

"Just asking. I'm seeing whether I can come back and run a farmstay."

His grandfather snorted. "This is such a remote, poor place, and there aren't even any scenic spots. How could we run a farmstay?"

Zhao Danshi did not say much and urged his grandfather to eat.

After dinner, they each washed up and went to bed. Zhao Danshi took out his laptop and began planning his future life.

He definitely had to farm, but he could not plant too much in the first year. He needed time to practice.

Watcher's words should not have been too far off. Once he started farming, he would see what Watcher could provide before planning the work for the following year.

It was already autumn. If he wanted to plant something, he could grow a crop of vegetables.

Choy sum, lettuce, Indian lettuce, radishes, garlic... These vegetables had short growing cycles and decent prices. If he could grow them successfully, and their quality really was as Watcher claimed, he could haul them into the county town to sell and earn his first pot of gold.

Before he earned his first income from selling vegetables, he still had to continue doing his old work. At the very least, he could not let his design skills go to waste. Starting out as a freelancer might be a little difficult, but the income would still be better than just sitting in the countryside. With money coming in and going out, he would not be living off his savings alone.

Zhao Danshi listed everything one by one and finally realized that the most urgent matter was convincing his grandfather.

Over the past two days, he had been observing the old man. His grandfather was in a very good mood, full of energy every day. The first thing he did upon waking was plan what to eat that day, racking his brains to nourish his young grandson.

Zhao Danshi found an opportunity and deliberately told him during lunch one day that he wanted to stay here and work freelance.

But his grandfather showed no joy after hearing this. He put down his chopsticks. "Nonsense. Your job in the city is so good. Why come back to freelance?"

Zhao Danshi lowered his head and counted the grains of rice in his bowl. "The pressure in the city is just too great. It's hard enough to earn a little salary, but it all goes toward rent and transportation. I'm busy from morning to night every day, yet I can't save much by the end of the year. I might as well work here, save on rent and travel expenses, and not exhaust myself so much."

His grandfather disagreed. "You're young. How can you be afraid of hardship? What if you stay cooped up in the countryside too long and lose touch with society?"

"I'll still be working here. I'll keep in touch with people online every day. I won't lose touch."

Across the table, his grandfather asked, "Then what about your social insurance and housing fund? How will you pay them? And aren't you going to buy a house in the city? If you stay in this countryside forever, how will you find a partner?"

Zhao Danshi's sexual orientation was different from most people's. He certainly would not be able to find a partner in the countryside.

Though his grandfather was old, he had weathered all kinds of storms throughout his life and saw things more clearly than these young people. "At least in the city, you can find people who share your ideals. In the countryside, there are only a few old men and old women. Where are you going to find someone like you?"

Zhao Danshi was speechless. His grandfather said earnestly, "I know you're filial and want to stay to keep me company. But everyone's fate is fixed. I'm doing quite well here. Go back to work with peace of mind. Come visit me when you have time. If I can see you a few more times, I'll be satisfied."

"Grandpa, I didn't quit my job just to keep you company." Zhao Danshi sighed and had no choice but to play the pity card. "The pressure outside is too much. I want to come back and recover for a while. You don't know what my job is like. I'm a designer, and I make proper drawings, but my supervisor messes with them all over the place. To save money, he even dares to cut down on rebar. Isn't that harming both others and himself? If a building collapses, who will bear the responsibility?"

His grandfather listened seriously from beginning to end, then finally said, "It's fine to rest for a while. A month, two months, even half a year is fine, but you can't stay cooped up in the countryside long-term. A good young man will become useless if he stays here too long."

Seeing that he had relented, Zhao Danshi did not care about the time limit and said happily, "I'll stay for half a year first. I shouldn't sit around doing nothing during that time, so I want to take design jobs online while growing some vegetables to sell. I'll treat it as trying a new life."

This time, his grandfather did not object. "What vegetables do you want to grow? How much land do you need? Grandpa will help you negotiate."

"I need to look into it a little more. Maybe some leafy greens, garlic, and tomatoes. I'll see which vegetables are expensive before deciding what to plant. As for land, how about three acres to start?"

Zhao Danshi knew his own limits. "I haven't really farmed before. If I take too much land, I might not be able to manage it."

"Think it over slowly." His grandfather picked up his bowl again. "The family has more than three acres of land. If you want to farm, I'll clear some out for you."

"No, Grandpa. Let's rent some land. The fields at home are already planted, so it wouldn't be worth it to clear them out now. Besides, it's only around two hundred yuan a year. Renting for a year won't cost much."

His grandfather still thought he would go back to work after farming for a few months. If he used the family's own land, they could abandon it anytime, but renting someone else's land would not be so convenient.

His grandfather could not say that plainly to Zhao Danshi, so he insisted, "It's fine. Those fields weren't growing much anyway. Clearing them out will be easy."

The next day, Zhao Danshi followed his grandfather to carefully inspect the fields they planned to plant. These fields were fairly close to the village and right beside the main road, making it convenient to transport vegetables out later.

The only drawback was that the fields had been abandoned for quite a long time. Other than a few pumpkin and winter melon plants, they were full of weeds. His grandfather also took him to see another vegetable plot. Seeing eggplants and beans still growing there, Zhao Danshi simply did not take it. These few plots were enough for him to work with.

After returning from the fields, Zhao Danshi estimated that he would need to buy a few bottles of herbicide to get rid of the weeds before reclaiming the land.