Reclaiming the Wasteland

After buying everything, Su Ye found a deserted spot, put it all into his storage bag, and headed home.

Su Ye gave it some careful thought. The wasteland covered more than a hundred mu, and with the money he had now, he could only reclaim a small portion for the time being. He would wait until he had earned some money before reclaiming the rest. If all else failed, he would have to go to the provincial capital and sell a few ginseng roots. Unless it came to that, Su Ye really didn't want to sell them off.

After all, the ginseng had been grown in the space and had been subjected to Su Ye casting the Sweet Rain Technique as if his life depended on it. It contained a great deal of spiritual energy, and if someone with designs on it discovered it, there could be danger.

"I'll take it one step at a time," Su Ye murmured.

When he got home, Su Ye saw that no one was there. His parents had probably gone to work in the fields. In the countryside, anyone who wanted a better life than others had to work harder than them.

Seeing that no one was home, Su Ye drove his father's little three-wheeler toward the wasteland. He would take a look around before deciding what to do.

The wasteland east of the village wasn't barren land where not a blade of grass grew. Quite the opposite: the ground was overgrown with weeds and shrubs, and some trees had even reached several meters in height. Reclaiming it would be utterly impossible without a great deal of manpower and resources.

Behind the wasteland stretched a mountain range that ran for a hundred li, so muntjacs, red deer, and even wild boars often paid the land a visit. The previous contractor had frequently suffered headaches from the damage they caused.

"Looks like I'll have to put a fence around it later," Su Ye said.

A small stream ran through the middle of the wasteland. Its source was said to lie deep in the mountains. Sunlight made the water shimmer, its surface twinkling as though dotted with stars.

Su Ye picked up a stone and tossed it into the stream. Water splashed up at once, scattering "pearls" to either side like flying beads and rolling jade.

"The mountains are green and the waters clear. It's a fine place, so I didn't lose out," Su Ye said.

"Brother Ye, what are you doing here?" A familiar voice came from behind Su Ye. He turned around, and who else could it be but Zhang Erhu?

Zhang Erhu was barefoot and covered in mud, grinning at Su Ye.

"Huh? Erhu? What are you doing here?" Su Ye asked.

"Ah, Brother Ye, I'm catching swamp eels. Don't underestimate this stream. There really are a lot of them here, and I've already caught quite a few."

As he spoke, Zhang Erhu took the fish basket off his back and set it in front of Su Ye to show him.

"Hey, that really is a lot. Must be ten jin or so," Su Ye said.

The basket was full of yellow swamp eels, wriggling about like oversized earthworms.

"Haha, not a bad haul. By the way, Brother Ye, what are you doing here?" Zhang Erhu asked.

"Oh, I've leased this wasteland, so I came to take a look," Su Ye replied.

"Oh! I heard at noon today that some big moneybags had leased our village's wasteland. I never expected it to be you, Brother Ye," Zhang Erhu said, looking at Su Ye with admiration.

"Ah, what moneybags? Anyway, Erhu, would you like to come help me? I'll pay you 5,000 yuan a month," Su Ye asked.

These days, many young people who went away to work earned only three or four thousand yuan a month.

"5,000 yuan? Isn't that too much, Brother Ye? How about less?" When Zhang Erhu heard that Su Ye was actually offering him 5,000 yuan, he was stunned on the spot.

"Haha, who asks for their own pay to be cut? It's settled, then," Su Ye said with a laugh.

"Then what are you planning to do, Brother Ye? I don't have much schooling. I'm afraid I'll cause you trouble and end up making things worse," Zhang Erhu said.

"Nothing much. I'm just going to grow crops and raise livestock: melons, fruit and vegetables, chickens, ducks, fish and things like that. You'll definitely know how to do it," Su Ye said.

"But I'm a little short on funds right now, so I can only develop part of it first. Once I've made some money, I'll develop the rest," Su Ye said.

"All right, then. From now on, Brother Ye, you're my own big brother. Wherever you tell me to go, I'll go," Zhang Erhu said.

"Good. We start tomorrow, so make sure you're here on time," Su Ye teased.

"I guarantee I won't be late," Zhang Erhu replied.

With that, Zhang Erhu stopped catching eels and rode home with Su Ye on his father's electric three-wheeler.

Early the next morning, Su Ye found several villagers to help reclaim the wasteland, paying them 150 yuan a day. Everyone worked hard, especially Zhang Erhu, who was sawing through a tree with a chainsaw. He was hardly ever seen taking a break.

In less than a morning, they had already cleared nearly ten mu of wasteland.

Su Ye then went home and brought over the power tiller he had bought the day before to loosen the soil.

By the end of the day, they had reclaimed nearly forty mu. Of course, their hard work was one reason, and their advanced tools were another.

After Su Ye handed out everyone's wages, they all went home with him to eat.

In Su Ye's village, there was an unwritten rule: whoever asked people to help with work had to provide their meals for the day.

Early the next morning, Su Ye and Zhang Erhu ate breakfast and hurried over to the wasteland to get to work. The two built a greenhouse out of bamboo, splitting each stalk into about four or five strips, sharpening both ends and sticking them into the ground to form arches. Then they covered them with a large sheet of plastic, and a simple greenhouse was complete.

Once the greenhouse was finished, the two divided the land inside into plots, each about four or five square meters, for raising seedlings. The greenhouse was divided into about twenty plots, and they scattered plenty of vegetable seeds-Chinese cabbage, greens, watermelon, pumpkin... until the entire greenhouse had been sown.

By the time they finished, the sun was almost down. Su Ye's mother had brought breakfast over during that time.

Only after the sun had set did Su Ye and Zhang Erhu make their way home.

That night, Su Ye returned alone, took spiritual energy water out of the Immortal Spirit Space, and watered each plot in turn.

Early the next morning, Zhang Erhu and Su Ye dragged a long roll of water pipe over. They planned to divert some water from the stream to the greenhouse. The day before, Zhang Erhu had carried all the water for the seeds from the stream in an iron bucket, which took time and effort, so they had brought a roll of pipe today.

"Brother Ye, come look! These have all sprouted!" Zhang Erhu shouted in surprise.

Su Ye walked over and saw that Zhang Erhu was talking about the seeds he had watered with spiritual energy water the night before.

"These are all new varieties, products of advanced technology. Don't make such a fuss," Su Ye said.

"Oh, I didn't go to school much, so I don't really understand this stuff. Technology really is advanced these days. Sometimes I really envy educated people like you, Brother Ye," Zhang Erhu said with feeling.

"What is there to envy? Everything has its pros and cons," Su Ye said.

If Su Ye hadn't had his fortuitous encounter, he would probably still be earning an intern's salary of 1,500 yuan. Even if he had become a regular employee, he would only be making three or four thousand, with slow increases after that.

Meanwhile, some of those who had dropped out years earlier and entered society could earn more than ten thousand yuan thanks to their experience. They had long since started families and had children, built new houses, and bought cars.

Yet after graduating from university, Su Ye had nothing but a bit of perspective. He was a textbook three-no product.

What was there to envy?

Each had its own good things, and each had its own hardships.