Her Cultivation Diary

Chapter 109: 109. Do charity and accumulate merit_1

“Zhang Wang’s recent proposal concerning Bags Mountain clearly implied a willingness to accept a price below market value, or perhaps just a token amount.

Song Tan appreciated his kindness.

When he just mentioned leasing his mountain land to Song Tan, he was referring to the slope right below his house, which connected directly to the barren land behind the mountain.

About twenty acres, making up one-sixth of this bowl-shaped mountain range. The forest land certainly wasn’t as profitable as farmland, but Zhang Wang’s family was capable, and cultivating kudzu roots there could also be profitable.

At first, growing kudzu wasn’t intentional.

It was just that there were many kudzu vines growing wild in the forests, and Zhang Wang’s wife, being resourceful, once dug up a couple of hundred pounds during winter, sun-dried them, and made over ten pounds of kudzu powder. Apart from keeping some for their children, they made a profit of nearly a thousand or eight hundred yuan.

The following year, the couple intentionally tidied up the land and even added more fertilizer, enabling the wild kudzu roots to spread rapidly.

Nowadays, each winter, the couple could earn about ten thousand yuan from it.

Ten thousand yuan might not sound like much, but it’s all profit without any cost! It just took some hard work.

On this mountain, if you want to earn money, an initial investment is necessary, which doesn’t make sense for the villagers.

So, they intercropped with beans, watermelons, peanuts, and such. The harvest was quite ordinary, but it was no problem to add another two or three thousand yuan to their income.

As a result, the elderly couple no longer went out to work. Instead, they dedicated themselves to taking care of the fields at home.

Now, at the beginning of April, kudzu leaves were sprouting green. It wasn’t the right season to harvest kudzu roots; winter was more suitable.

Moreover, digging for kudzu roots now wouldn’t coincide with the best farming time. Therefore, no one mentioned leasing the mountain at the moment.

But because of this consideration, Song Tan offered her sincere advice:

‘Uncle Zhang, just taking money with you when you leave is not enough. In my opinion, hold onto that money tightly for now, and don’t give it to your children no matter what they say.’

‘When you feel the time is right, you can simply donate it. Donations can’t be withdrawn. It’s an act of kindness that brings good fortune in the next life.’

As for the next life, Song Tan cultivated immortality, not the Netherworld Path. With the current scarcity of Spiritual Energy, she naturally couldn’t be sure.

But for Zhang Wang’s family, a spiritual legacy was stronger than anything else!

At this moment, he indeed caught on, ‘Right, right, right! I’ll donate it all in my wife’s name, accumulating blessings for her! Make sure she has a good life in the next life!’

His expression was visibly approving:

‘It’s you young people with education who understand more.’

Then another worry came to him, ‘But what if something unexpected happens to me?’

Who could know for sure?

If an illness were to be diagnosed, and there was time to arrange things, all would be well. But if he were to suffer some unexpected disaster, like a fall on flat ground, or something like that…

Having thought things through so thoroughly, it was clear that Zhang Wang’s family had genuinely and seriously considered the matter.

And to think that he even went to the town to ask about the policy on severing relations…

Song Tan also answered earnestly, ‘Then when we have time, I’ll take you to the city, and we will find a lawyer to write a will. After that, we’ll spend a few hundred yuan to have it notarized.’

‘With that, how your affairs are arranged after you pass away and how the money is managed will be protected by the national law, and even your biological children won’t be able to claim it back.’

Zhang Wang’s family had never heard such detailed advice before, and at this moment felt completely reassured, ‘Good, good, good, let’s do that!'”

After a moment of thought, he added, “Don’t worry, when the time comes, I’ll get a lawyer to write up that thing, you know, in case I get hurt while working for you. No one’s allowed to extort money!”

Seeing the other person’s back straighten up a lot, that person went home full of energy.

Song Tan sighed, looked at the wasteland that was almost tidied up, and took a deep breath—

There was really too much to do at home, and now that someone was able to help with the work, it felt like a heavy burden had been lifted.

However, Song Sancheng was somewhat hesitant, “Tantan, didn’t you agree with your Grandpa Li not to pay him a wage but to have him watch over the rice paddies for us?”

“On one hand, you gave Zhang Uncle two thousand, should we tell him to keep it secret and not to spread the word?”

Song Tan laughed, “No need, Dad.”

The whole point for Zhang Wang’s family was to get that sense of satisfaction; telling him to hide it would defeat the purpose of the job. He might as well go out and find other work.

“We have so much work to do, we really need to find reliable people to help. If we put out the word about the salary first, it also spares people the awkwardness of asking for too much and creating hard feelings.”

For casual labor in the village, you wouldn’t think much of the daily wage of one or two hundred, but when it comes to a regular and stable salary, two thousand yuan is just about right.

After all, farm work is done when it’s available and can be delayed when it’s not. So over the years, apart from large-scale agricultural plans, there hasn’t been anyone known to hire farm labor on a long-term basis.

This leads to willing workers complaining about low wages, but those who don’t complain might not necessarily be keen to work. And offering a high salary is something a farmer’s household truly can’t afford.

Song Sancheng took a puff on his cigarette, “I understand the logic; I just worry that your Grandpa Li might feel uncomfortable about it…”

The problem isn’t scarcity, it’s inequity!

Song Tan shook her head, “My Grandpa Li has caring descendants. Besides, he doesn’t do strenuous work; he just lends a hand, keeps an eye out, wanders over when he’s got nothing else to do.”

“If I offered a salary of two thousand for this job, wouldn’t all the other old men and ladies in the village go crazy trying to get it? So we agreed a long time ago that, if he’s happy, we won’t bring up money. We’ll help with necessities like rice, flour, and oil instead, which is more convenient than him buying it alone.”

“At the end of the year, we’ll cut twenty kilograms of pork from our home, and that will suffice.”

“If he’s not willing, he can just say so.”

Song Sancheng breathed a sigh of relief, “I understand…as long as you’ve made it clear, that’s good.”

He then became proud again, “Look at my daughter, so organized and rational in doing things, truly my own girl!”

Song Tan:…

Truly her father, thinking his daughter had such clear thinking because of her academic time in college or a mere two years in society, had he considered why?

But she was happy to see her parents at ease, and she asked again,

“Dad, after tomorrow, I think the field by the gate can be almost completely turned over. Then we’ll need to release water into the pond, and get the two patches of rice paddy ready.”

“After that, we need to sow the vegetable seeds and transplant the seedlings. The back mountain will depend on you alone to take care of.”

Song Sancheng glanced at her, “Can’t I do it? I’ve been the only one looking after it.”

“Besides, that Zhang Uncle, I’m sure he’ll come over tomorrow!”

“Oh, right,” he suddenly recalled another matter.

“Your eldest uncle called and said that everyone’s going back to the old house tomorrow to tend to the graves. Our family has a lot of people, so don’t forget to tell your grandmother tonight, not to pick tea tomorrow morning and to help out with cooking instead.”