Carrying a Jurassic on me
Chapter 736 - 370 Another Village Guan Village_1

Chapter 736: Chapter 370 Another Village Guan Village_1

Although the father and son were both quite older and a bit eccentric, Yan Fei found himself fond of them rather quickly. Seeing them both speak so freely on the matter, it seemed certain they weren’t just blowing smoke. It was normal for people in small villages to have the same last name and to all be related, making it feel like one big family.

Dealing with such a village had its pros and cons. The downside was that it wasn’t easy to make a deal, as the village leaders would consider many factors and wouldn’t agree to things easily. The upside was that once they agreed, even if some folks were unhappy, they would still consider the bigger picture and not sabotage things.

However, given how enthusiastic they were to approach him, Yan Fei figured the situation was more good than bad.

"I can plant grass anywhere. If your land is fertile, I would be at a disadvantage. No hard feelings," Yan Fei clarified. "I’m only offering a hundred and fifty per acre. Once the grass is planted, it’s not something that will only last a year or two. So, if the price of grains rises or policies change, you’ll need to be well prepared."

"We’ve considered that. We’ve decided a hundred and fifty per acre. It won’t be less." The old man gave a quick and firm reply. "We have four to five hundred people in our village. If each person gives up a small piece of their land, we could have forty to fifty acres. You tell us how much you need!"

"Forty to fifty acres would be enough." Given their willingness, Yan Fei had no further complaints. "But, the land needs to be together for easier management."

"That’s no problem." The old man acknowledged right away, then asked thoughtfully, "Are you bringing your own people to plant, or what?"

"The land is right by your village. Whom else would I ask?" Yan Fei chuckled. This old man’s approach was much more palatable than the village chief’s earlier claim of abundant labor.

"I’ll deliver the seeds to you, and you can help me plant them. Once the grass grows, I need someone to look after it to prevent livestock from damaging it, and someone to cut it and deliver it to the cattle farm. But don’t worry, I won’t let you work for nothing. We’ll discuss the pricing and pay you for the work – It’s only fair, right?"

Within every crowd, there always are smart individuals. With the old man’s question, Yan Fei now understood what he was getting at. The old man was focusing on the work after planting. Since the land is right next to their village, it would only make sense they do the work, and they certainly wouldn’t do it for free, right?

The leasing fee might not be much, but Yan Fei couldn’t just ignore everything else, could he? In dry seasons, watering would be needed. Pest prevention would have to be conducted. With the work required, their village’s proximity would be most convenient! Even a minor payout would be better than farming themselves!

"Perfect, absolutely perfect." As expected, the old man was waiting for this exact answer. Upon hearing this, he was no longer out of breath, his leg did not hurt, and he was filled with energy. "You call the shots, and we listen. You can rest assured that I will make sure no blade of grass is ruined. If any livestock dare eat any of it, he’ll pay for it, I promise."

"No need for extreme measures – just make sure it’s looked after." Yan Fei was highly pleased with the old man’s attitude. "I’ll bring the seeds over and show you how to plant them. It’s much like planting wheat; you won’t need to worry about the fertilizers and such, just work the land. Shall we discuss how to price the work, then?"

"That’s nothing, you call the shots. We’ll just follow your lead." The old man was absolutely thrilled. They were almost at the entrance of the village, and he pointed around. "How about the land near our village? It’s fertile – you can grow anything. I guarantee it won’t disappoint you..."

"No, no, not this land." As soon as he saw how excited the old man became, Yan Fei moved quickly to stop him. "The type of grass I plant is drought-resistant. Here, even the land that is difficult to irrigate or barren could work. Save the fertile ones for growing crops. I’m only planting grass; we don’t need such fertile land."

"Justice! Boss Yan is just!" The old man gave Yan Fei a thumbs-up. "We won’t give you our poorest land; it would look like we’re ungrateful. We can’t let you make losses either..."

Yan Fei was puzzled, so he spoke plainly, "After the grass is planted, it will be counted as returning the farmland to forestry for the sake of ecological protection, and I could be exempt from taxes. Even if you provide good land to me, when people come to check, it wouldn’t look good. Mediocre land will do. The grass species I have is highly adaptable; it can survive on mediocre land."

He said this because he knew that there wasn’t any really poor land nearby the village. Except for some places that were hard to irrigate or the river side fields that could get flooded if the water level rose too much. It was called flooding rather than water level rising because there were many rivers around the Sancha River area. Water levels rise and drop quickly. Unless there was a flood like more than twenty years ago, it would at most last a day or two.

The land south of the East Bridge in the town had the lowest topographic position, and it would get flooded easily with even a slight rise in the water level. But when the cattle farm staff first discussed where to choose, they did mention this place. Because the flooding time was short, even if crops were planted, the yield would be reduced, but there wouldn’t be a total crop failure.

In fact, even the worst land here wouldn’t be considered bad in most places. The important thing was that the climate here was suitable, and the reputation as a major grain-producing county wasn’t unwarranted. When they said the land was poor, they meant in comparison to the local fertile lands, the harvest was less, but even the poorest land wouldn’t be that bad!

"Since Boss Yan says so, we will follow your lead. How about this, we first go inside to rest and have some tea. Then, I can take you around to look, and you just pick the land you like..." The old man was slightly confused after hearing Yan Fei’s words, but he immediately stopped considering the ecological environment and just focused on leasing the lands and getting money.

"No need for more tea, it’s getting late. Let’s go inspect the land now!" Yan Fei called out to Heizi, who was waiting at the entrance of the village, instructing him to get off so that he could ride the motorcycle himself. "Chief Guan, sorry for the trouble. Just the two of us can go..."

To be honest, Yan Fei didn’t need to see the fields, as he could draw a map of the entire village from memory — from chasing rabbits and birds as a kid to recent visual surveys by drone. But he couldn’t say no. He was going to make a show of it for now. In fact, he had already planned it out — he wanted land that was difficult to irrigate. Once the grass grew on it, its roots would dig deep, and it wouldn’t need as much water as crops.

Upon returning from the land inspection, Chief Guan was grinning from ear to ear. Without even stepping into the courtyard, he yelled out to an old lady who was gossiping nearby, "Wifey, what are you doing sitting around? Hurry up and make some poached eggs. If we don’t have enough eggs, go get some from Laoda. Be quick..."

No more pouring tea, straight to poached eggs.

By this point, Yan Fei’s plan was nearly fully-formed. Upon entering the house, he immediately proposed his idea to Chief Guan: "Let’s do it this way: The work in these fields is routine, and keeping tabs on every little thing would be a hassle. I’ll simply buy the grass you harvest. You guys just watch over it, and when it’s time, you’ll harvest it and send it to my cattle farm. I’ll pay you three cents per catty of grass. If there are any pest infestations and you need to buy pesticide, I’ll cover that. You guys just need to do the physical labor. Does that sound good?"

This time, Chief Guan didn’t immediately agree. Furrowing his brow, he asked, "Boss Yan, can you tell me more about this fodder grass? How many catties can one mu of land yield in a year?"

"This plant regrows after harvesting, allowing for several harvests a year. Given the quality of the soil here, I estimate that each mu could easily produce over ten thousand catties. And that’s at the bare minimum. In the future, I will definitely find ways to increase the yield, and I won’t skimp on any necessary expenses. What do you think?" Yan Fei replied with a smile.

While speaking, Yan Fei was very confident. The land was of good quality and the seeds came from the world of dinosaurs. Even if the growth of the grass here was not as good as that in the dinosaur world, a yield of ten thousand catties per mu was not a problem at all.

Chief Guan did some mental calculations before looking back at Yan Fei, "I’m old, and my mind doesn’t work as well as it used to. Give me a moment to think it over, Boss Yan." Saying this, he went back into the house and returned soon after with an abacus. "Good!" he said with a beaming smile.

In reality, this arrangement was essentially like letting them grow their own grass and sell it to the cattle farm, without spending a dime. A single mu of land could earn at least four to five hundred yuan a year. If the yield could reach fifteen thousand catties, that would mean six hundred yuan.

Fifty mu of land could rake in twenty to thirty thousand yuan a year. What could there be to complain about?

As for the labor, man power is the least valuable asset these days. Plus, growing grass would undoubtedly be less labor-intensive than growing crops. The cultivation of crops these days was still mostly done by manual labor, without much mechanization, making it truly strenuous work. Although the price of crops seemed reasonably high — with wheat selling for about 1.1 yuan a catty — the actual profitability was well understood by the farmers themselves.

Some would grow cotton or tobacco for slightly higher income, but both crops demanded intensive labor and didn’t practically work without considerable experience. Especially with tobacco — if you’re not skilled enough, you’d end up spending extra on having others do the curing, barely making a profit in the end.

Not to mention the dreaded IOUs.

Just take a look at the egg market in town, which always buzzed with activity. Women and elderly ladies from the village would come with baskets lined with wheat straw, filled with eggs. When buyers came, they’d lift up the straw and count out the eggs — around here, they even had half-price eggs. They generally priced their eggs slightly higher than what the egg traders from the county would offer.

The reason why the egg market was so popular was that almost every household in the countryside raised chickens. But these households seldom consumed the eggs; they mostly sold them to make some money.

The root cause was the lack of savings in rural households — they didn’t have much cash to spare. Now with the cattle farm trading with them for grass, the village could easily earn hundreds of yuan per mu of land without incurring any debt. This was essentially a godsend for them.

Having explained his proposal, Yan Fei didn’t stick around for dinner. He reassured Chief Guan that he would draft an agreement upon returning home, and would bring the seeds with him the next time he visited.

Everyone ended up overjoyed.