Chapter 8: Money Was Dancing
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
w.a.n.g Yao went straight up the hill to work in the herbal field after returning to the village in the afternoon. He didn’t even have time to have a proper meal. He quickly stuffed some bread into his mouth—he was starving.
w.a.n.g Mingbao came to help in the afternoon. The two of them had been working until it started to get dark. They managed to fill 10 big bags with dates in the end.
“I’m exhausted! I didn’t expect you to be so fit!” w.a.n.g Mingbao tried to catch his breath.
“Because I work all the time. Working is like exercise to me,” w.a.n.g Yao said. In fact, he knew it was mainly the magical ancient spring water making him so fit.
“Take some dates for your parents,” w.a.n.g Yao gave w.a.n.g Mingbao a bag of red dates.
“Thank you. Everyone in my family loves your dates. Should we meet at the same time tomorrow?” w.a.n.g Mingbao asked while taking over the bag of dates.
“Yes,” w.a.n.g Yao said.
After locking the door, w.a.n.g Yao and w.a.n.g Mingbao went back home.
“Mom, I’m home!” w.a.n.g Yao called his mother as soon as he stepped into the house.
“Have you sold all the dates?” Zhang Xiuying asked.
“Yes. Here you are. All the money is here.” w.a.n.g Yao gave all his earnings today to his mother.
“This is a lot of money!” Zhang Xiuying was astonished. “You should keep the money yourself and deposit them in the bank tomorrow.”
“No, the money is for you,” w.a.n.g Yao said.
“I don’t want your money, son, you keep it—just don’t spend it all.”
w.a.n.g Yao eventually put away the money as his mother insisted. He was exhausted after a busy day. He went to sleep straight after dinner.
The next morning w.a.n.g Yao got up early to work on the hill as usual. He watered the herbal field and surrounding trees with ancient spring water. Then, he transferred several bags of dates onto his vehicle with w.a.n.g Mingbao. They drove to town and set up the booth at the same spot. More people than yesterday were waiting for them. There were a number of cars parked nearby and some people were even waiting next to his booth.
“This is really happening!” a female shopper said.
“Yes, this is the first time I saw so many people line up for something so expensive, considering I have been selling fruits for years,” one of the vendors said as he looked at the fruits he was selling. They were also s.h.i.+ny and tempting, but no one seemed to be interested in buying any, not even asking for the price.
“Holy c.r.a.p! So many people! This is crazy!” w.a.n.g Yao and w.a.n.g Mingbao were shocked by the situation even though they were prepared to see a large group of buyers.
“Hey, you are finally here. I’ve been waiting for you for over an hour!” An old man went up to w.a.n.g Yao as soon as he jumped out his car.
“I even took a day off to come here to buy the dates,” another buyer complained.
“I’m sorry. I live far from here. It took me a long time to travel here and the traffic was not good. Could you please all wait in line for me to serve you guys one by one?” w.a.n.g Yao said with a smile.
The buyers all nodded in unison.
It was the first time in the history of Lian Shan county that people were lining up to buy dates. Over 500 kilograms of dates were sold out in over an hour.
“Hey boss, are you gonna come back tomorrow?” someone asked.
“Sorry, I won’t come back tomorrow. I’ve sold all the dates,” w.a.n.g Yao replied with a smile. In fact, he saved several kilograms of dates at home for himself.
“Ah, nothing’s left!” Some people were so disappointed.
“I know right? It’s still so early!”
“I’m sorry, I only grew that much,” w.a.n.g Yao apologized.
“You should grow some more. The dates are so delicious.”
“Exactly,” another person agreed.
“Sorry, sorry,” w.a.n.g Yao kept apologizing.
…
“Jesus!” w.a.n.g Yao was relieved after he got into his vehicle.
“Hey man, I really admire you. You made over 30,000 yuan just by selling dates from only a couple of jujube trees. How much more could you make if you grew the trees all over Nanshan hill!”
“I can’t grow too many jujube trees,” w.a.n.g Yao said.
w.a.n.g Yao knew exactly why these dates were so popular—it was because of the ancient spring water. But there was just enough spring water to cover 2 acres of herbal field plus several jujube trees. As he was granted the “pharmacist system”, he should only focus on cultivating herbs, not crops. The dates should only be something extra.
However, w.a.n.g Yao felt very excited now. He earned over 30,000 yuan in less than a week. He didn’t dare to dream such a thing could happen to him in the past.
Next, the sealwort should be mature soon, and so will the chestnut tree!
After w.a.n.g Yao returned to the village, he went up to the hill. Looking at the blooming sealwort and well-grown chestnut trees, it was as if w.a.n.g Yao saw a handful of banknotes waving at him.
Given the popularity of the dates, w.a.n.g Yao was confident that the sealwort and chestnuts would be popular too.
Woof, woof, woof! w.a.n.g Yao’s dog, San Xian jumped onto w.a.n.g Yao, a folding stool in his mouth. The dog had become more and more intelligent after he drank the ancient spring water. He could even understand what w.a.n.g Yao said and meant.
w.a.n.g Yao returned home when it was close to evening. Dinner was ready on the table.
“Yao, your Uncle Li just came to talk about Nanshan hill. Someone in the village wants to work as a contractor on the hill. I accepted the offer on your behalf. You need to go to the county committee to alter the contract. Your Uncle Li told me that we can even get some money back!” Zhang Xiuying said.
“Okay.” w.a.n.g Yao agreed but there was a lot going through his head.
His wonderful life had just started after he obtained this wonderful system. There was no way for him to give up Nanshan hill. He planned to extend the contract, but who knew that the party secretary of the county would approach his mother unexpectedly.
Someone tried to get their hands on Nanshan hill.
I should take action soon before it is too late, w.a.n.g Yao thought.
It was early in the morning when the first glimmer of sun entered the room. w.a.n.g Yao had got up and started to work on the hill. It was almost 8 am when he had finished working.
Woof! Woof! Woof! San Xian was barking happily.
w.a.n.g Yao could see someone was approaching him from the distance.
“I knew you’d be here.” It was w.a.n.g Mingbao.
“I told you I’m not going to pick any dates today,” w.a.n.g Yao said.
“I have something else to talk to you about.”
“Okay, let’s talk inside,” w.a.n.g Yao said.
After they entered the room, w.a.n.g Yao gave w.a.n.g Mingbao a gla.s.s of water from the ancient spring kettle.
“Someone from the village wanted to contract the Nanshan hill,” w.a.n.g Mingbao said.
“I already know. Uncle Li came to my house yesterday,” w.a.n.g Yao said.
“Did you accept the offer?” w.a.n.g Mingbao took a sip of the water.
“I didn’t meet with my uncle. My mom accepted it but I don’t want to accept. I will talk to my uncle today.”
“Someone heard you made a fortune by selling the dates, so he wanted to get involved.” w.a.n.g Mingbao placed his gla.s.s of water on the table.
“What?!” w.a.n.g Yao was surprised. “The news traveled that fast? No wonder! Do you know who wants to contract the herbal field?” w.a.n.g Yao asked.
“I’m not sure. But I heard Li Chuanrong from the east side of the village had been visiting your Uncle Li quite often.”
“I see, thank you.”
“Don’t worry about it. Also, what kind of water is this? It tastes so good!” w.a.n.g Mingbao suddenly found that the gla.s.s of water w.a.n.g Yao gave him was extraordinarily sweet.
“It’s morning dew from the tree,” Said w.a.n.g Yao.
“Really? How can just morning dew fill up an entire gla.s.s? This is luxury!” w.a.n.g Mingbao was amazed.