Read Novel Full Chapter 540: Suddenly, His Vision Became Blurry
Chapter 540: Suddenly, His Vision Became Blurry
The military used to be funded by the government before the disaster, but now they’re self-sufficient. They need to invest in base security and development, which means they have to collect taxes from the residents.
“After paying the tax and covering the cost of building, you’ll get 50 acres of barren land, but if it’s land for planting, you’ll only get 20 acres.”
Director Xiao calculated it, “If it’s taxed, you can buy out 25 acres of barren land at once and 10 acres of land that suitable for planting. The annual tax will depend on the crops you plant, calculated as 20% of the harvest for that year.”
Jiang Ning frowned, surprised at how heavy the agricultural taxes were.
As Gu Tinglin had mentioned, he wasn’t trying to trick her. Starting something is always difficult, and in the middle of natural disasters, it would be hard to keep going even with a 50% harvest, let alone 20%.”
But Jiang Ning honestly didn’t care about the taxes. She wasn’t lacking in anything, plus she had the space to cheat
The more difficult the situation, the easier it was to succeed with a plan.
“I just need the land for planting, and paying taxes each year is fine.”
Once the plan was set, Director Xiao marked out the land for her, “As long as the medicine inspection is fine, we can allocate 20 acres in the southern planting area to you.”
The southern plantation area? That was the one managed by the military and Rong Sanshao had even been there to collect manure.
Thinking about the instructions from above, Director Xiao took the initiative to ask, “The southern area has the best land. Do you know what you plan to plant?”
“I happen to have some medicinal herb and cotton seeds. If I can get the seedlings to grow, I’ll give it a try.”
These were urgently needed by the base. Director Xiao looked at her with newfound respect. “The base has agricultural specialists, and the hospital has a medicinal herb garden. If you need anything, feel free to ask.”
The hospital director even offered to help, “If you manage to grow the medicinal herbs, the hospital will buy them from you.”
Jiang Ning smiled, “Thank you. I hope you will take care of me in the future then.”
After everything was settled, Director Xiao drew up a contract, both sides signed, and the director arranged for the medicines to be transported.
The sweet potato harvest was still two months away, and the land wouldn’t be handed over until then, so Director Xiao suggested they start growing seedlings in the meantime for a smooth transition when the land became available.
Once everyone left, the family discussed the planting plan.
Cotton thrives in warmth and sunlight but is sensitive to both floods and droughts. The weather now was unpredictable—sometimes it snowed in June, while at other times, it felt like a heatwave in winter.
A lot of medicinal herbs also had high environmental demands.
It felt like there was nothing easy to grow except for mulberry trees, which was incredibly frustrating.
But precisely because it was difficult to plant, it would make the crops rare, showing the unique skill of the landowner.
That’s why when hiring workers, they needed to choose honest and simple people. Otherwise, it’d be hard to cheat.
They also needed to improve the environment quickly. Relying on the weather could mean losing everything.
The two of them were in the house, figuring out how many seedlings would be needed for 20 acres of land and whether planting other plants was necessary. Meanwhile, Doudou was busy turning the soil. She planned to use both the front and back yards for growing seedlings.
Before they could finish the discussion, Doudou came back covered in dust, “Brother, Sister-in-law, a sandstorm’s coming.”
Suddenly, there was a sandstorm.
This one was worse than any they had experienced in the past two years, with the wind howling loudly, and soon sand and stones were flying everywhere.
They only needed to close the doors, but the sand still got all over their faces.
The only good thing was that the base had invested in anti-sand measures over the past two years, so the sand wasn’t too heavy.
The sandstorm lasted for three days. When the wind howled, it sounded like the wailing of ghosts, and large chunks of gravel would occasionally strike the steel doors with a loud “thud.”
If someone were to walk outside, they could easily get injured if they were hit by the stones.
When Gu Tinglin came over that night, he had to shake the sand off his clothes.
After the acupuncture was over, Jiang Ning found two military raincoats and said, “You can wear these to work so you don’t get your clothes dirty.”
The raincoats were thick, so even if the sand hit, it wouldn’t hurt.
They had raincoats at home, but when he came over, Shu Xueqing insisted that he didn’t wear them.
Gu Tinglin didn’t usually like to play tricks, but at this moment, he really appreciated it.
“Yes, I’ll wear them.”
Once the sandstorm passed, Jiang Ning started cleaning the sand in the front and back yards. It was thick enough to be about the height of her foot.
Less than half a day later, the temperature dropped again.
The weather was so unpredictable, it was tough even for people to handle, let alone the crops that are already fragile from being tortured.
Growing seedlings had become even more challenging.
But they couldn’t give up just because things were difficult.
Huo Yishen thought for a moment, “Maybe we can use the glass from the greenhouse we built before.”
They just needed a good reason on where they find it.
They had stockpiled a lot of glass, so they should be able to build several large greenhouses.
That way, the seedlings would have a higher survival rate.
Just as they were about to rest for the night, there was a knock at the door.
Jiang Ning went to open it and found someone sitting on the ground outside.
It was freezing cold, and she could still smell his sweat.
Hearing the noise, he raised his face with the look of a pitiful abandoned puppy, “Sister, I’m hungry.”
Ugh, what trouble was he causing now?
Seeing his usual stubborn and annoying attitude, Jiang Ning couldn’t help but say irritably, “Come in.”
Rong Sanshao, all worn out and smelling bad, followed his sister.
There was no way she was going to treat him to anything fancy, so she made him a bowl of mixed grain dumplings, and added some dehydrated vegetables.
The bowl was huge, and Rong Sanshao devoured the food in no time.
With the smell of sweat and body odor in the air, Jiang Ning frowned and asked, “Did you go steal chickens or something?”
“Harvesting crops.”
After three days of sandstorms, the vegetables were buried under a thick layer of sand and gravel. Those that hadn’t been crushed or damaged still had to be harvested quickly, or they would spoil.
The crops they had carefully nurtured, hoping to save seeds from them, had barely grown halfway…
In the freezing cold, he had to rush to harvest the crops. He was drenched in sweat, and despair hit him like a wave.
After drinking three large cups of water and eating the steaming dumplings, Rong Sanshao finally felt like he was alive.
But his heart felt heavy.
“Sister, do you think the natural disaster is over?”
Maybe it was the heat from the soup, or maybe it was the tension breaking inside him, but suddenly, his vision blurred.
Why was it so hard?
Seeing him, who was usually carefree, break down like this, Jiang Ning wasn’t sure how to comfort him. She quietly went to the kitchen and sliced some ham, placing a thin half-plate on the table, “The disaster might be 99% over. There’s just one last step left.”
Faced with the tempting ham, Rong Sanshao was about to devour it all, but then he remembered his former identity and acted more refined.
The meat was tender, with a deep red color and a gentle aroma.
It was an exquisite feast for his taste buds, and he couldn’t help but savor it. “If only there was caviar and red wine, it would be perfect.”
He was dreaming of his luxurious life before the disaster.
Giving him a cold stare, Jiang Ning snapped, “Why don’t you just go to heaven then?”
With a single remark, she sent him back to reality. Rong Sanshao complained, “Sister, I’m just daydreaming. Why do you have to ruin it?”
“Eat up and leave quickly.”
Rong Sanshao stretched out a shoe with his toes exposed. “Sister, my shoes are broken.”
Jiang Ning was beyond annoyed, so she had Huo Yishen give him a pair of shoes.
But the little rascal didn’t stop there, “Sister, the slippers you gave me are still at the Huacheng base.”
Jiang Ning grabbed a pair of 9.99 yuan slippers from the room and threw them at his face. “Get out!”
The little bastard didn’t leave. Instead, he took off his shoes in front of her and put the new ones on.
Yep, it seemed like slippers were made for him.
The whole living room smelled bad, and Jiang Ning almost kicked him out right there.
Finally, unable to tolerate it any longer, she kicked him a bit, “Get as far away as you can!”
Huo Yishen, being the sensible one, sent him out of the yard.
Rong Sanshao, holding the slippers, hesitated, “Brother-in-law…”