A small plot of land in a mountain village

Chapter 49 Uncle Zhang

The next morning, Zhang Niu, along with "King Kong" and the wolf cub, prepared to go to Maotou Mountain to conduct an on-site inspection.

The hill in front of the gate looks close, but the mountain path hasn't been used in a long time. Only faint traces of the path are still visible. Time truly flies. The path once trodden by those who came before is slowly being buried by weeds. I had to clear away a lot of weeds and shrubs along the way. What should have been a ten-minute walk took half an hour.

Standing at the foot of Maotou Mountain, looking at the hilltop overgrown with weeds, and then at the dried-up pond bottom in front of me, where grass has already grown, it's impossible to tell that this is a pond.

They continued walking up the hillside with King Kong. The abandoned hilltop was overgrown with weeds half a person's height. King Kong and the wolf cubs deftly disappeared into the undergrowth, vanishing in no time. Only the swaying grass ahead revealed their approximate location.

After finally reaching the top of the hill, King Kong and the others were already lying in the grass. A small circle had formed around them, with King Kong's weight flattening out a lot of weeds.

He took a deep breath. Standing on the rock, he looked down at the scenery. The distant village, his own pond, duck shed—everything seemed tiny, like ants. Standing there, Zhang Niu recalled a line from a poem: "I will climb to the summit and survey all the mountains below." He couldn't help but shout down the mountain, "Ah—ah—!"

After shouting like that, Zhang Niu felt much better than when he came up. Trying something like that occasionally was quite nice. The hill next to him was Er Gou's orange grove; you could still see the bright yellow oranges on the trees. On the other side, a bit taller and much more lush than the orange trees, were the spindle trees. However, the fruit was still a bright green, unripe and difficult to spot among the leaves.

After a quick look at the hilltop, Zhang Niu felt it was worth the lease. At least it wasn't a mine; the soil was solid and fertile, perfect for planting fruit trees. A water source was also nearby; he'd seen an abandoned irrigation ditch by the roadside on the way here. With some cleaning, it could be reused.

Standing atop Maotou Mountain, Zhang Niu sighed, "Time really is a devil."

While going downhill, Zhang Niu saw many bird nests in the branches of trees by the roadside. Unfortunately, there were no chicks inside. Only empty nests remained. The birds had all flown south and wouldn't return until next year.

Humming a little tune, it was tough on King Kong following behind; his rough singing made King Kong run ahead. The wolf cubs darted into the bushes to hunt.

On a hillside overgrown with weeds like this, there are bound to be wild rabbits or pheasants, and probably even some wild ducks. Below is a large pond. It's a perfect spot for wild ducks in the height of summer. However, the wolf cubs that burrowed inside didn't make a sound.

No wild ducks were found, but several dead mountain birds were spotted. Only their skeletons remained on the ground, with a silver, fan-shaped lead bullet lying nearby.

Needless to say, it was hit by a bullet.

When they reached the foot of the mountain, the wolf cubs finally emerged. Having failed to catch any prey, they were now covered in leaves and weeds. They howled with their heads down, clearly unhappy about their lack of prey, which only elicited a few laughs from Zhang Niu.

By the time they descended the mountain, Zhang Niu had already made some plans. This mountain was truly a treasure trove. However, to properly develop it, money remained a major obstacle.

That afternoon, Zhang Niu went to the village head's house and explained the situation of the hilltop. After a detailed discussion, the two successfully leased Maotou Mountain for thirty years. The village committee organized the villagers to clear the entire hilltop. The hilltop was mostly covered in weeds; everything else was relatively simple. They could pay later once they had the hilltop.

Maotou Mountain is ready to be contracted out once the village is ready. This is good news for Zhang Niu; at least he won't have to hire anyone and will save on hiring fees. Passing the village entrance, he noticed a Santana 2000 parked under a camphor tree. He was quite puzzled. He hadn't heard of anyone in the village having a relative with a car.

When he got home, he saw a crowd gathered in front of his house. After asking around, he learned that they were people from the city who had come to see him.

Zhang Niu was a little annoyed. He only knew a few people in the county town, and if it were the restaurant owner, he would have called in advance. He went inside. In the main hall sat an elderly man in his fifties, a very spry person, chatting with Zhang's father.

After seeing Zhang Niu enter the house, Zhang's father said, "This is my son, Zhang Niu. He knows best what's going on on the mountain."

The elderly man stood up, extended his left hand, and said, "I'm so sorry to have come uninvited. I'm Zhang Ting's father." A simple self-introduction.

Zhang Niu quickly extended his right hand to shake it. He was thinking to himself, "What's going on? Why is Zhang Ting's father here? This is really a headache. I'll see what's going on first, hopefully he's not here because of Zhang Ting. May Buddha protect him."

After a brief handshake, Zhang Niu sat down in a chair and asked, "Uncle, what brings you here?"

"Can't I come over if there's nothing wrong? My precious daughter stayed at your place for a few days, and she keeps raving about how nice your bamboo house is, so this old man of mine came to take a look."

Zhang Niu breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this. He had thought they were looking for him about Zhang Ting's matter. It turned out they just came to visit Happy Cottage. "Anyway, it's almost noon, let's have lunch here and then go to Happy Cottage!"

"Then I must try the authentic local dishes."

After lunch, Zhang Niu got into the car and his uncle drove him to Che Kaixin Xiaozhu. However, the mountain road was even more difficult for this kind of vehicle to drive, and it shook even more than a utility vehicle.

The car stopped in front of the pond. Uncle Zhang looked around and said, "Not bad. This place really is just as Tingting described. Especially those bamboo houses with their Yunnan feel."

"There's not much to sit here, let's go up to the bamboo house and rest for a bit."

"Thank you for your thoughtfulness. Even if you hadn't mentioned it, I would have been asking you anyway. I've never tried resting in a bamboo house before, even though I'm often away on business."

Zhang Niu cautiously asked, "Um... what's Uncle busy with these days?"

"He's getting old. He's resting at home now. He used to be a professor at the provincial agricultural research institute, researching crops." Zhang Niu was a little stunned, not expecting him to be a professor.

That person, who dared to ask, "I didn't know you were a professor. You seem to be in good health, so why are you taking a break?"

"I didn't want to either, but my health isn't what it used to be. My wife keeps nagging me. So I just decided to retire and enjoy life." He laughed heartily.

Stepping into the bamboo house, the fresh scent of bamboo fills the air. Pointing to the bamboo bed inside, she said, "You can rest there. It's very quiet, perfect for a nap."

"Then you're too kind. I'm getting old. I feel really uncomfortable if I don't take a nap in the afternoon, haha."

Around 3 p.m., Uncle Zhang woke up and walked out of the bamboo house, where he immediately saw Zhang Niu setting shrimp traps by the pond.

"Hey, what are you doing?" he asked Zhang Niu, who was setting out the scarecrow.

"Get up. Why didn't you sleep a little longer? It's still early."

"Sleeping too long isn't very comfortable either. There's a saying: 'Count money until your hands cramp, sleep until you naturally wake up.' That's what I'm doing now."

First update. Thank you for the book review answer regarding the grouper question. This chapter is probably not very well written, please forgive me. Still, please recommend and add to your favorites.