A small plot of land in a mountain village

Chapter 4 Little One

"Dad, I'm going to see the village chief." After telling his father, Zhang Niu turned and left.

"Come back early, don't stay out too late."

The village chief's house is under the big camphor tree at the entrance of the village, and it's not far from Zhang Niu's house.

When I arrived at the village chief's house, the family was having dinner.

The village chief, surnamed Zhang, was short and naked. When he saw Zhang Niu come in, he stood up, smiled, and said, "Isn't this Zhang Wa? What brings you here today?" He then told his wife to bring out an extra set of bowls and chopsticks.

Zhang Niu quickly waved his hand: "Auntie, no need to trouble yourself. I just ate at home. I came over to ask about something and will go back afterward. You should eat first."

"Go ahead and say it, don't be shy. After all, we're all from the same village. Don't be embarrassed, just say whatever you want." The village chief was quite nice to the villagers.

"I heard from my family last night that the village is going to contract out all the wasteland near Daliang Mountain. Is that true?" Zhang Niu succinctly stated his purpose.

The village chief was somewhat surprised to hear this: "Yes, I just received a notice from the county this afternoon. Did you rush here so quickly because you're thinking of contracting out land?" He was quite surprised that a young man from the village would contract out mountain land.

Zhang Niu nodded: "Yes, I have that idea. I just came to ask about it and will discuss it with my family when I get back to see if it can be done."

"This is great! Young people should have this kind of thinking. I received the notice this afternoon and was worried about it. I didn't expect someone to come so soon. You know, most of the young people in the village have gone out to work, and the wasteland we're contracting is at the foot of the mountain. The location isn't very good; it's all mountain land, not paddy fields, so not many people have come to inquire about it," he said with a smile.

Zhang Niu and the village chief talked inside the house for a long time. The village chief explained the rules and regulations very clearly and told Zhang Niu to go back and discuss it carefully. He added that the village committee strongly supports those who contract wasteland and will give them priority in receiving assistance.

Under the moonlight, Zhang Niu walked and pondered, more importantly, how to tell his father about this matter. He was afraid that his family would not support him, which was a big deal in the countryside.

While eating breakfast, after some hesitation, Zhang Niu finally mustered the courage to tell his father about his plan to contract the wasteland in the village. Then he lowered his head and prepared to wait for the storm to come.

But after a while, the situation I had imagined did not occur. When I looked up, I saw my father silently smoking his pipe, his face very serious. No one spoke, and the atmosphere in the room was unusually quiet.

After Dad finished his cigarette, he stood up and said to Zhang Niu, "We're old now, not like when we were young. Yesterday, after I saw you come back from the village chief's, I told your mother that our son should consider contracting that piece of wasteland in the village. We're all happy that he's grown up and will be successful. Don't worry about the money. As long as you do your job well, it's okay if you lose money. Just consider it a lesson learned." After saying that, he turned and walked out of the house.

Looking at his father's receding figure and the strands of white hair on his head, Zhang Niu realized that his father had always cared about him. He realized that he had hurt his father's feelings in the past and felt that he had been so childish.

Zhang Niu was determined to turn the wasteland into a success to prove to his father that he was the best.

In the afternoon, Zhang Niu went to the village committee to find the village chief and told him that his family had agreed to the contracting of the wasteland and that he had come to sign the contract.

The contract covers a 30-year lease on a large area of ​​wasteland, including a pond, totaling approximately 100 mu (about 6.7 hectares). The contractor pays the village 10,000 yuan annually for the leased land.

By evening, everyone in the village knew that Zhang's son had contracted that piece of abandoned wasteland at the foot of the mountain. This became the talk of the village after dinner. However, many people said that the boy had lived in the city and might have a unique perspective. No one knew for sure; perhaps only the future would tell.

That evening, Dad took out 20,000 yuan and handed it to Zhang Niu, saying it was the only spare money the family had, and Zhang Niu would have to figure out the rest himself. He then silently smoked a cigarette. Holding the money, Zhang Niu said firmly, "Dad, it's okay. I'll handle the rest myself. Don't worry."

Zhang Niu successfully contracted nearly 100 mu of wasteland plus a small pond at a price of 100 yuan per mu. After paying the first year's contract fee to the village, the reclamation of wasteland has been put on the agenda.

Before clearing the wasteland, Zhang Niu decided to build a house by the pond to make it easier for him to travel back and forth between home. He hired five or six people at a daily wage of thirty yuan to build the house together, cutting down trees, laying the foundation, and so on. After five days of hard work, the house was finally completed.

There are two large brick houses, one of which is a living room, plus a warehouse. In front of the brick houses, there is a small open space that serves as a courtyard.

That night, Zhang Niu slept in the large brick house. He moved a lot of household items from his home, preparing for a long battle in this wasteland.

During the few days of building the house, Zhang Niu secretly entered the space several times at night and harvested several batches of corn, estimating that he could sell them for a good price in the county next time.

That evening, Zhang Niu entered the space as usual and found that it was different. The space, which was originally only the size of a school playground, had now expanded several times. The most exaggerated thing was that the small pond had now become a full-blown pond.

Zhang Niu stared blankly at the expanded space, speechless. He felt a surge of joy, but the trouble that followed was that his workload would increase again. He thought about how those few dozen corn stalks had almost exhausted him.

Just as he was about to go out, Zhang Niu noticed a large, bright red flower bud in the center of the pond. He didn't remember planting any flowers in his space, but he still went over to take a look. When he got to the edge of the pond, he saw that it was a large red lotus flower with a large red bud, floating quietly on the water.

"How can there be red lotus flowers on the water? There weren't any when I came in yesterday." Zhang Niu was very puzzled.

Standing by the pond for only a few minutes, the red flower bud slowly opened its red petals. As the last petal opened, a red figure suddenly darted out and pounced towards Zhang Niu.

By the time Zhang Niu reacted, the red figure was already perched on his shoulder, licking his face a few times with its tongue.

After wiping its face a few times, the red shadow on its shoulder darted back to the pond, stretched out a pair of furry little paws, and put the red petals directly to its mouth to nibble on them, glancing back every now and then.

"Huh, what kind of animal is this? How come such an animal could be conceived in this space?" he muttered to himself.

Zhang Niu only realized now that the red shadow was actually a creature with fiery red fur all over its body, a long tail, a pair of big round eyes, two small bumps on its head, and two smaller bumps on its back. Combined with its petite and delicate body, it was especially cute.

Zhang Niu strongly suspected that this guy might actually be a strange beast born from the space. Although he didn't know what abilities it had, he would naturally find out in the future.

After swallowing the flower petals, the red shadow darted back onto the shoulder in the blink of an eye, blinking its dark eyes and putting on a fawning expression.

Looking at the red figure in front of him, Zhang Niu decided to give the little thing a name.

"Since you were born from this space, let's give you a name. Look at your tiny body, how about we call you Little One? If you like, call me that a few times." Zhang Niu muttered to himself, regardless of whether the little guy could understand or not.

The little one seemed to like the name very much, and chirped a few times as a reply.

"What a clever creature." No wonder it's a strange beast that came from the space.

Back outside, the little one perched on my shoulder began to show great interest in the outside world.

I wasn't in the best mood today, so the writing isn't great. I hope you'll forgive me. Please save and recommend!