Song Tan’s Chronicle - Chapter 107.1

Song Tan knew that the village was in a peaceful state, and no one had touched anything from her fields. For one thing, the villagers hadn’t yet discovered the taste of the vetch flowers in her fields. After all, besides the young village secretary, who would pull up a plant just to taste it? Especially when the outermost field was being used by Old Li to graze his ox.

Secondly, the truly valuable crops were not yet in season for harvest, so the locals still had the upper hand. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have been easy for a young woman like her to return and start working in the village.

That was also why Song Tan preferred to hire locals for work. If there were no young men available, she would hire the elders, knowing that hiring the elderly had both pros and cons, depending on how it was handled.

Old Li, in agreement with her complaint about money, nodded approvingly, saying, “You’re right. You can’t just spend your parents’ money. Your family still has Qiao Qiao to care for, and things won’t be easy when you get older.”

Looking around, he added, “But you still need someone to watch over the fields… Last year, I planted two rows of cabbages, and someone came in the night and stole seven or eight heads!”

Talking about this made the old man angry.

Who would be so inconsiderate? If they wanted something from his field, couldn’t they just ask? Who would begrudge a few heads of cabbage?

He was just an old man living alone; he couldn’t pickle or dry all the cabbage, and in the end, he gave most of it away anyway. Was there really a need to steal?

Pah!

The thought made Old Li, who felt himself aging and weakening, even angrier. His reminder to Song Tan came from a place of genuine concern.

Song Tan reassured him, “Don’t worry, Grandpa Li. With your help, and those two new dog houses down by the bamboo grove, my two dogs will help keep an eye on things.”

The pond was at the top of the field, and the dog houses were built right by the pond. The two dogs sleeping there could keep watch over both the pond and the fields. It was a spot carefully chosen by Song Sancheng.

Why else would she spend so much money to buy dogs? Growing up in the village, she knew the saying: “When people number in the hundreds, there are all kinds (shai shai) among them.”

Old Li finally breathed a sigh of relief, a comforting look on his tanned and weathered face. “Dogs are good. They have sharp ears and keen eyes. Are these the tiger-eating dogs from your family?”

Song Tan: …

She didn’t know how to respond, so she just nodded vaguely. “Not that impressive, just two smaller ones.”

Da Bao and Er Bao were in charge of guarding the pond and fields.

Old Li had seen the dog patrolling the back mountain that looked as big as a tiger. “Two smaller ones? How small could they be? If they can scare off a tiger, guarding a vegetable patch should be a breeze! That’s reliable!”

Meanwhile, the long-forgotten phone quietly continued streaming everything in front of it. The platform’s operations manager accidentally noticed the retention data and was startled:

“What is this stream? Why is the user retention rate so high?”

A quick glance showed it was a countryside scene with an old man speaking in a dialect. There wasn’t time for a detailed review, so they immediately promoted the livestream to a more prominent spot on the platform.

While it wasn’t on par with the top streamers, it was a prime spot for a new streamer.

Just as the stream was being promoted, Song Tan heard a “ding” from her phone, followed by the screen going black.

She bent down, picked up her long-forgotten phone, and pressed a few buttons, only to realize—it was out of battery.

Looking at the pile of vetch flowers she had just harvested, she waved to Old Li, “Grandpa Li, I’m heading home now. When Qiao Qiao comes by, just have him load these up.”