Song Tan’s Chronicle - Chapter 53

When Song Tan returned home, she found that rice seeds were being dried in the yard.

“Mom, are you getting ready to plant?” she asked.

Wu Lan gave her a look and said irritably, “What else? You keep talking about planting this and that, and it’s us old folks who have to do all the hard work!”

Song Tan thought, If this were the past, I’d probably worry. But now, with the silent infusion of spiritual energy, looking at both of you, you’re healthier than most young people!

But what could she do with her own mother? She could only speak kindly:

“Raising children is like this, isn’t it? A hundred years of raising children comes with ninety-nine years of worry. So, Mom, you have to keep worrying for another forty years!”

She giggled and quickly pushed Qiao Qiao forward:

“Mom, look, your precious son found some treasures on the way!”

Wu Lan looked down to see three little puppies! They were nudging her feet, clearly hungry.

She got even angrier but still found a bag of milk powder that had been opened long ago (she was too frugal to open a new one) and started preparing it while muttering:

“I’m not stressed enough raising you all, and now I have to raise three dogs too!”

However, Qiao Qiao had already calculated his earnings using basic arithmetic and confidently said:

“Mom, you don’t have to raise them! I will! I have money!”

Is this about money?! This silly boy!

Seeing her mother was really about to lose it, Song Tan quickly brought in the box from the car:

“Mom, look, Auntie helped me find these! These ducklings were only four and a half yuan each. Not bad, right?”

Wu Lan took a closer look, picked up two ducklings and examined them. Hearing their strong chirping, a satisfied smile spread across her face:

“Not bad. Such good quality would sell for five yuan each around here! You have over a hundred, so you saved fifty to sixty yuan!”

“Not bad at all.”

She was very pleased, as if all these ducklings were freebies. Looking at the little ducklings, her eyes were full of affection.

Qiao Qiao stood there, bewildered, not understanding why his mother’s affection had shifted so quickly…

But he quickly found something else to do—

“I’m going to make a nest for the puppies!”

Wu Lan immediately instructed, “Use a basket, and line it with your old clothes or straw!”

Song Tan followed suit, “I’ll section off a piece of land for the ducklings. They’re too small to roam freely.”

But Wu Lan stopped her: “I’ll do it. You go turn over the rice seeds. They need more sun.”

…

With only two fields of rice seeds, it didn’t take much. Song Tan was just starting to turn them with a bamboo rake when her phone rang.

She stood there and chatted for a bit, then laughed: “Mom, tell Dad not to work on the beehives and mushrooms tomorrow. We need his help picking milk vetch.”

“Someone just ordered a hundred pounds of it.”

A hundred pounds?

That’s two thousand yuan!

Wu Lan gasped, “How much is the shipping?”

For such a quantity, it would surely be shipped by freight.

Song Tan smiled: “They’ll send me the driver’s contact information later. We just need to deliver the vegetables at the designated time tomorrow.”

Wu Lan decided quickly: “Alright, I’ll tell your dad tonight.”

But it wasn’t long before her phone kept ringing.

Song Tan looked down and saw that Secretary Wang had ordered another twenty pounds in the group chat.

According to the records, he had just received ten pounds yesterday.

Great, online repeat customers are hard to find, but real-life repeat customers are everywhere.

After replying to the message, she found many new friend requests in her contacts, mostly from Ningcheng…

Song Tan sighed: “Looks like the two thousand yuan will just pass through my hands. I need to get someone to develop a shopping mini-program.” And it might not even be enough.

But before developing the mini-program, these small orders were hard to handle.

They were busy with tea, mushrooms, pigs, ducks, bees…

They were incredibly busy.

Packaging the vegetables required air pillows and dry ice, and for orders of three to five pounds or ten to eight pounds, the addresses were all different.

Song Tan thought for a moment and messaged the courier she met earlier:

“If I bring the vegetables to you, can you help with the packaging and shipping?”

“Of course!”

He replied quickly:

“Packaging is part of our job. Don’t worry, your vegetables, air pillows, and dry ice will all be intact! I’ll weigh each package and send you the details.”

Finally, a customer!

Running a rural Fengfeng Express wasn’t easy!

After making grand promises, he asked: “How many packages? I only have enough air pillows and dry ice for two or three boxes.”

Song Tan looked at the growing number of orders and hesitated:

“Maybe prepare for a hundred or so. I have over thirty orders now.”

Courier: ???

Is this real happiness?

…

With the assurance of repeat customers, Song Tan no longer cared about the views on her videos. She decisively changed the description and removed “free shipping.”

She was breaking even anyway. She’d still make videos, but people could buy or not, no free shipping.

This confident attitude put her in a good mood, and she was more generous with the spiritual energy for the ducklings.

From the shed came a buzzing sound. Seeing Qiao Qiao wasn’t around, Song Tan carefully opened the box to look inside—

The bumblebee queen was wobbling with a wax jar under her abdomen, incubating larvae.

Yet her round head was desperately leaning toward Song Tan, trying to get more spiritual energy.

How cute.

Song Tan dabbed some spiritual energy on her finger and gently rubbed the fuzzy body. Both she and the bee were satisfied before she closed the box.

Turning around, she saw Qiao Qiao standing nearby, looking at her accusingly:

“Didn’t you say not to touch it?”

Song Tan wasn’t afraid at all:

“But aren’t I going to pay you soon? Employers can do things you can’t.”

Qiao Qiao stood there, confused, then cautiously peeked into the dark shed—too bad, it was pitch black, and he couldn’t see anything.

Meanwhile, capitalist Tan Tan started calling her worker Qiao Qiao.

“Is the doghouse ready? If so, come here to work.”

She handed him a hoe.

“Dig up the vegetable garden at the gate. Do it well, and we can start planting seedlings the day after tomorrow.”

She coaxed the reluctant Qiao Qiao:

“Look, digging until dark earns you fifty yuan, and you can buy bells, clothes, toys, and snacks for your puppies. Buy meat bones!”

“And you can buy biscuits for your big dog.”

Fifty yuan, exaggerated by the ruthless capitalist, sounded like five hundred.

Qiao Qiao was full of motivation!

He gripped the hoe tightly: “I’ll do my best!”