Chapter 110: Mengmeng’s Ride

On Tuesday morning, Cao Shujie first called the clients he had turned down the previous day to explain why he had refused to sell them the kiwi fruit. He promised to send them a complimentary standard box containing 5 jin of kiwi fruit. They didn’t need to come by; they just had to provide their address, and Cao Shujie would arrange for the delivery. For those living nearby, he delivered it personally.

Upon learning the reason behind the refusal, most clients were understanding, with some saying they would visit when they had time. Few were interested in taking advantage of the free kiwi fruit, and many appreciated Cao Shujie’s thoughtfulness. If he had sold the kiwi fruit without ensuring it was safe, the consequences could have been disastrous if it had been tampered with. Because of this, he earned the title of “the most responsible fruit farmer.”

This story spread by word of mouth, and over time, more people came to know about it, enhancing his reputation. However, Cao Shujie remained unaware of this. After explaining the situation to his clients, he called Chen Xingquan to arrange for someone to come over with specialized wire to repair the hole in the wire mesh fence.

Additionally, Cao Shujie hosted a grand banquet in the county for his childhood friends and some of Cao Tiemin’s workers. He also wanted to give them some money, but Cao Zhen and the others scolded him harshly for it. As a compromise, he gifted each of them 10 boxes of kiwi fruit, which, at his selling price, was quite valuable. While no one accepted the money, they all gladly took the kiwi fruit. They felt that after a night of hard work, enjoying some of his kiwi fruit was only natural, and they could give the rest as gifts.

The kiwi fruit grown by Cao Shujie was not the ordinary kind sold for 5 yuan per jin in fruit stores.

“This way, there won’t be much fruit left in the orchard,” Cheng Xiaolin remarked.

Cao Shujie wasn’t concerned. “No worries. If there are no kiwi fruits, there are still apples. After selling this season’s harvest, I’ll settle down and focus on improving things.”

He was clear-headed, knowing that relying solely on selling fruit and organizing picking events wasn’t sustainable. For long-term development over ten or twenty years, the surrounding environment needed to be improved. Customers who came to pick fruit would find the barren mountain unappealing. Initially, the excitement might mask this, but once it wore off, they might regret it.

“It seems like we’re earning a lot, but the later investments are also substantial,” Cao Shujie muttered.

Cheng Xiaolin understood this too, but she supported her husband’s spending plans.

“Shujie, we should give some of this money to our parents,” Cheng Xiaolin suggested.

The old orchard was a gift from her in-laws, which meant they had given up a significant source of their income. Moreover, they had helped them a lot.

Cao Shujie smiled at his wife. “How much do you think we should give?”

“How about a hundred thousand? You still need to reinvest the rest,” Cheng Xiaolin proposed, clearly having thought it through.

Cao Shujie hugged his wife and kissed her cheek. “Alright, we’ll do as you say!”

“You big bear!”

Cheng Xiaolin turned, went inside, and brought out a plastic bag neatly packed with a hundred thousand yuan in cash. “Here, take this to your parents.”

Laughing, Cao Shujie playfully patted his wife’s backside and, before she could react, took the money to his parents.

However, Wang Yuelan and Cao Jianguo refused to accept the money, insisting they had other income and shouldn’t be sharing profits with their son. But after much insistence from Cao Shujie, they agreed to take half and refused the rest.

…

The remaining kiwi fruit sold sporadically over five days. By Saturday and Sunday, only a few hundred jin were sold. With schools reopening and college students heading off to campuses nationwide, Cao Shujie and his wife decided not to sell the remaining 600 jin. Instead, they picked them all, keeping some for gifts and the rest for themselves.

When Wang Yuelan and Cao Jianguo heard this, they thought their son was being wasteful, as the fruit could still fetch a good price. But their son was adamant, and they had no choice.

Meanwhile, after tallying the accounts, Cao Shujie and Cheng Xiaolin found that they had sold nearly 52,000 jin of kiwi fruit on credit.

“The yield is a bit low,” Cheng Xiaolin commented.

Cao Shujie agreed. “I initially estimated an average yield of over 5,000 jin per mu , but it turned out to be only 4,300 jin on average, which is quite a difference.”

“Shujie, I think we should take this time to rest and improve the land. That way, we can have a bountiful harvest next year,” Cheng Xiaolin suggested, showing her understanding.

Hearing this, Cao Shujie nodded. “We’ll use organic fertilizer and enrich the soil.”

“Whatever you say,” Cheng Xiaolin replied simply.

As the hot weather of August finally passed, September brought cooler mornings and evenings, with daytime temperatures also dropping slightly. During this time, Cao Shujie and his father, Cao Jianguo, spent time around the orchard, taking turns caring for the calves. Besides feeding them grass, Cao Shujie purchased large quantities of corn and soybean meal for feed. To make mixing easier, he spent over 20,000 yuan on a medium-sized mixer for the livestock area.

He also enlisted Cao Zhenggang to build a simple warehouse with steel structures and color steel plates in the livestock area to store corn, feed, and the mixer. This cost another hundred thousand yuan, but fortunately, the second batch of loans had arrived in August. After deducting the fees for Song Zhichao and Ma Changrong, they still had over two million yuan left.

With his pockets full, Cao Shujie was more willing to make significant investments in the foundational infrastructure on the mountain.

On the evening of the 3rd, Cao Shujie and his father finished their work and led two small German Shepherds down from the mountain. As they passed by Cao Shujie’s house, they quietly discussed the nearly completed renovations after a month of hard work.

The front door, custom-made and painted a bright yellow, stood out even in the evening light.

From the outside, the house looked unremarkable, but once the door was opened, it was clear that this two-story building was vastly different from the typical village homes in Cao Family Village.

Calling it a countryside villa wouldn’t be an exaggeration.

The renovations had already cost over a hundred thousand yuan. According to Cao Tiemin, maintaining this standard would bring the total to three hundred thousand yuan once furniture and appliances were added.

This was half over the original budget of just over two hundred thousand yuan, but Cao Shujie didn’t mind. He believed it was better to get everything right in one go.

He had no plans to leave Cao Family Village anytime soon and was confident he could earn back the money. So why not make his living space more comfortable?

“Once Tiemin finishes the renovations, let it sit for a few months, then get the heating installed. You can move in this winter, and it’ll be much more comfortable than using the air conditioner for warmth,” Cao Jianguo said.

“Dad, you and Mom should move in with us too,” Cao Shujie suggested.

But Cao Jianguo shook his head and waved his hand. “You two can live there yourselves. Why should we move in? So your mom can cook for you every day? And I clean up after you?”

Cao Jianguo had the air of someone who also wanted to enjoy life. “Serving you every day would drive me crazy. And these four dogs eat more than we do. You better find a place for them soon.”

“Oh!” Dahei barked defiantly at Cao Jianguo upon hearing this.

Cao Jianguo lifted his foot to kick at Dahei, but the dog nimbly dodged. Still, he grumbled, “Dahei, you eat and drink from me, and I can’t even say a word? You rascal!”

Cao Shujie, holding the leash, couldn’t help but laugh at his father’s complaints.

“Dad, it’s just a dog. Why bother arguing with it?” Cao Shujie tried to console his father.

“You haven’t been raising them long enough to understand anything!” Cao Jianguo retorted bluntly. “Once you raise a dog for a while, you’ll get attached. You should take care of them yourselves.”

“Remember how Daha and Erha helped you stop Cao Jianqiu and Cao Shubao last time?” Cao Jianguo reminded him.

On that point, Cao Shujie had to agree.

…

The sound of clanging came from Cao Jianguo’s house.

In the yard, Cao Shujie and his father, Cao Jianguo, were busy with hammers, nails, screws, and wheels, working on a cart.

Mengmeng squatted nearby, watching with great interest.

“Daddy, Grandfather, is it ready?” Mengmeng asked.

After the busy month of August, life had returned to a slower pace, as if to gradually adjust both life and body.

With nothing much to do, Cao Shujie looked at the ever-energetic Daha and Erha, and an idea he had previously thought of but never realized came to mind.

He decided to make a small cart that Daha and Erha could pull, becoming the exclusive ride for the Mountain King and the little princess!

Seeing his granddaughter growing impatient, Cao Jianguo coaxed her, “Almost done, Mengmeng. Just wait a bit longer. Once Grandfather puts on the wheels and your Grandmother and mom finish sewing the covers and cushions, we’ll put the harness on Daha and Erha and go for a ride. How does that sound?”

“Great!” Mengmeng clapped her hands in excitement.

“Grandfather, let’s go to the Orchard,” Mengmeng called out.

At this time, there were no other vehicles there, and the area was spacious and quiet, perfect for her to run around.

“Alright, once Daha and Erha pull you, we’ll head to the Orchard on the mountain,” Cao Jianguo said, as he marked lines on the wooden board and drilled four holes to fix the swivel wheels, then worked on the remaining wheels.

The front two were swivel wheels, and the back two were fixed wheels.

Seeing this, Mengmeng was full of anticipation. After a while, she asked again, “Grandfather, is it done?”

“Almost!” Cao Jianguo replied.

Wang Yuelan and her daughter-in-law, Cheng Xiaolin, were also busy nearby.

One was sewing circular fabric covers to hang around Daha and Erha’s necks.

The other was sewing a cushion to place inside the cart for a more comfortable ride.

Cao Shujie was still refining the details, such as adding a guardrail around the cart and a handlebar at the front.

The four of them worked together, assembling the pre-prepared modules, and it took nearly two hours. By this time, Mengmeng was already impatient.

Seeing the ‘exclusive ride’ finally ready, she couldn’t wait to get on.

“Daddy, hurry and lift me up, hurry!” Mengmeng urged.

Cao Shujie, unhurried, tied the cushion’s strings to the cart’s guardrail before lifting the impatient Mengmeng into the cart.

After a careful inspection, he suddenly noticed a problem: “This won’t do. Without a seatbelt, if the cart hits a rock or a ditch and bounces, Mengmeng could fall out.”

“What should we do?” Cao Jianguo was immediately concerned. With such a potential danger, he couldn’t let his granddaughter take the risk.

But Cheng Xiaolin remembered something. She said, “Shujie, wait a moment. I’ll get that portable safety seat we bought for Mengmeng and sew some fabric to secure it to the cart.”

This was a good idea, and Cao Shujie immediately agreed to the plan.

After his wife found the wearable safety seat and modified it to fit the cart, another half hour passed. By then, Mengmeng was truly out of patience.

Seeing everything finally ready, she tried to climb into the cart herself, but the guardrail was too high for her. In the end, her father had to lift her in.

Once she was secured with the safety seatbelt, Cao Shujie checked the safety one more time. He then attached the fabric covers his wife had sewn to Daha and Erha’s necks, put leashes on them, and led them outside.

As they moved, the two dogs pulled the ropes connected to the cart, which glided smoothly on its silent wheels.

Sitting in the cart, Mengmeng shouted happily, “Daddy, faster, faster!”

Seeing her so exuberant, it was hard to imagine her having any ladylike qualities. Cao Shujie wondered if his daughter would ever find a husband when she grew up.

But that was a concern for the future, and Cao Shujie wasn’t worried about it now.

Holding the leashes, Daha and Erha pulled the cart, heading north along the village road.

The duo of Daha and Erha pulling a small cart instantly became the most eye-catching sight in Cao Family Village.

Mengmeng sat in the cart, and seeing all the adults smiling at her, she was delighted.

“Faster, Daddy!”

“Giddy-up!”

Mengmeng’s shouts echoed throughout the village, her clear laughter continuously ringing out. Hearing his daughter’s laughter, Cao Shujie felt a surge of happiness.

To the north, a few children were gathered together playing. When they saw the two dogs pulling the cart pass by and noticed Mengmeng sitting on it, shouting excitedly, they couldn’t tear their envious eyes away.

(End of Chapter)