Farm System C32
by MarineTLChapter 32
“We leased the land from the government—200 yuan per mu per year, and the state subsidizes 50%…”
Early the next morning, Wang Xuecai brought Wang Mengying to the contracted farmland.
Changlong County is located in the southeastern part of Su Province. With coordination between the county and township governments, 100,000 mu of land had already been transferred.
A month earlier, Wang Xuecai had gone to the Changlong Agricultural Bureau intending to inquire about welfare subsidies. But after hearing about the county’s land transfer process, he started thinking more ambitiously. The process was: the government contracts land from individual farmers—then transfers it to large-scale planters—while land left uncultivated would be farmed directly by the government.
Now, the government encouraged farmers and large planters to lease land, with government-led cultivation playing a supplementary role.
After studying Longxia’s policy, Wang Xuecai made his decision: to lease mountain land for cultivation.
Currently, leasing land in Pingshui Town cost 200 yuan per mu, with a 50% government subsidy.
After signing the contract with the government, he got straight to work leveling the land. The plots were located on the southern side of Pingshui Town. He’d already invested 70,000 yuan and projected an annual investment of 150,000.
“Will you break even?” Wang Mengying asked.
Wheat yields averaged 500 to 800 jin per mu. If grain prices fell or weather disasters struck, they might not even reach 150,000 yuan.
“Shouldn’t be too big of a loss,” Wang Xuecai said thoughtfully.
At the beginning of the month, Su Province issued a notice requiring the use of Longfeng 001 seeds throughout the county.
Wheat seeds directly affect wheat yields. The government stipulated that purchasing Longfeng 001 qualified for special subsidies. If issues like poor germination or seed quality arose, local governments would provide corresponding compensation. With Longxia’s government backing, that was one of the reasons Wang Xuecai decided to lease land.
As they chatted, Wang Xuecai’s phone rang.
He answered it, then turned to Wang Mengying excitedly. “The seeds have arrived!”
Within half an hour, Wang Xuecai borrowed a tractor from a neighbor. Then, along with his nephew and Wang Mengying, the three of them headed off to the county agricultural bureau.
…
“Individuals go to tables one through three for seeds. Those planting over 100 mu, go to tables seven and eight.”
As soon as they arrived at the entrance of the bureau, they saw several tables set up. Village representatives were lining up with forms to purchase seeds.
Wang Mengying took a look around and went to line up at table seven.
“Town Chief Wang’s here?”
“Don’t make fun of me.”
“These your grandkids?”
“This one’s my nephew, this one’s my granddaughter…”
Wang Xuecai exchanged greetings with familiar faces while Wang Mengying looked around curiously. She grew up in Pingshui Town but had boarded at school since middle school. This was her first time witnessing a seed distribution scene like this.
By 2:00 p.m., it was their turn at the front of the line.
“Uncle Wang, you made it!”
Liu Yuming, in charge of table seven, quickly called out when he saw him.
“Here to get the seeds.” Wang Xuecai pulled out the government contract.
Longfeng 001 was priced at 5 yuan per jin, but after subsidies it was 2.5 yuan. Government regulations allowed up to 15 jin of seeds per mu.
Wang Xuecai did the math with a calculator. With 500 mu of land, they needed 7,500 jin of seed.
“Can I get a little more?” he asked after swiping his card.
Normally, one mu needed 15–20 jin of seed. Since Pingshui was mountainous, local farmers liked to scatter extra seed. He felt 15 jin wouldn’t be enough.
“We have a fixed quota. Every household has purchase records.”
“What if it’s not enough?”
“The quotas are set based on terrain. If you scatter too much seed, it’ll affect the crop’s fertility…” Liu Yuming explained smoothly. He’d already dealt with several such inquiries that morning.
Seeing that it was a hard policy, Wang Xuecai didn’t push further.
Half a minute later, Liu Yuming finished processing the ticket and asked, “Are you taking them back yourselves or want us to deliver?”
“You deliver?”
“We deliver anything over a thousand jin.”
Pingshui Town was thirty kilometers from Changlong County. Wang Xuecai decisively left the address.
“If you need it, you can also rent equipment from the agri-tech department,” Liu Yuming added.
“You can rent equipment?” Wang Xuecai was surprised.
“Mountain farming’s tough. The government’s provided pesticide sprayers, irrigation machines, seeding machines… all free to use. Once approved, you have to return them within the deadline. Severe damage requires compensation…” Liu Yuming explained the procedure.
An hour later, the three of them left the agricultural bureau.
Wang Mengying and Wang Xuecai sat in the back of the tractor. Besides them, it was loaded with various agricultural machines. Judging from the stamped steel marks, they had all been purchased within the past two months.
“Our country’s policies are this good?” Wang Mengying asked, looking at the equipment.
She’d been prepared to roll up her sleeves and go it alone. But now, there were subsidies for leasing land, for buying seeds, and even for crop failure. Starting a business here was nowhere near as hard as she’d imagined.
“We’ve always prioritized agricultural development. I remember back in ‘95…” Wang Xuecai began telling her the history of farming in Pingshui Town.
The next morning, 7,000 jin of seeds were delivered to the agricultural base.
Wang Mengying arrived at the foot of the mountain dressed for physical work.
“Is that Old Wang’s granddaughter?”
“She’s pretty.”
“Thought I heard she went to a top university…”
…
A crowd of villagers had gathered. When they saw Wang Mengying, they showered her with compliments.
With increasing demand for farming, labor needs had also risen. In rural areas, helping with planting paid 70 to 100 yuan a day—not much, but for locals familiar with the work, it was a decent income for the jobless.
They used handcarts to move seeds, small planters for sowing, fertilizer machines for fertilizing… In just three hours, sowing progressed rapidly.
During the busy sowing, a woman pointed to the corner of the tractor. “Is that a generator?”
It was a 50×50 electric-powered device, with a collapsible umbrella tarp, a folding spray head, and a ten-inch tablet. The umbrella and spray head looked ordinary, but the tablet seemed high-tech.
“Let me take a look…”
Everyone gathered around to inspect it and found a stamp at the base: Longfeng Mini Irrigation Machine.
The villagers had an average age of 45. None of them understood this new equipment, so they asked Wang Mengying to operate it.
She spent half an hour studying it, then finally assembled the irrigation equipment and powered it on.
The “umbrella cloth” wasn’t just an ordinary fabric—it resembled a wedding arch, with a dense network of wires embedded inside, and every ten meters there was a bent connector interface.
Following the instructions, Wang Mengying placed the generator into the water tank and started it up.
The generator roared to life, and the wedding arch structure rose up, spraying a broad stream of irrigation water from the top.
“Oh my god!”
The villagers were startled.
Wang Mengying adjusted the arch’s length and angle, and immediately, water surged from the arch toward the nearest field. According to the manual, the end of the arch could also be connected to a standard hose, making irrigation even more convenient.
“This is so professional…” one villager murmured in awe.
Pingshui Town was predominantly mountainous, and irrigation had always been a major issue. For large contiguous areas, the township government might install irrigation pipes, but for just a couple of acres on a mountain slope, it was impractical to do so. This was one reason fewer and fewer villagers were planting crops.
Although this equipment wasn’t as sophisticated as professional irrigation systems, in times of drought it could absolutely serve as an emergency water source.
“Pretty good.” The villagers were genuinely envious.
With the addition of the small irrigation machine, the farming base operated even more efficiently. Two days later, 500 mu of land had been fully planted.
Once the village helpers left, Wang Mengying looked over the vast fields stretching across the hills and felt a strong sense of accomplishment.
She took a photo of the mountainous farmland, added a selfie, and posted to her Moments: “Two days of labor results. 😎😎”
“The air is amazing!”
“Answering the nation’s call.”
A few days earlier, Wang Mengying had posted a text update, so many of her classmates already knew she had returned home to run an agricultural base.
As she scanned through the comments, she noticed a new one—
Zhao Shengbo: “You’ve gotten tanned. Girls still look best when they’re pretty…”
Wang Mengying glanced at her field work outfit and immediately replied: “Idiot.”
She had been so busy planting that she’d forgotten to block Zhao Shengbo.
Just like that, she deleted and blocked him in one go.
Now that all 500 mu of wheat had been sown, it was just a matter of waiting for the July harvest.
…
“February 19, Mali, Ruiwei, and Wula areas are experiencing extreme rainfall. The rain contains strong acidic substances.”
“A second cold front is forming in Malihaerma, and another wave of heavy rain is expected on the 22nd.”
…
While Changlong County was actively promoting national planting efforts, news about Mali dominated the trending headlines.
On February 9, southern Mali saw light rainfall.
By February 15, the Ha’erma cold front made landfall in Mali, bringing a massive influx of chemically contaminated seawater.
By February 17, the front had swept across all of southern Mali, with maximum precipitation reaching 572mm. Over 200,000 hectares of land had already been affected.
…
Today was February 19, the fifth day of the torrential rains in Mali.
Mali was more than 2,000 kilometers away from Longxia, separated by numerous mountain ranges. At first, no residents paid much attention to the situation.
But Longxia News Broadcast, provincial TV stations, Weiwen trending topics…
For the past five days, every major media outlet had been covering the intense rainfall in Mali. Longxia Television Station had already aired five days of on-site interviews. Numerous experts were analyzing the possibility of acid rain reaching Longxia, and the atmosphere in the media had grown increasingly tense.
…
“Old Zhao wants you to come dance, why aren’t you going?”
On the evening of February 19, Wang Mingjun was cooking noodles while calling out toward the living room.
Song Shufen, knitting on the sofa, answered without looking up, “Not going. No fun in dancing.”
“You can’t just knit all day. It’s spring now, the kids don’t even need more sweaters…”
“They don’t, but I do. Can’t I knit for myself?”
Wang Mingjun and Song Shufen were both retired teachers from Yun City No. 1 High School. These kinds of petty quarrels were part of their everyday life.
“Let me cook.”
Annoyed by the nagging, Song Shufen came to the kitchen to take over.
Wang Mingjun had no choice but to sit in the living room.
Soon, Song Shufen brought out two bowls of noodles, added the sauce, and turned on the TV.
“According to Longxia Xinlong News Agency, Ruiwei in Mali experienced another wave of heavy rainfall at 3:30 p.m. The detected rainwater shows strong corrosive effects on the ground…”
The Longxia News Broadcast was airing, with a Longxia TV reporter interviewing locals in Mali under the rain. The screen showed torrential rain in the area, with the cameraman nearly slipping multiple times.
“These kids are taking such risks,” Wang Mingjun said, clearly worried. He was sixty-nine this year and watched the young reporters like they were his own juniors.
Song Shufen didn’t respond immediately but watched for a while before asking, “Has there been a lot of news about Mali lately?”
“There has.”
The most discussed topic about the Mali rainstorm was the chemical pollution carried in the rainfall, and many media outlets were analyzing the potential for its spread.
“I remember a few years ago, you opened a window and there was iron dust everywhere. The kids came home from school with a layer of steel on their heads…”
Wang Mingjun brought up past chemical pollution incidents. Yun City was a heavy industrial city that had suffered severe environmental pollution in the past, including episodes of iron dust rain. But that was ancient history now—domestic environmental policies had since become much stricter. Besides, Ha’erma was known as a heavy pollution zone, so it wasn’t unusual for its rainfall to contain some chemicals.
“I remember an international news report not long ago, where our country expressed concern about Mali’s pollution drifting across the globe… With all those mountains and rivers in the way, it’s just not possible!” Wang Mingjun continued sharing his opinion.
“Why not? From a geographical standpoint…” Song Shufen, a geography teacher, started analyzing the possibility of Mali’s acid rain spreading. At first it was casual, but the deeper she analyzed, the more plausible it seemed.
“Can’t be, right?”
“Probably not…”
Both Wang Mingjun and Song Shufen realized the seriousness of potential acid rain dispersion. Although the chances were slim, if acid rain were to spread on a large scale, it would be disastrous.
“That little bit of acid rain will get diluted before it even makes it over here,” Wang Mingjun said awkwardly.
Song Shufen didn’t argue back.
While they chatted, the Longxia News Broadcast cut to a new segment—
“At 6:00 p.m. on February 19, 3028, the Longxia Meteorological Department issued a disaster warning. Based on meteorological trajectories, if Mali’s acid rain cannot be contained, it is projected to reach southern Longxia by the end of March…”
Wang Mingjun and Song Shufen: !!!
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