Chapter Twenty-Four: The First Customer

The sun gradually climbed higher, yet Zhong Di was busy to the point of dizziness. He hurriedly collected the free-range eggs and quickly gathered grass for the rabbits and chickens. Not counting the new chickens, just the twenty from before and fifteen rabbits consumed an astonishing amount of grass each day. He had always thought about it, but never realized how much work it actually required.

After finishing the chores, Zhong Di finally had time to deal with the Wild Sand Immortal Sprouts. He simply chopped them up and soaked them in water. When he felt the mixture was ready, he diluted it, added some isatis root, and poured it into a basin to feed the chickens. He mainly fed the first twenty chickens he had bought, as they were now his main source of income, giving them more than half of the mixture. The rest he gave to the chicks, hoping it would help with their illness. As for the newly purchased chickens, they could make do with ordinary water for now.

According to the owner of the bran shop, the goods Zhong Di wanted wouldn’t arrive until the afternoon. Once the bran and other supplies arrived, he would feed the new chickens properly. After all these tasks were done, Zhong Di finally had time to fiddle with the tractor and hurried to till the land. Farm work, once postponed, was never just a matter of a day or two.

The rumbling sound of the tractor filled the orchard as Zhong Di, somewhat inexperienced, drove it to turn the soil. There were many grass roots, which greatly slowed the process. Near noon, he barely finished tilling the first plot of land. At a normal pace, three plots could easily be done in half a day, but this land was stubborn—there was no arguing with it.

Chunks of grass roots lay exposed to the air, a real headache. If he wanted to plant vegetables, he’d have to rake the land, adding another step to the process.

“I’ll never finish at this rate,” Zhong Di muttered in frustration as he stood at the edge of the field.

He resigned himself to the fact that he couldn’t do it all alone, no matter how hard he worked. Maybe his mother would have some ideas. With that, Zhong Di called his mother. The phone rang for a long time before she answered.

“What? You want to plant vegetables? What kind? Isn’t it enough to raise chickens?” Di Chunhua asked, surprised. Why bother with vegetables when the free-range chickens were doing so well? It seemed like nonsense to her.

“Mom, these aren’t ordinary vegetables. I plan to grow purely organic produce, and I have my own methods,” Zhong Di explained, sensing her doubts.

“You mean, something different?” Di Chunhua thought of the delicious eggs—could the vegetables be just as special?

“Something like that. I have advanced formulas for fertilizing. Not only will the vegetables taste exceptional, but they’ll also be highly nutritious.” To persuade his mother, Zhong Di resorted to a few small tricks, weaving a convincing argument without even needing to pull out the big guns.

He wasn’t entirely sure how the vegetables would turn out, but as long as he relied solely on organic fertilizer, the flavor would certainly surpass anything sold in the market.

“Alright, tomorrow I’ll contact some people—real experts at growing vegetables,” his mother promised. “Your father will go with them. You don’t need to worry about wages or anything; I’ll negotiate everything. Just pay them when the time comes.”

Hearing his son say the vegetables would be as special as those eggs made her realize the venture had potential. With his mother’s assurance, half the problem was solved; left to do it himself, who knew how long it would take?

He put away his phone and glanced at the sky—it was lunchtime. Zhong Di went to prepare a meal. For lunch, he planned to fry some eggs—using the special ones, three in total, since the regular eggs had been eaten up yesterday. It wasn’t stinginess, but the yield was still too low.

Even with so much dilution, the fragrance of these eggs remained extraordinary—remarkable, really. Zhong Di guessed that eating more might just result in double-yolk eggs, but even a little, as long as it was above a certain threshold, produced that unique effect. He’d test it tomorrow.

As he was frying eggs, Zhong Di’s phone rang.

“Hello, is this Boss Zhong? I’m the person who contacted you yesterday. I’ll be coming to pick up the free-range eggs, arriving in thirty minutes,” said a young man on the other end, no older than twenty-four or twenty-five, about Zhong Di’s age. Since Su Rou had introduced him, he must be around the same age.

The call ended quickly, with no chance for Zhong Di to speak. He swiftly fried a vegetable dish, made some soup, and called Uncle Zhang to eat.

“Oh wow, what’s that smell? It’s so fragrant,” Uncle Zhang exclaimed as soon as he sat at the table. The aroma was richer than dishes served in famous restaurants.

“Fried eggs,” Zhong Di replied.

“With your cooking skills, you could be a head chef at a big hotel. Wait—why wasn’t yesterday’s batch this fragrant?” Uncle Zhang’s mouth watered uncontrollably.

At that moment, a black Audi A6 stopped at the gate.

“Zhong Di, looks like someone’s here for you. I know those four rings—Audi. Is it your friend?”

Seeing someone arrive, Uncle Zhang dropped the topic of eggs.

“Boss Zhong, are you here?” called a delicate-looking young man standing outside the gate. He looked so young, barely eighteen or nineteen.

“Yes, just a moment,” Zhong Di said, putting down his chopsticks and going to open the door.

“You’re Zhong Di? You don’t look very old! Actually, you’re just as handsome as me—it’s unfair!” said the newcomer as soon as he entered. “Nice to meet you, I’m Yang Yi.”

He’s saying I don’t look old? Isn’t it you who looks young? Zhong Di mused silently, but since they weren’t acquainted yet, he kept the thought to himself.

“What’s that smell? Why is it so fragrant?” Yang Yi exclaimed as he walked over to where Uncle Zhang and the others were eating. He was boisterous, almost like a child… no, he probably was just a kid.

“Fried eggs, pure free-range eggs from our farm,” Zhong Di replied, seizing the chance to promote his product.

“Nonsense. I’ve tried all kinds of supposedly amazing free-range eggs, even ones costing a thousand each, and none of them smelled this good,” Yang Yi said skeptically.

“If you don’t mind, you can try some,” Zhong Di offered. He didn’t mind—if he were in Yang Yi’s shoes, he’d be doubtful too; the aroma was simply unbeatable.

With that, Zhong Di went into the kitchen and brought out an extra set of chopsticks and a bowl.

“Alright, I’ll try it,” Yang Yi said cheerfully, taking the bowl and chopsticks and speaking quietly to Uncle Zhang and the others, “Sorry, uncles, I’ll try it first.”

“No problem, no problem. You’re a guest here, no need to stand on ceremony,” Uncle Zhang replied, understanding well that this was a customer Zhong Di had attracted. Judging by the car, Yang Yi was definitely well-off.