Witty Wife, Better Life

Chapter 645: Chapter 635: The Effect of Paying Wages

Wages were distributed, and the effect was very good. In the following month, there was no need for Shen Yunfang to oversee the farm at all. Those comrades of Li Hongjun... oh, I should say now the workers of Shen Yunfang, were all taking initiative in their tasks, working diligently without the need for supervision.

When they first arrived, these burly men all thought they were just helping out a comrade. Despite being offered high wages, deep down they intended to decline payment, but after a month, when they actually accepted the envelopes from their sister-in-law, the substantial amount of money inside made them feel guilty, ashamed, and grateful. At the same time, they couldn’t help but admit that they felt a faint sense of joy and excitement.

After all, they were all heads of families, except for one or two special cases. The rest had whole families to support back home. They couldn’t help but think if they worked hard for sister-in-law for a few years, perhaps they could improve their family’s circumstances, refurbish their homes, provide money for their children’s education, dress their wives in clothes with flower prints, or allow their old mothers to afford more meat in their diet...

Many such thoughts crossed their minds. Although no one spoke about it openly, they had all made up their minds to work hard for sister-in-law.

Shen Yunfang truly hadn’t expected such benefits from distributing one month’s salary.

However, as a boss, she was happy to see this situation.

The work of reclaiming the wasteland continued, and she was already considering the next steps.

July was approaching, and at this time of year in Z Province, there weren’t many crops left to plant. She planned to raise pigs next year, but without grain, she wondered what she would feed them. So, for next year’s plans, she had to exert even more effort.

That evening, Shen Yunfang and her husband brought their children over for a visit and to discuss the upcoming plans with everyone.

"What? Planting corn now, isn’t it too late?" They were all surprised when they heard sister-in-law’s next plan was to plant corn.

They were all farmers and back in their hometown, corn would typically be sown from April to May, and even late corn would have been planted by early June. Now that July was almost upon them, they felt it wasn’t the right time for planting.

"It is indeed a bit late, but I have consulted colleagues who specialize in this area. Planting at this time is not impossible, although it might be a bit bothersome. The seeds need to be soaked first, and then..." Shen Yunfang hadn’t lied; she had indeed consulted teachers who were experts in the field. However, they seemed to still be annoyed at her for not choosing them the last time and were quite impatient with her inquiries, tossing her a textbook and considering the matter closed. This left Shen Yunfang speechless; never had she seen colleagues treat her quite like this.

"Alright, sister-in-law, no need to explain further. Just how you say to do it, we’ll do it. Just tell us how to plant and we’ll plant, alright?" Zhang Hongwen had the least patience. Seeing that sister-in-law seemed to be gearing up for another lesson, he quickly interjected to make her stop. Goodness, if sister-in-law started lecturing, it would last for an hour or two without end!

Several people secretly wiped imaginary sweat from their brows.

"Alright then, I’ve already made arrangements for the seeds at my workplace, and I’ll bring them over tomorrow. Let’s get started with the planting," decided Shen Yunfang with finality.

In the subsequent half-month, Shen Yunfang procured the corn seeds and had everyone plant them with all their might. It wasn’t until mid-July that she announced a halt to the planting, having sown nearly eighty acres of corn.

Of course, to ensure the germination and growth rate of the corn, she spent money to buy some agricultural film from the school, covering all eighty acres. From a distance, the vast expanse of white was quite spectacular.

After mid-July, Shen Yunfang split the people into two groups. The first group, after preparing the land with her, started to plant Honeysuckle cuttings in the field.

Shen Yunfang was preparing to focus on rejuvenating the mountain next spring, and the Honeysuckle seedlings they were cultivating now were for use next year.

The honeysuckle cuttings she brought were all grown in the trial fields in the Capital, and she had sneakily stored them away in her space, now was the perfect time to use them.

At that time, she didn’t even have one mu of land planted with honeysuckle, and there weren’t many cuttings available in total, far from enough for planting on the mountain. Therefore, Shen Yunfang adopted two methods when propagating the seedlings.

The first method was definitely cutting propagation, which wasn’t difficult.

"Cut the branches into lengths of 20 to 30 centimeters, look at me, about this long, the length of a small forearm, then strip the leaves from the bottom, exposing it like this, and that’s it prepared. Then watch me, insert the branch into the soil, leaving about half of it above ground. Space them out before... planting each one..."

Eager to avoid classes sooner, everyone quickly learned how to propagate honeysuckle by cuttings.

The second method was seed propagation, and Shen Yunfang had already processed the seeds herself. It was time to have everyone take the treated seeds and sow them according to her instructions.

The remaining two groups, full of sympathy for the first group, swiftly planted the watermelon and muskmelon seeds that their sister-in-law had brought, fearing that if they were slow, she might come over to provide guidance herself.

In the meantime, the reservoir upstream of Huanlin River had released water. Businesses and villages along the river were notified as a precaution against the danger that could occur if people remained in the river during the release. Of course, accidents always happen, and more than a few have lost their lives as a result.

Upon hearing this news, all the farm staff were incredibly excited; Miao Shan, in particular, was itching to try and planned to go fishing in the river after work.

Shen Yunfang had never witnessed the release of water from a reservoir in either of her lifetimes, but she had heard stories about rivers teeming with fish afterward, where one could easily catch a fish with each attempt, so she too was eager to see such a spectacle.

Of course, she was a good mother and figured that if she was interested in seeing it, her children would probably enjoy it too. So when she got home, she mentioned it at the dinner table.

It goes without saying how excited Pangpang and Manman were.

"Oh, that’s great, we can go play in the water tomorrow!" The two kids started jumping up and down on the spot.

"Okay, settle down, eat up. I’ll ask your teacher for leave when I take you to school this afternoon," Li Hongjun told the children to eat properly, his eyes filled with mirth.

"But let’s get one thing straight. You can’t talk about this with anyone. If word gets out, then both of you will obediently go to school tomorrow. Nobody is going out to play," Yunfang still had to set some rules for the children. It was fine if her own kids didn’t behave perfectly, but it wouldn’t be good if they boasted and influenced a bunch of kids to skip school and go to the river to catch fish instead.

"Yes, Commander, mission guaranteed to be complete." Pangpang saluted his mother in a military fashion, standing by the table.

Shen Yunfang looked at her son, then asked her husband, "Did you teach him that?"

Before the child’s father could respond, Pangpang admitted, "No, my dad didn’t teach me. All the kids in my class know how to salute; I learned from them."