“Yeah, I’m not going back.” Ji Jianyun nodded and looked at the part of the wall they had built. He said, “A lot of bricks were used to build this wall.”
“It costs a lot of money, but all these broken bricks can be used. It adds up to be about the same,” Father Ji said this and glanced at him. He saw that Ji Jianyun did not make a big deal about it.
Xu Aidang and Ji Hongjun did not say anything about Ji Jianyun's resignation. They could see the orchard’s current progress and it had to be stood up. It would be perfect if Ji Jianyun came back, otherwise it would be impossible to rely on Su Danhong, Father Ji, and Mother Ji to take care of such a large orchard.
As for building the wall, Ji Jianyun was eager to try it, but he was stopped by Father Ji. “Don't do it until you get better. I won't stop you then.”
He resigned because of the injuries he sustained on his mission, and everyone knew about it.
They said that Ji Jianyun came back to heal his injuries.
The injury on Ji Jianyun's chest was fine, but he really needed to take care of his leg. Therefore, he didn’t force it.
After talking with them for half an hour, Ji Jianyun returned from the mountain.
When he got home, he recounted what was said at the orchard. Then, he said, “We still have so much unplanted land. Wife, what do you want to plant?”
“It’s up to you, but I like cherries. There needs to be more variety,” Su Danhong said.
“Okay. I looked at it and we don’t have any peaches in the orchard,” Ji Jianyun said.
“Then plant some more peaches.” Su Danhong thought for a moment and said, “Also, plant some mulberries. I like them, too.”
“It’s a little too late in the season right now. Why don’t we wait until the beginning of next spring to plant it?” Ji Jianyun asked.
“It’s all right, just plant it. Ask Boss Qin if there are any saplings and ask him to bring them to you,” Su Danhong said.
With the spiritual spring, she was not worried about the survival of the saplings.
“Danhong, why don’t we take it slow? My leg hasn't healed yet. If we plant it now, then we’ll have to hire someone to water the saplings on the mountain,” Ji Jianyun said.
Su Danhong looked at him and said with annoyance, “I'm not going to let you carry water for the fruit saplings. How many buckets of water would you need to carry in a day? If you do it all by yourself, then you won't be able to do anything else!”
The most important thing was, how could she be willing to let Ji Jianyun do this? If the problem could be solved with money, then it didn’t need to be done personally.
“Danhong.” How could Ji Jianyun not know what his wife meant? She didn’t want him to do this kind of work.
Su Danhong saw him like this and said, “Let’s talk about it again when your leg is fine. You will be needed for things like trimming the branches in the future. I can't do that kind of work or climb trees. You have to go and find someone to learn from. These are all things related to whether our orchard can grow well or not. Jianyun, I think you should learn these things.”
She believed that she should boost her man's self-confidence, so she could only give this advice tactfully.
Ji Jianyun was outwitted by her and he forgot about the unplanted land.
Indeed, compared to carrying water, he, as the owner of the orchard, should learn some really useful things.
“How much does it cost to hire people for a whole year? And it's not every year. Once the saplings are trees, there's basically no need to water them. It won't cost much. We should spend this time learning how to manage the orchard and that is very important. What do you think, Jianyun?” Su Danhong asked him.
“Honey, why are you so smart?” Ji Jianyun suddenly came to a realization, like the clouds had separated and showed a blue sky. He looked at his wife with bright eyes.
“How am I smart? I'm just discussing things with you, that’s all. In the future, we will definitely have a big orchard to manage. And not just the orchard, but also the chicken farm. All of these things will require manpower and we have to learn to manage the people doing the work. We don't have to do anything else. They'll take care of the work for us properly, or else we'll change people. I'll make it clear to them when the time comes. However, we’ll be biased towards them because we're from the village,” Su Danhong said.
In her previous life, her mother taught her that she needed to delegate power. As long as she controlled the older servants who were in charge, she did not have to pay too much attention to the young servant girls below them. Managing one level of servants was enough to manage the next level.
Now that they were going to run an orchard, it would be impossible for them to do it themselves when it was so big. It was necessary to hire people. Her Jianyun did not figure it out at first, but it was fine since she brought it up.
“Leave it to me, I'll take care of everything,” Ji Jianyun said and agreed to it.
“It’s better if you are responsible for these things. It can potentially upset people and I don't like doing that,” Su Danhong glanced at him.
Other men would not disagree with him too much. Furthermore, she had to give him respect and responsibility as a man so that his confidence could grow and he would think more about his family.
Ji Jianyun's heart was warm. After being intimate with his wife for a while, he went to the village committee to make a phone call.
During the phone call, Lao Qin heard that he had resigned. It was great that he was alive, but what had happened was unfortunate. After they talked for a while, they went to the main point of the call.
“Lao Qin, I want to ask you for another batch of saplings. I want the same quality as the ones you sent me last time,” Ji Jianyun said.
"No problem, what kind do you want? I have other ways to get you saplings if I don’t have the ones you want here. Don't worry, the saplings for you are the best.” Lao Qin said.
Ji Jianyun told him the fruit saplings he wanted. There were a lot of them, and it would require two vans to deliver them.
“How many survived last time?” Lao Qin asked.
“All of them,” Ji Jianyun said and chuckled.
Lao Qin was shocked, but then he immediately laughed. “Okay, it looks like you have a green thumb. All right, I can send you a van full of saplings tomorrow, but the cherry saplings and mulberries saplings will take a while. I'll have to get them for you from somewhere else.”
“Okay,” Jianyun replied.
After hanging up the phone, Ji Jianyun paid one yuan for the phone bill. He felt a little distressed. He was already thinking about installing a phone in his own house, but they didn’t have electricity yet. At night, he had to light an oil lamp, which was not convenient.
When he came back, Su Danhong was already cooking in the kitchen. She stewed a pot of beef with radish. She put a portion into a small bowl and instructed, “Jianyun, take it to mother.”
Ji Jianyun smiled and brought it to his mother.
“Tell Danhong not to bring over any more meat. You two need to replenish the body,” Mother Ji said.
“This is Danhong's filial piety to you and father. Also, father does a lot of work every day, so he must eat better,” Ji Jianyun said with a smile.
Mother Ji smiled, but she didn't say anything.
When Father Ji came back in the evening, it was almost dinner time. He saw the bowl of beef stew on the table and asked, “Did Lao San’s wife bring this over?”
“Who else could it be besides Danhong? She asked Jianyun to bring it over,” Mother Ji replied and smiled.
Father Ji nodded. He ate three bowls of rice with the beef stew with radish, and said, “It’s still Lao San’s wife’s stewed meat that is the best!”