Chapter 46

“No.”

“Why not? This fruit is quite profitable.”

“Dad, you’re only looking at the profit but not considering the bigger picture. Aside from our family and Uncle’s family, no one else in Group Two is growing fruit trees. However, Group Four is—every household there has fruit trees.

Besides that, in Shenjia Village and Sanyu Village, every household also grows fruit trees. The market is already saturated. The reason our family can make money is simply because our fruit is of better quality, so we’re able to sell it.

If you lead the villagers to plant fruit trees, can you guarantee that everyone will grow them as well as we do?”

Come on, it’s not a problem for them to grow fruit trees here, but without the spiritual spring water, the fruits they produce will be inferior—even worse than those from the other two villages. If that happens, the fruits will just pile up in their hands unsold.

Father Lin listened to Lin Nanzhi’s explanation and realized she had a good point. He suddenly felt at a loss. His enthusiasm for leading the villagers to prosperity as the newly appointed village chief instantly deflated.

“But making money isn’t impossible. I have a few ideas. The biggest difference between rural areas and cities is that every household here has a lot of land. We can use that land to generate income.

Growing grain crops isn’t very profitable anymore, so instead of letting unused land go to waste, we can put it to good use.

For example, we can plant fruit trees, tea trees, and medicinal herbs. However, our soil here isn’t suitable for large-scale fruit tree or medicinal herb cultivation, but we can try planting tea trees.

Aside from that, many villagers have handicraft skills. They can create handmade products to sell—many city dwellers love this kind of thing.

Additionally, we can raise livestock, especially chickens, ducks, and geese. The ones here are free-range, and as long as they are raised well, they can bring in good profits.

We could even plant trees. Many places need trees for urban landscaping. Right now, the prices aren’t high, but after a few years, the value will double. Just one tree could be worth a farmer’s entire year’s income.”

“Growing trees can be that profitable?”

Lin Nanzhi nodded, and Father Lin started to think seriously.

Indeed, land was never an issue for farmers, especially in their village. In the past, there was more land than people—every household had about ten acres. But in recent years, much of it had been left idle, or worse, sold to city folks as graveyards.

If they could actually make money from it, utilizing the land would be a great idea.

Technically, rural tourism could be an option, but not every village is suitable for that. Lin Nanzhi had already set up one on the mountain, so if other villagers did the same, they wouldn’t make much profit.

To truly make money, they had to either grow trees or raise livestock. The climate here was quite suitable, and now that they had dug out a water source, they could even farm fish.

Still, Lin Nanzhi believed growing trees was the best choice. The land here was mostly mountainous, with very little flat terrain, so planting trees would be the most convenient option.

“But Dad, you just took office. There’s no need to rush. Take it step by step.”

Developing the village was the village committee’s responsibility, but the officials always preferred to shift the burden onto others. They would merely pass down directives from above, leaving everything else to the village chief, with no supervision. Any funds that came in would be embezzled—it was no wonder the village remained poor. Lin Nanzhi actually hoped they could replace the village party secretary.

But that wasn’t something for her to worry about. She had received a few job applications through phone calls and scheduled interviews at the same time. However, there weren’t many people qualified as boatmen—after all this time, only one person had applied.

After testing his skills, he turned out to be quite capable, so she hired him. During this period, she also recruited a few villagers and had the boatman teach them rowing. In a month, they should be skilled enough to start operating.

“Hello, is the boss here?”

Lin Nanzhi was watering newly planted trees at the homestay, reflecting on how much her tree-planting skills had improved, when she heard a voice.

Looking up, she saw a young girl of about seventeen or eighteen. She had a round face, wore glasses, and was dressed in a puffer jacket. Seeing Lin Nanzhi looking at her, she smiled shyly. “I saw the job posting and came for the interview.”

Lin Nanzhi hadn’t expected to get applicants through online job postings, as job search websites weren’t very popular yet. She had also posted recruitment notices in some local shops.

Since the location wasn’t in the city, most people weren’t willing to come. Only a few had called, and most just asked about the salary. Those who had scheduled interviews never showed up—this girl was the first one to actually come.

“Please, have a seat.”

Lin Nanzhi pointed to a wooden table nearby. The girl found a chair and sat down, looking around the place.

She didn’t like noisy environments, and the job posting mentioned good pay and a quiet setting, which was why she had come. At first, she had doubts when she saw the homestay was near the highway, but once inside, it was unexpectedly peaceful—she couldn’t hear any traffic noise, only birds chirping.

The homestay had a courtyard with two golden ginkgo trees. Beneath the trees were two wooden tables with benches. The courtyard was paved with pebbles and had a small pond with a few fish. The three-and-a-half-story wooden house was built in a traditional style, giving it an elegant, vintage look.

Lin Nanzhi placed a glass of water on the table and sat down. “Are you applying for the receptionist position?”

“Yes.”

“Alright. The job details are listed in the posting: we provide meals and accommodation. Rooms are shared, two people per room, and we provide everything except personal hygiene products.

Meals are whatever the chef prepares, but we ensure three meals a day. Breakfast is whatever is available, while lunch and dinner include two meat dishes, one vegetable dish, and a soup.

The salary is fixed at 3,000 yuan per month, plus a 300-yuan attendance bonus. There’s no commission.

Holidays are only allowed if you arrange for someone to cover your shift. Otherwise, you’ll have to work during holidays, in which case you’ll receive triple pay.

Each month, you get three days off, which don’t affect your attendance bonus. If you take additional leave, your salary will be deducted accordingly. If you choose not to take any days off, you’ll receive an extra 500 yuan as an overtime bonus.

Is there anything else you’d like to know?”

The girl shook her head—she had already asked everything she needed.

She wasn’t expecting social insurance benefits. In the service industry, it was rare for employers to offer five social insurances and one housing fund.

“When can you start?”

“Anytime. But the homestay isn’t open yet, right?”

“Yes, we open at the beginning of next month. This month, we’ll mostly be handing out flyers. Since it’s already mid-month, your salary for this month will be 90 yuan per day.”

“You can start this month or next month—it’s up to you.”

“I’ll start this afternoon.”

“Alright. Our driver hasn’t arrived yet, so you’ll need to transport your own belongings, but we’ll reimburse your travel expenses. Just bring a copy of your ID and your health certificate when you come.”

“Health certificate?”

“You don’t have one? That’s fine, you can still come, and we’ll arrange for it to be issued here.”

“Okay, thank you.”

The girl soon left, and Lin Nanzhi continued watering the trees. Then, she took out the prepared flower pots, filled them with soil, planted seeds, and watered them with spiritual spring water. The flowers bloomed instantly, which she then placed in the corner as decorations.

About an hour later, a pair of sisters arrived for the receptionist position. After hearing about the job details, they said they’d think about it and left. But two hours later, they called back, saying they’d start work that afternoon.