After Apocalypse, I Got Rich With Superpower

Chapter 51: Chapter 49: Hiring People

Chapter 51: Chapter 49: Hiring People

After much discussion, it was agreed that No.7 Farm indeed needed adult superpower users to keep watch, as the children were still too young and really not very useful. Shi Lei decided to stay at No.7 Farm for the long term to work. He, himself a middle-level Earth Element superpower user, was also a team member of Liu Qian. Having worked together for a long time, they trusted his character.

“Brother, I’ll come over after I resign. Just call me if you need anything.”

“Sure.”

Liu Qian said, “Xue Dong, Shi Lei, Xie Ling, Sun Wenwen, and Yang Zhengfei will stay at No.7 Farm, and Jianzhong and the children will stay here. It’s safer that way.”

“Okay.”

Xie Ling was also a Wood Element superpower user, Sun Wenwen was Water Element, and Yang Zhengfei was Earth Element; all were very useful for No.7 Farm. Now that crops were planted in the ground, they just needed to make rounds daily to guard and deliver a bit of superpower as needed.

Li Pan was busy delivering superpower to all the crops in the field, and he had planted some fruit trees as well; the survival rate of planting in the fall was higher. All these were cash crops, and planting more would help the farm break even sooner.

Qin Jianzhong made several trips to move the animals over to the breeding area. He planned to stay there for a few days to keep watch over the farm’s livestock to prevent any stress reactions.

“We still need to move some flowers and trees from the house.”

“No rush on that, just move a couple of breadfruit trees and that coconut fruit tree; the kids like to drink derivatives from it.”

“Done.”

“Are we setting up the winter greenhouse?”

“Yes, once Shi Lei comes back and brings the stuff, we can build it ourselves.”

“We should build one at No.7 Farm too; every little bit helps.”

“Done.”

They planned to grow winter greenhouse vegetables, wanting to try it out. It was certainly better than having nothing at all. Since money had been spent to this extent, they weren’t concerned about spending a little more or less.

By the time they had finished with all the work at No.7 Farm, it was already winter, the children had moved over, and Shi Lei and Liu Qian were staying in the little two-story building at No.7 Farm. They were responsible for the crops there, Xie Ling checked daily for the transportation of Wood Power, and Sun Wenwen was in charge of changing water in the storage tanks for both farms.

Fish were kept in the storage tanks and the plan was to start raising shrimp next spring.

The lotus roots in the lake were ready to be harvested. Xue Dong and a few others were extracting them from the lake, using simple rafts they had made from wood to transport the roots.

This was work for men, as they did not allow women into the lake; the lake was bone-chilling cold in winter, too much for the girls to handle, as they could get seriously chilled.

Spend a few hours a day extracting lotus roots was hard labor; besides keeping some for their own consumption, the rest were sold at the base.

Every three days, someone from the base would come to collect the lotus roots. Going daily was too much trouble; once every three days was just right.

Their crop was a good variety, fruit lotus roots, which were crunchy and sweet and good for raw eating or light frying. They could harvest three to four thousand pounds daily, and they could continue from October to January, representing a good income.

The Base Commander called to say that these lotus roots were in high demand as soon as they hit the market, and they needed to switch to picking up the goods every two days instead of three because the sales volume was very good.

Made into powder, lotus roots were also an excellent food item. In addition to selling a portion, the base was processing another part into lotus root powder for sale in stores; processed products definitely commanded a different price.

Through this, Xue Dong and Li Pan also recovered some money and Contribution points; they estimated that in another two months, they could recoup the money spent on the goods for No.7 Farm.

Other farms were also reaching their harvest seasons and began supplying the base. Whatever they couldn’t consume was definitely to be sold to the base.

The base naturally welcomed the supply; the struggling farms finally saw a light at the end of the tunnel.

This year was very challenging for everyone, and Li Pan’s life was not easy, not to mention the exhaustion, the daily anxieties, and having to ensure there was enough food at home. People came to work on the farm without slacking; they needed enough food to fill their stomachs, including some fat and oil, as physical labor was demanding.

They also faced various disasters, but fortunately, everyone pulled together and carried through.

Li Pan was constantly checking on No. 7 and No. 8 Farms, not daring to let anything go wrong with the crops, as they needed to be harvested in March and April, during a critical period of short supply. These details were very important.

In December, they harvested a batch of vegetables from the garden. By the end of September, there were hardly any melons left, so they planted some vegetables, which could be eaten for another month or more.

The greenhouse had been set up for the winter, and they planted fewer winter vegetables. A poor harvest wouldn’t be a concern, having some greens for the family to eat was good enough.

They made frequent visits to No.7 Farm, where Liu Qian and Xie Ling were very conscientious, taking great care of the fields and even constructing a green storage pit, storing fodder in two pits for the cattle and sheep.

People from the base came to fish this week, saying there was going to be snow, and they wanted to sell the fish and lotus roots before the snow season arrived.

There were two ponds and a lake with a fairly good quantity of fish; some were reserved for making smoked fish to eat during the winter, and the rest were to be sold. There were a total of thirty thousand pounds of fish. The base specially brought two high-level space superpower users to pack the fish, vegetables, and lotus root.

After they had cleaned and disinfected the fish ponds, it finally began to snow.

“Brother, it’s snowing.”

“It’s finally snowing; I’ll make a round at No.7 Farm, you go ahead back.”

“Okay, I’ll go tomorrow then.”

Li Pan was still worried; it was essential for him to visit daily whenever he had time, especially since Xie Ling was young, and he wasn’t very reassured by her.

Xue Dong visited No.7 Farm and found that the crops were fine. The heavy snow would insulate the ground and simultaneously kill off the insect eggs.

Liu Qian and Shi Lei were in the shed smoking meat and fish.

“You two are really busy here.”

“Perfect timing for your visit. Take some smoked pork back with you; I’ve smoked it all.”

“I’m planning to butcher the pigs. We’ll butcher the largest one at home and keep one for ourselves to butcher before New Year’s. We’ll keep the piglets and butcher two cows, all rabbits, and a batch of chickens, ducks, and geese; if we don’t, they will start to lose weight.”

The chickens, ducks, and geese don’t gain much weight in winter and even lose some.

“Alright, Sister Qian’er and Pan’er, you smoke the meat while we men go kill fish and dredge for lotus roots. This is a source of income we can’t delay.”

“Sounds good; take turns at the lake, otherwise, it’s too cold.”

“Old men aren’t that finicky. Brother, have you told the base about coming to get the meat?”

“Not yet, the day after tomorrow people from the base are coming to get the lotus roots; they can take the meat then.”

“Alright, shall we butcher the pigs tomorrow then?”

“I’m thinking about doing it tomorrow; it can’t be done in one day.”

“Then I know, I’ll prepare the tools.”

Early the next morning, they left the children and mutant animals at home to watch the house while they went to No. 8 Farm to butcher pigs and cows.

Butchering pigs was naturally a job for the men, while the women were responsible for boiling water for scalding, cleaning the intestines, and other tasks like cutting the meat and chopping the bones.

Zhang Yu was in charge of boiling the water, while Li Pan, Liu Qian, and Zhang Qi handled cleaning the intestines and other items.

The pig heads and intestines had to be thoroughly cleaned; the pig heads especially needed their hair singed off, which was quite a hassle.

However, many hands make light work. Xue Dong and Shi Lei handled the slaughtering and scalding respectively, Qin Jianzhong and Zhang Qi were in charge of butchering cows, with Zhang Qi acting as a runner fetching hot water.

Liu Qian and Pan’er cleaned the organs and set them aside for later.

The cow stomach and other parts also needed to be cleaned. Once cleaned and marinated, they would be delicious when stir-fried. These were kept for themselves to eat. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

The pig and cow heads needed to be singed with fire and then the corners and crevices had to be repeatedly burned and cleaned until thoroughly washed inside and out.

Previously, they had raised four pigs, keeping one to be butchered just before New Year’s for their own consumption, now with more people, they weren’t worried about leftovers.

This time, two cows were butchered, keeping back a little high-quality meat, with the rest all to be sold to the base. The boss had spoken; all the beef must go.