Rural Farming: My Buildings Can Be Upgraded

Chapter 59: Chapter 58: Little Sister Causes Trouble

After lunch, Ma Sandao strolled through Lin Xian Village for a while, mainly to check the number of tourists.

He noticed there were indeed a lot of people. The Medicinal Tea, in particular, was selling so well that he felt Lin Feng could make more money just by producing it instead of running a tourist business.

Walking up the stone-paved mountain path, he quickened his pace and spotted someone he knew. "Jiajia, over here!"

"Uncle Sandao, there are so many people, please don’t shout. Also, don’t call me Jiajia in the future. Use my full name, Ma Jiajia."

"What’s wrong with you, kid? Your parents gave you that name, what’s there to be afraid of! Look at me, your uncle. My name is Ma Sandao, and I’m not afraid of people calling me that."

Ma Jiajia was at his wit’s end with his uncle. He was already very introverted, and his name sounded like a girl’s.

There was no reasoning with someone of his uncle’s generation, so he could only ask, "Uncle... Uncle Sandao, what did you need me for?"

"I wanted to ask about the salary here. I’m planning to come work here."

Ma Jiajia understood. It was about the two options again. They had all gone through the same thing and had chosen the base salary plus bonus plan.

’Only an idiot would choose the fixed salary.’

"Uncle, choose the base salary plus bonus. Do you know how much I’m on track to make this month?"

"How much?"

"The base salary is 2,000, and my bonus is already over 3,000. I won’t know the exact amount until the end of the month, and it hasn’t even been a full month yet."

Ma Sandao was shocked. "The bonus is that high?!"

"It’s not high at all. Look how many people come to this village every day! The boss is giving us 5% of the profits. The more people that come, the higher our wages."

"If you don’t believe me, you can go ask Liu Yan. She collects the entrance fees, so she has a clearer picture than I do."

In the beginning, none of them really understood it either. It was only after Liu Yan and He Hua both chose the base salary plus bonus that the rest of them followed suit.

They only realized later how much revenue the tourists in Lin Xian Village brought in, not to mention that hot-selling product, the Medicinal Tea.

Ma Sandao was pleasantly surprised. His base salary was higher than others, so with the bonus, it would be easy to surpass the fixed salary option.

Besides, the village’s restaurant hadn’t even opened yet. Once it did, business would surely be booming.

’If there were really too few tourists, it wouldn’t matter if Lin Feng offered me a high fixed salary. I’d probably end up getting laid off anyway.’

Having figured this out, Ma Sandao stopped hesitating and went straight to find Lin Feng.

"Uncle Sandao, are you sure?"

"Yes, I’m sure. Let’s sign the contract now."

He was very happy. He hadn’t expected Lin Feng to also provide social insurance. The thing was, he was already paying for rural pension insurance, so he definitely wouldn’t have enough years contributed for the social insurance to fully kick in.

As for whether to continue paying for the rural pension, he would have to decide for himself. Anyway, according to the accountant, he could either get his rural pension contributions back or merge them into his social insurance account.

In fact, the cleaning ladies in the village had already started receiving their rural pensions, and Lin Feng had covered their social insurance payments for them.

Just as he stepped out of the room, he saw his mother walking over.

"Mom, what are you doing here?"

His mother had to stay in the county seat to look after his sister while she was at school. She usually only came over on Sundays.

"Isn’t it because of the trouble your sister caused?"

"Huh? What trouble did Xiaoxi cause?"

Liu Chunyan said helplessly, "Your sister ate those grapes, right? Her grades improved so quickly that she scored 679 on her last exam."

"Isn’t that a good thing?"

"Scoring that high is a good thing, of course. The problem is, her teacher asked her about it, and she told them about eating the grapes."

"Would the teacher even believe that?"

"At first, they didn’t. But then the teacher found out about the Jade Grapes and believed it. She even called me in today to ask if it was possible to buy some."

Lin Feng was speechless. ’The teacher must have heard about the Jade Grapes later. Otherwise, there’s no way she would have believed it.’

"Mom, are you suggesting I sell some to the teacher?"

"Of course you can’t sell them! If you sell to one, how many teachers are there in that school? Do you have that many grapes?"

Liu Chunyan was still clear-headed. She hadn’t come this time to ask her son to sell grapes to the teachers, but to give him a warning.

"I came to tell you that word about the grapes might spread around the school, because more than one teacher knows about it now."

"If the students’ parents find out, they’ll definitely come looking for you. It might cause trouble."

Lin Feng smiled and said, "Mom, you don’t have to worry about that. I can handle it."

Plenty of people in Wuyuan County hadn’t come to cause trouble, and even some from out of town left him alone. The parents of a few students were no big deal.

The last time the county leaders visited, they had given him their assurance, telling him to focus on developing the tourism industry in Lin Xian Village.

Those few Jade Grapes couldn’t be transplanted, so they weren’t that significant to the overall development of Wuyuan County.

"As long as you can handle it. That little troublemaker, your sister... I even reminded her, but she still let it slip."

Lin Feng comforted her, "It’s alright, Mom. Xiaoxi is still young and doesn’t understand some things. This won’t affect me much."

Even if those parents found out, how many would actually believe it? Besides, the Jade Grapes weren’t cheap.

But once the news spread, competition for the Jade Grapes would become even more intense. No matter their social status, all parents’ hopes for their children to succeed—to become dragons and phoenixes—were incredibly strong.

In fact, when he thought carefully about the effects of the Jade Grapes, while they couldn’t raise a person’s IQ, they were indeed a great help to students’ studies.

For most people, studying hadn’t reached the point of being a battle of wits. So, by boosting energy, relieving fatigue, and improving one’s Constitution, it was equivalent to a comprehensive physical enhancement.

If you also factored in the skin-whitening effect, it might even boost some students’ confidence.

Under these circumstances, as long as someone was willing to study, with both their mind and Constitution enhanced and more time to study than others, it would be strange if they *didn’t* improve.

...

The news first spread among the teachers. At the beginning, no one believed it, because Lin Xi’s academic performance had been excellent recently.

Teachers from all her subjects had noted that she was very focused in class and diligent after class.

However, after doing a little digging about the Jade Grapes, they became less certain. The main reason was that the effects of the Jade Grapes were just too miraculous.

No one had expected that the Jade Grapes, which had been the subject of gossip in Wuyuan County a while back, would have such an amazing effect.

Then, as the high school students were let out of school, the news began to spread among the parents.

Most parents, indeed, did not believe that a type of grape could change a person’s academic performance.

But even if they didn’t believe it, they would still search for information online and ask around.

The Jade Grapes, which had faded from the attention of ordinary people, suddenly became a hot topic again among the parents of students in Wuyuan County.

Lin Feng hadn’t expected that this matter would even draw the attention of the Wuyuan County leaders, who called him to ask about it.

It seemed no one was immune, regardless of their status. When it came to a child’s education, it was always a major issue.

He received several calls, all asking him about this matter. Clearly, the news that the Jade Grapes could help with a child’s studies had already spread throughout the county.

Seeing the call from Hu Xia, Lin Feng answered bluntly, "Don’t tell me you’re also calling to ask about the Jade Grapes helping with studies?"

"Hey, I didn’t want to call you either, but our relatives are blowing up my dad’s phone."

Hu Xia was exasperated too. The two adults in her home were college graduates and had no kids to worry about, but their relatives sure did.

After the news spread through the county seat, her parents’ phones were blown up by relatives.

"All I can say is, for a kid who’s willing to study and isn’t a blockhead, they’ll definitely be useful."

"You’ve seen the description of the Jade Grapes’ effects, so you should understand how it works, right?"

"Okay, okay, I get it. My parents insisted that I call and ask you."

That night in Wuyuan County, the parent community was abuzz, all discussing the legend of the Jade Grapes.

Some people whose children were facing the pressure of advancing to the next school level were already trying to buy Jade Grapes.