Chapter 1583 - 1562: Selling Red Dates, Buying a Detached Courtyard (Part 2)

"This is how us country folks eat it. We plant a lot of chilies every year, and when we can’t finish them, we turn them into chili cakes." Auntie Irving saw how happily she was eating and couldn’t help feeling proud, like she was being appreciated; she felt energized all over.

"Eat more. I’ll take you to pick dates later." Seeing her getting excited like a little kid, Marcus Quinn immediately put another piece into her bowl.

Uncle Irving’s family watched from the side, smiles simple and content on their faces. Marcus Quinn had grown up; he now had someone he treasured at the very center of his heart. If the old master were still alive, he’d definitely be so happy he’d open wine to celebrate.

Breakfast suited A-Tan’s taste perfectly. She ate five pan-fried dumplings, had a bowl of thin rice porridge with chili cake, and couldn’t fit in any noodles. When she caught a whiff of the fragrant noodles in Marcus Quinn’s bowl, she looked at him with longing eyes.

"Once we’re done with these few busy days, I’ll cook it for you myself." The man’s ears picked up everything, his eyes missed nothing; naturally he noticed all her cute little gestures, and leaned in to whisper in her ear.

A-Tan’s eyes lit up. She nodded, then quickly tidied herself up and excitedly followed Marcus Quinn out to pick dates.

Irving drove to Green County to buy packing cartons. Since this batch of fruit was being given free to the city and county, they didn’t bother making their own boxes or putting the Holiday Village logo on them, and then he went to find people to reclaim the wasteland.

A-Tan walked into the orchard with Marcus Quinn and saw the ground covered with sheets of white plastic film, bright red dates scattered all over it, each one like a little red lantern. She immediately started helping to gather the dates into piles. Since there were no cartons yet, they had to wait for Irving to come back.

Marcus Quinn followed Uncle Irving to knock down the remaining dates, while A-Tan stood to the side, in charge of bringing water to the man, and then eating dates herself.

Marcus Quinn was strong and had good stamina. It took him just over an hour to finish knocking down the remaining large stretch of date trees, and suddenly all he could see was red dates carpeting the ground. Luckily Irving drove back soon, and he’d even specifically brought a truck. On top of that, the dozen or so households still left in the village all came to help when they heard Marcus was out knocking dates.

Each carton held ten jin of dates, and it took them the whole day to pack all the dates on the ground, nearly a thousand boxes in total. Marcus had Uncle Irving deliver two boxes of dates to each household, kept fifty boxes for their own family, and loaded the rest onto the truck for several runs into the county.

So over the next two days, people from the county and the city came happily to pick up dates. Once they tried them—crisp, sweet, big, and juicy, and so much better than the expensive dates in the supermarket that cost dozens per jin—the phone of the person in charge of distribution was blown up with calls. As soon as people learned these were dates grown on hills contracted by a farm family from the countryside, they all wanted to keep buying.

The calls came to Marcus that very night.

Since the dates don’t all ripen at the same time, this first round of picking hadn’t cleared the trees. About half the fruit was still left on each tree, meaning there were still over ten thousand jin of dates hanging.

These days life is better, and everyone cares about health, loves eating natural, green vegetables and fruit. Marcus told A-Tan the current market price, then had her set the price.

"All sold out?" A-Tan was still savoring the farm-style dishes from dinner, sitting on the wooden bench under the porch to let her food settle. When she heard Marcus say that, she was both startled and delighted. "I usually only know how to eat. How would I know what price to set for these dates?"

"Just name whatever you like." Marcus smiled, lips quirking up, completely unconcerned.

A-Tan felt sweetness blooming in her heart. After thinking for a bit, she set the price at ten yuan per jin. Ten jin per box made a neat hundred yuan a box. These days a jin of cherries costs over a hundred, and these dates tasted no worse than cherries.

Marcus nodded, reached out to ruffle her soft hair, then continued the call, telling the other side the price was ten yuan per jin.

Such big dates with such good flavor at only ten yuan per jin were quickly fully pre-ordered. The next day, people from the county came and transferred the hundred thousand yuan for the dates to Marcus.

He directly had them transfer the money into A-Tan’s bank card, turning all the income over to her, then said they’d do another round of date picking in half a month.

With the date business settled, A-Tan thought about how more fruit would ripen later. There was fruit for every season of the year, so she opened an online shop named Holiday Village Fruit, planning to sell part of the harvest and reserve part for supplying the Holiday Village in the future.

Once Marcus wrapped up the date business, he got busy leading people to reclaim the wasteland fields. On the third day, provincial experts, having heard about his application for Holiday Village funding, hurried down to the countryside. They were all experts who had long known Old Master Qi; some already had gray hair and still insisted on sitting through a three- or four-hour drive to come.

The experts came and tested the soil, then told Marcus what crops were suitable for those fields. Later they’d also courier him some of the latest fertilizers they’d developed. They reminded him that once the Holiday Village was up and running, he had to inform them so they could come.

Marcus agreed one by one, saw the old experts off, and gave each of them two boxes of fresh dates. The little old men got to taste dishes cooked by Marcus himself and almost couldn’t bear to leave. They headed home with crisp, sweet dates in their luggage, imagining that once the Holiday Village opened, they could stay here, eat delicious food every day, breathe fresh air, go fishing and fruit-picking, hike mountains and play chess. Only then did they happily return to the provincial capital to wait for news.

This burst of busyness lasted a whole week. Soon, the city’s special funds were allocated. Uncle Irving held a meeting in the village and invited every household over, talked about Marcus’s plan to build a Holiday Village, asked for everyone’s opinions, and phoned the dozen families who had moved away to ask whether they wanted to sell or rent out their houses.

The ones left in the village were all elders and children. Back when Old Master Qi was alive, they had benefited from him, and for over a decade they’d relied on the hills and lakes he’d left behind for their livelihood. The elders weren’t foolish; they all nodded, saying they had no objections and were willing to help. One after another, they called their sons and daughters, telling them to come back and help Old Master Qi’s grandson build the Holiday Village.

As for the families who had moved away, once they heard the buyer was Old Master Qi’s grandson, they agreed to sell without hesitation, saying the price could just be symbolic. Some even didn’t want money at all. Marcus discussed it with A-Tan and asked Uncle Irving’s family about house prices in the surrounding area.

The village houses had been left vacant precisely because they couldn’t be sold. Marcus and A-Tan had foresight and didn’t want the villagers to suffer losses. In the end, they priced the houses according to size, with an average of 200,000 yuan per household, and set a rule that villagers would get half-price when they came to spend money at the Holiday Village.

And just like that, the Holiday Village began to take shape, with more than a dozen retro-style courtyards.