MMB Chapter 70 Spring Orchard
Chapter 70 Spring Orchard
spring day.
Rural areas of Sichuan and Chongqing.
It's that time of year again when the flowers bloom, and the biting chill has long since dissipated.
A warm spring breeze swept across the fields, and the clouds hung lightly in the sky.
The entire sky was clean and clear, like an incomparably blue crystal.
This land is covered with sprouting and growing crops.
Wild grasses grow wildly along the field ridges, wildflowers bloom everywhere, and water plants sprout along the streams in the valleys.
Xu Liang was pushing his grandfather's old-fashioned 28-inch bicycle, which had been left over from the 1980s.
He rode on that old-fashioned bicycle, its wheels rolling over the dirt roads of the countryside.
The soil was softened by the spring breeze, and when a car wheel drove over it, it only left a shallow mark, without getting muddy or slippery.
Grandpa was behind the car. The old man was wearing a faded indigo coarse cloth jacket with the cuffs rolled up.
He casually tucked an old straw hat into his hand, his eyes gazing at the spring scenery of the mountains and fields along the way.
"Ride slowly, the roads are uneven in April, don't fall."
Grandpa whispered his instructions, his tone slow and deliberate, carrying the unique subtlety of the older generation.
Xu Liang nodded slightly, slowed his pace, and pushed the cart forward steadily.
The small restaurants in town are now running smoothly.
On the system, Xu Liang watched the real-time monitoring.
Aunt Lu is reliable and down-to-earth, steadily handling many trivial matters.
Sun Zhonglei and Chen Yang have been working at the shop every day, doing odd jobs, serving noodles, and tidying up the shop. They have long been skilled at it.
The shop's rice bowls and noodle dishes have all helped stabilize sales.
Not only is the customer flow stable, but the revenue is also considerable.
There's absolutely no need for Xu Liang to be in the shop constantly watching over things.
Taking advantage of a rare moment of leisure, he put aside his business.
Xu Liang accompanied his grandfather, who hadn't been back to his hometown in a long time, on a trip back to the village.
My maternal grandfather dedicated his life to the countryside, working the land his entire life.
Even though her grandson now runs a business and the family is well-off and no longer needs to rely on farming for a living, the old woman still misses the land of her hometown and the trivial matters of the village.
The most bustling place in the village recently is the newly established orchard on the back hill.
"Our village has finally figured it out."
Grandpa gazed at the vast expanse of green fields and sighed softly.
"In the past, everyone in the village believed in one thing: the land could only be used to grow grain."
""
Rice, corn, sweet potatoes—that's how our ancestors lived. And what's more, they grew grain just to fill their stomachs; any surplus was taken to the town's supply and marketing cooperative to sell, saving every penny. They toiled away all year round, barely making ends meet, without saving a single cent.
In the early 1990s, rural thinking was particularly rigid.
For villagers who have farmed for generations, the land has only one value: to grow food and survive.
No one dares to innovate or take risks.
In everyone's conventional wisdom, clearing land to plant fruit trees is considered a waste of time and energy.
In their eyes, abandoning a stable grain crop to gamble on a uncertain fruit tree harvest is nothing short of a wasteful act.
"In early spring, a few young men in their early twenties from the village got together to discuss it."
Grandpa continued speaking, his gaze fixed on the distant, rolling hills.
"They say that large barren slope behind the mountain is full of rocks and has a thin soil layer. Growing grain there yields very low harvests, resulting in losses every year. It's just lying there uncultivated."
"Why not clear the land, plant fruit trees, and try a different kind of business?"
Xu Liang listened and understood.
This is the earliest budding industry in my hometown village.
What might seem insignificant in modern times was remarkable in that era.
However, it was a bold attempt to overturn the village's perception and break the established agricultural mindset.
"At first, all the elderly people in the village opposed it."
Grandpa chuckled and shook his head, recalling the noisy scenes in the village at the beginning of spring.
"Everyone says that young people are arrogant and ignorant. Food is a basic necessity, and with a harvest every year, life is stable and secure."
"Fruit trees are different. They need to be planted and cared for, and it takes several years before they can bear fruit. They are susceptible to wind and sun, waterlogging and drought. If they encounter a cold snap or rain, the seedlings will freeze to death. After working hard for a year or two, all your efforts will be in vain."
"The village elders were all cursing, saying that these young people were wasting the land and messing around, leaving the good fields unused and insisting on gambling."
"But these young people are very stubborn and won't listen to reason."
"When their families tried to stop them, they spontaneously pooled their money, without using village funds or manpower from individual households. Just a few of them managed to clear the entire barren hillside behind the village."
As they spoke, the two walked around the old banyan tree at the entrance of the village.
The warm spring sunlight pierced through the branches and leaves, illuminating the once neglected, barren slope behind the mountain, covered with pebbles and weeds.
At this moment, Xu Liang observed, his appearance completely changed.
The entire hillside was neatly trimmed and spread out in layers along the mountain slope.
The previously scattered stones and overgrown thorns have been cleared away, and the land has been plowed until it is soft and flat.
Rows of fruit seedlings stand neatly and uniformly, densely rooted on the hillside.
April is the peak season for fruit trees to sprout new shoots and bloom.
The branches of the not-so-tall fruit tree are tender and supple, and the whole tree is a crisp new green.
Countless tender shoots sprout from the branches, with clusters and clumps of small white and pinkish-white flowers.
The spring breeze swept across the entire orchard, and thousands of branches swayed gently.
The hillside is covered with lush greenery and blooming flowers, full of vitality and the spirit of spring.
Unlike the bountiful harvest of autumn, the orchard in April yields no fruit, no profit, only the hope of sprouting from the soil.
Xu Liang stopped his heavy-duty paddleboard, raised his hand, squinted slightly, and quietly gazed at the orchard covered in spring colors, his thoughts churning in his eyes.
In his previous life, he had almost no memory of this orchard.
In his youth, he focused on his studies. Later, he went out to make a living and never paid attention to the insignificant attempts made in his hometown village.
As I grew older and experienced more of life's vicissitudes, I would occasionally overhear relatives chatting and vaguely hear that the village had once had a collective orchard.
The start was spectacular, attracting the attention of the entire village.
It was the first pilot project in the entire township to try specialty planting and break away from traditional farming.
But the ending was incredibly rushed.
They started very early and seized the initiative.
In the end, it was completely abandoned and died without any success, failing to achieve anything significant or lead the villagers to prosperity.
At the time, he thought it was just a common occurrence in the countryside, and that small-farmer thinking limited him from doing business. He heard about it and then forgot about it.
But now, reborn, he is deeply involved in the catering industry.
Having thoroughly understood the ins and outs of the market in the 90s, I now stand before this vibrant spring orchard.
Xu Liang saw through the intricacies and regrets at a glance.
This is hardly just young people messing around.
This is clearly the rarest budding of commerce in a remote rural area.
Unfortunately, their vision, understanding, operations, and thinking were all outdated, ultimately wasting a golden opportunity.
"Look how thriving it is."
Grandpa got out of the back seat of the car, walked forward through the mud, looked at the flowers and fruits covering the mountain, his face full of smiles, and reached out to gently touch the tender branches.
"They've only been planted for a little over two months, and they've all survived. Not a single one has withered. Don't be fooled by the fact that they're just seedlings flowering now; in another two years, they'll be bearing fruit."
"If we take good care of them, our village will be able to sell its own fruit in the future."
The orchard was unusually lively.
Young men and women from a dozen or so villages were scattered among the layers of orchards, busy taking advantage of the fine spring weather.
Some people carried tin buckets and watered the seedlings one by one along the ridges of the field.
Some people bent down and squatted beside the tree, pulling out the newly sprouted weeds, afraid that the weeds would steal nutrients from the fruit tree.
Others were using simple scissors to carefully trim the overgrown shoots and shape the trees.
Almost everyone had fine beads of sweat on their foreheads, their hands were covered in mud, and their clothes were covered in dust on the cuffs and hems.
Yet, none of them showed signs of fatigue.
Upon seeing the two people at the village entrance, the villagers who were busy in the fields stopped what they were doing, stood up, and greeted them with smiles.
"Grandpa Xu is back!"
"The weather's nice today, shall we go back to the village for a stroll?"
"Hey, this must be Xu Liang! He's the most successful young boss in town now, his restaurant is booming!"
Each simple greeting carried the warm hospitality of the country folk.
Grandpa smiled and raised his hand in response.
"Come back and visit, you've worked hard."
Several young villagers put down their tools and came over, their eyes filled with curiosity and a touch of shy admiration.
Xu Liang is now well-known in the nearby villages and towns.
A young student dropped out of school to open a restaurant, and in a short time, he made the small restaurant a great success, with the restaurant packed every day and the daily revenue far exceeding the annual income of others.
In the eyes of the villagers, he was a truly smart person who knew how to make money.
The young man leading the group was named Xiong Zhan.
He was the leader in the village who spearheaded the reclamation of wasteland to plant orchards. He was in his early thirties, with dark skin, a sturdy frame, and sharp features.
Xiong Zhan wiped the sweat from his face, looked at Xu Liang, and asked bluntly.
"Xu Liang, we've heard you're exceptionally good at business."
"Could you take a look and see if this orchard of ours is viable? Can we really make money from it in the future?"
Upon hearing this, everyone around fell silent and turned to look at Xu Liang.
But deep down, they were never really sure.
Nobody knows whether the fruit trees will survive, whether they will bear fruit, whether the fruit they produce will be sellable, or whether they will generate profit.
Everyone was feeling their way across the river, and they desperately wanted an answer, someone to tell them that their daily hard work was not in vain.
Xu Liang's gaze swept across the entire orchard, looking at the thriving fruit trees laden with blossoms, and at the group of young people covered in mud, their eyes shining just like his own. He felt a surge of emotions.
He didn't mince words or pleasantries, speaking calmly.
"It can be accomplished, and there is great potential for it."
One sentence instantly brightened the eyes of everyone present, and their expressions instantly became excited.
Xiong Zhan's breath hitched, and he quickly pressed for an answer.
"Really? But the elders in the village all say that planting grain is more stable than planting fruit trees. What if we can't sell them and end up with nothing?"
This is also everyone's biggest concern.
In rural areas during the 1990s, sales channels were extremely scarce.
Villagers grow grain, which can be sold to the supply and marketing cooperative, providing a stable safety net.
However, fruit is not a necessity and spoils very easily.
If a large number of fruits cannot be sold, they will all rot on the trees and in the ground within a few days, resulting in a complete loss of investment.
This is also the fundamental reason why the older generation strongly opposed it.
Xu Liang walked slowly to a fruit tree, looked at the tiny flower buds on the branches, and spoke softly and clearly.
"Your biggest advantage is that you seized the initiative."
"In the entire township, your orchard is currently the only large-scale orchard. There are no competitors within a ten-mile radius."
"Things are valued for their scarcity. As long as the fruit is of good quality, there's no worry about selling it."
Supplies were scarce in the city, and fruit was an even rarer commodity.
Ordinary people rarely get to eat fresh fruit on a regular basis, so the demand in urban markets is huge as long as there is high-quality fresh fruit available.
"Secondly, the upper limit for food production is too low."
Xu Liang continued, his gaze sweeping over the endless farmland.
"A mu of paddy field, after a year of hard work, yields very little net profit after deducting the costs of seeds, fertilizer, and labor. It's barely enough to make a living, not to get rich. But fruit trees are different. Once planted, they yield harvests for many years. As long as the saplings survive, they can produce a stable output every year thereafter, with yields per mu far exceeding those of grains by several times."
The surrounding villagers listened quietly, their eyes growing brighter.
They had vaguely considered these principles, but no one had ever systematically organized or explained them clearly to them.
"But your problems are also quite obvious."
Xu Liang changed the subject and spoke frankly.
"First, they don't know how to care for fruit trees. April is the most critical time for fruit trees to retain flowers and fruit. Late spring cold, waterlogging from spring rains, pests and weeds—any one of these problems can significantly reduce yield."
"You're all just figuring things out by trial and error right now. You don't have any skills; you're just relying on brute force to get things done."
Everyone nodded in agreement.
During this period, they spent every day in the orchard, struggling with how to prevent pests and control water, without any method or strategy, just busy doing nothing.
"Secondly, there's no market for it."
"All of you are only thinking about picking the fruit to sell in town when it's ripe. But when the fruit is planted on a large scale and the yield skyrockets, you simply can't sell it all by selling it at stalls."
"If sales become sluggish, we will suffer total losses."
Third, there is no added value.
"Fresh fruit has a very short shelf life and cannot be stored for long. Selling only fresh fruit is extremely risky and has very low profit margins."
Regarding these three questions
The excitement faded from the faces of the young people present, replaced by a sense of realization.
They finally understood why, despite having the upper hand and being willing to work hard, the older generation still didn't have a high opinion of them.
Clearing land and planting trees is just the simplest first step; the real difficulty lies in the latter.
Actually, it's about maintenance, sales channels, and business operations.
Xiong Zhan frowned, his tone earnest.
"Young man, what do you think we should do? We really want to get the orchard up and running; we don't want to waste our time."
Grandpa stood to the side, quietly watching his grandson.
Looking at the young Xu Liang, facing a group of young and strong men who had worked in the village for many years.
Calm and composed, with clear logic, able to see through the pros and cons of a business at a glance, speaking with composure, possessing a broad vision, and with pride evident in his eyes.
Xu Liang's thoughts raced through his mind.
He returned from the brink of death, focusing on the catering industry and opening up the town's snack market. But that wasn't enough.
Restaurants are single-item businesses, while rural farming is an entire industry chain.
This orchard in front of us in April may seem like just a trivial attempt by the young people in the village, but it was actually a golden opportunity for the transformation of rural agriculture in the 1990s.
With the rapid development of the urban economy and the year-by-year improvement of people's living standards, after the basic needs of food and clothing are met, fruits, vegetables, non-staple foods, and agricultural products will inevitably become the next market to experience explosive growth.
This orchard has land, manpower, early opportunities, and enthusiasm; what it lacks is vision, strategy, and overall planning.
With this in mind, Xu Liang already had a completely new plan in mind.
His restaurant needs a stable supply chain to expand, upgrade its menu, and create unique features.
His biggest challenge in expanding his business was the unstable and costly supply of ingredients, as well as their inconsistent quality.
And the orchard in his hometown right now is his perfect exclusive supply chain.
Fresh fruit can be directly supplied to town retailers, while ripe fruit can be delivered to their own small restaurants.
It is used to make fruit-flavored snacks, desserts, drinks, and side dishes.
Unsold fruits can be made into jams, dried fruits, and pickled fruits, extending their shelf life and increasing their added value.
From planting to processing to end-user sales.
This could completely open up an entire industrial chain.
This small rural orchard may seem ordinary, but it has immense potential.
This is the budding of rural industry, and also the beginning of his personal business empire.
At this time, the spring breeze swept across the hillside again, and petals fell softly from the trees.