My Courtyard Shelter

Chapter 32: Setting Up the Vegetable Garden

After signing the contract, leaving a deposit, and providing their address, Xu Dong and his mom left the fertilizer store and continued their shopping spree. The truck headed south along the main road. The roads were packed with bargain hunters, and the two didn’t come across any more good deals; what they did find were just odds and ends that held no appeal at all. Just as the Sun was setting and the mother and son were about to turn back, luck was on their side—they stumbled upon another item that was just what they were looking for. This time, the item was electric fans—a whole warehouse full of them. The quality was fine, and they were made by a well-known manufacturer. “Boss, name your price. If it’s right, I’ll take the whole lot.” Xu Dong was eager to secure this batch; he knew he’d have no trouble selling the fans later. As the saying goes, buying is making a profit—and in this case, a huge one. Mr. Wang hesitated a bit. He had previously run an e-commerce business, but last year he opened a brick-and-mortar store in the home appliance mall, specializing in small appliances, and business had been going fairly well. For some reason, however, electric fans had been slow to sell—only recently had sales started to pick up—so a significant amount of inventory had piled up in the warehouse. He never expected to suddenly face a buying frenzy. If it weren’t for the warehouse being so remote, this batch would have sold out by this afternoon. He didn’t want to miss this chance to clear out his inventory, but he was also worried about selling at a loss. However, with the market so unpredictable right now—and the authorities likely to step in at any moment to curb the buying frenzy—Mr. Wang weighed his options and decided it was best to lock in the profit. So he quoted a “reasonable” price: “I have a total of over 5,208 electric fans in this batch. I won’t quote a unit price—take the whole lot for 1. 8 million.” Xu Dong had already accepted this price in his mind, but he still put on an act of haggling to prevent Mr. Wang from feeling he’d sold too cheaply and changing his mind. After some back-and-forth haggling, Mr. Wang grew a bit impatient and shouted at the top of his lungs: “If it comes to it, first thing tomorrow morning, I’ll just haul the goods straight to the appliance mall to sell them myself. It might be hard to find a truck, but I’ll pay ten times the shipping fee—I don’t believe no one will take the job.” Xu Dong felt it was time to wrap things up, so he said “reluctantly,” “All right, Boss Wang, you win. 1. 8 million. As soon as we sign the contract, I’ll transfer the money to you right away.” “Now we’re talking. Take this batch of electric fans, and you’ll definitely make a killing.” Mr. Wang finally broke into a happy smile. Although this deal wasn’t a windfall, he’d still make nearly 800,000—which wasn’t bad at all. One shouldn’t be too greedy—that was a lesson he’d learned from years in business. Once the deal was done, Mr. Wang handed the warehouse keys directly to Xu Dong. Since he wouldn’t be doing any business anytime soon anyway, and the warehouse was empty, there was nothing to lose. Xu Dong, too, couldn’t find any transport vehicles, so he had to do the work himself. It took him three days and more than twenty round trips to finally haul all the electric fans back to the Siheyuan. Since the basement was already full and the courtyard was about to undergo renovations, he had no choice but to store them inside the house, taking up a full four empty rooms. When Xu Dong returned the warehouse keys to Boss Wang, the latter was in a foul mood. There were no signs of official intervention, and the buying frenzy was only intensifying. Mr. Wang had truly misjudged the situation this time. With that, the Xu family’s shopping spree officially came to an end. The whole family was completely exhausted—even Mrs. Xu didn’t want to go through any more of this. But it wasn’t over yet—they still had to hurry and get the vegetable garden ready. The potting soil was due to arrive tomorrow, and there was no time to waste. According to the plan Xu Dong and his mother had discussed, they planned to dig a rectangular pit in the yard that was 12 meters long, 8 meters wide, and 1 meter deep. A depth of one meter was already the limit; digging just a dozen or so centimeters deeper would hit the concrete ceiling of the basement. Once the pit is dug, the next step is to fill it with potting soil, and finally, build a calf-high fence around it using blue bricks—that would be perfect! It’s also worth noting that although the vegetable garden isn’t very large, the amount of work involved is considerable—they’ll need to excavate about 100 cubic meters of earth and rock, and then fill the pit with an equal volume of planting soil. If Xu Dong had to do it all by himself, it would likely take two or three months to finish. So, he had no choice but to seek “outside help.” In the end, he subcontracted the work to a small contractor from a nearby construction site, who also took care of disposing of the excavated soil and rock. Xu Dong was generous with his payment, and the contractor worked efficiently. With a team of over ten workers, plus the help of a small excavator, the pit was dug out in just one night. The next evening, the owner of the garden supply store arrived as scheduled, bringing with him two dump trucks. The potting soil was packed into woven bags and piled high in the truck beds. “Mr. Zhou, how much soil can you carry in one truckload?” Xu Dong asked, looking at the dump truck. The owner of the garden supply store held up his right hand to indicate the amount: “One truckload is about 7. 5 metric tons.” He then explained, “Two trucks make 15 metric tons. I can make about four trips a night, so we’ll have it all transported by tomorrow night.” “That’s great!” Xu Dong didn’t want to spend too much time at the vegetable garden—he still had plenty of other things to take care of! Next, the foreman once again led the crew in a full-scale effort—unloading, hauling, and backfilling—a one-stop service. Another day passed, and the vegetable garden was finally completed. Xu Dong gave the workers an extra bonus of over 10,000 yuan, with each worker receiving 1,000 yuan. In his previous life, he had once been one of them, so he knew just how hard work on a construction site could be. Early the next morning, Mrs. Xu looked at the newly finished vegetable garden and couldn’t help but be delighted—it was exactly as she had imagined. Over breakfast, the family naturally turned the conversation to the vegetable garden. Neither Mrs. Xu nor Yang Lina had ever farmed before, so they weren’t sure what to plant. Xu Dong had worked at a nursery for a while in his previous life, making him the most experienced member of the family, so he suggested right away: “Given the current weather, it’s best to plant some cold-hardy vegetables. You could try radishes, lettuce, bok choy, and celery. You could also plant a few tomato plants—they can be used both as vegetables and as fruit.” “Honey, where did you learn all this?” Yang Lina asked in surprise. “I read it in a book.” Xu Dong took a sip of soy milk and continued: “I happen to have a few books on greenhouse gardening on hand. I’ll get them to you later. You and Mom should take some time to look them over when you have a chance. It’s very simple—you’ll get the hang of it after a few tries.” Yang Lina nodded. Rather than wandering around aimlessly, she preferred staying home—spending her days taking care of the kids and tending to the vegetable garden when she had time. There was nothing more pleasant than that. Xu’s mother, however, wasn’t quite as enthusiastic. Although she was willing to grow vegetables, she did so mostly out of concern that the children wouldn’t get enough greens; at best, it was a passing interest—hardly even a hobby. She personally preferred going out to dance in the square, then finding opportunities to brag about her triplets, her family’s Siheyuan, and how dutiful her son and daughter-in-law were… Mr. Xu suddenly cleared his throat and turned to Mrs. Xu, saying, “I’ve come across quite a few videos about growing vegetables on my phone. I’ll send you the links in a bit.” “Forget it. It’s enough that Nana is learning. I’d rather spend that time dancing a couple more rounds of square dance!” Mrs. Xu waved her hand, looking extremely impatient.