“What’s wrong?” Qing Jiyue asked, puzzled.

Tong Zhanyan didn’t know how to explain it. He’d always thought Qing Suifeng was easy to get along with, but now he felt an instinctive sense of dread.

Is this the pressure of having a father-in-law?

Tong Zhanyan looked at Qing Jiyue.

If Qing Suifeng is his father-in-law, then Qing Jiyue must be…

Qing Jiyue was even more puzzled. “What’s wrong with me?”

Tong Zhanyan’s mood suddenly lifted. He wagged his tail back and forth as he walked toward Qing Jiyue. “I’m exhausted after a long day. Let’s go to sleep.”

Qing Jiyue glanced at the time. “It’s only just past eight. It’s still early—”

Tong Zhanyan didn’t wait for Qing Jiyue to finish his sentence before kissing him. It wasn’t early anymore.

The longer the night, the better.

Although the season of the beast tide had passed, there were still plenty of matters to attend to at the Qing Family, so Qing Suifeng hadn’t been able to come over right away.

Tong Zhanyan let out a sigh of relief, steeled himself mentally, and continued with the farmwork.

Most of the crops in the fields had already been harvested, so it was time to begin a new round of planting.

Since the seeds for corn, pumpkins, and sweet potatoes had become active and he’d planted a large quantity, he skipped the seedling tray step altogether. However, for other crops, he still had to follow the proper seedling-raising process.

Among them were plenty that hadn’t yet passed the seedling stage.

Those with an infection rate stuck at 20% were set aside.

Once this batch of crops across a thousand mu of land matured, and provided no additional land needed to be cleared for the next planting, fertilizer would become plentiful.

At that point, he planned to replenish all the soil from scratch, gradually transforming the entire base into “green manure fields.”

As it happens, he already has quite a few crops with infection rates stuck at 20%, so he’ll be able to sell crops with infection rates below 20% at that time.

Pondering this, Tong Zhanyan grabbed some paper and a pen, sketched a rough map of the base, shaded in all the plots already planted with crops, and left the unplanted areas blank to start planning.

With more and more land and an increasing variety of crops, relying on intuition alone was no longer sufficient.

Moreover, as the variety of crops increased, the time differences in their growth cycles became more pronounced, so it was better to establish a unified plan.

This would make harvesting more convenient, and when it came time to replant later, the vacant plots could be grouped together; otherwise, they’d be scattered here and there.

Just as Tong Zhanyan finished his work, Old Xu and the others had just wrapped up a round of harvesting and were shredding the freshly pulled crop seedlings to make compost.

Tong Zhanyan called over Old Xu, Old Wang, Tian Xinqing, and Su Yanran, and carefully explained the upcoming arrangements to them.

There was simply too much land for him to handle alone.

None of them were new to this work; once they understood what needed to be planted, they quickly got to work.

While they were busy soaking seeds and preparing the soil, Tong Zhanyan led a hundred people to the fields where the purple vetch was growing.

He had previously set aside about a hundred mu of land for seed production, and now it was time to harvest the seeds.

With so many people, efficiency was high. Plus, since harvesting the purple vetch only required cutting off the seed pods, the job was finished in just a day and a half.

After harvesting the seeds, Tong Zhanyan took the opportunity to test the newly delivered crop straw shredder.

More than a month later, the research team finally finished the machine.

In appearance, it was much as Tong Zhanyan remembered—still shaped like a truck.

However, a row of extremely sharp cutting blades, each about ten meters long, had been added to the front of the cab, while the cargo bed now housed the shredder, and an additional discharge arm had been mounted above it.

Since they hadn’t even had any crops to test it on earlier, this project had taken them the longest time yet, so Tong Zhanyan didn’t have high hopes for it.

Once the machine started running, however, the results pleasantly surprised Tong Zhanyan—the performance was unexpectedly good.

After driving back and forth twice, Tong Zhanyan pulled over to switch drivers.

Gu Yunyang and the others had been waiting impatiently; seeing this, they scrambled to climb aboard.

Since the purple vetch didn’t need to be taken to the septic tank for composting but was to be buried directly in the ground, Tong Zhanyan didn’t bother bringing the accompanying truck.

The machine quickly got back to work.

A hundred mu of land—if it had been the old them, it would have taken at least a full day.

Now, the machine could cover a ten-meter-wide swath in a single pass, meaning it would only take a few hours.

While the shredder was running, Tong Zhanyan called over a few people who hadn’t managed to get on the machine and told them to go back and bring over the small tillers, so they could shred the roots and debris and bury them directly into the soil.

Many of them had driven the tillers before, but with so many people, each had only had a short turn, so it was still a novelty.

Upon hearing this, the group immediately scrambled toward the small building, leaving their vehicles parked on the concrete by the river.

Seeing how much fun they were having, Tong Zhanyan reminded them to be careful before returning to attend to other tasks.

The land where the purple vetch grew was located above the base. On his way back, Tong Zhanyan passed through the livestock area and took the opportunity to check on the newly purchased cattle and quails.

Having just arrived, they weren’t yet accustomed to the forage and crops and looked a bit restless, though they were still in fairly good spirits.

The purple vetch in the fields had all been ground up, but there was still some left in the woods by the river; if all else failed, there was always the bok choy in the fields.

In the open area to the left of the small building, Tian Xinqing and the others were working feverishly.

Tong Zhanyan went to the greenhouse; the wheat was ready for harvest.

Tong Zhanyan took samples from each batch, then called for Qing Jiyue.

Qing Jiyue had been waiting for this harvest for quite some time. As soon as he arrived, he sprang into action with practiced efficiency, needing no instructions from Tong Zhanyan.

Tong Zhanyan took the samples back to the small house to conduct the analysis.

For this batch of seeds, he had selected only those from the plant with a 60% infection rate. In the previous two rounds, the infection rates had dropped by 7% and 8%, respectively. If all went well, this time it should have fallen below 55%; with a bit of luck, it might even hit 50% directly.

The test results came back quickly: the infection rates were 56%, 57%, and 58%.

Not even the lowest one had dropped below 55%, which surprised Tong Zhanyan a bit.

But upon reflection, he felt relieved.

The infection rates of the previous corn plants differed drastically from these, so the suppression effect was obvious. But as the infection rates grew closer, this suppression naturally became less pronounced.

Moreover, although their infection rates didn’t drop much this time, there were noticeable changes in their size and growth cycles. Overall, the progress was still significant.

The wheat kernels had also shrunk noticeably, though compared to the changes in size and growth cycle, this change wasn’t particularly significant.

Tong Zhanyan carefully stored the seeds away.

Tong Zhanyan went to the warehouse in the breeding area, fetched some corn kernels, soaked them in water, and then headed over to Qing Jiyue’s place.

Qing Jiyue was still busy.

Tong Zhanyan went to take a look at another greenhouse next door.

When the paleontology team moved in, they brought all the ancient creatures from their base with them.

Since Tong Zhanyan wasn’t an expert in this field, after making sure they wouldn’t eat each other to extinction, he simply dumped them all into the greenhouse and quarantined them.

It had been nearly a month.

Tong Zhanyan left the door wide open, ready to let them all out.

The first to react were the flying dragonflies; in the blink of an eye, several had already flown away.

He had no idea how long it would take for the others to realize they could leave, but Tong Zhanyan couldn’t be bothered to wait. He left the door open and headed next door.

He couldn’t help out, but he could watch Qing Jiyue work.

Qing Jiyue had quite attractive features, and he looked even better when he was focused. Especially when he thought about how someone like him now belonged to him, Tong Zhanyan’s mood improved even more.

Qing Jiyue seemed to sense this and asked with his eyes.

“I just feel so glad to have you,” Tong Zhanyan said.

The soil, controlled by Qing Jiyue and drifting steadily toward the car outside the door, paused noticeably.

The next moment, it continued outward.

Tong Zhanyan leaned against the glass wall, continuing to watch.

Qing Jiyue felt uncomfortable under his gaze. After a moment’s thought, he summoned his Spirit Beast.

Thanks to extensive training, he could wield his power to some extent even without summoning a Spirit Beast.

Tong Zhanyan’s attention was immediately diverted.

The moment the little tiger spotted Tong Zhanyan, its two ears immediately flattened backward.

Tong Zhanyan immediately gave chase, “Meow…”

The little tiger turned and bolted.

After running around the greenhouse a dozen or so times, Tong Zhanyan had only managed to touch the tip of its tail, but that was enough to keep him amused for the entire day.

After clearing the soil from the greenhouse, Qing Jiyue went to the plot at the foot of the mountain—set aside for burying leaves—to dig up some humus.

Since that spot was quite a distance away, Qing Jiyue planned to bring all the soil back in one trip, so he took the little tiger along.

Tong Zhanyan figured it was about time and reluctantly returned to the small house.

Tian Xinqing and the others were still busy, so while they weren’t looking, Tong Zhanyan took a few of the seedling trays they’d just filled with soil, planted corn seeds in them, watered them, and then covered them with plastic sheeting.

As soon as he finished, before he even had a chance to wash his hands, the farm contacted him—the second batch of poultry and livestock had arrived.

Tong Zhanyan quickly arranged for someone to accompany him to the entrance to receive the shipment.

This batch included donkeys; most people had only seen them online before, so seeing them in person was still a novelty.

After Tong Zhanyan paid the final installment, it took him some time to get everything sorted out.

Once this batch was delivered, all the poultry and livestock would be accounted for, and his base would have collected every type of seafood, poultry, and livestock available on the market.

The entire breeding area was packed to the brim.

Unlike the crops in the fields, the breeding area was filled with living creatures—they could move around and make sounds, creating a lively atmosphere.

This also added a touch of vitality to the base, which had been a bit too quiet due to its distance from the city.

By the time Tong Zhanyan returned, it was already past 4:00 p.m., and Qing Jiyue had already finished his work and gone home.

With Ning Langdong’s mother regaining consciousness, he had quite a lot on his plate.

Tong Zhanyan refocused his attention and obediently joined Tian Xinqing and the others in sowing seeds.

A little over two hours later, as the sun had completely set and the streetlights came on, the group called it a day.

Tong Zhanyan watched as they put their tools back in the warehouse, then headed either toward the back door or the front door. He went out to the fields, planning to eat dinner early so he could head to the back door sooner.

When he returned to the small house carrying two loofahs, there was an extra person in the living room.

At first, Tong Zhanyan thought it might be Old Xu and the others; they sometimes stayed behind after finishing work to talk to him privately. But as he approached, he realized it was Qing Jiyue.

“Why are you here?” Tong Zhanyan didn’t step inside; instead, he went straight to the faucet in the courtyard to rinse the loofahs in his hands.

Although the loofahs hadn’t yet passed the seedling stage, since he had unlocked the seeds himself, he could eat them.

Qing Jiyue didn’t speak; he simply pointed to the bag of nutrient solution sitting on the table.

That was his dinner.

He had come to have dinner with Tong Zhanyan.

The kitchen by the back door also had a stove, but since it was designed for large pots used in communal cooking, it wasn’t convenient for Tong Zhanyan to use. So, most of the time, he would eat his meal in the small building before heading back to the back door.

Tong Zhanyan couldn’t help but let the corners of his mouth curl upward. “Wait here.”

With that, he set down the two washed loofahs he was holding and headed toward the fields.

A few minutes later, he returned carrying a pile of potatoes.

The potatoes were grown from seeds he had unsealed himself; they had already passed the seed-nurturing stage. However, since the infection rate was naturally low, they hadn’t yet been planted on a large scale.

Potatoes were also a staple food; once there was more fertilizer and the soil improved, he would definitely plant them on a large scale.

Tong Zhanyan washed them clean, tossed them into a pot, added some salt and water, and began boiling them.

While waiting, Tong Zhanyan peeled the two loofahs and cut them into large chunks.

Loofah shrinks and softens when cooked.

Due to the scarcity of crops, this world doesn’t even have a peeler, let alone juicers, kitchen blenders, microwaves, or ovens.

Tong Zhanyan pondered the possibility of having the R&D team develop such tools.

The variety of crops he could eat was growing. With a bit of luck, the infection rate for this batch of rapeseed could reach 20%. In the next batch, he could plant some separately in the green manure plot and eat them as well. By then, a whole host of recipes would be unlocked.

Once the potatoes were fully cooked, Tong Zhanyan set them aside to cool. Then he cracked two eggs and simmered them with the loofah to make a loofah and egg soup.

Tong Zhanyan actually quite liked the texture of the loofah.

By the time the loofah soup was ready, the potatoes had cooled down almost completely.

Tong Zhanyan peeled them, mashed them bit by bit with a spoon, and finally sprinkled in some minced garlic and scallions to enhance the flavor.

With that, the mashed potatoes, loofah, and egg soup were ready.

“Give it a try.” Tong Zhanyan brought them to the table and looked at Qing Jiyue.

Qing Jiyue felt a bit helpless. Crops were meant to treat frenzy, yet Tong Zhanyan always liked to feed them to him.

The moment the mashed potatoes touched his tongue, Qing Jiyue’s slight exasperation vanished instantly; he had never experienced such a smooth, delicate texture before.

“Delicious,” Qing Jiyue said.

“Eat up. In another year or so, Gu Yunyang and the others will have finished their studies. By then, I’ll send them off to farm on their own, and the pressure on the crops will naturally ease.” Tong Zhanyan began eating his own portion.

How could he possibly fail to see what was on Qing Jiyue’s mind?

Only after being reminded did Qing Jiyue recall that such a matter existed.

Gu Yunyang and the others had been personally trained by Tong Zhanyan, and there were one hundred and fifty of them at once.

If they could all farm on a large scale like Tong Zhanyan—even if not quite as extensive—they would certainly be able to produce a significant amount of crops.

However, this also reminded Qing Jiyue of the concerns circulating online regarding the future of this base.

There were already an increasing number of people farming successfully outside, and countless companies were entering the market. If Gu Yunyang and his group were added to the mix…

Tong Zhanyan said, “Once things improve, I won’t be rushing to plant crops like I am now. At that point, I’ll focus more on fruit trees with longer growth cycles and reserve just a small plot for vegetables.”

After a pause, Tong Zhanyan added, “We’ll just grow the things we like to eat.”

Painting that picture in his mind, Qing Jiyue’s previously tense nerves slowly relaxed. “Okay.”

That would be good; that way, Tong Zhanyan wouldn’t have to be as exhausted as he is now.

As for the base’s operating costs, he’d just have to work a little harder.

Besides maintaining their frontline businesses, the Qing Family also owned some private enterprises.

“Hurry up and eat; it’s getting cold,” Tong Zhanyan reminded her.

“Okay…” Qing Jiyue lowered his head and began eating earnestly.

Since Qing Jiyue had joined him, Tong Zhanyan didn’t rush to the back door after dinner. Instead, he took his for a leisurely stroll around the base, letting the night breeze blow through their hair.

Some crops were in the harvesting stage; others, planted late or with longer growth cycles, were still in bloom. Some had just sprouted, some hadn’t yet, some plots lay empty, and others were covered with plastic sheeting…

Those scenes were quite soothing to the soul.

That night, the two woke up early.

Over the next twenty-odd days, Tian Xinqing and the others continued both planting and harvesting.

Tong Zhanyan helped out when he had time, but more often than not, he was running all over the farm.

In the greenhouses where they raised dragonflies, the insects that could fly and move quickly had long since fled, leaving only the clumsier ones behind. Tong Zhanyan had no choice but to lead others to “escort” them out.

After “inviting” them out, Tong Zhanyan pulled up all the strawberries inside—which had multiplied so many times through runners that he’d lost track, growing in utter chaos—then turned the soil over to prepare the ground for planting other crops later.

Over in the livestock area, Su Yanran already had quite a bit of experience.

However, the newly arrived cows, quails, and donkeys were a first for Su Yanran, so Tong Zhanyan still had to drop by from time to time to check on them; otherwise, he wouldn’t notice if anything went wrong.

Aside from the cows, quails, and donkeys, the two sows also reached their due dates one after another.

The sow that had already given birth twice had a smooth delivery, while the other, a first-time mother, struggled all day long.

After spending some time learning at the farm and witnessing the ferocity of the sows there, Su Yanran even stayed up all night with a few people to watch over the sow that had just given birth.

Fortunately, everything went relatively smoothly.

Tong Zhanyan also volunteered for a task, leading two hundred people to perform a minor procedure on the corn, pumpkins, and sweet potatoes.

He cut a slit in the plastic sheeting covering their tops.

Since they hadn’t been raised from seedlings, their size was noticeably smaller than that of those grown from seedlings, but after more than half a month, even the shortest ones had already reached over ten centimeters.

The plastic film was already hindering their growth.

At this stage, they were essentially just starting to take root.

If the plastic film were removed entirely, moisture in the soil would evaporate rapidly, and combined with the temperature fluctuations between day and night, their growth rate would immediately slow down.

So the best approach was to cut a small slit in the film, allowing the soil to retain heat and moisture while letting the leaves peek out.

At this stage, the seedlings have begun to need sunlight, and this also allows the leaves to receive direct sunlight.

While cutting the plastic film, Tong Zhanyan took the opportunity to have the seedlings thinned out.

The group, who had been quite happy after winning the lottery, heard that the weakest ones were to be pulled out, and the smiles on their faces froze instantly.

Immediately afterward, they felt an overwhelming sense of heartache.

Those seedlings had survived, and even though they were just a little stunted, they could still bloom and bear fruit.

Tong Zhanyan was prepared for this and immediately explained the shortage of fertilizer and limited land.

The group had long accepted his approach from the bottom of their hearts, but that couldn’t ease the guilt they felt; many even had tears welling up in their eyes.

It took two or three hours before efficiency picked up.

In addition to the greenhouses, livestock area, and cornfields, Tong Zhanyan also randomly selected and harvested some of the earlier crops—corn, pumpkins, sweet potatoes, and rapeseed—and sowed new rapeseed seeds.

Tong Zhanyan prioritized harvesting the rapeseed, as the seeds needed to be threshed and sun-dried.

However, the sunlight and temperature in the watermelon field were ample, so it would only take about a week.

Over the course of that week, Tong Zhanyan managed to harvest all the corn, pumpkins, and sweet potatoes.

Once he had the rapeseed, Tong Zhanyan immediately plowed the plot in front of the small house—which had previously been used for rapeseed—and sowed the seeds right away.

He deliberately expanded the plot by fifty mu, bringing the total to a full hundred mu.

This time, Tong Zhanyan didn’t plant 200 mu of rapeseed as he had with the corn.

Although rapeseed cake makes excellent fertilizer, rapeseed yields are relatively low, and with an oil extraction rate of only about 35%, it’s actually not very cost-effective.

He had been so short on fertilizer before that he had to plant it even if it wasn’t profitable.

Things are different now. The livestock area is expanding, and there are more crops available for composting. Plus, since all the land has been cleared, conditions aren’t as dire as they used to be. Gradually, he’s had to start considering yield.

Sowing the rapeseed was straightforward.

He used a tiller to till the soil, and for watering, he simply activated the rainwater system to let a steady, fine rain fall all night. The only hassle was laying down the plastic mulch.

By the time Tong Zhanyan had finished his work, Tian Xinqing and the others had already finished sowing and had moved on to transplanting.

Ning Langdong came over as well.

It takes at least one or two months for someone with a severe infection to go from regaining consciousness to fully recovering their human form. He knew they were swamped right now, so he came over to help.

After a grueling round of work, Tong Zhanyan—already exhausted—placed his corn plants within their reach, hoping to slip them in unnoticed and get them to help with the transplanting.

But no one paid him any mind.

With more and more fields to tend and an increasing variety of crops, it was easy to get things mixed up.

By the end of the day, even Old Xu and Old Wang—who treated those crops like their own flesh and blood—looked utterly exhausted, so naturally, they had no energy to pay attention to Tong Zhanyan.

Feeling helpless, Tong Zhanyan resignedly pulled up a small stool and got to work on his own.

Fortunately, the greenhouse was only 600 square meters, so he finished in no time.

After finishing his own work, Tong Zhanyan held a raffle that night.

As the number of plots increased, so did the number of people entering the raffle each time, and the bok choy and cherry radishes in the fields were being consumed at a visible rate.

Tong Zhanyan even had to rush to plant an extra round.

Two days later, while Tian Xinqing and the others continued with their seedling preparation, Tong Zhanyan led the people who had come from the prize draw to start transplanting directly.

The crops that had been prepared early were already ready to be moved into the fields.

A week later, Tian Xinqing and the others finished preparing their seedlings and joined the transplanting team.

Tong Zhanyan handed the task over to them and returned to tend to the sweet potatoes.

The sweet potatoes were ready for cuttings, and the designated area was the plot where the purple vetch had been left for seed.

That land was now ready for use.

Tong Zhanyan also replanted the five mu of pumpkin fields that had been left incomplete earlier.

Half a month later, just as Tong Zhanyan finished his work, Tian Xinqing and the others had also wrapped up their tasks.

After nearly two months of relentless, round-the-clock work, the first planting season following the clearing of the base was finally complete.

Tong Zhanyan immediately gave the whole group five days off.

Five days later, on the very afternoon the group returned, Tong Zhanyan had them catch chickens and rabbits to treat them.

Ever since the base was cleared, Ning Langdong and his group had been just as busy as he was.

Now that the first official planting of the thousand mu of land had been completed in a single batch, it was meaningful not only to him but also to Ning Langdong and the others.

This time, the ducks and geese didn’t escape either.

The first batch of these two species had been purchased as breeding stock, so there weren’t many to begin with. After this round of catching, only a few remained, which made everyone feel quite sorry for them.

They still couldn’t help but drool.

If it weren’t for Tong Zhanyan’s base, they might never have had the chance to eat these delicacies more than a few times in their entire lives.

Most importantly, the meat was truly delicious.

Upon reaching the back gate, Tong Zhanyan directed the group to begin preliminary processing while he himself mysteriously slipped back toward the small building.

More than two hours later, just as Tian Xinqing and the others were frantically searching for him, Tong Zhanyan finally returned.

Tong Zhanyan shooed most of the people out, keeping only a small group behind to prepare other dishes and assist, before he brought out what he had brought back.

It was a tightly sealed small jar.

Inside was cumin.

Cumin has a growth cycle of eighty to ninety days, far longer than garlic and the like. Tong Zhanyan had wanted to harvest it last time, but it simply wasn’t ready yet.

During the five days Tian Xinqing and the others were on leave, he had already picked it early and laid it out to dry; his trip to the small building earlier was specifically to roast it.

Since cumin is consumed as seeds, and this was the first harvest, Tong Zhanyan hadn’t dared to take too much.

But even just a small jar was enough to leave Qing Jiyue and the others—who had never tasted it before—completely spellbound by its aroma.

After putting the jar away, Tong Zhanyan rolled up his sleeves and got to work.