Gourd Farm Chapter 74
Translated by Etherna
Chapter 74: My Name is Xia Tian
"Ding, ding, ding."
Yang Feng, who was enjoying a dream, was abruptly awakened by a noisy alarm clock. He opened his eyes, still half-asleep, and saw that it was already seven in the morning.
"My goodness, it's so cold today."
Just as he was about to get up and dress, a shiver ran through him as the wind sneaked in through the crack in the door. He decided to snuggle back under the covers.
After a moment's delay, he gritted his teeth, put on his clothes, and vowed to get an air conditioner as soon as he earned some money.
It was deep into autumn now, and there was a significant temperature difference between day and night. The trees outside had shed most of their leaves, leaving bare branches.
After washing up and hastily eating a bowl of noodles, he locked the door and prepared to head to the greenhouse.
"Yang Feng, had your breakfast?"
Turning around, Xia Ying had just arrived here as well today, and there was an additional young man in the car.
He had a fair complexion and wasn't short, standing at around 1.7 meters. He was about the same height as Yang Feng, but he was on the thinner side, giving the impression of being undernourished.
"Yeah, I was just about to head to the greenhouse."
Xia Ying got out of the car and pointed to the young man who was looking around.
"Yang Feng, this is my younger brother, the one I mentioned to you yesterday."
"Hurry up."
Xia Ying looked at her brother, who was still sitting in the car, his eyes wide open. She tugged at the hem of his clothes.
The young man slowly climbed down from the tricycle, assessing the person of the same age standing before him.
Can he be the boss? It doesn't look like it at all. Could he be deliberately letting my sister work here to create an opportunity to get close to her?
Yang Feng was also sizing him up, feeling a hint of hostility in his gaze, but he didn't pay much attention to it.
"What are you looking at? Can't you speak?"
Xia Ying, seeing her brother standing there in silence, couldn't help but feel a bit anxious.
After assessing for a while, the young man finally spoke, "Are you the boss?"
Yang Feng raised an eyebrow, "Why, don't I look like one?"
The young man stared at him intently, "It's not that you don't look like one, but I always feel like you have some ulterior motive."
From the moment he spoke, his tone was obviously off, and he seemed a bit unwilling.
Yang Feng was a bit puzzled, "Ulterior motive? What could I be thinking?"
The young man ignored him and directly pulled Xia Ying aside. "Sis, this guy doesn't seem trustworthy. I'm sure he has some intentions towards you."
He had always been very close to his sister since childhood. Due to family circumstances, he had been bullied by other children in the village when he was young. Every time, it was his sister who protected him. No matter when, his sister was his safe haven.
Now that he had grown up, he would not allow anyone to bully her.
"What nonsense are you talking about? Shut up immediately, or I won't care about you anymore."
Xia Ying, feeling inexplicably annoyed by her brother's words, immediately scolded him sternly. She blushed when she heard the suggestion that Yang Feng had some intentions towards her. After all, Yang Feng was still behind her. What if he heard?
"I'm doing it for your own good. You don't know how to recognize a good person."
The young man, reprimanded by Xia Ying, dared not say anything more.
Xia Ying walked over and gave Yang Feng a slight smile.
"Yang Feng, sorry about that. My brother is like this sometimes, not very sensible."
Yang Feng waved his hand, "It's okay. Are you planning to start working today?"
"Yes, he quit his job a couple of days ago and has been at home. I plan to bring him over to get used to it in the next few days. If everything goes well, he'll start working in a few days."
Yang Feng nodded. No matter the situation, Xia Ying always thought things through thoroughly.
"By the way, what's your brother's name?"
Xia Ying awkwardly smiled. She had been here for a while and forgot to mention her brother's name.
Before Xia Ying could speak, the young man put his hands in his pockets and said, "I'm Xia Tian, Xia as in summer, and Tian as in sky."
"Chh~"
Yang Feng was taken aback by this unique self-introduction. Xia Tian it is, quite artistic.
Xia Ying, on the side, also chuckled. Her brother was good at everything, except for being conventional every day.
"Don't just stand here. Let me take you to see your future workplace."
The young man shrugged and followed Yang Feng towards the greenhouse. In his mind, he thought he'd just hang around for a couple of days. He hadn't planned on staying long.
Instead of coming here to work on the land, he might as well go back to the electronics factory.
"Woof, woof, woof."
Hearing footsteps, Big White couldn't help but bark a few times. When it saw Yang Feng approaching, it stopped.
The young man looked around and, aside from a few greenhouses, the area seemed desolate. He couldn't help but shrink his neck.
"Sis, do you work in a place like this every day?"
Seeing her brother's expression, Xia Ying knew he must be thinking of running away.
"Yeah, let me tell you, if you run away this time, don't call me sister again."
The young man didn't care. He had heard this kind of threat countless times since childhood, and his ears had calloused over.
As soon as they entered the greenhouse, the young man, who was initially uninterested, widened his eyes when he saw the vast expanse of tomatoes.
"Damn, these tomatoes are ridiculously productive. There must be over fifty on this one, right?"
The young man walked to a tomato plant, touching the tomatoes and muttering to himself.
Xia Ying walked over, "Many of these have already been sold. We had even more at the beginning."
The young man, not polite at all, picked a good one and plucked it, wiping it with his clothes.
"Phew."
After taking a bite, juice flowed down his mouth.
"Sis, did you grow this? It's really good!"
Xia Ying, seeing her brother being so unruly right after arriving, couldn't maintain her happy expression. "Didn't I tell you not to touch things here?"
The young man wiped the juice from his mouth, "I got too excited seeing so many tomatoes. Don't be mad."
He was telling the truth. Back at home in the vegetable garden, he might have seen ten or twenty tomatoes at most, but there were never so many fruits on a single plant. A single plant here could match two or three of the usual.
"Xia Ying, Xia Tian just arrived. Let him eat more. It will help him better understand our varieties."
"Sis, you heard that, right? Mr. Yang didn't say anything."
When Xia Tian said "Mr. Yang," his tone noticeably became heavier, indicating that he harbored some animosity towards Yang Feng.
Next, Xia Ying took Xia Tian to visit several other greenhouses, overwhelming him with information and completely overturning his preconceived notions about greenhouses.
In the strawberry greenhouse, all the leaves had grown uniformly. In about two weeks, they might start flowering.
"Sis, do you just weed around in this greenhouse all the time?"
Xia Tian was currently squatting in the strawberry field, looking for weeds.
Xia Ying continued working while answering, "Yes, that's the norm. Sometimes, I also deliver goods and set up stalls."
The young man found a stool and sat down.
"This job is quite good, not very tiring, and most importantly, it's quite flexible."
Xia Tian remembered working in the electronics factory before, with two shifts a day. He couldn't even say much on the assembly line.
Especially that fat woman who was like a pig, her eyes more poisonous than an electronic dog. Thinking about it now, he couldn't imagine how he endured it back then.