Chapter 46

"Swans?"

Without even mentioning the others, Gao Jia's mouth was wide open. "Brother-in-law, you're not kidding, right? They're not just two big white geese, are they?"

"Really swans, brother-in-law, you're sure?"

"How could this be fake?"

Li Dong was at a loss between laughing and crying, waving his hand. The two swans flapped their wings and slowly glided up from the water, and everyone now believed Li Dong's words.

Domestic geese can't fly this high, these really are swans.

The white swans flew up, graceful, noble, and beautiful, indeed more attractive than roasted geese. Roasted geese are delicious, Li Dong looked up at the sky.

"Too beautiful."

"Actually, they are swans, so beautiful."

A few girls were very excited, taking photos with their phones, still not quite believing it.

"Brother-in-law, you didn't kidnap them, did you?"

Gao Jia whispered to Li Dong, not having heard of swans around here, wondering if her brother-in-law had secretly bought them from somewhere else, which would be illegal.

"Kidnap?"

Pfft, Li Dong almost lost his grip on the fishing net and fell into the reservoir. Looking at his little sister-in-law, he was speechless. He thought, how could you have such dangerous ideas? He firmly denied it, saying it was a joke, and that the swans were completely voluntary.

"Quick, they're flying over."

"Everyone, be quiet."

The two swans landed next to Li Dong, one of them even rubbing against his pant leg. The girls watched in amazement.

"Brother-in-law, did you raise these swans?" Xu Yue thought her brother-in-law was quite amazing.

"Sort of, these two swans were stragglers. One of them was injured at first, but it's much better now." The wound had shrunk over time, which was strange, but the wings were still a bit weak and couldn't fly far.

"Wow, that makes sense."

"Really amazing, swans actually know how to repay kindness." Liu Qing'er's words left Li Dong a bit confused, what kind of repayment?

"Qing'er, what do you mean?"

"Look, the swans stayed, adding a lot of appeal to your farm. Isn't that a form of repayment?"

"That does make sense."

"Never mind the logic, brother-in-law, can we take a photo with the swans?"

"Right, we've been talking so much, we forgot the main thing."

The girls were overly excited. Li Dong calmed the proud male swan and finally satisfied the girls' wishes by taking photos. The proud swan flapped its wings, ate some snails, and then didn't come back up.

While the girls weren't paying attention, Li Dong made a gesture, and the two swans immediately struck a pose they had practiced. The heart-shaped pose was noticed by Xu Yue.

"Ah." Xu Yue covered her mouth in surprise, pointing at the swans. "Quick, look, look, swan heart."

"Wow, really, take a photo quickly."

One by one, they took photos, recorded videos, and shared them on social media. Li Dong was stunned. "Be careful, don't jump, you might fall into the water."

Even Gao Jia jumped with excitement, and the other girls were even more excited, making Li Dong nervous. The rocks were quite slippery, and if someone fell, it would be serious, especially into the reservoir, which would be very troublesome.

After a while, the swans swam away, but the girls were still excited, comparing the photos they had taken. "Yueyue, your photo is so beautiful, send it to me, I want to post it on my social media."

"Sure, your photo is nice too, send it to me."

These girls, Li Dong thought, had posted countless photos on social media that morning, real social media addicts. He muttered, he hadn't posted anything in half a year, maybe he should try it too, for some promotion.

Thinking about it, it was a good idea. He had been a teacher for many years and had a decent network of friends. "I'll take some photos of the fish and the vegetable garden, and post them to promote the farm."

While thinking, Li Dong poured the fish and shrimp into a bucket, watching the excited girls. He thought, being young is great. "Everyone, let's get on the boat and go back slowly."

It was quite hot here, and Li Dong needed to take the fish and shrimp back.

If not, the girls agreed, it was quite hot, so they would go ashore and look at the photos later. "Do you want to go back or stay and play for a while? There are two fishing spots in the east with some shade, quite cool."

"Let's play for a while."

"Brother-in-law, can we borrow your fishing net for a while?"

"Let's skip that. I'll bring you a lift net later and some fish feed to play with." Li Dong asked Gao Jia to take care of her friends, then he took the bucket back to the farm and handed the fish and shrimp to Han Weiguo. "Uncle Weiguo, make some braised carp and a mixed fish pot."

"Sure."

Li Dong instructed him to clean up and get the lift net ready. A lift net, also known as a fish-lifting net, is a small aluminum frame supported by a lightweight structure. After setting it up, Li Dong carried it to the reservoir, found a shady spot, and set it up, scattering some fish feed.

"Try it, pull it up every ten minutes or so."

The lift net has two intersecting bow-shaped aluminum frames, with the net hanging from the four corners. The net is slightly concave in the middle, and there is a support rod at the intersection of the two frames. Pulling the support rod lifts the net, and if there are fish, they will be caught.

The support rod is fixed to a frame on the edge of the reservoir, and using the lever principle, it can be pulled with little effort. Liu Qing'er and Xu Yue tried it and found it quite easy. "Brother-in-law, you can go, we can handle it."

"Alright."

"Jiajia, call me if anything happens."

Li Dong returned to the farm, laid out the fish, took a few photos, then went to the vegetable garden and took a few more photos. He returned to the farm and took a few more photos of the farm, posting them on social media.

To his surprise, the first comment was from his daughter, which startled him. "This kid, how is she playing with her phone?"

"Oh, it's Gao Lan."

Li Dong was amused by his daughter's comment.

"Dad, your photos are too low, completely rustic, and completely different from what Auntie posted. You're hopeless as a man."

"One set of photos ruins all the classics."

What's this? He thought, what's wrong with being realistic? And low? And a man? Besides, Auntie's photos are staged, Dad is honest. This generation of daughters is no good, not even praising their dad.

Li Dong sent a crying face emoji, and his daughter replied with a loving hug.

Li Dong thought his daughter was still good, but the hug was wrong, so he corrected her.

"Li Jingyi, stop playing, it's time to eat."

"Mom, I'm chatting with Dad."

Li Jingyi said with a smile. "Mom, Auntie went to Dad's farm, wow, it's so beautiful. Mom, come and look, Auntie just posted photos, they're swans. Dad's farm has swans."

"Swans?"

Gao Lan came over and saw it was true. "What's going on?"

"Seems like Dad raised them."

"Raising swans is illegal, what's going on with your dad?"

Gao Lan frowned. If Li Dong saw this, he would have stood at attention, but now it wasn't necessary. "I'll ask Auntie." Li Jingyi immediately called Gao Jia.

Fortunately, the explanation was timely, and Gao Lan didn't say anything. "Stop playing, it's time to eat."

"Got it."

Li Jingyi stuck out her tongue, thinking she should find a time to visit Dad's farm, it seemed interesting. Should she bring Mom? No, Mom is so busy, she'll go alone and surprise Dad. If she brings Mom, it might be a big shock.

Dad, I'm so good to you. You have such a lovely, beautiful, and kind daughter, you must have accumulated good karma for eight generations. Sigh, why am I so excellent? "Hurry up, don't dawdle, it's time to eat, you're just like Dad."

"Mom, I'm like you."

If Li Dong heard this, he would have been speechless. This daughter is too fake, he thought.

Li Dong was now looking at Gao Jia's social media. How did she take these photos? Why are they so different? He looked at the tomatoes Gao Jia took, wanting to bite them, and then at his own, which were smaller and less colorful.

The vegetable garden looked messy, like it had been abandoned for a long time, but Gao Jia's close-up of a cucumber, with its spines and flowers clearly visible and adorned with water droplets, was simply beautiful. Li Dong gave up.

He had no talent for photography, but the photos weren't entirely useless. Tian Liang asked about the fish, and Li Dong sent him the information he had found. "Brother, why didn't you tell me about this good thing earlier?"

"I'll take all you have."

"About forty pounds."

"Alright, I'll come pick it up this afternoon."

Rich people, Li Dong thought, they take everything without even asking the price. He sighed, earning money seemed so easy, but thinking about the farm's current situation, he scratched his head. It looked easy to make money, but the farm's finances were precarious.

If not for the turtles and alcohol he had brought back from 1978, the farm might have gone bankrupt by the end of the year. As a teacher, he didn't know much about business. "Sigh, I have to go again." It's hard to do business with acquaintances.

It was hard for Li Dong to charge Gao Jia more. How much could he charge for a day at the farm? Two hundred per person, that's twelve hundred in total. More than that, and they might as well go to Nanjing, where a round-trip high-speed train ticket costs about a hundred, and a day's entertainment costs about three hundred.

If the farm charges too much, people might think, "Why is it so expensive?" I'm so hard, why is the farm so hard to run? It's not Li Dong's fault. There are dozens of farms around Chicheng, and very few make money just from fishing and dining.

Everyone has their own way of making money. Some fishing spots have many fish and make money from selling them, plus other small earnings, making a decent profit each year. Very few people can make money like Li Dong.

Li Dong's failure in photography and social media promotion was frustrating. He realized even excellent people have flaws, no one is perfect.

Since promotion didn't work, Li Dong decided to focus on trading, buying and selling things, and maintaining the farm. He would make a few rich friends.

He picked some vegetables and a large pumpkin to bring back to the farm. Tian Liang was coming, so he should send some vegetables. This golden opportunity needed to be maintained.

"Smells good."

"Almost done."

Han Weiguo smiled. "This snake is quite big."

"The snake soup is ready, I'll go call everyone to eat."

At the reservoir, the girls had already abandoned their fishing rods and were playing with the lift net, almost finishing the feed Li Dong had brought.

"Brother-in-law, you're here, come look, we caught so many fish."

More than ten carp and a bream, not bad at all. "Great job, everyone, take a break, it's time to eat."

"So soon?"

"My stomach isn't quite full yet."

Gao Jia laughed. "Let's go, you were just saying you wanted to eat pot stickers."

Back at the farm, the dishes were already on the table. There were many good dishes: wild chicken stewed with chestnuts, turtle soup, braised fish, mixed fish pot, spicy cured meat, pumpkin pot, snake soup, and corn fritters, a full table.

The aroma was overwhelming, and even Liu Qing'er, who had said she wasn't hungry, was almost drooling. "Smells good."

"Smells good, right? It's all organic, everyone, don't be shy."

Li Dong smiled and welcomed everyone. He hadn't planned to join them, but the girls insisted, pulling him to the table. "Alright, how about a drink? I have some raspberry wine that's quite suitable for girls."

"Sure."

Playing and drinking a bit is normal, and everyone enjoyed the meal.

Just as they finished eating and were chatting with a pot of tea, a car pulled up outside.

"I'll go check." Li Dong thought it was probably Tian Liang, and sure enough, it was him.

"Mr. Tian."

"Brother, let's go see your good stuff."

Black rice is quite rare in Chicheng, especially fresh.

"What's black rice?" Xu Yue and the others were puzzled, and Gao Jia shook her head, not knowing either.

Not just the girls in their twenties, even Li Dong, who came from the countryside, didn't know at first.

"Want to see?"

"Isn't that a bit inappropriate?"

Why do you say that, Gao Jia thought, her friend was quite curious.

Inside, Li Dong was getting the black rice ready, and Tian Liang was impressed.

"Brother, your packaging is too poor. Never mind, I'll do it myself. I'll take all forty pounds." Tian Liang immediately transferred the money to Li Dong. "How much is it?"

"Mr. Tian, you're a regular customer, let's say two hundred per pound." The price was higher than frozen black rice online, but fresh and organic black rice at two hundred per pound wasn't expensive.

"Alright, eight thousand, check it." Tian Liang nodded, it wasn't cheap but not unreasonable, organic black rice was worth it.

"Wow, what is this, so expensive, two hundred per pound?"