Chapter 26: A Lame Donkey with a Broken Mill

Liu Heming was really busy these past few days. After signing the transfer agreement, he started running around everywhere with George.

He contacted people from the fertilizer company to test the soil, and then began purchasing seeds. He wasn’t in a hurry for Winter Wheat seeds, but he also planned to grow some Corn and Soybeans.

Actually, this wasn’t the busiest part. Once he placed the order and paid, the suppliers would deliver. The most troublesome matter was the water irrigation system.

It wasn’t as simple as Liu Heming initially thought, where just drilling a well in the Wheat Field would suffice. Because the groundwater level in Xiangshui Town was too low and the water volume was scarce, drilling wells often proved futile.

Therefore, the irrigation system Liu Heming chose needed to be both water-saving and cost-effective. He was short on money. After paying David Roy, he realized he needed much more funds than he had anticipated.

The main extra cost was for Fertilizer. Because the Land had been left unused for too long, high-concentration Fertilizer was needed. Otherwise, even if he planted the Wheat in autumn, next year’s harvest would likely fail even with sufficient water. This additional expense required three thousand US Dollars.

Considering the current situation and after a small discussion with George, they decided on a combination of semi-fixed sprinkler irrigation and border irrigation. Using only border irrigation would be best, but it wasted more water, so they had to combine the methods.

The original irrigation pipes left in Bumper Farm were heavily corroded. Although the previous owners had left only three years ago, the equipment was from seven or eight years ago. It was so worn out that probably no one would want it even as scrap metal.

The expense for this aspect, including labor and materials, would cost at least thirteen thousand US Dollars. Only then could they channel the water from the Lake at Magical Ranch over to irrigate the one hundred Acre Wheat Field here.

After sorting all this out, the money left in Liu Heming’s account wasn’t much—only a little over sixty-five thousand US Dollars. This amount only included the costs for planting Corn and Soybeans. If he factored in the future Wheat cultivation expenses, he would only have thirty-two thousand US Dollars left.

This time, it wasn’t just “misusing public funds”; he had actually used more than he should have. Normally, he should have left forty thousand US Dollars for his daughter. Luckily, Sasha wasn’t the type to scrutinize accounts closely. Otherwise, if she checked, he would be in big trouble.

He kept busy for over half a month more. The little seedlings in his nursery pond had already grown true leaves, some eagerly wanting to move outside.

He wondered if he would have enough money this winter to build a small Greenhouse. Otherwise, buying vegetables would probably be quite expensive. But he didn’t need to think that far ahead yet. The immediate task was to plant these seedlings outside and complete that task which offered no reward.

He used his Mobile Phone to take photos of the little seedlings before planting them. He planned to send these to his daughter later. Then, very carefully, he dug up one Green Bean seedling with some soil attached and happily ran outside to plant it in a hole in the ground.

To his frustration, after planting it, the System guy didn’t give any special reaction. He knew this meant the task wasn’t completed yet. What was missing?

“Oh right, I still need to water it,” Liu Heming said after thinking for a while, slapping his forehead.

These were transplanted seedlings after being raised in a nursery. As his mother used to say, they needed some “root-establishing water.” Their roots weren’t as deeply anchored in the ground as those from direct seeding. Watering them a bit would help them transition and improve their survival rate greatly.

Thinking of this, he ran back into the Log Cabin, fetched some water in a bowl, and poured it around the roots of this Green Bean seedling.

“You’re so dumb, only just completing such a simple task now,” the System’s electronic voice sounded in his mind.

“Haha, I did it on purpose, so it can bear fruit and mature a few days earlier. Hurry up and tell me, what’s the next task? Preferably one that increases Mental Power. Also, if there’s one that gives money directly, that would be even better,” Liu Heming said proudly.

“Are you really this stupid? Are tasks just given out randomly? Then what face would I have left?” the System said disdainfully.

The System’s words left Liu Heming speechless for a moment. “No, you’re the System. If you don’t give tasks, then what use are you?”

“You still say that? Why didn’t you tell me earlier that your daughter’s physical condition is much better than yours? I really picked the wrong person to bind with. My great future, wasted! Who can I complain to?” the System said frantically.

“I shouldn’t have taken pity on you back then. Letting you die would have saved so much trouble. When your daughter came, I could have directly bound with her. Then I would have leveled up long ago.”

“Wait, wait, let’s sort this out properly,” Liu Heming quickly interjected.

“If I understood your words correctly just now, you can see my daughter? And my daughter’s condition is better than mine, right?”

“Duh, otherwise why would I regret it? If I had bound with Alex, I could have directly developed high-level tasks. But with you? I’m still in recovery mode right now,” the System said, even more dejected.

“Hehe, that’s my daughter for you, definitely top-notch,” Liu Heming said smugly. “Wait, no, no. You can see what’s happening around me anytime? Then why the hell didn’t you say anything when I was short on money?”

Liu Heming also got angry. The System was supposed to be amazing. Regardless of whether it wanted to or not, it was bound to him now. So it should unconditionally help him. How could it just stand by and watch?

“Do you think I want to be muddle-headed like this every day? I can only wake up under special circumstances. One is when I assign you a task, the other is when I give you a task reward. Alex’s appearance was an extremely special case because she shares your DNA and her physical condition is better than yours,” the System said gloomily.

“If my Database wasn’t so deficient right now, I would have already switched to Alex. Who do you think wants to be with you? With Alex, if we were together, we could definitely achieve so many great things.”

“System, if I heard correctly just now, your Database is broken, right? Your damn Database is broken, so what are you acting all high and mighty for?” Liu Heming shouted loudly.

No wonder this System often seemed unreliable. He had let it slip—his Database had problems. Although Liu Heming didn’t know exactly what the Database was for, he could roughly imagine it was something like a knowledge storage library.

Well, look at that. The System itself wasn’t even that great, yet it acted all high and mighty, looking down on him here and there. What right did it have to be dissatisfied? A lame donkey at best could only pair with a broken mill. What gave it the right to be picky?

“No, damn it, you made me so angry I’m confused. I’m not a lame donkey. And I’m damn well not a broken mill either,” Liu Heming shouted, even more frustrated.