Chapter 21: Tilling the land

The early spring afternoon sun was warm and comfortable, its gentle rays spilling across Beigou Village and turning the mountains in the distance a soft shade of green and gold.

Lin Feng finally began working on the empty plot of land.

He had initially thought they would have to wait until the following day.

According to Housekeeper Yang, there were still quite a few things to prepare—tools, seeds, fertilizers, and several machines suitable for working the soil.

However, Beigou Village was surrounded by farmland, and agricultural tools were surprisingly easy to obtain. Housekeeper Yang simply had his assistants, who were also his apprentice butlers, search for them in the village.

His assistants, both handsome in appearance and clever in their ways, easily persuaded the locals to lend them the tools, of course, at an appropriate price.

Anything that could not be found locally was ordered by Housekeeper Yang immediately and expedited through a special VIP channel.

Amazing.

Lin Feng could only marvel at the convenience provided by this world.

By the time Lin Feng finished lunch and rested for a while, almost everything they needed had already arrived.

Lin Feng stood at the edge of the field and looked at the group gathered around him, satisfied and a little proud of himself for being able to blend into the crowd.

Their clothes were quite similar, with straw hats on their heads, light blue denim jumpsuits, and waterproof boots. There were even towels around their necks.

Lin Feng nodded happily to himself.

However, the others saw things differently.

They only thought that even in rustic and old work clothes made for farming and labor, the young master still managed to look like a well-made-up model in a magazine, posing for an idyllic-life-themed photoshoot.

As expected of the beautiful young master!

Even rags looked expensive on him!

For this small endeavor of Lin Feng’s, Housekeeper Yang treated it as a big project.

He had several servants come to assist, along with a few experienced local gardeners who had volunteered to help the young master learn, while he and his assistants watched nearby.

Local gardeners and servants: Well, the real reason was because the bonus was just too tempting to pass up, hehe.

They literally fought to secure slots!

It was not just about the money; it was also about spending more time gazing at the beauty!

Outside the cottage-style cabin, there were hoes, rakes, shovels, hand cultivators, and wheelbarrows.

There were also several compact walk-behind rotary tillers, which would be used to loosen the harder sections of soil without requiring anyone to turn the entire plot by hand.

Lin Feng looked at the equipment, his amber eyes brimming with curiosity.

"So this is what we’ll be using?"

"Yes, young master," Housekeeper Yang said. "But don’t worry. You won’t need to operate everything yourself."

Lin Feng felt a little shy admitting that he actually wanted to try.

The gardeners first showed Lin Feng the basic process on a smaller plot of around four square meters near the cabin.

The weeds and larger pieces of debris had to be cleared first.

The gardeners demonstrated how to pull smaller weeds from the roots, while tougher patches were loosened with hoes and a small cultivator.

Once the surface was cleared, they used the rotary tiller to break up the compacted soil and loosen it to a suitable depth.

Afterward, the gardeners raked the earth smooth, removed the remaining roots and stones, and divided the plot into several manageable planting sections.

They explained that the soil did not need to be endlessly overturned. What mattered was loosening the compacted earth, improving its condition, removing competing weeds, and preparing a level, workable bed for the crops.

Lin Feng listened with utmost seriousness while clumsily imitating the weeding process with a hoe on his own, even smaller plot, only half the size of the gardeners’ practice plot, barely a meter in width and length.

He did not even realize that he had accidentally dirtied his right cheek with a little mud.

When one of the gardeners showed him how to guide the small rotary tiller, Lin Feng watched carefully before attempting to imitate the movement.

"Don’t force it," the gardener patiently instructed. "Keep both hands steady and let the machine do most of the work. You only need to guide it."

Lin Feng nodded, feeling a little scared. "This, this is safe to use, right?"

Everyone laughed. "Don’t worry, young master. We’re here. It’s safe."

The boy took a deep breath and, with a solemn face as if undergoing a great trial, tried to operate the small rotary tiller.

The machine immediately lurched slightly to one side.

"Ah!" Lin Feng hurriedly corrected it, feeling flustered.

"Slowly," the gardener named Old Lou reminded him with a smile as he guided the boy on how to hold it properly.

This time, Lin Feng managed to keep it moving in a reasonably straight line, soon finishing the small area.

His eyes immediately brightened.

After carefully turning off the machine, he immediately turned to the gardeners watching from the sidelines with Housekeeper Yang, unconsciously showing a bright smile.

"I did it!"

"Young master is amazing!"

Everyone clapped, praising the beautifully smiling youth.

Lin Feng laughed shyly, his lips pursing into a smile.

The spring sun shone overhead, dyeing his hair golden, and his curved eyes were filled with joy.

All the servants who were present felt fortunate to have grabbed the precious volunteer slots.

For the beauty’s smile, even if they worked all day, it would be worth it!

At a nearby villa, the tall, muscular man with a buzz cut stood at the attic’s skylight window, using the same binoculars.

The man himself did not expect that he would have such a voyeuristic tendency.

But he did not care if his behavior was creepy. He just wanted to know where the boy from yesterday was.

Unexpectedly, the boy lived next door, and he even showed such a pure and innocent smile.

It made the man feel... a little thirsty.

He took a bottle of water and drank from it, his throat rolling as he continued to stare at the boy’s figure with a fixed gaze.

Such a pure and delicate person was exactly his type.

It seemed that being forced to stay here in this boring place was a blessing in disguise after all.

On the empty plot of land, everyone was fired up, including Lin Feng himself.

So they enthusiastically went on to continue with the rest of the plot.

Like everyone else, Lin Feng crouched down and carefully pulled each weed from the soil with his hands, just as he had done earlier, on another uncleared plot that was much bigger than the earlier practice plot he had used, around the same size as the four-square-meter area that the gardeners had used to demonstrate the process to him.

It seemed simple.

At least, it seemed simple for the first few minutes.

Fifteen minutes later, Lin Feng was sitting back on his heels, staring at the remaining weeds with a slightly dazed expression.

His fingers were dirty, his back was aching, and his forehead was already covered in a thin layer of sweat.

Housekeeper Yang noticed immediately.

"Young master, that’s enough."

"But I barely did anything here." Lin Feng looked at the remaining uncleared area in front of him.

Then he looked at the others’ progress.

They were clearly much faster than him. They had already almost weeded half of the plot given by Housekeeper Yang.

Lin Feng felt embarrassed.

"You’ve already done enough for today," the gardeners said, realizing that the precious young master was tired, and finally stepped in.

One picked up Lin Feng’s hoe and quickly loosened a stubborn patch of soil. Another brought over a wheel hoe, using it to remove rows of weeds far more efficiently than Lin Feng had managed by hand.

"Ah," Lin Feng exclaimed. "May I use that wheel hoe as practice? I think I might still be able to do it."

He really felt ashamed of almost doing nothing at all. The least he could do now was learn as much as possible!

It looked easy when the gardener demonstrated it, yet it was considerably less easy when Lin Feng actually held it.

He pushed the wheel hoe too hard at first, causing the tool to dig too deeply into the soil.

"Ah!"

Lin Feng stumbled and accidentally let go of the wheel hoe. His foot ended up stuck on the uneven soil, and he swayed to the side.

He closed his eyes involuntarily, preparing for a fall.

Unexpectedly, a strong arm wrapped around his waist, preventing his fall.

The man at the nearby villa watching through the binoculars frowned slightly.

Lin Feng realized that a man was practically hugging him.

His face flushed in embarrassment.

Although his body was now that of a man, his soul was still that of an ancient woman who had never had direct contact with other men aside from family!

The man holding his waist steadied him first, making sure Lin Feng’s feet were firmly planted on the ground, before finally letting go.

"The ground is uneven, young master. Please be careful."

Housekeeper Yang hurried over worriedly. "Young master, did you hurt yourself?"

Lin Feng, still embarrassed and with flushed cheeks, shook his head. "I’m alright, Uncle Yang. Edmund helped me in time."

The man who helped him was a mixed-race man who preferred to use his English name Edmund over his Chinese name, Tang Wei.