Chapter 004: Only by striving can one win opportunities

The old farmer laughed heartily and said, "Do you think this is a house in the city center? These dilapidated houses are worthless, just look at the environment; you can't hide it from me."

Walking to the end of the West Station, after riding for another ten minutes on the narrow and dilapidated asphalt road, one can finally see the vast expanse of open land in the western suburbs of the bridge

Zhang Sheng casually remarked, "It is like this, I want to set up a high-tech vegetable greenhouse, preferably close to the city for convenient transportation"

The old man looked at him in surprise: "Can anything even be sold here? What use is there in buying it? There’s no water, no harvest; all day long, you just stand here smelling this stench? What are you buying it for?"

Zhang Sheng nodded slightly and said, "Hmm, thank you, sir. I will... conduct further investigations around."

This restaurant specializes in farmhouse pig slaughter dishes, and in the backyard, a large fat pig is happily grunting, completely unaware of the impending butcher's knife. It lowers its head contentedly to eat the leftover soup and rice from the restaurant, occasionally wagging its little tail in joy.

He paused for a moment, pointed to a house in the distance, and said: "The tile-roofed house next to the river pond is my home. The combined area of the front and back vegetable gardens is just under 1 mu, plus three tile-roofed rooms. If you give me 10,000 yuan, I will sell it to you"

Zhang Sheng's heart felt a bit cold: Will this place really be developed? What if the city government changes its mind?

There are two villages here, Dawang Village and Xiaowang Village near the library. Logically, the houses in the suburbs should not be so dilapidated, but standing on the slope and looking down, the villages are not large, and everywhere there are uneven, crumbling houses, giving the settlement a lifeless appearance. However, some small restaurants and repair shops along the roadside still have a bit of vitality.

Zhang Sheng wandered for a while and strolled to the backyard of a restaurant, pondering his thoughts next to the dilapidated brick and stone wall: "This village is so desolate, yet it is right next to the urban area. Even if I were the mayor, I wouldn't allow a piece of land on the edge of the city to remain a garbage dump. The project proposal from the Economic Planning Commission must have a purpose; perhaps it was initiated by some leader determined to develop the west side of the bridge, instructing them to draft the report.

At that time, the development and construction were not as sophisticated as they are now. Currently, the processes from project initiation, planning, approval, demolition, to development are both scientific and rigorous, requiring repeated verification and extensive discussions before finally being approved after multiple deliberations at the Standing Committee of the Municipal Party Committee. Back then, the system was not well-established, and the procedures were not scientific. Some leaders, in pursuit of political achievements, often hastily implemented ideas that came to mind, only to find that the feasibility was too low halfway through the project, leading to numerous instances of projects being shelved midway.

The old farmer, carrying a bucket, splashed a few scoops of water, straightened his back, and looked at Zhang Sheng's figure, clicking his tongue and muttering: "What high-tech farming is this? This child must be a laid-off worker who can't find a way out. We farmers can survive with work, and we can also survive without it. These city kids don't know how to live once they lose their jobs; it's quite pitiful!"

There is indeed risk, but... let's go for it! Zhang Sheng stood on the road, contemplating.

Zhang Sheng looked at the carefree fat pig and thought to himself: "If I only think about drifting through life, I would be just like this pig. It’s not that I couldn’t survive, but could I live like a pig and be as happy as a pig?"

Zhang Sheng thought of this and let out a soft sigh

Next to the vegetable field stood a farmer, beside him was a donkey cart used for transporting water, and the old farmer was filling a bucket with water for irrigation. Zhang Sheng struck up a conversation with him: "Sir, why does this area look so desolate?"

Zhang Sheng nodded slightly, casually placing his hands on his hips and looking around. He asked nonchalantly, "Sir, how much would it cost to buy a piece of land in this area..."

Further away, there is a small river, its water dark and viscous, resembling oil, exuding a foul odor. It appears that this river should be quite wide, as the ground on both sides clearly indicates that it was once a riverbed, now dried up. The riverbed has been excavated by sand miners, resembling a pockmarked surface, with pits of varying depths.

The old farmer chuckled and said, "There isn't even any water here, how can you grow vegetables?"

Therefore, although Zhang Sheng does not doubt the authenticity of that document, he is concerned that the government may change its plans. The project report is not a formal plan; it is merely a suggestion provided to the leadership and may not necessarily receive approval, nor can it be determined when it will be approved. If it is to be expedited, as long as the main leaders give their consent, it is possible to construct a three-story building within a month. Conversely, if it is to be delayed, it could take ten years or more. What is the actual value of this information?

Zhang Sheng exclaimed, "This place... oh, this house is only selling for 10,000 yuan?"

Zhang Sheng could not help but recall his childhood playmate, Er Feizi, who used to live in the same large courtyard with him. Er Feizi was always dragging two streams of snot as a child and was often bullied by his peers. Even as he grew up, he remained disheveled, and one could smell the sour odor of sweat from him from a distance. But how is he faring now?

From a high vantage point, what lies ahead, apart from the disordered and fragmented vegetable plots, is a completely abandoned expanse of land. In areas close to the road, piles of industrial waste, secretly discarded by enterprises, resemble small mountains.

The old farmer laughed heartily and said, "Deep wells are not feasible either; the pollution is too severe. Using tap water is acceptable, but I fear that the cost of the vegetables grown that way will be too high, leaving you with little profit."

In the distance, a woman's curse came from the backyard of the "Farmhouse Pig Slaughter Dish": "Which ungrateful person pushed the stone down and smashed my pig's feeding trough? Damn it..."

I see that the development matters are about eighty to ninety percent accurate, and the figures are quite reliable. If the land with a house is priced at 11,000 per mu, then this nearly abandoned land is estimated to be around 5,000 to 6,000 per mu. I estimate that the cash I have on hand can buy about one and a half mu of land. If I were to resell it, I could at least multiply my investment several times. However... that wouldn't be enough to sustain me for a lifetime. If heaven has given me a rare opportunity, and I let it slip through my fingers like this, I would truly become a useless person!

When my father used connections and backdoor dealings, along with treating and gifting, to arrange for me to work as an electrician in a state-owned factory, Er Feizi had approached me to partner in managing the local agency for an out-of-town beer brand. At that time, I thought it was better to have a stable job for security, so I declined. As a result, a few years later, that person has already moved to the city center and is worth at least several million. Didn't I just miss the opportunity because I lacked the courage to seize it?

He suddenly struck the wall fiercely and turned to leave

The old farmer took another bucket of water, shook his head and said, "I have no authority to sell it. The land in the village has been redistributed, and no one is in charge here. I just came back to plant a bit. If you want to buy a large piece of land, you need to negotiate with the village secretary and the leaders in the township."

Zhang Sheng said: "This... drilling several deep wells, using drip irrigation, it's high-tech, so it definitely cannot be cultivated using traditional methods"

Since he developed the intention to purchase land yesterday, he casually inquired about the land prices in the area during a conversation with others. Generally speaking, at that time, the price per acre ranged from 15,000 to 30,000, with the specific price depending on whether the land was raw or cultivated, as well as its quality—whether it was barren or fertile. Additionally, the intended use and the surrounding environment also played a significant role in determining the price.

At that time, he estimated that the land in the western suburbs of the bridge would cost at least over 20,000 per mu. Unexpectedly, the industrial waste and wastewater here have turned large areas of fertile land into a garbage dump, resulting in the land for houses being so cheap. This old man said it was 10,000, and if we talked more, he might even lower the price further

Zhang Sheng stood there in contemplation for a while, squatted down to smoke a cigarette, then tossed the cigarette butt aside and walked down a crooked little path. Ahead, several rows of cabbage were growing quite well. It was evident that if this area were not so close to the city, severely polluted by industrial waste, and if the waterways were not cut off, it would originally have been a very fertile piece of farmland

Zhang Sheng looked at his large vegetable field, swallowed, and said: "So how much is this vegetable field per acre?"

The village leader? Zhang Sheng thought: With my current situation, the village officials are too lazy to discuss business with me

The old farmer, with a face full of wrinkles, looked up at him and said while scooping water to irrigate the land: "Indeed, it is as you say. The people in our village can hardly bear it; those with some ability have all moved to the area of Caijiatun. The young and strong have no land to cultivate, and most have gone out to work. This old village has hardly anyone living in it. I can't bear to let this piece of land go to waste; the slope here is high and has not been polluted yet, so I am growing some vegetables. However, I have to haul water from quite a distance to irrigate the land. Sigh, I just can't sit idle; otherwise, I would stop tending to this land!"