Chapter 248: No, Doesn’t Anyone Object?

Chapter 248: Hold on, Is No One Opposed?

"Dad, Eldest Brother, when you go back today, talk it over with the rest of the family whether we should continue the next business venture with Su He."

Taking advantage of today's meal together, Fu Tinghua straightforwardly brought up Su He's idea of growing sugar oranges.

"Oranges? Are they profitable? And by November or December, the weather will already be cold—can they even grow in that weather?" Fu Dajun couldn't help but voice his doubts.

"Su He insists they will." Fu Tinghua offered no further explanation, just this one sentence.

Fu Dajun: [silence]

Fu Guoqing: [silence]

Fu Yanju: Giggled behind her hand.

Fu Dajun found it hard to believe—his youngest son had been raised on farm work, after all.

Just as Fu Dajun was about to say something, Fu Tinghua's next words completely shut down his doubts.

"Su He said to ask if you’re still willing to do this business with her. If not, she’ll find someone else."

Find another partner? Like who?

Given how Su He succeeded in every venture she undertook, made the Fu family good money, how could they possibly let her go to someone else?

What if she ditched us for someone else?

Besides, the durian venture already paid off big. Back then, the Fu family had only intended to help Su He out, never expecting to make money.

Who would’ve thought that in less than two weeks, they’d even be able to put a car in the Fu family’s hands?

"Willing, willing! I’ll be the first to agree to partner with Su He," Fu Guoqing quickly jumped in.

"No one said we weren’t willing. She still wants a gently sloping land, right?

The largest plot of sloping land we have—flat and fertile—was previously used for growing sweet potatoes.

That’s also the land that brings in the biggest sweet potato and corn harvest for our family.

I’ll discuss it with the family tonight and arrange for that plot to be given to Su He for planting."

Fu Tinghua naturally knew about that plot. It was the family’s pride and joy because of its fertility—even in winter, they’d squeeze in another crop of sweet potatoes there.

Now, Fu Dajun was suggesting using that land to plant sugar oranges? That caught him off guard.

"Dad, are we really not planting sweet potatoes there in winter?" Fu Guoqing couldn’t help but ask.

Since their region was close to the north, they usually couldn’t get a second rice harvest in winter.

Moreover, in this era, rice yields weren’t particularly high, so most people still lived on sweet potatoes, corn, and potatoes as staple foods.

Only families in better financial conditions could afford to eat rice as their main meal every day.

That was why the government had sent a top agronomist to Wencheng—to research ways to increase rice yields.

But then out of nowhere, the technician had an accident and was still recuperating in the hospital.

"We can just swap to different fields. Honestly, winters are too cold—even sweet potato yields are meager. Might as well let Su He plant those sugar oranges she mentioned. What if they hit it big like the durians did? Then our family could eat rice every day if we wanted, right?" The more Fu Dajun thought about it, the firmer his resolve became.

It also crossed his mind that if his wife Wu Yanhua disagreed later, he'd need to talk her around.

Fu Guoqing thought about it and figured that made sense.

Su He had chosen to plant sugar oranges in winter.

No matter what was planted in winter, the harvest was always so-so, never very high.

So why not plant what Su He wanted? Maybe it would succeed?

"You can discuss it tonight. No pressure if you’re not into it," Fu Tinghua reassured them.

"Hell yeah we’ll plant it! How could we not want to? Just tell Su He directly that we’re definitely planting it," Fu Dajun said, afraid his son might say something wrong and make it seem like the Fu family didn’t want to cooperate with Su He.

After all, his younger son had always been like this—never had a way with words.

Fu Tinghua nodded and said, "Got it. I’ll circle back with Su He next time."

Fu Dajun and Fu Guoqing had showed up dragging their feet but left grinning.

This time, they could finally use the car without stressing over it.

Moreover, they had received news about planting a new fruit, and both were itching to tell the family.

Both Fu Dajun and Fu Guoqing wanted to continue working with Su He.

On the way back, they kept brainstorming ways to win over the women in the family if they disagreed with using the hillside land for fruit planting.

When they got home, they first shared the news about the car, which got everyone pumped.

It wasn’t until dinner that Fu Dajun and Fu Guoqing broke the news about Su He’s plan to plant sugar oranges.

They had expected the women to hesitate over the loss of winter sweet potato yield, but to their surprise, everyone was all for it.

Fu Dajun, who had initially been skeptical, was floored.

"Wait, no one has any objections?" Fu Dajun was downright stumped.

Was planting fruit in winter really reliable? Would it survive? Wasn’t it too cold?

"What’s the worst that could happen? This year’s durian earnings are enough to get us through the winter. What, do you really want Su He to find someone else to do business with?" Wu Yanhua shot her blockhead husband a look, exasperated.

Fu Dajun: ......

"Even if it doesn’t work out, doing Su He a favor is worth it," Chen Sufen said, always the one to flatter and please.

"Exactly. Besides, might as well give it a shot. This year’s harvest has been decent—it’ll be fine," Zhang Xiaohua added.

"Right? What if this fruit turns out like the durians and succeeds too?" He Fangfang wasn’t one to second-guess; she simply trusted Su He and felt she had a golden touch.

Seeing no objections, Fu Dajun bit back all the arguments he had prepared.

That night, before bed, Fu Tinghua mentioned to Su He that Fu Guoqing wanted to use the car for side jobs.

Right on cue, Su He’s response was that as long as it didn’t interfere with their own fruit transportation, she had no problem with it.

If Fu Guoqing wanted to pick up gigs, that was fine—she wasn’t asking for a slice.

But he’d have to foot his own gas bill for those jobs.

"By the way, have you told your dad about the sugar mandarin project?" Su He suddenly remembered and quickly asked.

She had been so busy that she kept forgetting to bring it up with the Fu family.

"I told him today. He said no problem, but he probably still needs to check with my mom," Fu Tinghua replied.

"Alright, once it's settled, we should start planting. It’ll require a ton of labor and supplies—lots to handle."

"Is growing these more hassle than durians?" Fu Tinghua frowned.

"Not exactly, but the saplings are smaller than durians, so we need to plant a lot more. So it’ll definitely take longer than planting durians."