I chose one of four options at the start, and I chose the number one clan in Lingnan.

A month later.

The ancestral hall courtyard in Tazhai Town.

A dozen or so square tables were pushed together and placed in the middle of the spacious courtyard, with bundles of red 100-yuan bills piled on the tables.

The two million in cash was piled up into a small mountain half a meter high.

The courtyard was filled with the heads of various branches of the Lin family and the lower-ranking members of the clan, a dense, dark mass, with people even squatting on the courtyard walls.

Lin Ting sat in a grand chair, twirling two walnuts in his hands.

My second great-uncle stood to the side, leaning on his cane, holding a newly replaced account book in his hand, his hands trembling.

"Grandpa, the accounts have been settled. The three sand quarries operated non-stop for a month, and the sand-carrying ships made over a hundred trips."

After deducting fuel costs, labor costs, machine depreciation, and management fees paid to the town, we made a net profit of two million.

My second uncle's voice trembled as he announced the number.

Previously, when Lin Daqiang was in charge of the factory, the ancestral hall was practically empty, and clansmen had their wages deducted for their work. Now, he earns two million a month.

The crowd below erupted in excitement, their eyes fixed on the pile of money on the table.

Lin Ting stopped playing with the walnuts and placed them on the table.

"Distribute the money," Lin Ting ordered.

Second Uncle was stunned: "Grandfather, shouldn't we keep this money to repair the ancestral hall? This is the first big sum of money that will turn our Lin family around."

"The ancestral hall is an inanimate object, but people are alive," Lin Ting said, pointing to the clansmen in the courtyard wearing patched clothes.

"Lin Daqiang squeezed every last drop of profit out of the clan. This money was distributed per capita. Families with elderly members needing medical care or children in school received an extra two thousand."

Lin Fei held the roster, stood in front of the table, and began calling people forward to collect their money.

One by one, the men from the Lin family stepped forward and accepted the stacks of banknotes with both hands.

Xiaowei's mother stepped forward; she was wearing faded coarse cloth clothes and had gray hair.

Xiao Wei's finger was severed at a sand quarry last month, and it was his great-grandfather who stepped in to get justice.

Lin Fei counted out five thousand yuan and handed it to her.

Holding the money, her legs went weak, and she knelt directly on the bluestone slab, kowtowing heavily to Lin Ting, who was sitting in the armchair.

"Great-grandfather, you are so kind! We can afford to buy Xiaowei's anti-inflammatory medicine now, and the whole family can eat meat again." The woman's tears fell to the ground.

Lin Ting sat in the grand chair and accepted the bow.

With money, the Lin family in Tazhai Town finally came back to life.

into the night.

Taigong's Study.

Lin Ting flipped through the map of Jiangnan Province on the table. Tazhai Town is nestled between mountains and water; with the waterways now open, the sand quarry can sustain itself for a while.

But the river sand will eventually run out. You can't become a top-tier family just by selling sand.

He brought up the system panel in his mind.

The sand quarry was operating smoothly, the clansmen had enough to eat, and their hearts were united. The "Clan Prosperity" indicator on the system panel surged, displaying a balance of 5,000 points.

Lin Ting entered the resource category of the system reward pool.

Point your finger to [Special variant disease-resistant and high-yielding fruit tree seedlings].

Exchange Price: 3,000 Prosperity Points.

The message box states: This fruit tree seedling is adaptable to any poor soil and is resistant to pests and diseases.

The fruit has an extremely short growth cycle and produces a special kind of exotic fruit after ripening. Long-term consumption can strengthen bones and muscles and improve physical condition.

Lin Ting clicked "Confirm".

Prosperity level deducted.

A stack of delivery slips appeared out of thin air on the mahogany table in the study. The slips indicated the address of the abandoned warehouse outside town where the saplings were stored.

Lin Ting picked up the delivery slip and pushed open the study door.

Lin Fei stood guard outside the door. The gauze on his head had been removed, and the wound had completely healed.

"Call Zhongtang's brothers and have them drive several large trucks to the warehouse outside town to pick up the goods. Tomorrow morning, ring the bronze bell and call the whole clan to the back mountain," Lin Ting instructed.

Lin Fei took the order, turned around, and ran into the night.

The next morning.

The bronze bell in the ancestral hall rang three times.

Tens of thousands of men, women, and children from Tazhai Town gathered at the foot of the back mountain, armed with hoes and shovels.

There are 3,000 acres of wasteland here. Before, Zhao Laosi brought an excavator to forcibly demolish the ancestral graves and turned this land upside down. Now it's all just clods of yellow soil that have been turned up.

More than a dozen large trucks were parked at the foot of the mountain, their cargo beds filled with bundles of lush green fruit tree saplings. These saplings had thick roots and leaves that were an unusually dark green.

Lin Ting stepped on the tires and stood on the roof of a truck.

Tens of thousands of people below looked up at him.

"This 3,000 mu of land has been leased by the ancestral hall. We're going to plant trees here." Lin Ting's voice echoed throughout the area through the loudspeaker.

A stir ran through the crowd below.

Lin Facai, with his beer belly protruding, squeezed to the front: "Grandpa, planting trees is a slow process. Even the fastest fruit trees won't bear fruit for at least three years after they're planted."

"Over the past three years, the costs of labor and fertilizer alone have wiped out all the money we had just earned from selling sand."

Many villagers nodded in agreement, agreeing that farming wasn't as lucrative as digging sand. This barren land was too infertile; even sweet potatoes wouldn't grow very big in the past.

Lin Ting looked at Lin Facai and said, "When I, Lin Ting, do things, I don't look three years into the future. You just need to dig holes and plant trees, and the ancestral hall will pay your wages."

At the end of the year, the fruit ripens and is sold, with the entire clan receiving dividends according to household size.

Lin Ting pointed to the saplings in the truck.

"These three thousand acres must be fully planted before nightfall today. The family that finishes the fastest will be served dinner at the ancestral hall tonight, and ten pigs will be slaughtered."

The words fell.

Tens of thousands of Lin family men, wielding hoes, rushed into the wasteland.

No one cared about the usual three-year timeframe; when the old man gave the order, they did it.

The great-grandfather just gave them two million in cash, and now even if the great-grandfather asks them to plant stones, they will still dig holes.

Dust flies everywhere.

Lin Fei led fifty Zhongtang men who had drunk the medicinal soup to the front. They were incredibly strong and used their shovels like excavators.

With a shovel thrust into the ground, soil and stones flew everywhere, and a half-meter-deep pit was dug in two seconds.

These fifty people lined up and pushed forward, leaving behind rows of neat tree pits.

The women followed behind, placing the saplings into the pits and tamping the soil down. The elderly carried buckets of water to fetch water from the Tazhai River to irrigate the trees.

Three thousand acres of wasteland, tens of thousands of people pitched in.

By evening, the entire back hill was covered with green fruit tree seedlings, and well water irrigated every inch of land along the dug ditches.

The once barren loess slopes are now covered in a layer of green.

The days passed by.

The sand dredging plant's sand-carrying ships shuttle back and forth on the Tazhai River every day, accumulating wealth continuously.

The orchards on the back hill are specially looked after by the people of Xiaotang, who water and weed them on time every day.

Just over twenty days have passed.

That noon, Lin Ting sat in his study drinking tea. On the table was a planning map of Tazhai Town.

Hurried footsteps came from outside the door.

My second great-uncle didn't even use a cane. He stumbled into the courtyard and tripped as he stepped into the study. He fell forward.

Lin Fei reacted quickly and caught his second uncle.

"Grandpa! Something strange has happened!" Second Uncle leaned against the door frame, panting heavily, his face flushed red.

Lin Ting put down his purple clay teacup.

"Has the sky fallen?" Lin Ting asked.

Second Uncle swallowed hard, pointed towards the back mountain, his hand trembling like a leaf.

"Flowers...the whole back hill is in bloom!" Second Uncle stammered incoherently.

"Only twenty days after being planted! All three thousand acres of saplings have grown to the height of a person, and the branches are covered with flower buds! The fragrance can be smelled from two miles away!"

Fruit trees bear fruit after three years; this is an ironclad rule for farmers.

It grew to the height of a person in twenty days and was covered in flowers. My second uncle had farmed all his life and had never encountered such a strange thing.

Lin Ting stood up and walked out of the study.

He looked up towards the direction of the back mountain.

A breeze blew in from the back mountain, filling the entire town of Tazhai with a strong, unique floral fragrance. Just one whiff of this scent made every pore on your body feel refreshed.

Several young men from Zhongtang climbed over the courtyard wall, each clutching a freshly broken tree branch.

The branch was thicker than a thumb, and several fist-sized, golden-yellow flowers bloomed on it. The petals were plump and dripping with juice.

"Grandpa, what kind of magical tree is this?" Lin Fei stepped forward and took the branch. "I just went to the back mountain and saw that the whole mountain was covered with these golden flowers, so bright they hurt my eyes."

Lin Ting took the branch and looked at the golden petals.

"A cash cow that could buy half of Jiangnan for the Lin family," Lin Ting said.

Lin Ting threw the tree branch on the table and walked out.

"Let's go to the back mountain and see what kind of fruit this money tree can produce."