"Cough cough."

"Dear fellow villagers, Happy Chinese New Year!"

"Here's a quick announcement: those who haven't left yet to look for work elsewhere can stay in the village for a while."

"This year we are very likely to work with the government to carry out road repair projects."

"Those with construction site experience will be given priority, and we will try our best to arrange work for everyone."

The news caused an uproar in the village.

Many people in Shitou Village come from construction sites. They helped a lot when the primary school was built, and when they heard about the road construction project, they helped build roads for the village.

The group was extremely excited.

"The village chief even found us jobs this year!"

"That's great! We won't have to travel outside this year!"

"Don't talk nonsense. I heard that it was Jinshui's eldest son who got the project, and it was specifically for us."

"Really? Jinshui has given birth to a fine son."

Originally, many people in the village were very grateful to Lin Yifeng for repairing the primary school.

Now he's helping the village repair roads, which makes everyone admire Lin Yifeng even more.

If it weren't for the fact that there's no custom of building ancestral halls in the north, this group of people would most likely have built a monument for Lin Yifeng to properly commemorate him.

As for his home, Lin Jinshui was smoking one cigarette after another, thoroughly enjoying himself.

Since Lin Yifeng returned to the village, the villagers have been praising him endlessly, which makes Lin Jinshui very happy.

Soon the eighth day passed, and on the ninth day, Sun Zhouzheng gave a definite answer.

The city has already approved the contract and, knowing that Lin Yifeng wanted to sponsor the road construction, has specially allocated funds. A professional team will be coming to conduct an on-site inspection in a couple of days, and can start supervising the road construction at any time.

When the news reached Lin Jindong, the village head immediately began broadcasting it.

At 10 p.m. that night, many people were still registering outside the broadcasting room, compiling a list of those who would participate in the road repair, even though the wages were much lower than those for working elsewhere.

But this road was built for their families, so everyone was full of enthusiasm.

Early the next morning, the group led by Lin Jinshui carried shovels and picks and began preparing to turn over the soil from the beginning, repairing it all the way to the national highway connecting to the province.

At this time, Lin Yifeng had already begun leading Lin Zixiang and Xu Qingyi along the highway towards Shixia Village.

Getting to Shixia Village by hiking along mountain paths is quite troublesome.

If it's a motorcycle, it's relatively convenient. But if Lin Yifeng were driving and his car broke down on the road, in the middle of nowhere with no signal, he would be completely helpless.

For safety reasons, Lin Yifeng drove everyone around the area, taking a detour from the other side of the national highway to the plains.

On the way, George Lam was still a little uneasy in the car.

Xu Qingyi has also become quite familiar with the village chief's son these past two days, and they jokingly tease each other.

"What's wrong with Brother Xiang?"

"I feel like going to that village is like going into a black coal mine."

"It's like we're going there and won't be able to come back."

George Lam simply smiled when he heard Xu Qingyi's teasing.

"It's hard to say."

"As they say, troublemakers come from remote and impoverished areas."

"This Shixia Village..."

The atmosphere inside the car fell into a deathly silence.

It was clear that the three of them had done their research on Shixia Village before setting off.

Lin Yifeng had heard of Shixia Village before. If the local bully he encountered when he first returned to Shitou Village was considered a local tyrant, then the bully in Shixia Village was nothing compared to him.

People from Shixia Village have all done things like blocking roads and charging tolls.

When Shuiyun Town planned to let the villagers choose a few places to study in the town, Shixia Village didn't choose a single one; they simply didn't care about studying.

In their local dialect, they say, "How much is studying worth? A ten-year-old child is not as good as helping the family farm more, which can earn them a few extra cents a year."

Several times, people from Shanyang city came to persuade him to go there, but they found it was like talking to a brick wall.

To put it bluntly, the people of Shixia Village are stubborn and have a strange sense of superiority. They feel that Shitou Village and Shishang Village owe them something, that their ancestors lived on their land, and that everyone should give way to them in everything.

Lin Yifeng was unsure about going there this time, but he only informed Sun Zhouzheng.

After driving for about an hour and a half, the group finally reached a plain.

The snow on both sides of the road had begun to melt, and many people from Shixia Village looked curiously at the Jinbei minivan in front of them.

To be honest, of the three villages combined, Shixia Village has the largest population and the largest farmland area. The combined area of ​​Shitou Village and Shishang Village is probably not even half the size of Shixia Village.

Even so, there is still a lot of idle wasteland in the village that has not been cultivated, and they are unwilling to share it with other villages. The government is also powerless to do anything about their village.

Seeing the strange looks from the villagers around her, Xu Qingyi couldn't help but mutter to herself.

"Brother Feng, I have a feeling something's off about this place."

"Yes, indeed."

Lin Yifeng drove while looking around.

The group's eyes lit up when they saw Lin Yifeng arrive.

The car hadn't gone far when the group encountered a large tree stump blocking the middle of the road.

Beside the tree stump, a young man of about eighteen or nineteen years old was shouting at Lin Yifeng and his group from a distance.

"Hey! Stop! Stop!"

Lin Yifeng gently applied the brakes and slowly brought the car to a stop in front of the tree stump.

Xu Qingyi glanced around briefly. There weren't many people around, only four in total, all of whom were young, strong, and had dark skin.

They look like they're here specifically to guard this place.

It's still before the farming season, so this group of people are probably here specifically to block the road.

"Toll fee! Fifty!"

The moment the other person opened their mouth, the three people in the car were startled.

"How many?"

"Fifty?"

"Are you all insanely poor, Shixia Village?!"

Through the car window, George Lam couldn't help but question the people outside.

Upon hearing that the man could call out the name of their village, his brows immediately furrowed.