The third uncle still went to Qin Family Village.

This road is much easier to travel than it was 60 years ago.

Back in the 1960s, even Wang Shouren would have to walk this road for three or four hours.

Later, the authorities made some plans and paved this road, so that it only takes an hour or so to cycle there.

The old man finished his breakfast early in the morning and set off leisurely.

"The road is pretty easy to walk on," Yan Bugui muttered as he walked.

Soon, they arrived at Qin Family Village, which looked so different that he could hardly recognize it.

These days, village roads are usually dirt roads, but Qin Family Village already has cement roads. Moreover, quite a few trucks are driving out of the village along this route. This shocking scene left Yan Bugui speechless, and he ended up with a mouthful of mud.

After spitting out two mouthfuls of "pui".

Yan Bugui became even more curious about Qin Family Village.

In the past, who would bring their big truck into the village?

Some purchasing agents from supply and marketing cooperatives do go to the countryside to buy things, but they usually use small trucks, park on the main road, and just get out to buy. This Qin Family Village, they even pave their own roads and haul goods out themselves—can they even break even?

Driven by curiosity, I was about to go inside when someone called out to me.

"Hey, hey, old man, stop!" A few young men ran over.

"I knew something was off about you the moment you came in. What were you up to, sneaking around like that?!" the young man shouted angrily. "Are you from the next village? Let me tell you, you think you can steal our chickens? No way!"

Yan Bugui didn't know what kind of chicken was so precious, but he still waved his hands repeatedly: "Misunderstanding, misunderstanding, I'm from the city, here to see Qin Huairu."

Several young men looked him up and down with suspicious eyes: "What do you want with our village chief?"

"What the heck?" Yan Bugui was stunned.

How did he become the village chief?

Qin Huairu hasn't been here long, has she?

“Qin Huairu, that’s our village chief!” One of the young men’s eyes became even more dangerous: “You don’t even know this place?”

After saying that, he was about to come up and do it.

"Hey, hey, hey... slow down, slow down. Of course I know. I used to be the third uncle in her courtyard. If you take me there, she'll definitely recognize me. I'm an old man, I can't do anything to her, can I?"

The young men exchanged glances and thought to themselves, "That makes sense."

"Okay, then you can come with us."

Yan Bugui remained silent. He knew that now was not the time to inquire about information; he had to wait until the person's identity was confirmed before he could ask for any information.

Curious, he looked at the state of Qin Family Village. What he saw shocked him. The entire village consisted of those large red-brick and tile-roofed houses. Good heavens, was this a normal rural village? Weren't rural houses just haphazardly patched together with mud mortar, barely standing? Had Yan Bugui wandered into the wrong place?

Looking at Yan Bugui's astonished expression.

The young man next to him said with a proud look, "How about that? Isn't our village awesome? Our village, since the year before last..."

"Cough, cough..." The young man next to me coughed violently.

"Oh, right, it was last year! Last year I started doing that... farming, yes, farming, I built my own chicken farm."

"A chicken farm?" Yan Bugui's eyes widened. Good heavens, they've gotten into animal husbandry.

As an old man, and a cultured old man, I naturally know what a chicken farm means.

"Yes, because of this chicken farm, everyone in our village received a dividend last year..."

"Cough cough... cough cough..." The young man next to him coughed wildly again.

"Cough cough...not much..."

That smug look confirmed two things for Yan Bugui.

First, this chicken farm is very profitable.

Second, this damn chicken farm was definitely not built last year.

Yan Bugui was shocked by the audacity of these people. The chicken farm was such a large operation; if the higher-ups really came down to investigate, the trouble would be immense.

The village office was similar to the surrounding buildings, also made of red bricks and tiles, with nothing else except for a sign that read "Village Office" hanging at the entrance.

Four young men went inside, calling out as they went, "Aunt Huairu, there's an old man here who says he's looking for you. Do you recognize him?"

Qin Huairu had just started work when she heard someone was looking for her. She paused for a moment, then came out. When she saw Yan Bugui, she asked with delight, "Third Uncle, what brings you here?"

After exchanging pleasantries, Qin Huairu welcomed Yan Bugui into her office.

The place was quite large, and there were a lot of books and documents piled up there.

After the two sat down, Yan Bugui didn't beat around the bush: "Huai Ru, we're old acquaintances, so I won't beat around the bush. Yesterday, Wang Shouren went back to the courtyard to discuss something with the old man. I heard he wanted to ask the old man to come out of retirement. I was thinking that I'm an old man, and I'm bored after retirement, so I thought I'd ask him for something to do. He told me to come find you."

“We’ve known each other for so many years, he wouldn’t be playing a joke on an old man, would he?”

“Hehehe…” Qin Huairu covered her mouth and laughed: “Look at what you’re saying. Shouren usually likes to joke with you, but he doesn’t care about serious matters.”

"That's true. And what about here?"

"Please wait a moment." Qin Huairu said, rummaging through the pile of documents, finding one and handing it to Yan Bugui.

Yan Bugui took it and took a look—good heavens! A purchase order!

"Uncle, as you look, I'll explain it to you."

"Oh, oh, okay." The third uncle listened while watching.

“Since you’re a friend, I won’t hide anything from you. Shouren started planning for Qin Family Village many years ago. At first, he just brought some mountain produce from the mountains to sell, but later he started to grow some off-season vegetables. You know about greenhouses, right?”

"I know... I heard they built one somewhere around 1955." Yan Bugui's information network was quite good.

"Yes, that's it. It's just that we've made some improvements here. Our village has also started selling those things. We've made off-season vegetables and sold them in the city for a good price."

"Well..." The third uncle looked down at the purchase order in his hand, thinking about how he could make more money.

Qin Huairu also had her own plans. Wang Shouren had sent the Third Uncle over, but hadn't told her how to arrange things, so naturally she was left to make her own arrangements.

She knew Uncle San's character well. He seemed to be chatting happily with everyone, but in reality, he was very tight-lipped. Otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to keep her affair with Wang Shouren a secret for so long. Therefore, she wanted to tell Uncle San about the actual scale of their Qin Family Village.