With the arrival of spring, the village bustled with activity. First, they continued to help Liu Ben build the small square, now paved with dry bricks and cement. They also cleaned and moved the various fitness equipment that had been delivered to them to suitable locations that wouldn't detract from their aesthetics. A small ornamental canal had been dug around the edge of the square, and now they needed to erect a fence, topped with beautiful lanterns to alleviate the darkness at night.

The pavilion in the square has been built, and a large area has been left in front of it. There are stone tables, chairs and stone benches next to it, so that many idle elderly people can come here to sit and chat in the evening.

After a lot of effort, the old buildings such as the Liu Family Courtyard and the Land God Temple have finally been repaired. The faded and peeling pillars have been repainted with bright paint, and the broken wooden doors and windows have been replaced with new carved doors and windows made of high-quality wood. The new doors and windows are made of strong material and will last for at least decades without breaking.

Liu Ben built the house for himself very quickly, but it will still take some time to complete. However, the hotel-style apartment with a relatively simple structure has been built and has entered the decoration process. It should be ready in less than half a month to deodorize the house so that the out-of-town employees can move in with their bags.

Some of the jobs Liu Ben recruits are paid monthly, and some are paid daily, because in spring, many villagers will need some time from time to time to plant their own crops. White jade radish is one of them. Next month, they will start planting Wushuang rice. At that time, Liu Zhu and others will have to drive agricultural machinery, and the owners of the fields that need to be sown that day will also need to help, because there are only a few people who can drive agricultural machinery, but there are many people in the village who need to plant. If they just stand there and watch and wait, they may not be able to plant all the fields in the village in a month.

"Be careful!" Liu Ben shouted with his head tilted upwards.

"What?"

At this time, a villager was standing on the top of a tall ladder, carefully holding a pair of large scissors, cutting the big round pine cones from the tree one by one, and then throwing them down. Although he now had safety ropes tied to his body and the ladder, no one wanted to experience the unexpected incident of falling from a height without warning.

Liu Ben shouted even louder: "Be careful!"

The villagers, who were standing high up and could hear clearly, responded, "Okay!"

The villagers responsible for collecting pine cones are paid on a monthly basis. Because the forest is so large, there are ripe pine cones available for collection almost every day. Of course, you can also wait until the pine cones on many trees are ripe before collecting them all at once, but you may not be able to collect them all in one day, and your hands and feet will ache, which is not worth the effort. It is more cost-effective to patrol the forest every day and collect the ripe ones you see.

"Aben, Aben!" Someone came running towards them from a distance, shouting excitedly as he ran, "The memorial archway at the entrance of our village has been erected. The clan leader asked me to bring you to see it!"

"So fast?" Liu Ben was also very excited when he heard the news, and quickly followed the person to the village entrance.

The villagers who were collecting pine nuts had heard before that Liu Ben was going to donate an archway to the village, but it was the New Year and the stonemasons should have been resting, so it was delayed for a while. Unexpectedly, it was already put up today.

The main road at the entrance of the village is not very wide, but it is quite good compared with other villages. After listening to the opinions of the stonemason, Liu Ben chose a large archway with four pillars and three rooms. That is to say, the archway is supported by two pillars on each side, and there are three spaces for people to pass between the pillars. The middle one is large, which is more than enough for two cars to pass side by side. There are also two small rooms on the left and right for people and motorcycles to pass.

Liu Ben walked quickly to the village entrance and looked up to admire the beautiful stone gate tower with groups of villagers.

The four large pillars are carved with delicate cloud patterns, which are very beautiful. The foundations under the pillars are deeply embedded in the lower layer of the soil. The Minglou on the pillars is decorated with hollow carvings on the left and right, and the main ridge of the Minglou is covered with red cloth. On both sides of the red cloth hangs a festive big red flower ribbon, which is eye-catching.

"Aben is here!"

"Aben, come in quickly, everyone is waiting for you!"

The villagers spotted Liu Ben, who was standing outside with them and looking up, and hurriedly pushed him in.

"Xiao Ben, come here quickly!" Wang Fengjing also saw Liu Ben, hurried over, and pulled Liu Ben towards Liu Yibiao in the center of the encirclement.

Liu Yibiao's face was full of wrinkles today, and he looked at Liu Ben and handed him a red rope. "Here, you pull the red cloth later."

After Liu Ben saw what it was, he quickly waved his hands: "No, no, no, Grandpa, you should do it!"

"Why would I bother to talk about the archway you donated? Don't you want to lose my dignity?"

"Grandpa, you are the clan leader, so of course you have to come."

"Come here!"

"Come on!"

"Oh!" Wang Fengjing patted the two of them and said, "Why don't you just come together? Stop wasting time. Everyone is in a hurry!"

At this time, some villagers also started to make noises, "Chief, please start quickly!"

"Yeah yeah!"

…

Liu Yibiao and Liu Ben looked at each other, pulled each other aside, and then looked at the villagers.

Liu Yibiao made a gesture, and the noisy villagers all quieted down tacitly.

"Our Liu family has been developing here for over two hundred years, with generations of people thriving and flourishing. The descendants of the Liu family are all hardworking and honest...

"A member of our clan, Liu Ben, has returned to support the development of our village. First, over the past six months, he opened several factories, providing numerous jobs for our villagers. Later, he built numerous scenic spots and recreational and fitness facilities in the village, improving the villagers' living environment. Now, the village archway, fully donated by Liu Ben himself, has been completed..."

Liu Yibiao spoke a few words of reminiscence, and finally looked around at all the villagers present and said seriously: "In addition, from now on, Liu Ben will continue to support all villagers in the village to grow better Wushuang rice. Here, all villagers, whether they become rich or poor in the future, I hope that you can remember the teachings of your ancestors, stay true to your original aspirations, work hard, and strive to build a better village!"

The villagers were moved by the words of the patriarch and applauded.

"Chief, we will not change!"

"Chief, we will definitely work hard and will never be lazy just because we have money!"

"Don't worry, Patriarch. I will definitely take care of the younger generation of our family."

"If those brats slack off, I'll beat their butts!"

The villagers all loudly supported the patriarch's words.

Amid the villagers' firm words, Liu Ben and Liu Yibiao slowly pulled down the red cloth that was covering the area.

The village name was revealed in large letters in the middle of the archway.

"Liu", "Wu", "Village"

It turns out that the village is called Liuwu Village, Liu Ben thought, it’s ordinary and quite common.

At that time, Liu Ben went to communicate with the stonemason about what kind of material he wanted, the style of the archway, the complexity of the carving, etc., and then the specific content of the carving was communicated by Liu Yibiao. Liu Ben himself didn't know that the name of the village was Liuwu Village, and thought it was called Liujia Village.

Of course, there is no essential difference between the two.

Hey wait!

Liu Ben took a closer look and found something wrong. There were two small characters carved in the lower middle of the three characters "Liu", "Wu" and "Cun". One was "Ah" and the other was "Li".

So put together it means - Liuahulili Village.

Liu Ben: ...The local flavor came up all of a sudden.

Such a majestic and magnificent archway looks solemn even in the ancient city, and then it is carved with the words "Liu Ahwuli Village".

So weird.

Although the two words are small, they are painted in red. People who don’t think of them as one will not notice them at a glance, but if you read carefully, they are still very obvious.

Liu Ben turned to look at Brother Cheng Zi, who was looking up at the crowd nearby, and asked him uncertainly, "What's the name of our village...?"

"Liu Ah Wuli Village, what? Is that right?" Liu Cheng's face was beaming with excitement. When he heard Liu Ben's question, he looked at him puzzledly: "A Ben, you have been in the village for so long, and you still don't know the full name of the village?"

Liu Ben: ...He really doesn’t know.

Liu Ben scratched his head and saw that many people were taking pictures with their mobile phones and sending them to relatives and friends who had not come to see it. He also took out his mobile phone and took a few pictures from multiple angles and sent them to the Youyinghe village group.

Liu Ben: "I just learned today what our village is called. [Image]"

You Ying: "...Really, quite unique."

You Ying also felt that, at first glance, this solemn archway and this casual name did not match.

Liu Ben looked up and read it again. Well, it was still a bit strange, but it was quite smooth to read in the local dialect.

In the next few days, Liu Ben often passed by here. He looked at it every day and found it more and more pleasing to the eye. Moreover, the name carved at the entrance of the village might seem strange at first, but after looking at it for a long time, it turned out to be quite characteristic of the village.

One day after dinner, Liu Yibiao stopped Liu Ben and asked him, "How many contracts have you signed recently to grow Wushuang rice?"

"Let me see. There are hundreds of them this month alone, and there should be many more who are thinking about it." Liu Ben took out a notebook. It was a new notebook he started using before the New Year, and now it has recorded a lot of things, including the household heads who signed the contract and the number of acres to be planted.

"I see that we'll be starting to plant seedlings in a few days. Those who haven't signed by then may be late. Please notify them and tell them to sign as soon as possible." Liu Yibiao looked at the calendar, pondered for a moment, and then asked Liu Ben, "With so many families, will they be able to eat all the rice they grow?"

"No problem, it will definitely be solved, don't worry," Liu Ben patted his chest and promised: "When the time comes, we will make them all into agricultural and sideline products, such as rice milk, porridge, self-heating rice, etc., and we can sell them at a higher price, hahaha!" Liu Ben laughed heartily.

"Hey, did you learn this from You Ying? You're getting better and better!" Liu Yibiao tapped Liu Ben's forehead.

Liu Ben scratched his head embarrassedly. This was indeed the suggestion given to him by You Ying. Liu Ben was not really indifferent. Even if he did not care, the system had reminded him that a lot of Wushuang rice would be collected from the villagers this year. Liu Ben was also a little worried.

Liu Ben was worried, so he naturally told You Ying a little about it.

You Ying suggested to him the idea of ​​making by-products and selling them in the online store.

You Ying: "You Guoguo, I've tried that kind of instant rice milk at a store before. It uses regular rice, ground into powder, and only has half a cup. But after brewing, it seems like a lot. There's a lot of sugar in it, plus a few grains of oatmeal and so much fruit you can count on one hand. Guess how much a cup costs?"

Liu Ben had never bought one, so of course he didn't know. He could only guess: "1 yuan?"

You Ying: "15 yuan."

Liu Ben:!

You Ying: "Actually, if you buy it online, a tube of powder only costs 1 to 2 yuan, but in a milk tea shop, they think it's a good deal when they can brew a cup ready-made."

Liu Ben: "Master, I understand."

You Ying laughed and said, "What did you realize? I think you have good ability in developing food products, and your products are good, so you can definitely solve it."

Liu Ben: [Niuniu likes this.jpg]

Liu Ben added up all the contract figures and calculated the potential amount of Wushuang rice he would receive. It was indeed a massive number, with nowhere to store it. But Liu Yibiao assured him not to worry about storage, as Liuwu Village had many unused granaries. Although they hadn't been used for a long time, they were definitely sturdy and safe.

In the following time, Liu Ben farmed in the space while thinking about what products to develop. Although the Wushuang rice in the village has not been planted yet, there are only two months from planting to harvesting, which is too tight.

When it came time to distribute the seeds, Liu Ben already had a rough plan. He took out large bags of unhulled Wushuang rice, gathered all the villagers who had signed the contract, and began distributing the seeds.

"Eh..." After Liu Quanyou received his share, he looked at other families who came to receive grain seeds in a lively manner and couldn't help but let out a long sigh.

When Liu Yibiao saw this, he asked him, "Why are you sighing over such a good thing?"

"I was just thinking about my second son. He didn't come back for the Chinese New Year. I sent him rice, but he didn't respond. I don't know if he wants to plant it!" Liu Quanyou complained.

"Humph, I don't think he would look down on us who just dig for food in the dirt."

Liu Yibiao obviously dislikes Liu Quanyou's second son, Liu Liye. He lives not far from the village, but he made excuses for not coming back for the New Year, saying he went to his wife's house to celebrate the New Year. The last time he heard Liu Xiangsi and Liu Anjia chatting, it seemed that they didn't even give Liu Quanyou any pension money. Liu Quanyou actually spoke well of his second son, saying that he had no money. How could he have no money! Liu Quanyou has several children, but his second son, Liu Liye, is the richest. Moreover, his sister just got divorced, but he doesn't care at all!

"That's not the case, Chief." Liu Quanyou spoke up for Liu Liye again: "He's just busy, he might not have time..."

"What are you so busy with? You don't even have time to go home for the New Year..." Liu Yibiao muttered a few times, and seeing Liu Quanyou's sad face, he softened his heart. The child was unfilial, and the one who suffered was Liu Quanyou, the old father. Continuing to talk would only make him sad.

"Anyway, there's still season two even if you didn't get to watch the first season. Don't worry about it." Liu Yibiao patted Liu Quanyou's shoulder and went to help Liu Ben.

"Dad, do you have anything else to ask the clan leader?" Liu Xiangsi drove a tricycle to pick up her father.

Liu Quanyou shook his head: "No more, let's go home." Liu Xiangsi got out of the car, helped Liu Quanyou move the grain seeds into the car, and then they got in the car together and went home.

The first comprehensive sowing of Wushuang rice in the village was launched vigorously, and all the participating villagers were full of anticipation and fighting spirit.

Although the village bought new rice transplanters, tillage machines and harvesters, there are only about 10 of them in total, while the total land in the village is tens of thousands of acres. Obviously, relying on machines alone is not enough, so Liu Yibiao also informed everyone that the young men operating several agricultural machines will divide their respective work areas, counting by household registration. Each household will first use the machine to cultivate 10 acres of land, and then take turns. At the end of one round, after each family has cultivated 10 acres, they will start counting again, and they will help in this cycle.

The seeds have just been distributed and the seedlings have not yet been raised. This is a good opportunity for young people to drive tillage machines out to try out this plan, and they can also make additions and modifications at any time.

So from that day on, every day, the village was filled with the "clang clang clang" sounds of renovations on one side and the "thump thump thump" sounds of tillers running on the other side. It was never quiet all day long.

Of course, this only happens during the day and does not affect anyone's rest. After all, everyone in the village who can move is busy working at this time.

The busy spring season means that people can be busy while enjoying the vitality of spring.

Liu Ben felt no pressure. Like the other young men in the village assigned to specific areas, he drove the tiller slowly through the fields. After a winter, the soil seemed to be teeming with life. Wherever the tiller went, the earth was turned upside down, splashing mud and water everywhere. But the birds seemed unfazed. Flocks of them flew into the fields, following the roar of the tiller and pecking in the mud at the insects and loaches that hadn't escaped.

Liu Ben was sitting on the tiller, and only at this time was he surprised to find that there were so many birds in Liuwu Village.

There were nearly a thousand birds following closely behind his tiller alone, including egrets with long and thin legs, black cowbirds and crows, and of course the most numerous were the small, round sparrows that loved to chirp. Occasionally, Liu Ben could find a large, colorful pheasant or a small kingfisher with a touch of blue on its back in the flock. There were many different species.

It was really nice to listen to the various melodious bird calls and watch the fluffy little birds fighting for food in the fields. Liu Ben felt that such a leisurely life was really good.

"Well... when we are drying the grain, it may be easy to be harmed by these birds." Liu Ben said to himself.

It seems that modern farmers who have machines to use will not have an easy life.

After finally finishing plowing all the village's fields, it was time to plant rice. Just like plowing, each household took turns using a machine, but transplanters were slower than plowing machines, so each household took turns using 5 mu (approximately 1.5 acres). Therefore, the work couldn't be solely reliant on a few transplanters. Every household had to leave their homes, roll up their trousers, carry trays of seedlings, and step into the icy water to plant the rice themselves.

"The water is really cold." said Liu Shuanghu.

Although Liu Yibiao is the clan leader, he has always been fair. Even he himself has been properly assigned to the area responsible for each rice transplanter and has to queue up to use the rice transplanter. So at this time, like other villagers, he has to go to the fields when there is no rice transplanter.

Liu Yibiao came over with a large stack of seedling trays and scolded, "What are you talking about? It's already May and it's getting hot."

"Haha." Liu Ben drove the rice transplanter over and said, "Grandpa, please bring some seedling trays over to me."

"Have you finished other businesses?" Liu Yibiao asked as they walked.

"The families ahead of us have already taken their turns," Liu Ben said, stopping in the field to help Liu Yibiao load the rice seedling trays into the transplanter. "I think it's still a struggle for many families to plant 40 mu at a time."

"If you ask me, it's quite difficult. They probably think that with a rice transplanter, they can plant the rice automatically in a snap, and when it's time to harvest, they can harvest it all in a snap. The best thing is that the rice can dry itself after harvesting without the need for people to turn it over! Hahaha!" Liu Shuanghu laughed while transplanting rice seedlings.

"How can it be that good!" Liu Yibiao watched Liu Ben driving the rice transplanter in the field. Four straight rows of seedlings appeared neatly behind the transplanter. He was very satisfied and felt that the rice transplanter was a good deal.

"Anyway, they have tasted the bitterness this season, so they will give up next season." Liu Ben also laughed.

Although transplanting rice seedlings does not require much effort, if you do it manually, you first have to wade through knee-deep slippery mud and water to walk all over the fields. Then you have to bend down every time you transplant rice seedlings. Finally, you cannot carry all the seedling trays away at once. You can only let them float in the water one by one. After use, you have to pick them up and get new seedling trays. This process is time-consuming and laborious. At the end of the day, all the villagers are exhausted.

Many villagers discussed with their families the first day they returned: next season, they should be less greedy and plant less, or even not at all. While making a lot of money is great, exhausting yourself physically is not worth the effort. Fortunately, there was a six-month transition between Liu Ben's proposal to have the villagers help grow the Wushuang rice and the official start of planting. This gave the villagers ample time to gather their younger generations who had migrated to work, thus reducing the pressure on their families to farm.

It took the whole village more than ten days to plant rice seedlings. After that, everyone was exhausted. They rested at home for several days, and their hands were still shaking. Thinking about the rush to harvest, plant and dry the rice, many villagers became discouraged and found Liu Ben and said that they would only plant one season this year and not the next.

Liu Ben didn't mind. Anyway, he would have as much rice as possible when the time came, and he had already started saving money.

"I haven't been this tired in a long time... Ouch!" Liu Shuanghu was lying on the bed. He Mei put a yellow dog-skin plaster on him and then slapped him, causing Liu Shuanghu's face to change color.

"Ah, it's so convenient." He Mei was embarrassed. She often went to Liu Ben's online store to do temporary jobs such as pasting express delivery orders, so she took the photo subconsciously.

"Ah..." Liu Shuanghu collapsed powerlessly, and it seemed as if a soul floated out of his half-open mouth.

Liu Yibiao glanced at him contemptuously: "I don't know what kind of work you have been doing these years. You have grown so useless that you can't even farm the land. You are useless."

Liu Shuanghu: ...

Liu Shuanghu turned his head away and pretended not to hear. He always drove a truck when he went out, not to move bricks. Besides, the working hours for moving bricks at the construction site were not so long.

Liu Ben was not tired at all. He sat on the rice transplanter all day long. Apart from the fact that his butt was a little numb from the constant shaking, there was nothing else to do.

At this time, Wang Caiqing prepared dinner, which was more than twice as much as usual. However, the exhausted Liu family ate it all, obviously because they were hungry.

Liu Ben sent a message to You Ying: "After riding on a tiller for a few days and then a rice transplanter for a few days, my butt is swollen."

You Ying: "Really? I won't believe it unless I see it with my own eyes."

Liu Ben: [Niu Niu hooks his finger.jpg]

After a few months, Liu Ben's staff apartments have been completely built. Ding Xue and several other employees from other places happily moved in with their luggage. The apartments have one bedroom, one living room, one kitchen and one bathroom. They are not very big, but they have everything they need. The employees are very satisfied and say that coming to work in this village was a good decision.

Even if you can't cook, it doesn't matter. Liu Xiangsi's brother, Liu Anjia, rented a simple house near the village center and opened a small restaurant with his wife. They didn't have the fancy hotel dishes, but they could make home-cooked meals. If they wanted something nice, they could buy groceries from Liu Ben's warehouse at an 80% discount on employee prices and bring them to Liu Anjia's wife, who only charged a processing fee. It was cheap and comfortable.

Liu Ben's own house has also been completed. It looks quite decent from the outside, but the interior hasn't been finished yet, but it will be soon. Liu Ben built the most popular country villa in the village, but the exterior design is quite distinctive. It looks like it blends in with the environment and must be very comfortable to live in.

There is also a large yard in front of the house, planted with osmanthus pine and some nice crops. Well, in short, it should be both delicious and beautiful.

Well, once the decoration is completed, I can invite You Ying to live with us.