Chapter 366 Inauguration Ceremony

On November 5, 2006, the newly built "Thousand Acres of Persimmon Garden" scenic area in Xiaowan Village was completed.

The whole village was bustling with activity.

A new expressway has been built from the county town to the village, and it only takes 10 minutes to travel there and back via the overpass.

Early in the morning, tour groups arrived one after another, and the newly built parking lot at the entrance of the village was full of buses.

Uncle Liu works as a parking lot security guard, ensuring the safety of vehicles coming in and out.

Entering the village, all the houses along the main road have their walls painted a uniform sky blue, decorated with murals depicting blue skies and white clouds. The once-cluttered entrances have been spruced up, with gardens and plants planted. Even the sewers, always smelly and infested with flies, have been covered and equipped with odor-control systems.

With this unification, the whole village instantly took on the feel of a fairy-tale town in a comic book.

Further in, the roads along the way have been renovated, and the idle land on both sides of the road have been developed into characteristic blocks, including Food Street, Entertainment Street, Hanfu Street and Specialty Street.

These four streets are arranged in the shape of a Chinese character "U", enclosing large venues such as a thousand-acre persimmon orchard, a children's playground, and a performance theater.

Visitors can visit all the attractions by following the route in a circle without having to go back, which saves time and provides the best experience.

Of course, the most important thing is that the tourists’ spending here can directly bring benefits to the villagers and increase the village’s GDP.

In order to successfully participate in the selection, I heard that the mayor will personally visit Xiaowan Village to unveil the scenic spot at today's opening ceremony.

Tian Xin was waiting in the newly built village committee office in the scenic area early in the morning, responsible for receiving the mayor and others.

At 9 o'clock, the leaders had not arrived yet, and the office received a call from the scenic area reception desk saying that a group of reporters had arrived.

"Didn't you say you've already informed the county that you won't be entertaining reporters today? Why are there reporters coming?" Tian Fushun asked.

In addition to the Xiaowan Village team, the office today also includes the village party secretaries, village directors and other people from several neighboring villages.

Tian Xin didn't know why there were reporters, but with so many people around, she couldn't answer, afraid of saying the wrong thing, so she simply said hello to Tian Fushun and said, "I'll go out and take a look!"

The scenic area reception desk was not far from the entrance. As soon as she left, she saw Li Jing leading her assistant in from a distance, followed by Gao Wen, who was seven months pregnant, and Gao Cheng, who was carefully caressing her.

She smiled, shook her head, and went to meet him.

"I heard the reporters were coming, and I was just about to write a speech. How could it be you?"

"What? Not welcome?" Li Jing gestured to the assistant to hand over the gift in her hand and said with a smile.

She took it, handed it to a staff member nearby, and arranged for them to be placed in the reception room before saying, "How could I not welcome you? Didn't expect you to arrive so soon? I was planning to come find you as soon as this was over?"

"Gao Cheng, I have to say something to you. It's already been seven months, and you still dare to take her so far. You're really brave!"

Gao Wen's belly is already noticeable, but because she is tall, she doesn't look bulky or fat.

Hearing Tian Xin "complaining" about Gao Cheng, she came over, holding her waist, patted her shoulder, and said with a smile: "It's not that exaggerated. I really can't stay at home anymore. Let him take me out!"

"That's right, don't blame me!" Gao Cheng also handed over the gift in his hand, pretending to glance at his wife's face and said, "You don't know, she has talked to me about it several times in the past few months. She said she wanted to come to your place to be a permanent tour guide. You are so unfair that you didn't invite her, causing me to be scolded at home all day long..."

Gao Cheng has always been a straightforward person, and he has been like this since Tian Xin met him.

But this was obviously an exaggeration. When the two sisters heard it, they all fired back at him: "Shut up!"

Li Jing was watching the fun from the side and couldn't help but cover her mouth and laugh.

After a while of joking, they got back to the serious topic.

Gao Wen: "Honestly, after I give birth, you must save a place for me here. We sisters working together, it makes me happy just thinking about it!"

Tian Xin looked at Gao Cheng and teased, "Are you willing to let your wife come to our little place and suffer?"

"It's okay. With you here, I'm sure you'll take good care of her!" Gao Cheng said, "If all else fails, there's still Lin Zhou. As a boss, he certainly wouldn't mistreat his employees!"

Tian Xin smiled but didn't respond.

After the county issued its investment promotion notice, many businesses, seeing the government funding, scrambled for projects. But a month later, all the other projects had been taken, except for the most sought-after "performing arts" project. Not only was it unpopular, but it was also like a hot potato, unable to be sold. The county repeatedly asked her to come up with innovative ways to attract investors.

But when those people heard that only one of the five performances was going to be a hit and the others were free, they all shook their heads and said goodbye. Before leaving, they even laughed at her and said that she was crazy, saying that business didn't work that way.

But little did they understand that this one hit show was enough to revitalize the entire scenic area's economy. Ten years later, who wouldn't know the allure of "The Song of Everlasting Regret"?

Just when she was at a loss, someone from the county came to inform her one day that someone had taken up the project and invested 1 million yuan.

She thought she had finally met a soulmate like Boya and Ziqi, and was delighted for a while. However, she never expected that two months later, when the construction was completed, she would see Lin Zhou's name on the list of receipts sent to all the merchants.

"Hey, my best friend came here because she came to me, it has nothing to do with anyone else!" she said with a smile.

Before Gao Cheng could reply, Li Jing laughed first: "How heartless! It's irrelevant? One million, big sister! Is your heart made of stone?"

"That's right," Gao Cheng said. "I heard my buddy has been scheming all sorts of people for this project. The money alone is almost enough to cover the investment. I'm afraid he's even lost his wife's money after all this back and forth! It's really not worth it!"

"What are you talking about?" Gao Wen heard him talking nonsense again and hit him on the back of the head. "What do you mean by not worth it? What's the point of having a wife? He earns money and doesn't spend it on his wife. Does that mean he's giving it away for free to others?"

"Don't you think so, Li Jing?"

Oh my goodness! It has to be Gao Wen! She's not called the best friend for nothing.

Li Jing was shocked and said, "Who says it's not true? I guess someone else thinks the same thing! Otherwise, with his stingy style—he won't spend a penny, how could he be willing to spend such a huge sum of money?"

After standing and talking for a long time, Gao Wen felt a little tired and said she wanted to go inside for a walk.

Tian Xin took a few people for a walk along the block.

While Gao Wen and Gao Cheng were walking away, Li Jing approached Tian Xin and asked her, "Hey, tell me the truth, are you serious this time? Do you really want to break up with him?"

"It's been so long, why are you still asking? Didn't we break up a long time ago?"

"Don't you want to consider getting back together?"

"Why do you want to get back together?"

"Why? Isn't it obvious? He's so sincere? Can't you feel it?"

"What sincerity?"

"The sincerity of loving you? One million!" Li Jing once again emphasized the one million: "You don't know yet, he has already made a clear break with his father.

I heard that in order to no longer be controlled by his father, he bought back all the shares left in his father's group company. I wonder how much these shares, plus the assets of his own company, mean he has?

But he already contributed 600,000 yuan to our previous website project, and his father nearly bankrupted him during that time. I guess he must have used those shares to come up with this one million yuan in one lump sum, otherwise he definitely wouldn't have been able to raise so much money in such a short time!"

"Then he is really willing to do it!" said Tian Xin.

"So, aren't you touched? A man is willing to do this for you..."

"Hey, don't say that. I'm not that capable." Tian Xin interrupted her and said, "If your purpose for coming here today is not pure, then we have nothing to talk about!"

Li Jing looked a little embarrassed, feeling guilty that her thoughts had been seen through: "No, I was just kidding!"

Tian Xin knew whether he was joking or not. Li Jing was never pretentious in front of her and always said what she thought.

She wasn't surprised and said frankly: "Actually, it's nothing! We should live our own lives after breaking up. Even if we meet again, we'll still be friends! However, if you insist that he chose to make this investment because of me, then you're underestimating him a bit!

Honestly, although this project is not currently favored, I bet that in a year, the money he invested will be the fastest to be recovered.

Not only that, the villagers' shops and stores will also profit from his project. This will only benefit him both publicly and privately. His willingness to invest shows he's carefully considered the matter. He's no child; he must be well-informed about the pros and cons of this investment.

So, rather than saying that he did it because of me, it’s better to say that he has a good vision and saw the prospects of this matter that none of you could see!"

Tian Xin smiled, her face calm and composed, as if she was talking about an old friend instead of an ex-boyfriend, without a trace of embarrassment at all.

"So...what about that person?" Li Jing asked again, "Has that person bothered you again recently?"