Chapter 100: Have Fun

Enjoy life to the fullest when you are happy.

Happy times are always short. As the night deepened, the elderly were tired and the children had to go to school tomorrow. The villagers helped to clean up the mess. There is strength in numbers. After the cleanup, the crowd gradually dispersed and the hustle and bustle returned to silence.

Xia Wu wanted to drive Yan Lingling, but she was drunk, so Ji Yunzhou offered to help her.

"You guys take my car, we'll go back on the way."

Yan Lingling was a little embarrassed. "Is it convenient?"

"That's convenient! Teacher Yan, have you finished your meal? Please forgive me if we haven't been able to provide you with good hospitality."

"I'm done eating. Thank you so much. I also want you to take me back."

Xia Wu accompanied Yan Lingling to sit in the back row. Liu Guizhen seemed to want to say something but stopped herself and did not ask her daughter why she wanted to sit there too.

Fortunately, Ji Yunzhou's car was quite spacious, and it was not crowded for six people to sit in it. Xia Zhi, Ma Fangzhou, Xia Wu, and Yan Lingling sat in the passenger seat.

The driver also had a great meal today. Out of professional ethics, he did not drink. The car lights illuminated the mountain road. No one spoke in the car, only Ma Fangzhou was still humming the song sung by Mr. Zhao Sanye.

"Turn here and you will reach Dongkeng Village," Yan Lingling was always paying attention to the country road. The car took her to the school gate. The school was also pitch black. Afraid that she would be scared walking alone at night, Xia Wu offered to take her to the dormitory door.

It was not good to let the two girls walk at night, so Ma Fangzhou and Xia Zhi also came down.

Ji Yunzhou was unable to move around easily and was too lazy to bother, so he could only stay in the car.

Turning on the flashlights on their cell phones, the four of them walked towards the back of the teaching building, one step deep and one step shallow.

Xia Wu said, "The conditions are really tough. You've worked so hard. Do you eat and live in school?"

"Well, it's not so bad. At least the commute is short and I can sleep longer every day." Yan Lingling has learned to find joy in suffering. In fact, if you think about it carefully, she hasn't suffered too much.

Most of the children in the class were good and curious about her as a new teacher. After getting to know her, some of the less fearful children would run to the tin house to see her. Sometimes there would be flowers picked by the children on her windowsill.

Although they had to cook their own meals, the principal was very kind to these new teachers and often brought vegetables from his own garden to the school. Yan Lingling just didn't know how to cook.

Worried that her life would be inconvenient, the principal even lent her the spare small electric car at home so that she could go to town to eat and drink.

In short, the people here all have a fawning attitude towards her, even though they know she will leave sooner or later.

"Teacher Yan has a really good attitude. If it were me, I would have collapsed long ago," Xia Wu said seriously. She really admired the young girl in front of her.

"I admire you. You've returned to your hometown at such a young age to start a business, and you've built such a large business, providing jobs for so many people. It's truly remarkable! You'll definitely become a wealthy female entrepreneur in the future!"

Hahaha, it really does make people happy when they compliment each other!

Xia Wu laughed unceremoniously, "That's great! When I make a lot of money, the first thing I'll do is donate streetlights to your school. It's so dark now."

"Haha, I'll wait. That day will definitely come."

By the time the tin house came into view, the two girls were already chatting very familiarly.

There was a dim incandescent light under the iron house corridor. Yan Lingling stopped and turned back to say to the few people: "Thank you, you can go back quickly. I can walk the rest of the way by myself."

"Okay, then you should go in quickly. It's quite cold at night."

After waving goodbye, Xia Wu watched Yan Lingling take out the key and go into the house before turning around and leaving.

After getting on the bus, Ma Fangzhou was still sighing with emotion: "It's really not easy to see such an old school in this day and age. No wonder Secretary Yang always complains that life here is difficult. It's really difficult."

The wind of compulsory education has blown here a long time ago, but more and more young people choose to work outside. After giving birth to children, some people have to let their children become left-behind children. Some people bring their children with them for their future, or buy houses in the county to receive better education.

There are no job opportunities in rural areas, only poverty with no way out. There are few students, and there may be only a few children in a class. A school cannot even have 50 children in six grades, so there is no need to open the school.

We can only merge the schools.

There are few students and few teachers.

Rural teachers’ salaries are not high, and most of the teachers who teach here are those who live nearby. Even if they have a regular job, the meager salary is not a good career option.

It's like a vicious cycle, and the village is gradually on the verge of destruction.

It was pitch black outside the window, and the mountains were asleep. Xia Wu let his thoughts run wild, thinking from school to the village, and finally his soul flew away.

The car stopped outside the white building, which was brightly lit, and Anna came out to greet them.

Ji Yunzhou asked Xia Zhi and the other two to get out of the car, "You go back and rest first, I'll take Xiao Wu back."

Xia Zhi didn't say anything. After getting out of the car, he held up his hand to block the rear window and said to Xia Wu, "Be careful on the road. If anything happens, contact me immediately."

Xia Wu: “?”

What could happen to her?

He gave Bai Xiazhi a cold look and said, "If you have nothing to say, don't say it."

Xia Zhi smiled and glanced at Ji Yunzhou inadvertently.

"Nothing is best."

"Okay, okay, it's okay, go back to sleep and don't be so nervous."

The car started, and Xia Zhi watched it drive away. Ma Fangzhou pushed him and said, "I didn't realize you were such a sister-con. Why don't you go back to the house?"

Xia Zhi didn't say anything and turned back.

He can only be a good brother.

In the car, Xia Wu leaned forward, hugged the back of the passenger seat with both hands, and covered Ji Yunzhou's eyes: "Are you sleepy?"

"Not yet," Ji Yunzhou gently pulled her hand down, then quickly let go, "Are you sleepy?"

"To be honest, I'm not sleepy at all. So many ideas are popping up in my mind," Xia Wu withdrew one hand, while the other hand was still on Ji Yunzhou's shoulder, with his Buddhist beads wrapped around his wrist.

The original woody scent had faded a lot, and was stained with the cool and crisp fragrance of Xia Wu, as if blending their scents together.

The fragrance lingers at the tip of the nose, making people feel a little intoxicated.

Ji Yunzhou slowed down his breathing and took a deep breath. "What's your idea?"

"I want to make a lot of money, so I can donate it to a school!"

That's a really big idea.

If it were the Xia Wu of the past, she might have been able to do it by buying one less bag and one less piece of jewelry.

But for her now, it takes time.

"Okay, I'll do it."

"..." Xia Wu was speechless. "This is my goal. Don't interfere, otherwise it will be boring."

What she wanted to do was to squeeze out the money-making potential of the mountain. She had been a little lazy in the past few days and had no motivation to work. Unlike before, she didn't want to buy luxury goods. After her material desires decreased, she always felt that having enough money to spend was enough.

Even though Xia Wu has a lot of expenses every day now, the money he earns from selling vegetables and fruits in the mountains is enough to offset them, and he even has some left over.

Now, Xia Wu feels that it is not enough.

Money is indeed a good thing.

"Then what can I do to help you?" Ji Yunzhou asked.

"Just stay with me like this, I just want to find someone to talk to."

Xia Wu patted Ji Yunzhou's shoulder. When they arrived at the door of their home, she saw her father and brother standing at the door, looking forward to her. They waved to her, and after the car stopped, they immediately opened the door and jumped out. "Okay, I'm home. You guys can go back. See you tomorrow, Ji Yunzhou!"

The car door was closed, and Xia Wu waved to him before entering.

Ji Yunzhou waved in response to her.

"Let's go."

Only after the boss gave the order did the driver turn the car around.

The car became quiet and drowsy.

Ji Yunzhou didn't know what he was thinking. After a while, he took out his cell phone and sent a message to his grandfather:

"I promised you."

When Xia Wu got home, she washed up first, took a shower, dried her hair, and ran to her brother's room.

The lights were turned on, and Yang Hongwen's tightly closed eyes slowly opened. "What's wrong?" he asked like a sloth.

"Brother, where's the footage we shot today?"

"On camera."

"Give me the memory. I decided to edit the video overnight and make some extra money!"

Yang Hongwen couldn't understand his sister's sudden enthusiasm. He turned around and covered his head with the quilt.

It feels cute.

Xia Wu took the camera, imported the video into the computer, and started working overtime.

The next morning, Xia Wu yawned non-stop while having breakfast. Liu Guizhen looked distressed and said, "Didn't you sleep well last night? Why don't you take a rest today and let your dad do it."

Xia Wu shook his head. "I have something else to do today. I'll hand the goods over to Xu Li and collect the balance. Oh, and I want to buy a drone for my brother to shoot videos."

"A drone? What does your brother need that for?"

"Shoot a video. The video I shot yesterday was pretty good, but I always feel like it lacks a bit of a macro shot, it's not perfect."

Xia Wu is a bit of a perfectionist. She had checked the price of the drone at night and found it acceptable, so she placed an order.

Now it is a case of acting first and reporting later.

Yang Guojun and Liu Guizhen didn't understand this. "If you want to buy it, just buy it. I don't know if your brother can figure it out."

"Don't worry, my brother is very smart."

Xia Wu finished his breakfast in a few bites and went out to look for Xu Li.

Xu Li also got up very early. He slept at the village secretary's house last night. The environment was better than he expected. He contacted the cold storage truck for transporting fruits and vegetables yesterday, and it should arrive soon. However, he got up early to keep an eye on the picking and packing of apricots.

He is a perfectionist and doesn't like to be fooled.

The two perfectionists hit it off immediately. Xia Wu called his employees, took the picking baskets, drove them up the mountain to pick apricots.

Ma Xueqing didn't come with them. The old man was having breakfast in the village.

The Paw Patrol made a great contribution. Jindou and Heidou had no time to chase the chickens and were pulled to find fruits. Several people were not as good as the puppies in finding big fruits.

The picked apricots must not be exposed to water. After Xu Li determines the size and appearance of each one, he puts them directly into a bamboo box, which is then placed on the cart and secured by his men.

Xia Wu was busy with this all morning. After picking apricots and loquats, he also had to pick fresh vegetables.

Hundreds of kilograms of vegetables were cleaned of yellow and insect-infested leaves and only weighed after the picky Xu Li had checked them.

Old man Ma Xueqing also climbed up the mountain, called Xu Li aside, and said, "Go to the village later and pick up the vegetables I bought."

Xu Li: “?”

"Master, where did you buy the vegetables?"

"It's in the village," Ma Xueqing disagreed.

Xu Li looked at Xia Wu, who was too far away to hear him. "Why don't you buy from her?"

"Hey, buy from her. The vegetables are good, but they are expensive. Besides, this girl sells vegetables according to her mood. She won't even be happy if someone buys all the vegetables. Unlike the villagers," the old man was still cunning. Everyone thought that Ma Xueqing got up early to go to the village to eat for free, but in fact, this old man went to the villagers' vegetable gardens specifically to find a few who grew vegetables well, and negotiated with them to buy vegetables. Later, he would follow Xu Li's transport truck and take as much as he could.

Ma Xueqing's restaurant is not as high-end and refined as Xu Li's. The portions of each dish are not large, and half of the food is wasted if it is eaten half.

He makes affordable dishes in large quantities, and you can make as many as you want. If you buy a lot, Xia Wu won't sell to him, but the villagers will.

He had just checked and found that the vegetables grown by the villagers were very good. They looked good and tasted good, enough for his restaurant.

The cold storage truck that Xu Li called for could carry several thousand kilograms of things. The things Xu Li bought didn't take up much space, so Ma Xueqing got a bargain.

Only then did Xu Li realize something was wrong. Wait, could this be the reason why his uncle brought him here?

Sure enough, old ginger is still spicy.

Business is business, and personal relationships are personal relationships. No matter how good Xia Wu is, Xu Li is afraid that something might happen in the future, so the two of them signed the contract.

Ma Xueqing didn't need to sign a contract. He found several villagers and agreed to buy more from whoever had better vegetables. He let Xu Li's grocery shopping boy choose. No one would go against the money.

The two men left after lunch. They came for a day and a night and created tens of thousands of yuan in GDP for the villagers. The villagers almost needed a drummer to celebrate their departure.

Yang Guofeng smacked his lips and said, "That's great! If there were more people like this in our village, how could life be bad?"

People in the countryside love to grow vegetables. Those who have grown vegetables in the countryside know that they can’t eat them all. There are only a few people in a family. Now is different from the past. There is more hard work and the appetite is bigger.

The leftover vegetables can only be given away, but who doesn't grow vegetables? Throwing them away is a waste, but selling them on the street is very cheap and inconvenient for the elderly.

Now, Chef Zhang and Ma Xueqing, these two old men have almost taken over half of the village’s vegetable gardens.

The villagers were very happy, and once they were happy, they started to reclaim the land again.

The land of those villagers who went out to work was left idle. They were reluctant but had no choice. Other people's land was too busy to be cultivated, so who would have the time to cultivate their land?

As a result, I received calls from the village one after another in recent days.

As soon as the phone rang, it was asking if I was willing to rent out the land at home. It was three to five hundred yuan a year, not much, but at least it wouldn't be left idle.

When asked what they would do with the rented land, they all said to plant crops, whether it was vegetables or crops, anything could be planted. In short, the land could not be left idle.

No one who was asked refused.

Even if rural people are far away from the land that gave birth to them, they still miss it and have feelings for the land that are difficult for ordinary people to understand.

"Plant it, plant it. You don't need to be paid, as long as you don't let the land go to waste."

Therefore, stimulated by the motivation of making money, Yanggou Village became more active, and villagers carrying hoes and working in the fields could be seen everywhere.