Chapter 28 The mountaintop begins to be renovated!

People who grew up in the village feel the changes brought about by the changing times most deeply.

I watched as neighbors and friends who grew up and lived with me left their hometowns for a living, leaving their elderly and children at home, working humbly outside to earn a few taels of silver, and returning home looking very haggard.

If you can develop in your hometown, who would be willing to leave your own home and build someone else's home?

Yang Guofeng is not the old-fashioned person who doesn't pay attention to current affairs. He watches the news every day, watches short videos, and subscribes to newspapers without missing a single issue.

He saw news online that some villages introduced college student village officials to drive local entrepreneurship, and the whole village made money together. For this reason, he also went to the town government to give feedback, hoping to introduce college student talents to give Yanggou Village a new life.

There are many college graduates every year, but few of them are willing to waste their youth to make a difference in a village they are not familiar with.

When other villages introduce college student village officials, they are college students who have passed the exams in their own villages.

There are nearly a hundred households in Yanggou Village, but less than ten of its students have been admitted to universities.

Originally, Yang Guofeng hoped that Yang Wei would go to college so that she could use her intelligence and talents as a college student to come up with ideas for the village.

It turns out that Yang Wei is not Yang Guojun's biological daughter, and it is still unknown whether she will return to her rural hometown.

After Yang Wei left, Xia Wu came. I heard that she had studied abroad. What's more, Xia Wu came to ask about Baoshan, which made Yang Guofeng feel very hopeful.

"It's good to lease a mountain. You are a villager, not an outsider. We lease a mountain, not just one acre. Last time you asked me, I told you it would be 100,000 yuan for ten years. Later, I went to other villages to ask, and there were cheaper ones. However, their mountain is not big, unlike Yantou Mountain, which has at least 800 acres. If you really want to lease a mountain, I will discuss it with the villagers and see if I can give you a cheaper price."

Yang Guofeng spoke a lot in a rambling manner, then took out his phone to show Xia Wu the chat history. "This is the village chief from the next village. I told you before that there's a young man in their village who rents a hill to grow mushrooms. His hill is small, and he's also planted dozens of acres of oranges. I think he'll be able to sell them by next year."

"The town government is actually very supportive of young people like you who want to lease a mountain. Many policies have been relaxed. As long as you maintain the required green area, they will turn a blind eye to other matters and let you do whatever you want."

Xia Wu asked curiously, "For example?"

"Look at this contract," Yang Guofeng took out two contracts from the drawer like magic and handed them to Xia Wu and Qi Miaomiao.

The contract reads "Rural Mountain Land Contracting Agreement", which is to be filled out by Party A and Party B. The following is an introduction to the basic situation of Yantou Mountain.

In what province and city is Yantou Mountain located? Specifically for the village, there is also a forest map. The land area is 765 acres, and the permitted development purposes are limited to ecological planting, forest breeding, and fruit forest development.

The boundaries are also clearly marked. Of course, if the contract is to be signed, Xia Wu will need to go to Yantou Mountain in person to verify it.

The contract clearly states the contract period, payment method, and the responsibilities and obligations of both parties.

It can be seen that Yang Guofeng really cares about this matter.

Xia Wu looked at the development plans for the mountain and asked, "Secretary, can I build a house on the mountain when the time comes?"

"It depends on what kind of house you want to build. These mountainous lands belong to the collective. You can only lease them for 60 years at most. If you don't renew the lease after that, the buildings on the mountain will still need to be cleared. The government is very strict now, and self-built houses are considered homesteads. But you can build some management rooms and some small houses according to the needs of breeding. These are all easy to negotiate and I understand."

Yang Guofeng gave Xia Wu a lot of convenience. Xia Wu understood and admired the village party secretary's responsibility.

"Okay, Secretary, please tell me what materials are needed for the mountain. I will prepare them as soon as possible."

"Oh!" Yang Guofeng was so happy that he almost jumped up, but he was not a conscienceless person. He still had to ask some questions clearly, to prevent Xia Wu from being accused of cheating young people when his contract with the mountain fails. "Xiao Wu, I am not an outsider. Tell me what you plan to do after you contract the mountain. As long as I can help, I will definitely help."

Xia Wu did not hide it and directly stated his initial plan: first, to raise chickens; second, to plant vegetables and fruit trees; and third, to shoot videos.

If she manages to develop both breeding and planting by then, she can promote the farm's brand through online sales and won't have to worry about making money.

After listening to you, Yang Guofeng praised you non-stop, "You young people are the hope of the country. You're smarter than us old guys. Online shopping is great, it's convenient, and you can easily sell your good stuff. Shooting videos is also great, since you're young and have a good image, so you don't have to worry about no one watching your videos. Okay, I think once your mountain develops well, maybe our village will improve as well!"

"Secretary, I also hope that the village will get better day by day. Where there are people, there will be creativity and consumption power."

"That's a really good point. Take big cities, for example. Why are they so well-built? Isn't it because there are so many people? We migrant workers come to the cities, build bridges and roads, construct buildings, and clean the streets. Only when they're well-built can they attract more people. It's a positive cycle."

It was rare for Yang Guofeng to meet such an opportunistic young man, and he treated Xia Wu like a treasure. While chatting, he took out the key from the drawer and said, "Come on, if you two are free now, I will take you to Yantou Mountain to walk around and familiarize yourself with the situation."

Xia Wu agreed.

Yang Guofeng was driving a tricycle with two people. When he passed by Xia Wu's house, he happened to meet Yang Guojun who was returning to the house to drink water. They stopped to chat and found out that Xia Wu wanted to lease the mountain.

Yang Guojun stopped farming and rode his bike to follow them.

Yantou Mountain is adjacent to Mu Mountain, right at the foot of Mu Mountain. It has an altitude of only a few hundred meters and the overall slope is gentle, making it very convenient to go up and down the mountain.

Someone had previously rented Yantou Mountain and built a cement road leading up the mountain. Although there were weeds growing on both sides of the road, it did not affect their ability to ride their bikes uphill.

"Although our area is remote, the climate is suitable, and we can grow any kind of fruit year-round. It's just a bit remote, so the big fruit dealers don't want to come in and buy such a small amount of fruit, and the small ones are trying to lower the price. In the end, Wang Meng was so angry that he picked the fruit himself and drove out to sell it. But the fruit ripened and rotted faster than he could sell it. After only two years, he almost lost all his money, so he had no choice but to take his family out to work to pay back the debt."

After parking the car on a flat place, Yang Guofeng and his companions got out and introduced the situation on the mountain to Xia Wu and his companions.

The previous owner of the hilltop was named Wang Meng, a live-in son-in-law from Yanggou Village. He had leased the hilltop for ten years, and in the first few years, he had devoted himself to planting fruit trees: peaches, jujubes, grapes, and loquats. He planted quite a variety of trees, and his initial vision was that once the fruit ripened, he could sell it from spring to winter, earning money year-round.

The family worked hard for several years and finally the fruit trees grew, blossomed and bore fruit. Now they could see the branches full of fruits, but they were faced with the dilemma of not being able to sell them.

For this reason, Wang Meng went to Yang Guofeng and then to the town government, but unfortunately no one had any good solution.

At that time, online shopping was not as developed as it is now, and the roads in the village had not been repaired. Fruit merchants from outside were unwilling to come because the profits were too small, so Wang Meng took out a loan to buy a car and went out to sell the fruits himself.

In the end, he lost everything.

With Wang Meng's lesson in mind, no one in the village dared to contract the mountains anymore. They all went out to work honestly, at least they would not lose money.

After Wang Meng no longer leased the mountain, no one wanted to pick the fruit trees on it. At first, some women and children in the village would go to the mountain to pick fruit, but later the grass on the mountain became denser and denser, some people were bitten by snakes several times, and no one took care of the fruit trees. The fruits were not satisfactory, and gradually no one came to pick the fruits.

When Xia Wu arrived at the orchard, he saw that it was just as Yang Guofeng had said. No one had trimmed the grape racks, the vines had all grown into the soil, the trunks had no nutrients, the fruits were sparse, and the grapes that fell on the ground looked small and shriveled.

The jujube tree is growing well. After all, it is a hardy plant and can grow lush and leafy without any care.

However, dates are not valuable, so Wang Meng did not plant too many.

Loquat trees bloom in autumn and winter every year, and the fruits ripen in spring and summer of the following year. In Donghua Town, there are not many families that grow loquat trees.

At the beginning, Wang Meng probably thought that rare things are valuable, so he planted a lot of loquats on the mountain. However, hundreds of loquat trees lacked care, and not only did they grow in a mess, but their leaves were also bitten by insects.

"Secretary, if I own the mountain, will all the fruit trees on it be mine?"

Xia Wu's question hit the nail on the head. Yang Guofeng said with some embarrassment, "When Wang Meng went out to work, he asked me to help him find someone who wanted to buy the fruit trees and sell them at a low price. But not many people wanted to buy, so the trees have been lying there ever since. If you want to keep these fruit trees, I can ask Wang Meng if he can sell them to you at a low price."

"It's not that I'm helping Wang Meng take advantage of you, but if you want to do business, you must take precautions in advance. If he says no, you can keep it for yourself and wait until you have achieved results on your own. If he gets jealous again and insists on arguing with you, it will be very frustrating. It's better to ask, what do you think?"

"I understand. I want all these fruit trees. Could you please ask me how much I need to pay if I really want to sell them to you? It would be best if we could sign a contract."

"I'll ask you now."

Yang Guofeng acted quickly and immediately took out his address book, found Wang Meng's contact information, and called him.

As the village party secretary, he has the contact information of all the villagers. Whenever there are policies from above or when insurance needs to be paid, he has to notify every household.

After a while, the call was connected.

Yang Guojun was still looking at the fruit trees, muttering to himself, "These trees have been growing for two thousand years. It would cost a lot of money to buy them outside. There are ready-made ones. I can just prune them and wait for them to grow more next year. They will look beautiful."

Xia Wu had the same idea. She didn't have much money, so she had to make sure that every penny was spent wisely.

Yantou Mountain is neither big nor small, and it is definitely enough for her to develop in a short period of time. She can't develop the entire mountain at once.

Xia Wu doesn't want to become a fool from exhaustion.

"Xiao Wu, I asked for your help. Wang Meng said that even if he kept the fruit trees on the mountain, he wouldn't need them. If you want them, for three thousand yuan, all the trees are yours. What do you think?"

Three thousand yuan is totally worth it. These hundreds of loquat trees are at least ten years old. If we take care of them this year, we may be able to harvest fruits next year.

Xia Wu agreed immediately: "Okay, then let's sign the contract?"

"I signed on behalf of Wang Meng. He's out of town and can't come back. With me as a witness, I guarantee there will be no worries later."

After a few people walked around Yantou Mountain, Xia Wu felt more confident about the development of the mountain, so he went down the mountain and prepared to contract the mountain.

Yang Guofeng still had to go door to door to notify everyone. The exact price for a ten-year contract was not yet certain, but he could guarantee that it would never exceed 100,000 yuan, so as to make Xia Wu pay as little as possible.

On that day, Yang Guofeng ran around the village. Some people went out, but some stayed in the village. Yang Guofeng told them that Yang Guojun's daughter wanted to lease a piece of land, and each household would get money according to the number of people. When it was said that there was money to be shared, almost everyone was willing to do so, and asked when they could see the money.

It has been more than a month since Xia Wu returned to the village, and she has not yet visited all the places in Yanggou Village. Some people in the village know her, while others don't. However, from today on, everyone in the village has heard of her name.

I heard that she grew up in the city and studied abroad. She is capable and wants to return to the village to start a business. This is a great thing for Yanggou Village.

Yang Guofeng didn't even blush when he praised Xia Wu, for fear that he hadn't given her enough buffs.

However, this also caused some people to have second thoughts. They thought that Xia Wu was not short of money and that 100,000 yuan was too little for a mountain package, so they wanted Xia Wu to add more money.

Unexpectedly, he was scolded by Yang Guofeng. If the mountain was not leased out, the villagers would not get a penny. If the mountain was leased out, they could get money but still complained that the money was not enough. Yang Guofeng was so angry that he wanted to slap such a person twice.

Yang Guofeng has always been a prestigious figure in the village. Some people go out to work, and their families rely on someone in the village to take care of their elderly and children. Yang Guofeng also helps people a lot on weekdays. Besides, the whole village relies on Old Man Yang from the Yang family. If any elderly or children in the family have a headache or fever, the villagers don't need to come back from other places. They should remember these favors.

Finally, Yang Guofeng and the whole village reached an agreement to lease Yantou Mountain to Xia Wu for 90,000 yuan a year, and each villager could get about 300 yuan.

In less than two days, Yang Guofeng took Xia Wu to the town and settled the matter of leasing the mountain. After paying ten years of rent, Xia Wu registered her name with the other party. From then on, she became the owner of Yantou Mountain.

Shen Beiyang had just finished plowing two acres of strawberry fields when Xia Wu rented a mountain with several hundred acres of land. His eyes went dark and he almost fainted.

However, Qi Miaomiao's tutor sent her a message, urging her to submit her graduation thesis, so she had to rush abroad, and Shen Beiyang was relieved.

"Xiao Wu, I'll come back to see you next time."

At the high-speed railway station, Qi Miaomiao reluctantly said goodbye to Xia Wu. Xia Wu hugged her tightly and said, "Next time you come back, I'll treat you to more delicious food."

"Okay, I'll wait for your good news!"

It was almost time for ticket checking. Qi Miaomiao and Shen Beiyang entered the station and kept waving until Xia Wu could no longer see them.

"Daughter, let's go home."

Her father and brother patted Xia Wu on the shoulder. She turned around and smiled brightly: "Let's go home and clean up the mountain!"