Chapter 81
Zhang Fangyuan lay on the couch next to the bed near the window, propped up one leg, and looked at the two sleeping children.
The midday sun outside the window is shining brightly. It is not as cold as the beginning of spring, nor as hot as the beginning of summer. It is somewhere between spring and summer, with warm birdsong and the fragrance of flowers.
The couple lived in the main house of the new house. The bedroom was very spacious and had room for tables, chairs and beds. Xu He was sitting at the table, sewing clothes for the children.
Suddenly, he felt a sense of peace and tranquility. He did not say a word, but just watched quietly.
He yawned, sat up slightly, tilted his head to look at the two kids for a while, then turned and waved to Xu He who was standing next to him.
"What's wrong?"
"Come here."
Seeing that the man only responded with one word and did not put down the work in his hands, Zhang Fangyuan could not help but shout again.
Xu He thought he had something important to do, so he put down his needle and thread and went over. However, he was pulled over with great force as if in revenge. He lost his balance and fell into the man's arms like a fish.
"What are you doing!"
Zhang Fangyuan put his hands on Xu He's waist and pushed his feet on the horizontal railing of the bed. He slid inside, making a small space and motioned Xu He to lie down.
The bed was only suitable for one person to lie on for a while, and how could a second person sleep on it with Zhang Fangyuan's broad body?
He is always worried about the children at night, so they sleep lightly and cannot get a good night's sleep for two hours. Now he also has to take a nap when the second baby is asleep during the day.
He lowered his eyelids and looked at the small empty space, muttering softly: "Even when I was in the Xu family, there was no such small corner for me to sleep."
Zhang Fangyuan said with a smile: "Do you mean that I am being too harsh on you?"
Xu He didn't respond.
Zhang Fangyuan reached out and patted the man on the waist: "I said, how come you don't understand any fun at all?"
Xu He frowned slightly, hesitated for a moment, then slowly sat down in the empty space and lay down next to Zhang Fangyuan.
He raised his eyes and looked at Zhang Fangyuan, with the corners of his mouth slightly raised: "What's the difference? The couch is so small, it would be nice if you accidentally fell off."
Zhang Fangyuan rubbed the side of the person's face and said, "It's because it's narrow that I got closer."
Xu Hewei exhaled. Zhang Fangyuan's arm was under his neck. When he withdrew his arm, he moved closer, with his palm between their waists and abdomens.
Zhang Fangyuan has a solid and strong body. Even when he lies on his side, his stomach does not collapse, and his muscles are still flat and evenly bulging.
His fingers moved slightly, accidentally brushing across his abdominal muscles, and suddenly his hand was grabbed.
Xu He's ears turned red, and he felt like he was caught doing something bad. But before he could react, his hand was close to Zhang Fangyuan again. Zhang Fangyuan grabbed his hand and actually stuffed it into his clothes.
The touch of skin is firm and elastic.
The temperature from the man's abdomen was transmitted to his palm, making his face flush.
He couldn't help but stutter: "...Do, what are you doing!"
"Don't you want me to do this?"
Zhang Fangyuan raised his eyebrows and felt even more proud when he saw the blushing person in his arms.
"Shame on you."
Xu He bent his fingers and wanted to pull his hand back, but he thought that he couldn't let him tease him in vain, so he simply touched it a few more times. Indeed... it was quite good, no wonder some people were salivating over it.
"You like it very much."
Xu He pursed his lips upon hearing this and took back his hand. He closed his eyes and prepared to go to sleep. He said indifferently, "It's no different from touching pork."
"?"
"You call this pork?"
Zhang Fangyuan narrowed his eyes.
"Hard-mouthed."
"Hmm~"
Xu He suddenly opened his eyes and looked at the person who came close to him, with him being completely surrounded by two arms.
He struggled to escape without any means and was only released when he was almost out of breath.
"What are you doing?"
"I'll see if I can soften your lips with a kiss, so you can listen better next time."
Xu He blushed and pushed Zhang Fangyuan away: "Are you still going to sleep?"
"Sleep, why not? The two kids will be awake soon. I have to go out to discuss something later."
Zhang Fangyuan moved his arms lazily, then fell asleep comfortably while hugging his mother.
Hongshi Village is crowded with tourists, and it is not just the chief of Jijiu Village who is envious. All the surrounding villages want city people to come to their villages, whether they want to set up a small stall or sell vegetables.
How could Zhang Fangyuan not know what everyone was thinking, so he planned to visit a few households in the village that could make some progress and try to persuade them. He was familiar with the surrounding terrain and villages, and was familiar with the routes even without any local experience.
With their Rongyi Tea Stall in the center, to the west is Siyang City, to the east is the road to Suzhou, to the south is a large lumber yard, to the southwest of both ends of the lumber yard is the Xinlong Tea Garden, and to the southeast is the Wenshan Peak Guanyin Temple.
There are no big place names to the north, but to the left is their village, Jijiu Village, to the right is Zaojiao Village, followed by Tangjiaba, which is good at producing fruits, and Hongshi Village, which is currently in the limelight.
Zhang Fangyuan thought that if he could get to Tangjiaba, the owner of the tea garden, tourists could experience the fun of picking tea and fruits themselves.
With so many places to visit, it is more than enough to spend three or two days here as long as tourists are willing to visit.
If tourists can stay that long, he will make a profit.
Zhang Fangyuan struck while the iron was hot and went to discuss with the surrounding bosses and village chiefs when tourists were visiting Hongshi Village. Having seen others benefit, he was more likely to persuade them out of envy.
He first went to the Xinlong Tea Garden, where the tea shed often bought tea. The tea garden workers would occasionally stop there to stop and eat a bowl of noodles when passing by the tea shed on their way to and from the city, and they were familiar with the people there.
"Boss Zhang, are you finished with the tea again? Business is booming!"
Zhang Fangyuan rode his horse to the outside of the tea garden and looked at the neatly trimmed, waist-high tea trees, which were neatly and smoothly winding around the mountains, stretching as far as the eye could see.
The tea trees are lush and green. This season has passed the season for picking Maojianer, and now it is time to pick big tea. In the tea garden, many women and young men wearing straw hats were picking tea and chatting and laughing. In such an open space, even a rough man like Zhang Fangyuan felt a sense of relief.
The owner of the tea garden was not tall, but a bit short and fat. Perhaps he had just come back from outside and happened to meet the man on horseback on the road.
Zhang Fangyuan got off his horse and said, "Come over and get some tea, and discuss some small matters with Mr. Huang."
Huang Jian was a polite man. Upon hearing this, he immediately invited Zhang Fangyuan into the house for tea.
"I have heard about this. I was invited by a good friend in the city to go there a few days ago. The scenery in Hongshi Village is indeed pleasant." Huang Jian took a sip of tea and said, "I am very interested in Boss Zhang's proposal."
Although the tea business is profitable, the Huang family's tea garden is not very big, and they do not produce any world-famous tea. The business has always been in a lukewarm state of supplying people with goods. Businessmen naturally know that they cannot put all their eggs in one basket.
The emperor encouraged his ministers to speak freely, and merchants also sought to find ways to make money.
"But let me say this first. If my tea garden is open to visitors, I will definitely build a pavilion and guesthouse in the garden."
“It’s natural.”
Zhang Fangyuan understood what Huang Jian meant, but he had to be frank with him. He also wanted to open a guesthouse and a restaurant, but he didn't know whether it would steal his business.
Doing business depends on one's own ability. There are inns everywhere in the city, so they all attract their own customers. Even if someone is very arrogant, it doesn't mean that there is only one inn.
"These are easy to say. What matters is to persuade more people in this area to join us."
Huang Jian said: "Boss Hu from the forest farm and I are friends, so it's easy to talk about. There is already a meditation room at the Guanyin Temple to welcome guests to burn incense, so there is no need to say more. We just need a few more villages to cooperate."
It was a pleasant surprise to Zhang Fangyuan that Huang Jian was willing to come forward to negotiate. He patted his sleeves and said, "I'll go try the villagers, and the rest will depend on Boss Huang."
Zhang Fangyuan focused on his own village and Tangjiabao, and he could ignore other villages. However, the tea shed was backed by Jijiu Village. If tourists came, the best thing would be to have fun in the village and stay in their inn when leaving the village.
At night, Xu He cooked some delicious dishes, and Zhang Fangyuan invited the village chief to his home to discuss what their village could do.
"Okay, it would be great if it could be done."
Zhang Fangyuan poured some wine for the village chief: "I'm just afraid that the villagers won't agree."
The old man immediately stiffened his neck, changing his usual solemn demeanor when holding meetings: "No matter what you do, there will be people who oppose it. Those who want to do it can do it, and those who don't want to do it can forget about making money."
Zhang Fangyuan laughed. This village chief must have something special to be able to manage the village.
"What matters is what the village does. Can we plant some flowers like Hongshi Village? Our village is closer to the city than Hongshi Village."
Zhang Fangyuan waved his hand and said, "If we do the same thing, the two villages will probably become enemies. We are all fellow villagers, so it's not appropriate."
"Then tell me, is there anything feasible?" The village chief's eyes were bright. He picked up a piece of meat with chopsticks, ate while looking at Zhang Fangyuan.
"There's nothing special about our village. Since there are many families raising silkworms and fish, why not plant more mulberry trees and open more fish ponds for fishing? Then people can pick the mulberries when they are ripe."
Zhang Fangyuan added, "Let the villagers open up more wasteland to grow fruits and vegetables and build farms. Encourage city dwellers to pick vegetables themselves, or bring them back to the city and have them processed and cooked at my tea shed. Other villages are here for sightseeing. No matter how beautiful the scenery is, people still have to eat, right? It's always right to provide food."
The village chief was slightly moved: "That's not bad, but the villagers have no money, you have to help them a little."
Zhang Fangyuan toasted the village chief and said, "Of course I can help you. We are from the same village. As long as we don't make things difficult for each other, I'm happy to help you. But I have another problem."
"You said come and see."
Zhang Fangyuan said, "I heard that the village chief is familiar with the head of Tangjiaba Village. You can go and talk to him and ask them to start the business. Tangjiaba has many fruit trees, including bayberry and watermelon. It couldn't be better to do it."
The village chief puffed up his eyes when he heard this: "Hey, we haven't even taken care of the affairs of our own village, why should we care about other villages? Let's take care of our own village first!"
"That's not the case. Think about it, village chief. If there are more places to eat, drink and have fun around us, wouldn't there be more people coming here to enjoy our reputation? The more tourists there are, the more money we can make. If we just run a village and run it dry, how much money can we make?"
The village chief smashed his drink and said without replying, "Well, I'll go back and think about it carefully. After all, this is a matter concerning the whole village."
Zhang Fangyuan didn't rush anyone and agreed now: "Okay, just wait for the village chief's reply. Come, eat more vegetables."
"well."
The village chief stayed in the house for quite a while before going back. The moon was already high in the sky. Zhang Shiyue had returned home today. She and Xiao'e, one holding Ruijin and the other holding Ruili, walked in the yard and amused the children. They exhausted the energy of the two children and were able to sleep well at night.
"Leaving?"
Xu He took advantage of the free time to wash up. There was a night breeze in the yard, so he came out to wipe his hair and saw Zhang Fangyuan coming back from the door.
Zhang Fangyuan shook his head: "After a few drinks, the village chief was in a good mood and was very talkative. I walked a few more steps to see him off to the door and waited until he entered the yard before returning."
Xu He laughed: "Did that thing work or not?"
"Let's wait and see. It won't be something that can be done overnight." Zhang Fangyuan took the handkerchief from Xu Heshou with ease and helped him wipe his hair.
"Let's put it this way first. Tomorrow I have to go to the city to deliver all of Mr. Song's goods. He has some good satin from Suzhou, so he asked me to keep some for him. I'll bring it back tomorrow."
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