"Hey, look! Look!" Cheng Yue suddenly shouted, "It's smoking!"
Everyone looked in the direction she was pointing, and saw wisps of white smoke rising from the small patch of ground they had been looking at earlier. However, the smoke was very faint, and by the time they tried to look more closely, it had disappeared.
"Oh my god, am I hallucinating?" Zhou Xu rubbed his eyes.
"Impossible, we all saw it." Zhao Xinfeng looked over the moment Cheng Yue shouted the first sentence, and he was 100% certain that smoke had indeed come out.
Everyone was puzzled, Zhou Sui explained.
"It must be the hot spring water that's rising up." There were a lot of things stored here before, and Zhou Sui had them removed after she bought them.
She only noticed the wisps of smoke rising by chance, and there was no discernible pattern to it. She only knew that the smoke was very short-lived, and she wouldn't have noticed it unless she was staring at it.
Song Qi'an, who hadn't spoken yet, said, "I heard before when I was outside that if there's a hot spring down there, steam will rise up."
"I've already contacted the survey team, they should be here this afternoon."
If there really are hot springs here, then as Zhou Sui said, building a unique hot spring hotel would indeed be a very promising business.
but……
Zhou Sui noticed Song Qi'an's expression and asked, "What are you thinking about?"
"If we were to build a hotel, this whole area could be used."
The area he was referring to included the village behind it.
The land that Zhou Sui bought can only be used to build a hot spring pool; there's no way to expand it into a hotel.
Zhou Sui clapped her hands. "That's what I think too."
The houses in the village are so old that every year during heavy snow or rain, several courtyards collapse.
Furthermore, the village is now mostly inhabited by elderly people, as the young people have all gone out to work and settle down.
"Currently, there are fewer than twenty households in the village." Some elderly people still live alone, and the total population of the village is less than forty.
Song Qi'an pondered for a moment, "Is it because no one is taking care of them in their old age?"
Just like the two old people he had just seen, they were walking with difficulty. They should be surrounded by their children and grandchildren, but they were still living in this remote and desolate village.
“They all want to stay in the village.” Zhou Sui has talked with many of the elderly people in the village. Some are really disliked by their families, some are afraid of being a burden to their families, and some really don’t want to leave.
The old folks all say, "We've been living in this mountain village our whole lives. What's so great about the outside world? We don't want to go outside. We just love the village."
Zhou Sui didn't call out the old people's excuses. Although they were old, they still cared about their reputation.
As they were talking, an old voice rang out from the doorway.
"Boss Zhou, Boss Zhou."
Everyone turned to look outside and saw the old man who had been sweeping the yard earlier.
He grinned at Zhou Sui and the others, just as a gust of cold wind blew by, hitting the old man's bare gums.
The bare gums together looked somewhat comical.
Zhou Xu almost burst out laughing, so he simply turned his face away.
"Young Master Zhou, let's go eat." The old man must have been tired from walking these few steps, so he simply stopped when he saw them coming.
"They've all prepared the meal. Let's go eat and have some hot pot." The old man was referring to the other elderly people in the village.
Zhou Sui knew these elderly people; they were somewhat stubborn, but they meant well. She cooked for them genuinely so that they could eat well.
"Alright, sir, thank you for making the trip. We won't bother you any longer."
Remembering what Song Qi'an had just said, Zhou Sui turned her gaze and decided to sound out the old folks.
But this time they came empty-handed, and they didn't expect the elderly to be so hospitable. Zhou Sui turned to Zhou Xu and said something.
"Go to that little shop we just passed by in the scenic area and buy something. There are twenty households in the village, so you can buy whatever you like."
"They're all elderly people."
Zhou Xu nodded. "Understood."
After leaving the courtyard, the old man led the way to the right, and Zhou Xu pulled Zhao Xinfeng along.
"Come on, lend me a hand and let's move some things."
Zhao Xinfeng can't be left idle while he's doing manual labor.
The others followed the old man into the village. Now everyone lives in the houses near the village entrance, close to each other so they can look after one another.
"Boss Zhou is here! Come on, the soup is bubbling away, just waiting for you to come and eat."
The eaves of the thatched house were rather low, and Song Qi'an had to duck his head to enter.
There were three tables in the room, with small iron pots on them and some dishes that were the same on each table.
These dishes must have been cooked by each family, and they've all been gathered here.
"Please sit down, please sit down, young people, don't be shy, please sit down."
There was only one lamp hanging from the ceiling in the room. The light was not white, but dim and yellow. Walking in from the bright outside, the room felt dark.
Zhou Sui stood there for a while before adjusting to the brightness and walking inside.
Zhou Sui couldn't remember some of the elderly people in the village, so they could only call out the names together.
"Thank you all for your help, grandpas and grandmas."
"Oh, don't talk about trouble or not. These are just some home-style dishes. Please don't mind them."
Several elderly people stood up, looking somewhat lost, mainly because their group looked so well-dressed and out of place in the room.
Especially Song Qi'an, when he came in, he felt that the room had become much smaller.
"Wow, what a handsome young man!" An old man said in a loud voice, his tone naturally comical, and instantly everyone's eyes turned to him.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
