Chapter 103 The trouble that followed
Before meeting Xia Wu, Xiangfang had guessed what Xia Wu looked like in his mind.
He repeatedly heard the old people in the village talk about "Xiao Wu". Since Xiao Wu came back, everything has been different. Xiao Wu is very good, very sensible and very capable. Anyone who mentions her will give her a thumbs up and praise her without hesitation.
Xiangfang thought that Xia Wu should be a heroic woman. She was kind, hardworking, knowledgeable and intellectual.
Combining all of the above, the image of an intellectual and rational sister appeared in Xiangfang's mind.
So when Yang Guofeng followed Xia Wu into the courtyard with the well, the old people called out to them, "Xiao Wu, come quickly."
I didn't quite react. Xiao Wu? Is Xia Wu here?
There were only two people coming. Excluding Yang Guofeng, who he had just met, the direction of his gaze naturally fell on Xia Wu.
This was a beautiful girl who had nothing to do with the image in his mind.
Too beautiful to be true.
She was wearing a long-sleeved shirt, tight jeans with some oil stains on them, and a straw hat on her head. If this was not Yanggou Village, Xiangfang would have thought he was in a bar in the American West and had met a cool and unrestrained cowgirl.
But looking more closely, Xia Wu was wearing only ordinary gloves on his head, and the thing on his waist was not a pistol, but a pair of dirty work gloves.
"Hello," she smiled and extended her hand to Xiangfang. Xiangfang was flattered and shook her hand. He asked in surprise, "Are you Miss Yang?"
"Yes, sorry to have kept you waiting, Reporter Fang, right?"
The handshake lasted about three seconds. Xiangfang was sure that the villagers had not deceived him by the touch of their palms. Even though the girl had a face that was good enough to be an internet celebrity, the roughness of her palms could not deceive anyone. She was still a field worker.
"No, no, I'm so rude to come here without contacting you in advance," the thought flashed through Xiangfang's mind for a tenth of a second. He quickly displayed the professionalism of a journalist, pulling out his press card to prove his identity while explaining his reasoning. "Well, I saw your video online about village development and the conditions of left-behind elderly people. I'm very interested in it, so I took the liberty to come here and interview you. Do you have time?"
Xia Wu readily agreed, "Okay, I'll cooperate with you. How about we sit inside? It's still a bit hot at noon."
Xiangfang followed Xia Wu into the house, and Yang Guofeng personally made tea for him. The tea was picked from the mountain by the villagers. In March, some tourists came to visit and liked the wild tea picked in the village, so they spent money to buy a lot of it. The old people in the village missed the best time to pick tea this year, so most of the good tea they picked was roasted and sold to tourists, leaving only a little for themselves.
The rest is large leaf tea or tea dregs.
Entertaining guests definitely requires good tea. Xia Wu happened to have some here, and there was always a teapot boiling on the stove, so hot water was always available. Yang Guofeng brewed some tea and brought it to Fang Xiang. "This is our unique wild mountain tea. Reporter Fang, please moisten your throat."
The steam from the tea was lingering, and it looked very hot. Yang Guofeng was too nervous. He rubbed his hands awkwardly and said, "How about I get a fan to blow on you?"
Wang Yuexia showed up just in time to save him from the dire situation. She brought a few bowls of summer-cooling tea cooled with well water on a tray and said, "Xiao Wu, you guys drink this."
The recipe for making tea was prepared by Grandpa Xia Wu. It uses common medicinal herbs collected from their mountain, including honeysuckle and astragalus, which are used to replenish qi and relieve heat. A little yellow rock sugar is added to it, making it taste slightly sweet and have the aroma of honeysuckle.
"Secretary Yang, no need to bother. Let's just have a drink. I mainly want to ask you questions. Why don't you sit down and let's chat?"
Yang Guofeng also sat down.
Xiangfang took out a recorder and talked to Xia Wu and the others, and then the interview began.
Xia Wu was a little nervous at the beginning, but Xiangfang was a very good interviewer. He looked easy-going, non-aggressive, and had no airs. When doing this kind of interview, he would not use sharp words or ask provocative questions, so their interview gradually went well.
After more than an hour, Xiangfang had asked all the questions he wanted to ask and had a deeper understanding of the young girl in front of him, as well as this village and this land. He had already prepared a draft of the news he was going to write in his mind.
Xiangfang put away the recorder, and Yang Guofeng asked, "Is this the end?"
He felt like he was just chatting about family matters.
Xiangfang smiled and said, "Secretary Yang, let's end our interview here today. Can I take a photo of each of you?"
Yang Guofeng readily agreed, "Yes, I can, Reporter Fang, will I be on TV?"
Xiangfang laughed. "I'm not sure about that, because I'm a print journalist and don't do television reporting. But if our story gets a good response after it's published, maybe there will be a TV interview later."
"Oh...Is that so," Yang Guofeng was lost and a little regretful that he couldn't appear on TV, but he quickly adjusted his mentality and followed the direction to the outside. The light was good outside, he straightened his old shirt, straightened his back, and showed a stiff smile.
Xia Wu also took a photo. This was her first chance to appear in a newspaper, and she was quite excited. "Reporter Fang, when the report is published, can we buy the newspaper here? I want to keep a copy as a souvenir."
Xiangfang kept muttering in his heart, don't be fooled by his nice words, there is a high probability that there will be no TV coverage, no one reads the print media, how can there be a good response?
As for buying newspapers, Xiangfang is not sure whether Donghua Town can buy newspapers from the city.
He quickly said, "Let's add each other's contact information later. When the newspaper is printed, I'll send it to you. You don't have to buy it."
Xia Wu smiled brightly, "That's great, thank you, Reporter Fang."
"You're welcome. This is what I should do."
Xiangfang also took photos with the elderly people in the village. It took most of the day. When it was time for lunch, Xia Wu invited him to have lunch and took the opportunity to take him for a walk in the mountains.
Yanggou Village has beautiful scenery, and several nearby villages are no exception. The biggest problem here is that there are no people, no investment, and the economy cannot develop. Everyone has gone out to work, and no matter how beautiful the scenery is, it is useless if no one develops it.
The scenery needs to be developed reasonably, which restricts some young people who want to return to their hometown to start a business. For example, on the hill of Xiawu, many construction projects cannot be carried out.
Although there were difficulties, after more than half a year, Xia Wu had a deeper understanding of the policies from above.
It is a good thing to have some restrictions. Otherwise, once development begins, many people will not be able to control their desires, which will only damage the environment.
Each generation has its own progress. The question is which generation will bear the cost of the environment destroyed by this generation?
There are many tourists visiting Yanggou Village, and the videos released by Xia Wu also have many fans following. Xia Wu feels that the reason why her videos, with Yanggou Village as the core, can attract so many loyal fans.
"A big part of the reason is the unspoiled environment of Yanggou Village."
The country has built roads, bridges and electricity here. There are grassroots people like Yang Guofeng who care about their hometown. Even if the economy cannot take off now, it will definitely get better one day in the future.
Xiangfang followed Xia Wu around most of the mountain, took many photos of the scenery, and then followed the food delivery staff who were working on the homestay in Haotang Village and took a walk around Haotang Village.
He stayed there until after three in the afternoon, and Xiangfang was still in a hurry to go back to write, so he was ready to say goodbye and leave.
Xia Wu and Yang Guofeng sent him to the village entrance and waved goodbye.
After more than three hours' drive, Xiangfang returned to the city. He went home to take a quick shower, put the specialties given to him by the villagers in the refrigerator, and then sat down in front of the computer to start writing.
He had a feeling that this would be good news.
Two days later, Xiangfang showed the finished manuscript to Sister Hong for review. As expected, Sister Hong said that the article was well-written and coincided with the policies promoted by the higher authorities. There was no problem with the theme, and the content was very eye-catching. The beautiful overseas student returned to her hometown to start a business, and her thoughts were also very high.
After reading it, the leader also expressed praise, so the direction of the press release was arranged to be published and printed.
During the few days of waiting for the newspaper to be published, Xiangfang kept thinking about this matter, thinking that the news would unexpectedly cause a big splash, and even dreamed about it.
But one day passed, two days passed, and after the newspaper was published, there was no difference, just like usual, a stagnant pool of water.
Late at night, Xiangfang did not go home after get off work. He sat in the office, reading the newspaper in a daze.
No matter from which angle you look at it, his articles have the potential to become popular, and the company is very cooperative, leaving the best sections for him.
But in today's era, print media is dead.
No matter how unwilling he was, Xiangfang had to admit it.
The Internet has changed print media.
He often heard Sister Hong sigh about the prosperity of the past and the depression of the present. Sister Hong was not many years away from retirement. She had a family to support and had no ambition. Her work at the company was not very busy and she could rest after finishing her job.
How nice.
But Xiangfang is still young, he is 28 years old this year, and it took him a few years of work to get the job that many people dream of.
Just because he is a lazy person doesn't mean he has no desire to strive for success. Unfortunately, when he wanted to strive for success, the platform died.
I'm not willing to accept this!
After a sleepless night, Xiangfang went to his boss's office the next day and came up with a solution overnight. His boss was surprised when he heard it: "You want to create the official account of our city?"
This is not their job.
"Yes, leader, I think the times are changing, and we must keep pace with the times..."
Two days later, Xiangfang successfully persuaded the leaders, and Tong City's official paper media created accounts on multiple platforms and passed the official V certification within one day.
The first article reported by all accounts was about Yanggou Village.
A few days before seeing Xiangfang off, Yang Guofeng had been thinking about the newspaper, but as time passed, there was no news in the newspaper.
He wondered if Xiangfang was a liar, deliberately trying to get a free meal.
But soon Yang Guofeng had no time to think about these things.
Yanggou Village has become popular, and the number of tourists coming here has increased exponentially. Many people come here every day, some driving and some taking buses. Many people go straight to the top of Xiawu Mountain as soon as they arrive, wanting to go up the mountain. Some people are diverted to Haotang Village and other villages.
With so many people, problems quickly arise.
In the past, most of the tourists who came to Yanggou Village were fans of Xia Wu. Their number was small and could be controlled through communication, so the impact they brought to Yanggou Village was mostly positive.
But as more and more tourists come spontaneously, the negative impacts are increasing.
The roads were crowded, the ditches were filled with plastic garbage and snack bags, and there were tourists who ignored Xia Wu's warnings and went up the mountain to pick fruits on their own initiative. After being stopped, they still claimed to be ignorant.
They were like a swarm of locusts, seriously destroying the good mood of every villager in Yanggou Village.
Xia Wu had just dealt with a case of a child being stung after running into a beehive when he received a call from Zhao Jing. A child was stealing apricots near the orchard and was caught red-handed by Hei Dou, who was biting his pants and refused to let go.
Through the phone, I could hear the heart-wrenching cries of the child and the threats of the parents shouting that they would beat the dog.
Xia Wu was furious and rode his electric scooter to the apricot orchard without saying a word.
"I don't care! You must give me an explanation today! My son was bitten by your pet! If anything happens, can you afford to compensate me?"
In the crowd, a burly man was yelling at Zhao Jing. Zhao Jing stood in front of Hei Dou, who was still biting the child's trouser leg.
"Talk it over nicely, don't be impulsive. Hitting someone is a crime!"
"Hei Dou!" Xia Wu walked over with a gloomy face. With a crisp shout, Hei Dou immediately opened his mouth and ran towards her. Fortunately, Xia Wu had fed him a lot of good food during this period. Hei Dou was fat and strong, and at first glance he looked quite intimidating. Despite this, his fur was still dirty after being kicked by the naughty kid. "Who wants to hit my dog?"
Jian Zhuang looked Xia Wu up and down. Seeing that she was a woman, and a good-looking one at that, he looked at her with contempt: "It was your dog that bit my son first. I'm lucky I didn't kick it to death. If my son had a..."
"I can afford to compensate your son if anything happens to him," Xia Wu sneered. She looked down on people, that's what she was best at. She looked at the man like a scumbag, as well as the seven or eight-year-old child who ran behind him and was still crying. "Taking something without asking is stealing. Your son is caught stealing red-handed. Even if I call the police, they will stand by me."
She pointed to a signboard not far away. It was the second day when the flow of people increased. She realized something was wrong and asked her father to put it up overnight.
Written in large letters: "Keep away, there are dogs in the park. Stealing will be fined."
There were too many people coming to the mountain, so Xia Wu directly cancelled the picking project. Instead, the villagers picked the fruits and set up stalls to sell them at the foot of the mountain. This was a solution she came up with out having to do anything.
Jian Zhuang saw the sign and continued to be stubborn: "He's just a child and can't understand. Not only did you let the dog bite people, but you also argued with the child. What kind of internet celebrity are you? A black-hearted internet celebrity!"
Someone in the crowd secretly recorded this scene.
Zhao Jing was anxious and wanted to step forward to speak for Xia Wu, but Xia Wu nodded and admitted, "Yes, I am black-hearted. Now I officially inform you, please take your naughty child and get off my mountain. It's a private mountain, and you are not welcome here."
"Get out of my private property now, immediately, or I'll release the dogs to chase you away!"
Hei Dou cooperated very well and assumed a charging posture, lowered his head and roared, with a fierce light in his eyes.
The man was startled by Hei Dou, but he still managed to be tough: "Who cares about a shabby place like yours? It's a place where no one lives, where poor people hang out! I'm going to expose you! So that no one can come here!"
Watching the man leave, Xia Wu's eyes were full of disgust. Who gave this lowly man the illusion that she would indulge all visitors?
Respect is always mutual.
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