Su Ran waved her hand, and Su Jia left the room.
I put my teacup aside and looked out the window. Lightning flashed and thunder roared; it was going to be a sleepless night.
...
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Shifang Residential Area?
Isn't this a residential area near Ice Crystal Palace? This system is really great, it even distributes them to the company and dormitory together.
"Miss, are you awake? It's time for breakfast."
Su Ran opened the door and went downstairs with Su Fuling. The first floor was full of people eating breakfast, and the shopkeepers were all smiles as they worked.
Su Fuling chose a seat by the window. The local driver and Su Jia were already seated. Su Ran picked up the bowl of porridge and drank it, while Su Jia remained silent and focused on eating his breakfast.
However, the driver was a talkative man, and he felt a little uncomfortable eating in such a quiet situation. In the past, he always had to chat while eating, no matter what he was eating.
"Boss, did the noise disturb you yesterday? This rain came so suddenly. It shouldn't have rained these past few days, so why was it raining so heavily last night? And it's still raining this morning." The driver ate a steamed bun and looked out the window; it was still raining.
Su Ran followed the gaze and saw that the rain wasn't going to stop anytime soon. "It's alright, it's not noisy."
As soon as the driver heard the big boss reply, he immediately started talking, "Big boss, you don't know, this place is very poor. The villages here are mostly rough men, and there are quite a few elderly people."
"Many young men don't want to stay in this rural area and have all gone to the city. The economy isn't thriving, and no bosses are coming here to develop things. So, basically every household here is made up of farmers who work in the fields. Everyone here is strong. The road was blocked, and this morning, people from the surrounding villages gathered to clear it. The people here are also very united; if anything happens, they just call out to each other and get to work."
Su Ran listened quietly, "The scenery here is quite nice, so why doesn't the government intend to develop this area into a natural scenic spot?"
The driver shook his head, took a bite of steamed bun and a bite of porridge, and after swallowing, said, "Boss, you don't know these things. Several cities in Yunnan Province have become popular tourist attractions. Who has the time to care about this? The government wants to build here."
"But without the support of other bosses, it can't be built. There are few college students in this village, and many families bring their children to the city. They are willing to pay for rent in the city rather than live in the free houses in the countryside. The government sees that no families here have college students, so it is unwilling to interfere. It is enough to grow some food to feed the people."
Listening to the driver's words, Su Ran realized that some of what he said made sense; someone who couldn't bring in economic income would naturally be the first to be abandoned.
But in the end, he didn't reply. He just quietly drank his porridge. Seeing that the atmosphere had cooled down again, the driver felt uneasy again. Seeing that the big boss wasn't responding, he turned to ask Mr. Su.
“Mr. Su, I’m afraid you won’t be able to go to Tongnan Village today. With this kind of rain, the mountain road will be too difficult to walk on. Unlike the gravel roads in the town, your feet will sink directly into the mud and you won’t be able to pull them out. The three and a half hour mountain road will probably take five or six hours in the current weather.”
Su Fuling nodded upon hearing this, "Then let's not go up the mountain today. Anyway, we have plenty of time, and there's no rush to go up the mountain tomorrow. I'll have to trouble you then."
The driver, who was holding a bowl in one hand and a steamed bun in the other, quickly put down what he was holding when he heard Su Fuling's words. He waved his hands repeatedly, saying, "No trouble at all, Mr. Su, you've already given me a tour guide fee, so it's only right that I lead the way."
The driver had just picked up the steamed bun when, as if remembering something, he asked, "Mr. Su, what brings you to Tongnan Village? Do you have any relatives there?"
Su Fuling looked at Su Ran, who nodded. Then Su Fuling smiled and said, "We learned that there are people in the village who are in difficulty. We submitted the information to the foundation and came to take a look so that we can carry out targeted poverty alleviation."
The driver looked at him with admiration. “The big boss is truly a kind person! The situation in Tongnan Village is indeed a bit bad. Its geographical location is too far away from other villages. When we asked them to move out, they said they were used to living there and didn’t like moving around. The local police seemed to have come to persuade them, but it was all the elderly who came forward. They understand. The elderly always hope to return to their roots, so Tongnan Village has always been located on the other side of the mountain.”
"I can understand the old people's feelings. As they get older, they like to live at home."
The driver finished the remaining buns in one go. "Like the saying goes, there's no place like home," he said with a sheepish grin. "That was a bit impolite of me."
Su Ran smiled and shook her head, put down the porridge, and then replied, "The words may be rough, but the meaning is sound. May I ask which village you live in, uncle?"
"It's Guihua Village, about five li to the east," the driver said, pointing out the window. "Every household in our village grows osmanthus trees; they smell wonderful!"
"My wife makes excellent osmanthus wine and sweet osmanthus cakes. My son, Gou Dan, loves them. All the other women in the village get their osmanthus cakes made by my wife. When the big boss leaves, I'll bring you some of my wife's homemade osmanthus wine and delicious osmanthus cakes."
Su Ran didn't refuse upon hearing this. She nodded and said she would give more money later. She gave Fu Ling a look, and Su Fu Ling nodded and remembered.
He was overjoyed to see that the big boss didn't refuse. He had been worried about what he might say, since city bosses usually look down on things from the village. But seeing that the big boss agreed made him extremely happy.
"Boss, since you're going to the village, let me tell you about the situation there. The last time I went to the village was to help pick up Da Niu's wife from the village to go to the city to give birth. Many young people in the nearby villages have never been there. In the past, many older people used to go, but now the older generation doesn't have the energy or physical strength, so no one is willing to climb that mountain."
“It was broad daylight when I entered the village that day. Da Niu is an idiot. He used to play with me often, but we didn’t keep in touch as often after that. The next time I saw Da Niu, he was crying as he came down the mountain saying his wife was about to give birth. That’s when I rushed into the mountains with Da Niu without even saying goodbye to my wife. I got scolded for a long time when I came back.” He smiled sheepishly as he said this, his face full of happiness.
"When we got into the village, we didn't know what was going on. Every household had their doors closed. Logically, when something like this happened, the neighbors should have taken people down the mountain to the hospital. But no one came out to help. I don't know if Da Niu offended someone, but I didn't care at the time. I just followed Da Niu to carry his wife out. His wife was so thin, she didn't have any meat on her body. The only thing that looked fat was her big belly."
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