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One day, the business of Xiao Fengyun was booming. She first employed various marketing strategies at her supermarket, and the recent sales numbers had been skyrocketing. Even those who didn’t frequently shop at Huihe Fresh had heard about the quality of its products. While people couldn’t go every day, when guests came over, buying a little wasn’t a financial burden. Within just a few days, Huihe Fresh had begun to outpace several competitors.

The market in the county was limited, and now that Xiao Fengyun’s business had taken off, how could her competitors just sit idly by?

Xiao Fengyun received news that several competitors had figured out her suppliers and were preparing to steal her business partners.

Thinking this over, Xiao Fengyun didn’t try to hide anything. Since others were planning to grab her market, she couldn’t just sit and wait.

She quickly called Yao Jiu, saying that she had found someone from the county’s television station and was ready to promote Lianhua Town.

From their last negotiation, Xiao Fengyun had noticed that Yao Jiu was quite straightforward, possibly a bit wary due to past setbacks. She always kept a little guard up when dealing with Xiao Fengyun.

Xiao Fengyun thought that the underlying reason for this caution was the imbalance in their positions. So, what could she do? She would just help her business partner raise their profile. With her influence, no other competitors would be able to catch up. Moving forward, the partnership would naturally continue smoothly.

Xiao Fengyun made her decision quickly and acted even faster. Having operated in the county for years, she was soon able to contact the leaders at the local television station and proposed a collaboration to leverage their media presence for publicity.

The Jingshui County TV station had been on a downhill slope in recent years, but even a dying camel is larger than a horse, and the station still ran news on the big screens in public areas every day. When they heard Xiao Fengyun’s proposal, which was about growing vegetables for profit, rural revitalization, and other positive, down-to-earth topics, they were on board immediately.

The TV station quickly contacted the leaders in Fangping Town to arrange an interview.

The leaders of Fangping Town had long been aware of the developments in Lianhua Town, largely thanks to Du Xun. He had registered a biscuit factory in the town, and for a small place like Fangping, attracting outside business was a significant achievement for the local GDP.

The town leaders were thrilled and walked around with a spring in their step. Not long after, Huihe Fresh arrived with their big supermarket, a streamlined supply chain, and even went to the town’s office to process several approval documents to organize the vegetables from Lianhua Town.

In just two months, two big business owners had arrived, fulfilling half of the town’s annual commercial attraction goals. How could the town leaders not pay attention to Lianhua Town?

Although Lianhua Town was technically a village under Fangping Town, the population had been declining over the years, with some villages even becoming abandoned. In recent years, some rural areas no longer appointed village heads, and the town administration had taken control. After hearing about the changes in Lianhua, the town held a small meeting.

The meeting focused on how to help Lianhua Town stabilize its development and extend its influence to surrounding areas, ideally benefiting the town as well.

This year, several young university graduates had just joined the town’s government, full of energy. Once the leadership made their move, everyone started brainstorming ideas.

“The vegetables from Lianhua Town are becoming famous, and of course, we’ll assist with publicity. The county TV station has also been working on expanding into new media platforms in addition to traditional TV. We can do something similar—create a video account to promote the vegetables, showcase the natural scenery on the mountains, and gradually build up the account. We’ll first attract visitors from the county, and later, we can organize activities.”

“The milk biscuit factory is right here in the town. I visited them recently, and they said they plan to open two storefronts in the town, selling biscuits in the stores. That’s another point we can promote. Think about it—if people can’t grab the biscuits from Lin You’s live stream, won’t those who live nearby think of coming to our town to buy them? The priority right now is to get this news out.”

“Recently, more people have been coming to the town, and the morning market is getting crowded. I think we should also use the morning market as a selling point. Of course, we’ll need to reorganize the layout, especially the parking areas, so people won’t have trouble finding a place to park.”

The town leader watched the new generation of young people brimming with enthusiasm and felt both proud and a bit melancholic. After regaining composure, the leader comforted himself, thinking that all of these bright ideas were from his own people. As for things like the internet and activities, he felt that he, being older, couldn’t quite keep up with the times. Since the young ones were willing to work, it was his duty as a leader to support them.

“Alright, you all sort out the overall plan. Start with one thing, then move on to the next. Once I’ve reviewed it, I’ll arrange for people to cooperate,” the leader said, clapping his hands. “The county TV station will come for the interview tomorrow. You all go to Lianhua Town and discuss things with the villagers. Make sure nothing goes wrong.”

The new young team consisted of three men and two women. When they heard they had to go to Lianhua Town, the atmosphere, which had been harmonious just moments before, suddenly became tense.

The town leader was puzzled: “What’s going on?”

One of the short-faced girls, who was shy and low-voiced due to her height, was the first to speak up. With a dissatisfied expression, she answered, “They’re all rushing to see Lin You.”

The town leader used to be a beginner on the internet, no matter how many young celebrity idols there were, he couldn’t remember any of them. But he knew about Lin You.

Previously, the young people had shown him on their phones, excitedly explaining that they didn’t expect Lin You to be from Fangping Town. Look at the biscuits she’s selling, with the words “Yanxia Mountain” written on them—doesn’t that refer to the biscuit factory that just opened in the town a while ago? After the excitement, they agreed that since Lin You only mentioned Yanxia Mountain, she probably didn’t mind people knowing roughly where she was from, but since she had withdrawn from the circle, she must not want to be followed by fans. So, they all knew Lin You was in Lianhua Town, but they wouldn’t tell anyone else.

The town leader was also excited after hearing this, but from his perspective, it was the celebrity effect. Lin You came back to her hometown to start a business, and even wrote “Yanxia Mountain” on the biscuits—didn’t that show she still cared about her hometown? What a great young person—where could one find such a person?

Among the five people, Xiao Ma, who became the final winner thanks to his photo editing and photography skills, nodded enthusiastically: “My goddess is just amazing!”

The others glared at him. He wasn’t good-looking, but his heart was dark. He could take photos, edit pictures, fly drones, and even make videos!

Scheming dog!

Xiao Ma happily fiddled with his mirrorless camera. He had practiced these skills before to impress a girl, but now, in the process of chasing after his idol, he had finally begun to shine!

He had always liked Lin You’s face, and even when she was getting attacked online, he proudly supported her, saying he had spoken to her. He never thought that one day, he would actually get to meet her in person!

Xiao Ma stuffed the camera into his bag and, basking in the envious gazes of his colleagues, rode his electric scooter, buzzing toward Lianhua Town.

Heh, he was definitely going to ask for a selfie today!

So, when Lin You and Bo Chuan came down from the mountain, they saw a boy with some pimples on his face, chatting excitedly with Yao Jiu.

Yao Jiu was also a bit of a fan of Lin You. From a distance, Bo Chuan could hear the two talking not about business or the village, but only praising Lin You non-stop.

When they saw Lin You coming back, Xiao Ma jumped up, holding back his excitement, and explained his purpose to her.

Yao Jiu interrupted: “The TV station is coming for an interview tomorrow!”

She had to ask Lin You how not to get nervous on TV.

Xiao Ma asked if Lin You could appear on camera, and she shook her head. Xiao Ma was disappointed, but not entirely surprised.

“Then can you take us to see the cattle farm?”

Since the TV station was coming, they had to showcase the two unique features of Lianhua Town, right?

Lin You replied, “It’s possible, but you need to be mentally prepared.”

Xiao Ma didn’t understand, but when they arrived, he finally understood what Lin You meant. The cows were kept behind the Taoist temple!

“The cows are raised by the Taoist temple owner, so of course, they are kept behind.”

Xiao Ma looked around and kindly suggested, “In that case, I recommend you lease this plot of land.”

Lianhua Town was clearly developing in a good direction, and it was possible that someone would take notice of it in the future. If they didn’t seize the opportunity to lease the land now, no one knew what might happen later.

Yao Jiu slapped her forehead and said she didn’t think of that.

“You know there’s a lotus pond not far from the river, right? It used to be a wild pond, but then a small business owner came and said he wanted to lease it to raise fish. The village agreed, and he pulled up all the lotus flowers. But this guy signed the contract, but didn’t pay the money, so now the pond is empty. In the past two years, some of the lotus flowers that weren’t pulled out have grown back, making it look better. If you’re going to lease the land, you should do it quickly, otherwise, once you start raising cattle, that person might come back and cause trouble.”

Bo Chuan furrowed his brow. He wasn’t thinking about the mountain being leased for the cows, but rather about the Taoist temple. Fortunately, someone had reminded him, or else, after he had built the temple, the town might say it was a tourist spot and take it away from him—he would have lost a lot. Also, that lotus pond wasn’t far from the temple, so he was worried that the situation Yao Jiu mentioned might actually happen.

Lin You thought for a moment. “Alright, I’ll take care of the mountain land lease.”

She had already benefited from the profits of the milk biscuits, so she couldn’t let Bo Chuan pay for the land lease this time. Besides, she had already been thinking about that lotus pond. Bo Chuan could handle the Taoist temple land, and she could use the rest of the land.

Bo Chuan was about to argue, but Lin You jokingly said, “If you’re not willing, you can take back your parcel delivery.”

Bo Chuan’s family sent things regularly, once a month, and they were usually expensive ingredients. At first, he seemed to dislike them, but after Lin You made him a bowl of ^[1]Buddha Jumps Over the Wall is a famous and elaborate Chinese soup, traditionally made with a variety of high-quality ingredients such as shark fin, abalone, sea cucumber, ginseng, chicken, and … Continue readingBuddha Jumps Over the Wall, he stopped complaining. Now, telling him to take the ingredients back—did that mean no more meals?

That wasn’t going to happen.

The group walked around the village and reviewed the content for tomorrow’s TV interview. After sending Xiao Ma, who had been eagerly wanting a selfie, Lin You took advantage of the remaining daylight to make some dried pork jerky.

She minced tenderloin, added seasoning, marinated it, then spread it on a baking tray, covered it with parchment paper, and flattened it with a rolling pin. It went into the oven, and she periodically took it out to brush it with honey water.

The honey-glazed pork jerky was slightly salty with a hint of sweetness, a little chewy, and even when it cooled, it didn’t become dry or hard—it had a satisfying chewiness and wasn’t greasy.

Lin You cut the jerky into small pieces, perfect for snacking.

The honey flavor stood out, with the acacia honey’s fragrance lingering, not being overwhelmed by the meat, and it became more addictive the more you ate.

Lin You made a few glasses of honey lemon water, and the floral fragrance was even more pronounced. As it went down her throat, it felt as if the fragrance of the flowers was carried with it.

Yao Jiu had been suffering from mouth ulcers recently, and it was hard for her to even eat the pork jerky, using only her front teeth to slowly grind it. But after drinking a glass of honey water, she touched her cheek before going to bed, and surprisingly, the pain had eased a lot.

The next morning, when she woke up, the ulcer didn’t hurt at all! She opened her mouth and looked in the mirror—there was no trace of the wound!

Lin You was busy feeding the pigs when she got up. A few days ago, she finally got some piglets from the villagers. She had bought two, which were now kept in a pen in the corner of her yard, keeping company with Mengmeng.

The two round, chubby little pigs buried their heads in the feeding trough, eating nonstop. Lin You fed the leftover tomatoes from last night to Mengmeng, and the stray tabby cat, who had been out all night, squeezed in from the door, flipped onto its back, and lay down on the ground, meowing at Lin You’s feet for food.

Yao Jiu rushed into Lin You’s house, her eyes shining brightly as if she were about to hug Lin You’s leg.

“Boss! Please, give me a bottle of honey!”