Back to 1984: I built a chicken farm on a barren mountain.

The meeting room of Chenjiazhuang Village Committee.

The meeting room was old and outdated. There was a table by the window with a wired microphone, and two stacks of newspapers and a stack of regular mail were piled up next to it.

The men were all smoking, and the small room was filled with smoke.

A group of people sat around the conference table, with Chen Wenfeng sitting in the back row.

He was still hungover and felt a slight headache.

It was this pain that convinced Chen Wenfeng that he had been reborn and returned to this crucial time of land division.

In his previous life, the day before the land was divided, Chen Wenfeng was invited out for drinks by his third uncle, Chen Shouxin, who lied to him that there were minerals in the barren mountains north of the village and that he could make a fortune by contracting them.

Chen Shouxin also promised that as long as the barren mountain was acquired, he would be willing to share the contracting fee and make money together.

So at the land allocation meeting, Chen Wenfeng, who was dreaming of getting rich, encouraged his father Chen Shouyi to rent the barren mountain.

Third Uncle Chen Shouxin also secretly arranged for others to deliberately compete for it, and in the end, Chen Wenfeng's family gave up several acres of irrigated land to win over the barren mountain.

The barren mountains and high contract fees caused the family to suffer from poverty for many years.

This event became a watershed moment in the family's fate.

His younger siblings dropped out of school, his mother couldn't afford medical treatment, his father broke his leg while working away from home, and he himself left his mountain village, wasting half his life there...

Chen Wenfeng was filled with remorse, and this time, he was determined to stop it from happening.

Just as memories of his past life flooded in, village chief Chen Youwei said:

"Today is a small meeting for our team seven, mainly about two things."

The first thing was that we acquired nine acres of good land, and everyone discussed how to divide it.

The second thing is to check if anyone has contracted out the barren hills north of the village, specifically the area around Jiming Mountain.

After the village chief finished his introduction, everyone started discussing among themselves:

"Chicken Cry Mountain is a bit desolate!"

"Yes, it's far from our Chenjiazhuang. You have to cross the mountain to reach Black Fox Valley."

"I've heard there's an iron ore mine there?"

"Impossible, if there were iron ore, it would have been discovered long ago."

......

Chen Wenfeng saw that the person who brought the iron ore was Hou Erzhu, who had the best relationship with his third uncle. In his previous life, it was Hou Erzhu who had been shouting that there was ore in Jiming Mountain.

This caused many uninformed people to follow suit and raise prices.

Chen Wenfeng quietly went to his father Chen Shouyi's side and whispered a few words.

After listening, Chen Shouyi looked at his son and felt a little unfamiliar with him. Last night he said that he must take Jiming Mountain, so why has he changed his mind today!

He has never liked making decisions. When he was young, he listened to his parents; after getting married, he listened to his wife; and now that his children are grown up, he listens to them.

My son told me to keep quiet during the contracting of Jiming Mountain, so I kept quiet.

Besides, he never believed in getting rich overnight.

Chen Shouyi was the kind of honest, hardworking, and simple-minded farmer who was not afraid of hard work.

Village chief Chen Youwei continued:

"Everyone is interested in Jiming Mountain, so let's talk about Jiming Mountain first. The annual lease fee is 150 yuan, with a minimum lease term of 10 years and a maximum of 30 years."

"Are there any contracted services?"

"have!"

Chen Wenfeng was the first to stand up and said:

"My company takes over!"

After Chen Wenfeng finished speaking, he glanced at his third uncle and thought to himself:

Third Uncle, Third Uncle, I'll play along with you for a while.

Hou Erzhu saw Chen Shouxin wink at him and said:

"I'd rent it too, I'm willing to pay 180 yuan a year!"

"Also, whoever has contracted the land for irrigating Jiming Mountain is not allowed to compete for it this time."

Hou Erzhu suggested.

Hearing those words again filled Chen Wenfeng with mixed emotions.

In their past life, their family resolutely gave up irrigated land in order to rent out the barren mountain.

Looking back now, I'm filled with deep regret.

Chen Wenfeng replied loudly:

"agree!"

The village chief hadn't expected Jiming Mountain to be so sought after; the households in other teams were avoiding it like the plague.

He was naturally happy to see it happen, since renting out another barren mountain meant more income for the village committee.

The village chief couldn't suppress a smile and said:

"Does everyone have any objections?"

"I have no objection."

"We have no objection."

......

It's just like buying a house; people buy when prices are rising, not falling. The more sought-after a house is, the more people want to compete for it.

So everyone started vying for Chicken Cry Mountain.

Chen Shouxin even suspected that the fake news he released was actually true.

But what people didn't notice was that Chen Wenfeng, who had started the most enthusiastic discussion, didn't add anything more.

After a period of commotion, Zheng Dali secured Jiming Mountain for 250 yuan per year.

The village chief's wrinkles smoothed out as he smiled, realizing that this desolate, godforsaken mountain was actually much more expensive than expected.

Chen Wenfeng was also satisfied with the result; Zheng Dali was not someone to be trifled with.

As the village's renowned ultimate caregiver for fat pigs, Zheng Dali's temper is as sharp as his pig-slaughtering knife.

In his previous life, he discovered that he had been fooled by his third uncle, Chen Shouxin, and went to confront him.

Uncle San turned his back on his promise and denied everything, so Grandma stepped in to smooth things over.

They are brothers after all, so he could only suffer in silence.

But it's a different story when it's an outsider.

Zheng Dali, I believe in you!

Now that the contract for Jiming Mountain has ended, it's time to talk about irrigated land.

They say you have to press on with your energy, and Chen Wenfeng, sorting through his memories of his past life, came up with a good idea.

He was about to get up when Wang, the accountant in charge of taking meeting minutes, interrupted:

"Smokers, put out your tobacco. If you really want to smoke, switch to cigarettes. The smoke in this room is too strong; I can't even open my eyes."

As he spoke, Accountant Wang stood up, tugged at his faded Zhongshan suit jacket, and adjusted the Hero brand fountain pen clipped to his chest.

Then, he opened the window wider, returned to his seat, and said:

"Everyone, let's discuss this. Those who need to relieve themselves, please go outside. I'll register the results once we've reached a decision..."

People relaxed and whispered among themselves in twos and threes.

Chen Shouxin didn't understand why his elder brother's family hadn't insisted on contracting the barren mountain, which disappointed him somewhat.

Actually, his goal was very simple: his elder brother, Chen Shouyi, couldn't live a better life than him.

There is no reason, absolutely no reason.

He took out a pack of cigarettes and, being very considerate, first offered one to his elder brother, Chen Shouyi, and then politely offered one to everyone else.

Then he picked up a match himself and reached for a match on the table.

Chen Wenfeng quickly grabbed a match, struck it, and held the flame up to his third uncle.

Chen Shouxin took a deep drag, and the tobacco lit up like an incandescent light bulb that had been switched on.

He nodded at Chen Wenfeng with satisfaction.

"Wenfeng, it's been a while since I've seen you, you've grown taller again!"

"It needs to grow a bit longer, otherwise people will say I'm too scheming and have too much of a mind to bear."

Chen Wenfeng couldn't suppress the smile as he looked at his short third uncle.

"You little brat..."

Chen Wenfeng did not immediately return to his seat.

Instead, in the instant he turned around, he whispered ten words in his third uncle Chen Shouxin's ear:

"I know about you and Accountant Wang's wife..."

Upon hearing Chen Wenfeng's words, Chen Shouxin froze. He was somewhat incredulous and even doubted whether he had misheard.

Upon seeing Chen Wenfeng's ambiguous smile, he was certain he hadn't misheard.

Chen Wenfeng ignored Chen Shouxin's surprised expression and said:

"Third Uncle, go outside and relieve yourself."

After saying that, he took a few steps out of the house.