The Little Life of a Big Landlord

Chapter 117 Listing

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(Yesterday, I saw a book review in the book review section. I read it several times and suddenly burst into tears of shame. It turns out, I realized that I had truly committed an unforgivable crime. I shouldn't have lied to everyone about subscribing. I should have arranged a car accident for the protagonist on the first day the book was released, ending the book immediately, and then written a hundreds of thousands of words of author's note. The poster of this amazing post is unusually insecure. How could I possibly delete such a good post? Not pinning it would be my own fault for being blind.)

"I never expected this... It turns out that Uncle has hooked up with a rich man. If that's the case, then there's really no need for him to embezzle the country's money and the people's hard-earned money." Yang Ming's attitude towards Liu Zhengfeng changed again. In his mind, Liu Zhengfeng's image had changed from a corrupt official that everyone hated to an honest and upright official that everyone respected.

"What kind of sugar daddy am I? You're really talking rudely..." Liu Zhengfeng glared at Yang Ming.

"Yes, yes, it's not that you're a gold digger, it's that you've brought this gold digger into your home. Hmph, other people who are gold diggers are waiting for the gold digger to reward them, but you've done something else, making all of his businesses belong to the Liu family. In the future, won't they just be passed down to your grandson? Your level of sophistication is much higher than those who are gold diggers..." Yang Ming said.

"Hehe, that's quite true..." Liu Zhengfeng thought for a moment and became smug. He felt genuinely proud of his son for being able to lure a wealthy man into his home.

"Hehe, speaking of which, it's not appropriate to always spend your daughter-in-law's money. It makes you feel a bit unconvinced and lacking in confidence when facing your daughter-in-law. How about this, I'll lower the price of that medicine a little, to one million per person..." Yang Ming said.

"What? Kid, are you kidding me? Just a little bit? That's a tenfold difference. You can definitely lower the price even further. Give Uncle a couple more discounts..." Liu Zhengfeng saw through Yang Ming's true colors. Even if those potions were very valuable, they were definitely not worth a million. In fact, they would be lucky to be worth ten thousand yuan.

"That's a magic elixir that can make you young again! I've already reduced the price to one-tenth of the original price, why aren't you satisfied?... That's a magic elixir that can make you young again, not Brain Gold..." Yang Ming looked at him as if to say, "You're too greedy."

"Alright, that's one million... Give me twenty doses..." Liu Zhengfeng had money in his pocket, he was indeed rich and powerful, he was determined to spend twenty million today.

"That's impossible. We only sell one dose per person, two doses at a time, and the people who buy the medicine must be a couple or lovers..." Yang Ming shook his head at that moment.

"Oh?" Liu Zhengfeng's interest grew even stronger. "From what you're saying, this medicine also works for that aspect?"

"Uncle, don't worry. As long as you take this medicine, I guarantee that Auntie will be obedient to you from now on and will never dare to harm you again..." Yang Ming chuckled mischievously.

Yang Ming had personally witnessed Liu Zhengfeng's injuries; the wounds were so black they were practically rotten flesh, with purplish-brown veins still visible, demonstrating the ruthlessness of the perpetrator.

"Really?" Liu Zhengfeng's eyes lit up. The thing he feared most in his life was his wife's two fingers.

"Unless she still has the strength..." Yang Ming's smile became even more wicked, a smile that only a man could understand.

Zheng Dabao understood, so he smiled. Liu Zhengfeng also understood, but since he was the person involved, he blushed and slipped away: "I'll go get my laptop, we'll transfer the money via online banking..."

"We've got a stage! We've got a stage!" Aunt Da Bao's voice came from inside the house.

"Uncle Da Bao, we should put a big sign up at the entrance of the village..." Yang Ming screwed the screws onto the antenna to fix its height and angle.

"Our agritainment business was set up in a hurry. Not only is there no signboard, but we also don't have tour guides or reception staff..." Zheng Dabao held the antenna for Yang Ming to keep it from moving around.

"But the prospects look good... We already had two customers on the first day..." Yang Ming said with a smile.

"Hehe... I heard it from your aunt. They were attracted by your family..." Zheng Dabao said.

"It's not our family that attracted them, it's our landscape that attracted them..." Yang Ming smiled modestly, "The roads in our village are difficult to travel. How about we set up a reception point in the township to specifically guide tourists? When tourists come, we can just take them by donkey cart and bring them all to the village..."

"Your idea works, but our village isn't a big one. We don't have many people or many houses. Do we really need to open such a large place? If there are too many tourists, we won't be able to accommodate them all," Zheng Dabao said.

"What's the big deal? Our village can't accommodate everyone, but we can send tourists to other villages, like Liu's hometown, Liujia Village, and Sunjiawu, which is southwest of our village—isn't that Aunt Pang's hometown? There's also Xuejiagou, Qijiawa, and Jiangjiaji, which are southeast of our village. They're not far from our village. We can negotiate with them and have several villages join together. That would greatly expand our tourism reach. We can then add these villages to our website promotions..." Yang Ming said.

"Not bad..." Zheng Dabao's eyes lit up. "These surrounding villages are all related to us by marriage, and we've always had good relations. Your aunt is from Qijiawa, your sister-in-law Liu's mother is from Jiangjiaji, and your aunt Zheng Yu's husband's family is from Xuejiagou..." The key is that when the Zheng family introduces business to others and helps them generate income, they will definitely look up to them.

Yang Ming touched his nose: "Hmm... it's hard to say about Xuejiagou..." It turns out that Zhu Yuan was Xue's daughter-in-law.

"What's so hard to say?" Zheng Dabao glared. "The Xue family is really kind. They helped a lot by bringing your Uncle Zheng Yu and Aunt Zhu Yuan together..."

"Hehe... I was being petty and judging a gentleman by my own standards..." Yang Ming chuckled awkwardly.

"I'll get someone to go in a bit. Let's put up a sign first, and then we can replace it with a better one later. We can also discuss organizing a reception team. The reception team is a long-term job, and we can't count on the village's labor force. We can only find people who are not working. But it's not easy to find people who are not working these days. It's all your fault..." Zheng Dabao said.

"Why am I being dragged into this again?" Yang Ming smiled wryly, he really didn't understand what was going on.

"You built two big greenhouses and attracted all the idle people in our village..." Zheng Dabao said with a smile.

"Idle people? They're quite efficient at their work." Yang Ming was puzzled. The people he had hired didn't seem like idle vagrants at all; on the contrary, they were very efficient at their work.

"Do you think of them as idlers? They are all surplus labor in the family. They can do the work, but without them, the family won't be burdened," Zheng Dabao said.

"It's just that there's a large population..." Yang Ming suddenly realized what the idler meant.

"More or less..." Zheng Dabao nodded.

After adjusting the satellite dish, the two went inside and watched TV for a while. Liu Zhengfeng also turned on the computer and got Yang Ming's bank account number from him. The transfer between them was successful.

Yang Ming checked his account balance and saw that there was indeed an extra two million: "You and Auntie come to my house tonight, I'll cook for you."

"I'm really fine..." Wei Qingqing huddled in a corner, looking timidly at her mother-in-law Zhang Shufang and her sister-in-law and best friend Sun Fangfang who were pressing her for answers.

In typical mother-in-law/daughter-in-law conflicts, since the mother-in-law is physically weaker than the daughter-in-law, all the sisters-in-law will firmly stand on the mother-in-law's side, acting as the vanguard, henchmen, and main force, fighting to the end with the daughter-in-law. The current situation is quite similar.

"It can't be nothing. You two have been acting all mysterious these days," Zhang Shufang said.

"Exactly, do you think we're blind? If you don't want to tell us, fine, but now take us for a walk around the back garden. We have to visit all those farms there." Sun Fangfang went even further, directly digging up Wei Qingqing's secrets. She had long suspected that there was something strange about that farm. Why were there layers upon layers of fences and gates?

"Sure, but the key is with Yang Ming. Let's go find Yang Ming first and have him take us there..." Wei Qingqing said.

"Slippery..." Zhang Shufang and Sun Fangfang thought to themselves at the same time.

"Hey! What's going on here?" Just as the two of them were thinking they should take some action, Aunt Liu lifted the door and came in.

Although Liu Sao had secretly vowed at noon that she would never visit Yang Ming's house again, she completely forgot her vow just after 1 p.m. and went to Yang Ming's house to play with Wei Qingqing again.

"Oh! It's Aunt Liu. It's nothing, we were just joking around with my sister-in-law. You keep playing, I'm going to the construction site now to be a supervisor with my husband..." Sun Fangfang was the first to slip away.

"Hmm! I'm going to soak in the hot spring with Phoenix and the others. You guys stay home and have fun..." Zhang Shufang put on her shoes and got off the kang (heated brick bed).

Only Wei Qingqing and Aunt Liu remained in the room.

"What happened?" Aunt Liu asked.

"They asked me why Yang Ming was spacing out. How would I know why he was spacing out?" Wei Qingqing said indignantly, as if she had suffered a great injustice.

"So, it's fortunate I came, otherwise I wouldn't have gotten you out of that predicament?" Aunt Liu's eyes darted around.

"You got me out of trouble? What trouble did you get me out of trouble for? I don't know anything about it." Wei Qingqing deliberately feigned a puzzled look.

"Are you trying to renege on your debt?" Aunt Liu said.

"Default on a debt? What debt would I default on? I don't remember borrowing money from you!" Wei Qingqing said.

"Are you... trying to fool me?" Aunt Liu narrowed her eyes.

"Careless? What does 'careless' mean? Careless? Where is this tiger from? What kind is it?" Wei Qingqing pretended to be confused.

"You silly girl, see how I deal with you..." Aunt Liu was furious and lunged at Wei Qingqing with her claws outstretched.

"Yang Ming..." Wei Qingqing exclaimed in surprise.

As if by reflex, Aunt Liu immediately shrank back, but Wei Qingqing was ruthless, tackling Aunt Liu to the ground, followed by another round of inhumane tickling...

The signboard is made from an old wooden board, about two square meters in size. It has six characters written on it with a brush: three small characters and three large characters. The three small characters are "Zhengjia Village" and the three large characters are "Little Peach Blossom Spring". The signboard is coated with tung oil, so it looks shiny and doesn't look dilapidated like an old wooden board. Instead, it has a vibrant feel to it.

"Where should we put this sign up?" There were only two people in the village committee courtyard, Yang Ming and Zheng Dabao. Zheng Dabao asked the question.

Despite being the village party secretary, Zheng Dabao is only capable of resolving disputes among villagers. He's not good at anything else. Otherwise, Wang Quangen wouldn't have kept suppressing him until Yang Ming arrived, which gave him a chance to turn the tables.

"Our village is on the outskirts of the old forest. If we hang it at the village entrance, people definitely won't be able to see it. Let's hang it along the road to the forest entrance..." Yang Ming said.

"That's not our village's area. What if they don't allow us to hang it there? Or what if they take it and burn it as firewood after we hang it there..." Zheng Dabao was actually worried about this.

The distance from the entrance of the old forest to Zhengjia Village is a full two kilometers.

"What's the big deal? Aren't we going to set up a reception team? We can just build a house there, have someone keep an eye on things, and fence off a big courtyard with a few donkey carts parked inside, and use it as a rest stop..." Yang Ming said.

"Build houses? That's state land, and it's mountainous. We're in the mountains, so it's fine if we occupy it, since our village and this old forest don't have a specific boundary. But that... that's the edge. If people see it, it won't have a good impact... They've been promoting the conversion of farmland back to forest, and we're going against the grain..." Zheng Dabao's eyes widened.

"Why don't we just rent it? Don't worry, I'll pay for the land and the house. Even though our family isn't involved in the agritourism project, we still have to contribute something for everyone," Yang Ming said.

"Trying to show off your wealth?" Zheng Dabao glared. "The village is short of money right now, but we can lend you some. However, you must write a clear IOU. We'll definitely pay you back when the village is better off..."

"That won't do. This idea was mine, and I definitely can't let the village pay for it. Besides, I also want to use that land to build a train station. You know, I'm currently supplying vegetables to several big hotels in the city..." Yang Ming said.

"If that's how you put it, then I have nothing to say. But the village will definitely give you a portion of the rent every year..." Zheng Dabao insisted.

"If that's what you're saying, then I won't rent it..." Yang Ming's eyes widened.

"You..." Zheng Dabao's eyes widened as well.

The two stared at each other, neither willing to give in...

"Hiss..." Zheng Dabao was the first to give in, gasping for breath and rubbing his eyes hard, tears streaming down his face.

"How about that, are you convinced?" Yang Ming said smugly, tears streaming down his face.

"Fuck you! What good are your sharp eyes? If you don't charge rent, we won't use it." Zheng Dabao couldn't win against eyesight, so he started acting like a scoundrel. It's said that Zheng Dabao may seem like a dull and honest person, but when he gets into a rogue's act, he's even more of a rogue than the real ones.

"If you don't use it, we won't sell a single fruit or vegetable to the village, and we won't dig the hot springs..." Yang Ming went even further, "You're a rogue, do you think I can't do it?"

"You said you wouldn't sell? Do you know what my son does? I let him steal the fruit from your greenhouse and didn't pay him a single penny..." Zheng Dabao profoundly proved the truths of "there are mountains beyond mountains, and people beyond people," "a rogue is stronger than a rogue," and "old age doesn't diminish one's strength."

"Sure... I'd love to, consider it rent payment..." Yang Ming was unmoved by any persuasion.

"..." Zheng Dabao was speechless...

Zheng Dabao called over a few strong young men, who carried the signboard and placed it on the donkey cart that had been harnessed outside. The group then got on the cart and headed towards the entrance of the old forest.

The sign was very large. When they arrived at the entrance of the old forest, they found a big tree with a thick trunk by the roadside and hung the sign diagonally towards the road. Anyone passing by or coming to this road would definitely see it.

"Mission accomplished..." Yang Ming looked up at the huge signboard hanging down and nodded in satisfaction.

"We can go back now..." Zheng Dabao said.

So everyone rode back to the village in donkey carts.

Back in the village, the strong young men said goodbye and left. They still had to help their families tidy up their houses in preparation for receiving tourists. The two tourists from Zheng Dabao's family were particularly tempting to them; that meant money...

Zheng Dabao took Yang Ming back to his home. The two sat on the kang (a heated brick bed) in the main room, drinking some wine and eating peanuts while discussing the reception group and tour guide group.

"Uncle Dabao, I've thought about it. Let's have a village cadre who's good at talking take the lead in our reception team. We'll rent an office in the township and have them stationed there permanently. The members of the reception team will be the old cart drivers from the village. Whoever drives the cart best will be chosen," Yang Ming said.

"What you said makes sense. The members of our village's reception team just need to know how to drive, but the team leader needs to be eloquent," Zheng Dabao said.

"Yes! I think so too..." Yang Ming nodded. "The quality of the reception staff is very important. They are the face of our village. Ideally, they should not use a single swear word when they speak."

"You mean, you want to be listless?" Zheng Dabao said.

"That would be best..." Yang Ming said.

Using foul language is a very rude behavior. Although I sometimes use foul language myself, there's a difference between when I say it and when someone else does it...

Therefore, we must speak politely; this is a way of respecting others, and also a way of respecting ourselves.

"Alright, it's hard to find clever people in our village, but there are tons of quiet ones..." Zheng Dabao laughed.

"A swipe? You're just scrambling beans!" Yang Ming laughed.

"Hehe, let's not talk about these useless things for now, let's talk about the tour guide group..." Zheng Dabao said.

"A tour guide group? That's even simpler. There must be hunters in our village who often go into the mountains to hunt. We can have these hunters form a tour guide group and lead everyone into the mountains to hunt..." Yang Ming said.

"They're not very good at speaking..." Zheng Dabao said.

"Whether they can speak it or not doesn't matter. What's important is that they'll teach you how to hunt. That's the most important thing..." Yang Ming said.

Tourists come here to have fun, not to listen to your nonsense. As long as you're not a silent person and can correctly teach tourists hunting techniques, that's considered satisfactory. Of course, it would be even better if you could talk a little more.

"Not all tourists like hunting..." Zheng Dabao said.

"It's no big deal. We can put up a sign in the village indicating where there are places to visit. Within the village area, tourists can move around freely. If they want to go into the mountains to collect wild produce, don't people from our village often go there to collect wild produce? Whoever is familiar with the mountains can just take them there. It's just a short trip, and there's no charge," Yang Ming said.

"What you said is also a method..." Zheng Dabao nodded.

"Of course, it takes time for the tour guides to take tourists hunting. We can set a fee standard. When we travel to Beidaihe, we take a fishing boat out to sea and they charge 40 yuan. Here, we can let the tourists bring their own guns and shoot whatever they want. Charging them 20 yuan per person is not excessive, right? The tour guides can pocket that money themselves," Yang Ming said.

"Twenty yuan per person? Isn't that a bit expensive?" Zheng Dabao frowned.

"Look at you, aren't you being silly? Is 20 yuan even money? If people cared about 20 yuan, they wouldn't be traveling... Think about it, hunting takes at least a day, right? If they're unlucky and don't catch anything, they could stay for two or three days, right? And we'd have to provide them with food, wouldn't we? Besides, how much does a pheasant cost these days? How much does a rabbit cost? They're not losing money..." Yang Ming said.

"You've done a meticulous job, but have you considered that not all tourists can hunt prey?" Zheng Dabao said.

"What you're saying is ridiculous. If they could all catch prey, wouldn't they wipe out all the livestock in our mountains every few days? It doesn't matter if they're not sharpshooters. We can give them more gunpowder and bullets and let them shoot around in the mountains. Eventually, one of them will get lucky and catch something..." Yang Ming said.

"..." Zheng Dabao was speechless.

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(End of this chapter)