The motorcycle sped along the road. The lush greenery on both sides brought a wave of coolness. It was no wonder many people enjoyed riding motorcycles for leisure; it was truly exhilarating!
As the motorcycle reached the entrance of Twelve-Bend Village, Lu Fan suddenly stopped. He looked towards the river bend not far away and saw a girl sitting by the bank, watching his second senior sister bathe nine little pigs.
"What the... Didn't Li Jingjing regain her memory? Why is she back to tending pigs?" Lu Fan was puzzled. He turned the motorcycle and rode towards the riverbank.
"Brother Lu Fan!" Li Jingjing exclaimed happily upon seeing Lu Fan approach.
"Jingjing! Why are you back?" Lu Fan asked as he stopped his motorcycle beside her.
"I said I would help you with the pigs! And I always keep my word! Besides... there's something only the four of us know! If I'm not mistaken, both sisters should have benefited, but I haven't received anything!" Li Jingjing said, walking up to Lu Fan and speaking with her big eyes blinking.
"Holy cow! You've truly inherited your father's traits! You just regained your memory and you already know how to extort! Go on, what do you want?" Lu Fan looked at Li Jingjing with disbelief. The change was too drastic. They say girls change a lot when they turn eighteen, but this was too fast.
"I want to eat a peach every day!" Li Jingjing suddenly declared.
Damn it... Lu Fan instantly collapsed. He had been about to look at her with newfound respect, but it turned out he was overthinking.
He took a peach from his storage ring and handed it to Li Jingjing. Then, he called out to his second senior sister. Immediately, his second senior sister, along with the nine little pigs, ran out of the river. They followed Lu Fan and Li Jingjing back home.
Liu Ruyan, Wang Yan, and more than a dozen villagers had just finished harvesting the mushrooms and several wild vegetables, packaging and organizing them. These were being prepared for shipment the next morning.
"Sister-in-law Wang Yan! The fruit supermarket in town is short of staff to sell goods. Would you be willing to go? If you are, I'll pay you five thousand yuan a month." Lu Fan's eyes lit up when he saw Wang Yan. With her looks, her figure, and her alluring charm... she would surely attract a lot of customers selling fruit!
"Five thousand???"
"Five thousand ah???"
Not only was Wang Yan surprised and delighted, but the villagers were also stunned. Earning five thousand a month was better than what many men working in the city made!
"Lu Fan! Do you still need people? I want to go too!"
"Little Fan! Can I go?"
...
Suddenly, everyone nearby was tempted. Before Wang Yan could even agree, they started asking one after another.
"We don't need that many people to sell fruit! However, I have a way for you to earn money too! Don't rush!" Lu Fan quickly called out.
"What way? Can we earn five thousand a month too?"
Someone nearby immediately asked.
"Sisters, aunties, in order for all villagers to have work and earn money, I plan to stop hiring you at my place from now on..."
"Hey, hey, hey! Little Fan! What are you saying? If you don't need us anymore, where will we earn money?" Before Lu Fan could finish, someone got anxious and shouted. Although they only earned thirty yuan a day, in this remote mountain village, it solved many problems.
"Heh heh! I plan to have you grow these wild vegetables yourselves, and I'll buy them! However, you must use the seeds and techniques I provide. Also, these wild vegetables cannot be sold to others. We will sign contracts. I'll buy as much as you grow. This way, you can all earn money, and the more you work, the more you earn!" Lu Fan said with a smile.
"Then... won't you lower the prices then? Many people used to come into the mountains to collect wild vegetables. Later, as more people collected them, they started lowering the prices. After a day of hard work, they wouldn't even sell them for ten or twenty yuan!" someone nearby immediately asked.
"That's when they collected them in the mountains, and they couldn't collect much in a day. Now, with artificial cultivation, as you've seen, the yield is exceptionally high. I provide the techniques and handle the purchasing. If you're willing to put in the effort, I guarantee you'll all make a lot of money! But if you want to make a lot of money without putting in any effort... hahaha! That won't happen!" Lu Fan said loudly.
"Then... Little Fan! As long as I can earn money, Auntie will believe you! I'll follow you!"
"Little Fan! I'll follow you too. If you can really make us earn money, I'll call my husband back from the city to work for you!"
"I'll follow you too..."
...
"Little Fan! Are you really going to do this? If the cultivation area gets larger, do you have enough sales channels? And..." Liu Ruyan gently tugged Lu Fan's sleeve and pointed to her pocket, saying with some worry. The spiritual liquid was not easy to come by. If the villagers cultivated vegetables on such a large scale, and Lu Fan himself had peach trees and mushrooms, would the spiritual liquid be enough?
"I'll find a way!" Lu Fan knew Liu Ruyan was worried about the spiritual liquid. He nodded and added, "I'm not just going to grow vegetables, I'm also going to grow several medicinal herbs!"
As Lu Fan spoke, he took out a piece of paper from his pocket, on which were written the names of several common medicinal herbs such as ginseng, gastrodia, and safflower.
"Ruyan! These are a few of the most commonly used medicinal herbs. If we can cultivate them ourselves, we can solve the problem of medicinal cuisine for the hotel. Moreover, this is also a way to help the villagers get rich! After I return from the capital, we can study it thoroughly." Lu Fan handed the paper to Liu Ruyan.
"Okay!" Seeing Lu Fan's confident demeanor, Liu Ruyan nodded, put away the paper, and then called out to the others, "Everyone, if you want to grow wild vegetables, let's go to the village committee to sign contracts! Then we can arrange for seeds and technical guidance."
"Mmm! Having Ruyan help me really solves a lot of problems!" Lu Fan felt a little touched. Liu Ruyan, as the village head, was practically working solely for him!
"Brother Fan! Do you like this village head sister!" Li Jingjing, standing beside him, stared intently into Lu Fan's eyes, as if seeing a hint of something unusual in his gaze.
"Children shouldn't talk nonsense!" Lu Fan glanced at Li Jingjing, having forgotten that the girl was still there.
"Hmph! I jumped from nine years old to seventeen. Although I haven't been to school, my dad says I'm very smart, and I can do more than just tend pigs!" Li Jingjing said, taking a bite of the peach in her hand.
"Then don't always think about tending pigs. When you have free time, go to school as an auditor. At least you should learn to write," Lu Fan said to Li Jingjing with a helpless expression.
"If you give me a peach every day, I'll go to school!" Li Jingjing suddenly said, looking at Lu Fan.
"Hmph! You're not going to school for me, so why should I give you a peach every day?" Lu Fan's forehead instantly broke out in a cold sweat.
"Brother Fan! Of course, I'm going to school for you! Look, I plan to help you tend pigs in the future, but if I don't know how to count, and some of your pigs go missing, I won't know. Wouldn't that be your loss!" Li Jingjing said indignantly.