Chapter 99: Chapter 99: The Fox Director
The director gave a brief introduction, and everyone understood.
The production team was eager for the guests to voluntarily help the locals with work, unlocking more scenes, as everything couldn’t be limited to just a small courtyard.
The guests’ feelings were unclear to the production team, but Director Wang was sure the audience would be happy.
Director Wang: "Alright, let’s take a look at the houses now. There are a total of five houses, and each house comes with a different yard and vegetable field."
Su Chaomu raised his hand eagerly, "Director Uncle, so how do we choose the houses?"
Director Wang: "Drawing lots."
Su Chaomu sighed like an old-timer, "Looks like we can only rely on luck."
The director took everyone to see the houses, mainly to allow the guests and audience to appreciate the beautiful scenery of Xishui Village.
Xishui Village has the geographical advantage to attract investment, and it’s about to be developed into a tourist village.
Every household in the village grows osmanthus, and many of the osmanthus trees are very old. Right now, the fragrance of osmanthus fills the air, making the entire village smell wonderful.
On one side of the village are neat rice fields, currently in the growth stage of late rice, and they will be harvested from late October to early November.
It’s now mid to late September, and before this season concludes, the guests will have the chance to take part in the harvesting.
On the other side of the village are flower fields, with some areas dedicated to different flowers, some interspersed, and some intentionally planted to form a picture.
Behind the village runs a river, with mountains rising and falling alongside it. The mountains are covered with fruit trees, comprising an orchard jointly managed by the villagers.
In the middle of the river, there’s a reservoir that is stocked with fish year-round.
By expressway, it’s just over an hour’s drive from the center of Jiang City to here.
Coming here, you can enjoy the pastoral scenery, check in at the flower fields for photos, go fruit picking in the orchard, and fish at the reservoir, with locals assisting in cooking.
No need to wait for long holidays; you can drive here with friends and family over the weekend.
It can be said that, as long as the villagers don’t overcharge tourists, once Xishui Village is officially developed, it is sure to become a hit. Without mentioning other cities, even in nearby cities, people are sure to come here for a visit on weekends.
[Wow, I didn’t know Jiang City had such a treasure of a village; I never discovered it before.]
[As they said, the village was pretty remote before. Later, a few college students returned to work as village officials and began actively attracting investment to develop it into a tourist village.]
[These young village officials know how to win people’s hearts.]
[They’ve also helped the villagers prosper.]
[Please don’t overcharge tourists. As long as there’s no overcharging, I’ll go.]
[We’ll know whether they’ll overcharge or not from feedback from the first few batches of tourists.]
[However, for long-term development, setting good rules by locals is essential. Don’t let a few bad apples spoil the project.]
Basically, everyone was immersed in the beautiful scenery.
"Oh!"
Tuanzi stumbled and almost fell.
Pei Hai crouched down, "I’ll hold you."
Tuanzi quickly leaped into his embrace.
Once lifted up, Tuanzi continued looking up.
Noticing her actions, Pei Hai chuckled, "Do you like osmanthus so much? You’ve been looking at it this whole way."
Tuanzi was constantly looking up at the osmanthus flowers, otherwise, with her agility, she wouldn’t have nearly fallen.
"I love them!"
Tuanzi wiped the corner of her lips, "With so much osmanthus, how many osmanthus cakes could we make?"
Pei Hai: "..."
Meanwhile, they’ve arrived at House No. 1.
House No. 1 is near the flower fields. From the yard or through the windows, one can see a landscape blooming with flowers.
The yard is large and empty, and inside the bungalow, it’s also quite bare. Two bedrooms, a living room, and a kitchen.
As it turns out, only one bedroom had a bed, and the living room had a small table with two small chairs.
The kitchen used a traditional stove, requiring one to gather their own firewood, but it came well-stocked with corresponding seasonings.
The production team also provided a bit of rice and flour.
"The advantage of House No. 1," Director Wang introduced with a smile, "is that the owner said you can go to the flower nursery to select some flowers to transplant, free of charge."
Su Chaomu exclaimed excitedly, "I want this house!"
Liu Bai, the brother of the dancer Liu Hu, scoffed, "Who knows what your luck will be when you draw lots?"
Su Chaomu hurriedly asked Tuanzi, "Can you switch with me if you draw Number 1? I’ll bring you chocolate next time."
Tuanzi agreed readily.
Making fresh flower cakes is troublesome; chocolate is much better.
Su Chaomu warmly wrapped his arm around Liu Bai’s shoulder.
"Hey, buddy, if you draw Number 1, switch with me too. What do you like? I’ll bring it for you."
Liu Bai shook off his hand with a stern face, "Don’t get too chummy. We’ve only just met today."
"Ah, but we’ll be living together for a long time next,"
Su Chaomu continued to move in enthusiastically.
Liu Bai dodged away. Who gets this friendly when they’re just acquainted? Weird.
Su Hanjiang was more familiar with the show’s tricks.
"Director, so what’s the downside?"
Director Wang continued to smile narrowly.
Tuanzi clung to Pei Hai and whispered, "That sly smile, like a fox, an old fox."
Pei Hai couldn’t help but laugh, "He sure is an old fox. You can call him Uncle Fox in the future."
"The downside of House No. 1 is that the assigned vegetable field is relatively small. Besides, being close to the flower field means it’s farther from the rice field and vegetable plots, so you’ll have to walk a bit more to get there."
Walking a bit more doesn’t matter in the face of romance, and Su Chaomu was fixated on the flower field and growing flowers, so he went to cozy up to the other two little guests.
The daughter of the opera artist Yun Xiuxiu, Lin Ci, was reserved and somewhat shy.
The more enthusiastic Su Chaomu was, the more she avoided him. So he turned to Wu Ti’s son, Wu Yu.
Wu Ti is a handsome and elegant man, and his son inherited his good looks. Though still young, Wu Yu’s features were delicate and handsome, but he was a bit lazy and uninterested in everything.
When Su Chaomu enthusiastically inquired, Wu Yu just lazily moved his lips without making a sound.
Wu Ti translated for his son, "He said okay."
Su Chaomu: "...Oh, well, thank you in advance."
He ran back to Su Hanjiang’s side, unable to resist looking back at Wu Yu several times.
House No. 2 is in the village center, also a bungalow. The advantage is that the house is slightly more furnished, and the downside is that both the yard and vegetable field are relatively small.
House No. 3 is near the fields and close to the vegetable plots. The advantage is that the assigned vegetable field is large and convenient for farm work, but the house is relatively shabby.
House No. 4 is near the foothills, with fruit trees in the yard but a relatively small allocated vegetable field. Additionally, it’s relatively far from both the flower field and vegetable plots.
House No. 5 is near the river, with a small creek running through the yard. The allocated vegetable field isn’t large, and it’s also relatively far from both the flower field and vegetable plots.
All the houses’ yards, except for House No. 1, have osmanthus trees, and House No. 3 even has a particularly large osmanthus tree.
After the introduction, the director asked the kids to come over and draw lots.
Su Chaomu rubbed his hands together.
"I have to draw Number 1, have to draw Number 1."
Upon drawing, he got Number 2.
Su Chaomu: o(╥﹏╥)o
Tuanzi drew Number 3, a shabby house but with the largest osmanthus tree and a large allocated vegetable field.
Wu Yu drew Number 4, near the foothills with fruit trees in the yard.
Lin Ci drew Number 5, by the river with a creek running through the yard.
Su Chaomu looked pitiably at Liu Bai.