Volume 1, Chapter 46: The Long-Awaited Loudspeaker

Meng Xiaohan's profile page was spotless!

It was as clean as her face, without even a single trace of a blemish!

Not only had she never posted a single creation, but even her bio consisted of just a few simple words:

Xiantao Village, a female village official with a dream!

Look, how simple. If she had just written a few more words on it, it wouldn't have been so infuriating!

Right at that moment, another message from Meng Xiaohan came through.

"Are you browsing my profile page right now?"

Upon seeing this message, Guo Dong quickly looked behind him!

There was nothing there!

After letting out a sigh of relief, Guo Dong sent a message back!

"What's a profile page? I just started playing with this, I don't understand!"

"Stop playing dumb. Don't you know that browsing someone's profile leaves a record?"

Along with this message came an emoji (*❦ω❦).

Guo Dong's face darkened, and for a moment he didn't know how to reply!

"Were you eating grilled fish this morning while we were having a meeting?"

Another message arrived!

Guo Dong seemed to have gotten hooked on this, and quickly replied: "Director Liu didn't have breakfast. He wanted to taste the fish from the fish pond, so I grilled one for him."

Meng Xiaohan: "I want to eat grilled fish too. What should I do?"

As soon as Guo Dong saw the message, he grew immediately excited.

"Then come to the vegetable garden at noon, and I'll grill one for you!"

"I'll come find you as soon as I'm done! Emoji: (⁎˃nv˂⁎)."

Guo Dong's face flushed red!

To be able to blush just from chatting—he was probably the only person in the entire Xiantao Village who would do such a thing.

For some reason, the Meng Xiaohan he chatted with online felt completely different from the one he usually knew.

She was like a completely different person!

The usual Meng Xiaohan would never use that kind of tone to speak with him.

"Heizi, go move some stuff!"

Guo Dong's hormones surged, and he took the lead, running down toward the mountain.

Over at the fish pond, the crowd had already dispersed!

Only Li Tianhu remained, having finished packing up his things. He was holding two fish in his hand, preparing to take them back for lunch.

Seeing Guo Dong running over, Li Tianhu let out a chuckle.

"Guodong, your business acumen is out of this world! In less than an hour, you made several thousand bucks! I've already handed all that money over to Xiaohan, didn't keep a single penny!"

Thinking back to when he used to drive trucks hauling cargo, how could it ever compare to this ease? Not only could he casually catch fish with his bare hands, but he could also make money doing it. You couldn't find a better deal even if you searched with a lantern.

Guo Dong was in no mood to idle and chat with this guy; his mind was entirely consumed by thoughts of grilled fish.

Naturally, this grilled fish couldn't be prepared the same way as the one that morning.

It had to be made as deliciously as possible, and ideally paired with some drinks to make it truly satisfying!

Swish!

Taking advantage of Li Tianhu's distraction, Guo Dong snatched the two large grass carp right out of his hands and bolted.

"I'm keeping these fish! If you want to eat, go catch another one yourself!"

Li Tianhu stood there empty-handed!

It wasn't until Guo Dong had run a hundred meters away that he finally snapped back to reality.

"Guo Dong, you son of a bitch! Those fish were the ones I specially set aside!"

Before he could finish his sentence, Guo Dong had already raced up the mountain, leaving a trail of dust behind him.

"You really are a piece of work. My mom is waiting for my fish to cook lunch!"

Just then, Heizi also came charging over.

Li Tianhu hurriedly dodged out of the way!

To his surprise, Heizi completely ignored him and leaped straight into the fish pond!

"What the hell is going on today? Is everyone losing their minds?"

Within a dozen seconds, when Heizi emerged from the water again, it was biting down on a large grass carp!

Li Tianhu's heart finally felt a lot more balanced!

"Good boy, Heizi! Next time there's something good to eat, I'll save some for you!"

With that, he made a move to snatch the fish right out of Heizi's mouth.

Little did he expect Heizi to swiftly sidestep him and vanish in a flash of smoke.

If you wanted to snatch something from Brother Dog's jaws, you'd win only if you could catch up to him!

Left standing there, Li Tianhu cursed to the heavens, utterly helpless against this man and his dog.

Returning home, Guo Dong prepared a few things and greeted his grandfather.

" Grandpa, I won't be coming back for lunch at noon, don't wait for me!"

"What are you up to?"

"I've got a lunch date with Xiaohan!"

"Then what are you waiting for, get moving! Do you expect a young lady to wait for you?"

Guo Dong carried all his equipment over to the small wooden hut.

Once the grill was set up and the drinks arranged, he excitedly began preparing the seasonings!

Vegetables?

The garden had everything!

With such a massive vegetable garden right at his doorstep, was there ever any worry about running out of fresh greens?

Heizi dropped the fish it had caught right in front of Guo Dong.

It sprawled out beside the barbecue grill, its tongue hanging out continuously.

Seeming to feel that wasn't enough, it suddenly sprang up and darted into the vegetable garden.

While processing the grass carp, Guo Dong adjusted his phone to the optimal angle!

Meanwhile, Meng Tianmian sat in his own courtyard, washing a grass carp.

His wife, Xu Jie, was busy bustling about in the kitchen.

Dressed up and ready, Meng Xiaohan walked out holding a piece of paper.

"Dad, later on, use the village loudspeaker and make the announcements according to this!"

Meng Tianming paused his work, took the white paper, and glanced at it.

"The village loudspeaker hasn't been used in ages. I wonder if it still works!"

"Even if it doesn't, we have to fix it and use it. We'll need it a lot more often from now on. With this many people, it's impossible to notify everyone by calling them one by one!"

Meng Tianming nodded and carefully examined the densely packed rows of small characters.

"Are these all requested by Guodong?"

"Yeah, this is his tentative plan for now!"

"Alright, leave it to me!"

With that, he stood up, ready to tackle the village loudspeaker that rarely got used even once a year.

Just as he reached the gate, a sudden thought struck him, and he turned his head to ask.

"What about you? All dressed up like this, where are you headed?"

Meng Xiaohan's face turned red. "I'm not eating at home for lunch, I have a date with a friend!"

"A friend? What kind of friend?" Meng Tianming said with a huff, "Don't you go pulling any nonsense!"

Meng Xiaohan's face chilled slightly as she retorted, "What nonsense am I pulling? The date is with Guodong!"

Phew!

Meng Tianming's expression shifted from overcast to clear skies in an instant, and he broke into a broad smile.

"Off you go then, don't keep him waiting too long! Leave all these chores to me, I won't mess it up!"

The speed of his facial expression changes was almost dizzying.

Blushing fiercely, Meng Xiaohan hurried out the door!

Just as she stepped out, the village loudspeaker blared to life.

"Hey! Hey!

All you folks of the village, listen up!

I am Village Chief Meng Tianming!

Taking advantage of the lunch hour, I have an announcement to make!

After you finish eating, every single person in the village—anyone who is an adult and capable of holding a tool to work the fields—grab your tools and gather at the back mountain!

I repeat, all you folks of the village..."

Listening to her father's familiar voice, a smile bloomed on Meng Xiaohan's face.

It was the same familiar voice, the very same familiar flavor.

She didn't know how long it had been since she last heard it!

She had thought this contraption was destined for the scrap heap, but never expected it to be dusted off and used today.

Back when she was a little girl, this sound would constantly ring out across the village.

The moment the loudspeaker sounded anywhere in Xiantao Village, everyone would put down whatever they had in their hands, listening intently for fear of missing something important!

Lost in thought, she involuntarily quickened her pace, running toward Guo Dong's vegetable garden on the back mountain!

"Xiaohan, you're the best, you can do this!"