Volume 1, Chapter 66: Heart's Desire

After finishing their morning tea, Guo Dong led the two of them to the vegetable fields.

Looking at the lush vegetables spread out before him, Liu Yang was in high spirits!

The surrounding villagers also waited quietly, watching Guo Dong and the two visitors chatting and laughing amiably.

"Xiaohan, is she also from your village? How come I haven't seen her the past few times I came?"

Xie Minmin looked at the young Tian Fang and asked with a smile.

It was just a casual question, after all, there were not many girls of her age to be found in this village. Up until then, the only one she had met was Meng Xiaohan.

"She just came back yesterday and had dinner at my place!" Liu Yang chimed in from the side as he bent down to inspect the vegetables.

"It's good to come back and develop right here in the village. Why go out to work in other places? You don't make much money and still have to take orders and endure other people's attitudes!"

The speaker meant nothing by it, but the listener took it to heart!

Tian Fang smiled and stood nearby, looking rather shy.

After examining the vegetables plot by plot, Liu Yang finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Minmin, the prices will be just as we discussed before coming here. I just took a look, and everything is in order. If it's ready, we can load them up right away!"

The villagers were dumbfounded.

The prices had already been decided before they even got here?

This was somewhat different from what Xiaohan had mentioned.

Someone quietly pulled Meng Xiaohan aside and asked in a low voice, "How much are these prices? They haven't even been announced yet, wait a minute..."

Before the question could be finished, Meng Xiaohan had already pulled out a piece of paper and handed it directly to them.

"Everything was listed in advance. Sister Min handed it to me just now. The prices are quite good!"

Looking at those rows of numbers, some of the villagers who were literate even read them out in soft whispers.

If this was what she called "quite good," then it was simply...

Forget it, it was better not to look too closely, lest it ruin their peace of mind.

Eventually, whether intentionally or not, that slip of paper was passed into the hands of Meng Yingcai.

Meng Yingcai read it over and over again, his expression shifting continuously, his thoughts entirely unreadable.

"Yingcai!"

Just at that moment, someone gently tugged at his sleeve twice.

Meng Yingcai turned his head and looked at Tian Fang, who was a head shorter than him, and suddenly broke into a smile.

"What is it?"

Tian Fang stretched her neck to take a peek at the price list in his hand. "Why don't we just stay in the village?"

Meng Yingcai was stunned, unable to react for a moment.

It was Tian Fang who had originally insisted on going out to find work, and now, after his fierce argument with his old man, it was Tian Fang who was proposing to stay.

Just yesterday she was crying her eyes out, and today she was already...

"I've thought about it. Developing right here in the village is indeed much better than working odd jobs outside!"

Meng Yingcai took a deep breath. "But our wages outside are higher than here."

Tian Fang shook her head. "After deducting rent, utilities, and three meals a day, how much is actually left?"

Meng Yingcai fell silent.

"Sister Xiaohan said a lot last night, and I think she's completely right. Since our lives are already like this, where can't we build a future? At least it's much freer here."

"But..." Meng Yingcai looked at Tian Fang. "If your family finds out that I'm stuck in this impoverished mountain village..."

Tian Fang shook her head. "Even though they didn't want me to marry so far away, they aren't unreasonable people. Taking the high-speed rail from here to my hometown takes only three hours, which is very convenient! The money we save here every month is more than enough for a couple of round trips, isn't it?"

Clutching the slip of paper, Meng Yingcai nodded heavily.

This was precisely what he loved about Tian Fang—she always considered things from his perspective. Otherwise, he never would have brought her home to meet his father in the first place.

"Alright, I'll listen to you!"

Tian Fang smiled, clearly sensing the shift in his mood.

"In that case, I'll go talk to Sister Xiaohan. She practically runs our village now; even the village chief's words don't carry as much weight as hers. Let's see how she arranges things for us!"

Meng Yingcai truly felt a heavy weight lift off his chest.

Nobody really wanted to stay away from home, especially when his own father was still right here in the village!

Turning his head to look at Guo Dong, who was chatting and laughing with the wealthy boss, Meng Yingcai suddenly called out, "Guodong, is there anything you need my help with?"

Guo Dong paused slightly and turned back to look at him.

He stared at the young man intently for a long time.

At last, a smile touched his lips. "Why don't you take a few people and clear away those stone pillars at the entrance of the village so the large trucks can drive in?"

"You got it!"

Meng Yingcai trotted down the mountain in high spirits.

Witnessing this scene, Liu Yang chuckled heartily. "Youth is truly wonderful!"

"Guodong, do you still remember Chairman Wang?"

"Wang Qing?"

They had only met yesterday, how could he possibly forget?

"Right, that's him!"

"Of course I remember. I even went out of my way to look him up when I got back yesterday. If you had mentioned it earlier, I wouldn't have..."

Seeming to catch Guo Dong's drift, Liu Yang flashed a brilliant smile. "A director of the Yongfeng Group and a prominent tycoon on the rich lists. It's your good fortune that a man like him has taken notice of you!"

"What could he possibly see in me? Want me to be his personal doctor?"

Guo Dong didn't care in the least. He certainly respected such individuals—men of immense wealth, wealth so vast that even reading the introductory data in those profiles made his heart skip a beat!

So what if he was rich? Life still had to be lived the same way. Wasn't he just like any ordinary person, subject to aging, illness, and death?

"When he left yesterday, he asked me to put a question to you: if a person has been in a coma for several years, can you cure them?"

"A vegetative state?"

Guo Dong was amused. He shook his head and said, "I haven't even seen the patient, how can I make any guarantees? However, my grandfather did successfully treat a case similar to that once. Whether the specific condition is identical, I couldn't say for sure!"

"Your grandfather cured one?" Liu Yang was somewhat stirred.

"Mhm, it happened quite a long time ago, but the patient hadn't been in a coma for too long—just a few months. As for the kind you're talking about, I honestly don't know if it's treatable."

"That's fine! As long as there's a chance, it's always worth a try!"

Unable to contain his excitement, Liu Yang whipped out his phone and immediately placed a call.

Meanwhile, down at the entrance of the village.

Meng Yingcai spotted a familiar license plate.

It was a white sedan carrying two people.

They were craning their necks, peering curiously into the village.

Armed with a large sledgehammer and accompanied by two older relatives, Meng Yingcai took one look at the car and instantly put two and two together.

"Uncle, you guys go back and call for help, some troublemakers have come!"

"What? Who's making trouble?"

"Never mind that, they're definitely up to no good. I ran into them yesterday when I came back; looks like they're looking for Tianhu!"

With that, hoisting the heavy sledgehammer onto his shoulder, he charged forward.

Before he even reached the mouth of the village, the sedan abruptly threw itself into reverse and sped away in a panic!

Inside the car, one of the men held a phone to his ear, speaking rapidly.

"Manager Zhou, we've checked it out. The vegetables at Xianghe Hotel come from a place called Xiantao Village. Liu Yang came personally, accompanied by Xie Minmin. The villagers here are extremely savage, we didn't dare get close. Understood, we won't try to go toe-to-toe with them—that guy is chasing us with a massive sledgehammer right now. They're just a bunch of unruly ruffians!"

Hanging up the phone, the two men patted their chests in lingering fear and drove away via an alternate route.

They didn't even dare pass through Lijiazou anymore, terrified of being spotted by the villagers and having their car smashed to pieces.

They still remembered the events of yesterday afternoon all too clearly.

Those people were absolute bandits!