Chapter 1262: First Signs

At seven o'clock in the evening, for people living in the city, it's a very interesting time. Everyone has just finished dinner, either starting to watch TV dramas or beginning to help their children with homework.

Of course, in the latter case, it's basically a scene of harmony before studying and chaos during homework—quite a lively mess.

For those in love, this is naturally the best time. After dinner, they can stroll hand in hand, watch a movie, or chat.

But all of this presupposes living in the city.

What if the place you live suddenly becomes a rural area with nothing—no internet, no electric lights, no telephone, no television? What kind of scene would that be?

The old saying 'the crowing of cocks and barking of dogs are heard, and the paths crisscross' probably describes the village where Zhao Fusheng and his group are now.

Administratively, it's called Dahong Village. It's said that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom once stirred up trouble here, though it's hard to tell if it's true. But according to the village elders, there is indeed a relic in the mountains, supposedly left by soldiers of the Qing Dynasty's Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

The county and city leaders naturally wouldn't stay in such a remote and impoverished place for a whole day. After leaving behind accompanying personnel, they took their leave.

Among those Zhao Fusheng brought, Yu Feihong and the foundation staff were sent away by Zhao Fusheng on the grounds of poor living conditions, and he also assigned them ten security company personnel.

The remaining dozen or so people stayed in the village, some lodging with villagers, others staying at the elementary school.

Of course, the reason for saying 'a dozen or so' is that among them, besides the ten security guards from Future Security and Jiang Wen's assistant, there were also Chen Shijie and four investigators from the Sichuan Provincial Public Security Department.

Zhao Fusheng didn't reveal Chen Shijie's identity to anyone, simply saying they were his friends.

Zhang Qian and the security company personnel could tell but naturally wouldn't gossip. As for Wang Zhen, with Zhao Fusheng's instructions, he wouldn't tell others either. So Chen Shijie and his team quietly settled in.

"Are you really planning to build a school here?"

Wang Zhen escorted Chen Shijie and the investigators to the villagers' homes; they needed to conduct a preliminary survey. Meanwhile, Zhao Fusheng and Jiang Wen stayed at the school to chat.

"Yes, a school definitely needs to be built here." Zhao Fusheng smiled at Jiang Wen: "What, you think I'm joking?"

"Not at all." Jiang Wen shook his head: "But the transportation here is a problem."

To be honest, he was quite satisfied with the scenery here. The environment hadn't been severely damaged yet, and it would be more than adequate as an outdoor filming location for movies.

"Transportation is easy to handle." Zhao Fusheng chuckled: "Just build a road."

"Huh?"

Jiang Wen was taken aback, looking at Zhao Fusheng with some surprise.

"What, don't you understand?" Zhao Fusheng countered.

Jiang Wen honestly nodded. Clearly, Zhao Fusheng's words were indeed hard for him to grasp.

"To get rich, build roads first." Zhao Fusheng smiled and explained to Jiang Wen: "If we want to build a school and set up an outdoor filming base here, shouldn't the local government improve infrastructure? Paving a cement road shouldn't be a problem, right?"

"It's not that easy. A cement road this long would cost at least twenty to thirty million per kilometer, right?" Jiang Wen shook his head. Although he was a layman, he knew that building roads wasn't easy. Given the current economic level and the distance, constructing a road would require several hundred million or more.

Zhao Fusheng looked at Jiang Wen helplessly: "Brother, I just want them to build a gravel road, not a provincial or national highway. Does it need that much money?"

Huh?

Jiang Wen was dumbfounded.

With a sigh, Zhao Fusheng patiently explained: "I checked before; there actually is a road here, but it's narrow and hasn't been maintained for years. If the Dongyang Municipal Party Committee and Government are willing to invest ten to twenty million for repairs, I think it can temporarily solve the transportation problem. As for whether it can develop further, it's simple—it depends on my investment projects afterward."

"What?" Jiang Wen was stunned. He really hadn't expected that Zhao Fusheng wasn't joking but actually planned to invest here.

Seeing Jiang Wen's expression, Zhao Fusheng knew he was skeptical and explained: "I checked before; there are quite a lot of agricultural and sideline products here, especially mountain goods, which are of good quality. Think about it: if we set up an agricultural product processing base here, specifically collecting items like fungus and selling them online, wouldn't that open up sales channels?"

"Wild vegetables, wild fruits, pheasants, mushrooms, wild hares..." Zhao Fusheng pointed at the distant mountains and slowly said: "City people's food is all polluted. Do you think they'd be willing to buy authentic mountain goods online?"

Jiang Wen was silent. He wanted to refute Zhao Fusheng, saying that maybe it wouldn't open up sales, but on second thought, Zhao Fusheng's Future Group owned shares in Taobao, the largest e-commerce platform in the country, had Future Advertising for planning, could promote through Future Film's works, and even if funds were insufficient, Future Investment was behind it. Moreover, the programmers at Future Network Technology could easily spread the mountain goods ads across the internet.

From this perspective, Zhao Fusheng wasn't wrong at all.

In fact, Jiang Wen suddenly felt that if Zhao Fusheng wanted, he could invest in building roads himself and then invest, without all this trouble.

Zhao Fusheng laughed heartily and didn't continue the conversation. This idea came to him after hearing Wang Zhen say that there were many mountain goods on the hills, and every year villagers had to walk dozens of miles to the county town, only to be exploited by outside merchants.

It's often said that the rich get richer. The reason is simple: the richer you are, the more resources you control. As a result, for the same project, those with more resources have a higher chance of success.

The later phenomena of class solidification and widening wealth gap didn't happen without reason.

Of course, this was just a concept of Zhao Fusheng's; realizing it would require some opportunities.

Many things in this world can't succeed by thinking alone. No matter how perfect the plan, if it's not implemented properly, the final result will inevitably be unsatisfactory.

...

...

At the same time, deep in the mountains a few kilometers from the village.

"Boss, many more people have come to Dahong Village." A man with a scar on his face said respectfully to a stern-looking middle-aged man.

"Hmm, it seems that teacher surnamed Wang really found a wealthy friend." The middle-aged man, about forty, didn't look as fierce as the scarred man beside him, but the scarred man was as docile as a child before him. He quickly nodded: "I asked; leaders from the county and city accompanied them. I heard the one building the school is a big star, very beautiful."

"A star, huh." The middle-aged man rubbed his chin, pondered for a moment, and said to Scar: "Keep someone watching, and tell the brothers to be careful lately. Keep an eye on those workers and don't let them run out."

He paused, then said coldly: "And you all, stay sharp. If there's another screw-up, I'll deal with you."

Scar instantly broke into a sweat and quickly nodded in agreement.

The middle-aged man stood up, patted Scar on the shoulder: "Old Dao, you've been with me for six years. I trust you. Last month, I had someone send five hundred thousand to your hometown. We're out here to make a name for ourselves, aren't we?"

Scar nodded repeatedly, respectfully saw the middle-aged man off, then his face turned pale.

Some things didn't need to be said too clearly. Sending money to his hometown was essentially telling him that his family was under control.

Thinking this, Scar sighed inwardly. He knew he was already on a pirate ship and couldn't get off; he could only go down the dark path.

...

...

Many people love pastoral life, always thinking that leaving the hustle and bustle of the city and retreating into the mountains is an infinitely happy and classy thing. But if modern people were really to say goodbye to the prosperity of the metropolis and endure rural life, they might not adapt.

Imagine: no phone, no computer, no modern conveniences.

You can't contact the outside world, can't watch the shows you want, only face the vast mountains, and after dark, only a few flickering oil lamps.

How long could modern people endure such a life?

It's easy to go from frugality to luxury, but hard to go from luxury to frugality. The principle is the same: once accustomed to comfort, not everyone can get used to hardship overnight.

So for those literary young women, no matter how much they shout about wanting to go on a pilgrimage to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, let them go once and experience the lack of oxygen and the care of ultraviolet rays, and see if they still shout.

Of course, some might genuinely like it—after all, on the highway, countless romantic encounters await them.

Unless, like Wang Zhen, after a major upheaval, one's personality and mindset undergo a transformation. Or like the deceased senior, a true idealist.

Otherwise, in Zhao Fusheng's view, very few modern people could persist in a place like Dahong Village.

As for Zhao Fusheng himself, ahem, he still preferred the bustling city life.

"Got a moment? Let's talk."

Two days later, while Zhao Fusheng was talking with Wang Zhen, Chen Shijie walked in and said in a low voice.

Zhao Fusheng frowned. Intuition told him that it seemed his old classmate had found something.