aircannonsinc Chapter 89 The Problem of the Mountain Villa
Chapter 89 The Problem of the Mountain Villa
Zhang Niu was quite surprised by Chairman Zhang's arrival, not expecting him to come on the day he opened his business, but he still received him very warmly.
Several days had passed since the start of the stay at the resort, and Chairman Zhang became one of the first guests. Initially a little embarrassed, Chairman Zhang was overjoyed to see that Xiao Zhang had opened the resort, and he simply moved in as a guest without having to bother explaining.
Early in the morning, Zhang Niu carried his hoe to the orchard. The weeds had grown wildly after a long time without being hoeed.
Now, melon seedlings have been planted in the space between the two fruit trees. They were planted roughly at first, and the surrounding weeds weren't cleared much. We even had the two people from the chicken coop help out, and it took them several days to finish.
Standing at the entrance of the bamboo house, Chairman Zhang stretched and yawned. Life was so comfortable. He didn't have to handle any affairs, there was no noise from the city, and he had even sent his assistant back home.
Standing in front of the pond, practicing Tai Chi for seniors is something Chairman Zhang does every morning.
"Your punches were really good." Zhang Niu saw Chairman Zhang opening and closing his fists as he returned.
He chuckled and said, "I've been practicing for over ten years, just for the feeling."
"Then you continue, I'll go in and cook. Is it rice or... today?"
"For your local noodles, please add more vegetables."
Chairman Zhang was very interested in local noodles in the morning. He said they were delicious and good for the stomach, which was more comfortable than eating fried dough sticks and vegetable buns every day.
Sitting in the pavilion eating noodles in the morning, Chairman Zhang picked up a noodle and slid it into his mouth. He's really good at eating noodles.
"Xiao Zhang, I've been staying here for several days now, and I've noticed there are still a few minor issues you need to correct," Chairman Zhang said after taking a bite of noodles.
"What's up?" he replied while eating noodles.
"I like to watch the news when I wake up in the morning, otherwise I feel uncomfortable. Now you know what I'm talking about, right?" He smiled at Zhang Niu.
"A television? Oh right, I forgot about your city habits," Zhang Niu immediately exclaimed.
"Yeah, even though you don't really like watching it, other people are different. The environment here is nice, but you can't be detached from real society, right? The internet isn't available yet, so this is how a TV should be, right?" He summarized a bunch of things.
Chairman Zhang's words resonated with Zhang Niu. "Thank you. I'm usually so busy that I don't think about such small things. You guys have such good eyesight."
"Hehe, luckily it's only been open for a few days, it's fine." He turned back to continue eating his noodles.
When Zhang Niu first reclaimed this land, no cable was laid. People in Zhangjia Village still use satellite dishes to watch TV. There's no unified cable TV system in the village. Almost every household uses a satellite dish. It receives dozens of channels, and for about 500 yuan a month, you can watch for several years.
Installing that cable TV is a hassle, and Zhang Niu has never installed it and doesn't really like watching TV anyway, only checking it occasionally when he gets home. He never expected this little problem to arise.
Chairman Zhang is absolutely right. This place has just opened, and there aren't many people coming yet. We need to buy it quickly.
After breakfast, Zhang Niu rode his bicycle to the county town to see what he could buy.
Chairman Zhang smiled knowingly as he watched the departing figure. He realized that he still tended to view things from a superior's perspective, and it seemed he hadn't adjusted his mindset yet.
At the county town's electronics store, Zhang Niu looked around and quickly chose a 32-inch flat-screen TV. He had calculated on the way that the three bamboo houses would have a total of eighteen rooms. This cost Zhang Niu another sum of money, but there was nothing he could do but endure it.
Zhang Niu bought so many television sets at once, much to the delight of the sales clerk. They were surprised that this seemingly ordinary young man had made such a large purchase, and they busied themselves showing Zhang Niu the goods.
It took quite a bit of time to agree on the payment, pay the deposit and have them deliver it to Happy Little House. After that, I went to a small shop that sells satellite receivers. Luckily, this thing is universal, so I saved a lot of money.
A trip to the county town significantly reduced the amount of money on Zhang Niu's bank card. He'll have to work harder to earn more money.
The next morning, the electronics store delivered the television by car. The person who came to collect the money learned that the television was for the resort. The seemingly ordinary young man was actually running a resort. You really can't judge a book by its cover.
The televisions were all moved to the bamboo house. The recipient left a card saying that they could contact them anytime if there were any problems.
Zhang Niu knew a thing or two about wires, so he bought several bundles of them in the city.
Zhang Niu originally intended to just string the wires up haphazardly, but Chairman Zhang next to him said, "You can't just string them up haphazardly. At the very least, they have to look pleasing to the eye. Otherwise, it'll look like a spider web, and people will think this place has no taste."
Come to think of it, if the wires were laid out like a spider web, wouldn't that leave a bad impression? Under Chairman Zhang's guidance, the job of laying the wires was done quite well, mostly in places that weren't frequently visited.
The satellite receiver is placed directly behind the bamboo house. As long as the lid faces upwards, the receiver inside will receive the signal automatically, so there's no need to bother moving it up to the bamboo house.
"There's a show going on!"
Chairman Zhang's voice came from inside. It seemed to have worked; he clapped his hands and said, "OK, that's it."
The TV was already playing in Chairman Zhang's room. Zhang Niu went around to each room and plugged it in, trying it out one by one. Luckily, the TV wasn't damaged by the bumps on the way.
Modern bamboo houses typically have two bamboo beds in each room, suitable for both single and double occupants.
Zhang Niu felt there were some subtle issues that he would only notice gradually. He moved a TV to the tiled house to relieve his worries.
While watching Animal World on the bedside table, the little one stared intently at the animals, squeaking. "Look at all these animals!" I said, holding the little one as we watched a lion hunt on TV.
The little one looked at the lions running around inside, tilting his head, completely puzzled as to how there could be so many animals in such a small place. He blinked at Zhang Niu, clearly wanting an explanation.
Zhang Niu, not caring whether he understood or not, laughed and said, "This is called a television set, watch it." He changed the channel, and the scene on it immediately changed. He took the remote and changed another channel, then switched back to Animal World.
The little one stared at the remote control in Zhang Niu's hand, seemingly having figured something out. Zhang Niu held the little one's paw and gently pressed a button on the remote; the screen immediately changed. Now the little one understood, jumping around on the bed a few times, clearly very happy.
Zhang Niu was just bored and wanted to see how much the little guy could learn. He was intelligent, but too playful, spending his days acting like a bully, picking on everyone.
I woke up in the middle of the night and found the TV still on, just static. Looks like I forgot to tell the little one how to turn it off before bed; he was already fast asleep with the remote in his hand. This kid really is something, still wanting to hold onto this thing at night. I carefully pulled it out of his little paws.
When the little one woke up in the morning and found the remote control missing, she patted Zhang Niu with her little paws, her eyes glistening with tears. Zhang Niu, who had also woken up, rubbed his eyes and saw the little one like this. He remembered it might be the remote control from the night before. He quickly grabbed the remote from the table and placed it on the bed.
Zhang Niu was a little annoyed. This guy had planned to watch Animal World early in the morning. It took a lot of explaining to him that it would only air in the evening before he obediently went back to sleep.
The noise woke Zhang Niu, who had no choice but to get out of bed and go weed. He also took the opportunity to express his disdain for the little one.
These past few days, Zhang Niu has been going into the orchard early in the morning. Now the trees are covered with bright green fruit, including peaches, plums, cherries, and bayberries, all of which are already bearing small fruits.
I feel good every day when I come in to weed. The weather is fine now, no big winds or heavy rain.
"Zhang Wa, are you inside?" came a shout from outside.
"Who is it?!"
Hearing the sound, I hurried outside. Who would come here so early in the morning?
As he walked out of the orchard, he saw tractors parked in the open space, belching black smoke. Now that open space had become a parking lot, and Zhang Niu was happy with it; it was better than parking anywhere else.
"You figured it out!" someone outside called out again.
It turned out to be Old Wang, the beekeeper. Seeing the tractor behind him, Zhang Niu quickly guessed that he was probably there to load beehives. Now that the flowers had finished blooming, they certainly wouldn't just leave them there.
"What's wrong? I've been weeding in there every morning lately."
"It's because there are a few wolves outside. I'm afraid they'll call you out from inside and bring the wolves back." He chuckled, revealing his yellowed teeth from years of smoking.
"It's alright. People who have met before are unlikely to attack, but it's possible with strangers," he explained.
"That's good. We'll move the beehives back here these next few days. That's why we're here early this morning." He waved to the people behind him, signaling them to go inside.
"Then you can go in. Just call me if you need anything." He called out as he watched Old Wang go in.
Watching them go inside and move the beehives, Zhang Niu didn't follow; the sight of bees made his skin crawl.
"What's this for?" Chairman Zhang asked as he came out, noticing the tractor at the entrance.
"Move the beehives." He answered simply and went inside.
Outside, Old Wang and his companions were busy carrying out boxes of bees, surrounded by a large swarm of bees. Meanwhile, Chairman Zhang sat in the bamboo pavilion, watching with great interest.
Zhang Niu from the front yard estimated that it would take several trips to move all the beehives. That time, he even brought a large truck, which was as low as several tractors.
When the tractor returned in the afternoon, Old Wang took out honey in a large Coke bottle from the vehicle.
"These bees were just harvested today. I don't have much to give, so this is just a small token of my appreciation." The container was filled to the brim with honey.
Although it's just three bottles of honey, they'd fetch a good price if sold elsewhere. This is all pure honey, and since it's being given away for free, we have to accept it. "Then we won't be polite."
"I was wondering if you'll continue raising them here next year?" I asked as soon as I received the honey.
It seems this thing is really hard to get, but Zhang Niu readily agreed after only a short period of free-range breeding. With bees present, the chances of pollination are much higher, so why not?
"Is this honey?" Zhang Niu asked, looking at the Coke bottle he was holding.
"Yes, it's pure honey. Why don't you try some? I guess they picked it this morning." He handed one of the bottles to Chairman Zhang.
"Good stuff, but I've seen some honey vendors in the market whose honey is lumped together like rocks. Is that honey too?" Holding the honey, he recalled what he had seen in the market last time.
"You mean that? Well, you could say it's semi-honey, the kind that's taken from the mountains and isn't pure."
She carried two bottles of honey into the house and placed them on the table. The little one jumped onto the table. Even though the caps weren't tightly closed, the little one could smell the fragrance.
Holding the honey jar, he blinked at Zhang Niu. Zhang Niu was afraid of this guy acting like this; it meant he'd failed to beat him. He went to the kitchen and brought out a thermos and a plastic bowl for the little one.
Now Zhang Niu has to boil water every morning. And as the weather gets warmer, he needs to boil some hot water too.
He opened the bottle. Transparent yellow honey flowed out, its delicate aroma filling the small room. Zhang Niu couldn't help but take another deep breath. The scent was indeed pleasant.
Soak it in hot water. That's how you get the best taste. If you don't soak it, it's too sweet, which most people wouldn't like. The little one picked up the plastic bowl as soon as the hot water cooled slightly, gulped it down, and finished it off in the blink of an eye, wiping his little mouth.
Seeing that the bottle was empty so quickly, Zhang Niu soon realized what the guy was up to. "That's all for today. You can only drink it once a day at most, understand?" He put the bottles in the kitchenware.
The little one on the table had its eyes darting around, but Zhang Niu, who was setting things up, didn't notice. By the time Zhang Niu returned, the little one had already gone out to bully the cat.
It took Old Wang two days to carry all the honey back. Before leaving, he asked Zhang Niu how the honey tasted. Zhang Niu immediately gave him a thumbs up and said it was great.
That evening, Chairman Zhang handed money to Zhang Niu, saying he would pay for the honey. After thinking about it for a while, Zhang Niu accepted it.
The pure honey, when brewed in the morning, has a subtle fragrance that Chairman Zhang greatly appreciates.
The next day, Zhang Niu went to work in the fields as usual.
Chairman Zhang found a lot of red earthworms near the chicken coop and prepared to go fishing. He used a homemade fishing rod from Zhang Niu's house. He moved a chair over and sat down by the pond to fish in peace.
A motorcycle drove by on the dirt road outside the village.
"Brother Cheng, we've been down here for so long, how come we can't find a good spot?" The straight-haired girl hugging Brother Cheng whispered in his ear.
"Meimei, wait a minute, good places are hard to find." She quickly comforted her.
"Okay," Meimei with straight hair felt relieved. She looked at the scenery flashing by.
They work in the city and were on holiday recently. They heard on TV that the rural environment was nice, so they came down to see it for themselves. But they couldn't find it on the first day, and today is the second day.
Brother Cheng, I'm so anxious! I wish I had found out more before coming over. Now I'm hoping God will bless us and find us a good place.
"Brother Cheng, look what's that up ahead." Mei Mei pointed with her slender little hand to a GG sign in front of her.
It was Chairman Zhang who reminded us to put up the GG sign by the dirt road.
The tires screeched as the car slowly came to a stop in front of the GG sign by the field. Taking off my helmet, I looked up and saw a picture of a pristine natural landscape on the sign, along with the GG slogan: "Nowhere to go? Come to Happy Lodge, guaranteed to make you happy."
"Meimei, what do you think of the view up here? This bamboo house looks nice." He turned to Meimei and said.
"It's very beautiful up here, but I don't know if there's a place like this." The scenery is nice, but Meimei felt that if there were such a place, they would have already moved to the city long ago, instead of putting up a sign here.
"Don't worry, look at the distance shown above, it's very close. We're not short of time." We got in the car and drove towards Happy House.
"Look, that should be the intersection of Happy Little House Road." Meimei, who was sitting in the back, saw the huge rock in front of her.
Cheng, wearing a helmet, could see the place and realized he hadn't come to the wrong place. "After you get up this hill, the mountain village is just ahead. Don't rush."
He rushed uphill. In front of Cheng Ge was an open space, with bamboo houses and pavilions in front of him, willows swaying in the breeze beside him, and a large orchard in the distance.
Looking at the place, Meimei in the back seat was speechless. It was so beautiful, quiet and peaceful. It was exactly the place they were looking for.
But why isn't this place occupied? I should go ask first; it would be a shame if the place was full.
"Meimei, are you going to check if anyone's there? I'll park the motorcycle a bit further inside first."
Meimei nodded. "Okay, I'll go take a look ahead first."
I hadn't walked far when I saw an old man fishing by the pond. At least someone was there, so I quickly went over to ask him what was wrong.
"Excuse me, sir, do you know where the owner is?" she asked softly. Meimei knew that the worst thing about fishing was speaking loudly.
Chairman Zhang, who had been intently watching the buoy, turned around and saw a girl. She smiled and said, "The boss isn't here. Are you here to stay?"
Looking at the girl in front of him, he saw that she looked travel-worn.
"Yes, I saw the GG sign here on the way and came up to take a look. I didn't expect this place to be so nice. Are you from around here, sir?"
The president shook his head. "No, I'm one of the first guests here; I'm the only one here."
"Oh, you're one of the customers here?" Meimei was a little surprised.
"This place just opened, so of course I'm in the first batch. If you're not in a hurry, just wait. That guy went into the orchard to weed, and he'll probably be out in a bit." He turned back to keep staring at the buoy in front of him.
"Meimei. How's it going? It's not full yet, is it?" Brother Cheng called out as he walked over after parking his car.
"Shh," she said, raising a finger and pulling him to a more distant spot.
"I'm asking you, why did you drag me here?"
"That old man was fishing. He brought you here so he wouldn't scare you away," Meimei pouted.
Seeing that Meimei was unhappy, Cheng Ge kissed her on the cheek. "Don't be angry, you just didn't know, right?"
"The old man just said this place has just opened, and he himself is a guest." Recount the old man's words.
"No wonder, it's newly opened. We're really lucky. Come on, let's go up and take a look." He took Meimei's little hand and walked to the pond.
As soon as Meimei reached the pond, she saw the old man lift up a dark black fish.
"Blackfish?" The word flashed through Cheng Ge's mind.
"Oh. You know about this fish too?" Chairman Zhang was a little surprised. If Zhang Niu hadn't told him, he wouldn't have known that the pond was raising snakehead fish.
"Yeah, I ate it all at a friend's place. I heard it's very expensive."
"Oh, you're in for a treat tonight." He placed the blackfish in the bucket.
"Good fortune, are we having dinner together tonight?" Brother Cheng asked hurriedly.
"I hope we can cook together if we eat together." He paused, then chuckled. "But these blackfish in the pond are hard to catch. I've been fishing for days, and I only caught this one today—it's incredibly cunning."
Brother Cheng knew that snakehead fish were difficult to catch, but he didn't expect them to be this difficult. He decided to just eat them anyway and try the taste.
"The boss you're looking for has arrived."
Looking back, he saw a young man carrying a hoe returning; it turned out the boss was a young man. In Cheng Ge's memory, those who ran mountain resorts were all middle-aged people.
Zhang Niu returned and saw the motorcycle in the open space. He also saw two young men by the pond. Could it be that business had come knocking?
"Boss..."
"you.."
The two spoke at the same time. Everyone laughed and said, "Why don't you two go first?" Zhang Niu let the two young men speak first.
"We came here after seeing the GG sign on the roadside. We'd like to stay for a few days, but we don't know how much it costs."
"Let's talk at that bamboo pavilion." He led them to the bamboo pavilion on the water.
Meimei looked curiously at the bamboo pavilion and the croaking frogs in the pond.
"This place just opened, the price is two hundred a day, food is extra, you can catch fish in the pond yourself, the price is extra. There's a new kitchen so you can cook for yourself. There's also a vegetable garden over there where you can pick your own vegetables." Zhang Niu rattled off a whole bunch of things in one breath.
Meimei and her friend listened attentively, and Meimei particularly liked the idea of picking vegetables themselves. She could also indulge her craving for vegetable picking. "Sure, should we register?" she asked.
"Yes, we'll take them." He led the two to the bamboo house.
After a quick registration, they led us to a room by the window and opened the door, saying, "You'll be staying here. You can rest for a bit."
He handed them the keys and left, delighted to have made his first sale.
Meimei tossed her bag onto the bed. Lying there, she thought, "Finally, I've found a good spot."
Cheng Ge stood by the window, looking outside. "Yeah, it was a long time coming, but that young man was quite easy to talk to. We were lucky to catch this opening."
"Meimei, come and see!" she called out, waving her hand.
She stood up lazily. "What's outside making you so anxious?"
"What adorable pigs!" Meimei exclaimed as she watched the piglets running around outside.
"Meimei, you're wrong. That's not a domestic pig, it's a wild boar. Can you see its tusks?"
Meimei covered her mouth and said, "Ah, a wild boar, isn't that guy supposed to be very fierce?" In her mind, wild boars were indeed very fierce. There were also reports on TV.
Cheng Ge chuckled and said, "It's nothing. Didn't you see they were all playing around outside? Looks like they're probably domesticated."
This is what a proper mountain villa should look like.
Updated! Please vote! More exciting content is coming the day after tomorrow.