Chapter 229: The Mountain Village's Intelligence Department

Ning Fei returned to Qingfeng Temple.

To his surprise, a large crowd of people had gathered outside Qingfeng Temple at this moment, and they all looked quite young.

"Ah, it's Temple Master Ning!"

Someone shouted loudly, and the others immediately ran over in excitement, swarming around Ning Fei.

"Temple Master Ning, I'm your fan."

"Temple Master Ning, can I get your autograph?"

"I want a picture together!"

"Hubby! I've liked you for so long."

These people were exceptionally enthusiastic.

Faced with such a scene, Ning Fei felt a bit helpless.

He had told his fans before not to come looking for him in real life, as there was no need for it.

Qinshan Village was already remote; even if they flew in, it would still take over two hours of walking on mountain roads from the airport.

Furthermore, this was a mountain village. Who knew what dangers might lurk around, and where they would sleep at night was also an issue.

The nongjiale could accommodate seven or eight people at most. Being out in the mountains late at night was far too dangerous.

Plus, to be honest, outside of toxic idol fandom culture, fans usually didn't act like this.

For instance, in the real world, you rarely heard rumors of fans harassing Li Ziqi.

Later, Ning Fei learned that these fans had actually come along with the Yearning 6 crew. This season of Yearning 6 had invited two massive top-tier idols. To build up hype, their agents had deliberately leaked the show's recording schedule, prompting fans to come and show their support.

Put plainly, because the show was live-streamed, the moment the Mushroom House guests stepped outside to do a task, viewers would see the fans of these top-tier idols waiting outside.

"Traffic" was the most important metric for these idols. It meant that no matter where they appeared, there had to be a horde of fans cheering and waiting for them. Some were genuine fans, while others were paid shills, though it was impossible to tell the difference.

Among the fans who came this time, a portion also happened to really like Ning Fei, so they had discussed coming up the mountain to visit him.

Faced with the enthusiastic fans, Ning Fei felt somewhat helpless. He didn't really like these kinds of situations.

But sometimes these matters were tricky to handle. If he acted too cold, people would easily accuse him of acting like a diva or being arrogant.

"I'll just take one group photo with everyone; I still have some matters to attend to."

Saying this, Ning Fei stood in the middle of the crowd. He took a mobile phone from one of the fans, mounted it on his drone, and smilingly snapped a group picture with everyone.

The entire process seemed extremely graceful and natural.

Then he returned the mobile phone to the fan and told the group, "The group photo is on his phone. Everyone can ask him to send it to you."

After saying that, Ning Fei waved at everyone, retreated back into Qingfeng Temple, and closed the main doors.

The filming for these idol guests would last for three days, meaning it was highly likely it would be like this outside for the next couple of days.

The viewers in his live-stream room took in this entire scene.

"Temple Master Ning said before not to go to Qingfeng Temple. Why are people still bothering him?"

"Qingfeng Temple is a pure land in my heart. Please don't bring toxic fan culture over there."

"It's always been alright; fans these days are relatively rational."

"It seems like this only happened because Mushroom House invited two massive stars and rallied their fans to go over."

Everyone discussed it fervently.

Ning Fei didn't comment on the matter further. Instead, as soon as he returned to the temple, he called the lumberyard.

"Hello, is this the lumberyard? I need to custom-order a batch of timber."

"Because I need it urgently, can you work on it overnight? I'm willing to pay triple the price."

Upon hearing this, the lumberyard boss instantly perked up.

His tone immediately became extremely polite.

Ning Fei then sent over the list of raw timber materials he needed. When the lumberyard boss took a look, he saw that the specifications for each piece of wood were incredibly precise; it looked like the materials for a wooden cabin.

If they processed it immediately, they should be able to rush it out in a single night.

The two parties reached a deal. Ning Fei paid the deposit and now only had to wait for the lumberyard boss to deliver the materials tomorrow.

Ning Fei planned to take the little guys from Qingfeng Temple to South Lake tomorrow to build a wooden cabin, which would simultaneously serve as a way to seek some peace and quiet.

If nothing unexpected happened, the base of the mountain would be quite noisy these next few days.

In the evening, the village chief, Qin Zheng, also came over.

After all, with so many people flooding into the mountains, he had to come take a look to ensure no accidents occurred.

The village chief then entered Qingfeng Temple and asked Ning Fei for a cup of tea.

"Even with so much wild tea in the village, the tea in your temple still tastes the best," Qin Zheng said with a chuckle after taking a sip.

"I'll go get you some," Ning Fei said with a smile.

"Don't. The higher-ups are cracking down on 'micro-corruption' right now. I know your tea is aged and doesn't come cheap. If I actually accepted it, I'd probably be fired by tomorrow," Qin Zheng said candidly.

He was very clear-headed about these things. When villagers gave him eggs, stewed meat, or the like, those were small tokens and didn't matter. But he knew the tea from Qingfeng Temple was a real treasure.

Ning Fei let the matter drop.

The two of them chatted for a while.

In a place like Qinshan Village, everyone knew everyone else. The moment a new face appeared, it immediately drew everyone's attention.

To a certain extent, this also prevented poachers from slipping in through Qinshan Village.

This area was a giant panda nature reserve, so anti-poaching inspections were incredibly strict. Setting aside the drones and forest rangers, if the villagers caught a poacher themselves, the Government would reward them with anywhere from 50,000 to 200,000 yuan.

As a result, many poachers simply didn't dare to come here, allowing Qinshan's ecosystem to remain protected.

It was just that with the Production Crew here now, the small mountain village seemed a lot less peaceful.

"I won't chat idly with you anymore. I'm off. I still need to head over to Widow Liu's place." In the end, Qin Zheng finished his tea, waved at Ning Fei, and left Qingfeng Temple.

Only after stepping out of Qingfeng Temple did he pull out his dry tobacco pipe, light it, and take a heavy drag.

In the past, the village chief and Ning Fei's master had been friends who often chatted together. At Ning Fei's master's request, Qin Zheng had formed the habit of never smoking inside Qingfeng Temple.

After Qin Zheng left, Ning Fei noticed that the tone of the bullet comments was a bit off, so he explained, "Don't go spouting nonsense, everyone. The village chief went to Widow Liu's place to help take care of a sow that just gave birth, and to catch up on the situation in the village while he's at it."

"You guys might not know this, but the older women in the village especially love gossiping about everyone's domestic affairs."

"I call them the Qinshan Village Intelligence Department."

"Sometimes, when you see them chatting excitedly together, you can bet they're exchanging intelligence."

"The village chief just went to Widow Liu to gather intelligence."

Hearing Ning Fei's explanation, the viewers were all amused.

"Haha, I live in a village too, and we have an 'intelligence department' just like that."

"Tell me about it. The moment there's even a slight rustle in the grass at anyone's house, the intelligence department immediately spreads it to the whole village."

"Exactly! People just love gossiping about that stuff."

"An intelligence department, that's way too accurate."

"The two great features of any village: a bunch of old men playing cards around the village committee, known as the entertainment department, and aunties chatting secretly in some obscure corner, aka the intelligence department."

"Good lord, I haven't even finished watching the peak of Qinshan Village, and now a Qinshan Village spy thriller has popped up."

Everyone began discussing this topic fervently.

Afterward, Ning Fei took out some wild boar meat and went to the backyard to pick some chili peppers to prepare for cooking.

It had to be said, the effects of the Fertile Soil were truly excellent.

Not only did the plants grown in it shoot up quickly, but they were also huge and plump, tasting wonderful when eaten.

His vegetable garden was about forty square meters. He had already spread Fertile Soil over twenty square meters of it, planting chili peppers, cucumbers, and tomatoes on top, all of which were growing phenomenally well.

It remained somewhat noisy outside Qingfeng Temple, as it seemed fans were flocking over one after another to take photos.

It was even more chaotic at the foot of the mountain. The Production Crew had hired several security guards to block the fans and keep them from entering.

It was worth mentioning that due to this situation, the viewership ratings for Yearning 6 were constantly dropping.

The audience tuned in to watch a leisurely lifestyle, not this kind of noisy commotion. Perhaps the results would be better once it was edited later, but the live-streaming experience was terrible.

A large portion of the audience chose to switch over to Ning Fei's Live-stream Room.

Ning Fei wasn't doing anything particular at this moment. It was just that this afternoon at South Lake, seeing the River God Sculpture had suddenly struck a deep chord within him.

The River God, who blessed a body of water with peace, held great significance in ancient Huaxia.

Ning Fei was already obsessed with the ancient culture of Huaxia. Seeing the River God Sculpture now, he felt an ancient and rustic charm radiating from it, lingering within his heart.

Therefore, he wanted to preserve this charm.

Thus, Ning Fei brought out paper and a brush from his room and placed them on the table.

He spoke leisurely to the viewers in the live-stream room:

"All this time, I've only done some simple sketches, but I've never truly gone out of my way to paint a complete picture."

"So next, I plan to paint a piece in absolute earnest."

"A true traditional Chinese painting!"

Hearing his words, the viewers in the live-stream room stared blankly for a moment.

Immediately after, all sorts of bullet comments came surging in from the right side of the live-stream room.