Chapter 116 - 114: Over Before It Began

Chapter 116: Chapter 114: Over Before It Began

Lin Feng was busy with a temporary task, preparing food for the local wildlife. He’d initially thought it would be easy to complete once he figured out a system.

But now he realized he’d gotten ahead of himself. The task was more difficult than he’d imagined.

The problem was that a large number of small animals were entering the surrounding area every day, a fact he had failed to notice.

As a result, a task that should have been finished long ago had dragged on and was still incomplete.

"Boss, the feeding zones over here are all set up. We just need to distribute food to them every day."

"That’s good."

Lin Feng watched the large drone return. ’Without these drones, solving this would be a real hassle,’ he thought.

Sending people into the mountain forest would be dangerous, to say nothing of the time it would take to cover such a vast area.

He had also scattered a variety of seeds throughout the surrounding mountain forests to ensure a natural food supply would be available by the following spring.

The unique environment would accelerate plant growth around Lin Xian Village, further supplementing the food supply.

At this rate, the task wouldn’t take much longer to complete.

"Lin Feng, come back to the courtyard, quick. I need to talk to you about something."

Reading Hu Xia’s message, he headed for the courtyard.

When he arrived, he found the Hu siblings and Zhao Shiyun were all there. The atmosphere was a little tense.

"What happened?"

"Shiyun’s grandfather just called. He said the county has received a lot of investment proposals."

"Do all of these proposals involve Lin Xian Village?"

"Mhm, the highest one is an offer of a fifty-billion investment. The county is still in a meeting right now."

Lin Feng had long expected this to happen. It was unavoidable.

"Brother Lin, if the county really agrees, what will we do?"

Hu Zhiming was anxious. After graduating, he’d finally found a job he loved. Watching Lin Xian Village take shape under his guidance gave him an immense sense of accomplishment.

"It’s fine, it’s fine. Don’t worry. They won’t be able to pull it off. And even if they do, we’ll just find a new place. It’s not the end of the world."

If he’d had the money back then, he definitely wouldn’t have chosen Lin Xian Village. The location was one thing, but the terrain was just awful.

He was even starting to suspect that the mission to change the terrain had only appeared because the original landscape was so terrible.

"Lin Feng, it would be such a waste to abandon this place. And what about the Jade Grapes and the Arrow Tower...?"

He had no idea if he would still be rewarded with Jade Grapes if he really moved and built a village somewhere else.

However, he still had the special product, Lin Xian Tea, which he hadn’t used yet, so even if he had to relocate, it wouldn’t be a total loss.

The news spread quickly through certain circles, especially among the wealthy elite of Wuyuan County. When they heard, they instantly panicked.

If someone else managed to snatch Lin Xian Village away, wouldn’t that make them look like complete fools?

The debate at the county level was fierce. They soon received directives from Jiangcheng City: any action regarding Lin Xian Village must be handled reasonably and lawfully.

Jiang Zhongming and his associates gathered. "Given the situation, we need to cooperate for a win-win outcome. Let’s secure Lin Xian Village together, then we can develop it jointly."

"That’s right. No one should be thinking of taking it all for themselves. We have to act together."

"Easy for you to say ’act together’ now, when you’ve all submitted investment applications, and someone even offered fifty billion in investment funds."

"Enough. If we keep arguing, we’ll just be playing into the hands of the other party. The most important thing now is to get our hands on Lin Xian Village."

"If we’d thought of this sooner, we wouldn’t have wasted eight hundred million USD."

"You can’t look at it that way. Without the detailed data from that test, we never would have known just how special Lin Xian Village really is."

Unfortunately for them, their plan was wishful thinking. Even some officials in Wuyuan County were getting ideas of their own—after all, fifty billion was a massive investment.

While everyone was scrambling for a solution, the scientists in Lin Xian Village, who had mostly gone unnoticed, heard the news. One of them immediately placed a call to the Science Academy.

They were in Lin Xian Village studying the Arrow Tower and the changes in the air quality. For someone to come and stir up trouble at a time like this was a sign of complete disrespect for their work.

Next, the group of people who received allocations of the Jade Grapes also got the news, and their fury skyrocketed.

’We haven’t even resorted to such tactics,’ they thought, ’and these damn foreigners think they can just come in and steal what’s ours?’

While Lin Feng was still worrying, the Science Academy was the first to make a move. They directly approved the establishment of an environmental science research base.

Shortly after, the wildlife protection department also issued a directive: any development in the areas surrounding Lin Xian Village would require their assessment and approval.

The drug administration wasn’t idle either. It issued its own document, placing the production site of Lin Xian Village’s Clearing Heat and Stopping Cough Pills under protection.

The message from all these agencies was the same: anyone who wanted to make a move on Lin Xian Village had to get their approval first.

After receiving these notices, Jiangcheng City urgently issued its own directive, stating that all matters concerning Lin Xian Village must pass through their municipal approval process.

When the foreign investors found out what was happening, they finally realized it was impossible for them to get their hands on the place. The powers that be would never allow it.

Lin Feng wasn’t surprised when he heard the news. ’They’d have to be out of their minds to hand this place over to foreigners.’

As long as the Jade Grapes existed, no one would dare upset the current balance in Lin Xian Village. Who knew if the supply of Jade Grapes would be jeopardized under someone else’s management?

At least he was currently willing to sell the Jade Grapes.

When Yang Yongjun arrived in Lin Xian Village, he didn’t go looking for Lin Feng right away. Instead, he first met with Wu Jiaxing.

His father had told him that his youngest apprentice had gotten engaged, and had asked him to bring a gift.

"Jiaxing, the old man is back home grumbling about you. Said you didn’t even give him a heads-up about your engagement."

"Qianqian had been looking for me for years. It all happened so fast... The proposal was a spur-of-the-moment decision, so I didn’t want to bother Master."

"The old man is planning to visit sometime soon. You can explain it to him yourself then.

Jiaxing, you’ve been in Lin Xian Village for a while now. Have you noticed anything... strange?"

"Brother Yang, if the scientists haven’t found anything, what makes you think I could?

But... our boss... he’s definitely something special."

After saying this, Wu Jiaxing didn’t elaborate. Some things were better left unsaid, especially without proof.

Besides, it’s not like people were stupid. Anyone could see what was going on.

Yang Yongjun didn’t press the issue. It was only a passing comment someone had made to him before he came.

Lin Feng met with Yang Yongjun shortly after. He learned that the main purpose of his visit was to check on the production of the Clearing Heat and Stopping Cough Pills.

The drug’s approval was expected to go through soon. Afterward, they would handle the distribution based on Lin Xian Village’s production capacity.

"Director Yang, are you saying that the medicine will be sold to the public at the same price you purchase it from me, and it will also be covered by health insurance subsidies?"

"That’s right."

"In that case, I’ll sell the pills to you at cost. Consider it my contribution to society.

It’s a shame these pills can’t be mass-produced, otherwise the price could be even lower."

Yang Yongjun said, "Selling at cost isn’t necessary. You should still earn what you deserve."

He didn’t press for details on why it couldn’t be mass-produced. The foreigners’ experiments had already shown everyone that there was more to this medicine than met the eye.

Overnight, news of what was happening in Lin Xian Village spread rapidly through certain circles.

It spread like wildfire among wealthy circles abroad, who learned about this place where major pharmaceutical companies had suffered a huge loss.

At the same time, tales of Lin Xian Village’s various wonders also circulated among these groups. The stories about the Jade Grapes, in particular, were met with disbelief by the wealthy elite.

Suddenly, many foreign-owned enterprises within the country received orders to investigate Lin Xian Village.

If Lin Xian Village had only been famous on the internet before, this time it had gone viral within the circles of the ultra-rich.