Chapter 184 - 180: Lumberyard and Quarry

Chapter 184: Chapter 180: Lumberyard and Quarry

Zhou Jun returned to his room. A short while later, his mother called to talk about building houses in Lin Xian Village.

"Mom, what’s really going on? Aren’t we just building some houses in Lin Xian Village?"

Xu Huimin didn’t explain the reason to her son. "You’re thinking about this too simply. For this housing project, you need to find a way to secure several more units for us."

"Got it. How are Grandma and Grandpa? By the way, are your parents coming too?"

"Yes, your grandparents will be going over to recuperate for a while too. Your aunt might go as well."

Zhou Jun was genuinely surprised to hear his aunt was coming too. His aunt was a very busy woman.

"Does my aunt have time to come over?"

"Your aunt is going over to handle the housing construction.

By the way, how is Sun Lili’s treatment going? Her family is also sending someone over this time."

"It’s going pretty well. According to Professor Quan, she should make a full recovery soon."

Xu Huimin hadn’t expected Lin Xian Village to be so special, either. ’I really didn’t pay enough attention to it before,’ she thought.

But now, even if she did, it would be pointless.

She’d heard the higher-ups had sent quite a few people to investigate Lin Xian Village, but the investigation had yielded no results.

"Just be mindful, and make sure you stay on good terms with them."

"Relax, Mom. I’m not an idiot."

Upstairs, Sun Lili also received a call from her family. After inquiring about her condition, they brought up the matter of Lin Xian Village.

When the Sun Family learned that Sun Lili had been invited to work in Lin Xian Village, they urged her to accept the offer.

Although they were also involved with Lin Xian Village, they hadn’t been as proactive as the Zhou Family.

In the Imperial Capital, Lin Chaoyan, having just returned from abroad, looked at the information in his hands, feeling an overwhelming sense of regret.

’This trip abroad was a huge loss. That guy Zhou Jun is a clever one,’ he thought.

He planned to handle some company business and then head to Lin Xian Village to see for himself.

Otherwise, if he didn’t maintain the relationship, they would grow distant.

If the news about Lin Xian Village’s Medicinal Cuisine hadn’t caught his family’s attention and prompted his return, he would have had no idea how much the village had changed.

’These old fogeys at home finally did one smart thing.

The Land God Temple, the Medicinal Cuisine, new prescriptions, the water... it’s all truly incredible!’

’Every one of those is a treasure, and they’re all in the hands of a single person. If there’s nothing suspicious about him, then everyone else must be out of their minds.

There’s too much strange information, and now more people are paying attention. It’s a shame the good stuff will have to be shared.’

Thinking of the Jade Grapes he had yet to obtain, he felt that even his allotted share might not be secure anymore.

He shook his head, pushing the thought away. The matter of the Jade Grapes was still a long way off; now wasn’t the time to worry about it.

The next morning at breakfast, Zhou Jun mentioned to Lin Feng that some people would be visiting soon.

Lin Feng didn’t pay it much mind. As long as they weren’t there to cause trouble, he couldn’t care less.

After breakfast, Lin Feng strolled over to the village square and took a boat to the South Mountain Tea Garden to check on the Lin Xian Tea plants.

’How incredible! This patch of tea trees actually started growing in the middle of winter.’

He looked at a patch of tea trees in the central area that stood out conspicuously; their leaves had undergone a significant change.

The leaves of these tea trees were like green jade, with veins the color of white jade.

’They look like works of art. Now, anyone who sees them will know there’s something unusual about this patch of tea trees.’

He wasn’t worried about others finding out. With so many strange things happening already, one more wouldn’t hurt. If they had the ability, they were welcome to try and figure out the cause.

The Arrow Tower was a perfect example, to say nothing of the Land God Temple, which gave that group of old professors an even bigger headache.

After returning from South Mountain, Lin Feng went up the mountain to check on the three special buildings. Construction was proceeding at a rapid pace.

He had simply asked the designer to expand their footprints; otherwise, all the buildings except for the Mountain God Temple would have been completed long ago.

As things stood, the Woodworking Workshop, Stone Workshop, and Blacksmith’s Shop had been moved down the mountain to the Barracks area.

The Silk Institute was built directly at the foot of North Mountain. A large area was dedicated entirely to sericulture, and the trees had already started to be planted.

The Water Mill and Oil Workshop were more troublesome, as they had to be built near a source of flowing water. The final site selected was to the east of the valley lake.

The Lumberyard and Quarry, on the other hand, were already finished. Unexpectedly, these two buildings proved to be somewhat useful.

[Lumberyard (Level 2): Increases logging speed, slightly accelerates seedling growth, improves wood quality, and increases seedling survival rate by 5%.]

[Quarry (Level 2): Accelerates quarrying speed by 5%, protects workers, and increases the safety of stone extraction.]

The Lumberyard’s effect of increasing logging speed was useless, but the other effects were all very handy.

Because he could set the Lumberyard’s effective area himself, he could use its bonuses to grow trees.

For instance, he could use the Lumberyard’s effects to accelerate the growth and improve the quality of the mulberry trees, which would lead to better silk.

’I could even use the Lumberyard’s effects on the fruit trees in the Orchard. Perhaps the boost in quality might even increase the probability of mutation,’ he mused.

However, the Lumberyard could only affect one area for now, so he had selected the mulberry cultivation zone.

Once the village leveled up, he planned to build more Lumberyards and use their effects on the fruit trees.

The Quarry was still useful at present. Construction was underway all over Lin Xian Village, and many areas were being quarried and carved out of the mountains.

The Quarry’s effect was mainly being applied to West Mountain, where conditions were the most unusual and also the most dangerous.

With the Quarry’s protective effect, the workers were safer, and the construction of the mountain road could proceed a bit faster.

Actually, compared to the Quarry, the Lumberyard would be far more useful in the future. With the proper permits from the Forestry Bureau, even the trees in the mountain forests could be logged.

In the future, Lin Xian Village could start planting special types of trees; otherwise, it would be a complete waste of the village’s environmental effects.

When he got to the foot of the mountain, he found Hu Zhiming was also there, discussing something with a few people.

Seeing Lin Feng, Hu Zhiming said, "The boss is here. If you have any questions, you can ask him."

"What’s going on?"

"They’re here to build the houses in Lin Xian Village—the people Zhou Jun mentioned."

Lin Feng was surprised at how fast they were. The matter had only been mentioned yesterday afternoon, and they had arrived today.

"Hello, Mr. Lin. We’re designers from the provincial design bureau. The situation here is quite unique. We were wondering which area can be used for building the houses."

The men looked at Lin Feng, their eyes full of curiosity. After receiving the notification last night, they had already made some inquiries.

They’d heard that this task was a joint construction project involving several companies, yet the site selection and design had to be based on Lin Feng’s opinion.

However, given the special nature of Lin Xian Village, they also understood that there were some matters involved that they weren’t privy to.

Lin Feng took the map Hu Zhiming handed him, glanced at the current layout of Lin Xian Village, and drew a line on it.

"You can choose any location in the area below this line.

I haven’t leased some of the land within this area, so you’ll need to discuss it with Wuyuan County."

Currently, there was still a lot of land below Lin Xian Village, extending from the county road, but it was all mountainous.

The commercial street was built across the county road from the village entrance, on a lower plot of land. This area was a livestock trading point established by Mountain Ridge Town.

Further up was the Lin Xian Village parking lot, a plot of land that Wuyuan County had specifically allocated to him to handle parking for tourists and buses.

Then, there was a five- to six-hundred-meter stretch with no buildings, just mountain forest.

The area below the line he drew was this five- to six-hundred-meter zone. It was up to these people to survey it themselves to find suitable places to build.

As for the area he had leased, the site for the Academy was north of the road, divided into upper, middle, and lower sections according to the mountain terrain.

Deeper in, at the foot of North Mountain, was the Silk Institute. A water plant was currently being built near the county road.

To the south were various buildings. At the lowest point was a huge Restaurant, with Houses above it.

Above the Houses were the Barracks, and inside the Barracks were the Woodworking Workshop, Stone Workshop, and Blacksmith’s Shop.

Above the Barracks was the Clothing Workshop, and next to it was the Marketplace. Some Toilets had also been built there. Further up was the mountainside surrounding the central lake.

The Water Mill and Oil Workshop were being built here. The land was currently being prepared and the necessary waterworks constructed.

Then there was the newly formed lake. To the north of the lake was the village square with the Wharf built next to it. To the south was South Mountain, and to the west was West Mountain.

Northwest of the village square was the Arrow Tower tourist area, with the vineyard situated above it.

Further up was the village itself. To the west was the outdoor banquet area. Higher still was a row of Houses, and to the east of the Houses was a Restaurant.

A road ran up the mountain through the center. The lowest part of the eastern section was where Lin Feng currently lived.

Continuing up the mountain, past the second batch of completed Houses, were the Folk Workshop and the Research Institute. At the very peak was an observatory.

The Mountain God Temple was being built on the summit of West Mountain. A mountain path was constructed from the observatory to get there, and the building’s footprint on that side was even larger.

Once the northern mountain road was finished, the southern road into the village would be converted into a four-meter-wide stone slab path.

Looking at the land, the men realized they would need to get geological technicians to come and take a look.

Lin Feng didn’t remind them that there were geology experts among the group of professors already in Lin Xian Village.

Watching them make phone calls, Hu Zhiming asked in a low voice, "Boss, once they finish building the houses, are they really giving them to us?"

"We’ll talk about it after they’ve finished building the houses."

Even if they were willing to give the houses to him, Lin Feng didn’t actually want them.

Upgrading that many Houses would require far too many air conditioners, which wasn’t a good thing for him.

The main problem was that purchasing things was too much of a hassle these days. He was being watched at all times, so he could only buy what he needed by bundling it with other items.

Lin Feng looked toward the Barracks and asked, "What’s going on over there?"

"You know we hired some Martial Arts instructors? When they don’t have anything else to do, they put on performances on the central arena stage, which attracts a lot of tourists."

"Let’s go take a look."

Lin Feng was quite curious about Martial Arts, but his interest lay in armed combat, not some empty-handed "Ancient" Martial Arts.

All famous Military Generals throughout history were masters of weaponry; he’d never heard of one who was formidable with their bare hands. Grand Ancestor Long Fist was just for physical conditioning; for actual combat, its practitioners used a Mixed Iron Forehead-level Staff.

He found it embarrassing when he saw people online hyping up the power of Ancient Martial Arts. Their idea of "ancient" probably only went back to the late Qing dynasty.

No matter how badass your fist and footwork were, if you came up against a thug with a machete, the best choice was to run.

Unfortunately, armed Martial Arts were rendered obsolete by the advent of guns and cannons, and many techniques have been lost to history.

When the two of them entered the Barracks, they found a considerable number of tourists gathered around the arena stage.

On the stage stood a lean but muscular man in a white training uniform, brandishing a Forehead-level Staff.

Listening to the staff whistle through the air, he imagined that a single blow could decide life or death.

Hu Zhiming said, "The man up there is named Yang Chengshu. He studied at a Martial Arts school near the Shaolin Temple for ten years. His Staff Technique is amazing."

"I can see that. He’s definitely very skilled."

"By the way, his Sword Skill is also impressive. It’s a shame he can’t use a straight sword, though.

Of the other two, the one who practices the Long Spear is named Zhou Xing. He also knows Baji Fist.

The other one is named Xue Xiaofeng. He says his family has some connection to Xue Rengui. It’s a shame he can’t use a Fangtian Halberd or a Bow and Arrow; what he learned was Nunchaku and Wing Chun."

The corner of Lin Feng’s mouth twitched at this last introduction. ’So just because his last name is Xue, he’s related to Xue Rengui?’ he thought.

Looking at these martial artists, it was telling that each of them had mastered a weapon.

Unarmed techniques were just for physical conditioning; to be truly combat-effective, you had to rely on a weapon.

Admittedly, Yang Chengshu’s Staff Technique was beautiful to watch. According to Hu Zhiming, it was a routine specifically for performance.

In a real fight, there wouldn’t be so many superfluous movements. True combat was about being fast, precise, and ruthless, striking directly at vital points.