CHAPTER 1396: CHAPTER 1396: RETURN TO QINGSHAN VILLAGE

On the other side, Huo Yuhao received the call and immediately arranged for people to clean the house and replace all the bedding with new ones.

By the time Luo Qiao and her group arrived, it was already five in the afternoon. After receiving the call, Huo Yuhao waited at the village entrance. Someone asked him what he was doing, and that’s how they found out Luo Qiao was returning.

The person quickly dashed off to inform the village chief, and before long, the village entrance was crowded with people.

Luo Qiao hadn’t returned for many years, but everyone knew that she was a sentimental person. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have invited experts to teach them how to grow greenhouse mushrooms, turning Qingshan Village into a well-known wealthy village in the region.

Now, in addition to growing greenhouse mushrooms, the village also had pig farms, chicken farms, and the barren land near Daqing Mountain had been cultivated into a fruit orchard. Hundreds of acres of fruit trees—not to mention the tourists who came in spring to enjoy the blossoms—brought considerable extra income for the villagers.

All of these ideas were suggestions Luo Qiao had given over the phone. Now, Qingshan Village was a picturesque and natural health paradise.

This year, the village had also started constructing a collective hotel, which was still under renovation. By autumn, it would be ready for visitors to stay, solving the awkward problem of tourists having no accommodation when they visited.

As the car approached, they saw a gathering crowd at the village entrance.

Some people couldn’t wait and walked far out to greet them.

As the car came to a stop, Luo Qiao got down with the children and was immediately surrounded by people.

Gao Jiefang walked over and looked at Luo Qiao, saying, "You should’ve given us some advance notice. If the villagers hadn’t seen Yuhao at the entrance and asked him about it, we wouldn’t have known you were coming back."

Luo Qiao replied with a smile, "I didn’t want to trouble everyone."

"Trouble? What trouble? The changes in the village are all thanks to you."

"That praise is too much for me to bear. I only offered some suggestions; everyone else is responsible for making them happen."

Auntie Gao squeezed in with a laugh and said, "Why are we still standing here? Hurry and take them into the village. Let them sit at the community center and chat, and let Luo Qiao see the changes in the village."

"Exactly, exactly! Look how excited I got—I forgot myself."

Someone asked, "Luo Qiao, are these children all yours?"

Smiling, Luo Qiao introduced them, "The two twins—the older one is Gu Xiyan, nickname Yanyan, and the younger one is Lu XiYue, nickname Yueyue.

The triplets—the eldest is Gu Hongrui, nickname Xiao Rui; the second one is Huang Hongye, nickname Xiao Ye; and the youngest is Lu Hongyu, nickname Xiao Yu. If the formal names are tricky to remember, you can just use their nicknames."

"These kids are really adorable."

Someone chimed in, "Luo Qiao, it’s not the era of family planning anymore, so how much of a fine do you have to pay for this? Won’t you lose your public sector job?"

Luo Qiao wasn’t offended; after all, there was truth to the comment.

She responded with a light smile, "My second child is perfectly legal. I didn’t pull any strings, but there are certain things that are classified, so I can’t go into details. I hope you’ll understand."

Auntie Gao laughed as she stepped in to help ease the situation, "They’re from a dual-worker household. Without proper legal paperwork, they would’ve been investigated long ago. So don’t make it difficult for her."

The changes in the village were indeed transformative—the old dirt and stone houses were all replaced with brick-and-tile structures. It seemed the village had been replanned, looking much more organized than before.

The main streets had been paved with concrete, which surely cost a lot but clearly demonstrated the impressive collective income of Qingshan Village to take on such a project.

Chatting along the way, the group walked into the community center. The village was thriving like never before, and the sight of prosperity lifted everyone’s spirits.

At the community center, they discussed the village’s development. Luo Qiao and Lu Yichen expressed their desire to take a tour around.

So Gao Jiefang and Accountant Sun Guichang accompanied them to visit all the village’s industries. The pig farm had already undergone three expansions and now housed as many as two thousand pigs.

The chicken farm had also grown significantly. The villagers were now selling chickens not only to the county and Ji City but also to other cities and the provincial capital.

Luo Qiao was genuinely happy for the villagers but still offered a few suggestions. First, she emphasized the importance of staying humble and not letting success go to their heads. Second, she urged strict adherence to livestock farming regulations, especially regarding disinfection, as a slight neglect could have widespread consequences.

Gao Jiefang and the others nodded in agreement.

When they climbed to the high ground, they found the newly built road made the ascent much easier than before.

Standing before the hundreds of acres of fruit-laden orchards at the foot of Daqing Mountain, Gao Jiefang sighed, "If it hadn’t been for you insisting on taking the risk and saying we wouldn’t know until we tried, I wouldn’t have had the courage to turn that barren slope into the fragrant haven it is today. Each year, this orchard generates income for the village on par with our other industries."

Luo Qiao smiled and said, "You’ve truly done an amazing job—building Qingshan Village into the dream I had in my heart."

Gazing at the endless expanse of Daqing Mountain and listening to the streams flowing down from the hills, she thought of the two lines: ’The green hills stretch unendingly, the clear waters journey far.’