Wear it quickly! My mad dog-like host!

The mountaintops were covered in snow, and the outdoor temperature plummeted. As the number of tourists in Lihua Village gradually decreased, the villagers worked tirelessly to use the money they had earned during this period, along with funds approved by higher authorities, to hire a construction team to rebuild their houses.

Those old houses where the household registration had long been moved out were bought at cheap prices by the town when Lihuadian was just becoming famous, and now they are being demolished and rebuilt.

The village has also been redesigned and re-laid out. Near the village entrance are the antique-style houses. The interiors of the houses are different, but the exteriors are all uniform antique-style buildings with blue bricks and gray tiles, and the overall color is simple and elegant.

Near Guesthouse No. 88, although it is also an antique-style building, it is mainly made of wood, with hipped eaves, carved beams and painted rafters, and the flat cement road is also being replaced with bluestone slabs.

Several other lower hills near Yinyuan Mountain have also been contracted out. The No. 88 Guesthouse has no intention of expanding further. The villagers want to contract the guesthouse, but they don't have enough money. They can only watch helplessly as outsiders come into the village and compete with them for profits, which makes them very anxious.

“We, the No. 88 Guesthouse, are outsiders too. What’s the point of talking to us?” Mingyi placed the recruitment sign that An Jingyu had specially designed for her after learning that the guesthouse was hiring new employees at the door, patted the imaginary dust off her hands, and looked at the Lihuadian villagers who had come to her door with amusement: “Weren’t you saying behind our backs a while ago that you would kick No. 88 out one day? Now we’re in cahoots again?”

The disparity in strength between the two sides was too great. Mingyi and the villagers treated the villagers' behind-the-scenes schemes as a joke. As long as they didn't bring it to their faces, they pretended not to know and didn't stop them from thinking whatever they wanted.

The villagers of Lihuadian looked embarrassed and exchanged glances, seemingly trying to figure out who had leaked their private boasts.

The villagers said anxiously, "But those outsiders are also building guesthouses. Aren't you afraid your business will be taken away?"

"I'm not afraid," Mingyi said nonchalantly. "B&B No. 88 doesn't make money from this."

...That's true.

The villagers immediately thought of the lotus flowers in Lihua Lake, which cost tens of millions of yuan per flower, and their expressions fell.

After hesitating for a while, the villagers asked again, "Then... that Pear Blossom Lake originally belonged to our village. Do you allow those outsiders to use it at No. 88?"

Mingyi nodded: "Yes, they will pay for usage, environmental maintenance, sanitation, and so on."

Knowing what the gimmicks are that attract tourists to Lihuadian, those people are much more adept at handling things than the villagers of Lihuadian themselves, and they've already taken care of everything that needs to be taken care of.

The reason why villagers have the money to move out of the mountains is that they sold all the mountain land that was previously allocated to them. This is also why Cat Cat Seed Industry Company can rent the land from the villagers for very little money; the bulk of the profit is in the land itself.

Every time Mingyi mentioned a cost, the villagers of Lihuadian felt their heads droop and their confidence dwindled.

Their methods of making money from tourists all come from Guesthouse No. 88.

Li Xiang looked at the job posting for a housekeeping cleaner, which offered 4,000 yuan a month, plus a 1,000 yuan housing allowance, and social insurance and housing fund benefits. She then went up to Mingyi and asked, "Are there any age requirements for housekeeping?"

Mingyi: "Under fifty years old."

Li Xiang nodded. Her mother, Zhang Xinhong, got married early and is not yet fifty years old. She would call her mother later and ask her to come and apply for the job.

With the increase in tourists to the village, her mother could no longer handle the increasingly diverse personalities of the tourists. However, she was also too busy to stay idle. Rather than having her help only make things more difficult or having her go back to farming, it was better for her to work as an employee at Guesthouse No. 88.

"Alright." Mingyi didn't want to waste time arguing with them. "Instead of wasting time, why not turn over the soil, get rid of the insect eggs and plant some pesticide-free vegetables to sell to tourists, or sell them to shops and guesthouses on the opposite mountain next year? That would earn you a lot of money, at least better than you working in other places."

The land in Lihuadian is all on the hill behind Grandma Li's house at the village entrance. This is the villagers' minimum source of livelihood. The land has not been requisitioned by the authorities, and the villagers are allowed to continue cultivating the land where there are no trees, up to three mu per person.

The villagers couldn't bring B&B No. 88 to their side, nor could they get what they wanted by throwing a tantrum. They could only leave disappointed.

Bai Jiaojiao and Su Qingyan dragged their suitcases to the side of the road. They watched as the familiar villagers walked past them dejectedly. They raised their hands to greet them, but the words got stuck in their throats.

"What's wrong with them?" Bai Jiaojiao asked, puzzled, after watching them walk away.

"How would I know?" Su Qingyan squinted at the hilltops to the left of Guesthouse No. 88 that seemed to be making noise. "Could it be that they're here to discuss something with Mingyi and the others because someone from the village is coming to invest?"

After the number of tourists to Lihuadian increased and stabilized, the higher authorities immediately sent a team of leaders to the village. Mu Ning and Zhang Hai are currently the top two leaders in the village.

If we want to develop the village into a proper independent tourist attraction and attract more visitors, we can no longer prioritize the interests of the villagers of Lihuadian. It is perfectly normal for other people to come and visit.

But the villagers couldn't see a more distant and stable future. They felt that their precious mountain should be given to others, and they had made a fuss with the two of them several times.

Especially those who had already moved their household registration out of Lihuadian, after seeing the village develop, have made a lot of noise about wanting to move back.

The higher-ups would naturally disagree, but they allowed each household to assign one person to work in the village and contract a shop, which could not be transferred elsewhere.

The wheels of the suitcase rattled on the concrete floor. Bai Jiaojiao waved to Su Qingyan behind her, "The guesthouse is hiring new staff!"

Originally, the people working at the guesthouse were all elderly people from the village, but now that their own families are busy, hiring help is not cost-effective for them, so they called the elderly people back home.

"What do you think about me applying for a temporary job?" Bai Jiaojiao pinched her chin and carefully looked at the job posting. "Hey, why is this posting so pink? Instead of using a photo of the guesthouse as the background, it uses flowers and plants? Oh, and what's with the pair of swans with their necks intertwined at the bottom? Are there swans in Lihua Lake now?"

After Su Qingyan finished looking at the pair of swans with their necks intertwined on the job posting, and then glanced at her best friend who was still pondering the meaning behind the swans, she suddenly realized that there was a reason why her friend couldn't see the ambiguous atmosphere between Cui Yi and Gu Xian.

You're too dense.

It was clear that the reason I was able to date Cui Yi before was because Cui Yi had ulterior motives.

She sighed, feeling utterly exhausted: "You're not planning to go home for the New Year?"

“Speaking of which, we’ll be starting our internships soon.” Bai Jiaojiao rarely thought about the future. “Instead of going home for the New Year, we should secure a job or stabilize our income.”

Both of them come from good families and are loved by their parents, but their parents also hope that they can have a stable job that can guarantee their livelihood.

……