Shierdaogou Village had not seen much excitement for many years. The village was originally sparsely populated, and with most of the villagers working elsewhere, there were even fewer people. Even if something happened, it wouldn't create much buzz.
Now, things were different. Many who had left to work had returned, and the village had produced a university student, which was a source of great pride. Villagers came to offer their congratulations.
Of course, the main reason was that the celebration was at Lu Fan's house. If it were at Wang Laowai's place, these people likely wouldn't have shown up.
Lu Fan was also happy. He made a phone call, and Xiao Li drove a van, bringing over a dozen cases of beer and several cases of Erguotou. He almost bought out all the instant food from a supermarket in town. There were red sausages, cured pork, canned fruits, dried tofu with scallions, and peanuts...
More than a dozen tables were set up in Lu Fan's yard. Lu Fan even invited Chu Xiangwei and a few other key people from the construction site.
"Fellow villagers! Today is a joyous occasion! Our village has produced another university student.
I was once a university student myself, but I couldn't finish my studies. Today, our sister Wang Yajie has also been accepted into university, and with excellent results, into a provincial key university. Therefore, I hope that no matter the reason, Yajie will be able to complete her university education.
To this end, I have prepared a red envelope as a reward. It's not a huge sum, twenty thousand yuan! And I also promise that from now on, if anyone else from our village gets accepted into university, I will give them a twenty-thousand-yuan red envelope. Of course, don't try to fool me by getting a score of two hundred and casually enrolling in some college. I hope our village can produce truly talented individuals."
Lu Fan took out two bundles of cash and handed them to Wang Yajie. In an instant, Wang Yajie's eyes welled up.
"Little Fan brother! Thank you! I will definitely study hard and return to help you after I finish university," Wang Yajie said, her eyes red.
"Yajie! If you encounter any difficulties at school in the future, please don't hesitate to tell us. Uncle Wang is now our employee, and we are family. You don't need to have too many reservations from now on," Liu Ruyan also said softly from the side, clearly already seeing herself as the mistress of Lu Fan's house.
"Holy cow... they're actually giving money! That's twenty thousand!"
"Little Fan is definitely generous! Even these dozen tables of food must cost several thousand yuan!"
"Damn... Wang Laowai used to live from hand to mouth, and now he's latched onto a big tree. His luck has immediately changed, and now his family can produce a university student!"
The villagers below were discussing animatedly. Wang Laowai and Jiang Hua, the couple, didn't know what to say. One just chuckled foolishly, while the other kept wiping away tears, overwhelmed with gratitude and emotion.
"Lu Fan! Heh heh! Lu Fan!" At this moment, Li Mantang, holding a wine glass, walked up to Lu Fan with a grin. "Your village is rich now. Everyone is planting vegetables and herbs with you, making money every day. Can you share some of this opportunity to get rich with our village!?"
"Hey! Li Mantang! Haven't you made enough in your own village? You're the richest man there, and you wouldn't even blink an eye if you had to give away a million or so. And you want to interfere in our village? You're too greedy!" a villager immediately retorted.
"That's right, Li Mantang! We don't care what you do in your village. But don't think about taking a slice of our pie." Other villagers quickly chimed in.
"Look at what you're saying, your vision is too narrow!" Li Mantang glanced at the two villagers with disdain and continued, "Do you understand what it means to create momentum? Getting rich isn't about you secretly doing a little bit of this and selling a little bit of that. If that's the case, you'll never become truly wealthy.
No matter what you do, only by creating momentum and letting everyone in the world know that you have goods, and that the goods are genuine and plentiful, can national customers dare to place orders and rush to buy.
If our two villages can cooperate, our momentum will undoubtedly be even greater, and we will have the opportunity to sell our products nationwide. Won't we make more money then!?"
Li Mantang's grand speech actually stunned all the villagers. They all stared at him, not knowing how to refute.
"Li Mantang! Do you genuinely want to do something good for the villagers, or do you want to make more money for yourself?" Lu Fan asked with a slight smile.
Everyone knew that Li Mantang had been the village head for several years, and he must have millions by now. How many people could believe he wanted to do good deeds for the village?
"Little divine doctor! Ever since you cured Jingjing's illness, I've been determined to turn over a new leaf! I truly want to do good for the villagers and lead them to prosperity! Jingjing can vouch for this!" Li Mantang said hurriedly.
"Brother Fan! My dad is speaking the truth!" Li Jingjing suddenly said, blinking her big eyes at Lu Fan.
Lu Fan knew that Li Jingjing had mind-reading abilities and likely wouldn't lie to him. However, his concern wasn't about that. His concern was the Spirit Gathering Bottle. The Spirit Gathering Bottle was small, and the spiritual liquid was limited. One village was barely enough, and expanding the scale was impossible.
"Alright! I'll think about how we should cooperate! Because I must guarantee our village's priority," Lu Fan said with a smile. Li Mantang's village had more orchards, and he was indeed interested in cooperating. So, he didn't outright refuse.
"Great! With your words, I'm relieved! I'll toast you!" Li Mantang was overjoyed. The title of the poorest village used to belong to Shierdaogou Village. Now, seeing Shierdaogou Village getting richer day by day, he naturally felt a bit anxious. Although he liked money, he didn't want to bear the title of the poorest village. Being second was much better than being first.
The drinking went on late into the night. Although the villagers were celebrating Wang Yajie's admission to university, they all came to toast Lu Fan, as if Wang Yajie were Lu Fan's daughter. Lu Fan ended up drinking glass after glass, feeling a bit dizzy.
When the banquet dispersed in the middle of the night, Liu Ruyan helped Lu Fan back to his room.
"Little Fan! Don't you find it a bit strange? The second young master of the Lei family has been missing for several days, yet the Lei family and the Divine Calculation Sect have been silent. This is not normal!" While helping Lu Fan sit on the bed, Liu Ruyan whispered into his ear.
"The dignified young master of the Lei family is missing, and the Lei family is indifferent. This is indeed not normal," Lu Fan nodded. The disappearance of the Lei family's second young master, and the Lei family's lack of action, was not the behavior of a prominent family. There might be a bigger conspiracy brewing. Moreover, the Lei family had the Divine Calculation Sect behind them.
*Beep beep...* Lu Fan's phone suddenly vibrated twice. Lu Fan reached out and took out his phone, immediately seeing a message: Lei Liming has appeared at Yizhihua Nightclub.
"What?"
"What?"
Lu Fan and Liu Ruyan were both stunned. Lei Liming was personally tortured to death by Lu Fan, and even the dregs were disposed of with corpse-dissolving water. How could he reappear?