I Have a Penglai Immortal Island

Seeing that the house next to the small inn had already started being renovated, and finally catching them at home, Xiong Haitao couldn't help but come over and ask her why they didn't hold a beam-raising ceremony. Such a big house seemed too unceremonious without it. Xiong Zhao wasn't dismissive of it but found it troublesome. She replied that once the small inn was completed, they could hold a housewarming party together and invite everyone for a celebration.

Speaking of this house, Xiong Haitao had initially offered to come over and help supervise the construction, saying that without someone from the family watching, it wouldn't be right. However, he gave up after two days, admitting that the professional company knew what they were doing, and he couldn't understand it. He just marveled at how spending money wisely really paid off. Now that the house was grandly built, he would stop by often to take a look. It wasn't just him; people on the island frequently came by to see.

Initially, when they hired a construction company to build a two-story house, the islanders thought the young ones were just being extravagant with their newfound wealth. It wasn't a skyscraper, after all—who wouldn't know how to build one? It seemed like a waste of money.

But now, whenever people passed by, they would stop to take a look. To be honest, it wasn't something an average person could pull off. The amateur builders on the island couldn't have achieved this.

They didn't understand if it was in the Tang style or what, but they felt it looked like the grand houses of ancient wealthy families in television dramas, very imposing.

According to her Second Aunt, this was a mansion!

Zhao Zhao felt that the timing was just right. One day, she brought a few pages of drawings and went to the village committee again.

Both permanent residents of the village committee were present.

Secretary Liu greeted her warmly as soon as he saw her, "Why are you here? Still recruiting?"

Accountant Xiong followed with anticipation, "Still leasing mountains?"

"No, neither! I'm here today to chat with the two leaders." Zhao Zhao smiled.

Secretary Liu was practical, "What's there to chat about? I just happen to have something to discuss with you. Your grandfather was the village head for his entire life, and the islanders were convinced by him. You are like him..."

Alright, Zhao Zhao knew what he wanted to say and quickly interrupted, "Not really like him, really not..."

Secretary Liu: "Let me finish. Now, many village leadership teams have a university student official. Our island doesn't have one yet. For years, I've been both the secretary and the director. Now that you're about to graduate, and you're one of us, no one is more suitable than you. You can take over your grandfather's position. Choose either secretary or village head, how about that?"

I knew it.

"I don't have time to manage things. Don't worry. For my grandfather's lifetime career, I'll take care of the island's affairs whether I'm a village official or not. I'll help whenever I can." Zhao Zhao quickly assured.

Accountant Xiong chimed in, "That's different. As the saying goes, you must fulfill your responsibilities if you hold a position. It's only right, isn't it?"

Zhao Zhao: "Uncle San, you are quite cultured."

Accountant Xiong: "Don't be cheeky!"

It seemed that these two had already planned it out and were just waiting for her. Zhao Zhao had to change the topic first, "Actually, I came here today to talk about the planning of our island. Have you ever thought about the future direction of the island? We need a goal and then work towards it, right?"

The two leaders decided to listen to what she had to say.

"The geographical environment of our island determines that the villagers have only three paths: fishing, going out to work, and tourism. First, let's talk about fishing. Apart from my ship, there are no decent boats on the island. Currently, fishing barely covers basic needs and sometimes even results in losses. My boat brings in a good income, but it can't cover all 300 households on the island. As for going out to work, due to poverty and limited education, most of those who leave do laborious and low-level jobs, right? Some people can't even leave. I should be the highest educated person on the island, and I've returned to fishing... Let's not talk about that. Our goal is to live a good life, not just to meet basic needs. So, today, we need to focus on tourism."

Secretary Liu: "Absolutely right, you should be the village head!" Accountant Xiong nodded.

Everyone knows this. You are a bit too casual in selecting the village head.

She continued, "As for tourism, without a prominent brand, we can't attract tourists. China's coastline is very long, with many islands. Why would people choose our poor island with nothing to offer and inconvenient transportation? To experience the 1970s fishing village style? They would choose the Jiangzhou coast with better climate."

Secretary Liu and Accountant Xiong: ...Heartbreaking.

"I'm here today to sell you a dream. I have a dream, ah, no, it's my grandfather's dream. He spent all his savings back then to open a small inn, organize beach cleanups, and build docks, hoping for the island's tourism industry. Who knew the geopark would be so poorly managed... I hope to fulfill his dream, no matter how long it takes. My dream is to make Jinshi Island a paradise everyone longs for, a fairyland on the sea. Don't say I'm dreaming. This is an achievable dream, but it requires a long time, step by step. Let's talk about what everyone needs to do and what I plan to do."

Secretary Liu already had his notebook out. Zhao Zhao nodded with satisfaction; at least he didn't say she was crazy.

"To create a fairyland on the East Sea, the first step is the environment. I've been back for a long time and noticed the island isn't as clean as it used to be. Have you noticed that? There is garbage in the drainage ditches, water used to clean fish is thrown on the street, and some people just dump a cart of trash into the ravine..."

Accountant Xiong sighed, "We used to be very particular about the environment for tourism. Now that there are fewer tourists, everyone has become lax."

Zhao Zhao: "The environment must be protected, or everything else is useless. This needs to be communicated to everyone. That's one point. The second point is the offshore area. I've seen that it's cleaner than the land, we need to let it recover. A sea with nothing in it won't attract anyone. The village committee should call for some protection. The village committee should manage these two points first, then I'll talk about what I want to do. The buildings on our fairyland should not be like they are now. Some houses are wooden structures, some are mud and tile, some are red brick houses. You can see all eras of Chinese architecture, a collection of outdated and ugly houses, as soon as you arrive on the island. This is not good. The island's architectural style should be unified, with its own style and character."

Secretary Liu stopped writing, "That's impossible. Can we demand that people rebuild their houses?"

Zhao Zhao smiled, "My house has already started renovations. Have you seen it?"

Secretary Liu showed an indescribable expression, "I did, more than once. I even talked to the workers. They said it cost several million!"

She took out the drawings she had been holding, "This is why I came today. Look, these three designs are houses I designed for the island. Not that they all have to be like my house, but I've designed simplified versions that are just as beautiful. There are one-story and two-story options. The rest can be customized, as long as they follow this Tang style."

Secretary Liu looked at the drawings and nodded, "They look good. But we can't just rebuild good houses. Where will the money come from?"

"Good-looking is enough. I'm giving these to the village committee. In the future, anyone who builds this style of house will receive a subsidy of 20,000 yuan from my company as a building subsidy."

Accountant Xiong: "What? Giving away 20,000 yuan?"

"That's right. When my house is renovated and the courtyard landscape is done, you'll see if anyone isn't tempted. Just watch. If they don't want to build something so complicated, they can choose this simplified version. The subsidy of 20,000 is only for this style. Who wouldn't want it? Oh, and don't forget to tell everyone it's limited, first come, first served."

Secretary Liu was quite tempted. The house was really beautiful, and he had two residential plots. The old house that no one lived in was about to collapse. Gritting his teeth, he thought building such a house for his son would be a good idea. "I really like this two-story small building. You little girl, always so clever, dangling a carrot in front. How many of these are limited?"

"100 sets."

Accountant Xiong took a deep breath, "That’s 2 million! You’re so generous! You should be the village head."

Secretary Liu smiled, "Oh dear, if it were just a few sets, I wouldn't compete with the villagers. But with 100 sets, I have to sign up."

"You can set an example. When the time comes, you can be the first to sign up at the meeting. But there’s no rush to hold the meeting now. We can wait until my house is almost finished and the promotional effect is achieved. I will entrust the village to distribute the construction funds. As long as they sign up and you verify that the style is correct, the money will be disbursed."

She had put so much effort into this, she didn’t believe the villagers wouldn’t be envious.

After finishing her persuasion, she quickly left, afraid that the topic of the village head would come up again.

Two million wasn't much to her. The first step of the Long March had to be taken. It was meaningless for her to be the only one getting better.

On the way back, she encountered Xiong Jie carrying a bundle of grass with a hoe. He told her something strange had happened. His mother had cleared some land to plant corn, but suddenly wild vegetables and weeds had grown like crazy. He had been at sea for ten days and couldn't even step into the field. It was almost harvest time, and shepherd's purse had sprouted, growing large and tender. He gathered a bundle to take home and insisted on giving her half when he saw her.

"Where is your land?" Zhao Zhao had a guess.

"A small flat land in the East Valley, not far from your Baxian Mountain, on the northwest side of the mountain."

Sure enough, Zhao Zhao didn’t go home. She directly went to Baxian Mountain.

The nine-section thorns around the mountain were growing well. Standing at the foot of the mountain, she could see that the mountain was greener than when they climbed it last time. The wild grass was growing crazily, and the crooked oak tree nearby had sprouted many new branches. Was the earth vein core this efficient?

The small animals she had bought from the northwest still hadn’t been delivered to Chonghai after half a month. Zhao Zhao didn’t dare go to sea and let Xiong Haiming lead the team himself.

With nothing to do, she started tidying up her mountain at home.

She gathered some pumpkin and squash seeds from her Second Aunt’s house and planted them on the mountain. The pigs couldn’t just eat grass; diversifying their menu was necessary.

She also collected all kinds of grass and flower seeds from Yaoguang’s territory and scattered them on the mountain. Simple and crude, she could see the mountain changing day by day, and it gave her a sense of accomplishment. With the power of the earth vein core slowly spreading outwards, the dream of a fairyland on the sea wasn't far off.

After waiting for another week, she finally received a call saying her delivery had arrived. She drove Poseidon to Chonghai and rented a warehouse in the suburbs, arranging to receive the goods there.

After a month of long journeys, the small animals finally arrived. Many of them looked half-dead, but she didn’t mind. After sending off the excited person in charge, she threw all 200 animals into Yaoguang’s territory. After two days there, they would be completely healed.

After spending two days in Chonghai, she received a call from Da Linzi, saying that Yaoguang was returning.

"Why are you back so soon?" She counted; it had only been ten days.

"You didn’t come, and Siren didn’t show up either. When we went out to sea, we searched for it but didn’t find it. The harvest wasn’t great. Uncle Haiming was afraid that staying longer would lose money. He calculated that returning now would still be profitable."

 

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