Chapter 31

Who would have thought that this seemingly honest and simple Village Chief Hou would be so difficult to deal with!

The farmers looked at each other and sighed inwardly, reluctantly stating their expected price.

Simply put, even though the market downturn had led to unsold vegetables, their crops were all high-quality, pesticide-free produce. There was no way they could sell them at a huge loss just to clear stock.

So, the farmers still hoped that Houzhai Village would buy this batch of vegetables at the same wholesale price the produce vendors had previously offered.

Hou Tianbao pulled out a chair with a cold expression.

“Our Houzhai Village is too poor to afford such expensive vegetables! Sorry for wasting your time today. Goodbye!”

At this point, even the county officials’ presence was useless.

The farmers panicked instantly.

But no matter how they tried to persuade or block him, Hou Tianbao refused to return!

Their vegetables were already struggling to sell, yet they still expected the old prices?

Hou Tianbao wasn’t the type to take advantage of a crisis, but as a farmer himself, he knew that vegetables flooding the market couldn’t possibly be worth the same as fresh, in-season produce.

Take rural areas as an example: when spring arrived and the chili plants in home gardens hadn’t yet borne fruit, fresh chilies at the market could sell for five yuan per jin!

But once every household’s chili plants started producing, did they think they could still sell them for five yuan per jin?

Dream on!

Even at two yuan per jin, nobody would want them!

By the time the market was about to close, some farmers, unwilling to haul their unsold vegetables back home, would sell chilies in bulk, with the price per jin amounting to mere cents!

And now, these people wanted to sell their unsold, near-worthless vegetables to Houzhai Village at the same price as high-demand produce?

Did they take him for a senile fool?

This time, no matter how much the publicity department and the farmers pleaded, Hou Tianbao was determined to leave. In the end, with Jiang Siyuan and Fang Chen acting as his “bodyguards,” he managed to break through the blockade and dashed off in a taxi!

The next day, news spread that Houzhai Village had secured two truckloads of vegetables from the county’s agricultural wholesale market and had already begun making pickled vegetables. The farmers who had attended the meeting were completely panicked.

And yet, they still thought they were in the right.

“This Hou Tianbao! Is he insane? It’s not even his own money, but look at how much he’s fussing over it!”

“Exactly! I see that farm products sold online aren’t cheap either. If they buy from us at a higher price and then mark up the final selling price by a few yuan, won’t they make their money back?”

“Yeah! Anyway, it’s all paid for by online shoppers. Those city folks earn thousands, even tens of thousands a month—do they really care about a few extra yuan?”

A group of them gathered to complain but couldn’t come up with any better solution.

Meanwhile, looking at their vegetable greenhouses, where the long beans and cucumbers were growing past their prime, they knew that if they didn’t harvest them soon, they’d be good for nothing but pig feed.

Gritting their teeth, the farmers decided to go to Houzhai Village again to negotiate with Hou Tianbao.

This time, no one dared to mention the old wholesale price.

Long beans—regardless of size—were set at 0.5 yuan per jin.

Young ginger, being a bit pricier, was 1.2 yuan per jin.

White radishes and green radishes were both 0.2 yuan per jin.

Carrots were 0.3 yuan per jin.

Cabbage was the cheapest—just 0.1 yuan per jin!

The most expensive item was still the small chili peppers. Since they had a long storage life, even if Hou Tianbao refused to buy them, the farmers could put in the effort to pick and store them in cold storage. If they waited until the New Year, they might fetch a good price.

But then again, farming was full of uncertainties.

Even if they rented cold storage and kept the chilies, who knew what the market would look like by the New Year?

They might not even make enough to cover the storage rental and electricity costs.

Hou Tianbao had no intention of going easy on them this time. Confident that he had the upper hand, he haggled with them for half a day and managed to push the wholesale price of small chili peppers down to 3.5 yuan per jin.

Even so, Houzhai Village’s large-scale purchase was a lifesaver for these farmers!

Without produce vendors buying from them, even if they hauled their vegetables to the local wholesale market, after deducting transportation costs, market entry fees, and losses, they might not even make as much as selling directly to Houzhai Village.

Moreover, word was that Houzhai Village planned to open a pickled vegetable processing plant.

That meant once the factory was up and running, there would be a steady demand for fresh vegetables year after year.

With that in mind, the farmers didn’t hesitate any longer and signed supply agreements with Houzhai Village.

Wei Sheng never expected that what started as a public welfare initiative to support farmers would end in such a ridiculous mess.

Even the J Province TV station lost interest in promoting it.

Initially, they had planned to use this opportunity to provide free publicity for the farmers and their pesticide-free vegetables. But upon second thought—damn!

If not for Hou Tianbao’s integrity, his refusal to play along, they might have been completely scammed. The whole “supporting farmers” sentiment instantly disappeared.

Some people simply didn’t deserve goodwill.

No one wanted to be taken for a fool.

Wang Qun sneered and immediately ordered the PR team to scrap all promotional campaigns related to the “charity vegetable initiative.”

In fact, they had already coordinated with the J City Education Bureau to organize a large-scale “One-on-One Agricultural Aid Campaign” during the New Year holiday.

The plan was to mobilize students from all major primary and secondary schools as volunteer workers to help local farmers harvest their unsold vegetables.

This way, the farmers could sell the remaining produce directly to school cafeterias, allowing students to eat vegetables they had harvested themselves while also solving the issue of unsold stock.

More importantly, organizing volunteers to help with the vegetable harvest wouldn’t require any additional labor costs.

The education bureau could use this large-scale agricultural assistance campaign to showcase the positive impact of labor education on students.

The television station could leverage the public welfare aspect of the campaign to enhance its brand value and program image.

Most importantly, the previously unknown vegetable growers would gain significant local recognition through such a large-scale promotional effort. With increased visibility, wouldn’t vegetable wholesalers naturally start flocking to them?

Unfortunately, before they even had a chance to roll out this newly developed promotional plan, they were stabbed in the back by the very people they were trying to help…

What kind of help is this supposed to be?

These guys hadn’t even made a name for themselves yet, and they were already trying to fleece us. If they did gain fame through our promotion and later got caught in scandals like “selling subpar produce as high-quality goods” or “shortchanging customers,” wouldn’t that drag us, the organizers, into the fire along with them?

Thinking about this, Wang Qun was utterly frustrated.

“Calm down. There are good people and bad people everywhere. Look at it this way: at least we didn’t help the wrong people when it came to Houzhai Village. At a critical moment, their village chief, Hou Tianbao, was willing to forgo business opportunities just to protect us. So, you see, most ordinary folks are still honest and trustworthy.” Ouyang Xia comforted Wang Qun.

“The old village chief is indeed a good man. I just hope those vegetable growers don’t let him down,” Wang Qun sighed.

As New Year’s Day approached, the Back to Hometown with My Bros production team returned to Houzhai Village to begin filming a new episode.

The weather in the mountains changed quickly. When they last left, it was still the crisp and clear season of autumn. Now, upon their return, light snow was already falling on the hills.

“This year’s weather is really unusual. The snow is a whole month earlier than usual,” the driver couldn’t help but remark.

However, not everyone experienced the same emotions.

The driver was worried that the snow would lead to ice, making driving hazardous.

Meanwhile, the director and cameramen, who loved stirring things up, excitedly clapped their hands in joy.

Director: “Perfect! We can set up snow scenes! Where’s the planning team? Hurry up and revise the script! See if there are any activities that can be done in the snow and arrange something for the guests!”

Cameraman: “Let’s have the guests wear brightly colored outfits. That way, the snow scenes will look even better!”

Driver: “…”

To hell with this! Let a massive blizzard come and bury the roads! Let’s see if you all are still smiling when I drive straight into a ditch!

With this lively energy, the crew entered the village.

On the way, the cameraman even got out to film the newly renovated village road. As expected, it was now wide enough for a bus to drive through.

This winter, Houzhai Village was livelier than ever.

To everyone’s surprise, there were many unfamiliar young faces in the village!

Upon inquiry, they learned that due to the poor economy this year, many factory workers hadn’t made much money. When they heard that their hometown had gained fame from being on television and that a new processing plant was opening in the village, they realized their parents, working odd jobs in the village, were earning more than they were toiling away in the city.

So why wait?

Since they were planning to return home for the New Year anyway, and with factories entering their slow season, they might as well head back early. They could eat and drink well at home and might even end up making more money than they did in the city.

And so, the first batch of quick-thinking young people packed their bags and returned home in a hurry.

Reality did not disappoint them.

The village was in desperate need of workers!

Hou Pengfei and his wife’s bamboo processing factory was still booming in sales—after all, the semester-end exams were approaching, and the “child-discipline tools” for supervising kids’ studies were in high demand!

With the snowfall, it became dangerous for the elderly to venture into the mountains to cut bamboo.

Luckily, the young villagers had returned. Hou Pengfei immediately hired over a dozen strong laborers to chop bamboo for the factory.

Every household in Houzhai Village had its own bamboo forest. Once Hou Pengfei’s family’s bamboo was harvested, they stopped leasing additional forests. Instead, they began purchasing bamboo directly from other villagers, allowing them to cut and sell their own bamboo to the factory.

It was said that diligent families could earn several hundred yuan a day just by selling bamboo!

Those who were physically strong went into the mountains to cut bamboo, while young women also found work. During the day, they worked at the pickle factory, processing ingredients for pickling. A full eight-hour shift earned them 100 yuan, and the work wasn’t exhausting.

At night, families gathered around warm hearths, watching TV, chatting, and weaving bamboo strips. Households with fast workers and multiple family members could earn two to three hundred yuan a day just from processing bamboo strips for the factory…

In short, Houzhai Village was no longer the “hollow village” of old, with only the elderly and left-behind children.

As more young people heard that they could make a living back home, they packed their bags and returned from factories across the country.

Even Village Chief Hou Tianbao now carried himself with more confidence!

In the past, the village was full of elderly and children. When dealing with outsiders, they had no choice but to swallow their grievances because there simply weren’t enough able-bodied men to back them up.

But now? If anyone dared to bully someone from Houzhai Village, Hou Tianbao would make sure they understood exactly why the flowers in his village bloomed so vibrantly!

Seeing the old village chief surrounded by a group of strong young men, Wang Qun couldn’t help but grin. He stepped forward and greeted the old chief with the warmth of long-lost friends.

Strangely, although it hadn’t been long since their last parting, everything felt different this time.

Lately, the old chief had been getting emotional.

Every time he saw another young villager return home, he couldn’t help but tear up.

Now, seeing the production team return as well, Hou Tianbao’s eyes brimmed with tears as he hugged each familiar face.

Wang Qun couldn’t help but discreetly wipe his eyes.

Having experienced the schemes of unscrupulous vegetable growers, the righteousness and sincerity of the old village chief became even more apparent.

It was precisely because of people like Hou Tianbao—honest and kind-hearted—that they could continue to believe that most farmers were still upright, good-natured, and capable of distinguishing right from wrong.

Although their originally planned agricultural aid initiative had fallen apart midway, the relationship between the program crew and Houzhai Village had, in an unspoken way, grown even stronger.

The only pity was that the household they had previously rented had now returned from the city upon hearing that there were good earning opportunities in the village, so they had to find another place to stay.

The new house wasn’t as good as the last one—it was the most common type of mud-brick house found in the mountains, with a one-and-a-half-story layout. The lower section, originally meant for pigs and chickens, was now empty since the owners had been away working for years.

Hou Tianbao had someone deliver firewood and two large bags of bamboo charcoal, saying it was for them to use for cooking and heating.

The rest of the program crew had to find lodging with other villagers.

Looking at the nearly empty, impoverished old house—so poor that even mice wouldn’t bother to make holes in it—the four celebrity guests were at a loss for words, their eyes brimming with unshed tears.

The pampered Chen Mengjie nearly broke down on the spot.

“There’s no bed~ hic~ where are we supposed to sleep tonight?”

Zhang Zexuan’s face also paled. “The glass on the windows is broken… Won’t we freeze to death here?”

Even Ouyang, who had grown up in the countryside and endured hardships, couldn’t help but turn pale.

He wasn’t afraid of hardship, but he was afraid of ghosts!

The creaking wooden floors underfoot, the gusts of chilly wind sweeping through, and the musty scent of decaying wood all seemed to scream that this old house had been abandoned for years. If they were unlucky, they might even encounter some “special guests” floating around at night…

Just as Wei Sheng was about to roll up his sleeves and start renovating the house, Hou Tianbao returned, accompanied by a few village women carrying plastic basins, rags, and a massive roll of plastic sheeting.

“I’m really sorry. There are no unoccupied houses left in the village, so this is the best we could do for now. Wait a bit—I’ve brought people to help clean up.”

With that, Hou Tianbao and his team immediately got to work.

They swept out the shattered window glass and, since there was no time to buy replacements, covered the windows with transparent plastic sheets to keep out the cold wind.

They cleared the cobwebs from the ceiling with bamboo brooms, wiped down the walls, and pasted a fresh layer of newspaper over them.

The wooden floors were swept and mopped twice, and any loose planks were nailed back into place…

“We should help too!” Wei Sheng was the first to roll up his sleeves.

The others quickly followed.

This was their place to stay, after all. Now that the villagers were helping clean it up, how could they just stand around watching like entitled guests?

The cameraman, seeing such a large-scale operation, realized he couldn’t capture everything alone and hurriedly called the director for backup.

Before long, even the program crew joined in to help.

It was a classic old-house renovation moment.

The livestream audience watching online was in stitches.

Other reality shows, once they gained popularity, only improved their guest accommodations—some even moved abroad for high-end filming.

But Brothers? As the villagers they helped got richer, the crew’s living conditions only seemed to get worse with each episode.

This time, they were staying in a run-down, abandoned house.

Next time, would they be thrown straight into a wilderness survival script?

Some mischievous viewers couldn’t help but hit the follow button, secretly waiting to see how things would unfold.

Meanwhile, in the vast, diverse world of the internet, a peculiar subset of netizens—fans of old-house renovations—found themselves mysteriously recommended to this unexpected livestream…

(End of Chapter)