However, during dinner, Li Dongmei arrived again, this time not empty-handed.
She brought a basin of Liangfen, which she had made after lunch and kept to cool in the well water until now.
Seeing the visitor, Liu Yifeng immediately stood up. "Why are you here? Have you eaten? Would you like to join us?"
Li Dongmei shook her head repeatedly. "No, I've already eaten.
This is the Liangfen I made, I specifically brought it for you to try. I hope you don't mind."
With that, she walked into the living room and placed the Liangfen on the table.
"How can we accept this? We have food at home, you should take it back for your children!" Liu Yifeng said.
"What's there to be shy about? I know you could have hired someone capable to pull up the peanuts, but you chose to let me do it, which is helping me.
This Liangfen is nothing special, but it's a small token of my gratitude.
Uncle Liu, this Liangfen is delicious, please try some." Li Dongmei looked at Liu Chunsheng.
Liu Chunsheng dreaded Li Dongmei's attempts to curry favor. It was obvious to him that this woman had designs on his son.
He put on a stern face and said, "Why are you bringing Liangfen here? Take it back. If I want to eat it, I can make it myself."
Liu Shu's indifferent attitude startled Li Dongmei. "Uncle Liu, what is this..."
"My dad is in a bad mood. Sister Li, I appreciate your kindness, but it's dark outside, you should head back now!"
"Alright, I'll be going then." Li Dongmei finally managed a smile.
Seeing Li Dongmei leave, Liu Chunsheng stood up and was about to pour away the Liangfen she had brought.
Liu Yifeng quickly stopped him. "Dad, what are you doing?"
"Hmph, what am I doing? Li Dongmei bringing Liangfen this late has ulterior motives.
She thinks a basin of Liangfen can win your heart. That's daydreaming. Nothing in this world is that good."
Liu Yifeng said with some helplessness, "Dad, you're overthinking. Li Dongmei is just simply thanking us."
"What do you know, young man? I've lived longer, I can see her intentions at a glance.
She sees that you're single, have a child, and are capable, so she wants to form a family with you. This way, she can also help her child."
"This is just your guess. Besides, I don't have any such thoughts about her. Can she force me to be with her?
This Liangfen is food, and you're about to pour it away. Isn't that wasting food? And you're from a farming background!" With that, Liu Yifeng took the basin from his father.
Liu Chunsheng continued his nagging, "Even if you don't have such thoughts, gossip is powerful. If Li Dongmei gets too close to you, village rumors will follow.
By then, even if there's nothing between you, baseless things will be said.
Starting tomorrow, you are not allowed to go to Li Dongmei's house anymore. If there's anything, let me talk to her.
Also, when she comes to our house, you should quickly go out, so people know that even though she's at our place, you two are not together."
"Okay, I understand. I'll do as you say!" Liu Yifeng, not wanting to listen to his father's endless chatter, could only compromise.
"Humph," Liu Chunsheng grunted unhappily. "Don't just dismiss what I say, boy. I'm doing this for your own good."
"Dad, I know you mean well, but can we stop talking about it? The child is still eating. Some things shouldn't be said in front of the child."
Liu Chunsheng then sat back down at the table to continue eating. Tongtong, however, had overheard the adults' conversation.
"Daddy, will you and Kexin's mom get together?"
"Tongtong, why do you ask that? Daddy and her mom are just ordinary villagers, we won't be together." Liu Yifeng immediately comforted him.
"Mm, I knew Daddy wouldn't be with anyone other than Mommy." With that, Tongtong buried his head in his meal.
Seeing Tongtong bring up his mother again, Liu Yifeng glanced at his phone on the table.
He decided that after the village meeting tonight, he would shamelessly call Yun Duo'er again.
He was actually quite curious. Tongtong had been with him for almost two months, didn't his mother miss him at all?
Was being a star more important than her own son?
However, he had no right to judge Yun Duo'er, after all, she had raised Tongtong alone until he was three.
After dinner, Liu Yifeng went to the ancestral hall.
Liu Chunsheng had also wanted to go, but Liu Yifeng stopped him.
After all, Tongtong was still young, and he couldn't leave him alone at home with peace of mind.
For this kind of matter, even his father couldn't be of much help.
At 7:30 PM, all the village representatives gathered at the ancestral hall.
This was the first village meeting held in their village in several years, and everyone was curious about the reason.
Many rural women had also wanted to go and listen, but in their village, only the men of the Liu family were allowed into the ancestral hall, not even their daughters.
The new ancestral hall was built last year and had a large space, capable of accommodating four to five hundred people.
Therefore, with over three hundred households in Liu Village represented, it wouldn't feel crowded.
Liu Huogen, looking at the assembled village representatives, said loudly, "Everyone has been called here today because there is a matter that requires everyone's consent."
"Village head, what is it?" someone, unable to contain their impatience, asked curiously, and others echoed the sentiment.
The village head raised his hand to signal for quiet. Once the crowd had settled down, he continued.
"Our village still has a piece of public land by the bridge. Since it's empty, I want to rent this plot of land to Liu Yifeng."
After hearing the village head's words, Liu Xincheng asked with a hint of suspicion, "That piece of land is over five thousand square meters. What does Liu Yifeng need such a large area for?"
Liu Huogen looked at Liu Yifeng beside him and gestured for him to explain.
Liu Yifeng walked to the front of the crowd and addressed them. "Everyone, I plan to open a farmhouse-style restaurant in our village. It will not only serve food but also offer parent-child interactive games to strengthen the bond between adults and children.
Due to the numerous planned activities, a larger area is required.
But rest assured, I'm not renting it for free."
"Then how much are you willing to pay?" asked a person standing in the front row, which was the question on everyone's mind.
"I've done some research. Ordinary land, at one hundred square meters, costs about five hundred yuan per year.
We have five thousand square meters here, which would be twenty-five thousand.
However, we are all from the same village, and I'd rather take a slight loss myself than let any of you suffer.
Therefore, I can offer fifty thousand yuan per year for the land rental, paid directly for three years.
That amounts to one hundred and fifty thousand yuan. As for this money, whether it goes to the village committee or is distributed among everyone, that's for you all to decide."
The villagers' eyes lit up at the prospect of distributing one hundred and fifty thousand yuan.
That plot of land had been empty since they were born. Occasionally, people would dry things there, but no one had occupied it privately.
Since it was lying idle, if Liu Yifeng were to offer one hundred and fifty thousand yuan for the land rental upfront,
then each household would receive approximately four hundred yuan.
While four hundred yuan was not a large sum, it was essentially free money.
However, quite a few people still objected, and Liu Xincheng was the first to voice his dissent.
"Village head, I disagree. That is our village's public land. Why should it be rented out to him alone?
If he gets rich, will he remember us? Just like the empty land behind the mountain.
We agreed to let him plant watermelons there, and he got rich selling them, but he only gave each household two watermelons as a reward. Is that how a person should act?
If we weren't so easygoing and had let him plant there, he wouldn't have gotten rich!"
"Exactly! I heard his watermelons were sold for eight yuan a jin. Each watermelon is three to four hundred yuan, and his watermelons grow densely. He must have earned millions.
But now that he's rich, we haven't benefited at all.
And now he wants to rent our land, and he thinks he can fob us off with four hundred yuan? Does he think we're beggars?"
"Opening a farmhouse-style restaurant is how he makes money. Why should we agree? It's not like we've never seen four hundred yuan before."
The more they spoke, the more animated they became. At least half of them were opposed to the matter.
Seeing this, the village head quickly said, "Don't just focus on immediate gains. In reality, Liu Yifeng building a farmhouse-style restaurant in our village will greatly benefit us.
First, when he builds the facilities, he'll need to hire many people. Those who can do masonry work will earn some income.
Those who can't can work as laborers. And that's just the secondary benefit.
Once the farmhouse-style restaurant is built and attracts a large number of tourists, your other farmhouse-style restaurants will surely have business.
Those who haven't opened one can open small shops or snack stalls.
These will all bring you direct benefits, not just that four hundred yuan!"
After hearing the village head's analysis, the villagers felt that it did make some sense.
Seeing that the crowd was wavering, Liu Xincheng immediately interjected, "He's opening a farmhouse-style restaurant himself. How much profit can we other people's farmhouse-style restaurants make?
In the end, he'll be eating meat while we just lick the bowl. The benefits will still be his alone."
"Yes, yes. Liu Yifeng is opening his own farmhouse-style restaurant, so the tourists who come here will definitely eat at his place. Our farmhouse-style restaurants will have no business."
Seeing the villagers leaning to one side, Liu Yifeng spoke up. "Everyone, please listen to me. I haven't forgotten about you letting me plant watermelons on the back mountain.
The two watermelons I promised to give you as compensation were based on the initial concern that watermelons might not make much money.
Who knew they would be so popular?
You all played a part in this. I already withdrew cash from the bank and was planning to give each household a thousand yuan red packet when everyone is less busy, as a small token of my appreciation."
Liu Yifeng had this idea as soon as the watermelons started selling for eight yuan a jin.
However, he had been too busy recently and wanted to surprise everyone.
Who knew it would be brought up today, and he had no choice but to tell them in advance.
Otherwise, it was highly unlikely they would agree to rent the land today.
The villagers, who had some reservations about Liu Yifeng, felt a bit embarrassed upon hearing that he was willing to give so much money as a thank you.
Although a thousand yuan per household didn't sound like a lot, there were over three hundred households, nearly four hundred villagers.
This added up to nearly four hundred thousand yuan.
Most people would be reluctant to part with such a sum.
After all, this money was not something he had originally promised to give, so even if he didn't give it, they couldn't say anything.
"Yifeng, you grew the watermelons yourself. We didn't help much, so how can we accept so much money from you?" the village head said immediately.
Liu Yifeng smiled. "Village head, this is what I should do. If it weren't for everyone's indulgence, I wouldn't have been able to plant so many watermelons on the back mountain without spending a cent, and achieve such a good harvest."
"But..." the village head wanted to say more.
But Liu Yifeng interrupted him. "I've already withdrawn the money. Tomorrow, I'll trouble all of you to make a trip to my house to collect it.
If you don't come to get it, I'll feel too embarrassed to continue planting watermelons on the back mountain in the future."
The soil on the back mountain was particularly fertile, which was one of the reasons why Liu Yifeng's watermelons grew so well.
Therefore, he wanted to continue planting watermelons there.
Hence, winning people over was necessary, otherwise, some people would still prevent him from planting watermelons there.