A few days later, several retired soldiers arrived at Kushan.
They claimed to have come on hearing about him, wanting to learn from Village Chief Li.
Village Chief Li had not only managed an old mountain village well but also accommodated many retired soldiers, making him a role model for them to follow.
They wanted to be like Village Chief Li, selflessly dedicating themselves to the cause of the nation's development and prosperity.
Li Zhengguo "..."
Wan Zhongshan was too embarrassed to show his face and directly had people put him on a pedestal.
While strength could not be bent, he was quite happy to wear a high hat.
"You are too kind. You are the selfless ones; I am merely selfishly thinking of developing my hometown."
"Since you are here, let me arrange accommodation for you. Time is tight and the mission is heavy."
"After lunch, you can go observe and listen to the villagers, then talk to my assistant. The day after tomorrow, you will officially follow me to learn."
"Yes, thank you, Village Chief Li."
"You are welcome."
The group was arranged to stay in a courtyard, with accommodation provided but not meals.
Water was abundant in the Kuer River, and electricity was metered and charged according to the county's electricity rates.
Vegetables could be bought in the village. For grains, the villagers only had enough for themselves, so they could borrow vehicles to help the new arrivals purchase them elsewhere.
These conditions were quite good, saving them a lot on accommodation fees.
After all, they had been soldiers. In just two hours, they had prepared their basic necessities.
With people coming to Kushan to learn, how could County Chief Ji not know?
How could the previous four villages not know? Zhonghe, Zhangshan, and Lishi, along with Wang'er Village, went to the town to voice their opinions.
After the Xiao family incident, the town dared not offer any more ill-advised suggestions and told them to go to the county.
Before they could even go, County Chief Ji's call reached the town.
"Tell those four villages that if they also have retired soldiers in their villages, send retired soldiers to learn. Soldiers have discipline ingrained in their bones. Ordinary villagers would just be a nuisance."
The old village chief of Wang'er Village turned and left. Among these five villages, apart from Li Zhengguo, no one else had served in the army.
What old farmer didn't want their son to join the army?
Was it that easy to be selected? They managed to get one or two quotas, only for them to fail the medical examination.
Li Zhengguo was unaware of the situation outside the village. He was explaining Kushan's development plan and the reasoning behind it to the trainees.
"Each village's plan must be adapted to local conditions. Just like our five villages, because my plan is sufficiently reasonable and sees a future."
"Therefore, the county, to prevent the other four villages from blindly following suit and disrupting my plan, has suppressed them."
"Although it is currently suppression, once our internal tourism projects are successfully developed, they will be able to ride on our coattails."
"At the very least, they can sell some unique local specialties, which requires the courage of their village chiefs."
"Come, I'll take you to see the village's construction, as well as the village primary school and the literacy class."
"For villagers to be obedient, mere force is not enough. They must also understand reason and law."
The trainees "..."
When they arrived, they had seen the development materials for Kushan and were full of confidence.
After a few days here, they found that even the children understood the law, and they felt that their task was long and arduous.
Thus, they studied with great concentration.
Especially after another batch of trainees arrived, they became even more anxious.
The anxiety was not about how much they learned from Village Chief Li. After these days of interaction, they knew that Village Chief Li did not hoard knowledge and said whatever he knew.
What made them anxious was that if they, having learned from Village Chief Li, performed worse than others upon their return, it would be a great disgrace.
This anxiety made their studies even more earnest.
The later trainees were also infected by this anxiety. Li Zhengguo's head spun daily from the questions.
He got angry, "All trainees, two hours of self-study every evening. Bring out your respective questions for collective discussion."
"If any trainees understand, they should explain it. If no one understands, then come and ask me."
"If you find any mistakes in what I say, point them out too."
The trainees admired Village Chief Li's adaptability in shifting the burden back to them in one fell swoop.
At the same time, it allowed them to brainstorm and not necessarily adhere to Kushan's development path.
...
Tian Jing asked her husband with a smile, "What does it feel like to take on apprentices?"
Li Zhengguo shook his head, "Annoying. At first, I was very enthusiastic, but when they started asking silly questions, I got annoyed."
"Hahaha."
Tian Jing laughed, "This is surely just the beginning."
Looking at his wife, whose face was blooming like a flower, Li Zhengguo put down his meal and embraced her, "Let's go back to the room to sleep."
...
The watermelons went on sale.
Large trucks drove directly to the greenhouse cluster.
Handcarts and skateboards shuttled back and forth between the greenhouses.
Zeng Shengchun was surprised, "In just a few months, how did your village get so many more people?"
Li Zhengguo held half a watermelon in one hand and a spoon in the other, "There are people here to learn and people here to work. In short, I've become famous."
Zeng Shengchun's gaze fell on the skateboards, "Isn't being famous a good thing?"
Li Zhengguo shook his head, "Good for what? Everyone is watching me, and I dare not make the slightest mistake. It's too tiring, mentally exhausting."
Zeng Shengchun's gaze shifted back to Li Zhengguo, who was happily eating, "I don't see you being constrained anywhere. You seem more at ease than before."
So at ease that he wasn't working and was directly eating half a watermelon.
Li Zhengguo pointed to the trainees diligently weighing the watermelons, "With them here, if I also personally worked, wouldn't that be a waste of their training?"
Zeng Shengchun raised an eyebrow, "So, before it was estimated, and now it's weighed?"
"Do you think it's too slow? If you think it's too slow, go tell them. They say they cannot waste a single drop of the villagers' sweat."
Zeng Shengchun looked at the rising sun, "Do they know that time is money? Do they know the suffering of watermelons being exposed to the sun?"
"They know time is money, but they certainly don't understand the suffering of watermelons."
"You..."
Zeng Shengchun snatched Li Zhengguo's watermelon, "Hurry up and get angry. You know very well that watermelons suffer from heatstroke when exposed to the sun, and I will suffer too."
"I won't go."
Li Zhengguo shook his head, "Bring back all the ones you ruined and show them. Without seeing it firsthand, they will never understand the suffering of the watermelons."
"You'll pay?"
"They will pay? Consider it their tuition."
"But you could have prevented it with a few words."
"No, without hardship, there is no wisdom."
"Encountering a master like you is also their misfortune."
"But they deserve it."
After working until ten o'clock, the trainees submitted the weight statistics to Accountant Zhou.
Accountant Zhou refused to accept them and handed them the estimated weight of the watermelons by the villagers.
"See, how much is the difference?"
The trainees were overjoyed, "We have over eight hundred catties more."
Accountant Zhou "..."
Hope you can still smile tomorrow.
Assistant Zhang "..."
Village Chief Li is subtly teaching a lesson again.
Zeng Shengchun received two data sheets, "Wait for my news."
The trainees "..."
Wait for what news?