Chapter 242: Strategic Planning: The Powerless Scheme

"Qin Ye… Qin Yun gege!"

Seeing that familiar face, Lan Duo felt a surge of strength rise within her, joy bubbling up from her heart.

He really came—I knew Qin Yun gege would come; she's different from other streamers. As to how she's different, Lan Duo didn't know herself—just a feeling.

Before contacting Qin Yun, Lan Duo had reached out to other, more suitable top streamers, but until now, barely any replied, and even those who did responded with utter indifference, a reality Lan Duo had gradually grown used to.

At Hechi City People's Hospital, she accidentally saw a livestream on a nurse's phone and was instantly captivated.

After asking Song Ying to let her watch Qin Yun's livestreams for a few days, then browsing his past videos, for some reason, she developed an inexplicable trust in this man who had repeatedly created miracles.

So, using Song Ying's phone, she sent Qin Yun a private message.

During her month in the hospital, while waiting for Song Ying to come on duty, she asked every day—unfortunately, even after she was discharged, the message remained unread; clearly, the person on the other end hadn't seen it, leaving her utterly heartbroken.

Before discharge, she even asked Song Ying to print a photo of Qin Yun standing on Yao Mei Peak; back home, she prayed every day.

She prayed Qin Yun would see her message, that he'd reply amid his busy schedule, and that he'd come to see her. She truly wanted to help her village before leaving this world.

Though only thirteen, her family's poverty had forced her to mature early.

At thirteen, she should still be a child, but at six or seven, Lan Duo had already begun helping her grandparents. When her grandmother gathered herbs for sticky resin, she'd carry a basket beside her, allowing more to be collected at once; when her grandfather crafted spinning tops and bronze drums, she'd squat nearby as a little helper.

When the finished goods were made, she'd accompany her grandparents to Baixu Township to sell them, shouting to attract buyers.

In Jiaping Village, every household did the same; the terrain here was unsuitable for growing grain—nine parts stone, one part soil—that's what Baixu Township's Jiaping Village was like, with severe stone desertification. Transportation in and out was also inconvenient, so almost no outsiders ever came or went.

Their annual harvest relied entirely on the village's inherited skills.

Sticky resin dye, indigo dye, bronze drums, spinning tops—but the problem was, other Bai Ku Yao people had these too; Jiaping Village wasn't unique. So every time they brought finished goods to Baixu Township to sell, the earnings were meager, and they could only sell them at even lower prices to middlemen for a meager income.

From childhood, Lan Duo clearly knew Jiaping Village was desperately poor—so poor that not a single able-bodied adult remained in any household. Many homes had become completely desolate; the Bai Ku Yao youths who left had never returned—there was nothing here worth returning for.

During her school years, she'd seen many things through her teacher's phone, and slowly, she began to want to help her village.

But no matter how mature she was, she was still just a child; all she could think of was finding people to promote the village's Bai Ku Yao culture, dyeing techniques, and the ancient methods of making bronze drums and spinning tops.

Holding the girl's hand in his palm, he sighed inwardly—slender didn't even begin to describe her.

Before coming, he'd casually looked into the village's situation; honestly, such extreme poverty wasn't without reason. But many in Jiaping Village accepted their poverty willingly, for their needs were low—just enough to eat was sufficient, with no other spiritual aspirations.

Our country's poverty alleviation efforts are great; villages like this are being eliminated one by one. Jiaping Village was once among them—years ago, it was a targeted aid recipient with a chance to relocate.

The government had even planned their future living arrangements and housing, but at the time, the village elders flatly refused, declaring the Bai Ku Yao could never leave their ancestral land. That elder had been dead for over a decade; some Bai Ku Yao accepted the government's arrangements and moved away; others, where roads could be built, got roads and vehicles.

"Duo Duo, rest well, get some sleep. I'll come back to talk to you when you wake up."

Seeing Lan Duo's exhaustion, her eyes dimmed, he said.

Lan Duo nodded, then confirmed: "Qin Yun gege, you'll help me, right?"

Qin Yun nodded firmly: "Don't worry, I'll help you."

Lan Duo closed her eyes in relief, her breathing quickly becoming even.

Stepping out of the room, under Lan Duo's grandmother's guidance, the two sat together with the elderly couple.

"Qin… Mr. Qin…" Lan Duo's grandmother called.

"Grandma, just call me Xiao Qin." Qin Yun smiled.

"Mm, Xiao Qin." Lan Duo's grandmother looked uneasy. "Just having you come see this child already makes us so happy—we don't need you to take what Duo Duo said seriously."

"That's right," Lan Duo's grandfather rubbed his fingers. "Kids' words shouldn't be taken seriously, especially about something this big."

They understood Lan Duo's thoughts, but precisely because of that, they found them utterly fantastical.

What does Jiaping Village have? How can you help? Aside from the skills each household holds, everything else seems worthless.

Qin Yun hadn't looked deeply into it, so he held his evaluation for now.

"Grandpa, Grandma, how many people are still in the village?"

Lan Duo's grandfather thought, then counted on his fingers: "Over a hundred households, maybe four or five hundred people total. Most now in the village are elderly—over a hundred—and more than half have left to work elsewhere; the rest are all children."

Qin Yun thought—it was a classic hollowed-out Yao village, with seven out of ten able-bodied adults gone; no wonder life was so hard.

"Mostly Yao people?"

"Mm!" Lan Duo's grandmother nodded. "Just a few Zhuang and Han people—the Han person is the teacher at Jiaping Primary School; everyone else is Bai Ku Yao."

"The Yao bronze drum…"

As Qin Yun asked question after question, Lan Duo's grandparents often only half-understood and couldn't answer, but after more than half an hour of inquiry, Qin Yun gradually had a clearer picture.

But he still needed to visit other households in the village, and most importantly, speak with the village elders.

He could certainly host a livestream to draw people here, but if Jiaping Village had nothing worth attention, those who came just because of his reputation would leave behind chaos—and things would return to how they were before, offering no real help.

So if he wanted to help Lan Duo, help Jiaping Village, he needed a lasting solution.

…

"Wow, this spinning top is huge."

"So bronze drum dance is a funeral dance…"

"…These wax-dyed patterns actually record history…"

Qin Yun wandered freely through Jiaping Village, chatting with anyone he met, stopping to watch when he saw families working.

All afternoon, he never stopped—walking everywhere, observing everywhere.

Finally, he went to Jiaping Primary School and chatted with the teacher there.

Returning to Lan Duo's home, Lan Duo was awake, chatting happily with Su Huan.

Seeing Qin Yun enter, Lan Duo beamed: "Qin Yun gege, you're back."

"Mm. What were you two talking about?"

Lan Duo blushed slightly but said: "Sister Su was telling me how she won you over."

Qin Yun burst out laughing: "So even this secret of yours, Sister Su told you?"

Laughing and chatting, Qin Yun found Lan Duo's grandfather.

"Grandpa, I heard the village is about to hold its ancestral sacrifice?"

Grandpa Landuo nodded: "Another week until the Bronze Drum Array sacrifice. At that time, some of the young men will return. The village holds a Bronze Drum Array sacrifice every three months, and one grand sacrifice each year, when all the villagers participate—it's quite lively."

After wandering all afternoon, Qin Yun still had no Good idea for how to help Landuo; this Jiaping Village was too ordinary—adhesive dye, indigo dye, bronze drums, ancient spinning tops—all other Yao groups had these too, and they'd all commercialized them—who would come here to buy?

All one could say was that this branch of the White-Pants Yao lacked favorable timing, geography, and human support.