Chapter 1299

Seeing this kind of mountain road, Su Xinghui finally understood why there were only two shuttle buses a day to Xiaopu Township, and why one trip took over two hours. On a road like this, it was impossible to go fast. It was considered good if it could be driven in over two hours; if there were any slight accidents, it might not even be finished in three hours.

The bus was not only crowded, but the vast majority of the passengers were mountain folk. Although the mountain folk were simple and honest, this also meant they had little education. They spoke loudly on the bus without regard for others, smoking that extremely choking leaf tobacco. Some even brought live animals like chickens and ducks; the smell was indescribable.

Su Xinghui and Wei Pengfei were fine; Wei Pengfei had grown up in this kind of environment, and Su Xinghui also had a strong ability to adapt. They could still endure it, but Cheng Hongli couldn't take it. She was already feeling very uncomfortable from the jolting of the bus, and with the pungent smell in the carriage, her face was deathly pale.

Fortunately, the seat she was sitting in was by the window. Su Xinghui went to help her open the window, but the window was almost rusted shut and very difficult to open. Su Xinghui used almost all his strength to open a small crack, and a cool mountain breeze blew in. This made Cheng Hongli feel a bit more comfortable, and her complexion looked better.

Seeing Cheng Hongli like this, Su Xinghui couldn't help but secretly regret not accepting Ling Anguo's kindness and letting him dispatch a jeep.

It was the old grandmother to whom Su Xinghui had given his seat who saw Cheng Hongli's state. She shouted loudly at the men who were smoking, "I say you men, stop smoking that leaf tobacco. It's choking people to death, choking such a pretty girl until her face has turned white."

The mountain folk didn't understand big principles, but they were considered reasonable, and they knew how to respect the elderly. Since the old grandmother had said so, and they saw that Cheng Hongli was indeed very uncomfortable, they laughed loudly and extinguished their hand-rolled leaf tobacco, then carefully put the extinguished tobacco back into their pockets.

No one was smoking in the carriage anymore, and Cheng Hongli felt much better. She said to the old grandmother, "Grandmother, thank you!"

The old grandmother said, "Don't be polite. You three children look so well-off, why are you taking our rural shuttle bus?"

Cheng Hongli said, "This is my partner. He is from Xiaopu Township, got into university, and is now working in the county. This is his classmate. Today we are just going back to Xiaopu Township to take a look."

The old grandmother said happily, "I am also from Xiaopu Township. This child got into university; that's like a literary star descending to earth."

More than half of the passengers on this bus were from Xiaopu Township. Hearing the conversation between Cheng Hongli and the old grandmother, they began to size up Wei Pengfei. Someone from the same village as Wei Pengfei recognized him and greeted him, "Fei-wazi, I'm your Twelfth Uncle. Don't you recognize me?"

Wei Pengfei also recognized this Twelfth Uncle. He nodded and said, "Twelfth Uncle, it's really you. Look at how many people are on this bus; I didn't even see you!"

Twelfth Uncle, having been called by Wei Pengfei, felt as if he had been given great face. His face was glowing, and he said with a smile, "Fei-wazi, you are the most promising person in our Changshanchong. In the last dozen years or so in our Changshanchong, you are the only university student who has come out."

In this era, in Changshan County, a university student was almost equivalent to a top scholar of the past and was very much respected. Everyone began to praise Wei Pengfei endlessly, saying he was promising, making Wei Pengfei's face turn red. He knew in his heart, what promise did he have? He was just muddling through his days at the Culture Bureau every day now.

Just then, the bus suddenly stopped. Everyone looked forward in surprise, only to hear the driver cursing, "Damn it, this piece of junk has broken down again."

Wei Pengfei looked at Su Xinghui with a bitter smile. Riding this decrepit shuttle bus, encountering a breakdown was a common occurrence.

The driver and the conductor got off the bus. The driver went under the bus to check, and the conductor helped him by handing him tools.

Fortunately, drivers in this era basically all knew how to repair cars. The driver fiddled under the bus for over ten minutes, then returned to the bus, twisted the ignition key, and the bus started again.

Just like that, the bus stopped and started, and it took nearly three hours to reach Xiaopu Township. Upon arriving at Xiaopu Township, they still had to walk more than three kilometers of mountain road to reach Wei Pengfei's hometown, Changshanchong Village. The three of them said goodbye to the old grandmother, then bought some pork and a fresh fish at the township market, and then hitched a ride with Wei Pengfei's Twelfth Uncle and set off on the road to Changshanchong Village.

Wei Pengfei asked, "Twelfth Uncle, what are you doing going to the county seat this time? Why didn't you come to my unit to find me?"

Actually, this Twelfth Uncle only shared the same surname; he was long past the five degrees of kinship with his family. He called him Twelfth Uncle just as a form of address; there was no real kinship. However, meeting someone from the same village and surname at such a time, he still felt very close.

Twelfth Uncle's name was Wei Bingsheng. He said, "Two days ago in the mountains, I hunted a muntjac, a water deer, and a few pheasants. Yesterday I carried them to the county seat and sold them to the County Party Committee guesthouse, selling them for dozens of yuan. I just bought some things for my son and daughter in the county seat, and today I'm rushing to take them home to let my son and daughter be happy."

Wei Bingsheng's back was covered with big and small bags. Wei Pengfei said, "You bought quite a lot of things."

Su Xinghui said, "Twelfth Uncle, do you know that the animals you hunted are all protected wild animals?"

Wei Bingsheng looked blank and said, "What is a protected animal?"

Su Xinghui said, "Protected animals are animals whose numbers are already very scarce and which the state has explicitly stipulated cannot be hunted. The few types you mentioned should all be protected animals."

Wei Bingsheng said, "Are the numbers very scarce? I see that there are quite a lot of these wild animals on the mountain."

Wei Pengfei said, "Twelfth Uncle, these are indeed protected animals stipulated by the state. Hunting them without authorization is an illegal act."

Wei Bingsheng said, "Then what should I do? My son and daughter at home are counting on these things. By the way, if I hunted these things this time, will someone arrest me? I sold them to the County Party Committee guesthouse; it should be no problem, right? If it's illegal, would they accept them?"

Su Xinghui said, "It's just that our supervision here is not very strict right now. If we wait until supervision is strict in the future, then maybe someone really will arrest you."

Wei Bingsheng was a bit scared by what was said: "This child, then can I just not hunt them in the future?"

Su Xinghui said, "Of course you can. Twelfth Uncle, actually, to make money, you don't need to hunt this kind of game. There are many ways to make money."

Wei Bingsheng said, "What ways are there to make money?"

Su Xinghui said, "This is a long story. Anyway, things like engaging in breeding, planting fruit trees, or planting Chinese medicinal herbs are all ways to make money."

Wei Bingsheng looked at Su Xinghui suspiciously and said, "Can what you say really make money? A few years ago, our township organized us to breed some Angora rabbits, but later they couldn't be sold, and they were all killed for meat."

Su Xinghui knew that Wei Bingsheng was talking about Angora rabbits. In the nineties, China once had a wave of breeding Angora rabbits. Many places had bred them, but due to the ineffective organization of local governments, the sales of rabbit fur and other products were not smooth, leading to losses for the breeders.

Wei Pengfei laughed, "Twelfth Uncle, you can rest assured about this. This classmate of mine is from Shangjun County. He has been a township head and town head in Shangjun County. He is an expert in breeding and planting. In the places where he was township head and town head, the common people there all became prosperous. Now he has been transferred to our Changshan County to work. He will definitely have a way to let the common people of Changshan County become prosperous too."

Actually, Wei Pengfei was also comforting Wei Bingsheng. He felt that with the conditions in Changshan County, Su Xinghui might not necessarily be able to create any miracles in Changshan County. Of course, since Su Xinghui had said so, he certainly couldn't undermine Su Xinghui, and furthermore, he didn't want Wei Bingsheng to be disappointed.

Wei Bingsheng said, "This child is so young? And he can already be a town head?"

Wei Pengfei said, "He is a genuine town head."

Wei Bingsheng said, "That is truly remarkable."

The few of them walked and talked, and the road wasn't too lonely, but the mountain road wasn't easy to travel. Cheng Hongli almost sprained her ankle halfway, so Wei Pengfei found her a tree branch of suitable length in the woods by the road to use as a walking stick, which made her walking a bit easier.

After walking for about forty minutes, the few of them finally reached Changshanchong Village. Of course, this was because there was a girl, Cheng Hongli, and everyone had to wait for her; otherwise, their speed could have been even faster.

Changshanchong Village was in a relatively flat valley between two mountain peaks. This village was a relatively large settlement, with about two hundred households and over a thousand people. House after house was situated in the valley. Most of these houses were the kind of old and dilapidated houses; it could be seen that this was a very poor village. ===== CHAPTER 1301 =====