NCCnovel Chapter 668 Observations (6)
Chapter 668 Observations (6)
"Miss Zheng, you flatter me. How could I dare ask you to guarantee this with your life?"
Chen Jiang scratched his head and said with a dry laugh.
Just kidding. Zheng Qiuyan is a potential matriarch of Chenjia Village. No matter how bold he is, he wouldn't ask Zheng Qiuyan to risk her life for her.
The reason for routinely asking Li Mingyuan and his companion about their identities was simply due to their duty to guard Chenjia Village, and it was just an instinctive wariness that arose upon seeing strangers.
As for whether Zheng Qiuyan might bring people who are detrimental to Chenjia Village into the village... Chen Jiang felt that the possibility was unlikely. After all, the cooperation between Zheng's Trading Company and Chenjia Village had always been pleasant, and there was no need for them to be detrimental to Chenjia Village.
Even if it were truly detrimental to Chenjia Village, the various strange beasts within the village were not to be trifled with. Over the years, the Big Yellow and Little Yellow guarding the farmland, as well as the chickens that seemed to roam freely in the village, had killed countless people with ill intentions.
Therefore, after the routine questioning, Chen Jiang cleared the road into the village and let Zheng Qiuyan and the other two pass.
"The Chen family village is indeed cautious."
Seeing that Zheng Qiuyan had finished negotiating with the guard at the village entrance, Li Mingyuan smiled and said that he was not at all dissatisfied with being stopped.
In his view, Chenjia Village, with its many amazing species such as yellow-feathered chickens, white-feathered ducks, and high-yield grains, could not be too cautious.
After all, there is no shortage of people willing to take risks in this world. The things that Chenjia Village possesses can be described as priceless, and no one can guarantee that outsiders will not be greedy.
"The two men guarding the village entrance are both martial artists."
Li Qiao suddenly spoke up: "And the grade is not low either."
As a first-rank martial artist, Li Qiao immediately recognized Chen Si and Chen Jiang as martial artists and accurately determined their martial arts level: seventh rank!
Chen Dao has always spared no effort in investing in the Chen Family Army. With the large influx of Blood Feather Chickens, the soldiers of the Chen Family Army are now generally at the eighth rank. Some who joined earlier and those with better talent have even reached the seventh rank, just one step away from the middle rank.
"Oh?"
A look of surprise flashed in Li Mingyuan's eyes. It was already surprising enough that someone would be guarding the entrance of a village, but the fact that the guard was a martial artist made it even more bizarre.
However, thinking of the local specialties of Chenjia Village, Li Mingyuan felt relieved.
It's not surprising that Chenjia Village, which possesses magical methods for raising chickens and ducks like Blood Feather Chicken and Crimson Blood Chicken, could produce martial artists.
"Let's go in and take a look. I've been looking forward to Chenjia Village for a long time!"
Li Mingyuan did not get back into the carriage. He stepped across the village gate and stood on Chencun Avenue.
Suddenly, the scene before him changed instantly. The clean and tidy streets, the shops lining the streets, and the trucks and pedestrians coming and going gave Li Mingyuan a strong visual impact.
Li Mingyuan, who has lived for seventy years, has seen countless villages, but none of them have ever given him such a shocking feeling.
In Li Mingyuan's view, the place in front of him did not look like a village at all, but rather like the interior of a city.
"Braised food, selling braised food! Come and buy some braised food to try, I guarantee you won't regret it."
"Steamed buns, steamed buns, piping hot steamed buns!"
"Wild vegetables, freshly picked wild vegetables, hurry up and buy them!"
"..."
As the cries of vendors filled the air along the street, Li Mingyuan noticed that Chencun Avenue not only had all sorts of shops, but also a large number of vendors in front of them.
These vendors mostly sell things like cooked food and toys. Many villagers are gathered around these stalls, either bargaining with the vendors or buying directly, creating a lively scene.
Beyond these vendors, all that could be seen were various shops: salt shops, general stores, restaurants, cloth shops, and so on, lined up on both sides of the street. A considerable number of customers were coming and going in these shops, and just by looking at this scene, one could tell that these shops must be doing quite well.
Besides the shops, Li Mingyuan also noticed the expressions on people's faces.
Unlike the sorrowful faces of the people he had seen in Liangzhou, the people here always seemed to have smiles on their faces. From those smiles, Li Mingyuan sensed emotions such as ease and confidence.
For some reason, Li Mingyuan suddenly felt that he liked this place.
Is this really a village?
Li Qiao, standing next to Li Mingyuan, was already stunned. Just by standing on the road at the entrance of the village, he saw no fewer than several hundred people, which showed that the population of Chenjia Village was definitely far more than several hundred.
In addition, the trucks and merchants passing by from time to time made Li Qiao feel a bit disoriented, because even when he was in the county town, he had never seen so many trucks and merchants.
"This is indeed Chenjia Village."
Zheng Qiuyan smiled and gave an affirmative answer. In fact, Zheng Qiuyan was no less shocked than Li Mingyuan and the other person.
It's been a while since I last visited Chenjia Village, and many changes have taken place there.
When she last came, Chenjia Village only had shops along the street, but now... shops have been built up to the second and third rows.
In addition, many more vendors have appeared on Chencun Avenue, which Zheng Qiuyan had never seen before on Chencun Avenue.
Another thing is... there are many more people wearing the same clothes on the street, seemingly cleaning up the trash?
What Zheng Qiuyan didn't know was that being a cleaner was a newly emerging job in Chenjia Village. As more and more businesses moved into Chenjia Avenue, the amount of garbage generated on the streets every day also increased. In order to prevent garbage from polluting the village environment, Chen Dao specially set up a cleaning department for Chenjia Village and recruited a large number of people to be responsible for cleaning the sanitation of Chenjia Avenue.
This is not only for the sake of village sanitation, but also to provide more job opportunities for Chenjia Village residents and migrant workers.
Of course, since cleaning is not considered heavy physical labor, the main job recruits are elderly people and women, which can be seen as a way of taking care of vulnerable groups.
Unlike the sanitation workers who were despised in his previous life, the sanitation workers in Chenjia Village were incredibly popular because they were paid only 300 coins less than the village's workers. Many young men even volunteered...
Chen Dao naturally refused.
The reason he formed the cleaning team was not only to ensure the cleanliness of the village, but also to provide some help to the vulnerable groups, so it was impossible for him to recruit able-bodied young men.
It is precisely because of this that many widowed and elderly women have been able to find work in Chenjia Village, earning stable incomes and living with dignity, instead of being unable to compete with able-bodied men due to old age and frailty, and lacking the connections of descendants, forced to live like beggars, utterly devoid of dignity and relying on the charity of others.
This filled them with gratitude towards Chenjia Village and Mr. Chen of Chenjia Village, and they wished they could kowtow to Chen Dao to express their heartfelt gratitude.