The Happy Farmer Wanderer-Chapter 884: Switching Tactics

Wang Baichuan held the steering wheel steady and couldn’t help but laugh as he spoke, "Qingzi, when you hear something like this, you’d think it’s a prank, right?"

Li Qing nodded, "Even as you talk about it now, it still seems like a prank to me."

Moreover, Five Springs Village was close by.

It was Wu Xingxing’s village.

"So our operator treated it like a prank, but then another call came in not long after, saying that the potatoes had even destroyed houses and were more ferocious than artillery shells, urging us to send someone to handle it quickly," Wang Baichuan said, "The operator was about to scold them again, but then suddenly remembered the notice we circulated a while ago about reporting any abnormal events immediately, and that’s when they reported it to me."

"I thought it was absurd too, but since there were two calls about it, I couldn’t just ignore it, so I took a couple of officers and went to see for myself. The moment we arrived, I felt a numbing sensation on my scalp—people from the village were warming themselves by a bonfire up on the mountain, while the village was eerily silent and the houses were all collapsed."

"I realized right then that something serious had happened. After getting the gist of the situation, I prepared to take some people into the village to investigate, but a few villagers stopped us, saying those potatoes had been eaten by generations of our people and were extremely malicious towards us, attacking on sight!"

"I entered the village half-believing what I’d heard, and out of nowhere, those things started flying around like artillery shells. Seeing things weren’t looking good, I called out to the two officers and ran towards the car."

"So, you didn’t manage to escape?" Li Qing asked.

The state of the car was a clear indication—they obviously hadn’t made it out unscathed.

"Those two officers were smacked in the face by flying potatoes on the spot and were knocked over. I was lucky to run fast and didn’t get hit, but the car took a beating," Wang Baichuan said, "However, I noticed those things seemed suicidally reckless. Although the two officers I brought got pretty seriously wounded, they’re not in any life-threatening danger."

"It seems like they leave you alone once they’ve beaten you to within an inch of your life, the potatoes swooshing in and out. Such fragile things, but now they felt as hard as rocks. Look what they did to my car."

Li Qing put away his joking mood and asked, "Were there any casualties in the village?"

"That’s the reason I was just explaining; many were injured, but thankfully, there were no fatalities," Wang Baichuan said. "When I first arrived, the ambulances had just taken the last group of people. There weren’t enough ambulances to go around, and the whole village was nearly emptied."

"It’s a relief there were no fatalities," Li Qing sighed in relief.

The situation was now fairly clear—it was likely that something had caused the potatoes to mutate.

"It’s a fortunate stroke of luck within an unfortunate situation, as there were no fatalities," Wang Baichuan said. "We didn’t have enough ambulances and had to transport people in batches. If there had been a fatality, it would have been really troublesome. This incident has been a lesson for our operators as well, and I guess from now on, they’ll take any report seriously, even if it’s about grass, flowers, or sheep dung being deadly."

Li Qing had already experienced homicidal flowers before; indeed, such claims needed to be taken seriously.

But sheep dung was another story.

As the car entered the main road of the village, Li Qing suddenly felt puzzled.

He had only been in seclusion for sixteen days, yet it felt like the village had secretly skipped a whole year during his absence.

The entire street was now uniformly lined with white walls and black tiles, and matching streetlights had been installed.

Every ten or so steps, there was a scrolling screen.

Many of the former residences now displayed signs of various businesses.

Along the sides of the immaculately cleaned roads, there were all kinds of small vendors every few steps. Though there were no hawkers calling out, the atmosphere was exceptionally lively. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

"I’ve only been in seclusion for a few days, and the village has changed so much that it feels a bit unfamiliar to me," Li Qing couldn’t help but murmur.

Upon hearing this, Wang Baichuan looked out the car window and laughed, "Your village is changing every day now. I’ve been here twice in the past few days, and each time it feels different. The changes are indeed rapid. Qingzi, this is the power of capital. With the pace you’re going, you’ll soon be outshining Shili Yi."

"But all the investment pulls and policy maneuvers at Shili Yi haven’t really caught fire yet. If they get outdone by your village, some folks are bound to be unhappy."

"What’s there to be unhappy about? We have different interests. Our village is all about pure countryside tourism, while Shili Yi has a wetland park and some memorials and the like. They’re different from the start," Li Qing said with a smile, "Even if we outshine Shili Yi in popularity, we’ll be ’blooming on two fronts,’ so to speak."

"Hold on, let’s stop at the village entrance for a moment."

He had spotted Jing Yan and Zi Ling standing outside the barbecue shop.

Despite being in a car, he was actually trailing behind these two.

Wang Baichuan glanced over at Jing Yan and Zi Ling and pulled the car over to the side of the road, "Qingzi, is there something else you need?"

"Nothing much, just picking up a helper," Li Qing said.

After the car stopped, Zi Ling’s lips were pouting like a sulking child, and she seemed somewhat reluctant.

Pushed by Jing Yan, she finally got into the car, though still unwillingly.

"Weren’t you giving me the cold shoulder? What do you want me for now?" Zi Ling asked with a face full of resentment, staring at Li Qing who sat in the passenger seat.

"I’ll make it up to you properly next time. I really forgot this time," Li Qing said with a smile.

"No need, I’m not interested!" Zi Ling huffily crossed her arms over her plump chest.

She was dressed sportily today, in a white sweatshirt and grey pants, looking full of youth and vitality.

"I heard you’re looking for a new connection?" Li Qing turned and asked with a smile.

"What else?" Zi Ling suddenly became irritated, "Am I supposed to be strung along by you all the time? You said everything was fine and then you just stopped coming, you stood me up. Well, I’m dumping you and finding someone more reliable and obedient."

"Give me a chance, I think I can still make amends!" Li Qing said softly, with a smile.

Wang Baichuan saw the two of them chatting and took out a pair of earphones, gestured at Li Qing and Zi Ling, then turned on the music in the car, making a point of lowering the volume in front of them.

He was really tactful, knowing when something wasn’t meant for him to hear and promptly tuning it out.

Zi Ling looked at Wang Baichuan acting this way and snorted in annoyance, "You don’t have a chance to make amends, I’m making a switch tomorrow!"

"Since you’ve made up your mind, let’s have a farewell ceremony then!" said Li Qing, his face full of feigned sorrow and regret.

Zi Ling’s eyes suddenly widened fiercely, and she lunged at him, baring her small but sharp canines, and bit down on Li Qing’s shoulder, whispering sinisterly, "You bad guy, just you wait, I’ll finish you off tonight!"

"If you dare stand me up again this time, I’ll finish you off too, just in a different way!"