Chapter 158: Visitors from Beyond the Mountains

Manager Liu was filled with a mixture of remorse and lingering fear. Hesitating for a long time, he finally swallowed his pride and said, "Old Yang, actually, the simplest solution is for you to pay off the money you owe the bank. Then the bank will naturally return the factory to you. By that time, transferring the factory to Mr. Zhang will simply be a private matter between the two of you."

Zhang Wenhao could not help laughing and said, "Manager Liu, as you yourself just mentioned, the factory can sell for at most six hundred thousand. Now, you expect me to spend nearly one million two hundred thousand, principal and interest combined, just to buy the factory back? Such a foolish thing is something I truly cannot do."

Cold sweat broke out on Manager Liu's forehead. He stammered, "Actually, I was just complaining and making a joke earlier, nothing to be taken seriously. If the factory were genuinely put up for auction, it could probably fetch around a million or so."

Zhang Wenhao nodded and said, "I think I'd better just find a new location and build a new factory." With that, Zhang Wenhao stood up to leave.

Manager Liu hastily stopped him. He was only joking—he had zero confidence in this factory's auction. There were no similar manufacturers anywhere in the city. Following Old Yang's cautionary precedent, no one had any desire to invest in this industry. The final result would likely be that it wouldn't even sell at auction, and even if the starting price were set at three hundred thousand, it had a high probability of failing to draw any bids at all. If that really happened, the factory would ultimately have to be dismantled and sold for scrap metal. By then, the losses he had caused the bank would be enormous.

With no other choice, Manager Liu said, "Mr. Zhang, everything is negotiable. Why don't you name a final take-it-or-leave-it price, and I will report it to my superiors? If it's feasible, we can proceed with the handover procedures."

"Fifty thousand," Zhang Wenhao said. "That is my absolute limit."

As for Manager Liu personally, he had long since abandoned any hope regarding Yang Chenshan's pharmaceutical factory. If it went to auction and failed to attract any bids, or if it only fetched three or four hundred thousand, the bank would have to shoulder that portion of the loss himself. Although he wouldn't have to pay it out of his own pocket, a loan default resulting in bank losses would severely impact his performance record. Therefore, his most urgent priority right now was to minimize the losses as much as possible.

Hesitating repeatedly, Manager Liu finally nodded helplessly. "This... I will report it to my superiors, and then we will hold a meeting to discuss it. Once there is a result, I will notify you."

Zhang Wenhao nodded and said, "If this can be resolved in the short term, I can add another fifty thousand. If it drags on for over a week, there's no need to contact me."

"Alright, alright," Manager Liu agreed, nodding repeatedly.

Zhang Wenhao and Yang Chenshan walked out of Manager Liu's office one after the other. Manager Liu escorted them to the door, and as soon as they left, he immediately called his superior to report the situation of the day.

In the elevator, Yang Chenshan lowered his voice and said to Zhang Wenhao, "Dr. Zhang, you drove an extremely hard bargain just now. What if they don't agree?"

"They should," Zhang Wenhao smiled and said. "The pharmaceutical factory is also a thorny problem for them. I can tell he wants to get rid of this trouble quickly. Fifty-five thousand is a price they can surely accept."

Yang Chenshan remained somewhat skeptical of Zhang Wenhao's confidence, but saying anything right now was meaningless. Only by waiting for the outcome of the bank's discussion could the truth be revealed.

Driving back to Miaojia Village, night had already fallen. Zhang Wenhao dropped Yang Chenshan off at home, then went downstairs to Long Xiaoyue's inn and walked up. Hearing footsteps, Long Xiaoyue came out of her room and happened to run into Zhang Wenhao at the top of the stairs. With an excited expression, she said, "You didn't go to the school today; more than two hundred children were crammed into the classroom! I played a few movies for the kids, and they were completely mesmerized. I can't even describe the expressions on their faces at that moment. It would have been wonderful if you had been there."

Zhang Wenhao smiled and asked, "What movies did you show the kids?"

Long Xiaoyue laughed and said, "I had originally planned to show just one, so I started with the old classic *Home Alone*. I didn't expect that after watching it, the kids would want more, so I played parts two and three as well. After dinner, the kids came looking for me again, pestering me to show them one more, so I played *Up* for them. They were so thrilled they went wild."

Zhang Wenhao nodded with a smile and said, "Being exposed to things from the outside world for the very first time, excitement is inevitable. They'll slowly get used to it over time. With experiences like this, they must all be deeply yearning for the day they can walk out of these mountains."

"Indeed," Long Xiaoyue said with a smile. "It was the first time they saw what foreigners look like, and the first time they saw foreign cartoons. The impact it brought them was simply too immense; it will probably take them a long time to adjust."

Saying this, Long Xiaoyue looked at Zhang Wenhao and said, "Wenhao, I really want to thank you—thank you for everything you've done for the children."

Zhang Wenhao gave a calm smile and was just about to make a casual remark when he saw several bright white beams of light cutting through the distance.

"Cars are coming," Zhang Wenhao said, standing on the corridor and gazing into the distance toward the entrance of Miaojia Village. "And there are three of them."

Long Xiaoyue turned around and, seeing the moving beams of light in the distance, exclaimed in surprise, "Who on earth would come to Miaojia Village this late?"

Zhang Wenhao frowned and said, "They're moving at such a high speed, and they're all equipped with xenon headlights. They don't look like large trucks, so they probably aren't ordinary people."

"Tourists?" Long Xiaoyue muttered to herself in bewilderment. "It actually might really be tourists."

Zhang Wenhao smiled slightly and said, "Looks like more business is knocking on our door."

The two of them stood in front of the railing, staring at the car shadows and the beams of light. Five minutes later, the three cars had driven up to the entrance of the village. The roar of the car engines could be clearly heard. Many stilt houses that had already turned off their lights lit up once again; such a commotion appeared extremely abrupt in the tranquil Miaojia Village.

After lingering at the village entrance for barely a minute, the three cars drove straight in and quickly arrived downstairs at the inn. Zhang Wenhao was somewhat surprised to see that all three vehicles were Land Rover Range Rovers, and every single one of them bore military license plates.

Zhang Wenhao knew very little about military plates and had no idea which military region or department these three vehicles belonged to. Once the vehicles came to a halt, a man in his thirties stepped out from the lead Range Rover. The man looked up, climbed the stairs in brisk strides, and upon seeing Zhang Wenhao and Long Xiaoyue, asked, "Which one of you is the boss?"

"I am," Long Xiaoyue replied, asking, "Are you looking for lodging?"

"Yes," the man nodded. Observing him at close range, Zhang Wenhao noticed that although the man was dressed in casual attire, his posture while walking and standing, the aura between his brows, and his tone of voice all strongly resembled the deportment of a soldier.

At that moment, the man said, "I saw from your description here that you have six rooms, is that correct? I'll take five of them."

"I'm sorry," Long Xiaoyue said apologetically, "there are only three rooms left now."

Out of the six rooms, Zhang Wenhao occupied one, another was used to store medical supplies, and a third served as a clinic for patients coming in for treatment on regular days, leaving the inn with only three vacant rooms.

The man clicked his tongue and said, "Three rooms are way too few. Is there any way you can help sort this out? If there are other people staying here, I can compensate them five times the room rate so they can move to other villagers' homes."

Long Xiaoyue explained truthfully, "It's not that the rooms are occupied by guests; right now, the village clinic is set up here."

Interjecting, Zhang Wenhao said, "Xiaoyue, go ahead and clear out the room where the medicines are stored later. We can move the items into my room or into the clinic room; it's not that much stuff anyway. That way, we can free up four rooms for them."

Long Xiaoyue pondered for a moment and nodded.

Thinking for a second, the man walked over to the edge of the corridor and shouted downward, "Old Xu! There are only four rooms left. Let Xiaoman take one of them, and the eight of us can squeeze into the rest."

The driver's window of the first car rolled down, and a middle-aged man in his forties poked his head out and said, "Alright, go check out the rooms first. If everything is fine, we'll head up."

Long Xiaoyue led the man to inspect the four rooms one by one, while Zhang Wenhao took advantage of this opening to move all the medical supplies into the room designated as the clinic.

After inspecting the rooms and finding no issues, the man called down to the people below, "Alright, you guys can come up."

At that moment, the doors of the two rear vehicles opened simultaneously, and seven men stepped out from them. The last person to get out was a girl dressed in a pink athletic leisure suit.

With her hair tied in a ponytail, from above one could only tell that she possessed a tall and slender figure. The tracksuit she wore was currently extremely popular; even girls who never exercised loved to buy a set to wear, as it highlighted their figure and vitality.

As soon as she stepped out of the car, the girl shuddered and complained with some dissatisfaction, "This ghost of a place is freezing cold."

Hearing the girl's murmurs from upstairs, the man smiled and said, "Xiaoman, this is a mountainous region, so stop complaining. Hurry up and come up; we've been traveling on the road for two days and you must be exhausted. Come up early and get some rest."

The girl curled her lips, shoved her hands into her pockets, and swayed her way up the stairs. Once upstairs, illuminated by the corridor light, her appearance became clearly visible. She was quite pretty and looked to be around twenty years old, yet she gave off a somewhat chilly vibe. The moment she arrived, she asked the man, "Brother, is there a place to take a shower in the room?"

"Doesn't look like it," the man shrugged. Turning back, he asked Long Xiaoyue, "I didn't seem to notice any restrooms earlier. How do you handle the bathing situation here?"

Long Xiaoyue replied, "For bathing, I can help you boil some hot water. There are wooden bathing barrels out back; I'll help carry them over in a bit."

The girl asked in utter astonishment, "There's no bathroom in the room? Then how do you deal with using the toilet?"

"Well..." Long Xiaoyue said awkwardly, "Downstairs, there is a restroom around the back."

The girl's expression instantly darkened, and she said with great displeasure, "What kind of inn doesn't even have a bathroom inside the rooms?"

Long Xiaoyue stood there awkwardly, not knowing how to respond. The man smiled to smooth things over, saying, "Silly girl, do you think you're in the city? If you want a room with an attached bathroom, should I have Old Xu drive you to stay in the county town right now?"

"Forget it," the girl frowned, her expression still rather unhappy as she said, "It takes two to three hours to drive here from the county town; I don't have the energy to toss and turn back." With that, she glanced at Long Xiaoyue, briefly stunned by Long Xiaoyue's striking looks, but she quickly recovered and said, "Boil some water, I want to take a bath."

The somewhat chilly, almost commanding tone made Zhang Wenhao feel a surge of irritation. This girl was clearly a pampered young miss from a wealthy family who had never suffered any hardships and had numerous demands when traveling away from home—that much was understandable, but basic politeness and respect should always be present. This girl's attitude toward Long Xiaoyue was truly grating.

Long Xiaoyue, however, showed no signs of offense. She nodded and said to Zhang Wenhao, "Wenhao, could you keep an eye on things for a moment?" With that, she went downstairs to the back to boil the water.

The man said to the girl, "Xiaoman, go take a look at the rooms and pick whichever one you like best."

Nodding, the girl inspected the rooms and found them all to be identical. She declared, "I'll take the one furthest to the east, further away from the corridor so it won't be too noisy."

Immediately after, she instructed the others who had carried the boxes upstairs, "Move my things inside."

Watching from the side, Zhang Wenhao shook his head repeatedly. It seemed this girl had no concept of politeness toward anyone.

Several burly men appeared thoroughly accustomed to this. Without a second word, they first carried the girl's numerous boxes into her room.

Afterward, these individuals roughly divided up the remaining rooms. Trying to fit eight people into three rooms was somewhat challenging, especially since the beds were relatively small. If it were two slender people, it might have been fine, but these men were all very robust, and no matter how they divided it, it wasn't quite right. The girl's older brother spoke up, "The three skinniest of you share one room. The remaining four can pair up two to a room. I'll just casually make a floor pallet."

The slightly older driver spoke up, "Xiaoping, the air here is humid, sleeping on the floor isn't good for your health and can easily lead to arthritis. I think the six of you should sleep in the rooms, and Xiao Li and I will sleep in the car."

"That won't do," the man addressed as Xiaoping replied. "We still have to head deep into the mountains tomorrow morning, so everyone needs to get as much rest as possible tonight. I have a strong build, sleeping on the floor is fine. It's settled. Everyone hurry up and wash up to get some rest early; we'll find a guide and set off first thing in the morning."

Seeing his insistence, Lao Xu had no choice but to nod.

The man then walked over to Zhang Wenhao, smiled, and said, "Hello, my name is Song Xiaoping. I don't know your name yet, brother?"

Zhang Wenhao introduced himself, and Song Xiaoping asked, "That G65 parked downstairs should be yours, right? For a brother so young to already hold a position in the Armament Department?"

Knowing that the other party had deduced some clues from the license plate of the G65, Zhang Wenhao smiled and said, "That car isn't mine; I borrowed it from a friend."

Song Xiaoping nodded to himself, though it seemed he didn't entirely believe Zhang Wenhao's explanation.

Song Xiaoping continued, "I wonder if you're familiar with the environment around here, brother? We're heading into the mountains tomorrow and want to find a guide. Do you have any suitable candidates to recommend? We won't let them work for free—one thousand yuan a day."

Zhang Wenhao smiled and said, "I haven't been here long myself, so I'm not very familiar with this place either. You can ask Xiaoyue about it later."

Song Xiaoping asked, "Is Xiaoyue the boss here?"

Zhang Wenhao nodded, and Song Xiaoping smiled slightly, saying, "Alright, I'll ask her later. Thanks, brother."

Seeing that these people had already sorted out their rooms, Zhang Wenhao went downstairs to the back to help Long Xiaoyue. Long Xiaoyue had just got the firewood burning. The stove was built out of clay, and sitting atop it was a large black wok already filled to the brim with water.

Seeing Zhang Wenhao arrive, Long Xiaoyue raised her head, smiled at him, and asked, "Have those people all settled in?"

Zhang Wenhao nodded and said, "They've all gone into their rooms." He added, "City girls are truly high-maintenance; even coming into the mountains, they still have so many demands."

"That's normal," Long Xiaoyue laughed. "Never mind tourists, even the villagers here frequently need to bathe. It's just that people from the city are used to washing up inside their own rooms. Whenever people came from outside before, I always had to boil water for them to bathe."

Saying this, Long Xiaoyue glanced at Zhang Wenhao and said, "You're the easiest one to take care of—you just grab a basin of cold water and wash up, without even needing to boil water."

"Good constitution, I suppose," Zhang Wenhao smiled. Thinking of something, he asked, "Xiaoyue, are all the tourists who come here aiming to head deep into the mountains?"

"Not at all," Long Xiaoyue answered. "They mostly come to experience Miao life, view the scenery, and take photos. The mountains around here are part of the Miaoling mountain range, but they aren't artificially developed like tourist scenic spots. Not only are the paths difficult to walk, but they're also exceptionally dangerous. Under normal circumstances, aside from elderly Miao herbalists who go deep into the mountains to gather medicine, very few people venture into the deep mountains. People from outside don't dare to go in."

Zhang Wenhao felt a wave of bewilderment and said, "That group of people who just arrived wants to find a guide to go into the mountains. Judging by their demeanor, their sole purpose seems to be heading deep inside. I wonder what's attracting them out there."

Long Xiaoyue couldn't help laughing. "What could possibly attract them? There are no treasures in our mountains. There are no wild ginseng plants in these mountain regions; at most, you might spot a few glossy ganoderma mushrooms, but taking them out won't fetch much money—not even enough to cover the gas money for driving a car in here. Beyond that, there are only wild birds and beasts, nothing rare."

With a playful chuckle, Long Xiaoyue added, "Right, Wenhao, I read a tomb-raiding novel before, and those grave robbers love burrowing deep into mountain ravines to find ancient tombs and dig up treasures. Do you think they're here to rob tombs?"

"Fat chance," Zhang Wenhao laughed heartily. "You really read too many stories. You can tell at a glance that these people have an extraordinary background. People like this—let alone grave raiding, even if you opened the tomb gates and told them there were treasures inside, they probably wouldn't even deign to go in and take them."

Immediately afterward, Zhang Wenhao added, "By the way, they also mentioned wanting to find a guide to go into the mountains, saying they'd pay a thousand yuan a day."

"They're paying that much?" Long Xiaoyue was startled. "Then we could actually have Brother Xiaolin do it. Brother Xiaolin's father was the village's only hunter when he was young, and he used to carry a hunting rifle and take Brother Xiaolin deep into the mountains to hunt. When Brother Xiaolin turned eighteen, he started carrying a hunting rifle into the mountains by himself. Although the county authorities later confiscated their hunting rifle, he knows the conditions in the mountains better than anyone."

Zhang Wenhao nodded and said, "Then we can introduce them later. It'll also bring a bit of extra income to Brother Xiaolin."