chapter 9

I walked slowly up the path, climbing the stone steps.

Before long, I spotted a few children.

Each of them held a stick; some even had ropes tied to both ends and slung across their backs like bows.

I had asked Lin Yuan before what they were doing.

Lin Yuan hadn’t even looked up from her work. “Patrolling the village. Didn’t you play like that when you were a kid?”

The children saw me too. They came running over in a flash.

“Who are you?”

The boy in the lead puffed out his chest and held his head high, full of bravado.

I raised an eyebrow and was about to speak when a child behind him quickly tugged at his sleeve.

“That’s the Village Chief.”

…

I was speechless.

“I’m not the Village Chief!”

“And this isn’t actually a village.”

Although it was called Peach Blossom Village, it was actually a for-profit mountain resort.

It catered to people who wanted to escape the hustle and bustle of the city and return to the beauty of pastoral life.

When Lin Yuan first invited me to invest, I didn’t understand at all.

“Can this make money?”

“Who would come?”

But as it turned out, far more people came than I had ever imagined.

There were families, couples, and solo travelers.

They could choose a private courtyard or share a room with others.

They could lock themselves in their rooms all day without stepping foot outside, or they could keep themselves as busy as if they were undergoing reform through labor.

They could cook for themselves or eat at the canteen.

They could plant vegetables in the fields, catch fish in the river, or head up the mountain to pick fruit and watch the sunrise.

One could be as refined as high art or as rustic as the earth itself.

It was just like the legendary ‘Peach Blossom Spring’ from the stories, except Peach Blossom Village charged a fee.

Lin Yuan had built a village. She had provided a place for people to temporarily escape reality and let go of everything.

It was quite good, quite a creative idea.

“But why did you come to me?”

“Because you have the time, and you have the money.”

“Me? A housewife? You think too highly of me.”

She gave a knowing smile. “I’m the ‘Chief Steward’ of the Qi Family. I know exactly how much money has been deposited into your account over the years. While it’s a drop in the bucket for the Qi Family, it’s enough for you to live in luxury for a lifetime.”

“Exactly. I’m set for life, so why should I take a risk on an investment?”

Back then, that question of mine made the usually composed Lin Yuan fall silent for a long time.

Finally, she said, “A feeling. I have a feeling you’ll say yes.”

And just like that, for some inexplicable reason, I actually agreed.

She was Qi Muyuan’s special assistant and had been with him for many years; she and I were acquaintances at best.

But that year, when I ran barefoot to the old family estate to beg them to give Yanyan back to me, she was the one who gave me a pair of shoes.

And she told me, “You’re too idle. You’re so idle that your world is only the size of your palm. Go find something to do.”