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墨書 Inktalez
The older Lin Xi scanned their faces, which were both familiar and strange, like shadows that seemed once well-known but had drifted away from clear memory like the wind.
Aside from Qing Shusheng and Liu Xiuzhen, she could hardly recognize anyone else, let alone recall their names.
Even with Qing Shusheng and Liu Xiuzhen, it was only because they had visited her home a few times while handling affairs in the Provincial Capital and had met her a few times that she still recognized them. However, after not seeing them for several years, they had aged significantly.
When she called Old Lady Liu "Grandma," Grandma was no longer the robust, cheerful, quick-witted woman from her memories; her gaze had become much duller.
Lin Xi sadly thought to herself, "If Lanlan and I hadn't met in college all those years ago and hadn't kept in touch this year, would I not even recognize her when I returned to Liu Family Village today?"
Indeed, she did not know that no matter how vivid memories may be, they are merely snapshots frozen in time and cannot change. Yet the people and events within those memories evolve day by day—growing up, maturing, or aging. Her memories, however, remained forever young.
The village was no longer the same as it once was. The stone bridge still stood, as did the Stone Arch Bridge, but many of the once low Stilt Houses had disappeared, replaced by beautiful three-story bamboo houses and small western-style homes.
Strangely, as soon as Lin Xi entered the village, she glanced toward An Shaojie's house. It seemed that only their home and Qinglan's had changed the least. The bamboo house was clearly renovated—beautiful and brand new—but its main structure remained the same as before. Thus, when it appeared before Lin Xi's eyes, it felt just like her memory of the small bamboo house: understated, peaceful, clean, and elegant.
The most incredible change for Lin Xi was the sight of a green factory in the distance and the vibrant greenery covering the mountains and fields.
In recent years, with Shenzhen's reform and opening up, rural migrant workers had gone to work in cities. Many villages became desolate; mountain paths were blocked off with no one entering anymore. Fields lay barren with only shallow pools of stagnant water or sparse patches of grass emerging from the ground or were completely dry like road surfaces where one could walk through fields.
However, Liu Family Village and nearby villages within dozens of miles thrived due to Qinglan's factory. They cultivated various vegetables, medicinal herbs, and fruit trees needed for their factory. The cultivation of medicinal herbs was particularly extensive. Xu Wen told her that although their own cultivated herbs were sufficient, to help increase local villagers' economic income, their factory also purchased herbs grown by nearby villagers and even guided them on how to cultivate them.
Thus far, aside from Qinglan's factory, others had begun establishing small herbal processing plants and various Vegetable and Fruit Processing Factories. However, herbal processing required highly skilled techniques; therefore, other factories were not performing well. Before Qingmei fell ill, Qinglan planned to acquire several small factories to merge their workers, technicians, and management into her own factory. This way, they could continue to maintain economic income while ensuring quality herbs and absorbing more workers to expand production.
Xu Wen introduced to Lin Xi, "Qinglan means that the nearby villagers saw her making money by running a factory, so many people also want to start their own factories. This is a normal thought, and it can also invigorate the local economy. However, the villagers are not good at managing medicinal herbs, so Qinglan had previously considered gradually reducing the operations of the Vegetable and Fruit Processing Factory to allow other villagers to start their own factories while we expand in the area of medicinal herbs and mainly operate the Herb Factory in the future."
"Now that Qingmei is sick again and the Herb Factory is expanding, we are short on manpower. We are thinking of handing over the fruit and vegetable processing aspect to others while we manage the medicinal herbs," Xu Wen continued.
"Yes." Lin Xi nodded while looking at the vast factory area and planting sites, saying, "Yes, we can't expand any further now; it's time to scale down. Although it’s said that we are both managing, in reality, it’s just you. I still don’t understand anything and can only assist you."
"I have an idea that I haven't discussed with Lanlan yet..."
After calling out for Lanlan a few times, Xu Wen had become accustomed to referring to Qinglan as Lanlan. So when mentioning her, the name Lanlan slipped out naturally. However, upon seeing Lin Xi, Xu Wen recalled how she had been seen by her in the Provincial Hospital. After thinking for a moment, she decided to change her words: "I haven't told her yet, but I wanted to discuss it with you first."
"Oh." Lin Xi was a bit surprised and asked, "What idea? Why haven’t you told Lanlan first?" Lin Xi teased with a smile.
But Xu Wen did not smile; she said seriously, "I want to take her away from here and go to Beijing."
"This..." Lin Xi put his hands in his pockets, kicked a stone beside his foot, and smiled down as he said, "This is something you must tell her. Telling me is of no use at all. Her heart is with you, and her feet are hers; whether you can take her away depends on whether she is willing. So you must talk to her; it doesn't matter if you tell me or not."
Xu Wen lightly smiled and turned to Lin Xi, saying, "It's like this: Beautiful's illness needs to be treated in Beijing as soon as possible. She doesn't want to transfer Qingmei to Beijing because she is worried about the factory. So my idea is that I want to return to Beijing as soon as possible, find a Pharmaceutical Company there to collaborate with us, and transfer the medicinal herb processing business here to Beijing while gradually scaling down the fruit and vegetable factory according to her original plan and then transferring it to others."
"Yes. This idea is good," Lin Xi nodded in admiration.
"Leaving behind a medicinal herb planting base here in Liu Family Village will provide medicinal herbs for a Pharmaceutical Company in Beijing. The main processing will be transferred there. Not only can she and Beautiful go to Beijing for treatment, which is beneficial for Beautiful's health, but it will also be advantageous for the company's development. In this mountain village, no matter how much her factory develops, it cannot compare with Beijing in terms of technology, talent acquisition, employee recruitment, sales, etc. Going to Beijing is more beneficial in every aspect."
"Yes." Lin Xi responded: "It's just that... with Beautiful's treatment imminent, transferring the company to Beijing doesn't seem like something that can be done quickly."
"Actually, I started this plan a long time ago, so I've already made significant progress with the work in Beijing. Before Beautiful got sick, I intended to discuss this plan with her in advance, but since Beautiful suddenly fell ill, I didn't get the chance to tell her. Therefore, I need you to quickly get up to speed and be able to manage the factory here independently. Then I will return to Beijing to implement the work there as soon as possible. After that, we can gradually transition; it won't take long, just about one to two years. The only thing is that you will need to endure some hardship here for a year or two, so I'm informing you of this plan in advance." Xu Wen measured Lin Xi's expression.
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