My girlfriend is a Miao demon.

How do you judge the quality of a property's environment? Let the data speak for itself! There are two key metrics: the plot ratio and the green space ratio!

This May Day, Lao Zhang from our program team, ever since he bought a 180-square-meter house in the city center, has been showing off how luxurious his mansion is and how prime the location is. Several colleagues from the program team went to see his new house together, including Xiang Nanfeng.

Xiang Nanfeng thought the house was really nice. It was 180 square meters but only had two bedrooms. The master bedroom had a walk-in closet and a bathroom, and the space was as big as the house he rented himself.

Xiang Nanfeng was a bachelor, and buying a house was something far removed from his life; he truly knew nothing about it. But Old Wang was a real estate expert; he'd bought and sold five houses in the last ten years, practically a real estate savvy shopper. He scoffed at Old Zhang's new house, outwardly praising it to the skies, but on the way back, he privately said:

"Old Zhang's house is far from being a luxury home. The plot ratio and greening rate are not up to par, and the layout is not good. It only occupies a good location, but the price per unit is too high. I'm afraid it will be difficult to sell in the future."

"Hey, Mr. Zhang, what's floor area ratio (FAR)?"

"The plot ratio, to put it simply, is the building density. The formula is the total above-ground building area of ​​the community divided by the net land area."

"For example, if a residential area covers 10,000 square meters and the total area of ​​the buildings on the ground is 30,000 square meters, then the plot ratio is 3. The higher this number is, the denser the buildings are, the more people live there, and the worse the quality of life is."

"Think about it, if the buildings are close together, the lighting and ventilation will definitely be affected; people will be crammed in, you'll have to wait forever for the elevator, and you'll be stuck in the hallways during rush hour; the fitness area and children's playground in the community are simply not enough, how can you live comfortably?"

"Oh, I see. It's the percentage of green space. The higher the greening rate, the better the environment."

"To sum it up in one sentence—the more people, the worse; the more trees, the better. These two indicators are the most hardcore standards for measuring the living environment of a community, and they are a hundred times more reliable than the sales pitches about 'next to a park' or 'ecologically livable community'."

Undoubtedly, using these two indicators to measure the environment of a community or living space is indeed very scientific. Take Loujia Village, for example. Despite having excellent living amenities and convenient transportation, the living experience there is extremely poor. This is because Loujia Village's plot ratio is almost 100%, and its green space ratio is almost zero.

Villagers exploit every loophole in policies and even laws to build houses on every available vacant lot in order to collect rent. They not only sacrifice the courtyard space within their own homesteads to the extreme, but even encroach on public roads. The distance between buildings is so close that they can be touched, hence the name "handshake buildings"; the alleys are so narrow that only one person can walk through, hence the name "a narrow strip of sky".

In this situation, wouldn't greening become an even bigger pipe dream? Buildings have been erected even where people can walk; how can there be room for trees?

There are no trees at all in Loujia Village. Not a single tree, not a single tree of any kind. At most, some tenants and villagers who love life might keep a few potted plants on their windowsills, but even those few potted plants, given the density of the houses and the resulting lighting conditions, all have to be carefully selected shade-loving and shade-tolerant varieties.

If that's the case, where did the fallen leaves in Loujia Village come from?

This question was like a thorn in Xiang Nanfeng's heart, making him restless and unable to eat or sleep.

At this moment, in a rented room of less than ten square meters in Loujia Village, Xiang Nanfeng was hunched over, staring intently at the screen of his laptop, his brows furrowed in worry.

Two interfaces were open on the screen, one on the left and one on the right. Xiang Nanfeng had looked at the left interface countless times since he woke up in the hospital on the 25th of last month. It was a satellite map photo zoomed in to the maximum size on an online map website. The photo showed the dense houses of Loujia Village around the perimeter, with a gray ring in the center. Inside the gray ring was a very thin yellow ring, and inside the yellow ring was another yellow circle.

The outermost gray ring and the middle yellow ring are clearly distinct, while the boundaries between the two yellow rings and the circle are obviously blurred, as if they are intertwined.

Xiang Nanfeng had been looking at the satellite map of Loujia Village for many days but still couldn't understand what was inside. But today, after watching several aerial videos taken by drones on the right side of the screen, he had some ideas.

Of the five aerial videos, the last two are relatively clearer.

As the drone ascended, the outermost layer of gray bricks on the walled city was clearly visible. These gray bricks abruptly stopped as the drone climbed above the walled city, making it obvious that the outermost and thickest gray ring in the satellite image was composed of gray bricks.

The reason this ring appears thick is not because the gray brick layer is particularly thick, but because the city was built using the rammed earth structure of traditional city walls. The outer wall of the city is at an angle of about 75 degrees to the ground, so when taken from the sky by satellite, the gray brick layer appears thick.

The inner circle of the walled city, with its thin yellow ring, is clearly rammed earth. For some reason, when Loujia Village renovated the walled city in the 50s, this ring of rammed earth wasn't covered with gray bricks, a clear departure from traditional city wall construction methods. However, the reason for the exposed rammed earth isn't important; what's truly important is what exists within those circular areas inside the rammed earth wall that also appear yellow in satellite imagery.

The two aerial videos combined only contained a total of five frames that actually saw inside the besieged city. Xiang Nanfeng extracted all of them and compared them one by one.

Because the drones all lost contact and crashed at the critical point of barely crossing the boundary, the part of the "yellow circle" area in these 5 frames is like the crescent moon on the second or third day of the lunar month, a narrow, curved crescent with a hazy mist in the middle, and the shadow of the besieging city blocking three-quarters of it.

The south wind could barely make out five narrow slits less than 2 centimeters wide, and what was inside those slits was indeed yellow. They were layered and overlapping, and they did not look like rammed earth or broken bricks, but rather some light, fluffy objects.

What is that?

The south wind feels like falling leaves.

Yes, it's fallen leaves.

The texture and shape were strikingly similar to the piles of fallen leaves that sanitation workers gather while sweeping the streets in northern autumn—countless leaves layered upon each other, creating a fluffy outline. Only, the shapes of these leaves were somewhat strange; they weren't the common round or oval shapes, but rather had distinct angularity, making them look quite different from the camphor and sycamore leaves commonly found in Wangshan City. However, the shape of the leaves and the tree species didn't seem important to Xiang Nanfeng.

The question that truly puzzled him was: if the yellow circular area in the satellite map was indeed covered with a layer of fallen leaves, then where did these fallen leaves come from?

If the yellow circular area shown in the satellite map is indeed covered with a layer of fallen leaves, then where did these leaves come from?

Thinking of this, Xiang Nanfeng frowned, staring at the computer screen and scratching his head.

What exactly is going on?

What happened?

There are no trees in Loujia Village, so where did these fallen leaves come from?

Did it fall from the past?

That's absolutely impossible!

Wangshan City is located in the subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forest zone, with a warm and humid climate and abundant rainfall throughout the year. Let alone leaves from a few years ago, even leaves from last autumn would have long since rotted into mud after being washed away by heavy rains and corroded by mold. How could they possibly have accumulated until now?

Moreover, most of the trees in Wangshan City are evergreen trees, and they don't shed many leaves throughout the year. Even if they do, it's only a few scattered leaves, which could not possibly accumulate into a striking yellow area like on a satellite image.

Xiang Nanfeng felt his mind was a jumbled mess, countless questions tangled together, the more he tried to unravel them, the more confused he became. He stared at the blurry yellow area on the computer screen, feeling a chill run from his feet to the top of his head. Just then, a rapid knocking sounded at the door:

"Clang clang clang... Clang clang clang..."

Doubt is like a thin mist in one's heart, and thoughts are like surging rivers and seas.

A knock on the door disrupted the labyrinth of logic, and Xiang Nanfeng instinctively closed the laptop screen. The paper-thin metal "security door" opened a crack, and a figure in a red delivery uniform slipped in.

"elder brother!"

"Come in, come in quickly. Come on, it's cold enough, isn't it?"

"Yes, it's really cold and gloomy today."

"Come on, sit down and have a hot coffee. I just warmed it up for you."

"I can't drink anymore, I really can't drink anymore, but I can still warm my hands."

Xiang Nanfeng warmly welcomed the visitors, and the two sat down at a simple folding table by the door. On the table was a large stainless steel basin, which was more than half full of hot water that had just been boiled, with two cans of coffee floating in the water.

The man entered the room without any ceremony, plopped down on the folding chair, took off his gloves, rubbed his hands together, and immediately went to get the steaming hot coffee from the basin.

"Be careful, it's hot."

The person who came hit too hard, and sure enough, the hand was burned and recoiled.

Xiang Nanfeng personally took one of the coffee cans, carefully moved it to the edge of the stainless steel basin, and then took it out by stroking the rim.

"Here, take it."

"Brother, what's wrong with you? I called you for half a month last month and your phone was always off. What were you doing?"

"Hey, don't even mention it. I got hit by a car while I was out on assignment in November. Look at this!" Xiang Nanfeng took off his baseball cap, revealing the scar on his head.

"Huh?! What! How did you bump into it? It's so serious!" The person jumped up, causing the broken table to shake violently, almost spilling a basin of boiling water.

"Sit down, sit down. How can you be so reckless at your age! It's alright, I'm fine now. Don't ask any questions, I'll explain everything to you later. First, tell me what I told you to ask, what did you find out?"

The man frowned, sighed, and then said:

"Brother, this is really strange. I couldn't get anything out of him!"

"How so?"

The newcomer was named Dang Xingyang. Just from the name, you could tell he must be one of Xiang Nanfeng's brothers and sisters from the orphanage. Dang Xingyang was four years younger than Xiang Nanfeng, but for some reason, he and Xiang Nanfeng got along so well that he always followed Xiang Nanfeng around since he was a child.

Dang Xingyang was somewhat clever, but his studies were really poor. After graduating from vocational school, he was assigned to work in an electronics factory. However, Dang Xingyang had always been active, and he really didn't like the kind of work where he had to sit in a chair all day tightening screws. At that time, Xiang Nanfeng had already returned to Wangshan and had just joined Wangshan TV Station when he took on a small news story about a "deliveryman hitting and running away from a pedestrian".

During the interview, Xiang Nanfeng didn't blindly believe everything he heard. Instead, he searched every street and alley, found crucial evidence, and finally uncovered the truth—the courier hadn't run away; he had an urgent package to deliver and had already left his contact information. The report cleared the courier's name and also led Xiang Nanfeng to meet Lao Tian, ​​the vice president of Jida Express's Wangshan branch.

Xiang Nanfeng keenly sensed that the e-commerce wave was rising and the express delivery industry definitely had a bright future. Just then, Dang Xingyang was threatening to resign, so he asked Lao Tian for help and arranged for Dang Xingyang to get a job at Jida Express as a courier.

This job is a win-win situation for both of them.

Dang Xingyang is naturally active and rides his electric bike all over the city every day, enduring wind and sun, but he enjoys it, which perfectly satisfies his restless personality; and as a courier, he travels through every corner of the city every day and can appear anywhere without arousing suspicion. Dang Xingyang's red courier uniform became the best "camouflage color" for Xiang Nanfeng.

Over time, Dang Xingyang became Xiang Nanfeng's personal informant.

Over the years, he has paved the way for Xiang Nanfeng, producing more than a dozen influential news reports, including "How Close Are We to Human Blood Trade?", which can be considered as fulfilling their childhood dream of being a chivalrous knight-errant who "robs the rich to help the poor and eliminates violence and evil."

Of course, Xiang Nanfeng, the elder brother, would not treat his half-brother unfairly. Last year, when he heard that two Jida Express outlets in the Beicheng New District were being offered for lease, Xiang Nanfeng immediately raised 13 yuan for Dang Xingyang and helped him take over the two outlets, making him the site manager.

Last night, as soon as Xiang Nanfeng returned to Wangshan City, he called him and asked him to find a way to coordinate with the courier station in Loujia Village so that he could personally take over the shift and deliver the packages to Loujia Village today.

"Brother, I know this Loujia Village, it's a famous urban village in the south of the city! Me alone? I'm afraid I can't deliver it all!"

"You don't need to deliver them all. Just coordinate with the manager here and pick out all the packages within the Loujia Village area that are addressed to people with the surname Jia. You only need to deliver those. Ninety-nine percent of the population of Loujia Village are migrant workers from Wangshan. The Jia family is the main family in Loujia Village, so there shouldn't be many people with that surname. You should be able to deliver them all."

"it is good."

"Remember, when you're delivering packages, ask around among these people surnamed Jia why the people in Loujia Village are all surnamed Jia, but the village is called Loujia Village. Got it?"

"Remember, the original surname of the people in Loujia Village is Jia. Why is it called Loujia Village?"