Hermit in the Mountains

At one o'clock in the afternoon, a dark-colored loudspeaker on a big tree in front of the Xiahe Village public house emitted a slight tremor, and withered yellow leaves on the loudspeaker slid off and fell to the ground.

"Hey, hey, feed me..."

"Each household sent a representative to the public housing for a meeting. Boss Gu wants to continue renting our village's mountain land for farming."

"Each household sent a representative to the public housing for a meeting. Boss Gu wants to continue renting our village's mountain land for farming."

Yang Mancang's voice blared from the loudspeaker, echoing in every corner of the village.

After a few seconds' pause, his voice came through again.

"I'll say it one last time: each household must send a representative to the public housing meeting. Boss Gu wants to continue renting our village's mountain land for farming."

"Be there in ten minutes, I'll be waiting at the communal room!" The last sentence carried the old clan chief's intense authority.

Upon hearing the old clan chief shout through the loudspeaker, and hearing that Boss Gu wanted to contract more mountain land, the villagers' eyes lit up. One or two people came out from the door of each household, each carrying a small stool, and headed towards the public housing.

Everyone in the village knows that Gu Changsheng is generous; those who came to the mountains a few months ago to help build the wooden houses received double their wages.

There are no secrets in the village; what happens in the morning will spread throughout the village by the morning.

I heard that six people helped carry the flowers and plants up the mountain yesterday, and each person received two hundred yuan for tea.

Besides Gu Changsheng, there are many other people in the village who rent houses to experience rural life, but they leave after a month or two.

Two weeks ago, a female landlord came to rent a courtyard by the stream at the entrance of the village. She rented it for ten years and paid all the rent in full.

Villagers passing by the courtyard rented by the female boss would inevitably stop and peek, simply because she made a lot of noise.

The old courtyard has been renovated inside and out and is surrounded by a two-meter-high fence, making it impossible to see what's happening inside. All they know is that an old man lives in the courtyard, and they occasionally see him practicing Tai Chi, with a bodyguard in black standing beside him.

Compared to the people in the old courtyard, the villagers had a better impression of Gu Changsheng. Firstly, they had all heard about Gu Changsheng's background and how he was a pitiful child. Secondly, Gu Changsheng was generous. Although they called him Boss Gu, he didn't have any boss-like demeanor and seemed just like them, a country boy.

They dared to approach Gu Changsheng and speak to him, but they only dared to glance at the old courtyard from afar, for fear of disturbing the people in the courtyard.

Two weeks ago, the female boss left a deep impression on them. She came to rent the courtyard with bodyguards, assistants, and lawyers. Her imposing manner made her seem like someone not to be trifled with.

Less than ten minutes later, outside the old apartment building with some peeling walls, about fifty people were sitting in twos and threes on small stools under an old tree.

Xiahe Village has a small population, with a total of 50 households and about 200 people.

Yang Mancang sat on the steps at the entrance of the public housing building, smoking a pipe in his mouth. When everyone arrived, he held the pipe, which was emitting wisps of smoke, in his right hand.

"Everyone's here, let's begin the meeting."

Yang Mancang noticed a few people slacking off and bragging at the back of the crowd. He tapped his pipe on the stone steps with a tinkling sound, "Quiet—"

His gaze, filled with the imposing authority of the old clan chief, instantly silenced the villagers. "Boss Gu plans to lease the mountain where he built his wooden house."

"The purpose of today's meeting is to discuss and decide on the annual rent for that barren mountain."

The slovenly man at the back of the crowd, who had been hunched over and picking at his feet, heard that Gu Changsheng wanted to contract a mountain. Shameless, he raised his hand with a grin and said, "Uncle Mancang, why not just calculate it at the previous rate of 300 yuan per mu per year? It would save you a lot of trouble."

The villagers nodded silently like chicks pecking at rice when they heard Yang Shitou's words, but they gave up their fantasies only after hearing Yang Dashan's rebuttal.

Hearing Yang Shitou's words from the front row, Yang Dashan turned around and asked, "Yang Shitou, if you don't want 300 yuan, how about 50 yuan per mu? Would you take it?"

"Have you been to that mountain? Do you know what it's like up there?"

"You're lazy and good-for-nothing all day long. You don't look for a job, you don't farm, and all you do is dream."

When the villagers heard Yang Dashan's question, many of them recalled that the mountain that Gu Changsheng had rented had indeed been abandoned for many years.

A few months ago, Gu Changsheng rented ten acres of land. The location on that mountain was the best and the flattest. There were only a few acres of flat land left, and most of the land was steep slopes.

Beyond the 50-acre relatively flat mountain area halfway up the mountain, the upper and lower parts of the mountainside are devoid of even large trees, overgrown with weeds and with exposed rocks.

Most importantly, that mountain is a barren mountain with no water source and is separated from the village by seven or eight other mountains.

They cultivate the land up to the two or three mountains behind the village at most; no one farms further inland because it's too far and not worthwhile.

Yang Shitou was speechless after being rebuked, his face showing a frustrated expression as if he had eaten shit, every word piercing his heart.

He'd lost his mind and blurted out a nonsensical retort, "You always take money from people when you deliver goods, and you only speak up for them. Why don't you speak up for the village?"

Yang Mancang couldn't stand it anymore. He glanced sharply at Yang Shitou behind him, then looked into the crowd. "Get lost. Your dad's still here. When did it become your place to speak?"

Yang Shitou shrank back, glancing at his father out of the corner of his eye. When he met his father's angry gaze, he staggered and almost fell off the stool. He subconsciously touched his backside. "Haha, I was just talking nonsense when I woke up. Don't take it seriously."

He left with a sentence, picked up his small stool, and ran off in a flash.

If he hadn't run away, his old man would have beaten him. Uncle Mancang might have just been joking, but his old man would have actually hit him.

"Hahaha..." Everyone burst into laughter when they saw Yang Shitou run away.

Yang Shitou is just a smart aleck who likes to take advantage of others, is lazy and gluttonous, and lives off his parents. He is also timid and dares not do anything immoral.

Every few days, Yang Shitou would be chased and beaten all over the village by his old man. It had almost become a local spectacle, and the villagers just wanted to have some fun.

Yang Mancang brought the topic back, saying, "300 yuan per mu per year is definitely too high. Let's discuss it further."

At this moment, a young man wearing glasses in the crowd raised his hand and said, "Uncle Mancang, we can divide the mountain into three or four parts, and calculate the rent for each part according to different rates, so that no one will lose out."

Yang Mancang looked at the young man with certainty in his eyes, "Young man, is your mother's cough any better?"

"My dad took my mom to town for IV drips. Today is the last day; she'll be almost recovered."

"Young man, you're a college student, tell me how you plan to divide them?"

Yang Qingshan had visited the mountain where Gu Changsheng was a few months ago. At that time, the wooden house had just been built, so he knew about the mountain.

After thinking for a moment, he offered his solution: "Uncle Mancang, uncles, aunts, and uncles, I'd like to share my thoughts."

"The ten acres of mountain land that Boss Gu has already rented are in the best location, at 300 yuan per acre per year. Other places can only have a lower rent than that, otherwise it would not be suitable."

"The land around Boss Gu's wooden house is relatively flat, and the rent is about 70 or 80 yuan per mu per year. The remaining steep slopes are 30 or 40 yuan per mu per year."

"The mountains are just lying barren anyway, and nobody in our village is willing to clear the land for farming. It's already pretty good that we can rent them out at a reasonable rent. Other villages would like to rent them out but can't."