Chapter 120: Another Offering Segment! Protect Our Chen Family Head!
Chen Han received this game prompt and roughly inferred that the villagers gathering should be related to Ming Di.
It was the familiar demonic energy, and that guy Ming Di had brought it into Shangyuan Village.
It could only be that guy.
But was that guy not sent to the hospital because of alchemy?
Putting him aside for now, after entering the Chen Clan, when Chen Han passed the flower bed where offering flowers were planted, he went forward to take a look.
Because he had irrigated with spirit plant dew yesterday, all these mature plants had grown a lot taller, and many had already produced small flower buds.
At this speed, after two more days of irrigation, the Chen Clan would have a flower sea of offering flowers with enchanting flower fragrance +2 and ornamental value +
When he returned to his uncle’s courtyard, his uncle and Uncle Dagou and Uncle Shuisheng were already wearing sandbags and had come out of the courtyard, preparing to train their bodies.
Unlike before, when there were only three of them, now outside the courtyard Chen Jun, Chen Dalong, and members of the Demon Subduing Hall were also waiting.
These people would all be following the training from now on.
Seeing him return, they all greeted him one after another: “Patriarch!”
Naturally, the three elderly elders of the Demon Subduing Hall did not need to train.
Elders definitely had privilege; usually they could relax and just watch the gate. Once the family elders needed to take the field, it meant the situation had reached the point where they had to deliver a one-strike kill.
When an elder used his earth-escape divine ability and lay down on the ground, everyone was afraid, even demonic cult rogues.
Last time had already proven this.
Entering the kitchen, Chen Han took green feather pheasant meat from the warehouse to prepare it. When he put a portion into the stew pot, his junior sister arrived and once again began operating the spirit fire stove and spirit pressure cauldron.
His junior sister clearly intended to set aside time every day for alchemy.
This was the ideal tool person, and it could also ensure that the body tempering pills would be well used.
Time passed. When he finished adding water to the medicinal cuisine, Chen Han also received a report from the tourist service center that Director Chen from the county had arrived with his people.
He asked his junior sister to watch over the medicinal cuisine, then went to the tourist service center and met Chen Kai and Ma Qi in the reception room.
“Patriarch Chen.”
Seeing him, Chen Kai and Ma Qi both greeted him with broad smiles.
They were clearly in a very good mood.
The county had been continuously following the Chen Clan’s situation and naturally knew about the Chen Clan adding another 150 feng shui rooms. And after the promotional video of the Heavenly Lord of Demon Subjugation consecration ceremony was uploaded last night, all 450 rooms of the Chen Clan were now fully booked.
Excluding single occupancy, many were couples sharing a room. In other words, the tourists coming to the Chen Clan today should exceed 700 people and would soon break through one thousand in a single day.
This number already put them way ahead among the scenic spots in Linhe County.
And according to the current trend, during the national style event, this figure would multiply several times. It would definitely be a major breakthrough for the county culture and tourism bureau’s work.
“Director Chen, Section Chief Ma, please sit.” Chen Han invited them to sit at the tea table and picked up the tea-making tools to brew thunder bamboo spirit tea.
After sitting, Chen Kai took a document and handed it to Chen Han. “Patriarch Chen, this is the Chen Clan Heavenly Lord of Demon Subjugation ritual inheritance culture record document. With this document, the Chen Clan can hold all kinds of Heavenly Lord of Demon Subjugation rituals in the future. The county might even be able to work with the Chen Clan to hold grander god parading activities.”
Obviously, that last sentence was his real purpose.
Those god parading activities on the Min River brought huge revenue to the cities every year, and the county naturally wanted a share of this bonus.
However, the prerequisite for enjoying this bonus was that the Heavenly Lord of Demon Subjugation of the Chen Clan had to gain public recognition, just like those deities such as Prince Zhao that had become popular in the past two years.
In other words, they needed name recognition and popularity.
No one attended offline events of internet celebrities without popularity, and no one would pay attention if a deity with no popularity went parading.
Once popularity rose, it was different. Look at how many netizens turned out to watch when Prince Zhao went out. People filming videos formed layer upon layer around him.
The Chen Clan Heavenly Lord of Demon Subjugation had recently gone viral online several times, which was clearly a good sign.
As for whether the county could finally share in the god parading bonus, it still depended on whether the Chen Clan could successfully build up the Heavenly Lord of Demon Subjugation.
In this kind of matter, the county could not rush, and did not even dare to intervene, because the Heavenly Lord of Demon Subjugation held a very high status among the daoist sect, and there were religious taboos.
If the county blindly meddled in something it did not understand, they might inadvertently violate a taboo.
Right now the county could only pin its hopes on the Chen Clan.
Chen Han accepted the document with a broad smile.
He had considered applying for this document before; he did not expect that this person would take the initiative to bring it over. It seemed the Chen Clan was truly a hot commodity in the county now.
With this document, many of the Chen Clan’s rituals could gain legitimacy.
In other words, sometimes the difference between a superstitious violation activity and a religious inheritance activity lay in this single document.
Although nowadays there was an emphasis on freedom of religious belief, this freedom for religion still had a premise: namely, “adhering to the socialist regulatory requirements for religion, under the guidance of conformity with national religious policy requirements.”
After all, they had to accept supervision. Matters that refused supervision could easily cause problems.
After Chen Han finished brewing a pot of tea, he poured a cup for both Chen Kai and Ma Qi.
As soon as they finished their first cup, there was a knock on the door. His uncle came in with Village Chief Guo Zhen.
His uncle and the village chief were friends, and the village chief had approached him through his uncle, clearly because there was another matter.
He instinctively thought of the villagers gathering in Shangyuan Village today; it might be related.
The key point was that the village chief was carrying a basket, which meant he had come to offer something again.
Last time, the rogue cultivators’ representative had offered a moon gazing rabbit. This time, he wondered what the rogue cultivators would offer.
“Xiao Han, there is a matter in the village we want to discuss with you.” As soon as Chen Lin came in, he stated the reason.
Chen Han nodded and invited Guo Zhen, “Village chief, please sit.”
As he spoke, he poured thunder bamboo spirit tea for both the village chief and his uncle, and did not forget to introduce them. “Village chief, let me introduce you. These two are Director Chen and Section Chief Ma from the county culture and tourism bureau.”
Hearing this, Guo Zhen hurriedly greeted them. “Director Chen, Section Chief Ma, I am Guo Zhen, village chief of Shangyuan Village. Very glad to meet you.”
“Village Chief Guo, hello.” Chen Kai smilingly shook his hand, and so did Ma Qi.
Chen Han then asked with a smile, “Village chief, may I ask what brings you here today?”
Looking a little embarrassed, Guo Zhen said, “Patriarch Chen, there are many tourists of the Chen Clan now, so I want to ask whether the village can also set up some bed and breakfasts. Many houses in the village are vacant.”
His words also caught the attention of Chen Kai and Ma Qi. Both looked at Chen Han, curious what choice this patriarch would make.
After all, under normal circumstances, people who valued profit greatly, when facing a shortage of accommodation, would very likely build new hotels or similar venues.
If there were tourists, there was no fear of lack of business. Or they might lease the controlled housing in the village to expand the number of rooms. Whatever the approach, there were many ways to maximize benefits.
Of course, if someone valued sentiment over profit, they might lead the villagers to prosperity together.
But this kind of “when successful, help the world” behavior was rare.
So they were curious how the patriarch would choose.
Chen Han, however, did not think too much about it, since he had already intended this from the beginning. Besides, he now had no choice, because a game prompt suddenly appeared in his mind:
【The rogue cultivators attached to the Chen Clan have sent a representative to visit the Chen Clan. The rogue cultivators have discovered a scattered spiritual meridian and plan to build caves on the meridian to rent out to those rogue cultivators passing through this place!
Although the caves built by the rogue cultivators have thin spiritual energy, for those with insufficient strength, unable to receive hospitality from the Chen Clan family, these caves with weak spiritual energy are still an option when they arrive here on their journey.
However, you have already conducted an investigation and found that demonic cult rogues are involved in this matter. They definitely have some purpose. If you pretend to know nothing about it and agree to the rogue cultivators’ request, you may be able to better monitor the movements of the demonic cult rogues in secret.】
So Chen Han smiled and said, “Village chief, there is no problem with this matter, but renovation for accommodation does cost quite a lot, and once tourists book rooms, the environment cannot be poor.”
In the game plot, the demonic cult rogues had obviously already infiltrated the rogue cultivators.
In reality, the fact that the village chief had proactively come to integrate the village’s idle housing resources was most likely Ming Di’s idea.
Upon hearing this, Guo Zhen immediately said, “Patriarch Chen, rest assured, someone has already invested in our village and begun integrating the vacant housing. We only need to go to the county to process business licenses.”
“Village Chief Guo, I can help with connections for the business license.” Chen Kai spoke up at this point. After all, if the villagers of Shangyuan Village started operating bed and breakfasts and it turned out well, it would count as their culture and tourism bureau helping drive the rural economy.
Most importantly, since the patriarch was allowing Shangyuan Village to share in the tourist bonus, if the Chen Clan grew stronger, could the surrounding villages also join?
Therefore, they needed to help make this happen. Besides, apart from the Chen Clan ancient architecture, once the tourists were attracted here, could this not also promote rural tourism?
Just like in the internet era, as long as there was traffic, all kinds of business could be done. It was the same for tourism now: as long as there were tourists, any tourism project that could attract people could be developed.
It made Chen Kai respect the patriarch even more. His choice already proved that he was not someone who valued profit above all, but rather someone who cared about loyalty and sentiment.
A person like that deserved respect anywhere.
Even though the current online atmosphere often discouraged being a good person, and when someone was too kind people would question this and that, suspecting donations that were too large, bringing up tax audits and money laundering with every comment, a good person should not be held at gunpoint.
At the very least, he now had great appreciation for the patriarch. The county should give him more protection in the future.
“Thank you very much, Director Chen.” Hearing this, Guo Zhen was very happy. With his help, the business license would be issued quickly.
Chen Han, however, first laid down conditions politely but firmly. “Village chief, there is no problem with the village running bed and breakfasts, but let me be blunt. Our Chen Clan has requirements: you must accept supervision and inspection by personnel sent from the Chen Clan. After all, it has not been easy for the Chen Clan to develop, and we do not want our reputation ruined.”
Without hesitation, Guo Zhen said, “Patriarch Chen, rest assured, our Shangyuan Village accepts the Chen Clan’s supervision. If any villager fails to meet the requirements or damages the Chen Clan’s tourism reputation, before you even take action, the rest of the village will not let them off.”
He spoke with strong resolve, and the village really would do so.
In today’s society, making money was hard, and it was even harder for those of them in the countryside. These days, by selling their homegrown fruit, vegetables, dried bamboo shoots, and other specialty products in the cultivation market, the villagers had earned quite a bit.
Especially fruits, which made much more than selling to middlemen. They had already experienced the benefits brought by the Chen Clan and naturally did not want to ruin its reputation.
Guo Zhen continued, “Patriarch Chen, since our village is sharing the Chen Clan’s tourism bonus, after integrating the housing resources, we are willing to give 30% shares as compensation to the Chen Clan.”
Hearing this, Chen Kai and Ma Qi both nodded.
Although the patriarch had agreed for Shangyuan Village to share the tourist bonus, Shangyuan Village could not take it for granted. Giving shares as compensation was quite good.
Excluding the investors, with the village’s resources counted as equity, giving the Chen Clan 30% compensation was reasonable.
If the people of Shangyuan Village had not proposed this, it would have shown that they were greedy, and then he would have had to remind the patriarch to be careful, and might even have sent people to keep an eye on the villagers.
No, he should assign dedicated personnel to monitor them once he got back.
Too many places nationwide had seen their tourism promotion ruined by one troublemaking villager; being prepared was very important.
The matter between Shangyuan Village and the Chen Clan was basically settled like this.
Without hesitation, Guo Zhen handed the basket he had brought to Chen Han. “Patriarch Chen, we did not know what to bring you. These are some wild specialty products gathered by the villagers in the mountains, which can be used to infuse liquor. We hope you will not mind.”
Chen Han smiled.
This was now the rogue cultivators’ offering segment.
Almost at the same time, a game prompt sounded in his mind.
When he saw the prompt that appeared, a look of surprise surfaced on his face.
It was that thing again.
Now he could film a material video of enlightening an animal.
