Chapter 185
The village official’s name was Stephen, and he spotted Linda from a mile away. He waved as he walked toward her.
“Hello, Ms. Felix. I’m the official your friend sent as a guide.”
She nodded at Stephen. “Thanks in advance.”
Stephen was pretty young. He looked as though he had just
graduated from university less than a year prior.
“No worries. Your friend told us you were here to check the place out and film your movie here if it works out, right?”
Linda nodded.
“It’s quite a coincidence. Another man came by to look around. He said if all goes well, he’ll buy the village and make sure all the
residents here get a new house of their own. Then he’ll convert this place into a resort.”
“A resort?” Even though Linda wasn’t involved in the industry, she felt like it was a ridiculous idea.
That place wasn’t cut out for a resort at all. Even if they spent a
fortune making it more presentable, there would be no way to earn back their capital.
After all, there was a villa right in front of it. Everyone would visit the villa and completely ignore the resort behind it.
“I already told the man that even though it will be really beneficial to the villagers here, in truth, he won’t be able to make any money.”
He was pretty knowledgeable about such things, as expected of a university student.
Especially about whether this village could actually break out of
poverty and live more lavishly.
“It’s not the first time someone’s suggested converting the village into a resort area so the villagers can live better lives. The last few village. officials have had the same idea, but there’s a villa right in front of us. It’s not going to benefit our village. There also isn’t that much scenery around here to draw a crowd,” Stephen said.
“It’s a simple village with people living simple lives, and while it might. not be the most glamorous place, everyone’s pretty comfortable. I think comfort is the most important thing to leading a happy life. Most ‘perfect lives‘ require a lot of hard work. One could even say people sacrifice their youth for it.”
He paused before continuing, “I’ve worked here for half a year and become quite close to the villagers here. I can safely say that they don’t want to leave or head for the big city. They just want to live their lives out peacefully.”
Linda was quite surprised at Stephen’s explanation.
“Why would you think that way?”
“Well, in my opinion, if you have to give up so much in order to live in some cardboard box in the big city, why not enjoy a less glamorous but peaceful life in the village? Besides, this place isn’t half bad.”
Stephen began to give Linda more examples of why he thought that
way.
“Not every place is suitable to turn into a resort. The villagers are regular people who just want peaceful lives.”
“If I film here, would it be a disturbance?”
Stephen scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.
“To be frank, Ms. Felix, while I personally don’t want this place to become a tourist attraction that will interfere with the villagers‘ lives,
it also can’t stay so backward forever. Filming a movie here won’t affect our daily lives too much. It’ll also give us the chance to show this place to other people.
“If that happens, we can get more opportunities for farming and sell our produce elsewhere, so our village can slowly grow from there.”
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