PCJ – Chapter 674 Hiking Friends

Over the years, Zhi Huming and his nephew Zhi Shengfeng had committed many crimes. A casual investigation could have them executed multiple times over. The entire Zhi family was in deep trouble—anyone connected to Zhi Huming was now being investigated thoroughly. Not a single one was clean. Now, the whole family was reunited in the detention center.

It wasn’t just Zhi Huming’s local gang; the entire police system in Daihua County underwent a strict rectification, and a large number of seriously problematic officers were dealt with. Moreover, Liu Tiande took a heavy-handed approach, cracking down hard on the county’s underworld forces.

Liu Tiande’s actions were naturally motivated by concern that Zhang Jiaohua might not be satisfied. He knew Zhang Jiaohua had seen through the scheme to use him as a tool to eliminate Zhi Huming. Zhang’s cold attitude when leaving was proof of that. So, Liu had to make some gestures to ease tensions between them.

However, Zhang Jiaohua had no time to pay attention to Liu Tiande’s maneuvers. He had already been traveling across various towns in Daihua County. By his side were Wei Chenguang and an economic expert team recommended by various affiliated families of the Meishan Sect.

This time, Wei Chenguang didn’t send anyone directly from the Wei family, mainly to avoid suspicion. He didn’t want Zhang Jiaohua to have any doubts about him. Previously, when the sect was just established and there was no one to rely on, the Wei family had done a lot within Meishan Sect and held many important positions.

But now the sect had entered a more normal track, and Wei Chenguang quickly gave up many positions to balance the power within the sect. He knew Zhang Jiaohua didn’t really care much about the Meishan Sect, but even so, he dared not go too far.

“Old Wei, what do you think about the conditions in Daihua County?” Zhang Jiaohua asked.

Wei Chenguang smiled: “What great ideas can an old man like me have? But it’s true, the conditions here in Daihua County aren’t very good. Take transportation for example — it’s quite poor. Also, the scenic spots are completely fragmented, not concentrated, which will make development difficult. But there are some advantages. First, because the conditions are poor, it’s possible for us to integrate all the resources of this one county. That’s impossible in counties with better conditions. Also, the government is very supportive. That’s our foundation for investing and developing here. But I do have one worry: if the project eventually makes money, will the people of Daihua County turn around and accuse the sect leader of seeking personal gain?”

“Why care about what others say? If I don’t let you develop it, who else would come here? Record all these current conditions well; it’ll serve as proof later,” Zhang Jiaohua waved his hand.

Wei Chenguang nodded: “There’s another issue though. The local customs are simple, yes, but some areas are quite fierce, which might cause problems later.”

“This is my plan: I want to build a big estate of our Meishan Sect here in Daihua County. If possible, connect Yingpanshan with Meishan. The Xiyun Secret Realm is nice but a bit too small, and the Meishan small secret realm is too far away from the other. The big secret realm of Meishan isn’t something to think about for now. If we can build a Spirit Gathering Formation in Yingpanshan, we can bring the Meishan Sect here. In the future, connecting it to Meishan, such a large mountain system could serve as the foundation for our sect. That should be enough,” Zhang Jiaohua shared his vision.

Wei Chenguang was surprised by Zhang Jiaohua’s big plan: “It’s a good idea, but where will we find so many spirit stones to build the formation? And where will we find such a huge spirit spring?”

“There will be a way,” Zhang Jiaohua said.

Wei Chenguang didn’t understand what Zhang meant.

On the day the road to Yingpan Village was completed, Li Lin, the new official of Tianbaqiao Town, personally went to the county seat to invite Zhang Jiaohua to attend the opening ceremony. Zhang Jiaohua made a special trip to Yingpan Village.

Yingpan Village had changed greatly. Along with the road construction, farmland and housing renovations were ongoing. The highway passing through Tianbaqiao Town was also completed, with an exit there, greatly facilitating tourism development for Yingpan Village.

Gu Chuangui was the happiest. When he saw Zhang Jiaohua step out of the car, he rushed over immediately. County staff wanted to stop him, but Zhang Jiaohua quickly stopped them.

“Uncle Zhang, why haven’t you come back to the village for so long? The village school’s house is still kept for you. I clean it every day. It’s very clean inside. Our house has changed a lot too, very beautiful. Come with me to see it. Grandpa said it’s all thanks to you. Without you, our village would have stayed a begging village forever,” Gu Chuangui said with endless words.

“How’s your grades? Any decline?” Zhang Jiaohua asked.

“Definitely not! I want to be as capable as Uncle Zhang someday. I want to go to university and become a scientist,” Gu Chuangui proudly said.

“Good, ambitious,” Zhang Jiaohua gave him a thumbs-up.

Coincidentally, just as the road opened and Yingpan Village was preparing for opening to outsiders, tourists found their way here themselves.

This puzzled Zhang Jiaohua, since Yingpan Village was not yet ready and hadn’t done any promotion. When villagers reported this, Zhang Jiaohua went to check it out.

“You’re here for tourism too?” The visitors noticed Zhang Jiaohua’s different clothes and appearance, similar in age to them, so they assumed he was also a tourist.

“Something like that. What about you? How did you find this place?” Zhang Jiaohua asked.

“It’s indeed hard to find. We found it by chance. Didn’t you have a TV report recently? We saw that news and checked the map to find here. Lucky for us, the road just opened; otherwise, we wouldn’t have known how to get in.”

It turned out they were a group of hiking enthusiasts, especially fond of developing new wild hiking routes. They saw the scenery around Yingpan Village on TV, so they gathered some people and drove here. They hadn’t expected the road to be completed just in time.

“Be careful. There are many wild beasts in these mountains. If you go in, it’s best to find a local guide. Don’t go into the primeval forest — it’s too dangerous, even locals dare not enter. Don’t risk your lives,” Zhang Jiaohua warned them.