Chapter 72 - 71: The Performance Team Arrives

Chapter 72: Chapter 71: The Performance Team Arrives

A tour bus pulled up to the square in Lin Xian Village, carrying a full load of people. An employee from the Wuyuan County Bureau of Culture and Tourism was leading them.

"Everyone, line up. I’ve secured this opportunity for you. Whether or not you get to stay will all depend on your performance today."

Many of the performers watched the tourists already in the village, their hearts filled with excitement. There really were a lot of visitors here. If they could stay, they could make a living.

As for art? That could wait until they could put food on the table.

In a group of girls, a younger one asked an older one in front of her, "Sister Lingling, do you think we’ll be able to stay?"

Zhu Lingling, who was in her thirties, said with conviction, "With our performance, we’ll definitely get to stay."

This was a hard-won opportunity. If they couldn’t secure a spot this time, their dance troupe would have to disband.

There just weren’t enough events in a small county like theirs; supporting a dance troupe was too difficult.

Lin Feng walked over. "Director Liu, are these all the performers?"

"Yes. We selected these performance troupes based on your requirements, all of them featuring cultural elements from Wuyuan County."

"The stage over there is already set up. Let’s go take a look and discuss the performance order."

"You few team leaders, come with me. This is the owner of Lin Xian Village, Lin Feng.

We’ll go with Boss Lin to check out the stage first. The rest of you can follow a staff member to the village to rest for a bit."

They had heard that the boss behind this viral tourist village was young, but they hadn’t expected him to be *this* young. He looked to be in his early twenties.

Everyone greeted Boss Lin, and after a round of introductions, they headed toward the stage.

The stage had been built on the east side of the village. There simply wasn’t any room on the west side, and this eastern area was still undeveloped and had more space.

Coincidentally, there was a triangular depression here. The stage was set up in the center of it, allowing tourists on all three sides to watch the performances, just like in a stadium.

"Boss Lin, this is an excellent spot. It’s perfect for tourists to watch the show."

"It was just a random choice. There was no space on the west side, so this was the only option."

"If you ask me, Boss Lin, you could also expand outward. There are quite a few spots on either side of the road leading into the mountains, and the terrain is relatively flat.

It’s hard to park cars up on the mountain. If you expand outward, you could pick a spot to build a parking lot, making it more convenient for tourists to visit."

"Thank you for the suggestion. I’ll consider that for the next phase of development."

The current wheat-drying ground in the village was indeed a bit too small. Some tourists who drove their own cars had to park at the foot of the mountain and take the public bus up.

’It seems the county has also taken notice of this situation,’ Lin Feng thought. ’They probably want me to expand my scale of development.’

There were indeed some areas along the road into the mountains where the terrain was relatively flat and suitable for construction.

In fact, these areas used to be village farmland. It was only after the village relocated that they became overgrown with weeds and trees.

’I’ll call as soon as I get back,’ he thought, ’and lease all the surrounding mountain forest and land. Even if I can’t develop it now, I’ll save it for later.’

Director Liu asked the team leaders, "Is there anything that needs to be modified? Now’s the time to bring it up."

"Director Liu, we just need to add some props to the stage during our performance, but we’ve brought our own."

"Director Liu, we don’t need anything."

"Since none of you need any changes, have you figured out the performance order?"

Everyone glanced at each other but said nothing. Deciding the order was actually quite tricky.

Director Liu asked, "Boss Lin, do you have any requirements in this regard?"

"I don’t know anything about this, so I’ll leave it all to you. In the future, some performances don’t necessarily have to be on the stage; they could take place in the village itself."

"Then it’s simple. We’ll put the modern dance first to warm up the crowd. After that will be the folk song performance from our group, followed by the Clay Figure performance, and we’ll end with the Colorful Silk Dance."

"Let’s go with that arrangement then. We’ll see how the performances turn out."

The performers began to get ready. After Lin Feng returned to the main village area, he made an announcement over the broadcast system.

These were experimental performances, so everyone could watch for free. That might not be the case in the future, though.

In the village, tourists who had mostly finished their sightseeing and were waiting for the evening’s telescope experience heard about the new show and all began to gather by the stage.

Lin Feng redirected some of the village patrolmen to guide the tourists into the viewing area.

Watching the large crowd of tourists gather, Director Liu said with a smile, "Boss Lin, you still have too few attractions here. Otherwise, you could draw in even more visitors."

"I’m working on building more attractions. There’s no use in rushing these things."

’The news about the air quality in Lin Xian Village is already starting to bubble up online,’ Lin Feng thought. ’Once more and more tourists experience it for themselves, there will definitely be another explosion of traffic.’

Plenty of nature lovers visited "oxygen bars" on hot days and natural forest parks, and the environment here was much better than those places.

Once Director Liu went to organize the performance, Hu Xia sidled up and said, "So many pretty girls. The performers all have such great figures."

"They’re professional performers; of course they have great figures. Yours isn’t bad either, so there’s no need to be envious."

Hu Xia looked down at herself and said, "It’s not just their figures, they’re beautiful too! Especially the young lady performing the Colorful Silk Dance today. She’s stunning, almost on the same level as Shiyun."

Lin Feng had also seen the girl performing the Colorful Silk Dance. He had to admit she was indeed beautiful, and not in that generic, "internet celebrity face" kind of way.

From her figure to her face, she exuded a natural beauty, like the queen of the Kingdom of Women in *Journey to the West*—the type of beauty you could never get tired of looking at.

Hu Zhiming suddenly chimed in, "The Colorful Silk Dance is all about beauty. If you don’t choose a beautiful woman to perform it, the effect is much worse."

The performance itself was a local specialty, adapted from a blend of the stories of Chang’e flying to the moon and the Seven Fairy Maidens.

"I heard there’s also a Clay Figure performance today. Brother Lin, what were you thinking? That performance is too creepy."

"Creepy is what gets people’s attention. After the performance, it will spark curiosity among netizens online."

Lin Feng had seen a Clay Figure performance himself as a child. It was indeed a bit scary. It was a very niche type of performance, and he’d thought it was a lost art.

This kind of show was no easy feat. The performers had to smear special mud on their faces and bodies and paint them with various pigments.

He’d heard it was very uncomfortable during the performance. However, he had just heard from the team leader that thanks to modern technology, the materials had been improved and it wasn’t as uncomfortable as it used to be.

"Hurry, hurry, the show’s about to start! Boss Lin is finally acting like a decent human, adding more shows for us to watch."

"Yeah, if it weren’t for the better air quality, I would have just played in the county seat this morning and only come here in the afternoon."

"I also wanted to buy some Medicinal Tea, but unfortunately, I only realized after getting here that tons of people come specifically to buy it."

Lin Feng stood not far away, feeling a bit awkward as he listened to the tourists’ chatter. ’There’s nothing I can do about it!’ he thought.

Hu Xia poked Lin Feng with her finger, her eyes glancing toward the tourists as if to say, ’You hear that?’

Every time she livestreamed, her viewers would remind her about this, and many of the tourists who came here would mention it to her as well.

"Alright, alright, I know it’s tough on you. I’ll buy you an extra chicken drumstick for lunch. The show’s starting, let’s watch."

Hu Xia shot him a glare, then looked at the girls by the stage with their vibrant costumes and sizzling figures.