Chapter 141: Draft Proposal for Mountain Reclamation

Yuan Kun felt uneasy.
In fact, he had already received the expanded model announcement, calling for a meeting of the heads of nearby medium and small shed zones.
The message was blunt: only those with authority. It named names and notified them. By now, those on the way included the representatives of the Song Shed Zone, Ning Yang Shed Zone, Lijiang Shed, and Wuyou Goods Trade Shed Zone.
When Yuan Kun heard the name of the Dusk Shed Zone among them, he immediately felt moved and tried to slip away. But the shed master of Kongshan Shed Zone had been tipped off and intercepted him using a Mental Link.
“Master Jiazi rarely convenes a assembly; he must have some new ideas to announce. That young man who previously kept a low profile is quite talented. You’ve had some association with him before. Go there, learn well, take detailed meeting minutes, and report back to me afterwards.”
“Yes, shed master.”
Yuan Kun felt a twinge of vexation. He had been dodging and avoiding for the past half month, never imagining this day would finally come.
He never expected that the humble goods transport team, which he had dismissed as nothing, could attract so many people. Moreover, it had maintained order in the market, prevented chaos, and earned so many time-sequences, making his own shed master green with envy for a long time.
The shed master insisted that, leveraging his status as Master Jiazi’s first customer, he conduct trade here to rake in a huge profit.
“Captain Yuan Kun, so you’re here. Planning to head into the mountains?”
A figure on horseback approached. It was Zhang Ao, looking gaunt and expressionless.
“Aren’t you going to check on your cousin?” Zhang Ao said.
“What cousin?”
Riding on horseback, dressed in a snug outfit, Yuan Kun turned his head in bewilderment, looking at the man on the sorrel horse beside him.
“The security captain of the Unworried Goods Team. You share the same surname—if you’re not cousins, what are you?”
“……”
“Let’s go, to the meeting. If we’re late, we might not even get seats.”
The two horsemen turned around and headed towards the stone house that had just appeared in the model announcement.
Outside the stone house’s gate, the crowd craned their necks to peer inside. Beside the main seat of the meeting hall, two exhaust fans of the Evil Nightmare Devices wheezed weakly, feebly proclaiming the meeting’s august nature.
“Come, come, Captain Ma, please take a seat here.”
“Peng Leader Zhang has arrived. This way, please.”
“I wouldn’t dare, wouldn’t dare. Here, I can hardly call myself a leader.”
After being registered by Zuo Feixian, Teacher Chen, and a lady at the door, people of all shapes and sizes politely entered, guided to their seats by Wang Chong, Fan Xiuyun, and others.
Around the long table formed by three large square tables pushed together, people sat in layers three deep, with many others left standing.
“Is there anyone else?”
“Yes, yes, yes. I’m from the Zhang shed beyond the mountain, attending the meeting on behalf of our Peng leader.”
A dust-covered man hopped off a Evil Nightmare Motorcycle, which had small little eyes.
“Giddyup!” Two horses dashed up and quickly came to a halt at the gate.
Zhang Ao jumped down from his horse, handed the reins to the two who had just arrived, and strode forward.
“Greetings. I am Zhang Ao, from the Kongshan shed.”
Teacher Chen glanced at the man. Having seen him before but leaving no impression, he said to the lady taking notes beside him, “Zhang Ao, head of the Kongshan shed, enter.”
Zhang Ao stepped across the threshold but then stopped and turned his head to look at Yuan Kun, still on his horse.
“Come on over.”
The horse let out a snort and shuffled its hooves before being reined in by Yuan Kun.
Zuo Feixian glanced at Yuan Kun and said to Zhang Ao, “He doesn’t need to go in.”
Zhang Ao looked at the noisy people inside the room, “Is it only one person per shed district?”
Zuo Feixian cleared his throat, imitating Mr. Chen’s demeanor as he tried to straighten his back with solemn effort, and said:
“Well, in theory, it’s only one person, but since this is a respected guest from a shed district, yeah, I suppose you could bring an assistant along.”
“I can be the assistant,” Zhang Ao said, then beckoned Yuan Kun.
By then, Yuan Kun had already dismounted, feeling embarrassed. He walked over, coughed lightly into his fist, and said:
“I’m… um, from the Wu Liang Shed, Yuan Kun.”
“What?” Neither Mr. Chen nor the woman beside him recording heard him clearly.
“It’s the ‘Huanghun Rural-Yield Shed,’ Yuan Kun,” Zuo Feixian said. “But there are already two people inside, so you don’t need to go in.”
Instantly, the two who had already taken their seats at the table turned their heads to look at the doorway.
Zhang Ao narrowed his eyes immediately, a sharp gaze fixed on Yuan Kun’s guilty face.
“Three people… hmm, we can still squeeze in a few more,” Mr. Chen said, glancing around the room. “Better that he goes in.”
The woman next to him raised her pen, intending to add Yuan Kun’s name after the Huanghun Rural-Yield Shed entry.
Zhang Ao leaned in slightly and said in a low whisper, “I’m sorry, he got it wrong earlier. We’re from the Qiongshan Shed, not the Huanghun Rural-Yield Shed.”
“Uh… What?”
Zuo Feixian tilted his head, bared his teeth, and squinted at Yuan Kun beside him, who was turning his head away.
“He’s right. Let’s go in quickly,” Yuan Kun said hastily.
As he spoke, he pushed Zhang Ao into the room. The two people from the small shed area who had come for the meeting and were waiting behind them looked on in confusion, then reported their names before entering.
Inside the room, Wang Xin, now seated, let her gaze fall on Yuan Kun, who was standing by the table not far from the hillside.
“No wonder that rumor existed. I was wondering who was so bored as to fabricate such a flimsy lie that could be debunked with a single touch…”
Her hands unconsciously clenched into fists.
The room was small, so any sound from the door, however faint, could still be heard if one paid attention. Suddenly, she recalled a certain rumor from a few days ago: It was said that on the second day of the big client’s cargo team’s encampment, their own Evening Gang had come to collect protection money but was given a thorough beating by the captain of the Jia Interval cargo team.
As for this news, Wang Xin didn’t take it seriously after the first hearing.
After all, rumors like this had no real impact on either the big client side or her own sector, since both parties knew it was baseless.
“Why would Director Zuo mistake the goods from Kongshan for my Dusky Canopy people?”
She glanced at Yang Zicang, who was walking out of a small side room with a stack of documents. The young man stood by the main seat facing the door, straightened the documents on the desk, and invited everyone to sit down and start the meeting.
But at that moment, Wang Xin felt like sitting on needles.
Her unease grew, as the various somewhat harsh treatments her team had suffered in this temporary market over the past period continuously surfaced in her mind.
Wang Xin had only thought that the major client’s cargo team treated the shed area and the wanderers the same, and hadn’t taken it seriously, but at this moment…
“Could it be… not just a rumor!”
Her face paled again as she looked at Yuan Kun, catching him averting his guilty gaze from her.
“Damn!”
The woman’s face flushed red with faint anger.
Yang Zicang’s voice rang out: “Everyone, the reason we’re holding this meeting today is, first, to thank you all for your help and support during these days. Thank you.”
The room buzzed with laughter and replies; everyone knew these were just polite words, and the real topic was yet to come.
“Additionally, this is the draft ‘Opinion on Regulations for Mountain Reclamation and Resource Allocation,’ which I’ve hastily prepared after discussing with several shed masters.”
Upon hearing this, the expressions of some large team leaders in the room shifted.
“What does this mean?”
“Reclamation and resource allocation—are they trying to restrict our access to resources once we enter the forest?”
“That’s not very upright, Captain Jia.”
Although the large teams were immediately dissatisfied, the small teams and those limited to only gathering wore delighted expressions.
Was this about further subdividing the resource allocation in the mountains?
For those of weaker strength, this was a good thing!
Yuan Kun sighed inwardly; only someone with strength like Jia’s could bring up such a proposal, otherwise, who would listen to your directives.
He glanced at Zhang Ao beside him. The guy had already laid out a model and was communicating with someone the moment he sat down. While thinking this fellow was rather impolite, he also felt a flicker of tension, hoping it wasn’t a live broadcast to the shed owner, though considering his relationship with the deputy shed owner, it probably wouldn’t be.
He only needed to record the meeting content and relay it back later.
YangZicang said, “Well, that’s part of it, but the deeper meaning isn’t really that simple. You can all pass these around and take a look—the content is straightforward. Alternatively, would anyone like to read it out loud for me?”
He handed over the paper in his hand. The several large shed owners who already knew what was on it understood its contents well, sitting in their seats without approval or objection, keeping their mouths shut and staying silent.
“Let me do it.” One person stood up and said.
This was a deputy shed owner from a medium-sized shed area, his face covered in large acne like mold, perhaps from long-term consumption of toxic food.
He nonchalantly took the paper, unfolded it, glanced at it, and then his mouth hung open, unable to close as he stared.
“Let me do it.”
The person beside him stood up, snatched the paper, unfolded it, took a look, and started coughing as if choked.
“This, what is this?!”
“What’s the matter?”
Those nearby, who had initially felt indifferent, were now drawn by curiosity. They stood up and craned their necks to get a closer look.
“Huh?”
“St-stabilized… Class A lost-frequency interlocks? Do they think this is still the city?”
“No way, building a common shed district?”
As soon as these words were uttered, the entire table, and even the whole room, instantly erupted into commotion.
“What the hell, did I hear that right?”
“What are you guys looking at?”
The paper was passed around, and some people exchanged bewildered glances.
“Does this mean… stabilizing those mountains?!”
Hearing the uproar, Yuanlong at the table glanced at YangZicang. After receiving a nod from him, he cleared his throat and spoke to those around him:
“Everyone, someone said earlier that it would be great if this lively market could last forever.”
The buzzing chatter subsided significantly, as dozens of gazes fell on the middle-aged man at the table. Those seated at the table were all heads of the greenhouse zones and major trading caravans. For this man to speak up, he was undoubtedly a discussant or even an initiator of this matter.
“That’s true, but every scene in this land begins to decay after at most half a year, and will eventually vanish completely…”
“Stabilizing the mountains—so that’s the purpose of your meeting?!”
Yuanlong smiled with an imposing demeanor and said, “Exactly. If we can stabilize an A-level frequency discordance zone, these mountains will endure forever in this fading frequency land. Imagine how beautiful that sight would be.”
The crowd was startled, and some even shuddered.
Indeed, it would be beautiful, but that beauty comes at a cost!
“Do you have any idea how many entropy models that would require?!”
One person shouted angrily, followed by another.