Chapter Ninety-Five: Claiming Coupons

Tang Long did not know what Liu Meijia had been thinking, but in the end she chose to yield and sent the batch of stone material back to the Baofeng Carving Factory.

That was enough.

Or rather, Tang Long’s goal had already been achieved. With this batch of jade rough stones in hand, the Baofeng Carving Factory could finish its orders on time, and Gou Yuniang would not need to waste her energy carving for the Niu family.

Ring ring.

Tang Long’s phone rang. He picked it up and saw that it was Liu Meijia calling. Her number was very distinctive, a string of sixes all the way through, the kind of number only a rich person could afford.

“Thanks for your generosity, Boss Liu,” Tang Long said with a smile as he answered.

Liu Meijia’s mood probably was not very good. After a brief silence, she said expressionlessly, “Tang, this isn’t over.”

Then she hung up.

Tang Long held the phone, gave a slight shrug, and grinned. Of course it was not over. This was only the beginning. Unless she stopped breathing altogether, this would not be settled any time soon.

“What should we do with this batch of stones?”

After directing the factory workers to move the material into the warehouse, Gou Yuniang came over to Tang Long. Excitement, confusion, and several other emotions flashed in her eyes as she looked at him expectantly.

Tang Long gave a wry smile. “Work overtime and carve them as fast as possible. Get the client’s order done, and don’t delay it.”

Did she really need to ask him something this small?

Gou Yuniang had not been like this before. It was as if overnight this man had turned her into a foolish woman.

“All right.” Gou Yuniang looked at Tang Long, and for some reason, having him there seemed to give her a backbone. Even when he scolded her, her heart still felt sweet.

Tang Long had not gone back last night, and there were already a pile of things waiting for him in Yutou Village. If he did not return today, Zhang Xiu’e would probably start having opinions about it.

Gou Yuniang knew Tang Long had to leave, and she did not stop him. Perhaps that was the difference between a mature woman and a young girl: understanding.

After saying goodbye to Gou Yuniang, Tang Long drove to Donghe Town.

The entrance road from Donghe Town to Yutou Village was especially lively today. Not only had Yutou Village set up a reception station here, but the Huayutou Resort had followed suit and sent over quite a few people as well.

To outsiders, it looked as if the two sides were setting up a face-off and neither was willing to yield even a step.

“Sir, are you going to Yutou Village for fun? If so, you can go over there and get a coupon. It’s worth more than a hundred yuan and it’s really a good deal. It won’t take you long at all!”

Tang Long was stopped by a receptionist from Huayutou Resort. The girl was smiling brightly, and her cheerfulness was infectious. Even if one did not like her, it was hard to feel any dislike.

By contrast, the Yutou Village side lacked that same enthusiasm. Of course, that also had to do with their backgrounds. The people Huayutou Resort had hired were professionals, while the Yutou Village staff were all genuine farmers. They had never dealt with this sort of thing before, so if you asked them to be overly proactive, they would not be able to relax into it.

“Can your coupons be used in Yutou Village?” Tang Long asked with a smile from the car, looking at the receptionist girl.

No one knew where they had found these girls. Every one of them was fresh and pretty, all in their early twenties, none too old. Youth really was capital.

The receptionist girl blinked at Tang Long and said, “Our coupons can only be used at Huayutou Resort.”

After a brief pause, she continued, “The scenery at Huayutou Resort is really not bad, and we have a wide variety of snacks. The tents we use are better too. Since you drove here, you might as well go over and take a look for reference. It’s not far, and it won’t waste much of your time.”

Tang Long nodded. He also wanted to know what kind of coupons the Huayutou side was handing out.

He got out of the car with the girl and walked toward their temporary reception area.

A very simple registration was required. Whether you filled in the form or not did not matter; you would still receive a coupon.

Most of the coupons were for five yuan, about ten of them in total, plus three ten-yuan coupons and one twenty-yuan coupon.

“There are lots of snacks at Huayutou Resort, and none of them cost more than twenty yuan,” the receptionist girl said kindly. “So when you go over there with our coupons, you can use the larger ones directly to exchange for a snack or a drink like milk tea.”

The girl had a sweet face and a pleasant voice. She was very likable.

“So good?” Tang Long said with a smile. If what she said was true, then Huayutou Resort was indeed investing quite a bit.

Twenty yuan per person. If they brought in two thousand people in a day, that was several thousand yuan. If they kept up such an event for half a month, it would really boost their popularity.

“Can anyone receive these coupons?” Tang Long suddenly asked, looking at the receptionist girl.

The girl blinked and nodded. “In theory, yes, anyone can. But you can’t claim them more than once in a single day.”

Tang Long smiled and pointed toward the Yutou Village service station across the way. “What if someone from Yutou Village comes to claim them?”

The girl did not answer at first. Looking at Tang Long, she said softly, “Are you from Yutou Village?”

So she had seen through him, but that was not strange. Tang Long had never tried to hide who he was.

Tang Long said with a smile, “Yes, that’s right. I’m from Yutou Village.”

The girl’s eyes flickered, then she smiled. “That’s fine. People from Yutou Village can come and claim coupons too. Our boss lady said that if you come to get them, each person can receive two coupons. The extra one is a gift between neighbors. We hope you’ll take care of us in the future.”

The way she said it was so pleasant that it immediately put people at ease.

“Then thank your boss lady for me.” Tang Long smiled and nodded.

Just then, Jiang Xue and her student group were getting off the car over at Yutou Village. Tang Long’s eyes rolled slightly, and he said, “I’ll bring people over later to claim them.”

With that, he left.

“Ya Jing, who was that?”

After Tang Long left, one of the girls beside her came over and asked curiously.

Ya Jing was the girl who had just greeted Tang Long. She shook her head and said, “I don’t know who he is either. He should be from Yutou Village.”

“From Yutou Village? Is he here to cause trouble?”

They were actually rather afraid, after all they were outsiders, while the people of Yutou Village were the local strongmen.

When one takes food from a tiger’s mouth, one has to be careful.

Ya Jing smiled sweetly and shook her head. “No, he just came by to ask.”

She did not take Tang Long’s earlier words to heart either.

Even if people from Yutou Village came to claim coupons, they could just give them two each. Before coming here, the boss lady had already instructed them to try to get along peacefully with the people of Yutou Village and avoid any unnecessary disputes.

These coupons had originally been created to draw in popularity for Huayutou Resort. But many people still could not understand why they were doing this. The main body of Huayutou Resort had not even begun construction yet, so what was the point of trying to attract visitors now?

As for how the higher-ups were thinking, they could not guess. For small fry like them, they only needed to do whatever the leaders told them to do.

Tang Long went over, greeted the people from Yutou Village, and walked up to Jiang Xue.

It might have been his imagination, but compared with a few days ago, Jiang Xue seemed much thinner. Yet her spirit appeared to be better than before.

“Tang Long, what on earth are you people doing?”

When Jiang Xue saw Tang Long, there was no warmth or gentleness as one might expect. Instead, she called him by name and questioned him directly.

Tang Long froze for a moment, then laughed. That only meant she was not treating him like an outsider.

“What’s wrong?”

Jiang Xue frowned and said unhappily, “Wasn’t it already agreed that Yutou Village could receive five hundred people this Friday? And now you’re telling me at most only three hundred and fifty can come? Why? Hmph, if you don’t give me an explanation today, I’m not letting this go!”

She put her hands on her hips, puckered her lips, and showed a hint of willfulness as she glared at Tang Long.

“Did Secretary Zhang call you?” Tang Long scratched his head. He really did not know about this, but if Zhang Xiu’e had called Jiang Xue, then there had to be some issue that could not be solved, and Yutou Village would have to limit the flow on Jiang Xue’s side.

Before Jiang Xue could speak, Tang Long continued, “Don’t worry just yet. I’m guessing Yutou Village really has reached its limit. Otherwise, with your Sister Xiu’e’s temper, she never would have brought herself to call you.”

Jiang Xue kept a straight face and snorted. “I don’t care. Anyway, you have to solve it for me. So many classmates signed up several days in advance, and now you’re telling me that one hundred and fifty people have to be cut. Who do you want to come, and who do you want to leave out?”

The joking expression left Tang Long’s face, and he nodded seriously. “Okay, no problem. I’ll handle it.”

Right in front of Jiang Xue, he took out his phone and called Zhang Xiu’e.

“There’s nothing we can do. Even the tents over in the Gully Ravine are nearly full, and there’s simply no space left. There are too many people, and our management capacity is already falling behind. I was also worried that something might happen to the university students Jiang Xue brought, so this was the only choice,” Zhang Xiu’e said.

Tang Long had only been away for a day, so he did not know what the situation in Yutou Village had become. When he had not been there yesterday, the number of visitors had been five times higher than the day before. That was no exaggeration at all. Originally, just over a thousand people had come to Yutou Village for leisure, but suddenly the number had surged to five or six thousand. The village’s carrying capacity was already close to its limit.

And yet they could not simply drive those people away. They had come from such a long way off. Who could they send away? How would they even send them away?

At present, the only place where they could impose a visitor cap was the Ghost King Cave scenic area. Everywhere else, they had to do their best to receive guests.

After hanging up, Tang Long frowned. The surge in Yutou Village’s visitor flow had been anticipated to some extent, but no one had expected it to increase this sharply. When the crowds suddenly multiplied, that might not necessarily be a good thing.

He looked up toward Huayutou Resort, and a glimmer flashed in his eyes as an idea formed in his mind. He just did not know whether they would be willing.

“Come on, let’s take the students over to claim coupons first,” Tang Long said with a smile to Jiang Xue beside him.

Claim coupons?

Jiang Xue asked in confusion, “What coupons are you talking about?”