Coincidentally, the tea buyer’s surname was also Ji. For now, we’ll call him Old Ji.

Seeing how composed Tan You was, Old Ji was quite impressed. He admired her elegant bearing, beautiful face, and tactful demeanor more and more. "If you don’t mind my forwardness, I’ll call you Little Ji. So, Little Ji, do you have a boyfriend?"

Tan You looked up, met Old Ji’s eyes, and then smiled. "Are you trying to play matchmaker, sir? I’m the only one left in my family now. If I get married, I’ll definitely be living in the village permanently."

"And I want a child to take my surname, to carry on my father’s family line."

Old Ji beamed. "Wouldn’t they still have the surname Ji, regardless? I have a nephew who’s a few years older than you..."

Tan You smiled. "My career is just getting started, so I’m not really thinking about that right now. I’m afraid I’ll have to decline your kind offer."

Old Ji wasn’t disappointed. "That’s fine. It’s normal for young people to want to establish a career before starting a family. Just pretend I never said anything."

He genuinely thought Tan You was a great catch, but she had explicitly said she planned to live in the village permanently. These days, everyone flocked to the big cities; people who truly wanted to live in a village were a rarity.

Besides, his nephew was truly outstanding, but would he have anything in common with Tan You? He decided to drop it. Young people could worry about their own affairs.

After seeing Old Ji off, Fifth Uncle rubbed his hands together. "Ali, what do you plan to do with this money?"

Tan You tapped her fingers on the table. "Naturally, we’ll put it back into the mountain it came from."

Fifth Uncle didn’t understand. Tan You smiled. "The mountain forest needs to be maintained. We can’t just take from it without giving anything back."

Fifth Uncle understood. "Alright. I’ll go back and discuss it with everyone. You should come too when the time comes."

Tan You waved her hand dismissively. "I won’t get involved in this. To be blunt, the tea trees are from the mountain, Uncle Qiao was the one who roasted the tea, and now it’s sold for such a high price. If I touch this money, won’t people start getting ideas?"

Although she needed to tie her interests closely with the village’s, Tan You knew this wasn’t money she could touch. You should never use money to test people’s hearts, especially not a huge sum like this.

If she got involved now, wouldn’t the villagers have something to say about it? After all, they could come up with a legitimate reason. Strictly speaking, she was an outsider in the village—she didn’t even share the Shen surname. When it came to dividing up the profits, people could always find an excuse.

That’s why Tan You had kept a card up her sleeve while making her plans. She certainly wanted to establish herself in the village, but what she needed was for the village to be unable to function without her, not for her to be someone they could abandon at any moment.

Fifth Uncle understood her meaning and sighed. "So young, yet you think so much. Alright, I’ll go back and organize a meeting."

After Fifth Uncle left, Uncle Shen finally spoke. "He has his own concerns too. Don’t be upset."

Tan You found it amusing. "I’m not upset. Why would I be? To be blunt, I can start over anywhere. Besides, these people aren’t my responsibility. I have no obligation to sacrifice myself for them."

"I helped them voluntarily, but if all I get in return is suspicion and exclusion, then I think that’s where our relationship ends. If I just quietly lived my own little life, I’d probably have it a lot easier."

Uncle Shen said, "It’s just been too hard on you. There are plenty of good people in this world, but you can’t guarantee everyone thinks that way. Throughout history, countless people have turned on each other for money."

Tan You replied, "Exactly. So, let’s just see how the village handles this."

Tan You didn’t deny that she was using this money to test the villagers. She hadn’t said it out loud, but everyone could understand her intention. She was the one who found the sales channel for the tea. The wild delicacies and autumn tea sold so smoothly because of her huge number of followers.

Without her, would the village have changed so much? So now that it was time to divide the profits, how would the village do it? You can’t ask someone to work tirelessly for you for free, only to exclude them as an outsider when it’s time to share the rewards.

Fifth Uncle understood Tan You’s intentions best. On the way back, he mulled over what to do. Once he got to the village, he gathered the accountant and a few of the village’s respected elders for a meeting.

In the center of the table lay a check for 22 million. Seated around it were Fifth Uncle, the accountant, and Uncle Qiao. The rest were three other elders.

Third Uncle stared at the check for a long moment. "This is really over twenty million?"

"Yes," Fifth Uncle said seriously. "I even went to the bank to check. It’s real. I didn’t cash it; I came back to discuss it with everyone first."

Third Uncle gripped his cane. "What about Ji Li... what are her thoughts on this?"

Fifth Uncle replied, "She didn’t give any specific instructions. She said she’ll go with the village’s arrangement."

Seventh Uncle frowned. "This requires careful consideration. If we handle this poorly, we could easily break her heart. She’s the one who brought about all these changes in the village."

Fifth Uncle agreed. "Yes, our village’s sudden good fortune is all thanks to Ji Li. Everyone’s focused on marketing these days. Our products are good, but without her help promoting them, who knows how long those wild delicacies and tea would have sat on our hands."

"That’s why I’m asking for everyone’s opinion now. This is a major issue, after all. And this is a huge amount of money. If the villagers find out, will they start getting other ideas?"

The former village chief frowned as well. They had truly run into a difficult problem.

Third Uncle said, "The village is depending on Ji Li now. That child seems gentle, but she doesn’t actually have many ties here. What we need to do is make sure she stays, to bind her firmly to this place."

"I agree!"

"But with this much money... if everyone finds out, won’t there be objections?"

"Then Fifth Uncle will have to explain it to the villagers. But our village needs to step up, too. That online stuff... we can rely on Ji Li for that, but we can’t expect her to run the physical store as well, can we? We have to learn to stand on our own two feet!"

The Beauty System projected the group’s discussion in front of Tan You. She smirked slightly. ’The village is really going all in this time.’ To be honest, though, Tan You was very satisfied.

The amount on the check was certainly huge to her, but Tan You wasn’t so desperate for it that she couldn’t live without it. Her horizons had broadened, and she was confident she could earn that kind of money sooner or later.

But for the villagers, it was a different story. To them, that number was truly astronomical.

As for Third Uncle’s comment about the villagers needing to stand on their own, Tan You had no objections. It was a good thing that other people wanted to improve themselves. Why would she stand in their way?

Sure enough, the next day, Tan You received a call from Fifth Uncle asking her to come to the village for a general meeting.

"A general meeting?" Tan You was a little puzzled after hanging up the phone. "Uncle, has the village ever held a general meeting before?"

Uncle Shen replied, "Yes, but very rarely. I remember the last one was when the village opened the tea factory. In the blink of an eye, more than a decade has passed."

Tan You smiled. "Alright, let’s go back and see, then. We’ve been staying in town for a few days now anyway."