Sophia worked hard alone, finishing roasting the whole pig and the whole sheep, feeling almost exhausted.
If she really wants to do this business, she will need to buy some equipment. Relying on just her own strength will tire her out.
As for the letter with the sincere prayer on it, Sophia decided to ignore it for now and think about it later.
She couldn't sacrifice herself just for others.
Soon it was time to meet the village chief. Early in the morning, before the sun was too strong, Sophia went to find him and followed him up the mountain to pay respects to her parents.
Her parents had left her a piece of mountain land. They were buried together on that mountain.
The village chief talked about her parents when they were young and moved to the village. He spoke openly.
Mainly because Sophia came with two packs of cigarettes.
He held a cigarette in his hand but didn't light it, just smelling it occasionally, not willing to smoke it.
"When they first came, the village was much worse than now. The roads were rough and uneven. Your parents wore very fashionable clothes, obviously from the city. Many villagers were curious about them. They said their family didn't approve of their relationship, so they ran away."
"But your father was very hardworking. At first, he collected wild goods from the mountains to sell, then brought back all kinds of daily goods like rice, oil, soy sauce, and tea. Your family was the first to have a motorcycle in the village."
Sophia felt strange. Even though she was switched at birth, the scenes described by the village chief felt like they were right in front of her.
While talking, the village chief suddenly stopped. "By the way, look, these few acres of land from your house to here all belong to your family."
"Originally, your parents wanted to buy this land to raise pigs, start a pig farm, including the mountain behind."
He sighed, "But Jessica suddenly got seriously ill. Your parents spent almost all their money to cure her, leaving only these few acres of land that aren't worth much."
Sophia frowned but said nothing.
The village chief noticed and smiled, "Don't think about that now."
They walked more than half an hour before reaching a mountain peak.
The tombstone had two photos stuck on it, a bit blurry but still showing the figures.
Sophia placed offerings, and seeing her staring at the photos, the chief said, "I asked Jessica. She said she didn't have any photos of your parents. So I found their wedding registration photo and printed it."
Hearing this, Sophia suddenly spoke, "Thank you, village chief."
Although Sophia never spent a day with her parents or even lived in this village except for a place to stay, after hearing the chief's words, she felt a small connection to them.
They didn't stay long on the mountain. When they went down, the sun was fully up.
On the way back, Sophia asked the chief about the land — whether to build houses, factories, or pig farms, and what procedures were needed.
The chief knew about building houses but didn't know much about building proper factories.
Sophia explained that a simple factory could be about 1,000 square meters with a height of about three meters, made of iron sheets.
"I really didn't know that. The rules are stricter now. We'll have to ask the town for that."
The chief was happy to help, seeing Sophia was from a rich family, spending money generously. Helping her was worth it!
On the way back, the chief thought to himself. Sophia really was the rich daughter of the Jiang family. After so many years, there should be some feelings. She probably gave him a lot of money when she left.
Sophia didn't know what the chief was thinking. That night she told her analysis to her wife, and soon the whole village spread the word that Sophia was a rich lady.
Sophia checked online about the policies in S City. Her piece of land was not farmland, so building a factory was quite easy. Besides, she wasn't really going to build a factory, just a warehouse. It would be convenient for raising pigs or storing grain.
After applying, Sophia started finding people to clear the land. Since the land was hers, no matter what she planned to do, first she had to clear the weeds, dead wood, and trash on it.
Four village aunties who had cleaned Sophia's house before quickly came over with their relatives.
"Aunties, I'm renting this whole piece of land to you. It's four mu in total. How about thirty thousand yuan?"
Sophia didn't care how many people they brought or how many days it would take. She just set a standard and gave a broad deadline.
Four mu is about two thousand square meters, not very big, but labor was expensive, especially in this remote village.
After discussing, the four aunties agreed.
Each brought a relative and their own tools, and started working that same day.
Sophia forgot about this for a while. She had to go out to buy some home appliances.
There was already a fridge at home, but before, cooking was done in a big pot used to cook pig feed. That pot was good for pig feed but hard to control the heat for cooking meals.
Also, the water heater was the kind that needed manual gas bottle replacement. Lighting the heater every time for a shower was scary, so she decided to buy a new one.
Sophia went to the small village supermarket to check, but everything was covered in dust.
She thought it over and decided to order online. The items could arrive the next day and include installation.
Right after placing the order and walking home, she got a message from Amelia.
Sophia called her immediately.
"Senior sister, are you at the high-speed rail station? Wait for me, I'll be there in half an hour."
After hanging up, Sophia hurried home to drive and pick her up.
At the high-speed rail exit, Sophia was a bit surprised. Compared to last time, Amelia was holding a dog, which even wore a muzzle and a mask.
"Senior sister, where did this dog come from?"
Sophia was curious and stepped closer.
"It's a long story!"
Amelia laughed awkwardly.
Sophia smiled and said, "Then get in the car first. Tell me slowly."
They both smiled and got into the car. Amelia began explaining about the dog.
It was a retired police dog. Amelia had gone to the provincial meeting with Professor Zhou. One of Zhou's friends' daughters applied to adopt the dog but soon found it boring and wanted to abandon it. However, the rules didn't allow abandoning the dog, so they asked Professor Zhou to help.
In the end, the dog ended up with Amelia.
Sophia felt a bit helpless. She had seen many such messy situations before and could understand Amelia's feelings.
Thinking of this, Sophia suddenly asked, "You said this is a police dog?"