The provincial invitation remained on Lin Feng's desk for two days, unopened after his first careful reading. Its significance wasn't in its politeness or the honor it supposedly conferred. It was in what it represented—a test. A subtle, well-packaged examination of who he was, what he was building, and whether he could be controlled or co-opted.
On the third day, he finally picked up his phone and dialed the number on the letter.
"Hello, this is the Department of Rural Affairs, who is this?"
"This is Lin Feng. I received your invitation for the closed-door roundtable."
A pause.
"Ah! Mr. Lin, excellent. We're glad to hear from you. Will you be able to attend?"
"Yes," he said. "Please send me the updated schedule."
Clicking the call off, he leaned back. So it begins.
---
The venue was in Zhenghe City, the provincial capital. A mid-sized city known for its rich history and recently reinvigorated rural development efforts. Lin Feng booked a car—not a luxury one, but a clean, understated electric sedan from a local ride-share platform. He wore a tailored but modest grey-blue suit, with no visible brand markings.
Arriving at the provincial conference center, he was met with the usual bustle: suits, badges, government staff coordinating arrivals. His own name tag identified him only as: Lin Feng - Chen Valley Cooperative.
There were no media cameras, but there was plenty of quiet scrutiny. He could feel it—the sideways glances, the discreet murmurs. To these people, he was an anomaly: too young, too unknown, too rural.
But that was fine.
That was exactly how he wanted to be seen—for now.
---
Inside the conference hall, nine people were seated around a circular table. Lin Feng took a chair in the corner, nodding politely to the man next to him, a middle-aged entrepreneur from a tea farming region.
A tall man in his fifties, wearing a Party lapel pin, entered and took the head seat.
"Thank you all for coming. We've invited a small selection of new-generation rural entrepreneurs whose work we believe reflects innovation, practicality, and potential for replication."
He looked around, eyes briefly settling on Lin Feng before moving on.
"We want to understand your models—not to interfere, but to learn."
A woman to Lin Feng's left raised her hand. "Is this a policy-oriented session, or are there resources and support being considered?"
The official smiled. "Both. But let's start with introductions. No need for resumes—just tell us what you're doing, and more importantly, how you're doing it."
The tea entrepreneur began: traditional cultivation, updated processing, digital platforms. Another followed: aquaculture with blockchain tracking. One man from the north spoke about eco-tourism combined with seasonal agriculture.
When it came to Lin Feng, there was a slight hush. He stood calmly.
"My name is Lin Feng. I operate a cooperative in Chen Valley—organic vegetables, forest poultry, and soil revitalization experiments. We work with local villagers, train rural youth, and sell our products through controlled cold chain channels."
One man chuckled. "Controlled cold chain? For a village farm?"
Lin Feng smiled gently. "We treat produce like medicine. Temperature variance by two degrees can destroy taste and shelf life. Control is everything."
The room grew a touch quieter.
The official at the head raised an eyebrow. "And where did you learn this approach?"
Lin Feng answered smoothly. "Observation, trial and error. And feedback. If one villager says his greens wilted before reaching his son in the city, we change methods."
No arrogance, no credentials.
Just quiet competence.
---
After the roundtable, the official pulled him aside.
"Chen Valley," he said, "that's in Guanshi County?"
"Yes, sir."
"We've had mixed reports from there. Some say the terrain's too fragmented for large-scale development."
"That's correct," Lin Feng nodded. "That's why we don't force scale. We replicate modular models. Each zone becomes self-sustaining."
The official looked impressed. "You've given us something to think about. Are you open to academic partnerships? Pilot studies?"
Lin Feng's eyes remained calm. "If the field teams are competent, I welcome it. If they're just here for reports, I'd prefer to wait."
The official laughed. "You're cautious."
"I'm a farmer," Lin Feng replied. "Crops die if you walk into the field with muddy boots."
---
Back in Chen Valley, the cooperative's operations hummed steadily.
A new truck arrived—unmarked, but built for temperature-controlled transportation. Lin Feng inspected it himself. It bore no license linked to his real name. The LLC listed as owner had offices in Guangdong, operated remotely by his legal team.
Beside him, Old Wang scratched his head. "We really need this fancy truck just to deliver vegetables?"
Lin Feng smiled. "Not just vegetables, Uncle Wang. One day, it'll carry mushroom tinctures. Cold-pressed oil. Bottled mountain spring water."
"Mountain spring—?"
He pointed to the filtration zone being built near the back end of the property. "Pure, mineral-rich, untouched for decades. With testing and branding, it'll be worth more than you think."
The old man blinked. "Well… as long as I don't have to do the paperwork."
"You'll just farm, Uncle Wang. That's the deal."
---
That night, Lin Feng entered the Inner Realm.
A full moon hung low over the mixed terrain. He had spent the last "month" inside experimenting with fruit tree crossbreeds, beekeeping shelters, and a natural aquaculture system.
The goats had multiplied. The chicken population had expanded into three coops. The ducks had learned to follow the stream and return at dusk.
Everything moved with quiet, deliberate rhythm.
He walked toward the jade-mining site—a smaller, hidden excavation in the western forest. He extracted just one piece tonight: a palm-sized green stone with natural cloud patterns. Not perfect, but unique. With proper polishing, it would be categorized as Grade A semi-transparent nephrite.
Enough for one handcrafted pendant.
He placed it in a wooden box and sealed it.
A gift—for someone he hadn't yet figured out how to explain himself to.
---
Two days later, Xu Yuhan returned from a short NGO field assignment in another province. Lin Feng met her at the newly paved transit hub just outside the village border.
"You look tired," he said as she got out of the car.
She grinned. "Ten villages, five interviews, one power outage, and two bowls of noodles with questionable eggs. I'm exhausted."
He took her suitcase and walked her toward the villa. "Welcome home, then."
She raised an eyebrow. "Home?"
He paused, then smiled. "Temporary home."
Inside, she saw the pendant box on the dining table.
"What's this?"
"A gift," he said. "A thank you."
She opened it, eyes widening slightly. "Is this… jade?"
"Natural nephrite," he replied casually. "Found in an abandoned mountain stream."
She held it up to the light, tracing its soft green glow.
"It's beautiful," she said. "Too valuable for a thank-you."
"It's not just for that," he said quietly. "It's for being here."
She didn't say anything for a moment, then slipped the pendant into her coat pocket instead of putting it on.
"I'll wear it when we go public," she said.
Lin Feng looked at her. "Public?"
"You and this cooperative," she said. "It's only a matter of time. One day, your name won't be hidden in the background. When that day comes—I'll be wearing this."
---
Over the next week, three developments unfolded simultaneously.
First, Lin Feng received a confidential proposal from a Hong Kong boutique import firm. They had seen the viral eco-video and wanted to test-market a line of premium Chen Valley produce to overseas Asian communities—under an anonymous rural brand.
Second, the regional agricultural bureau offered to designate Chen Valley as a pilot site for new soil revitalization tech. Government grants were on the table—but so were site visits, audits, and press coverage.
Third, a well-known food blogger requested an interview.
Lin Feng declined the third and paused the first.
But he accepted the second—under one condition: the pilot tech would be installed by engineers under NDA, and all public-facing names would credit the cooperative, not him.
He wasn't ready yet.
But the storm was clearly coming.
The moment where he would no longer be able to keep everything low-key.
The tides were shifting.
And Lin Feng, quietly and methodically, prepared to ride them.
---
End of Chapter 22