57: Chapter 57 The Wind God's Happy Planet

The next morning, Margaret found Lin Feng still squatting under the old locust tree.

He hadn't slept all night.

She walked over with coffee and squatted beside him.

"What are you thinking about?"

Lin Feng took the coffee and pointed at the road sign.

"Thinking about this line of text."

Margaret looked over—at the very bottom of the sign, two words were crookedly carved: Still Growing.

"It's carved quite ugly."

Lin Feng nodded: "First time carving stone, a bit rusty."

Margaret smiled.

After a moment of silence, she looked at the rising sun in the distance and suddenly asked:

"Lin Feng, what do you think Xinfeng Town will become in the future?"

Lin Feng thought for a moment but didn't answer.

Margaret continued: "Sometimes when I can't sleep at night, I wonder—if you hadn't replied to that letter back then, what would I be doing now?"

Lin Feng turned his head to look at her.

Margaret smiled: "Probably still in that run-down restaurant, frying chicken alone, doing the accounts alone, waiting to die alone."

She paused:

"But now it's different."

Lin Feng nodded: "Right."

Margaret looked at him and asked seriously:

"What's next? What do you want Xinfeng Town to become?"

Lin Feng was silent for a long time.

Then he pointed to the cooking smoke rising in the distance:

"Become a place seen by more people."

---

On Yuki's computer, some strange search records began to appear.

Week 1: Pennsylvania, abandoned mining town, population 287.

Week 2: West Virginia, coal town, population 156.

Week 3: Kentucky, old mining area, population 93.

Week 4: Ohio, Rust Belt town, population 412.

Every place was just like Xinfeng Town used to be—the coal mines closed, the young people left, and the remaining people didn't know what else they could do.

Margaret looked at these place names and asked Lin Feng:

"Are you going?"

Lin Feng shook his head.

"Not going."

Margaret was stunned: "Then who is going?"

Lin Feng pointed toward the church:

"They are."

---

When George was called under the old locust tree, he looked confused.

"What for?"

Lin Feng was still squatting and didn't get up.

"George, would you be willing to go on a business trip?"

George was stunned: "A business trip? Where to?"

Lin Feng said: "West Virginia. There's a town, just like your hometown. The coal mine closed, and people are almost all gone."

George was silent for three seconds.

"What would I go there for?"

Lin Feng said: "Teach them to grow mushrooms."

George opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but swallowed it back.

He looked back at the church—Edna was sitting at the door sunbathing, Mike was wiping cups, and Sam was walking over with a guitar.

Then he turned back and looked at Lin Feng:

"You want me to go alone?"

Lin Feng shook his head: "Not just you."

He pointed to the seven people behind him—

Alex was packing his laptop bag, Rachel was rolling up blueprints, Tony was reading, Sam was tuning his guitar strings, Jenny was folding clothes, Chris was checking his toolbox, and Yuki was typing on her keyboard.

George looked at those seven people and suddenly smiled.

"Fine. I'll go."

---

A week later, the eight of them set off.

George took Chris and went to West Virginia.

Alex and Rachel went to Ohio.

Tony and Sam went to Kentucky.

Jenny and Yuki went to Pennsylvania.

Margaret stood at the entrance of the town, watching the cars disappear at the end of the road, her eyes a little red.

Lin Feng squatted beside her, chewing on a straw.

"Worried?"

Margaret nodded.

Lin Feng said: "No need to worry. They'll learn."

Margaret turned to look at him: "How do you know?"

Lin Feng thought for a moment and said:

"Because Xinfeng Town wasn't built by me in the first place. It was them."

---

The first piece of news came from West Virginia.

George called, his voice filled with a strange excitement:

"Lin Feng! The old folks here are even more stubborn than me!"

Lin Feng was squatting under the locust tree with the speakerphone on, and Margaret was listening nearby.

"They won't grow mushrooms?"

George said: "It's not that they won't. They just think this stuff isn't serious work. Mining coal is the serious business."

Lin Feng smiled.

"So what did you do?"

George said: "I showed them the video of our farm. After watching it, one old man said—this stuff, can it really make money?"

Lin Feng said: "And then?"

There was a silence for two seconds on George's end, then a burst of noisy sounds came through—people shouting, laughing, and the clinking of metal colliding.

Then George's voice returned:

"And then they started digging. No, they started planting."

---

The second piece of news came from Ohio.

Alex sent a photo—an abandoned mine pit, with scaffolding set up at the entrance, and several young people looking down.

The accompanying text was:

[They started doing it themselves. Didn't wait for us to teach them.]

Lin Feng stared at the photo for a long time.

Margaret leaned over and asked: "What's wrong?"

Lin Feng said: "These young people, they left and came back."

Margaret was stunned.

Lin Feng handed her the phone.

Among the young people in the photo, she recognized one—it was the one who left Xinfeng Town last winter, named Mike, not the Mike from the bar, but another one, in his early twenties, who said he wanted to go to the big city to make his way.

Now he was standing by the mine pit in Ohio, smiling.

---

The third piece of news came from Kentucky.

Tony sent a voice message, his voice a bit airy:

"Lin Feng, I talked to a group of old miners for six hours today. They asked me a question—what is the point of being alive?"

Lin Feng listened and didn't reply.

Margaret asked: "You're not going to reply to him?"

Lin Feng said: "No need to reply. He knows the answer."

---

The fourth piece of news came from Pennsylvania.

Jenny sent a text message:

[Yuki is crying.]

Lin Feng stared at those four words and was silent for three seconds.

Then he made a call.

Jenny answered the phone, her voice a bit panicked:

"Lin Feng, Yuki... she just received a letter."

Lin Feng asked: "What letter?"

Jenny said: "It was written by an old lady. She saw the 'Happy Express' photos Yuki posted and said that it was the first time in her life she had seen color."

Lin Feng didn't speak.

Jenny continued: "After reading the letter, Yuki cried. She said that she didn't speak before because she felt that even if she did, no one would listen. Now she realizes that even without speaking, there are people who see her."

Lin Feng was silent for a long time.

Then he said:

"Let her finish crying. Once she's done, keep posting photos."

---

A month later, the eight of them returned.

George was thinner and darker, but his eyes were brighter than before.

Alex had tan lines on his arms from his sleeves, and his laugh was louder than before he left.

Rachel brought back a stack of blueprints, all designs for new towns.

Tony brought back a notebook filled with things the old miners had said.

Sam had written five new songs, each one enough to make people tear up.

Jenny brought back a stack of letters, all of them thank-you notes.

Chris had modified a new car, saying it was a gift from the old men in West Virginia.

Yuki was the last to get off the car, holding a stack of photos in her hand—they were all replies sent from those towns, and everyone in every photo was smiling.

Margaret stood at the entrance of the town, watching them, her eyes turning red again and again.

Lin Feng squatted nearby, chewing on a straw, saying nothing.

But the corners of his mouth were turned up.

---

That night, the church was full of people again.

Over six hundred, plus the eight who returned, plus the newcomers—those who had followed from Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania.

George stood before the altar and said one thing to everyone:

"I mined coal for forty-five years. I never thought in my life that I would be able to go and teach others how to grow mushrooms."

Someone below laughed.

Alex stood up: "When I was in Ohio and saw those young people doing it themselves, I suddenly realized one thing—"

He paused and looked at Lin Feng:

"Xinfeng Town doesn't belong to Lin Feng. It belongs to everyone."

Lin Feng was squatting in the corner, chewing on a straw, not saying a word.

But Margaret saw his eyes light up for a moment.

---

In the middle of the night, the people dispersed.

Lin Feng was back squatting under the old locust tree.

His phone vibrated.

It was a system message.

[Ding—Congratulations to the host for triggering the main quest of Volume 4—]

[Quest Name: Let the "Xinfeng Town Model" Influence the Globe]

[Current Progress: 4 towns have completed replication]

[Next Stage Goal: 20 towns]

[Reward: Happy Planet · Complete Form Activated]

[Hint: Happiness is not for one person. It is for a group of people.]

Lin Feng stared at the message for a long time.

Then he smiled.

He put his phone back in his pocket and looked up at the stars in the sky.

In the distance, the church lights were still on. The music from the bar was still drifting. In the farm, someone was working overtime.

He stood up and walked into the town.

After walking two steps, he stopped and looked back at the road sign: [Xinfeng Town, Population 687]

That line "Still Growing" was still there.

He smiled, turned, and disappeared into the night.

[Chapter 57 End]