She now spent every day studying the medicinal herbs in the herb garden with the other female student. Back when Grandpa Lin had forced Lin Banxia to sell medicinal herbs at a market stall, she had shown little interest in them. All she had thought about then was promoting traditional Chinese acupuncture. But perhaps because she had been growing medicinal herbs herself every day lately, she had gradually developed an interest in them. Besides, medicine and medicinal herbs went hand in hand; studying acupuncture and studying pharmacology were not mutually exclusive.
One of the students who had come to intern at Clear Breeze Temple with Xiao Yao also happened to specialize in medicinal herb research. Working with her, Lin Banxia really did learn quite a bit about medicinal herbs that she had never known before.
Lin Banxia and this student exchanged ideas and helped each other every day. Although Lin Banxia had yet to figure out how to promote traditional Chinese acupuncture, she had come up with quite a few ways to promote Clear Breeze Temple's medicinal herbs.
For instance, after discussing it with the student who specialized in medicinal herb research, the two of them used the student's campus network account to start a medicinal herb observation thread on her university's forum. Every day, they recorded the herbs' growth in detail. Not only did the thread feature both pictures and text, but the writing was also witty and humorous. As a result, it became a hit on the university forum and was later even reposted by the university's official Weibo account.
Yun Zhaozhao's college advisor later saw the thread too. After reading it, the advisor even made a point of calling Yun Zhaozhao to say that, while they could not speak for other departments, the College of Agriculture, at least, would probably be very interested in a long-term partnership with Clear Breeze Temple.
After all, from the university's perspective, Yun Zhaozhao's Clear Breeze Temple was tremendously supportive of the College of Agriculture's work. Although they had only sent a few third-year students, Temple Master Yun had provided land, a medicinal herb garden, and a tea plantation. As university administrators, they could not wish for more such supportive clients.
Before receiving her advisor's call, Yun Zhaozhao had not even known that Lin Banxia was posting promotional threads on the forum. After hanging up, she could not resist going to praise her. "Excellent, excellent. Such initiative. I love employees like you, who push yourselves into the rat race without management having to push you. Looks like Clear Breeze Temple's employee of the year is going to be you."
Lin Banxia said, "...Since when has Clear Breeze Temple had an employee of the year award?"
Yun Zhaozhao said, "Since today."
Lin Banxia: "..."
Not only had Lin Banxia gotten the young woman to post on the university forum, but she had also registered a new account herself to document her current farming life at Clear Breeze Temple. She named it: I Have a Plot of Land.
These days, many city dwellers yearned to escape the city and own a plot of land in the countryside. This longing for land and pastoral life seemed to be something written into many people's genes. It was not just agriculture students like Xiao Yao who felt it; plenty of office workers did too. Most office workers, however, could only dream about it. After all, ideals were ideals, and reality was reality. That was where "virtual farming" could really catch people's attention.
Unlike the Clear Breeze Temple Daily Life video account that Jingting managed, Lin Banxia's account offered a wider variety of content, combining videos with illustrated posts.
The footage for the first video was the entire process of Xiao Yao planting flowers that day. Not only Yun Zhaozhao, but even Xiao Yao herself had no idea when Lin Banxia had filmed it.
Besides videos, Lin Banxia also took all kinds of beautiful photographs.
She photographed the first ray of morning sunlight in the orchard and the first drop of dew on a leaf, fallen leaves on the ground and a little bug on a fruit tree...
After watching Jingting's livestreams of him insulting people and Daoist Qingxin's ghost-story livestreams, Yun Zhaozhao felt as though her very soul had been cleansed and purified when she looked at Lin Banxia's dreamy pastoral images.
It just made life feel so very, very beautiful.
Even Jingting could not help remarking after seeing them, "Lin Banxia, you're practically a different person now."
Lin Banxia brushed it off. "What do you mean, a different person? Haven't I always been like this?"
Jingting said earnestly, "You need to have a clear understanding of yourself. You really weren't like this before. You used to be a real man. Now you look downright girly."
Lin Banxia said, "...Who are you calling girly? I am a woman."
Jingting said, "Honestly, when you were sticking needles into me before, I really couldn't tell."
Listening to Lin Banxia and Jingting bicker, Xiao Yao was filled with envy. "You two are so close."
Lin Banxia and Jingting said in unison, "Who's close to him?"
Undeterred by the danger, Xiao Yao continued, "Not only are you close, but you're really in sync too."
Yun Zhaozhao: "..." Shipping every possible pairing would only give you a more balanced diet.
While Lin Banxia was enthusiastically promoting Clear Breeze Temple's pastoral lifestyle, Grandpa Lin noticed a rather strange phenomenon: the number of people visiting the tea plantation seemed to have increased overnight.
When he had first planted these tea bushes, he could work in the plantation from morning until night without seeing a single person. Lately, though, for some reason, groups of three or five often drove over to take pictures. Oh, and plenty of people approached Grandpa Lin to ask for photos with him. Some even called it checking in.
Never in his life had Grandpa Lin been asked to pose for so many photos. All of a sudden, he felt the pressure of being a celebrity.
At first, Grandpa Lin thought the new university student had promoted the tea plantation online. After all, of the three university students who had come with Xiao Yao, the one specializing in tea cultivation was responsible for the plantation alongside Grandpa Lin. Besides, young people these days spent all day on their phones, so they surely knew more about promotion.
But Grandpa Lin asked him privately and discovered that was not the case.
Later, Yun Zhaozhao asked about it in Clear Breeze Temple's junior shareholders' group chat and learned that the promotional photos Xu Fugui had taken of the tea plantation had made the newspaper yet again.
This time, they had appeared in the local community news. Although there was only one photo and a brief introduction, Xu Fugui had given Old Master Lin an impressive public image: "Young at heart despite his age, returning to his hometown to start a business and benefit the local community."
Of course, that image was not the most important part. The key was that Xu Fugui had made the tea plantation look especially fresh and beautiful in his photographs. Even the shot of Grandpa Lin wiping away sweat in the plantation had a wonderful atmosphere. So, after seeing the address beneath the photo, many local photography enthusiasts had come looking for it.
That was how the scene described earlier had come about.
Grandpa Lin was extremely unaccustomed to all this. He had never been so high-profile in his life, so whenever he saw a camera, his instinct was to hide.
Yet, unexpectedly, although he managed to dodge the visitors' cameras, he ended up facing the media's cameras instead.
As it turned out, after seeing the photo of Grandpa Lin returning to his hometown to farm at such an advanced age, a community news reporter had thought of interviewing him in person. Especially after hearing from Xu Fugui that Grandpa Lin had not only planted a tea plantation but also leased unused village land to grow wheat and rice, the reporter felt the story deserved an even deeper look.
The reporter had even thought up the theme.
Something along the lines of "Why does an eighty-something man toil tirelessly in the fields? Because his love for this land runs deep."
But to the reporter's surprise, the moment the call went through, the interview was turned down.
Old Master Lin said, "An interview? No, I never went to school. I'm no good at talking."
The reporter said, "That's all right. Just say whatever you like. Speak freely. Our editors will revise and polish what you say afterward anyway."
Old Master Lin said, "Still no. I don't even know what to say. Besides, I'm just a doddering old man. What's there about me worth interviewing?"
The reporter appealed to his feelings and reason. "Agriculture is the foundation of our nation and the basis of its strength. Nowadays, fewer and fewer young people are willing to stay in the countryside, and fewer and fewer are willing to start businesses there. We hope your story can inspire more young people to return to the countryside and to agriculture, to remember their roots and never forget their original aspirations..."
Grandpa Lin only half understood, but he did register the words "young people." "Who says there aren't many young people? Go take a look at Clear Breeze Temple. It's full of young people."
The reporter said, "...Clear Breeze Temple? Do you mean the one in Qingfeng Park?"
Grandpa Lin passed the buck at lightning speed. "Yes, yes, yes, Clear Breeze Temple. Go find their temple master. Actually, I'm only an employee. These fields and plots, including the tea plantation, all belong to Clear Breeze Temple's master. If you want to talk about young people returning to the countryside to start businesses, you should interview her. Not only did she return to the countryside to start a business, but she also returned to a Daoist temple to start one!"
The reporter: "..." Starting a business in the countryside? Starting a business in a Daoist temple? If what this old man said was true, this temple master had really crossed industry boundaries!
Chapter 42
Clear Breeze Temple had been interviewed by the media once before, and Xu Fugui had arranged that too. From that perspective, Xu Fugui truly lived up to his name and was a benefactor to Clear Breeze Temple.
However, the person who had come that time was an editor from a food channel. The interviewee had been Daoist Chang Kong, and the coverage had mainly revolved around the various dishes he made. This reporter, on the other hand, intended to focus the interview on Yun Zhaozhao herself.
In the past, even as recently as her university days, Yun Zhaozhao probably would have been too shy to accept an interview.
But now, perhaps because becoming a temple master had made her more thick-skinned, Yun Zhaozhao actually felt rather excited about the reporter's interview request.
Reporter Cui, who would be interviewing Yun Zhaozhao, was also looking forward to it. He had interviewed so many people, but this would genuinely be his first time interviewing the master of a Daoist temple, and such a young one at that.
Since the interview outline needed to be finalized in advance, Reporter Cui merely arranged an interview time with Yun Zhaozhao that day rather than conducting it on the spot.
That gave Yun Zhaozhao plenty of time to prepare.
Yun Zhaozhao thought, An interview is a rare opportunity. I definitely have to bring everyone from Clear Breeze Temple along. What's the most important thing in a team? Team spirit.