Chapter 194: Controversy and Construction: A Critical Announcement

“Not qualified?”

Xu Hao raised his eyebrows.

“So this Director Association is disgusting! They could claim we were unqualified to host simply because our application was rejected. But we never even applied for the film festival! How can they say in their announcement that we’re unqualified?”

At that, Zhu Qiang couldn’t help but complain.

He added, “It’s like a top chef walking by a restaurant, yet someone inside tells him he isn’t fit to be a chef.”

With that said,

Zhu Qiang immediately pulled out his phone and showed Xu Hao the announcement from the Director Association.

Just then, Luo Peng’s phone rang. Glancing at his caller ID, he nodded to both Xu Hao and Zhu Qiang before walking away to take the call.

A minute later, after reading the announcement, Xu Hao’s face grew grim.

“Alright, if they can explain to the netizens, so can we!”

He had just reviewed the so-called “announcement.”

Rather than a mere notice, it was a long proclamation full of explanations for the netizens, trying to assert that the Director Association’s decision was fair and unbiased.

If it hadn’t mentioned Mingsha Tourism, it wouldn’t have been such an issue. But the announcement deliberately downplayed Mingsha Tourism while praising Ning An Cultural Tourism.

Naturally, Mingsha Tourism had to respond.

Otherwise, it would seem they were being bullied.

“Brother Hao, how should we write our announcement? We’ve also got plenty of comments on our website from netizens,” Zhu Qiang asked eagerly upon seeing Xu Hao’s resolution.

“We need to get it out on our phones before noon,” Xu Hao decided after a moment’s thought.

He explained that if they were going to respond, they had to address every issue and make Mingsha Tourism’s stance crystal clear.

“Got it, Brother Hao!” Zhu Qiang replied with a nod.

Just then, Luo Peng, having finished his call, approached them.

“Brother Hao, Zhuang Gang just called. He said the wall has been built right up to the back of the Protectorate, nearly touching Weng City. He hopes you can inspect it; if there are any problems, they can be fixed immediately,” Luo Peng reported.

Zhuang Yang, originally from Mingsha County and formerly employed at a Faux Ancient Architecture Company in Zhejiang, had been recruited by Luo Peng to work for Mingsha Labor six months ago. He now served as deputy director.

Because Zhuang Yang was already fifty, Luo Peng continued to address him as ‘Zhuang Ge’.

He was renowned at his previous job for restoring ancient walls. With his rich experience—and given that ancient walls were relatively simple compared to complex ancient structures—Zhuang Yang had become the chief superintendent for rebuilding the ancient wall of Mingsha.

“Hmm? They’ve reached the east side of the Protectorate already?” Xu Hao paused in surprise.

Since work began last year on the Qingming Scroll project, he had handed the wall repair job over to Mingsha Labor and hadn’t monitored the progress. He expected the work to last until late March. But how much time had actually passed? If this section of the wall truly connected with Weng City, then the Qingming Scroll project could finally channel water into the river!

“Brother Hao, because they used ready-made sand bricks and mobilized extra labor to speed things up, progress has been faster!” Luo Peng noted, glancing toward the Mingsha Tourism office building.

In his view, adopting sand brick technology was undoubtedly Xu Hao’s best decision ever. The cost was lower than using local materials, and the surplus bricks cleared enough space.

Now, the cleared land behind the Mingsha Tourism office was as large as a dozen football fields—and as the wall continued to be built, that area could expand even further.

Soon, any further plans wouldn’t require even leveling a foundation. Construction could just begin immediately!

“Alright, let’s head over and have a look!”

“Okay!”

Half an hour later, Xu Hao, Zhu Qiang, and Luo Peng boarded the wall from the city gate. At that moment, a man in his fifties was waiting in front of the city gate pavilion—it was Zhuang Yang.

“Leader!”

Seeing Xu Hao, Zhuang Yang hurried over to greet him.

After some pleasantries and handshake, they got down to business.

“Leader, we’ll take an electric sightseeing vehicle along the wall. I’ll brief you on all the details during the ride,” Zhuang Yang said, pointing to the distance.

In the distance, several sightseeing vehicles and many bicycles—mostly used by construction workers—were parked along the wall.

“Mm-hmm,” Xu Hao nodded.

The scale of Mingsha’s wall was modeled on the ancient wall of the thirteen dynasties’ capital of Long Kingdom. It was rectangular, 12 meters high with a top width of 12-14 meters, including battlements.

With that width, not only was it suitable for electric sightseeing vehicles, even small cars could drive on it.

Moreover, only such a wide structure could accommodate the wall’s guesthouses.

After a short walk, Xu Hao and his companions sat in the electric sightseeing vehicle.

“Leader, we have built 13 kilometers of wall to the north. Once it connects with Weng City—the site where the underground river was discovered—we could open up this section to tourists early,” Zhuang Yang explained as the vehicle slowly advanced.

“13 kilometers!” Xu Hao sighed quietly.

Imagine this: The famous ancient wall of West Jing extends just 13.74 kilometers in total. Mingsha’s 13-kilometer stretch nearly matches West Jing’s. In reality, however, Mingsha Tourism’s wall still has a long way to go.

The north wall, stretching to Weng City, is just over half finished, while only 3 kilometers have been built on the south side—a mere fraction compared to the intended 250 kilometers.

That’s why West Jing only allows bicycles for tourists, but here in Mingsha, both electric sightseeing vehicles and bicycles are needed. Otherwise, riding a bicycle over several dozen kilometers would be exhausting, and tourists might get stranded on the wall.

“Depending on the project inspection, if everything checks out, we could even open the north section ahead of schedule!”

Coming back to the present,

Xu Hao glanced at the Qingming Scroll street scene moving slowly within the wall.

He planned for tourist access in three ways: one route would use the existing method with sedan chairs, horses, or camels;

a second route would use the newly constructed river—despite a staged scene of a grain barge colliding with a bridge, it wouldn’t affect water transportation, letting tourists travel directly to the Protectorate;

and the third route was along the wall itself. Tourists could ride bicycles or take sightseeing vehicles north while enjoying the scenic ‘Qingming Scroll’ within the wall—a different kind of experience altogether.

“Leader, if we hustle the schedule a bit more, there’s no doubt we can meet the deadline!”

Zhuang Yang assured them immediately and began detailing the entire wall section.

“By the way, let me also brief you on the overall layout of this wall section. Because there are guesthouses within the wall, its interior was constructed with a reinforced concrete framework—extremely safe!

Additionally, there are five pedestrian brick-step entrances spaced roughly every two kilometers. As for the arrow towers, there are four in total.”

“Mm-hmm,” Xu Hao nodded.

“There are also around five thousand battlements and ten rest pavilions along the wall. These pavilions aren’t built entirely of wood; we employed specialized craftsmen for a more authentic restoration.”

“Alright,” Xu Hao acknowledged with a nod.

Aside from some fully wooden or highly challenging ancient structures that he personally oversaw, most reconstructions with a modern interior but ancient exterior were handled by Mingsha Tourism and Mingsha Labor. Otherwise, he’d be overworked.

By evening, as the setting sun slanted down, the first working day of the New Year had ended—but the public buzz over the Director Association and Mingsha Tourism’s latest announcement was just beginning.

Some netizens opposed the film festival while others supported Mingsha Tourism’s efforts to stand up for their rights, and many lambasted the Director Association. In short, it was a lively scene.

At that moment, a forum post exploded when a netizen uploaded Mingsha Tourism’s announcement verbatim.

The original announcement read:

“First of all, Mingsha Tourism thanks all the netizens, the public, and visitors for their love and support. Early this morning, noticing numerous inquiries about the film festival, we explain the following: 1. Mingsha Tourism never applied to host a film festival. 2. Some netizens assumed that our round-the-clock construction in the tourist area was for the film festival, but in reality, we are working to host the Long Kingdom Ancient Building Cultural Inheritance Forum on March 31. All current projects are preparations for this forum. 3. We appreciate the host’s thoughtful reminders and hereby declare that to avoid any unnecessary trouble, misunderstandings, or potential negative impact on the Director Association, Mingsha Tourism promises never to apply for a film festival again. Furthermore, films produced by Haofang Culture and artists under Haofang Agency will no longer participate in the festival. 4. Mingsha Tourism will continue to provide the most satisfying services to our visitors with unmatched passion. We welcome your valuable suggestions. Our new project will officially debut to the public on March 31.”

The announcement was lengthy; many netizens gave up reading after a minute or two. Nonetheless, it addressed every issue and rivaled the effect of a media briefing.

No wonder the forum exploded!

Even just the first two points left many completely baffled.

“What’s going on? Mingsha Tourism never applied for a film festival? Then why all the fuss, especially if the real focus was on hosting an Ancient Building Cultural Inheritance Forum?”

They truly never expected Mingsha Tourism to drop such a bombshell.

If this really was the case, what was with the secrecy of the previous film festival host? Why not clearly state that Mingsha Tourism never applied for the film festival so that there would be no misunderstanding?

And besides, judging by Mingsha Tourism’s announcement, this Ancient Building Cultural Inheritance Forum seemed far more significant than hosting a film festival. If a film festival were the goal, perhaps there wouldn’t have been such extensive construction. So, what kind of forum is so important that Mingsha Tourism is going all out?