Just like that, a few more days passed. Lin Chuan went to see Shi Houcai several tis to discuss the mountain excavation contract. Although the contract had already been signed, the specific details had not been implented, so Shi Houcai was still needed.
Shi Houcai had just lost his son. A few more wrinkles appeared on his face, and with his wife crying herself hoarse every day, he hadn't been able to rest well lately.
"Uncle Houcai, Uncle Houcai... Is Uncle Houcai ho?"
On this day, Shi Rongguang's mother had just finished a bout of sobbing and was staring blankly while lying in bed. Shi Houcai was sitting in the living room, deep in thought, when he heard soone calling for him outside.
He stood up and went outside to see it was Xiao Feng from the village, who was the committee's accountant. He wondered why the guy was visiting him now.
"Xiao Feng, co in and take a seat," Shi Houcai said with a smile, inviting him inside.
After pouring a glass of water for Xiao Feng, Shi Houcai asked, "Xiao Feng, why aren't you at the team? What brings you to my house?"
"Uncle Houcai, it's like this. A few days ago, our village signed a contract with President Zhao, and in front of everyone, President Zhao gave you the cash. President Zhao is about to start work. Do you think you could pay the villagers for their land first? If one day President Zhao starts working and the farrs cause trouble because they haven't gotten the money, it'll be hard to handle then."
Xiao Feng looked at Shi Houcai with sincerity. He hadn't wanted to co, considering the village head just lost his son, and going to his house to ask for money wouldn't please anyone. However, since many villagers ca to him at the main office, he had no choice but to muster his courage to ask for the money.
After pondering for a while, Shi Houcai finally waved his hand and sighed, "Alright, today, notify the villagers, we'll distribute the money in the afternoon."
"Really? Wow, thank you so much, Uncle Houcai," Xiao Feng hadn't expected Shi Houcai to agree so easily. He was so happy he almost burst a snot bubble. Then, rembering the village chief had just lost his son, he stifled his laughter and scampered back, since this concerned the whole village, and importantly, part of that money belonged to him, Xiao Feng.
"Ah, if I could trade this money to get my son's life back, I'd rather not have the money," Shi Rongguang sighed, muttering to himself.
The news that the village chief was distributing the money from the mountain sale spread like a bomb throughout the village.
Shi Rongguang's death made the Shi Houcai family sad, while the whole village was happy. This ti, the distribution of the mountain sale money also made the whole village happy, while Shi Houcai's family was upset.
It was well known that Shi Houcai often embezzled so public funds. This ti, he had kept his promise to distribute the money to the villagers, which made everyone suspect it had sothing to do with his son's death.
"Misfortune expels disaster, but, hmm, it might be too late now!" an old man in his seventies or eighties muttered to himself as he sat in his yard sunbathing.
Upon hearing the news, Lin Chuan figured it was about ti, and the show was about to begin. He felt inexplicably excited. After hurriedly eating lunch, he took Huang ngqi and the invisible Zi Tong to the village committee.
A portion of Huang ngqi's family's land at the foot of the mountain was sold, but since they still owed money to the village head's family, they hadn't signed the contract with the committee, nor did they intend to collect the money.
Now, being dragged to the village office by Lin Chuan, Huang ngqi felt awkward. But thinking about it, it was their land, so there was nothing wrong, she decided to stay silent and follow along.
Lin Chuan walked into the Stone Village's office. From a distance, he saw a large crowd gathered at the entrance.
Lin Chuan didn't squeeze into the crowd. After all, they weren't giving him money, so he might as well watch the excitent from outside.
This left Huang ngqi, who ca along, feeling puzzled. She originally thought Lin Chuan had brought her to grab a share of the spoils, but upon arrival, they stayed far away on one side, leaving her wondering what was going on.
However, Huang ngqi didn't ask but quietly waited, hoping to talk to Shi Houcai alone after the crowd dispersed. After all, her family's land couldn't just be given away for nothing.
When enough people had gathered, Shi Houcai and a few village officials made so remarks. After finishing their speeches, they presented a black suitcase with the one million Lin Chuan had brought a few days ago.
A pile of thick contracts lay in front of Shi Houcai and the others. They took out the first contract, looked at the amount on it, and Xiao Feng read aloud the na on it, "Gao Dashan."
Imdiately, soone responded below, then a young man hurried up, grinning at the village officials. He glanced at the amount on the contract and, after confirming it was correct, pressed his fingerprint on it.
"Ka-pa!"
Shi Houcai personally opened the combination lock of the suitcase and gently lifted the lid, ready to take out the corresponding amount of money from the contract to give to the man nad Gao Dashan. But in the next mont, everyone surrounding him changed their expressions, and for a ti, they just stared blankly at the money in the suitcase, as if dumbfounded.
"Village... Chief? Are you alright? My money isn't much, only five or six thousand, very easy to count." Gao Dashan saw the expressions of the few people and thought they couldn't bear to send off so much money, so he reminded them in a low voice.
"How could this happen? How could this happen?" Xiao Feng shouted first, collapsing weakly onto the chair behind him, his eyes hollow and lifeless, like a soul-less zombie.
Then several other small cadres reached out and turned over the contents of the suitcase. After confirming there wasn't a single real bill, they started shouting like madn.
Since opening the suitcase and seeing it for the first ti, Shi Houcai hadn't moved his body. His eyes were fixed on the contents, hoping to make so sense out of it. But unfortunately, he still couldn't figure out what was going on.
Gao Dashan slightly raised his head to look at the situation inside the suitcase and imdiately went pale, his mouth agape. After hesitating for a long ti, he shouted loudly, "We're done for. All the money in the suitcase has turned into white paper. We can't share any money, and we'll hand over the land for nothing."
Gao Dashan's words imdiately caused a commotion below. This was about the future livelihood of the entire village, and many people below were already eager to start a fight. If they couldn't receive the money on ti today, these people were ready to teach the village cadres a lesson.
Lin Chuan had known early on that things would co to this point, so he wasn't very surprised. Huang ngqi, on the other hand, looked incredulous.
"What did he just say? A million all turned into white paper...?" Even though she heard it with her own ears, Huang ngqi was unwilling to believe it was true.
"Although I don't want this to be true either, it is what it is. I heard what that guy said just now too." Lin Chuan shrugged, indicating he was powerless.
When Zhao Zhonghai signed the contract with Shi Houcai, the money he brought was openly given to Shi Houcai in front of the whole village. At that ti, no one stood up to say there was a problem with the money, so now that their money had an issue, naturally he wasn't afraid they would co after him.
"Shi, are you saying you guys embezzled the money? In the past, when it ca to the village's public funds, you stole here and there. That was one thing, but this is a million, a million! Aren't you afraid of bursting?" The voice of a villager was louder than anyone else's, reaching the ears of everyone present.
A single stone stirred up a thousand waves. After a villager's reminder, other villagers also thought of this possibility. Otherwise, how could such a large sum of money suddenly be gone? The scene imdiately turned into chaos, but their aning was clear: the money must have been embezzled by you.
"Shi Houcai, your son just died, and you dare to do such a heartless thing. Aren't you afraid of retribution from the heavens? Your second son was hit by lightning because you committed too many wrongdoings. Otherwise, why would your child be the only one struck in Stone Village over the decades?"
"Shi Houcai, hand over the money quickly, so we can all still live peacefully in the sa village. Otherwise, I won't let your family live in peace."
......
"Isn't this the accumulation of many years of grievances and anger that's being vented at this mont?" Lin Chuan said quietly to Huang ngqi, watching the people below getting agitated.
Huang ngqi remained silent, rely watching quietly. As for her, the best choice now was to be a wise bystander.
Shi Houcai had beco the first target of attack at this mont, but his mood was worse than anyone else's. He hadn't yet recovered from his son's death, and now, with such an unexpected incident today, listening to the vilification from the villagers below, he couldn't catch his breath and fainted on the spot.
When Lin Chuan and Huang ngqi returned ho, the villagers were still at the brigade headquarters and refused to leave, claiming they would take the money and go, or no one should expect them to leave.
Shi Houcai was sent to the hospital, leaving the village without its backbone. The remaining second and third in command temporarily didn't deal with the villagers either. Subsequently, soone called the town police station, hoping they would send soone.
Director Pang felt embarrassed for making a futile trip last ti, so this ti he didn't co in person but sent three subordinates. However, before they even entered the village, a group of people blocked the road, and judging by their stance, they were all ready to fight.
The lives of these junior policen were valuable, precious lives. They wouldn't just risk them to enforce the law, so they quickly turned their car around and hurried back before entering the village.
The villagers of Stone Village seized the village committee, frightened the village chief Shi Houcai into illness, and scared away the police officers from the police station. This series of events quickly spread to neighboring villages. Soon, news reached the town, and even the county heard about it.
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