Every day, people from Qijia Village compete with those from other villages for prey. Although no one dies, people are injured every day. However, more and more people are coming to hunt in the mountains behind Qijia Village. In any case, no one who comes comes empty-handed, and there are no large wild beasts or dangers.

Even if they are stopped and caught by the people of Qijia Village, at most they will be beaten up, and no one will die.

Furthermore, since everyone is from Taoyuan County, they are all more or less related to Qijia Village. This makes those who come to steal game even more emboldened.

As long as I can get food, being beaten up is nothing!

Secretary Qi was also very troubled. Several surrounding villages were extremely greedy, allowing a steady stream of poachers to hunt from the back mountains. If this continued, trouble was bound to happen sooner or later. Secretary Qi called several village cadres to a meeting at the village branch, but they couldn't come up with a good solution. Faced with those poachers, they could only watch helplessly, unable to do anything about it.

Finally, one day, Qi Ergou's arm was broken, and the matter really escalated.

This can't go on. If someone dies, it will be beyond Secretary Qi's ability to handle. Before things get out of control, Secretary Qi can't just sit and wait to die.

Secretary Qi went directly to the county seat to find County Chief Liu and ask the higher-ups to resolve this matter!

Such a big thing happened in Taoyuan County, but the higher-ups didn't get involved. Secretary Qi knew in his heart that it wasn't just the people around him who were envious, but even some people in the commune were thinking about it and just waiting for things to escalate.

Deputy County Head Liu had no choice but to say helplessly, "Comrade Qi, logically speaking, that mountain behind your village is your village's property. I know what they're doing is wrong. But, as you know, the other villages' crops were soaked by the rain today, ruining a lot of food. There are wild animals on the mountain behind their village, so they dare not go there. If they want to find something to eat to survive, they can only come to your area."

Secretary Qi also understood this principle, but things were not as simple as they seemed.

“County Chief Liu, to tell you the truth, we have indeed made some money since we started hunting and selling our game. I’m not greedy, and I don’t want to hunt in the back mountains anymore. But the villagers won’t agree; those are the back mountains of our Qi Family Village for generations,” said Secretary Qi. He was a good man, but he couldn’t disregard the interests of Qi Family Village!

Seeing Secretary Qi's agitation, County Chief Liu felt embarrassed. Those villages had no food, and the county's finances were simply insufficient; if they wanted to avoid starvation, they naturally had to find their own way. The fact that there was game on the mountain behind Qi Family Village was something they had intentionally or unintentionally leaked to divert the villagers' attention.

Sure enough, some of the more clever ones went hunting in the mountains behind Qijia Village and never came to the commune to complain about being poor or asking for grain again, which really relieved the leaders of the county committee and commune.

Just as they breathed a sigh of relief, people from Qijia Village arrived. Naturally, Qijia Village was unwilling to give up such a large benefit.

"Oh dear, what should we do?" County Chief Liu said with a wry smile. "To be honest, I don't know what to do either!"

Upon hearing this, Secretary Qi sighed and said, "Ah, I know you're in a difficult position. No matter what, our village is doing better this year. Even without these game, we can barely make ends meet. Having these game is the icing on the cake, but other villages can't do that."

"It's kind of you to understand our difficulties," County Chief Liu said with emotion. "You know what the situation was like in our county last year. If everyone had enough to eat, no one would have gone to your back mountain to steal things."

"Understanding is one thing, but how do we handle this?" Secretary Qi asked. "If we don't come up with a solution that satisfies both sides, someone will die sooner or later, and then it won't be something we can cover up. While there are only injuries and no deaths, we need to find a suitable method as soon as possible."

County Chief Liu knew that Secretary Qi was right. After thinking for a moment, he asked, "How about this: the county will take over the requisition of your back mountain, and the county will buy up all the game you hunt. Once the game is bought, we can exchange it for grain and distribute it to the villages so that even the most severely affected villages can have something to eat."

Secretary Qi felt aggrieved, but he also sympathized with the disaster-stricken villages. At the same time, Qijia Village had already benefited greatly from the back mountain, and if it continued to refuse the commune's offer, the commune would certainly not treat Qijia Village well in the future, let alone him, the village party secretary.

Qi Ergou is at the county hospital right now; we have to give this kid an explanation!

"What if those people beat up our villagers?" Secretary Qi asked in a low voice. The county had their eyes on the mountain behind their village; they wanted to reap the benefits. If he didn't agree, then Qi Family Village would face one setback after another!

“The commune will cover medical expenses, and each family will receive an extra half jin of oil at the end of the year,” County Chief Liu said. “We will only collect taxes until before the snowfall. Once the heavy snow closes the mountain passes, we will stop hunting and allow the area to rest and recuperate. By then, the affected villages will have already received their grain and will not risk going to the back mountains.”

Secretary Qi thought for a moment and said, "This is a very important matter. I need to go back to the village and discuss it with the villagers. If I agree directly, some other people will not agree and will definitely ruin my reputation in the village."

Since Qi Jianguo reported him, Secretary Qi didn't mind outsiders knowing about the internal strife in Qijia Village, especially intelligent people like County Chief Liu. He wanted them to understand his difficulties, and hoped that if anyone reported him in the future, the higher-ups would consider his understanding nature and not believe them.

"Well! Let's have Deputy County Head Niu go and talk to everyone. If everyone does their part, I believe most of the people are quite open-minded," County Head Liu said, adding that it wasn't appropriate to let Secretary Qi do this alone.

Although Secretary Qi is a state-affiliated village cadre, he is also a villager of Qijia Village. If Secretary Qi pushes this matter through his own efforts, the villagers will think that he is helping the commune and helping outsiders bully the villagers. In that case, some people in the village with ulterior motives will take the opportunity to spread rumors.

This puts Secretary Qi in a very awkward position in Qijia Village!

“Alright, the commune has a perfect solution. As long as the villagers agree, I won’t say anything,” Secretary Qi said. The village raised nearly five thousand yuan in total, and each person could get ten yuan. With a family of more than ten people, that would be more than a hundred yuan.

These people arrived so quickly that even Secretary Qi felt uneasy. If the county didn't intervene in this incident, someone would die sooner or later in Qijia Village.

Qi Ergou was hospitalized in the county town, being cared for by his parents here. Secretary Qi returned to relay the county's opinion. The village officials were unhappy, but with Deputy County Head Niu present, no one dared to speak up. (To be continued.)