Regarding Dai Li's desire to solve the local sewage problem at the factory, everyone present had their own considerations.

The road to environmental governance is long and arduous. Local departments have been working on it for several years without seeing any results. If they intervene in this mess, they will only waste their time and energy.

Sister Tu: "My advice is to avoid getting involved in local ecological issues. This is a murky water, and if we get involved, it will be even harder to get out. We should cut the Gordian knot, explain this matter clearly, and then choose another location for the factory."

Lao Kang: "I agree with Mr. Tu. The local ecological problems are extremely complex. It will take three to five years, let alone three to five months, to restore the local ecology."

Guan Honghou nodded in agreement. "Our abilities are limited, so let's not get involved in this kind of thing. It has nothing to do with us anyway. What good would it do us to clean up after someone else has polluted the environment?"

They all agreed that managing the local environment was a thankless task and were eager to distance themselves from it.

Dai Li: "Even sewage cleaning machines can be patented. How can something that can make money be considered without benefits?"

Guan Honghou: "Cleaning sewage? There's a machine like that?"

Sister Tu realized this belatedly and immediately felt confident in the sewage treatment work: "That's natural. How could there be something that our Dai Dai can't make? Mr. Guan, have you forgotten your son's special medicine?"

"Look at my brain. I can't react at the critical moment." Guan Honghou slapped his forehead repeatedly.

Sister Tu: "Daidai, when are you going to make that sewage treatment machine? Today?"

Wu Xuelin: "It's not about when it will be made, it's already been made a long time ago and is in the boss's warehouse."

"It's already been done?" Everyone opened their eyes wide in amazement.

Under the gaze of everyone, Dai Li smiled slightly and nodded.

Then they fell silent.

Sister Tu thought of Dai Li's overflowing warehouses and instantly understood. She sighed, "Daidai, your warehouse is truly a treasure chest. How many good things have you hidden away?"

Dai Li: "It's a good opportunity to go to the site to test it and see the effect of actual use."

Guan Honghou clapped his hands excitedly. "Teacher Xiao Dai is truly business-savvy. She instantly realized this was an opportunity for free publicity. There are still many polluted areas in our country. If locals all buy our sewage treatment machines, we won't have to worry about not making money."

Everyone has changed their minds about environmental governance, except Lao Kang, who is still worried.

"Old Guan, don't just be happy about making money. The local ecological environment is far worse than you imagined. The polluted water source is not just the river shown in the photo. Many people in the village are dumping toxic and harmful sewage carelessly. Sewage ditches are everywhere, and the soil is also polluted. Teacher Xiao Dai, even if you have a water purification machine, it's impossible to solve the problem overnight."

Guan Honghou: "Lao Kang, this is because you don't know our teacher Xiao Dai well enough. Let our teacher Xiao Dai's machine open your eyes when the time comes."

In this regard, Dai Li did not refute Guan Honghou's words.

On the way to the factory, Lao Kang was more nervous than anyone else. He kept imagining how Dai Li's sewage treatment machine would work, how long it would take, and what the cleaning effect would be.

When she arrived at the factory, Dai Li saw the real environmental conditions on site.

As exposed by the video blogger, the river water is extremely dirty.

The footage captured by the video blogger is just the tip of the iceberg. The actual situation on the ground is even worse than what is shown in the video.

The polluted river stretches for hundreds of kilometers, with black liquid flowing everywhere, and no living creature can be seen wherever it flows.

Walking along the country road into the village, you can see sewage ditches everywhere along the way. After crossing the bridge and driving five kilometers, you will officially enter the small village.

After entering the village, she found that it was not poor.

Every household has built a small villa at home, which is five stories high and has a large yard. One can tell from the exterior decoration that a lot of money was spent on its construction.

Such a beautiful little villa, but their yard is not filled with flowers and plants, but piles of electronic waste.

Some were packed in snakeskin bags, while others were piled directly in their own yards, with vans and small trucks parked at the door.

On one side is a beautiful little villa, and on the other side is a pile of randomly scattered electronic waste. The contrast creates a very strong sense of separation.

The air at the scene also smelled bad, and the entire village was filled with the smell of them smelting precious metals.

There are not many people living in Murakami now, and many small villas are empty. It is very simple to distinguish whether there are people living in the house or not. As long as there is a long pipe behind the house, it means that there are still people in the house and they are engaged in garbage disposal.

The purpose of that smoke pipe is to discharge the waste gas produced during the smelting reaction, and this is how the unpleasant smell in the air is produced.

Going around the back of their house, you can see a hidden water tank, but most of them are rusted, and some of them have holes rusted through them, leaking water 24 hours a day. Wherever the sewage flows, there is not a single weed growing within a one-meter radius, and the color of the soil is also a strange black.

Even so, the owner of the water tank pretended not to notice the leakage and continued to pour sewage into the leaking water tank.

This is not the most excessive thing. Some people even use soft water pipes to drain the water directly onto the ground.

Dai Li and the others happened to come across people arguing about this.

A man in his early thirties was standing outside the wall, scolding the family who were discharging sewage outside.

"Li Ergou, quickly turn off the water valve! Why are you draining your sewage directly into the ground again? Didn't I tell you not to do that?"

Li Ergou was on the second floor of his house, smoking a cigarette and cursing at him: "Zhao Laosan, you are meddling in everything and even meddling in my affairs. I can queue wherever I want, but it doesn't affect your house, so it's none of your business."

Zhao San: "I am a native of this village. The whole village is my home. Your indiscriminate discharge of waste has polluted the environment of the entire village. It is closely related to everyone in the village. How can it not be my business?"

Li Ergou lay on the windowsill and laughed sarcastically, "Oh, people who have studied for two years are different. They are closely related. I can't say such high-level words as you."

He looked so frivolous that he made Zhao San very angry.

"Have you listened to what I said? Hurry up and turn off the water valve. Drain the sewage into the water tank and treat it until it meets the standards before discharging it."

Li Ergou looked indifferent and didn't seem to have any intention of turning off the water valve.

Zhao San: "If you don't turn off the water valve, believe it or not, I will call and report you right now."

Li Ergou is not afraid of being reported. He is not the only one in the village doing this business. Even if the law enforcement department comes and fines him, he will not be the only one.

He was afraid of trouble, as it would affect his business and his equipment might be confiscated. The cost of purchasing equipment was more than the fine, and he didn't want to give up a fortune for no reason.

Li Ergou's attitude finally changed a little, even the way he addressed Zhao Laosan changed.

"Brother Zhao, it's not that I want to drain directly into the ground. My water tank is broken. Look at that big hole. Isn't it the same as draining into the ground?"

As Li Ergou pointed his finger, he saw that the two water tanks standing behind his house were in tatters, with rust spots all over the tanks and several holes. The largest rust hole was as big as a bowl.

"Where are the two water tanks I bought for you before?" Zhao San asked gritting his teeth.

Some time ago, Li Ergou discharged sewage onto the ground on the pretext that the water tank was broken. At that time, he used his own money to buy two brand new water tanks for Li Ergou. Now the water tanks in Li Ergou's home are obviously not the two he bought.

Li Ergou lied with his eyes open: "It's those two, they are all rusted."

Zhao San: "Li Ergou, tell me honestly, did you sell the new water tank?"

Li Ergou: "I don't have any. You just put it there when you bought it. I didn't even touch it. Even the iron can would rust. Besides, you don't know how strong our wastewater is. Even the thickest can would be corroded after a long time."

Zhao San was furious: "You know the severity of wastewater, so why do you dare to discharge it directly?"

Li Ergou looked like a scoundrel: "What can I do? I have no education and no other skills. Unlike your third brother Zhao, who has been to college and can find a good job, what else can I do besides recycling renewable resources? You can't let me go out and beg for food."

"If I want to eat, I have to work, and when I work, I produce sewage. But I can't possibly bottle up all the sewage. There's so much sewage every day that even if I had more tanks, they wouldn't be enough."

Zhao San: "It's not that sewage can't be discharged, it's that you have to do water purification and wait until the water quality meets the standards before discharging it."

Li Ergou: "We work in the recycling business, earning every penny we can. Unlike you, Brother Zhao San, who makes a fortune outside, how can I afford to buy water purification equipment?"

He lived in a beautiful little villa and said this, which was very unconvincing.

Li Ergou: "Brother Zhao San, don't just stare at me. There are so many people in the village, and I'm not the only one doing the discharge. Why don't you go and cause trouble for them?"

It is because there are other people in the village who can take the blame that Li Ergou and his gang are so fearless.

This is also where Zhao San feels most powerless.

Zhao San: "Your problem is the most serious. Others at least treat their sewage a little bit, but you just discharge it directly every time."

Li Ergou said stubbornly, "That's because you didn't catch him. Just look at Mr. Xu across the street. His family also often directly discharges wastewater. I've seen it several times."

Zhao San: "Don't talk about others yet. You are not allowed to discharge sewage anymore, okay? If you do, I will definitely report you immediately."

Li Ergou: "Why don't you just tell me not to eat?"

Zhao San: "First, find a way to contain today's wastewater. Tomorrow I'll find someone to help you build a cement reservoir. This time, your cement reservoir won't rust through again."

Li Ergou: "Let me tell you right up front, I don't have the money to build a pool."

Zhao San glared at him and said angrily, "Fill up the sewage and don't dump it anymore."

Under Zhao San's supervision, Li Ergou closed the water valve and retracted the soft water pipe.

Li Ergou cooperated very well because he knew that Zhao San had agreed to help him pay.

Since he doesn't have to pay for it, just build the pool.

Before leaving, Zhao San repeatedly reminded Li Ergou not to discharge sewage directly, and then left Li Ergou's house.

He walked while observing the surrounding environment, his brows furrowed.

It was also at this time that he met Dai Li and others.

It should be said that he was the first one to notice them. Dai Li and the others had actually been standing nearby for a while and had heard the conversation between Zhao San and Li Ergou.

Zhao San: "You are not from our village, right?"

Wu Xuelin: "We are from the factory across the river. Someone recently exposed us, saying that our factory is discharging waste indiscriminately and polluting the Sanqing River. We are here to investigate the source of the pollution."

Sanqing River is the name of that river.

Zhao San was so embarrassed that he couldn't raise his head.

"The source of the pollution should be our village. I'm really sorry that you're taking the blame."

Dai Li: "Would you mind telling us about the situation in this village? Our factory and your village share a water source, and the pollution of the river is not just your village's problem."

Zhao San readily agreed: "My home is not far away. If you don't mind, come over and have a seat at my house."

On the way to Zhao San's house, they learned Zhao San's name, Zhao Yan.

Zhao Yan grew up in the village and has witnessed the rise and fall of the foreign garbage business.

I have witnessed the sky of my hometown turn from blue to gray, the river water from clear to turbid, and the scenery from picturesque to littered with garbage.

For a long time, he was extremely disgusted with the foreign garbage business in his hometown.

The year he passed the exam, he secretly vowed never to come back, never to return to this village where there was no hope.

But as he grew older, his longing for his hometown became stronger.

He missed his hometown where birds sang and cicadas chirped, his hometown with green grass, his hometown with clear water, fat fish and clear sky.

He is only 36 years old now, and he hopes that he can see the hometown he remembers as a child again in his lifetime.

The obsession in his heart made him resolutely quit his high-paying job and return here alone despite his family's opposition.

It was a bit naive for him to think that he could change the current situation of the village by himself, but he just wanted to do it.

In Zhao Yan's memory, the whole journey was filled with the images of his childhood memories.

He pointed to a stinking pond and explained, "That area used to be full of lotus roots. In the summer, we would row a boat there to pick lotus flowers and seeds. In the winter, the adults would dig up lotus roots and make glutinous rice and lotus root soup with pork ribs. There were also many carp in the pond. The largest one weighed over 20 kilograms and was taller than I was at the time."

Recalling his childhood, Zhao Yan's face was full of longing.

But now the pond is lifeless. Not to mention lotus roots and flowers, there is not even a single water plant to be seen. The color of the entire pond is exactly the same as that of Sanqing River.

"My son likes the glutinous rice lotus root made by his mother-in-law the most. He says that the glutinous rice lotus root made by his mother-in-law is the most delicious in the world. But he doesn't know that the glutinous rice lotus root made from the lotus root in this pond is the most delicious in the world." Zhao Yan was full of regret.

After walking for a while, he pointed to two dead trees and said, "There used to be two mulberry trees over there. Every year they would produce big, sweet mulberries, enough for the whole village. When we were little, we would run up to the trees and sit and eat them for the whole afternoon. Later, sewage discharge burned the roots of the mulberry trees, and I haven't been able to eat mulberries since."

"Originally there was a reed field across the street, with dozens of acres of reeds, golden and beautiful. In the past, most people in our village knew how to make reed handicrafts. It was a traditional craft passed down from our ancestors. My grandfather was particularly good at weaving and even took orders from overseas. Unfortunately, handicrafts are not as profitable as the foreign garbage business. Now the reeds don't grow long anymore, and no one knows how to weave reeds anymore."

Zhao Yan remembered every scene and object along the way, because everything about his hometown had been repeatedly sketched in his mind countless times, forming a timeless painting.

From his narration, one can still vaguely see the picturesque village thirty years ago.

No wonder he still misses it and eventually returns here.

After walking for nearly a quarter of an hour, we finally arrived at Zhao Yan's home.

Zhao Yan's home is at the innermost part of the village. Unlike the bright and beautiful villas outside, his home is an ordinary two-story building that has not been inhabited for many years and shows some signs of decay.

None of his family members came back, and now he was the only one at home. He searched for a long time before he found two old-fashioned water cups.

"No one has lived in this house for a long time, so many things are not complete. I hope you don't mind."

Wu Xuelin: "Brother Zhao, stop busying yourself. Sit down and let's talk."

Zhao Yan stood at his door, smoking a cigarette and exhaled worriedly, "You can see the situation, right? This is what our village looks like now. The villagers have been dumping waste carelessly for 20 to 30 years, and there's not a single intact place left."

Wu Xuelin: "As far as I know, your village used to have regular garbage disposal facilities, but didn't it have sewage treatment facilities?"

Zhao Yan: "Only large factories can afford to install sewage treatment systems. Small family-run workshops are reluctant to spend the money. Wastewater treatment costs money. Large factories only install sewage treatment systems to cope with inspections, and they are reluctant to use them on a regular basis. The overall environment was different before. Development was rapid, and environmental management was lax. It can be said that no one cared at all."

Everyone rushed forward blindly, but when they looked back, they found that the local ecological damage had already become a cancer. If they wanted to treat it, they could only scrape the bone to heal the wound, and it could not be cured in one go.

It's not that the authorities in charge haven't taken care of them before, but there is a very realistic problem. Too many people make a living from the garbage business. If you take a one-size-fits-all approach and don't allow everyone to work in garbage disposal, many people will go hungry.

Especially the elderly, they may take extreme actions for the benefit of their children, which will bring negative impacts to society.

If you want everyone to give up the junk business, you must find them another way out, a way out that is no less profitable than the junk business.

Obviously, this is unrealistic. Most of the villagers engaged in the garbage business have been small bosses for their entire lives, and naturally they are unwilling to work for others in the end. However, the local ecology cannot develop other industries.

The local situation is difficult and complicated, so the relevant departments have not been able to find the best way to deal with it.

Before he knew it, Zhao Yan had finished the cigarette in his hand.

Dai Li: "How many households in your village are still engaged in the waste recycling business?"

Zhao Yan put out his cigarette butt and returned to the house: "House 138."

More than Dai Li expected.

Zhao Yan: "There are still 500 to 600 people making a living from the garbage business."

This is also the reason why the villagers are fearless. They firmly believe that the law does not punish everyone and it is impossible to arrest all of them.

Dai Li: "How many people are still not involved in the garbage business?"

Zhao Yan: "About one or two hundred. They're all elderly people who don't want to leave their hometown. Young people are basically not here. The young people who are willing to stay here are all engaged in the garbage business. The Li Ergou you just saw is one of them."

"But in the next two days, two of my childhood friends are coming back. We have agreed to work together to improve the environment of our hometown, and they are willing to contribute their own efforts."

Dai Li: "How do you plan to improve it?"

Zhao Yan: "We discussed and decided to build a new sewage treatment plant in the village to solve the most serious wastewater problem."

Dai Li: "Where will your operating costs come from? Will the people in your village pay you for the operating costs?"

Li Ergou is definitely not the only one who is reluctant to spend money on buying a water tank.

Zhao Yan: "I've told most of the villagers about our plan. Although they're still reluctant to contribute, they've also expressed their willingness to pay for sewage treatment. Only Li Ergou and a few others might find it more troublesome, but I can advance the money."

Wu Xuelin: "I'm afraid that if others see Li Ergou and his friends not paying, they'll want to shirk their responsibilities too."

Zhao Yan smiled bitterly. This was what he was most worried about.

It seems that the villagers are not very unruly. They are just like ordinary people. They don't want to suffer losses, like to take advantage of small things, and like to follow good advice.

When we first decided to improve the environment, we asked them to purchase sewage treatment equipment. They cooperated very well and bought the equipment and took it home one after another.

But there will always be one or two people with ulterior motives who want to reduce costs and increase profits, and they will be the first to take the lead in breaking the rules.

Once someone starts a bad example, the people around him will immediately follow suit and start queuing up.

Those who honestly handle sewage according to regulations will be ridiculed.

Over time, most people have been assimilated, and only a very small number of people still insist on treating sewage.

Zhao Yan: "We can't just not build a sewage treatment plant because of difficulties. The worst that can happen is that we can go door to door asking for money, and we won't leave unless they give us money."

"Our local government has also expressed its willingness to actively support our work and provide us with appropriate subsidies, so the sewage treatment plant should not be unable to continue operating."

When talking about the sewage treatment plant that is about to be built, Zhao Yan is still full of confidence, and a rare smile can be seen on his face.

Dai Li: "I actually don't recommend that you build a sewage treatment plant, Brother Zhao."

The smile on Zhao Yan's face faded, and he asked in confusion: "Why do you say that?"

Dai Li explained to him, "Your garbage business here has become an industrial chain. You will probably continue to engage in the garbage disposal trade for a long time to come."

Zhao Yan nodded: "Yes, that's why I want to build a sewage treatment plant."

Dai Li: "You can't make money with the sewage treatment plant, and it's very likely that it won't survive. Why don't you start a garbage decomposition business? I guarantee you can make money and also return a clean land to your hometown."

Zhao Yan: "What is a garbage decomposer?"

Dai Li: "Simply put, it's a machine that automatically decomposes garbage, just like what the villagers in your village do. However, the garbage decomposer doesn't produce gas, smoke, or sewage. It's a zero-emission decomposition machine?"

"Zero emissions?" Zhao Yan murmured. "Is there a machine like this?"

Dai Li: "When the time comes, just come to me to buy the goods."

Zhao Yan looked at them in shock: "Are you here to promote your garbage disposal?"

He spoke for a long time with all his heart, but the other party just wanted to do his business and sell him the machine?

Wu Xuelin smiled speechlessly: "No, we are not here to sell machines."

Zhao Yan frowned and looked at them: "So what exactly do you do?"

Wu Xuelin: "Brother Zhao, go check the name of the factory across from Sanqing River. You'll know what we do after that."