Chapter 128: Selling One House to Multiple Customers (Part 2)

The three of them came to Harmony Village, which still retained a quaint and poor feel, with narrow roads and many families still using dry toilets.

Zhou Jing randomly found a villager who was at home and asked, "Do you know the Harmonious Community to the south of us?"

"I know." The old lady nodded, "Isn't that the house in our village?"

"How long has that house been under construction?"

"Seven or eight years."

The old lady thought for a moment and said, "At that time, they said we would divide the house, so we signed it."

"Oh, have you consulted our villagers before?"

"Yes."

The old lady nodded and said, "They told us to go to the village committee and sign. If we signed, we would get a house. If we didn't sign, we wouldn't get a house. So everyone in my family signed. But it's been seven or eight years, and there's still no sign of it."

Jiang Ningyue said, "Auntie, that neighborhood is now being sold. Do the villagers know about this?"

"I know this."

The old lady looked a little conflicted. "But we dare not tell you what happened inside. As long as we have a house to live in, that's enough."

Jiang Ningyue nodded and asked, "Whose land is being occupied for building the house?"

"I'll take you there."

Under the enthusiastic guidance of the old lady, the three of them came to a rather poor family. Only an elderly couple lived in this family. The son worked in the south and was not at home all year round.

Jiang Ningyue asked, "When we occupied your land, did we ever say we would compensate you?"

Aunt Feng smiled and said, "They said they would give us an extra house."

"Did they give you the money from selling the house?"

"No." The old lady shook her head. "I don't know about this."

Jiang Ningyue nodded after hearing this.

The three went to the village committee again, but the door was closed. They asked the villagers for the phone numbers of the village head and village secretary, but they couldn't get through.

Maybe it was because Jiang Ningyue's face was too iconic. As soon as they entered the village, the village chief and the village secretary were so scared that they turned off their phones.

Zhou Jing pondered: "Where should we go now?"

Jiang Ningyue said, “Call the supervisory company and ask them why this building was upgraded from 5 floors to 22 floors, and then from 22 floors to 28 floors.”

"good."

Zhou Jing searched the Internet for the phone number of the supervision company and called it.

It is worth mentioning that because some Apple phones cannot record calls, the phones used by front-line livelihood reporters are often domestically produced phones.

Of course, there are also many staunch Apple fans. One of Jiang Ningyue’s colleagues always carries two mobile phones in her bag. When she needs to record a call, she takes out the domestic phone.

"Hello, is this XX Supervision Company? I'm Zhou Jing, a reporter from the provincial TV station, and I'd like to consult you about something. I see we're the supervisor of the Harmonious Garden residential complex being developed by Shengdi Company."

When the other party heard the words "resort" and "harmonious garden", he immediately became alert and said, "We have already withdrawn from this community."

"Quitted? Why?"

“They don’t have the paperwork.”

The supervisory unit said, "The only document we had was a certificate from the village committee. This was completely illegal, so we withdrew."

The choice of the supervisory unit was a wise one, so the next subject for interview was the developer, Shengdi Real Estate Company.

The company's office is located in the sales office, which is in the basement next to the Harmonious Community, so the three of them went to Shengdi Real Estate Company.

After Jiang Ningyue arrived at the company, the general manager received the three of them.

In the meeting room, Zhou Jing asked, "We'd like to ask, the Harmonious Community was originally planned to have five floors, so why is it now 28 floors?"

"Alas, this problem is not our problem."

Manager Fan sighed. "Let me put it this way. The village asked us to build a house, and the government approved the plan. But who's going to pay? We haven't received a cent from the village or the government yet. All we can do is add to it and sell the house."

Jiang Ningyue asked, "Doesn't the plan state, 'Protecting the interests of farmers, not to be used for real estate development'?"

"Alas, this issue is still about money."

Manager Fan said helplessly, "Without money, what's the saying 'A good cook cannot cook without rice'?"

Jiang Ningyue continued, "Then selling 22 floors isn't enough? That's impossible, right?"

Manager Fan smiled and said, "There are a lot of things involved here. You don't understand this development and construction."

"Does the street or district know about this?"

"I know! Look at this photo."

Manager Fan pulled out a photo taken when construction began and said, "Look, these are the director and secretary of the subdistrict office. They were all here when we started construction."

Zhou Jing glanced at Jiang Ningyue, and the meaning was very clear. Why not leave? There was nothing more to ask her.

However, Jiang Ningyue knocked on the table and said, "Manager Fan, I still hope you can be honest. When will this house be completed and when will the villagers be able to live in their own resettlement housing?"

Manager Fan was stunned for a moment, then thought, "Actually, Buildings 1 to 6 already meet the requirements for occupancy, but the village committee doesn't want to give them to the villagers. They still want to sell them. When they can't sell them anymore, they'll give the rest to the villagers."

Zhou Jing's eyes popped out of her eyes in surprise. Is there any way to explain this?

But she didn't dare to speak, or even make a loud noise, and just stared at Manager Fan silently.

"In other words, this community is actually a tool for the village committee to make profits, rather than providing resettlement housing for the villagers."

"You could say that."

Manager Fan lit a cigarette and said with a smile, "Isn't that how society is? Anyone with power wants to make money. Isn't being a village chief all about making money? Do you really want to serve the villagers?"

"Then the neighborhood leader you mentioned knew about this. Did he also accept money?"

"You asked that."

Manager Fan flicked the ash from his cigarette and smiled. "Of course, and we received quite a few. We alone gave away two or three hundred."

"So how do you divide the money?"

"It's a 30-70 split between us and the villagers."

"Why is it only 70%?"

"Seventy percent of it belongs to someone else."

Manager Fan smiled and said, "Our boss has connections. He's a relative of the village chief and is also familiar with the district leaders. Our company was actually established for this Harmonious Garden community."

"I see."

Jiang Ningyue nodded. "Actually, I still want to ask if we can let the villagers move in first. After all, the villagers are innocent."

"Um."

Manager Fan put out his cigarette. "What you said makes sense, but the problem now is, if the villagers move in, then do those who bought the houses have to move in too? That's a hassle."

"Okay, thank you, Manager Fan."

Jiang Ningyue stood up and looked at Zhou Jing, "Sister Jing, do you have any questions?"

"I don't have any more."

Zhou Jing looked at Jiang Ningyue with an expression of awe. After the three of them left Shengdi Company, Zhou Jing sighed, "Being good-looking is an advantage! Xiaoyue is just sitting there, and this Manager Fan is just blurting out everything."

Jiang Ningyue smiled and said nothing.

At this time, Jiang Ningyue's cell phone suddenly rang. It was an unfamiliar number.

"Hello."

"Excuse me, is this Reporter Jiang? I'm Wu Hai, Director of the Gulin City Public Security Bureau. I need your assistance with something urgent."