After Li Jin finished speaking, Sun Zhiqing was overjoyed and clapped his hands, laughing, "Brother, you're the leader of a team, why bother asking the members' opinions?" Li Jin's words were just empty platitudes. When had such an important matter ever required listening to the members' opinions? He was joking!

Li Jin stared at him with dark, unfocused eyes. "There are only 20% of the grain left. The commune members won't even make it to the autumn harvest."

“Hey, brother—” Sun Zhiqing called out to Li Jin in a drawn-out tone, “If the people suffer a little, the temporary difficulties will pass.”

Li Jin raised an eyebrow. "Whose difficulties?"

“Your difficulties are my difficulties, and they are also the difficulties of the commune and Deputy Director Zhang!” Sun Zhiqing said, bending over and looking at Li Jin with his hands behind his back. “Tell me, shouldn’t we let the commune members suffer a little?”

Li Jin remained silent, and Sun Zhiqing continued, "All the people in the county are the same, so why is it that only the members of your Lijiapo commune are able to eat their fill? If we're going to go hungry, we'll all go hungry together. What did the sage say? It's not scarcity that's worrisome, but inequality! You're surrounded by hungry wolves, and your Lijiapo is just a piece of fat meat. Aren't you afraid of being bitten? I'll help you eliminate this potential threat first; it's for your own good! Think about it, isn't it?"

Looking at Sun Zhiqing's earnest and persuasive demeanor, Li Jin suddenly felt a bit disgusted. How could such a person hold the position of deputy head of the cooperative? He was simply a beast in human skin. Thinking this, he said, "Team Leader Sun, you really are no ordinary person! Instead of thinking about how to help the people, you're thinking about making everyone beg for food. Are you even human?"

Sun Zhiqing was initially quite pleased, but after hearing Li Jin's next words, he flew into a rage, "How dare you! Who are you calling not human?"

Before Sun Zhiqing could finish speaking, Li Jin grabbed the finger that was pointing at him and pulled Sun Zhiqing outside.

Those who had been watching the commotion inside were surprised to see the brigade leader dragging Team Leader Sun out. Li Jin shouted at Sun Zhiqing, "Come on, tell us what you were thinking in front of all the members of the Lijiapo brigade, and see if they think you're even human!"

Sun Zhiqing dared not speak to so many commune members. He tried to struggle but couldn't break free. His face turned red and white with anxiety. He hurriedly called to the other members of the work team, "Xiao Wang, Xiao Sun, Xiao Qian, Xiao Che, why don't you come over here and pull him away!"

Several young men from the work group rushed forward to pull Li Jin away. Liu Changhai and the others couldn't stand by and watch Li Jin suffer, so they swarmed in and surrounded the work group members.

Seeing the menacing members of Lijiapo commune, Sun Zhiqing was afraid, but he still spoke toughly, "What do you want to do? Are you going to beat up our work team members? Xiao Wang, go to the police station right now and call Chen Yigan here!"

Chen Yigan is the same Director Chen who dealt with Officer Xiao Hao last time.

Li Jin sneered, "Don't just call Director Chen. You four, split up and call over Chairman Hu Shusong, Deputy Director Zhang from the county, and the other leading cadres. Let's hear your brilliant ideas, Chairman Sun!"

The group looked at each other in bewilderment. Li Kang couldn't help but ask, "Captain, what kind of brilliant ideas does Group Leader Sun have? Tell us!" His call was met with enthusiastic responses, and the commune members all clamored to hear Sun Zhiqing's brilliant insights.

Sun Zhiqing stared straight at Li Jin, "Like a dog biting Lü Dongbin, not recognizing a kind heart! Good advice is useless against a damned ghost. If you don't want to live a good life, just say it!"

Li Jin completely ignored Sun Zhiqing's threats and said loudly, "Team Leader Sun just said that I conspired with my second son, Li Xiangdong, to embezzle one thousand yuan from our brigade! Also, our brigade has been operating a cannery without authorization, engaging in buying and selling, which is taking the capitalist road! In order to keep my position as brigade leader and avoid going to jail, Team Leader Sun gave me a good idea!"

Li Jin paused, glanced at Sun Zhiqing's already pale face, and continued, "Team Leader Sun said that we should give the two combine harvesters to the county for free, and then return the three thousand yuan we received for harvesting wheat for Longshui Village! Then, we should also sell eight-tenths of the wheat we harvested as public grain!"

"If everyone is not full and cannot survive until the autumn harvest, then we will all have to flee the famine and beg for food!"

No sooner had Li Jin finished speaking than someone punched Sun Zhiqing in the back, causing him to cry out in pain. Then, it became impossible to see who was behind it; fists and slaps flew through the crowd, blurring into a hazy outline. Amidst the blows and curses, someone yelled, "We finally have enough to eat this year! And you want us to beg for food! You heartless bastards!"

The five working groups fled in panic, repeatedly crying out, "Ouch!" "It hurts so much!" "Stop hitting me!"

For a time, the sounds of wailing and howling from the Lijiapo brigade were incessant...

Li Xiangdong, watching from the side, felt that it was about time and quickly told Li Jin to stop everyone. He said that it was enough to vent their anger, but they shouldn't actually kill someone, or the matter would escalate!

Li Jin stood with his hands behind his back, his face still not looking too good. But his second son was right; it wouldn't be good if he hurt someone. He really acted impulsively today.

"Everyone, stop right now! Even jokes have to be careful. The comrades from the work team are happy to play with us mud-covered folks, so let's not lose our temper and turn a good thing into a bad thing!" Li Xiangdong pulled Liu Yubin away, who was about to kick Sun Zhiqing one last time. This fool, even though they had stopped hitting him, he was still moving forward!

Sun Zhiqing's snow-white shirt was covered in black footprints, his slicked-back hair was a mess like a bird's nest, and his face had several bloody scratches! The others were in no better shape than him; they were all in terrible condition.

"Hey, Team Leader Sun, we farmers are a bit rough around the edges, we like to joke around and play around all the time. You guys just aren't used to it yet. But after a few more jokes, you'll get used to it!" Li Xiangdong grinned at Sun Zhiqing, and went to help him up. "Get up, the ground is so cold... um, so dirty!"

Upon seeing Li Xiangdong's outstretched hand, Sun Zhiqing instinctively moved back a step. "Don't come any closer! Are you kidding me?"

Who would joke around like that and hit someone so hard? Ouch, that hurts so much! We'll have the police arrest them all, arrest them all! Send them to a labor camp, send them to do river work, send them to…

"Just kidding, huh?" Li Xiangdong walked over, staring at Sun Zhiqing. His words were light, but his eyes were like a hawk's. "Always doing immoral things, aren't you afraid someone will dig up your ancestral graves? Always doing bad things, aren't you afraid ghosts will knock on your door? Team Leader Sun, you'd better be careful when you walk alone at night in the future!"

"You, you, you..."

Before Sun Zhiqing could finish his sentence, perhaps from the pain, his eyes were gouged out and he fainted.