Chapter Forty-Five: The Debate
"But will the demolition and relocation process recognize what we're doing now?" An Songyu asked hesitantly.
An Jianmin paused in his tree-planting motion, unsure if the tree would be recognized.
But: "Hasn't Lin Village already been demolished twice? They have more experience!"
"Now, most people in Jiangcun are following their lead."
"By the way, Yu, how long did your parents say they would take to arrive?"
An Songyu quickly went over to help An Jianmin support the sapling, but she was also a little confused:
"My parents said they're coming over?"
"Aren't they coming?" An Jianmin was even more surprised than An Songyu.
An Songyu looked at An Jianmin with a completely bewildered expression.
For a moment, An Jianmin was somewhat impressed by his third brother and sister-in-law's carefree attitude: "Your parents are really something..."
"Not to mention your fourth uncle and fourth aunt, even your two aunts will be here later."
"If your parents don't come soon..."
"All the other houses in this village have already added extensions!"
"But there's nowhere left to add anything to my house!" An Songyu said innocently.
Their return to Jiangcun was originally intended to address the issue of future relocation and demolition.
Therefore, the several small buildings were all built in a way that would be most advantageous for the demolition and relocation process.
Right now, in the yard where they are standing, there is still some empty space.
But this was a small vegetable garden that the village gave away when allocating residential land.
Aside from growing vegetables and trees, it can't do anything else.
An Songyu remembers that she also saw the contents of the demolition notice when she left the village committee.
For example, the building area is calculated based on the area stated on the property certificate.
I don't know if what everyone in the village is busy doing now counts as additions or expansions.
If so, then it's destined to be a wasted effort.
An Songyu wasn't the only one with this worry.
Upstairs in the village committee building, Jiang Wenlin and the old accountant watched the cars coming and going, sighing repeatedly.
An Jianxing took the documents upstairs and, seeing the situation, helplessly advised again, "Uncle Captain, Uncle Accountant, you two shouldn't worry about this."
“The neighboring Lin Village has been demolished more than once.”
"Does our village not even know how to copy homework?"
Although Lin Village is a large village, they are a clan village with the same surname.
The details of the two previous demolitions could not be kept from the villagers at all.
And this time, even the last bit of Lin Village was demolished.
Not to mention the remaining residents of Lin Village.
Even the residents of Lin Village who were relocated in the previous two demolitions are rushing back to try and find a solution for them!
Intermarriage is almost nonexistent in Lin Village.
Nowadays, all the wives and daughters-in-law in Lin Village are married from outside the village.
As one of the closest villages to Lin Village, Jiang Village has a long history of daughters marrying into Lin Village.
This time, both villages were being demolished together.
In situations where there isn't much competition, people don't care if others copy their homework.
The only problem is probably the lack of manpower and materials!
And there's really only so much that can be done in just one month!
Jiang Wenlin and the old accountant turned to look at An Jianxing.
Seeing that he can still work as usual, I don't know whether to praise the young man for his composure, or...
Before An Jianxing could hand the documents to the two men, he saw a familiar figure downstairs.
He walked a few steps to the parapet, bent down, and shouted to the people below:
"Dad, why did you bring so many bricks back?"
Below the village committee building, a middle-aged man who was struggling to ride a pedicab heard the sound, instinctively stopped, and looked around.
He stared at me for a long time, but showed no sign of looking up.
An Jianxing was even more helpless: "Dad, look up! I'm upstairs!"
Upon hearing the sound, the middle-aged man quickly raised his head.
Just then, he saw half of his son's body sticking out of the small building, and he quickly called out:
"Jianxing, what are you doing? Don't lie like that! It's dangerous!"
An Jianxing straightened up slightly, and after confirming that it wasn't actually that dangerous, he quickly said:
"Dad, you still haven't told me!"
"Why are you riding a tricycle to haul things? And what are you planning to do with all that stuff?"
Seeing that An Jianxing was indeed out of danger, the middle-aged man was in no hurry to answer his son's question.
Instead, he turned around and greeted the team leader and accountant upstairs: "Wenlin, Wenhua, what are you doing up on the roof today?"
Jiang Wenlin gave a helpless twitch of his lips and asked again on An Jianxing's behalf:
"Sure thing, your son asked you why you were hauling so many bricks!"
"These? Not much, not much. Didn't I hear that the compensation is different for building chicken coops with bricks?"
"So I went with everyone else and brought some back."
"There aren't even enough bricks to build a wall in my chicken coop!"
"It's still because my bike is no good. I ride too slowly and I arrived too late, so I didn't manage to grab many bricks."
"Are they going to rob us of these bricks too?" Jiang Wenhua carefully recalled the brickyards nearby, and it seemed there were quite a few in stock!
"Of course! The brickyards have been almost entirely moved by the people from Lin Village." An Shunli took advantage of the break to light a cigarette.
Anyway, there are no bricks to haul from the brickyard right now, so he doesn't need to rush back to work!
Jiang Wenlin, somewhat weary, repeated, "The higher-ups said that new construction and expansion don't count!"
"I didn't plan to build it either!" An Shunli took a deep drag of his cigarette, smoke billowing from his nose and mouth, before looking up at his son, whose face looked particularly grim, and the other members of the village committee.
"Neither of my two little devils can be of any help."
"Let's not even talk about Jianxing. He's a village cadre after all. He can't handle this matter well."
"But his brother also said he would not be back until Sunday when he heard the news of the demolition."
"Let's see if I still give them any money then!"
"Sure, you still have money to share with them? Didn't I hear your family split up a long time ago?" A passerby immediately chimed in upon hearing this.
"I always said that people with the surname An are unreliable."
"Look, this population only accounts for one-third of the village, but the number of households accounts for half of the entire village," another person suddenly said.
These words seemed to ignite the secret, unspoken thoughts in the hearts of those around them.
Amidst the cacophony of voices, someone immediately looked up and asked the village committee members:
"Uncle Wenlin, did the two married daughters of Brother Shunhe come back to the village and contract the orchards last time?"
Looking down from upstairs, Jiang Wenlin saw that the person asking the question was a well-known shrewd person from the Jiang family.
He couldn't help but furrow his brow.
He said rather irritably, "So what if it's been wrapped up?"
"What do you mean, 'how?' Uncle Wenlin, don't pretend you don't know!"
"He and his brother's sons have leased out several hundred acres of orchards, so that's fine."
"Is it really appropriate for even our daughter to come back and help out?"
"What do you mean 'not so good'?" Jiang Wenlin was even more annoyed: "When I gave you the contract, you didn't even bother to look at me properly."
"I'm just afraid that if I hit it off with you, I'll definitely try to persuade you more."
"Why do they change their tune now that they hear about demolition and relocation?"
“I’m telling you, I, Jiang Wenlin, have never broken any rules in my work.”
“Anyone from Anshun’s family, whether sons or daughters, as long as they have paid real money to our village committee for the contract, there will be no problem at all.”
"Uncle Wenlin, that's not how it works!"
"After all, the money that should have been distributed to the whole village was invested in those orchards, whether it was the fruit tree seedlings or the initial management."
"But now, these fruit trees are in their prime, yet they have been directly contracted out."
"Wouldn't the demolition compensation be just taking advantage of the village?"
"Taking advantage of the village?" This time, before Jiang Wenlin could speak, the old accountant Jiang Wenhua preemptively spoke in a cold voice, staring at the man who had just spoken:
"You're all so young, and your eyes are already like holes?"
"I didn't see that the demolition notice mentioned cash crops; the compensation should be based on their actual economic value."
"If it weren't for Shunhe's sons working together on the contract, even his two daughters would have been involved in the contract as well."
"Even within our village... who would think of taking care of those orchards?"
"Without those contract payments, even if we have ideas, who among you would support us?"
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