"But just as I was about to give the money to the accountant, Director Luo said that I didn't need to give the money to the accountant yet, and that I could give it to her in a few days."
At that moment, Zhou Jiaming only wanted to protect himself and not let himself be branded as someone who embezzled the people's property.
Therefore, the brain subconsciously tells the truth.
This was like dropping a bomb into the water; the effect was immediate and obvious.
"What? It's Director Luo? That's impossible!" someone exclaimed in disbelief.
Those who had a good idea couldn't help but scoff, "How is that impossible? He was in dire need of money recently, and it wasn't a small amount."
This reminder brought many people back to reality; it seemed there really was such a thing.
These were all rumors circulating privately. It was said that Luo Yuejin pushed Yongren's daughter into the river and almost drowned, so he gave her three hundred yuan as hush money.
Nobody knows if it's true or not, but that's what some people say, and they even saw it with their own eyes.
Combined with the current narrative, everything seems to make sense, and it's plausible that Director Luo used that money.
However, while this explanation makes sense, other explanations don't.
Those whose family members were militiamen immediately protested, "How could Director Luo do this? Wasn't it supposed to be a militia subsidy? How could he just take it for himself?"
"That's right, that's the property of us working people, not just his. We absolutely can't let him take it away like that."
"Yes, we must get it back; it's ours."
It's quite unsettling that no one in my family is a militia member.
People tend to make connections. Since Luo Weijia misappropriated militia subsidies this time, has he done the same thing before?
Thinking about it this way, many things that I used to think were insignificant suddenly became important, and even seemed problematic no matter how I looked at them.
Although Daqing and Zhang Qinghua's goal was to expose Luo Weijia, they couldn't join in now.
"Captain Zhou, you can't talk nonsense. Everyone knows that although Director Luo is a bit strict, he has always been thinking about us all these years."
“Look at all the things he’s done in the past, wasn’t every single one for our own good? You can’t slander Director Luo,” Zhang Qinghua said first.
Everyone in Hongqi Village knows that Zhang Qinghua's family and Luo Wei's family have a good relationship, so it's perfectly reasonable for him to ask them.
Zhou Jiaming was so eager to prove his innocence that he couldn't think of anything else. "It was Director Luo. He was going to give Song Lili three hundred yuan, but she didn't have enough at home, so she took it."
This time, people's hearts tipped once again, tending to believe Zhou Jiaming's words, because Zhou Jiaming's words were just as they had guessed.
Everyone tends to believe what they think, see, and hear.
"So... how much is the total subsidy?" Daqing still didn't know the exact amount at this point. He was truly a failure as the militia captain.
"It's thirty yuan in total, one yuan and fifty cents per person, which is for the whole year today," Zhou Jiaming said honestly.
"One dollar and fifty cents? That much?" people around exclaimed in surprise.
That's quite a lot. For example, the Song family only gets a little over one yuan a year from working in the fields, so one yuan and fifty cents per person is definitely not a small amount.
This only added to the dissatisfaction everyone felt towards Luo Weijia.
He just took all that money without a word.
Finally, some impatient people couldn't hold back any longer and said, "No, we have to go find Director Luo and make him return our money."
"Yes, give the money back, or we won't stand for it."
Once one person steps forward, countless others will follow suit.
Sure enough, once one person shouted, everyone else joined in, and they all stopped caring about their work in the fields.
Looking at the panicked Zhou Jiaming, Zhang Qinghua could only sneer inwardly. Now you're scared? Why didn't you think of that when you were doing it?
He watched coldly without saying a word.
Daqing had no choice but to come out and calm the restless crowd, saying, "Everyone, please be quiet and listen to me."
After finally calming the crowd down, Daqing was sweating profusely with nervousness, thinking to himself, "Luckily, the two of them didn't intend to cause a big scene today."
These dozen or so people are already so difficult to deal with; if it were the whole village, he wouldn't dare to step forward.
Seeing that everyone's anger had subsided somewhat, Daqing quickly said, "Calm down, are you really going to let this go like this?"
"Besides, who knows if Captain Zhou is telling the truth? Have you seen Director Luo take that money? Do you have any evidence?"
Seeing that someone wanted to object, he quickly waved his hand, raising his voice by a notch to drown out the quieter voices.
"Yes, Director Luo needed money a while ago, and quite a lot of it, but how do you know it wasn't his own money?"
This question stumped many people, because they genuinely didn't know the answer.
However, what made everyone feel uncomfortable was even more so.
What kind of talk is that? What do you mean by "his own money"? Three hundred yuan? His own? Who would believe that?
We all live in the same village, and although we don't always know everything about each other's families, we generally understand each other's situations.
Both Luo Weijia and Luo Weijia toil in the fields, so why does Luo Weijia get three hundred yuan? And why can he take it out so easily?
Okay, even if he's the village head and receives subsidies and work points, Li Weiguo is still the village party secretary, and we haven't seen him casually pull out three hundred yuan!
So, what gives Luo Weijia the right?
What Daqing said, seemingly to help Luo Weijia expand his business, was actually adding fuel to the fire, making many people uncomfortable.
However, they understood what Daqing meant.
There's no evidence, so asking is pointless.
"Then what do you suggest we do? We can't just let our money disappear like this, can we? If that's really the case, I'm going to report you to the town authorities," said a plump auntie.
Xiao Wang's biggest fear was that the townspeople would find out. If they heard that he was going to report him in town, that would be terrible! He rushed over like a madman and grabbed Zhou Jiaming by the collar.
"Hurry up and give me the money. Go ask Luo Weijia for it. Go now, or you're dead."
At this moment, Xiao Wang felt both regret and fear. He regretted showing off and letting Zhou Jiaming take the money, and he was afraid that the people in the town would find out.
Zhou Jiaming was scared at this moment.
Everyone in the village knows, and people from the town are coming to inspect soon. How could he not be afraid?
He stopped talking about not finishing his work in the fields and ran off to find Luo Weijia to ask for money.
As Daqing and Zhang Qinghua watched Zhou Jiaming's figure recede into the distance, they both smiled happily, the curves of their lips somewhat similar.
Today's objective has been achieved.
Daqing turned around, smiling at everyone, "Uncles and aunties, hurry up and get busy, haven't you finished your work for today?"
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