So, despite the aggressive approach of the provincial investigation team, the people of Lijiapo continued doing what they were doing as usual.
This calm yet somewhat indifferent attitude acted like a stabilizing force, instantly calming the restless minds of the members.
The first thing the provincial investigation team did after settling in was to place a large box outside Liu Yubin's house with three neat and beautiful calligraphy characters on it: "Suggestion Box".
Xu Guangheng instructed Xie Yong to go to the brigade headquarters and use the loudspeaker to spread the word: "Anyone who embezzles, accepts bribes, abuses their power for personal gain, or bends the law for personal reasons, regardless of the size of the matter or whether there is concrete evidence, can submit a report to the suggestion box!"
Li Xiangdong heard this and thought, "These people don't even want evidence. Tsk tsk, they really have no bottom line!"
This is how rumors were reported in feudal dynasties in the past. Regardless of whether you did it or not, they would investigate you first!
On the first day, Xie Yong touched the bottom of the suggestion box, and it was empty.
The next day, it was still empty.
On the third day, it was still the same—
Xu Guangheng was getting restless. Could it be that the Li family's influence was so great? He refused to believe that Lijiapo was a monolithic entity!
He grabbed Liu Yubin, who was about to go out to rub off the alkali on the wall after finishing his meal, and asked casually, "Do people with the surname Liu usually get bullied by the Li family?"
In rural areas, the emergence of village bullies is often closely related to and complements the power of their families.
This situation is quite common.
Even in rural areas of the 21st century, many village bullies are both the brigade leader and the head of a clan. More often than not, the will of the clan takes precedence over the election of the villagers.
Liu Yubin scratched his head, "No! We're all brothers, we get along really well—"
Xie Yong rolled his eyes, thinking to himself, "Good my ass! Brothers and buddies? Who would call a good-for-nothing like you brothers?"
Wu Xiuzhu patiently guided him, looking around at the Liu family's house. "Brother Yubin, doesn't your house seem a bit cramped? I saw Li Xiangdong's newly built house the other day when I was taking a walk, and it's much bigger than yours!"
"Xiang Dong's place? It's saline-alkali land. Nobody builds houses there! Only someone as foolish as Xiang Dong would build a house there!"
Xu Guangheng looked at Liu Yubin, who was speaking of Li Xiangdong as if it were a given, speechless. "He occupies such a large piece of land, don't any of you have any objections?"
Liu Yubin: "What's there to complain about? The brigade leader already said that anyone who wants to build a house on saline-alkali land will be given such a large area!"
Liu Yubin's wife, who was washing the pot, had been listening intently to the conversation. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that her husband hadn't been misled by the investigation team.
"Husband! Come here and pour the swill into the pigsty!"
Liu Yubin, who doesn't usually like to do housework, heard his wife's shout as if he had heard a divine melody and rushed over in a hurry.
Seeing that no one was willing to take the bait, the seven members of the provincial investigation team had no choice but to lower themselves and immerse themselves in the lives of the villagers, hoping to gain some information from it.
But the people in Lijiapo are quite busy.
Apart from a dozen or so people preparing to hand over grain to the state, the rest were scattered across the cannery, pig farm, and fish and shrimp ponds.
Anyway, everyone's time is very tight.
Everyone walks in a hurry, and there aren't many people like Liu Yubin who can rub against the wall, chat, and sunbathe.
Li Xiangdong's new pig feed is currently in small-scale production, and Liu Yuliang uses this feed specifically to feed wild boar piglets.
"The wild boar piglets have eaten the new feed and are sleeping soundly all day long. They don't like to jump around anymore."
Liu Yuliang spoke with great enthusiasm.
Li Guoqing, Li Xiangjie, Guo Yuxi, and Zhao Xiaojun even made a small profit by selling paper mulberry leaves to the production brigade.
After discussing the new feed, Li Xiangdong had another suggestion: he wanted to plant Cistanche deserticola on 400 mu of saline-alkali land.
"Cistanche deserticola? What's that?"
The people at the brigade headquarters looked at each other, completely unaware of what Cistanche deserticola, which Li Xiangdong was talking about, was.
"This Cistanche deserticola is a precious Chinese medicinal herb that can tonify the kidneys and strengthen yang, as well as moisten the intestines and relieve constipation."
When Li Xiangdong mentioned it as an aphrodisiac, the men in the room unanimously agreed, "This is a good thing, let's plant it!"
Wang Zhenbo was more cautious, asking, "Only Suaeda salsa grows on saline-alkali land, can Cistanche deserticola grow there?"
Li Xiangdong nodded, "If you want to grow Cistanche deserticola, you have to grow Tamarix first."
"Tamarix?"
"Yes, it's the red thorn tree!"
Next, Li Xiangdong explained in detail the method of cultivating Cistanche deserticola.
"First, dig up two- to three-year-old red jujube trees and plant them in the saline-alkali land. Then, dig a hole 70 to 80 centimeters deep about 50 to 80 centimeters away from the red jujube trees."
"At this time, when digging the hole, the lateral roots of the red thorn were broken. The seeds of Cistanche deserticola were placed on the broken roots, and they were able to combine together."
"Cistanche deserticola is essentially a parasite on Vitex negundo, and the nutrients it needs for growth are all provided by Vitex negundo."
Li Tang said, "Although the red thorn tree is not picky about where it grows, it rarely grows on saline-alkali land."
Li Xiangdong replied, "Didn't we already dig out a layer of topsoil and use water from the Sanzhi River to flood the area and remove the alkali? It should be usable now."
Since there were no problems, the planting of Cistanche deserticola was settled.
After finishing their business, the group remembered the provincial investigation team and felt quite annoyed.
Li Kang said angrily, "It's like a toad jumping onto my foot; it doesn't bite, but it's disgusting!"
Li Tang's eyes darkened. "How do you know they don't bite?"
Li Qing also said, "If they don't bite, what are they here for?"
Li Jin remained unmoved. "A clear conscience fears no accusation. Let them investigate!"
Everyone instinctively looked at Li Xiangdong, but strangely enough, Xiangdong acted as if the provincial investigation team hadn't even arrived, offering absolutely no opinion.
Liu Changhai nudged Li Xiangdong, "What do you think?"
Li Xiangdong pulled himself out of his thoughts. "Ah, I think it won't be easy for them to target the members of our brigade."
The two women, who used to be so mischievous, are now incredibly well-behaved and dare not cause any more trouble.
"The only weakness right now is Panjiazhuang. If someone causes trouble there, it will add some problems."
Li Xiangdong explained in detail, "However, I had already spoken to Pan Mingzhong. He's not incompetent; he should be able to handle things in his own village."
Hearing his words, everyone breathed a sigh of relief and left the brigade headquarters, chatting and laughing as they went about their business.
Once only three people remained in the room, Wang Zhenbo spoke up, "The investigation team has taken away all the brigade's account books from the past few years, but we're sure there's nothing wrong with the accounts."
Li Xiangdong waved his hand, "Uncle Bo, whether we have problems or not is not up to us. Let's look at the higher-ups!"
Having done everything he could, Li Xiangdong was mentally prepared for any outcome.
However, he had a strange feeling that things wouldn't turn out badly.
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