As Li Xiangdong stepped out the door, the bright sunshine hit him in the face, and the breeze, unique to early summer, carried the sweet fragrance of locust blossoms.
He couldn't help but recall the people he had encountered at the market a few days ago.
Judging from their clothes, demeanor, and manner of speaking, they don't seem to be locals!
It's not that they dressed particularly elegantly or differently; on the contrary, they tried their best to resemble the locals in their attire.
Just like how some people, even dressed in dragon robes, don't look like princes, they wouldn't look like beggars even in burlap sacks!
Especially the old man at the head of the group, Li Xiangdong felt inexplicably familiar with him, as if he had seen him somewhere before.
He racked his brains for a long time, but still couldn't come up with a solution.
No matter what, life goes on.
The provincial investigation team was getting a little anxious after a week without any leads.
Pan Dachun and Pan Jixian originally wanted to send someone to report the matter of the 800 mu of saline-alkali land, but Pan Mingzhong stopped them.
Despite his young age, Pan Mingzhong's decisive and efficient style is extremely shrewd.
He held a village-wide meeting and explained the whole story clearly.
"...When we redivided the land before, it was with the consent of all the members, and there were no problems with the procedures!"
Pan Mingzhong said menacingly, "At this time, someone is trying to drag our Pan Family Village down with them for their own selfish gain, and use it to frame Li Family Village!"
He glanced at Pan Dachun and his son, who seemed shrouded in gloom, and said, "Are there some people who can't stand to see us have a full meal?"
"I'm putting this out there now: if anyone asks me about the saline-alkali land in Lijiapo Brigade, I'll assume it's you who instigated it!"
As he spoke, he pointed to a man in his twenties.
The man was pale and stammered, "It wasn't me. Uncle Dachun contacted me..."
The man's father jumped up and slapped him hard across the face, yelling, "You brainless bastard! They're using you as a pawn! They'll sell you out and you'll still be counting the money for them!"
After beating his son, he said to Pan Dachun, "You never think of us when there are good things, but you make my son take the blame for your bad deeds! Damn it! You heartless bastard!"
A glob of phlegm landed right next to Pan Dachun's feet.
Pan Dachun was so angry that he felt like he was about to die. These people, who wouldn't even dare to say a word against him before, now dared to spit in his face!
Pan Mingzhong gave a forced smile. "Uncle Dachun, we're all surnamed Pan in this village. I became the brigade leader so my family could have enough to eat. If you still want to be the brigade leader, then I'd rather give it to you—"
Before Pan Dachun could speak, the others shouted that they disagreed!
After the meeting, everyone spontaneously took turns patrolling Pan Dachun's house, just in case his family members secretly ran out to do something bad.
Panjiazhuang's fence was tightly secured, and there was no gossip coming out of Guanyutai. Lijiapo was even more so, treating the investigation team like thieves!
The provincial investigation team found nothing when they checked the accounts, and Xu Guangheng was so anxious that blisters appeared on the corners of his mouth.
People shouldn't be impatient; when they are impatient, they are prone to making stupid mistakes.
An investigation team, an investigation team, not a conviction team. If you want to investigate, then go ahead. It's simply a matter of truthfully recording what you see, investigate, and research, and then reporting it to the authorities.
But Xu Guangheng was different; he came with a mission.
...
Two days later, a long line suddenly formed outside Liu Yubin's house. Everyone was talking and laughing loudly, preparing to report the problem to Team Leader Xu!
Then someone said, "You're here too?"
"Here I am!"
"Do you need this?"
As he spoke, the man made a gesture of pointing at money with his thumb, middle finger, and index finger.
The man snorted, "Who would complain about the dough being too dark when they're eating free steamed buns? This is two yuan, enough to buy three pounds of meat!"
Inside the room, Xu Guangheng was covered in sweat, pacing anxiously in circles, looking like a donkey pulling a millstone.
He kept muttering, "What am I going to do? That bastard Liu Yubin!"
Wu Xiuzhu remained relatively calm. "Let's go outside and explain that the money given to Liu Yubin was for meals, and that Liu Yubin misunderstood."
There's no other way now.
As soon as Xie Yong and Wu Xiuzhu came out, before they could even speak, voices from the crowd asked, "Team Leader Xie, Team Leader Wu, when is it our turn? Our families are waiting for money to buy matches!"
Xie Yong's face was so black it looked like it could drip water. He roared, "All of you, shut up!"
As soon as he said that, everyone got angry, shouting, "Whose father are you?!"
"Yes, you're such a young man, how come you're swearing!"
"I'm older than your father, and you still want to be my father? Maybe in your next life!"
Seeing that everyone was about to start a commotion, Wu Xiuzhu quickly pressed his hands down to calm them down, saying, "Fellow villagers, listen to me, listen to me..."
However, no one wanted to listen to what he had to say; they were all angrily criticizing Xie Yong and even closing in on him step by step.
Wu Xiuzhu was quick-witted. Seeing that they might be at a disadvantage, he quickly pulled Xie Yong into the yard and fastened the gate shut.
After shutting out the noise from the courtyard, Wu Xiuzhu wiped the sweat from his forehead; the weather was getting hotter and hotter.
As the weather warms up, this farce continues, with people waiting outside Liu Yubin's house every day to block the investigation team, hoping to exchange their dubious leads for money.
Chen Xun entered the village under these circumstances.
After hearing Liu Donglai's introduction, Li Xiangdong finally remembered who he was!
This is an extraordinary person!
No wonder he looked familiar! In my past life, that old man always appeared on TV, so of course he looked familiar!
This Chen Xun has been primarily responsible for the country's economic work since he was young.
When the country was first established, he unified the national finances and economy, stabilized the financial market and prices, and ended the more than 10-year period of rampant inflation left by the previous puppet regime.
During the reform and opening up period, he was again the first to propose the concept of "two types of economy," vigorously supporting the recovery and development of the national economy...
Li Xiangdong was a little dizzy, mainly because he never expected to meet such an important person from TV in his lifetime!
However, having lived two lives, he quickly calmed down.
Li Jin and the others, however, were unaware of Chen Xun's true identity and remained quite calm.
They led Chen Xun on a tour of the various industries owned by the brigade.
"Is that a wild boar?"
Chen Xun pointed to the brown pig lying on the ground in the pen, fast asleep, and asked.
"These are second-generation wild boar piglets! They're a hybrid of wild boar and local pigs. These piglets eat a lot, grow fast, and are less prone to illness!"
Liu Yuliang spoke of these pigs with great familiarity.
Chen Xun then went to see the cannery, the shrimp ponds, the fish ponds, and the Chinese medicinal herbs that were growing particularly lushly.
Finally, we went to the granary. A bite of the golden wheat grains was satisfying – so full and plump!
Chen Xun turned around and praised Liu Donglai, "Well done!"
Liu Donglai declined with great humility, saying, "It was all done by Lijiapo himself."
Li Jin chimed in, "Secretary Liu, that's not right. Without your support, we'd still be eating coarse food and wild vegetables!"
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