Chapter 41
Shen Cong's words shocked everyone present.
Obviously, no one had thought about this problem before.
Cao Hongmin was the first to lose his temper. He asked, "Xiao Shen, what is your opinion?"
Chen Cong said helplessly: "What can I say? Gu Kai and I had just walked in and hadn't even had dinner when we heard someone shouting that someone in the yard was beaten, and then they ran out.
It was only after you told me what was going on that I realized what was going on. What ideas could you come up with in such a short time?
Speaking of the river, it's because my family is an old resident of the community. When I bought the house, the sales department used the river as a selling point, so we understand the situation.
I thought that since you have been in the community for a short time, you might not know this, so I wanted to remind you.
As for how to make a decision, it is up to you, Captain, to discuss it.”
Everyone knows that the Shen family has always been unwilling to participate in community decision-making.
But this time, Shi Lei and his men were unwilling to let Chen Cong and his men escape so quickly.
He looked at Shen Jianyi and said, "Uncle Shen, we understand your family's concerns. You are afraid that it will be difficult to talk to them if you are caught in the middle. In fact, there is no need to think too much. Even if there are some conflicts between our community and Yingshui Village, we are not enemies. It is not to the point of life and death."
He looked at Chen Cong again and said with a smile: "Xiao Shen, don't be too modest. Everyone in our community knows that you are a man with great ambitions.
If you have any suggestions, please share them with us for discussion. After all, this is for the future of our entire community and for everyone to have enough food to eat.”
Shen Cong shook his head.
"Captain Shi, you don't have to put me on such a high pedestal. I know my own weight. I don't have that much ability.
And I'm not shirking my responsibility, I just have some concerns.
Everyone knows our family’s situation. After all, Yingshui Village is our hometown, and we still have relatives in the village.
What you said just now is right. It is indeed difficult to speak when you are caught in the middle. No matter what you say, people will easily think you are biased. In this case, it is better not to say anything.
Anyway, my dad and I have promised that we will support whatever decision the community makes, and the captains should discuss the rest."
Everyone present heard what Shen Fei said to Shen's father just now, and they also saw the trust he showed in the Shen family.
In this situation, no matter what the Shen family said, everyone's first reaction would definitely be -
They were on the side of the people of Yingshui Village; after all, they were one family.
In this case, the more you say, the more mistakes you make, so it’s better not to say anything.
"No, no, Xiao Shen, don't think too much about it."
"Sister Cong, no one would think so. We are on the same side!"
"Speak up, pool your wisdom, and discuss it. Speak up, don't be shy."
As soon as Chen Cong finished speaking, the people around him started talking at once.
Shi Lei and Cao Hongmin also reiterated their position and insisted that she express her suggestions.
Since everyone has talked about this, Chen Cong stopped being pretentious and directly expressed his thoughts.
Really - she felt that she couldn't delay any longer.
Instead of focusing on these internal conflicts, it is better to seize the time to fight the impending drought and famine.
"Since everyone asked me to speak, I will state my opinion. First of all, stop fighting over those lands. If the people of Yingshui Village want them, give them to them."
These words were like a drop of water dropped into a hot oil pan, and everyone around was shocked!
Fortunately, the two captains were relatively calm. They held down the angry man and said to Shen Cong, "Xiao Shen, please continue."
This was something Chen Cong had anticipated beforehand, so she would naturally not be disturbed by anything.
She looked around, then took a half-burned branch from the earthen stove not far away and settled the accounts with everyone on the floor.
"I'm not sure how many people there are in our community, so let's just assume 300. Of those, 200 are full-time workers who can go out to build bridges and roads and do heavy manual labor!"
Cao Hongmin interjected: "It won't be 200, at most 170."
"Okay, one hundred and seventy. These people must be going to the town to find work, so exclude them first.
Among the remaining people, the disabled people who are completely unable to work and the children count as thirty, so the remaining people only make one hundred.
If we want to reclaim wasteland and cultivate land, we can only count on these hundred people.
These one hundred people are basically housewives like my mother and my sister.
They have to cook for the whole family or everyone living together, take care of the sick and look after the children.
In addition, some of them have to undertake the daily maintenance work of the community.
With such a busy schedule, how much can they produce?
Another thing to remember is that these people have never done farm work before, right? They are all novices.
Captains, do you really think that we can open up all the wasteland in front of our gate by our own strength?"
"Then we will come back to help during our breaks from working in town! Not all of these 100 people have to go to town, we can go in batches!"
"How much surplus food do we have in our community? Are we going to starve to death? The government has stopped distributing food!"
Shen Jianyi finally couldn't help but scold the person who offered to help.
"Young people should use their brains before speaking. The town is so small, how much work can there be for us to do? Do people from other places besides ours have to go too?
It’s better to go early than late, everyone who can go to work must go!
Don’t forget, in addition to your own food and drink, there are many people in the community who cannot leave and are waiting for you to earn food!
If you can’t earn, they will starve to death!”
Old Man Shen spoke louder and louder, and the expression on his face became more and more serious.
It was obvious how anxious the old man was about the impending famine.
His words made the throats of the young men opposite him feel as if they were tied up, and they were completely unable to refute.
"Captain Shi, Captain Cao, what I mean is that we must reclaim wasteland and cultivate the land, but we should do it within our capabilities.
After all, neither growing vegetables nor growing crops is our strong point, so we have to figure it out by ourselves.
In this situation, we cannot lose sight of the main goal and pursue the trivial. Laborers who can go out to find work should not stay here just to open up wasteland.
Otherwise, if we fail to grow crops and vegetables here, we will really run out of food over there, which would be a big problem.
There is so much land out there, we can only guard the land closest to us, whether we plant or not, it is just an extra line of defense. There is really no need to grab other land.
It's not worth it to fight to the death with the people of Yingshui Village over this.
They are different from us. They have been making a living by farming for generations. They have a deeper feeling for the land than we do, and they understand it better than we do.
To be frank, if the land is handed over to them, they will definitely be better at farming than us.
Besides, there are only so many of us, and we can create a lot of land by cleaning up the vacant land without houses inside the community.
Although it is not as flat and large as outside, the smaller the piece, the easier it is to manage.
It was distributed to each household, and they grew it themselves, and whether they ate it or sold it, it could be considered a supplement.
How many people in the city have large plots of land? Can't they just build a frame at home and plant crops?
We can also consider this method. In this way, even housewives or elderly people can spare energy to take care of their children.
You don’t have to worry about watering or fertilizing. Just carry two more buckets of water when you carry water.
Also, the people of Yingshui Village have occupied the land outside, and they can't cut off our water supply for their own sake!"
Chen Cong's words made the two captains on the opposite side fall into deep thought.
They did not respond immediately.
After all, just yesterday they organized a meeting and mobilized everyone, agreeing to reclaim wasteland and farm together to embrace a better life.
All previous plans were completely negated in a blink of an eye, which really made it a little difficult for people to come around for a while.
The Shen family father and daughter did not stay long. They said a few more words and then left.
After walking out, Chen Cong said to his father: "Dad, don't worry about what the community decides, we can grow vegetables openly at home."
"Yeah, I think so too. Let's clean up the backyard tomorrow and open up the wasteland first."
"Just take your time and don't rush. Just make a model for everyone to see. If there are really heavy objects that cannot be lifted, don't try to move them. I will clean them up when I come back in the evening."
Shen Jianyi paused: "Where are you going tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow, Gu Kai and I will go to the town with the people in the community. Since every family has to send labor to the city to find work, let's go."
"No, no! You can't do that kind of work! I'll go if anyone wants to go. Xiao Kai and I will go together."
Chen Cong smiled: "Just go and take a look, I don't have to do those heavy jobs. Besides, even if I want to do those jobs, they don't necessarily want me to do them!
The main reason is that we were in a hurry to come back today. We didn’t pay attention when we passed through the town, and we don’t know what the situation is over there now, so we have to go and take a look.
and……"
She glared at her father: "Who lets the elderly at home go out to work? You are almost seventy years old, and I asked you to go and stay at home. Do you want people to call you unfilial?"
Shen Jianyi didn't say anything. He reached out and rubbed his daughter's head, and sighed deeply in his heart.
This is his little daughter who was raised pampered since childhood!
Just two months ago, she was so spoiled and unreasonable that she made the adults very angry, but now she has become the treasure of the family.
This is how much hardship one has endured to become so steady.
The more I thought about him, the more distressed I felt, and the sadder I felt.
The next day, Shen Cong was not able to visit the town as she had hoped.
Firstly, Gu Kai and Old Man Gu had just returned in the morning, and they had been guarding the town for the entire night for the old man.
The two men were so tired that their eyes were blue. There was no way they could let Gu Kai go to work in the town at this time.
Another thing is that last night, people from Yingshui Village returned to the village overnight and brought Xu Xingxue here.
They probably didn't rest all night, walking back to the village along the mountain road late at night, and arrived at the entrance of the community at around six or seven in the morning.
Xu Xingxue didn't go anywhere and came directly to the Shen family.
This left Shen Jianyi with no way out, and it was impossible for him not to be the middleman.
In this case, Chen Cong would naturally not leave.
Several people from the community and the village came out this time, and there were more than a dozen people from both sides gathered at home. She had to watch over them, otherwise how could she feel at ease?
The Shen family’s living room wasn’t very big to begin with, and most of the furniture was destroyed during the earthquake.
In order not to appear different from other people's homes, the Shen family's living room was not tidied up again. All the furniture and items that Shen Cong had received and kept in good condition were placed above the second floor.
It's not visible from the first floor.
The second floor is the bedroom, and it is usually not allowed for people to go up there.
So after this group of people entered, the room suddenly seemed a bit cramped, and there wasn't even a bench to sit on.
Cheng Ru wanted to pour a glass of water for everyone, but there were not enough cups.
Seeing this, Xu Xingxue said, "Uncle and aunt, please stop worrying. We are not thirsty. We came to disturb you so early in the morning without even saying hello. We are causing trouble for you.
But there is no other way, you are the elders after all. If something happens at home, you must ask the elders for support, right? "
He spoke with a smile as always, his tone was sincere and familiar, but the words he said were like roasting someone on fire.
Forcing you to choose your side right there in front of so many relatives and clansmen.
Because Shi Lei was going to take the laborers to the town to get work, Cao Hongmin was the one representing the community today.
The Shen family had already made their position clear during the meeting last night, and everyone knew what was going on. So even if Xu Xingxue intended to recruit helpers in front of him, Lao Cao remained extremely calm.
Not only was he not angered, but he said to an old employee standing next to him, "Go, find some cups. People from far away are guests, and coming to Uncle Shen's house is like coming to our own home. If they come from so far away, we should at least give them a glass of water."
Shen Jianyi also looked like he didn't understand and didn't respond to Xu Xingxue's words. Instead, he turned the topic to his leg injury.
"Xingxue, how is your leg recovering? How did you make it through such a long mountain road? Don't think you can take it lightly just because you are young. You still need to take good care of it."
Although Xu Xingxue tried hard to hold on, everyone could see that his right leg was lame when he walked in.
Although the injuries were not visible because he was wearing long pants, one could imagine that he must have suffered a lot during this period just by looking at the fact that he had lost a lot of weight and looked several years older.
"I'm fine, I'm completely healed." When talking about his injuries, although Xu Xingxue tried to smile, a hint of sadness flashed in his eyes.
There was silence for a moment, and I was a little confused about the topic.
Seeing him like this, Shen Jianyi directly led the topic to what everyone was most concerned about.
He said: "Let's put aside the talk of promoting learning and reminiscing about the past and talk about business first.
I was involved in the dispute between Murakami and the community yesterday, and we all know the details of the situation.
What I mean is - what's done is done.
There were injuries on both sides, but the injured were all treated and no one suffered any sequelae.
Since this is the case, there is no need to explain. There is no right or wrong.
Everyone is doing this for the collective and for life, and no one is doing this out of selfish motives.
So as of last night, let's put this matter behind us! Xingxue, Lao Cao, do you agree with this?"
Both Xu Xingxue and Cao Hongmin expressed their approval.
"Then let's talk about what happens next."
Shen Jianyi looked at Cao Hongmin and said, "Old Cao, you speak first? After all, we are also landlords now. Xingxue and the others have come to us, so we have to express our stance first."
Cao Hongmin smiled and said, "Okay, then I'll go first?"
He looked at Xu Xingxue and asked, "Village Chief Xu, let me ask you something impolite. Are you still the head of Yingshui Village?"
After that, he waved his hand and said, "I don't mean anything else, don't get me wrong. The main thing we are discussing today is the future lives of hundreds of people on both sides. If we want to talk about it, we have to find someone who can take charge."
Xu Xingxue showed a moment of embarrassment on his face.
He has been in charge of Yingshui Village for many years and used to be a man whose words were final.
But because of an earthquake, not only did he become disabled, he was almost pushed out of the position of village chief.
At the beginning, Xu Liang took advantage of the fact that several people in the village committee were sick or injured, and made a lot of noise in the village for a while, doing a lot of embarrassing things.
At that time, they had no ability to stop it, nor did they have the intention to do so.
Now that his shortcomings were exposed in public, even though Xu Xingxue always considered himself to be well-mannered, he still felt very embarrassed.
However, what Cao Hongmin said made sense, and no matter how unhappy he was, he had to nod his head.
He said: "I am still the village chief. I can't say I am in charge, but I still have the power to make decisions. Important matters still need to be discussed and decided by the leaders of the village group."
He gritted his teeth and finally explained: "What happened before... At that time, there was a disaster, and many of the village cadres' families were in trouble. They couldn't take care of many things, so I was in a state of panic for a few days.
But it’s all over now. Xu Liang and a few other idlers who had gathered to cause trouble were taken to the town police station, and the village has now returned to normal.”
Hearing what he said, Cao Hongmin nodded and praised: "That's right! Such villains must not be kept. They are extremely evil and may bite you at any time. If we can get rid of them from the village, we will feel more at ease when dealing with the village in the future."
He commented on Xu Liang again, and before Xu Xingxue could get impatient, he stopped talking and said, "We discussed yesterday in a meeting about the village's plan to open up the wasteland outside the community.
Let's be frank. The government did say that whoever opened the land will own it. All the previous documents and certificates are useless. Village Chief Xu, you guys know this, right?"
Xu Xingxue's lips trembled.
Before he could say anything, the people standing behind him exploded: "Those are all our village's land! No matter what you say, you can't go without evidence! Not to mention the land outside, even the land in this yard belongs to our village. Don't use what the people in the town say to pressure us! Letting you live here and not chasing you away is already giving you face! Who are you trying to scare?!"
Cao Hongmin's face immediately drooped.
He held down his men who were about to argue with the other party and looked at Xu Xingxue: "Village Chief Xu, is this your idea? Are you planning to drive away all the people in our courtyard?"
Xu Xingxue certainly couldn't admit it, and they didn't have the ability to drive away everyone in the community.
He knew very well that the village was no longer as powerful as before, and the person in front of him was no longer the small supervisor of the property department.
He is now one of the leaders of this community, at least for now he is on an equal footing with me.
He tried to swallow his anger and said, "In fact, what our people said is not wrong, but we have to listen to the government.
It's said above that whoever opens the land first gets it, so let's compete fairly, no one should say anything, whoever opens it first gets it!"
Xiao Qian, who followed, immediately became unhappy and shouted, "You still have the nerve to talk about fair competition? Who sneaked in to grab the land in the middle of the night without any warning? Who wiped out the lime line we drew and occupied the land we liked?
What have you done? And now you're talking about fairness to us?"
The anger of the people on both sides was immediately aroused, and it seemed that they were about to explode again!
"Enough, stop arguing. If you want to make a fuss, get out! This is my home!" Shen Jianyi shouted angrily.
"My family is still sleeping upstairs. If you wake them up, I'll hit you with a big stick! If you have something to say, just say it quietly. If you want to quarrel, go outside and quarrel!"
He spoke with the attitude of an elder, and people on both sides naturally calmed down their anger.
Cao Hongmin's face turned stern, and it was obvious that he no longer wanted to beat around the bush with the people from Yingshui Village.
He said bluntly: "Uncle Shen talked to us for a long time yesterday, saying that the village is not easy now. The good fields have turned into mountains, and everyone has no arable land.
Uncle Chen and Xiao Shen talked to us for a long time, saying that we are all neighbors and should help each other if possible, and there is no need to fight over such a small matter.
We think this makes a lot of sense.
So in the end we agreed that we would give up the land outside, except for the piece closest to the community entrance, and you can cultivate or use the rest as you like, and we won't fight for it.
But Village Chief Xu, your attitude is not acceptable. The reason why we didn't argue is that we think Uncle Shen is right. It is better to make relatives than to make enemies. After all, we are the closest neighbors.
Everything is fine, everyone lives their own life, and if anything happens they can help each other.
Next, Xiao Shen also said that when it comes to our feelings for the land and farming, we are not as good as you. The land is more useful in your hands.
The country is short of food now. Since you are better than us in this area, we should give way to you. It doesn't matter who plants. If we grow more food, will it be bad for us?
But what is your attitude now?
Do you think we owe you something and that you deserve all this?
If that's the case, then we have to change our approach. Every one of us is a man of integrity, and the people in our community are not easy to bully!"
"No, no, no, that's right! Don't listen to their nonsense. They are just kids talking nonsense. I will punish them later!"
Xu Xingxue is such a wise man.
Since he had already heard that the community was willing to give in, how could he possibly ask them to take back what they had said? !
While he was trying to smooth over the conversation, he poked the young man who spoke first on the head with a finger in a pretentious manner, then turned around and started discussing with Lao Cao how the land in front of the door should be divided.
Lao Cao and his team discussed until very late last night and already had a very detailed plan. Xu Xingxue and his team were also busy all night and naturally had a comprehensive plan in mind.
After the initial tests and confrontations, the two sides finally got to the point.
Seeing that these people couldn't fight anymore, Chen Cong didn't stay in the house for long. He turned around and walked out of the room and went to the backyard.
At this time, Grandpa Gu and Gu Kai were still being forced to sleep in the house by their family members. In the backyard, only Chen Xi and the two children who had just woken up were pulling weeds for fun.
While no one was paying attention, Chen Cong took out two small sun hats from the space and put them on the heads of the two children, and then ignored the three of them and walked aside to study the steel frames.
Previously, during their free time, Chen Cong and his family had moved all the steel racks to the corner against the wall, freeing up most of the space in the backyard.
But even so, these things still occupy a large space.
She wanted to figure out how to make proper use of these things.
Seeing that she was fine, Shen Xi came over, touched her arm and asked, "Have you finished talking inside?"
"It's too early. I don't think it will be clear before noon today."
"So let them stay in our house forever?"
"What else? If we could chase our dad away, we would have chased them away long ago. Why wait until now?"
Hearing his sister say this, Chen Xi felt a little helpless.
She was too lazy to continue the topic and angrily hit the steel frame with the grass in her hand: "I'm almost suffocated by staying in the house every day. That's not all. Now I have to listen to them quarreling. It's so annoying!"
Chen Cong smiled, then looked at his sister: "You should cherish the days when you can stay at home and not go out. You will miss it soon."
Chen Xi's hand suddenly stopped in mid-air: "What do you mean?"
"You can go out with us tomorrow."
The author has something to say:
Thank you to the little angels who voted for me or irrigated nutrient solution during 2022-07-11 22:43:35~2022-07-13 00:58:45~
Thanks to the little angels who cast mines: Yimeng 1;
Thanks to the little angels who irrigated the nutrient solution: 10 bottles of Pudding and Milk Tea; 1 bottle of Materialistic Talk;
Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!
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