With Chen Jinli by his side, Ye Cheng went to Chen Jinshui's house again. Chen Jinshui was easy to talk to and was already familiar with Ye Cheng, so he immediately agreed as soon as Ye Cheng asked.
The four of them strolled into the village committee.
Inside the village committee office, village chief Chen Jinhai sat alone in his office, brewing tea, exuding an air of authority.
"Jin Hai, Jin Hai." A voice suddenly called him from outside. Chen Jin Hai looked up and immediately frowned.
Two brothers from the same clan are one thing, but there are also Ye Guowei and Ye Cheng.
He strolled out slowly and said sarcastically, "Oh, so many people, what are you up to? Want to demolish the village for maintenance?"
"Jin Hai, speak properly. Guo Wei is here on business." Chen Jinli retorted loudly. They were all brothers, and neither of them was afraid of the other.
"Village chief, we've come to discuss the matter of taking over the management of the mudflats," Ye Guowei said. He didn't like Chen Jinhai either, but now that he needed to ask the village for help, his tone was much weaker.
"Contracting the mudflats?" Chen Jinhai muttered softly. "The village's mudflats weren't said to be contracted out. Who said it was possible to contract them out?"
Upon seeing this guy start talking in official jargon, Ye Cheng glanced at the two experts he had invited.
The two immediately understood that Chen Jinshui was being more subtle: "A few years ago, our village was supposed to contract out the land, but no one was willing to do it."
Chen Jinli was more direct, saying, "Jinhai, it's a good thing that Guowei is taking over the contract. It will bring income to the village. Don't keep making things difficult for him just because you have a grudge against him."
When Chen Jinli directly pointed out that he had made things difficult for others, Chen Jinhai's face darkened, and he gave him a displeased look, wondering whose side he was on.
Chen Jinli sat down in a chair and said casually, "Don't look at me like that. I'm just doing this for the good of the village, right, Jinshui?"
"Yes, yes, it's all for the good of the village. If this breeding industry takes off, other industries will also benefit."
As they were talking, Chen Chunfu, the accountant from next door, walked in.
"Chunfu is here. Perfect timing! Didn't that village want to contract out the mudflats before?"
Chen Chunfu has been the village accountant for many years, so of course he knows.
"Yes, but no one's taking care of it."
"Look, Jin Hai, isn't this the case? Hurry up and take over the contract."
"Huh? Someone wants to take over?" Chen Chunfu was still completely confused.
“Uncle Chunfu, my brother wants to take over the contract,” Ye Cheng interjected.
“That’s great! There are so many mudflats in the village that are just sitting idle. How many do you want to contract?” Chen Chunfu was very happy. As an accountant, looking at empty ledgers was really not fun.
"Let's see what the price is in the village." Ye Cheng didn't know what the price was in the village before.
Chen Chunfu recalled, "I remember it was around 100 yuan per mu."
100 yuan per mu is acceptable; it's within Ye Cheng's acceptable range.
But before he could speak, Chen Jinli spoke first, "100 yuan per mu is too expensive. No wonder no one is contracting it. Lower the price."
"No, you can't just lower the price like that. This is village collective property," Chen Jinhai interrupted, getting anxious. What was going on?
They want to sideline him as village chief, right? If he doesn't say anything, these people will make a decision.
“It’s village collective property, so we have to pay for it. But if the price is too high, no one will take it over. It’s a waste to leave it empty. It’s better to lower the price, right, Jinshui and Chunfu?” Chen Jinli looked at the two of them.
Chen Jinshui nodded naturally, and Chen Chunfu, who also wanted to contract out the business, nodded while pretending not to see Chen Jinhai's gaze.
“Well, Jin Hai, look, the village committee members all agreed. You’re not going to act like some kind of local tyrant, are you? We’re a collective. They even said in a village meeting that decisions should be made collectively.”
Chen Jinli's words left Chen Jinhai speechless. He sat down angrily, looking at the group of ungrateful wretches in front of him.
He knew that Jin Li's two children had been getting close to Ye Cheng recently, and that they had come to help.
But there was nothing he could do. He had always touted his collective decision-making, but now that people were using the collective as an excuse, he was powerless to do anything about it.
"I think 30 yuan per mu is more appropriate, what do you guys think?" Chen Jinli said directly, "It's practically free."
"Impossible!" Upon hearing that the price was cut in half, Chen Jinhai immediately jumped up, his beard practically bursting with rage. "Why don't you just give it away for free? It's so cheap!"
"Then how much do you want?"
"It has to be at least 90."
Chen Jinli wanted to continue arguing, but Ye Cheng suddenly interrupted, saying, "90 is 90, but I want to contract it for 30 years."
Ye Cheng's words shocked everyone: one was the contract price, and the other was the contract term.
The price of 100 yuan was reasonable, and Ye Cheng accepted it, but the offer to contract for 30 years was indeed a bit shocking.
Ye Guowei was startled. He looked at Ye Cheng and asked, "Cheng, isn't 30 years too long?"
“Hey, second brother, usually the contracts are for three to five years. Yours is for 30 years... isn’t that a bit too wasteful?” Chen Jinli originally wanted to say that he had money to burn, but he was too embarrassed to say it.
“Sure, we’ll definitely lease it out for 30 years.” Chen Jinhai couldn’t help but smile when he heard about the 30-year lease. “There are such fools. But you have to pay in full upfront.”
“Jin Hai, you’ve gone too far. Paying for 30 years in one lump sum? Why don’t you just rob someone?” Chen Jinli said.
“It’s okay, I’ll pay in full at once. I want 30 mu (approximately 2 hectares), and I can choose the location myself.”
"Okay! Deal!"
Before anyone else could speak, Chen Jinhai waved his hand and happily agreed.
Now the others didn't know what to say. Both sides had agreed, so there was nothing more for the others to say.
"So, second brother, how much do you want to contract?" Chen Jinli asked cautiously. He was a little afraid of Ye Cheng now, as this guy seemed to be acting unpredictably.
It's about not playing by the rules, because there's no need to.
90 yuan, let alone 30 years from now, even 20 years from now, is the price of a cup of high-end milk tea. That's enough to cover a year's expenses, so what are you waiting for?
“50 mu!” Ye Cheng uttered softly.
Suddenly, another thunderclap shook the heavens, shocking everyone present.
Even Chen Jinhai, who was eager to see Ye Cheng suffer a loss and make a fool of himself, was shocked by this number.
50 mu of land.
One mu (approximately 0.16 acres) is 666.67 square meters, equivalent to the size of a standard basketball court. Fifty such courts would cover more than 30,000 square meters, essentially encompassing all the better mudflats in Baiyun Village.
Ye Guowei was completely dumbfounded. He thought that contracting 20 mu would be the maximum, but now Ye Cheng had gone all the way to the top.
He took out his fingers and started counting, but he couldn't figure it out no matter how he tried; there were too many zeros at the end.
"5...50 mu, 30 years, and paid in full at once, Ye Cheng, are you serious?" Chen Chunfu stammered.
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