At this moment, the second grandfather also reached for the microphone he so disliked, pressed the power button, and brought it to his lips. This time, the sound amplified by the microphone completely drowned out the discussions of the other villagers.
"Without further ado, let's move on to the investment process. There's a pre-cut sheet of paper on each of your seats. Please write your name and investment amount on it. Dongliang and Anzi, you two will go down and collect your papers in two minutes." After saying this, Second Grandfather was about to put down the microphone, but then seemed to remember something and brought it back to his mouth to remind everyone, "Although our target amount is two million, I hope everyone here will act within their means and not be impulsive."
The second grandfather's additional remark drew laughter from the surrounding villagers. They all complained that the village chief of Xujia Village, who had been running rampant in Qianhai Town for many years, must be senile, constantly spouting off two or three million, as if it were nothing more than a roadside cabbage. If Xujia Village could really come up with two million so easily, why would every household still live in a tiled house and travel by electric scooter?
The surrounding laughter did not affect the people of Xujia Village. Everyone picked up their pens and wrote down their names and investment amounts without hesitation, quietly waiting for Xu An and Xu Dongliang to come and collect the money.
Upon hearing the estimated fundraising amount of two million, Xu An made his decision without hesitation. The 960,000 yuan loan from Haishi Bank would be invested entirely in the village's collective industries! As for the shop on Zijing Road and Qianjin Street, he would check on it next month; if necessary, he could take out another loan. Given the current operating situation of Xu's Fast Food Restaurant, obtaining another loan wouldn't be difficult.
Just as Xu An was pondering this, he suddenly felt someone push him. Looking up, he saw Uncle Dongliang reminding him that it was time to collect the completed forms. Xu An immediately strode towards where Uncle Guosheng and the others were.
Xu An took the paper from Uncle Guosheng and quickly glanced at it, a look of surprise on his face. Six characters were written neatly at the top of the paper: Xu Guosheng, 260,000. This was tens of thousands more than the investment amount discussed at the meeting at his second grandfather's house.
Before anyone could say anything, Aunt Hong handed Xu An the slip of paper in her hand—Li Xiudie, 170,000; next was Uncle Guoqiang—Xu Guoqiang, 90,000. Xu An accepted them all; the first two rows of ten people hadn't contributed less than 70,000 each.
After Xu An and Xu Dongliang put away all the papers, they picked up a calculator and quickly pressed the keys, writing the final number on a blank card and handing it to their second grandfather.
Although Second Grandfather had anticipated that the final amount raised would reach two million, given that Xu An had given him a heads-up that he could contribute one million on his own, he was still surprised to see the exact number on the card. Then came a sense of relief; even in this restless age, the people of Xu Family Village remained united.
The second grandfather's surprised expression lasted for less than two seconds, but under the bright lights, the villagers watching saw the change in his expression in those two seconds and burst into laughter.
"Haha, it must be because the amount is too small."
"Not necessarily, maybe they were just scared because there were too many."
"How is that possible? If Xu Family Village could come up with two million, I...I...I'd eat that pile of dog shit at the entrance of Xu Family Village!"
“”
Although Xu An hoped his second grandfather could simply and loudly announce how much money Xu Family Village had raised, thus humiliating the onlookers, he also knew that if the amount were revealed, a whole bunch of distant relatives who were practically unrelated to them would come to beg for money the next day.
The second grandfather had clearly considered this as well, and instead of directly revealing the final amount raised, he mischievously had Xu An hand the paper to the audience, passing it around from Uncle Guosheng onwards. Each person's first reaction upon receiving the paper was to hold their breath, widen their eyes, and let out a huge "Wow!" before quickly passing it on to the next person.
The unanimous reaction of the villagers in Xujia Village aroused the curiosity of the onlookers. Many people wanted to come closer to find out what was going on, but they were all frozen in place by the second grandfather's sharp eyes and dared not move.
It's not a big deal for the villagers to verbally criticize Xu Family Village; after all, no one has been beaten up for being too foul-mouthed in all these years. But now, if anyone dares to snatch the note being passed around among the villagers, the consequences will be dire.
Hearing the continuous gasps of amazement from the audience, the onlookers felt an intense, itchy itch in their hearts, an unbearable discomfort.
After circling around the room, the card eventually returned to Xu An's hands. Grandpa Er also shouted "Meeting adjourned," officially concluding the first village assembly of Xu Family Village.
Back home, after closing the courtyard gate, he turned around and met his grandmother's curious gaze. Grandma Xu beckoned Xu An closer, leaned close to his ear, and whispered, "Anzi, how much money did the conference raise? How much did you contribute?"
"The village raised a total of 2,286,300 yuan, and I invested 960,000 yuan of it, acquiring 16.8% of the village's collective assets." As he spoke, a smug look appeared on Xu An's face. "In other words, I am the second largest shareholder of Xu Family Village's collective assets."
(End of this chapter)
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