"Brother, is it really written here?" Zhou Tiezhu was uneducated and illiterate, so he could only rely on Zhou Wenbin to read.
"Brother, it's true. Our Zhou family used to be the village chief. Look!" Zhou Wenbin pointed to one of the sections.
There was one character among them that Zhou Tiezhu recognized, and that was his own surname.
"Impossible... I am very familiar with the history of the village... Your ancient book... is fake!" Zhao Deshan looked incredulous. He had been interested in the stories of the village since he was a child and often asked people about them.
As time went by, he became the person in the village who understood the village traditions best, and others had to ask him first before doing anything for weddings or funerals.
But he knew nothing about the contents of the village chronicles, because the chronicles had always been kept by the village chief and were not open to the public.
"Deshan, what is written in this book is true. This iron mine has always been shared by everyone in the village." Old Lady Zhao was supported by Su Ruoxue and walked out, talking about this matter lightly.
"Then... could it be that... Dad and my uncles are lying to me! Puff——" Zhao Tiezhu spat a mouthful of blood on the table and fell backwards.
If Zhao Shouzhong had not protected him in time, Zhao Tiezhu would have had a close contact with the ground.
"Deshan, don't you know who they are?" Old Lady Zhao shook her head. She really couldn't bear to see her descendants become like this.
"Dad... stop talking and go back to rest." Zhao Shouzhong looked concerned. Although the father in front of him often suppressed him, he also cared about him a lot.
"Shouzhong! And others, listen up!" Zhao Deshan stood up and did something he had never done in his life.
"I... was wrong! I trusted the wrong person! I shouldn't have let the Zhao family monopolize the mine! Since the village annals record it this way, then according to the village annals, the iron mine belongs to all the villagers of Qingshi Village! No one may stop mining on the grounds that the iron mine belongs to the Zhao family!"
Li Changhe struck while the iron was hot and announced, "Since Deshan has said so, my Li family can also solemnly declare that the forest also belongs to the villagers of Qingshi Village. No one can stop it based on family names!"
"Good!" Lin Tongxi took the lead in applauding, and the others followed suit.
"It's enough for all the elders and fellow villagers to reach a consensus on this point, but there is still one point we haven't resolved."
"Although resources are shared, think about it, does this mean that everyone can cut down trees at will?"
Everyone discussed it, and all came to a negative answer.
"That's right, as the saying goes, 'know when to stop.' It's true that the trees and iron ore are owned by the villagers of Qingshi Village, but if we use them all, others and future generations will have nothing to use them for."
"But sometimes you have to use iron and wood. In that case, it depends on the situation. For example, if bandits come, you must use resources to make weapons. This is allowed."
"But if you say you want to build 100 houses for someone, that's obviously unacceptable."
When this was said, everyone nodded.
"So how do we manage who gets to use it, how much to use, and how to use it? It's definitely not possible for Brother Chenxuan and I to do it alone!"
Lin Tongxi raised the corner of his mouth and then got to the point: "Our strength is really too small. There is a saying that goes, many hands make light work!"
"I called everyone here because everyone here is the most sensible person in the village, and the villagers all respect you."
"Therefore, Brother Chenxuan and I sincerely invite everyone to join in the management of the village!"
"Having a village chief alone is definitely not enough to develop Qingshi Village!"
"Everyone, think about this: if you put a pancake as big as the one from Qingshi Village in front of Brother Chenxuan, could he cut and eat it all by himself?"
"Obviously not! This is when we need everyone's strength!"
"For example, appoint a few deputy village chiefs."
Upon hearing this, Zhou Tiezhu and others' eyes lit up.
If you can't be the village chief, being the deputy village chief is also good!
At least Zhou Tiezhu can report to his wife and doesn't have to endure nagging all day long.
"Of course, we can't let everyone work for nothing. We have to compensate them with something."
"As for how to set up... how to divide this pie, that's the key to gathering everyone together!"
Lin Tongxi snapped his fingers and then announced something worthy of being recorded in the village annals.
"The first village sages' meeting has officially begun!"
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