401 Come to the door
On the way back to the factory, Xiao Lu had already explained the general situation.
Su Taotao asked Fu Yuanhang to take Chen Chen with him to work and study.
Chen Chen knew that Su Taotao was busy, so he obediently followed his uncle.
When Su Taotao and Xiao Lu arrived at the conference room, Zhang Jingan was talking to several gray-haired old men.
After a brief introduction, Su Taotao didn't exchange any more pleasantries and asked directly: "Several of you said you are the owners of this land. Do you have any documents to prove your identity?"
One of the old men with sharp eyes replied, "Yes, but we left in a hurry and didn't bring anything with us. We needed to go into the air-raid shelter to get something, but your people wouldn't let us in."
Hearing this, Su Taotao's eyelids twitched slightly.
When laying the foundation, Lao Gao did find a stack of land deeds in the air-raid shelter.
Not just one sheet, but a stack.
At that time, Lao Gao gave her full authority to handle the matter. Initially, she planned to hand it over to Secretary Zhao and let him deal with the aftermath.
Unfortunately, Secretary Zhao was transferred away due to a fire in his backyard, and she did not have such a deep friendship with the new secretary.
Later, I was too busy, so I put this matter off until now.
The deeds are still in the drawer of her house.
Today, it seems that there is indeed a lot of controversy over the ownership of this land.
But even so, their identities cannot be proven.
Su Taotao said calmly, "You are not employees of our factory, so you cannot walk around freely in the factory. It is not reasonable to allow anyone to enter the factory for search."
An old man slammed the table and stood up: "You are talking nonsense, what do you mean by your factory? This is our site! You built a factory on our site without our consent. How can you come back to your own place and still need your consent? How can this be justified?"
Xiao Lu stepped forward and slammed the table: "Talk nicely, don't take advantage of your seniority to speak loudly to our factory director Su. I'm going to your house and saying it's our territory. I want to go in and search for things. Are you willing?"
A younger one said, "But what's the difference between what you are doing and the bandits who forcibly occupy the land?"
Xiao Lu: "Who has forcibly occupied this place? We are a state-owned factory! If you can't talk properly, get out of here."
Su Taotao knew what was going on, but she had no idea how to deal with the matter. She also had no way of proving whether the person in front of her was the original owner or just knew about it and was trying to take advantage of the situation.
The other old man softened his attitude: "I'm sorry, we didn't mean to offend you. We are just gone, not dead, and we haven't done anything wrong. These lands are passed down from our ancestors, so naturally we are worried."
Su Taotao raised her hand to calm the situation: "You all keep saying that we are encroaching, don't you think this factory is my private property?"
Su Taotao tapped the table and said, "This is a government factory, a national factory, a factory that serves the people. The factory can be built here, of course, it has been approved by the country and the government.
You don't have any documents to prove yourselves, so what's the point of coming here to yell at us? Instead of arguing with us here, you might as well find the relevant departments to solve the problem."
The two angry old men were about to slam the table and stand up, but were held down by the oldest old man wearing reading glasses.
"Director Su, we are not here to yell at you. We are all rough people, so please forgive us if our words may be offensive.
We are here this time to get the title deed back and to give an explanation to the relevant departments. The land is ours and we did leave the title deed in the air-raid shelter. Please give us a favor."
Another old man said, "Yes, Director Su, we have no ill intentions, we just want justice. If we hadn't seen the address on your candy packaging, we wouldn't have known that our land had been turned into a factory."
Su Taotao originally printed the address and contact number on the packaging bag, but she never expected that this would lead to such a thing.
Once a factory is built, it is impossible to demolish it. If it is verified that the land belongs to someone else, the compensation should definitely be paid to them.
She was worried about this problem at the time, but considering that this era had its own characteristics and the land belonged to the country, even if there were disputes over the ownership of the land, they would be properly resolved, so she didn't take it too seriously.
She didn't mention the land deed for the time being because their visit was too sudden and she was not mentally prepared at all. She had to discuss the rules with the local leaders before she could have a proper talk with them.
The premise is that their identities are real.
Su Taotao said: "The information I received is that this place used to belong to nearby villagers, and later a big landlord bought all the scattered land and concentrated it into one piece, turning it into an orchard.
Later, during the land reform, the big landlords did not even show up to confirm the ownership or exchange the certificates. Instead, they took the old deeds and left the country. Naturally, the land was taken back by the state and the collective.
These days, being labeled a landlord or a rich peasant is not a good thing. Most people would take the initiative to pay for their land and live in peace.
The older man said, "I don't know where you heard this rumor from. It's not comprehensive."
The old man pointed in the direction of the hilltop of the coconut plantation and said, "The owner of the hilltop above may be a landlord, but we are not. Each of our families does not own much land, not even a middle-class farmer. The land where you built the factory was indeed left by our ancestors.
Because of some other things, I missed the land reform and could not come back to settle down, so I made a fuss. We will naturally report these things to the leaders.
This does not mean that the land is not ours. Now we just want to go into the air-raid shelter and get back the title deed that belongs to us.”
If what the old man said is true, there is indeed a big dispute over the ownership of this land.
The power of an individual is very small these days, and they would be powerless even if the higher-ups wanted to confiscate the land by force.
Su Taotao, who carries the soul of the 21st century, cannot do such a thing of confusing right and wrong.
But she needs to discuss with the local government how to properly handle it.
"How about this, you guys go back today. If what you said is true, we need time to verify it. We will report to the leader first, and then we will sit down together to discuss the charter."
Someone got impatient and said, "Hey, lesbian, we just want to come back to get the land deed, but you are here to hinder us. What's the meaning of this?"
Zhang Jing'an had been listening quietly without saying anything. He then said, "We are a state-owned factory, not a park. We allow anyone in. Do you think it is appropriate? We need time to verify your identity information."
The old man said, "You! Why can't I convince you? I told you that the title deed is in the air-raid shelter! Since you already know this, we won't leave. What if you go in and take our title deed after we leave?"
Su Taotao pinched her painful brows and said, "The police and the armed forces have conducted a carpet search and did not find the title deed."
Su Taotao felt that this matter was almost certain, but she couldn't keep the land deed in her hands. She had to verify their identities before returning it to them.
The old man said, "That's because we hid so well that your people couldn't find us. It doesn't mean we don't exist. We won't go anywhere else, and we won't touch anything of yours. We will only go into the air-raid shelter, otherwise we won't leave!"
The rest of the people: "Yes, I can only go into the air-raid shelter, otherwise we won't leave."
What else does Zhang Jing'an want to say?
Su Taotao shouted, "Xiao Lu, take them to the air-raid shelter. If you can't find what you want, please leave immediately and find whoever you need to verify their identity.
But you have to be mentally prepared. Let's not talk about the ownership of the land for now. Even if it is true, the factory building has been built, and it is impossible to demolish the factory building and return the land to you. I suggest you think about other compensation plans.
Once you have decided how to negotiate, send two more representatives over, and we will sit down with the local leaders to discuss how to resolve this matter."
Su Taotao also needed time to verify their identities and could not just give the land deed to others.
Everyone looked at each other and expressed their agreement with Su Taotao's statement.
The oldest elder spoke as a representative: "Let's follow what Director Su said and go get the land deed first."
Su Taotao raised her chin towards Xiao Lu and said, "Take them there."
…