Marry a female star at a bargain price

Chapter 361, Section 362: The Black Hand Appears
"We're not moving!!!"

"Exactly! Why should we have to move?!"

"I'd be happy to have the house given to me for free, but you're not going to make me leave my hometown!!"

"..."

The house selection site.

Under the instigation of a few people, the villagers who were originally hesitant were immediately incited and became angry, and started shouting at the top of their lungs.

The scene immediately descended into chaos.

This is no longer a house selection site; it's clearly a rebellion site.

The cadres serving on site were stunned by what they saw. Even though they had expected things to not go smoothly today, they never imagined that it would be such a spectacular scene of a direct uprising.

Judging from this situation, a fight could break out at any moment, which would really cause a huge commotion.

The cadres all trembled with fear.

In the corner, Lin Xiao coldly observed the scene, already certain that the leading young and middle-aged villagers were no good people and must have a master behind them.

He kept wondering who might be deliberately going against him.

I haven't figured it out yet.

He suddenly noticed a young man in the middle of the crowd, with fair skin and a dignified appearance, completely different from the rural people.

Standing among a group of middle-aged and elderly people, this person stood out like a crane among chickens.

That's not the most important thing.

Most importantly, Lin Xiao glanced at him and felt that he looked very familiar, as if he had seen him somewhere before.

After much thought, a brilliant idea struck me.

"In the first few days after I arrived in Xingguang Town, at the Xincun Garden Phase I site... that Yaofa Engineering boss, Yu Yaojun, was accompanied by two people!!"

Lin Xiao's eyes lit up immediately!

Now I understand why the scene was so lively today; it turns out there really was a powerful figure stirring things up behind the scenes.

Having discovered the key point, Lin Xiao naturally launched a powerful attack.

He immediately snatched the microphone from the staff member and stood in front of the crowd.

"Quiet down, everyone, please quiet down!"

Lin Xiao smiled as he scanned the room, paying particular attention to exchanging a glance with Yu Yaojun's henchman.

Then he continued with a smile, "Everyone knows who I am, right?"

The once bustling scene suddenly became so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

Everyone looked at each other, too embarrassed to speak, which clearly meant they knew each other.

In fact, given Mayor Lin's current fame, he would be recognized no matter where he appeared. Xingguang Town is his stronghold; from eighty- or ninety-year-old women to three- or four-year-old children, everyone in the town knows that a famous mayor has come to the town.

His question was completely unnecessary; it only served to intimidate the entire audience.

Seeing that his face had worked, Lin Xiao smiled knowingly: "Everyone, please speak up if you have any questions or concerns. Merging villages and towns is a good policy that benefits the development of the area and the livelihoods of the people. This has definitely been publicized in this village."

"However, no matter how good the policy is, it still needs the understanding and support of the villagers. It's impossible to force everyone to leave their old houses and move into new homes in town. This is no longer the era of forced demolition and relocation. Everything should be based on reason and law, and the main thing is that everyone is willing, right?"

Say something.

The villagers, who had been agitated just moments before, immediately calmed down and realized that Mayor Lin's words made sense.

In fact, the reason they dare to shout and yell here today is because they are certain that we live in a civilized society where the government governs impartially and will not do anything to them.

If it were ten or twenty years earlier, would they still dare to do this?

It's likely that the town government announced the policy over the loudspeaker and everyone obediently went to choose their houses. Otherwise, who knows how they would be "attacked"?
The people do not fight with the officials!
This concept has persisted on this land for thousands of years and is an inviolable rule ingrained in its very being; it is not so easy to change!

The unbridled behavior people exhibit today is simply a result of the benefits of civilized society.

Lin Xiao's words resonated with everyone, making the villagers realize that their actions in causing trouble here were indeed excessive.

The scene not only quieted down, but the villagers also showed some remorse on their faces.

This change in mood made the person who instigated the disturbance nervous.

This guy is Yu Yaojun's brother-in-law, named Zhang Bo.

Yu Yaojun, a local tyrant in Mashan County, has been running rampant in the countryside for many years. Zhang Bo has followed him around, enjoying a life of luxury and bullying men and women. In terms of both appearance and heart, he is no good person!

He is standing here today, naturally at the request of Yu Yaojun.

Yu Yaojun is the boss of Yaofa Engineering, which is the contractor for the first batch of resettlement housing for the merger of villages in Xingguang Town, namely the first phase of the Xincun Garden project next door.

When Lin Xiao first took office as the mayor of Xingguang Town, he went to Xincun Garden for an on-site inspection.

Upon entering the residential area.

The buildings are close together, garbage is everywhere, and the environment is terrible.

That's not all. What's even more infuriating is that I heard that the resettlement housing had a large-scale water leakage problem not long after it was handed over, covering almost half of the community, and it hadn't been repaired when Lin Xiao went to inspect it.

The villagers who moved in complained bitterly, but had no way to appeal, and they all groaned in despair.

The villagers who hadn't moved in heard these voices and developed a strong resistance and backlash against the policy of merging villages and towns. This led to unprecedented obstacles when the town tried to push this work forward a few months ago, making it impossible to proceed.

Left with no other choice, Lin Xiao had to change his strategy and use his personal connections to bring in the Dijin Group.

While ensuring the quality of the houses, we also laid a solid foundation, made good community plans, and built model rooms so that the villagers could see the future of the community in a real way before starting the house selection process.

Whether these actions will gain the approval of the villagers remains to be seen, but offending Yu Yaojun is a certainty.

It was in Phase 1 of Xincun Garden at that time.

When Lin Xiao saw how poor the quality of the houses was and how much the villagers were complaining, he was furious. He immediately called Yu Yaojun over and gave him a good scolding, ordering him to complete the repairs of all the houses within a week and to guarantee that the leaking problem would be completely solved.

Yu Yaojun, a local tyrant with powerful backers and a ruthless heart, was originally fearless.

But Mayor Lin is famous and has powerful backers. Even Yu Yaojun's patron warned him to be careful and to bow his head when necessary.

Yu Yaojun then admitted defeat and agreed to Lin Xiao's "unreasonable" request.

This was the first time the two of them had a falling out.

If this encounter only resulted in Yu Yaojun losing a little blood and face, then...

For the second phase of the Xincun Garden project, Lin Xiao bypassed Yaofa Engineering and invited Dijin Group to undertake the construction. That really affected Yu Yaojun's lifeline!

In recent years, local finances have been strained and infrastructure projects have been largely halted.

Yu Yaojun made his fortune through these projects, enriching himself and the powerful figures behind him.

With policies tightening in recent years, everyone has been living a more frugal life.

In the past, losing a resettlement housing project wouldn't have been a big deal, but now, Mr. Yu's business is also very difficult. He's just waiting for the opening of the second phase of the Xincun Garden project this year.

As a result, when Mayor Lin arrived, he simply gave the project to someone else.

This is tantamount to cutting off Yu Yaojun's manhood.

It's okay to embarrass him, but if you rip off his manhood, he'll really fight you to the death!
Lin Xiao had anticipated this long ago, but he was too skilled and bold, and with his strong background and great reputation, he didn't take Yu Yaojun, that little bastard, seriously at all.

For the first two months, I was still wary of him.

Later, seeing that he didn't do anything and that he was indeed too busy, he quickly put the matter out of his mind.

Today it is today.

Lin Xiao then realized that this guy wasn't cowardly or had backed down; he had been waiting for an opportunity to retaliate.

Now, the opportunity has arrived. ...

Lin Xiao realized that Yu Yaojun was behind it all, which put him at ease. After all, he had been wondering who he had offended that would send him to this remote mountain village to cause trouble and even infiltrate the people to deal with him.

Now that we know this person is Yu Yaojun, everything makes sense.

Moreover, knowing who the enemy is is much more helpful than fighting blindly in a daze.

Lin Xiao's casual words quickly stabilized the situation.

Zhang Bo realized that he had spent more than half a month inciting so many villagers to join his cause, and he had planned to catch Lin Xiao off guard today.

Unexpectedly, he managed to intimidate them all with just a few words.

Zhang Bo was immediately annoyed and cursed these villagers in his heart as cowards.

Now that things have come to this, I have no choice but to take matters into my own hands.

"Mayor Lin, stop with the nice words and give us villagers some real benefits!"

Zhang Bo sneered loudly, "The oranges in the village are selling so well this year. Although it is thanks to your leadership, Mayor Lin, those orange trees did not grow in a year. They were raised by the villagers year after year through hard work and toil, which is why they bear such juicy oranges."

"We've finally managed to sell oranges for a good price, and sales aren't a problem anymore. Everyone is full of confidence and hope for the future. But Mayor, you just said a few words and now you want to drive everyone out of their hometowns. Aren't you cutting off everyone's source of income?"

Zhang Bo's words resonated deeply with all the villagers.

After all, people die for money and birds die for food; for ordinary people, money is the most important thing.

Xingguang Town was still a remote and impoverished mountain village.

The importance of money is ten or a hundred times greater than that of the outside world.

Therefore, Zhang Bo's reminder instantly reignited the emotions that had just calmed down due to gratitude for Mayor Lin's kindness.

The crowd was even more agitated than before.

"Exactly! Orange trees take three years to bear fruit. I've finally made it through, why should we have to move out!"

"If we move, who will get the orange trees? Are we going to have to sell them off cheaply?"

"I knew it! The town was working so hard to help us sell oranges; they definitely didn't have good intentions!!"

"Even if the orange grove is returned to us, moving it to the town means a ten-mile round trip. How are we supposed to keep doing this work?"

"I'm not moving! I'd rather die than move!!"

"..."

The scene became noisy and chaotic again.

The officials quickly tried to maintain order and spoke to the villagers in a conciliatory manner.

Lin Xiao remained motionless, standing on the small platform looking at Zhang Bo with a cunning smile.

"Friend, are you also a villager from Xingguang Town?" he asked directly.

Zhang Bo's expression remained unchanged, clearly indicating that he had been prepared for this.

He put his arm around the shoulder of an old man next to him and said with a smile, "I'm not a villager of Xingguang Town, but my third uncle is! He's been a bachelor all his life, with no young men around, and he's too old to know anything. I've come along to give him some advice, is that not allowed, Mayor Lin?"

Lin Xiao laughed and said, "Sure, of course!"

He glanced at the skinny old man whose shoulder Zhang Bo had his arm around, his expression awkward and terrified, almost as if he was about to shout, "I'm being held hostage!"
Lin Xiao saw through the trick at a glance, but didn't expose it.

You want to act, huh? Well, you're in trouble then. I'm a professional!
"Very good, you've come to give your uncle advice, right?" Lin Xiao asked with a smile.

Zhang Bo's eyes flashed; he felt that Mayor Lin's smile was strange, with a sinister feeling of a smiling tiger.

A flicker of panic crossed his mind.

But remembering his brother-in-law Yu Yaojun's instructions, he immediately straightened his back.

“Yes, Mayor Lin!” Zhang Bo said, sticking out his neck.

"You just said that your uncle is an old bachelor, that is, an elderly person living alone, right?" Lin Xiao asked again.

"Uh, yes."

"how old is he?"

"Uh, it must be seventy or seventy or more!"

"Over seventy..."

Lin Xiao laughed, "This old man has no children. As his nephew, you should be thinking about his care right now. The town has recently introduced a policy of merging villages and towns, allowing your uncle to leave his dilapidated old house in the village and move to a new house in the town. He'll have neighbors on both sides, and the community committee will take care of him at any time. Isn't that better than him living alone in the village?"

After he finished speaking, Zhang Bo hurriedly retorted.

Before he could even open his mouth, Lin Xiao interrupted, "I knew you were going to talk about the orchards! Hmph, I'll have to explain this to everyone properly. With the merger of villages and towns, even if the villages are merged into the towns, the orchards that have already been developed will definitely not be destroyed. Instead, they will be contracted out to fruit companies to continue planting. These orchards still belong to the village collective and cannot be confiscated or disappear."

"These policies have been explained to everyone before. The only concern people have is whether the price will be very low if the orchards are contracted out. You can rest assured about that. This year, our town government has been working so hard to help the village open up sales channels, not only to increase the income of the villagers, but also to let outsiders see the prospects of the navel orange planting industry in Xingguang Town."

"Previously, our oranges didn't fetch a good price, so the prices for orchards leased out were naturally low. But things are different now. This year, the price of navel oranges in each village has more than doubled compared to previous years, so the price for orchard leasing out will definitely double as well."

"I know everyone is thinking, since there's a market for navel oranges, why contract them out? Wouldn't it be better if we could just keep growing them? Of course, it's good! The town didn't say we had to contract them out to a fruit company. The villagers contracted them out on their own before, and they can continue to do so in the future. This doesn't conflict with living in the town."

"Moreover, the villagers can make more efficient use of the land and cultivate more orchards by moving out of the village as a whole, which will increase the income of all the villagers. Isn't that a good thing?"
"Even if we take a step back and assume everyone is motivated and wants to contract the orchard, it's undeniable that many villagers are already of retirement age, without children or whose children are working elsewhere. Retirement is a very real issue. Living in town means not only are old neighbors nearby, but there are also community committee members to keep an eye on things, making it convenient to see a doctor and get medicine. Village dividends are deposited into their accounts regularly every month, and there's a community canteen nearby if they don't feel like cooking. Isn't this much better than staying alone in the village?"

“I know you’re all reluctant to leave your hometowns, but your homes aren’t far from the town, just a few miles away. When we all move out, the village won’t be completely razed. Old houses like ancestral halls and opera stages will be preserved, and you can come back anytime. This way, you’ll have a secure retirement, a guaranteed income, and convenient living. Isn’t that great?”

Lin Xiao's mouth was dry from speaking, and he looked at Zhang Bo with a cold smile: "Putting myself in the shoes of all you elderly folks, I genuinely think this policy is excellent and solves a major problem for everyone's retirement. As for some people who claim to be relatives, they can't see how hard everyone works and just want the elderly to continue farming to earn money. I don't know what they're up to. Maybe they think that since the elderly have no children, they can benefit from it as their nephews?"

His words immediately drew the attention of all the villagers to Zhang Bo.

Zhang Bo immediately became so anxious that his face turned red and his neck bulged.

Before they arrived, Yu Yaojun reassured him that everything was alright, that the villagers were all on their side, and that they could easily slay the whole scene and make Lin Xiao feel awkward.

Zhang Bo believed it to be true, thinking that today was just a matter of shouting a few words to create a lively atmosphere.

He was familiar with this job; he had wailed and howled in bars countless times.

But now, unexpectedly, while he was screaming hysterically, Mayor Lin, with his microphone, calmly silenced him.

Moreover, Lin Xiao's words were very persuasive.

This explanation was both logical and reasonable, and it also thoughtfully considered various practical issues faced by the villagers, such as their lives, elderly care, social interactions, medical care, and income. Zhang Bo was so impressed that he wanted to choose a house as soon as possible and move in that very night.

Once you start sympathizing with the enemy, defeat is not far away.

However, Zhang Bo thought: No, I can't just give up like this, there's still a chance to salvage this situation!
"Mayor Lin, you make it sound so nice! If this policy is so good, then why do people have to pay to choose a house? Wouldn't it be better if your town just gave the houses to everyone?"

Zhang Bo shouted loudly.

Drawing on Lin Xiao's experience, he didn't give the other party a chance to speak and continued his attack: "You're a big celebrity who came to town and got a role in a nationally famous variety show, so your appearance fee must be at least ten or twenty million..."

The sudden mention of appearance fees for variety shows, especially this astonishing figure, caused an uproar in the audience.

The villagers all knew that celebrities must be rich, but they never expected them to be this rich. Their eyes widened in shock.

This was exactly the effect Zhang Bo wanted, and he immediately felt more confident.

He continued his attack: "And you've not only received appearance fees for variety shows, but you've also written several songs. The copyright fees alone must be in the tens of millions! You, Mayor Lin, earned all this money through your own abilities, so no one should say anything. But let's keep things separate. Your variety show was filmed in Dafeng Village, and your song 'Rice Fragrance' was written with rice paddies in mind. Both of these are inseparable from Xingguang Town."

"The second phase of Xincun Garden has a total of 420 households, with an average of 60 square meters per household. Based on the selection price of 500 yuan per square meter, I roughly calculated that if all the villagers move in, it will cost about ten million yuan. This amount of money is less than half of what you will earn in the next few months."

"Since you, Mayor Lin, have made a fortune under the guise of being the mayor, it wouldn't be unreasonable for you to use half of your income to improve the lives of the people, would it? But you, sir, won't even contribute this small amount, and you expect the farmers to use their hard-earned money to complete your work and boost your political achievements..."

By the end, Zhang Bo was confident of victory, a cold smile playing on his lips.

"Mayor Lin, your behavior is utterly disgraceful!"

(End of this chapter)