The Little Life of a Big Landlord

Chapter 81 Fish Pond

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When Yang Ming returned to Zhengjia Village, it was only two o'clock in the afternoon.

"You're back so early? What did you have for lunch?" Wei Qingqing came out to greet them when she heard a car outside the courtyard.

"Eat? They didn't eat anything. My dad, your dad, and your mom, all three of them went to Beidaihe," Yang Ming said resentfully.

"Huh? What happened?" Wei Qingqing asked quickly.

"What happened? Your dad and my dad wanted to earn some extra money on the side, and your mom didn't want to take the bus and wanted to buy a car, so... they all went fishing in Beidaihe," Yang Ming said.

"My parents are really something. They're always out fishing, and now that the new son-in-law is here, they don't even provide meals..." Wei Qingqing complained to her parents.

"Hehe, no need to complain, my dad was the one who led the way," Yang Ming laughed.

"Come inside, the steamed buns I made at noon are still warm. Aunt Liu ground two pieces of tofu, and I made some scallion to mix with the tofu. It smells delicious." Wei Qingqing took Yang Ming's hand, and the two went into the house together.

On the kang table, there was a dish of tender white tofu with a hint of green scallions, and a steamer of fluffy, soft white steamed buns...

Yang Ming devoured three large white steamed buns, then used one to spread the scallion and tofu mixture until not a crumb was left. Satisfied, he patted his stomach and leaned against the pile of quilts on the kang (heated brick bed): "The tofu made by Aunt Liu is so delicious, and with our local tender scallions, it's a perfect match."

"I ate quite a bit too. It felt cool and refreshing, and it really opened my mouth," Wei Qingqing said.

"If the tofu is made from our high-quality soybeans, it will definitely taste even better," Yang Ming said.

"Are you willing to do that? How many cars and fishing boats would that take to break down?" Wei Qingqing moved the kang table off the kang and climbed onto it as well. "Today, some people came to our house to sound us out, all asking about the greenhouse job openings."

"Oh! Who are they?" Yang Ming asked.

"They're all from the Zheng family. I secretly wrote down a list," Wei Qingqing said, pulling a small notebook from the stack of blankets and handing it to Yang Ming.

"We employed six people for our two mu of greenhouses. Now that we have nearly five mu of greenhouses, we should employ fifteen people. But that would be too many. Let's employ ten. There are exactly nine people here. Add Zheng Tong, and that makes ten," Yang Ming said.

"I'll go talk to them..." Wei Qingqing said, putting on her shoes, getting off the kang (a heated brick bed), and running out in a hurry.

So Yang Ming's family hired ten more people, four long-term workers and six temporary workers, to help manage the greenhouse.

This afternoon, Yang Ming had six experienced workers guide ten new workers to familiarize themselves with greenhouse management, while he himself took a planter and planted vegetables in the new greenhouse.

Early the next morning, Yang Ming brought Dahei to the spring.

The fishpond renovation wasn't a major project, so Yang Ming didn't plan to hire anyone. He used a pump to drain the water from the pond, and then used the same pump to draw out the boiling water from the hot spring pool, scalding the bottom of the pool. Various bacteria, parasites, and aquatic plants were killed in the scalding. Layers of milky white foam floated on the surface of the water. The leeches in the pool were also killed by the scalding and floated on the surface in a thin layer. After about half an hour, Yang Ming drained the somewhat cooled boiling water, then went to the stream at the edge of his two acres of land and collected some pebbles to fill the spring.

Next came the steps along the edge of the pond. After clearing the edge, stones were placed on it. However, stones were hard to find, especially square ones. But Yang Ming had too many high-tech agricultural tools at his disposal. He found a rugged hill, took the fertilizer processing machine, and used its inorganic decomposition function to break the stones apart piece by piece. In the end, only stones 110 cm long, 50 cm wide, and 20 cm thick remained in the sticky inorganic fertilizer. These stones were moved to the edge of the pond and stacked into four steps. The job was done. However, the stones were too heavy, and in the end, a hand tractor was used to haul them away.

As the sun set, the fishpond was finally completed. The gurgling spring water filled the pond, overflowing and flowing through the gauze at the outlet... So, Yang Ming began to stock the pond with fish fry: crucian carp, common carp, silver carp, bighead carp, black carp, grass carp, and loach...

Various common freshwater fish have entered the fishpond and are swimming freely, with ripples occasionally spreading across the calm water.

"It would be even more perfect if we planted a circle of weeping willows around it." Looking at the rippling water and the steps filled with clear pool water, Yang Ming smiled knowingly.

"Our Grass Hat Mountain has a large valley with lots of rocks, so it's not good for farming. But we can turn this place into a garden..." Wei Qingqing walked over at some point, with a small black dog following at her feet. It was Xiao Hei.

"You've hit the nail on the head! That's exactly what I was planning to do too. We'll make use of all these mountain valleys. There's a Pigeon Nest Park in Beidaihe, right? Let's build a pigeon nest there and raise all our meat pigeons here. There's a wildlife park in Qinhuangdao, right? I'll buy more small animals like Wangcai and build a wildlife park. Beidaihe has an ecological agriculture base, so let's set up an exotic plant cultivation base and plant some butter trees, golden trees, and so on. Anyway, there are plenty of good things..." Yang Ming said.

"You...you're kidding, right?" Wei Qingqing asked in disbelief.

"Of course..." Yang Ming laughed, "Just kidding..."

"Phew! You scared me to death. If you really did that, we'd never have a peaceful life again." Wei Qingqing breathed a sigh of relief and glared at Yang Ming.

"But it's fine to bring back some strange little animals. After all, we're guarding this old forest, so it's not unreasonable for there to be some strange animals in it," Yang Ming said.

"The best thing we can do is scatter those small animals into the woods and let them run around so the villagers can find them," Wei Qingqing said.

"Hmm! Smart..." Yang Ming said.

"Of course, don't you know who I am?" Wei Qingqing proudly pouted her little nose and said smugly.

"Hmph..." Yang Ming chuckled, saying nothing.

As the last rays of the sun dipped below the mountains, darkness fell, and the couple, hand in hand, walked home along the small valley.

"Woof woof woof..." Suddenly, Little Black barked a few times and slowly crept towards a mountain hollow. As for Big Black, it had already crept over silently. This guy usually doesn't bark, especially when 'hunting'. It prefers to use its teeth to solve some problems.

"Ahhh..." A scream rang out, and a figure darted into the depths of the ravine and disappeared. However, following the scream, the entire Straw Hat Mountain echoed with the barking of dogs.

"Someone's here?" Yang Ming narrowed his eyes, cold sweat beading on his forehead, as he carefully recalled every word he had just spoken to Wei Qingqing.

"What are you afraid of? Only the two of us can understand what you just said. No one else could possibly understand it," Wei Qingqing whispered in Yang Ming's ear.

"How disgusting! How can someone be spying on us?" Last time it was at the hot spring pool, and now it's here again. Yang Ming was furious and dragged Wei Qingqing towards the direction from which the dog was barking.

Unfortunately, although the puppies were clever and brave, they didn't manage to catch the spy. Only some torn pieces of flesh and clothing were left behind. However, it's easy to imagine that even if the spy escaped, he would be badly injured and might even die.

Yang Ming returned home feeling rather depressed. He ate a quick dinner and then turned off the lights to go to sleep.

"Uncle..." Wang Dafang ran into the village chief Wang Quangen's house with a look of terror and covered in blood. He collapsed to the ground with a thud and could not get up again. This guy had lost too much blood. His head was starting to see stars.

"Dafang? What happened to you?" Wang Quangen was startled when he saw his disheveled nephew and quickly came over to help him up.

"Dafang, you rolled down the mountain? What happened?" Zhang Lanhua was terrified when she saw Wang Dafang covered in blood and stool, and she rushed over to help.

"Uncle, that guy surnamed Yang... that dog is really fierce..." Wang Dafang said weakly.

"Quick, get him to the hospital..." Wang Quangen didn't dare delay, and carried his nephew outside.

"I'll go tell his parents," Zhang Lanhua said hurriedly, rushing to inform Wang Dafang's parents.

The sound of a tractor echoed through the small mountain village at dusk. Wang Dafang was taken to the county hospital. After emergency treatment, he was out of danger, but he was crippled. The tendons in his left hand, his biceps, his right Achilles tendon, and even his genitals were bitten off by the puppies. Not only did he become disabled and lose his ability to work, but his chances of having offspring in the future were also practically zero.

"You bastard surnamed Yang, I'll fucking kill you..." Wang Quangen's eyes turned red when he heard the doctor say that his nephew was crippled from now on, standing outside the hospital emergency room. He had watched Wang Dafang grow up, and in his heart, he was no different from his own son.

When Wang Dafang's parents heard the devastating news, they squatted in the corner and cried. These two honest, hardworking farmers were devastated to hear that their son was now useless. Their son was their support for the rest of their lives.

"What exactly happened? What does Dafang's injury have to do with Yang Ming?" Many of the men from the Wang family had come when Wang Dafang was injured, including Wang Duo. Hearing Wang Quangen's words, they frowned. "Could Dafang have been bitten by Yang Ming's dog? That can't be right. I heard that Yang Ming's dog never bites people randomly. Did you provoke him?"

"He keeps a dog that bites people, and he thinks he's right?" Wang Quangen glared at Wang Duo. "Who the hell do you think you are?"

"Wang Duo, are you even a member of the Wang family? Why are you siding with outsiders?"

"You were fucking traitorous when you were promoting the War of Resistance against Japan."

Several people surnamed Wang began to criticize Wang Duo.

"Of course I'm on this side, but everything should be done reasonably. If you want to deal with Yang Ming, you should at least stand on the side of reason. This is a society governed by law. Acting recklessly will only make things worse, and you'll lose your reason even if you're right..." Wang Duo said, sticking out his neck.

"Then what do you suggest we do?" Wang Quangen asked, his eyes wide.

"Tell me what happened first, then we can talk about whether to call the police and accuse Yang Ming of letting his dog bite people..." Wang Duo said.

"I'll tell you something, it's nothing. When we were dealing with the mountain, that guy surnamed Yang made me suffer a great loss. If I just let him go like this, how will I have any prestige in the village? So I sent Dafang to those two mountains to collect evidence of his crimes. Who would have thought that Dafang would get into trouble this time..." Wang Quangen said simply.

"Collecting evidence of someone's crimes? What evidence do you have of him? Did he plant drugs inside?" Wang Duo's eyes narrowed.

"Grass Hat Mountain and Flower Drum Mountain are both public mountains. He illegally occupied state-owned resources. Isn't that a crime?" Wang Quangen said.

"You're such a fucking scoundrel..." Wang Duo broke out in a cold sweat. It seemed like he had also rented out a mountain.

"What do you mean by being immoral? You bastard, after all these years of schooling, all you've learned is to be a scoundrel?" Wang Quangen cursed angrily.

The rest of the Wang family also felt that Wang Quangen's actions were extremely immoral, but since he was the village chief, they couldn't say anything.

"Let me tell you, you really can't sue about this. Pulling up a radish will only bring out more mud, and you won't be able to clean yourself up. The township leaders might also get implicated. Resolving it by force is even worse. Not to mention that they keep a pack of dogs, it's not worth risking your life against them. If you let them call the police, your fraud will be exposed. That's 35 yuan, which is a particularly serious case of fraud." Wang Duo calmed his breathing and said gently.

"Kid, you're still too green. Even if this gets out, I'll only be held partially responsible, at most dismissed, because I used that money to repair the road, it didn't go into my own pocket. But what about Dafang? Dafang went to Gongshan and got bitten by his dog and became a cripple. I'll not only make that Yang guy pay me back, I'll also put him in jail," Wang Quangen said angrily.

"..." Wang Duo was speechless for a moment, then said, "It has nothing to do with me, so I won't get involved. I should go back." With that, he turned and left. This young man still had a strong sense of justice and disdained associating with such immoral people.

"Family of the injured person, the injured person is out of danger, but still needs to be hospitalized for observation for a period of time. Please go and pay the hospital deposit..." The emergency room door opened, and a doctor poked his head out.

The next morning, while it was still dark, Yang Ming had just gotten up, washed, and was preparing to cook when a Santana belonging to the county court, a Santana belonging to the county public security bureau, and a Santana belonging to the county procuratorate quietly drove up to the big willow tree in front of Yang Ming's house.

"Excuse me, sir, are you Yang Ming?" A middle-aged man in a police uniform saluted Yang Ming and showed his identification. This middle-aged policeman was the deputy head of the Criminal Investigation Department of the County Public Security Bureau. After Yang Ming nodded in confirmation, he continued, "I am from the County Public Security Bureau. At 3:30 this morning, Comrade Wang Quangen, the village head of Zhengjia Village, reported to the Public Security Bureau that you kept a vicious dog, endangering public safety, and maliciously letting the dog bite people, causing his nephew Wang Dafang's left hand, right foot, and genitals to be bitten, resulting in the loss of his ability to work and reproduce, making him disabled. Please cooperate with our investigation."

"Last night, our dog spotted a thief, but he got away. So that thief was Wang Dafang?" Yang Ming realized what was going on, but he didn't panic. "We've encountered thieves before, and it's very likely that they're the same person as Wang Dafang. This time, we've really been punished. Are you guys in a hurry? If you are, I can take you to the crime scene right now."

"Okay, please lead the way. We'll go to the crime scene to investigate right away," the middle-aged policeman said.

So Yang Ming, along with the public security, procuratorate, and judicial personnel, went to the crime scene.

"We can preliminarily confirm that this is indeed the crime scene. However, whether these bloodstains are Wang Dafang's still needs further testing, but it shouldn't be a big problem." The middle-aged policeman picked up some of the rags, pieces of meat, and bloodstains on the ground.

"Officer, why are you all from the public security, procuratorate, and court all acting together? Isn't the usual procedure that the police collect evidence first, and then the procuratorate and court officials come out? Isn't it a bit of an overreaction that you all come together? It gives off a very serious vibe," Yang Ming said with a smile.

"Hehe, there's nothing we can do about it. The city just issued a document this month on expediting the handling of civil and criminal cases, so we have to work non-stop," the middle-aged policeman said.

"Comrade Yang Ming, we heard from Village Chief Wang that this mountain is a public mountain, and that's indeed the case. It's also true that you keep a large number of vicious dogs and let them bite people, but it hasn't yet reached the point of endangering public safety. However, it has already violated the Public Safety Law and the Tort Liability Law. This is our summons. We hope you can appear at the county court at 8:10 AM on October 13th for trial. Um, all the vicious dogs that hurt people must be killed today." The court officials and the prosecutors exchanged a few words and handed Yang Ming a summons. If these people hadn't thought those 'vicious dogs' were just puppies, they probably would have just handcuffed him and taken him away.

"I can't accept this. I've contracted these two mountains for 70 years and paid the 35 yuan contract fee. That means these two mountains are mine for 70 years. Wang Dafang entered my mountains without permission to commit crimes that no one knows about. My dog ​​is there to guard the house, so it's normal for it to bite him. If my dog ​​doesn't even bite thieves, what use is it to me?..." Yang Ming did not accept the summons.

"We know you have contracted the 70-year ownership of these two mountains, and Village Chief Wang has also told us about this. However, the village, township, county, and even city have no right to contract public mountains to private individuals. Therefore, your contract is invalid," the court official said.

"Court officials, I think you've misunderstood. I didn't say that my contract was signed with the village, but with the province. It's for 70 years and costs a total of 35 RMB," Yang Ming said.

The court officials and prosecutors exchanged a glance. If the mountain really was contracted out to someone else, then the nature of this case would change. The prosecutor then asked, "Could you show us your contract?"

"Of course, no problem. Please follow me." Yang Ming said, leading everyone back.

When they got home, Wei Qingqing was still asleep, so Yang Ming didn't invite everyone into the house. Instead, he told them to wait in the yard while he went inside to get the contract.

Before long, Yang Ming came out of the house, holding in his hand the "wedding gift" that Zhang Yingning had given him, a file folder with the word "province" on the cover.

The prosecutors reviewed the contract two or three times and finally confirmed that it was genuine and valid. They then handed the contract to colleagues from two other departments for them to review as well.

"Excuse me for disturbing you. We will report this situation truthfully. However, we hope you will not leave the Yunggu County area for the next two days so that we can understand the situation. If there are any new developments, we will notify you in a timely manner." The three leaders exchanged glances, and it was the middle-aged policeman who spoke first.

"Okay, I don't have anything to do these next couple of days, so I'll just stay in the village." Yang Ming nodded.

Yang Ming saw off the three Santanas from the public security, procuratorate, and court, and his brows furrowed. He hadn't expected that Wang Dafang would be crippled. This time, the feud with the Wang family was irreconcilable. Now that it had gone to court, this matter was likely to escalate. However, he couldn't let his parents know about this. He would have to explain it to Qingqing properly later.

"What happened?" Aunt Liu pushed open her front door and came out. "I think I just saw a police car."

"Not only the Public Security Bureau, but also the court and the procuratorate came," Yang Ming said.

"What on earth happened?" Aunt Liu's heart tightened.

"It's nothing, it's just that kid Wang Dafang, our dog crippled him, and now the Wang family has sued me..." Yang Ming said.

"What? Wang Dafang is crippled? You and the Wang family have made a huge grudge!" Aunt Liu said in surprise.

"Who can argue with that? But this kid deserves it. He does everything in secret, it's disgusting," Yang Ming said.

"What happened? Tell me about it," Aunt Liu asked curiously.

"It's nothing serious. Ever since our hot spring pool was built, someone has been spying on us. I don't know who it was, but yesterday, someone was spying on us again. Dahei and Xiaohei were right next to us when they bit the person. Then all our dogs joined in. Later, when the police came to me to collect evidence, they told me that the guy who got bitten by the dog was named Wang Dafang. That's how I found out it was him," Yang Ming said.

"Let me tell you, if the Wangs can't deal with you through legal means, they might come knocking on your door directly. You and Qingqing must be careful," Aunt Liu advised.

"No need. Let them come if they dare. If they dare to come to my door, it's self-defense for me to deal with them. Our dogs are not to be trifled with." Yang Ming was actually quite annoyed. Wang Dafang deserved to be bitten and crippled. If it weren't for his and his wife's tacit understanding that they would never say anything sensitive in public, or if they did, they would say it vaguely, and this bastard would probably have overheard their secrets.

"Alright, alright, take it or leave it..." Aunt Liu's face fell, and she turned and went back to her own home, slamming the door shut behind her.

"What did I do to offend you?" Yang Ming was a little confused, and he also went into the courtyard.

Back inside, Wei Qingqing was already awake, wrapped in a quilt and sitting on the kang (heated brick bed). Seeing Yang Ming come in with a file folder, she hurriedly asked, "What happened? Why did you take the contract out?"

"Do you know who that thief was yesterday?" Yang Ming put the contract into the cabinet.

"Who is it?"

"Wang Dafang, but that kid has already been crippled."

"It's ruined?" Wei Qingqing exclaimed in surprise.

"That's right. I heard from the police that the kid's left hand, right leg, and genitals were all crippled," Yang Ming said.

"This is a huge grudge. The police are here? What did they say?" Wei Qingqing asked anxiously.

"They didn't say much, just that in Gongshan, we let the dogs bite people, and the court is going to give me a summons. That's why I showed them the contract," Yang Ming said. "That Wang Quangen never had good intentions from the beginning. He knew it was Gongshan, but he still contracted it to us. That's fraud. Luckily, we made amends early and signed a contract with the provincial government, otherwise we would have been in deep trouble this time."

"Let's sue him. This is fraud. At the very least, we should remove him from his position as village chief. Otherwise, he'll keep causing us trouble," Wei Qingqing said.

"This time, we don't need to sue him; he'll have to go down. But we also need to make him return that 35 yuan intact." Yang Ming decided that he had to completely destroy this bastard. If you don't kill the snake, it will become a scourge.

"If we want to sue him, it won't work just for us. We're from out of town, and suing him like this might upset the Zheng family. Besides, there are five families in Baoshan, right? Aunt Liu will definitely be on our side. Of the remaining three families, two are surnamed Zheng. Let Aunt Liu help us contact them, and the four of us can come forward together, ask Uncle Dabao for evidence, and sue him together." Although Wei Qingqing isn't very quick, she's meticulous... and quite ruthless.

"Okay, I'll go talk to Aunt Liu right now..." Yang Ming said, about to walk out, but stopped abruptly after lifting the curtain. "Don't mention this to Mom and Dad..."

"Do you need to tell me? Go on, go on..." Wei Qingqing rolled her eyes at Yang Ming and waved her hand.

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(End of this chapter)