Me! A high-ranking official!

He stepped forward, separated the two, and stared at Li Yushan, saying, "Li Yushan, is that right? Leaving water dripping is an old custom in the village, but it's also clearly stipulated in national law! The Civil Code clearly states the provisions regarding neighboring rights: adjacent property owners should properly handle neighborly relations according to the principles of benefiting production, facilitating life, unity and mutual assistance, and fairness and reasonableness. When you build your house, not only can you not endanger the safety of your neighbor's house, but if your drainage or dripping causes Old Heizi's courtyard wall to collapse or leak, you will have to compensate for all the losses! In serious cases, the court can even force you to demolish the parts that have encroached on the boundary!"

His legal lecture was delivered with righteous indignation, and he thought he could intimidate the other party, but Li Yushan was not impressed at all.

Rural tough guys are not afraid of reasoning with each other.

"Don't try to scare me with any tricks!" Li Yushan retorted, resorting to his usual shameless act. "I've already built the house, spent hundreds of thousands on it, what? You think I'll just demolish it? Fine, I'll demolish it, but you have to compensate me for all the money I spent building it, and I'll hire an excavator to bulldoze it today! Will you compensate me? Secretary, will you pay me out of your own pocket?"

"You...you bastard, you're being unreasonable!" Old Hei Zi was so angry that his eyes turned red, and he rushed forward, ready to fight to the death.

"Uncle Hei, don't be impulsive!" Zhao Jianguo grabbed Old Hei and gave the smug Li Yushan a deep look.

He knew very well that dealing with this kind of village bully through proper channels and reasoning was not an option. Since open tactics were not working, he had no choice but to resort to underhanded methods.

Suddenly, his expression changed, and his serious face instantly turned into a conciliatory smile.

"Old Li, what you said earlier... actually makes sense." Zhao Jianguo sighed and looked at Li Yushan, saying, "This house is already built, after all, hundreds of thousands of yuan worth of real money. We can't just let you tear it down, can we? That would be a huge loss. Earning money isn't easy for anyone, right?"

The room fell silent instantly upon hearing this.

Li Yushan was stunned for a moment, then overjoyed, his mouth practically stretched to his ears: "Wow! Secretary Zhao is truly brilliant! This is a reasonable and good leader! I knew it! There's no reason to demolish a house that's already been built!"

"Zhao Jianguo! You...you..." Old Heizi was struck dumb, pointing at Zhao Jianguo's nose, trembling with rage: "I thought you were a good official! I never expected you to be in cahoots with Luo Shuishan and the others, favoring this bully! What kind of damn secretary are you!"

He wasn't angry at Lao Heizi's insults. He just smiled and patted Li Yushan on the shoulder: "Alright, Lao Li, now that I understand the situation, you can go back first. I'll take care of Lao Heizi's work slowly. Don't worry, I definitely won't let you suffer any losses."

"Alright! Thank you so much, Secretary Zhao!" Li Yushan was overjoyed. He quickly pulled out a pack of cigarettes costing a little over twenty yuan from his pocket, took one out, and handed it to Zhao Jianguo: "Secretary, please have a smoke. That stubborn old mule Heizi, I'll have to trouble you to talk to him a bit. I'll head back now!"

After saying that, Li Yushan hummed a little tune and walked away triumphantly.

Once Li Yushan's figure had completely disappeared outside the courtyard gate, Lao Heizi was so angry he was about to explode.

"Don't try to reason with me! I won't listen!" Old Heizi's face flushed red as he glared at him. "If you can't give me a convincing reason today, this isn't over! I'll report you to the county discipline inspection commission tomorrow, and I'll report you to the city!"

At this moment, he leisurely tossed the cigarette in his hand onto the table, and the smile on his face became somewhat mysterious.

He pulled up a chair and sat down, pointing to the chair opposite him: "Uncle Heizi, don't get angry. Sit down and let me finish. If you think I, Zhao Jianguo, am cheating you or that there's no reason for it, you can go to the county office right now and report me. I won't stop you!"

Old Hei Zi, panting heavily, didn't sit down but also didn't move out, staring intently at Zhao Jianguo: "Fine, you say it!"

He lowered his voice, his tone becoming extremely down-to-earth: "Uncle Hei, let's not beat around the bush. This problem of yours has been dragging on for more than just a day or two. Even Luo Shuishan can't solve it. Why? Because Li Yushan is a complete scoundrel and a spineless coward! Even if I just brought up the law and forced him to demolish it, do you think a scoundrel like him would listen to me?"

Old Hei Zi was taken aback and subconsciously shook his head.

"Yeah, he definitely won't demolish it himself, so what am I supposed to do? I'm a village secretary, not a member of the demolition team. I can't exactly drive a bulldozer and tear his house down myself, can I?" He shrugged.

Old Hei Zi got anxious: "So... so this is just going to be the end of it? I've been watching water pouring into my yard from his roof every day?"

"Of course we can't just let it go like this." He chuckled, a sly glint in his eyes. "We can't openly demolish his house, but we can get him to smash down the eaves himself!"

"Let him smash it himself? How is that possible!" Old Heizi looked at Zhao Jianguo as if he were an idiot.

He beckoned to Old Hei Zi to come closer and whispered, "Uncle Hei Zi, I've come up with a brilliant idea for you. Go back today, spend some money to buy some cement bricks, and slightly raise and repair the wall of your yard that's next to his. The key is, go to town or a feng shui shop and buy two pairs of stone-carved Pixiu statues. They don't need to be too big, just big enough to fit."

Old Hei Zi was completely confused: "Why would you buy that thing?"

He explained patiently, "Line up those Pixiu statues in a row on your courtyard wall, and make sure their open mouths face directly towards the water flowing down from Li Yushan's eaves!"

"Uncle Heizi, what's that old saying in the countryside? Water represents wealth, right? Where there's water, there's prosperity!" He suppressed a laugh and earnestly concocted, "Since Li Yushan's roof extends into your house, doesn't all the rainwater from his roof flow into your house? And that water flows right into the mouth of the Pixiu, which is what Pixiu does? It's an auspicious beast that only takes in and never gives out, swallowing wealth!"

He paused, then emphasized each word: "He poured the water into your bowl, and you caught it with your Pixiu (a mythical creature believed to bring wealth and good fortune). In terms of feng shui, that means your family has completely absorbed all of Li Yushan's family's wealth and blessings!"

After hearing these words, Lao Hei Zi was completely dumbfounded.

He had worked in the south for many years and knew that many southerners believed in feng shui, especially rural people.

After briefly contemplating the scene Zhao Jianguo described, I realized that Li Yushan's family built a large Western-style house, but the feng shui arrangement was broken, and all their wealth flowed down the eaves into the mouth of their own Pixiu (a mythical creature believed to bring wealth)...

"Hiss..." Old Hei Zi gasped, his face, which had been flushed with anger, was instantly replaced by extreme excitement!

"Secretary Zhao... Secretary Zhao! Your idea... is absolutely brilliant!!!" Old Hei Zi slapped his thigh excitedly, "No wonder his eaves looked so annoying, turns out they were bringing wealth to my house! Good! Good! Good!"

Seeing Lao Heizi's appearance, Zhao Jianguo knew that the matter had been settled.