Me! A high-ranking official!

In the countryside, if you talk to someone about the law, they'll act like a thug. But if you talk to someone about feng shui and how it can bring bad luck, it's even more serious than digging up someone's ancestral grave! As soon as Lao Heizi sets up this formation, Li Yushan will be so scared that he'll knock down the eaves of his house overnight, without anyone having to urge him!

He stood up, smiled, and patted Old Hei Zi on the shoulder: "Alright, Uncle Hei Zi, stop getting excited here. Hurry up and go back to prepare. I checked the weather forecast. There will be heavy rain in our town the day after tomorrow. If you set up this wealth-gathering formation late, the Li family's fortune will flow into the fields for nothing."

"Hey! Hey! I'm going right now! I'll borrow a tricycle to go to town and buy a Pixiu!" Old Heizi no longer had any resentment towards Zhao Jianguo; his face was beaming with joy.

He bowed twice to Zhao Jianguo, then turned around and, like a twenty-year-old lad, rushed out of the village committee compound to go home and get busy.

After seeing off the old man, who was excitedly fiddling with the feng shui arrangement, he dusted off his hands and was too lazy to go back to the mud board factory to find Luo Shuishan.

That old fox is now focused on tripping me up and making a fool of myself. Even if I go to him, he will definitely make excuses about the office conditions and accommodation, saying that the village has no money.

He took out his phone and called his best friend Liu Tao in the county.

"Hey Taozi, do me a favor. Go to the furniture market in the county town and order two sturdy single beds and wardrobes for me. Also, go to the appliance market and pick up a Gree air conditioner. This afternoon, hire a small truck to deliver them to the Luojia Village Committee. I'll transfer the money to you via WeChat."

With his current wealth, it's not worth getting into a fight with Luo Shuishan over a few broken tables and chairs. He should stay in Luo Family Village for two years and make his own base of operations more comfortable first.

Just as I hung up the phone, I saw my aunt, Wang Shuzhen, carrying a bamboo basket and walking into the courtyard with a smile.

"Jianguo, your auntie has come to see you. There's not a soul in the village committee. How's your first day at work?" Wang Shuzhen lifted the cloth covering the basket, revealing a basket full of warm farm eggs.

"Auntie, look at you, you're here, why did you bring eggs? I'm a grown woman." He quickly went to greet her, joking with a smile, and pulled her to sit down in the shade.

Wang Shuzhen's family was of modest means in the village. Her uncle worked on construction sites in the county town year-round, but her aunt had always doted on him. After chatting for a while, he suddenly had an idea and asked, "Auntie, does our village have any WeChat groups? Like a work group, or a village group for everyone to chat in? Many villages have these kinds of groups now."

"Yes, there are..." Wang Shuzhen took out her smartphone: "But most of the people on it are young people and middle-aged people who work in other places. Many of the older men and women in our village still use those old-fashioned button phones and don't even know what WeChat is. These people don't usually have anything serious to do. They just shout out for weddings or funerals, or grab red envelopes during holidays."

"That's fine, Auntie, please pull me in."

Wang Shuzhen fiddled around for a while and pulled Zhao Jianguo into a WeChat group called "Luo Family Village - A Loving Family". He clicked in and took a look. Wow, there were more than 400 people in the group. He changed the nickname to "Village Secretary - Zhao Jianguo", sent a smiling emoji, and didn't say much. He decided to stay in the background and observe first.

"Alright, Jianguo, it's almost noon. You don't even have a stove here. Go eat at your aunt's house!" Wang Shuzhen said warmly.

He was unsure where to eat lunch, so he readily agreed without hesitation. Wang Shuzhen happily went back to prepare the meal, while Zhao Jianguo took the opportunity to go to the nearby archives room to look through the documents.

The archives were covered in dust and the accounts were a mess, but he had spent over a decade writing documents for the county government office and had a keen eye. After spending more than an hour, he picked out a few relatively core ledgers and poverty registration forms, gaining a general understanding of Luojia Village's industries, population structure, and minimum living allowance situation over the past two years.

At noon, he strolled over to his aunt's house.

Wang Shuzhen worked quickly and efficiently, already serving a large bowl of fragrant stir-fried free-range chicken and a pot of chewy hand-pulled noodles.

"Auntie, your cooking is amazing! It's even better than the big restaurants in the county!" He picked up a big mouthful of noodles and ate them with chicken soaked in broth, sweating profusely as he ate.

While eating, Zhao Jianguo steered the conversation toward work: "Auntie, you've lived in the village your whole life, you know the situation well. Tell me, which family in our village is the most in need right now? I'm here to be stationed in the village, so I need to identify the people who need the most help first."

Upon hearing this, Wang Shuzhen sighed, put down her chopsticks, and a look of pity and sympathy appeared on her face.

"If we're talking about poverty, there are quite a few poor people in the village, but if we're talking about the most unfortunate and miserable one... then it has to be Liu Zhijun from the Liu family at the east end of the village. He's truly a man with a tragic fate."

He put down his chopsticks: "How bitter is it?"

Wang Shuzhen shook her head and slowly began to recount Liu Zhijun's tragic experiences.

Liu Zhijun was a down-to-earth and honest man. Years ago, he became a son-in-law to a family surnamed Li in the village. The young couple had a good relationship and had a big, healthy son. His parents-in-law were also kind people, and the family lived a prosperous life.

But fate is unpredictable. A few years ago, his wife's family was driving their farm tricycle to the market in the next town. Liu Zhijun was too busy with farm work to go. On the way, they were hit by a truck with malfunctioning brakes. All four members of the family—his wife, son, father-in-law, and mother-in-law—did not survive.

"The whole family is dead! When Zhijun heard the news, he cried so hard that he vomited blood and completely collapsed." Wang Shuzhen's eyes were red.

Hearing this, Zhao Jianguo also felt a heaviness in his heart, but this was not the worst of it.

Wang Shuzhen continued, saying that after the tragedy, her daughter-in-law's father's two brothers, who were Liu Zhijun's two uncles, had evil intentions after seeing that the family was gone and wanted to take advantage of the family's ruin!

"Those two families are utterly despicable! They insisted that Zhijun was a cursed star who had brought death to his wife's family, and they gathered a bunch of relatives to drive Zhijun out of the house and seize all his property and land. Zhijun was all alone, kneeling on the ground begging them, but they still wouldn't agree!"

Later, the matter went to court. The court ruled that Liu Zhijun, as the first in line of heirs, should rightfully inherit the house and land. However, the two families were completely unreasonable. They went to the door every day to make trouble, throw feces, and throw dead chickens. They used all sorts of disgusting methods.

In the end, Liu Zhijun was heartbroken and could no longer endure the torment. He gave away his father-in-law's good house and fertile land, keeping only the small courtyard he shared with his wife. Only then did the matter end.

"We thought that was the end of it, but who knew that two years ago, Zhijun was diagnosed with stomach cancer." Wang Shuzhen wiped her eyes. "Everyone in the village said that Zhijun got sick from being so angry. His spirit had long since broken. Although he had his entire stomach removed at the county hospital and his life was saved, it also emptied the last bit of money from his family's savings. Now his body is completely useless. He can't do heavy work. Every day he just sits on a small stool in front of the door in the sun, like a living dead person, just waiting for the day he breathes his last."

After listening, he remained silent for a long time, and suddenly the noodles in his bowl no longer tasted good.