Me! A high-ranking official!

"Ha...haha..." Luo Shuishan forced out a dry laugh that looked more like a grimace: "Secretary Zhao is joking. For the development of our village, I will definitely do my best without hesitation. Well...there's still a batch of goods to be shipped out at the factory right now, and we need to leave. I...I'll take my leave first!"

"Alright, Village Chief Shuishan, get on with your work!" Zhao Jianguo waved with a smile. "I've finalized my trip to the county. I'll let you know right away, and we'll go together!"

Just as Luo Shuishan turned around, looking disheveled and ready to leave, he suddenly raised his voice and added earnestly, "Also, Village Chief Shuishan! Although you run a factory and are a big boss, you're still our village chief! As a Party member and cadre, you can't let personal matters interfere with public duties! I heard our factory is doing well, and Village Chief Shuishan is on the verge of a comfortable life, but our village committee still needs to attend the Party classes we're supposed to attend. There are still some villagers struggling to make ends meet, and you need to take the lead in caring for the poor households in the village. You absolutely cannot neglect these duties!"

Luo Shuishan stumbled as he stepped out of the courtyard gate, a surge of anger rising within him.

What the hell! I clearly came here today with my men to force a coup and watch the spectacle unfold, but after just a few exchanges, I've been publicly reprimanded by this kid and am now stuck in mid-air, unable to get down?!

"Okay! Got it!" Luo Shuishan gritted his teeth and groaned, then turned and led a few workers away from the village committee compound in a dejected manner.

Watching their disheveled figures, Zhao Jianguo's smile vanished, and his eyes turned playful. "Old man, trying to fight me? I've seen far more power struggles in the county government office than you have."

After Luo Shuishan and his gang slunk out of the compound, he returned to his room, broke off half of a cold steamed bun left over from the night before, ate it with two pieces of pickled vegetables, and quickly stuffed it into his stomach. Then he went out the door without stopping and headed straight for Liu Zhijun's house.

As soon as I entered the courtyard, I saw Liu Zhijun sitting on a small stool, tending a red brick stove and cooking.

Liu Zhijun looked up and saw him striding in. His eyes flickered instinctively, and a bitter smile immediately appeared on his face: "Oh, my Secretary Zhao, why are you here again? My body is really not up to par. I've been running around with you for two days in a row, and I'm almost half dead from exhaustion."

He walked over, casually pulled up a small stool and sat down next to him, jokingly saying with a smile, "Brother Zhijun, as the saying goes, a man can't say he can't; he absolutely has to be able to!"

Liu Zhijun coughed twice at these words, waved his hands repeatedly, and gave a bitter smile with a look of utter despair: "Secretary, please spare me. What kind of man am I? I'm just a sick man who stays at home eating and waiting to die. You should do something big and go find those young people in the village."

"Waiting to die isn't the same as being dead. As long as you have a breath left, it won't stop you from contributing your remaining energy." He looked at him with a smile. "Yesterday I said in the live stream that I have three tasks to focus on in the coming week, and there's one of them that I can't handle alone. I'd like to ask you to come out of retirement and help me out!"

Liu Zhijun was taken aback upon hearing this, and his mind raced back to the content of last night's live broadcast: road repair? Filling in garbage dumps? Helping impoverished families?

He's a rough, sickly guy; what help could he possibly be?

"Secretary, please don't tease me." Liu Zhijun shook his head bitterly. "What can I do? I can barely take care of my own meals. How can I help you?"

He dropped his joking expression and said seriously, "Well, didn't I say I wanted to solve the problem of that huge garbage dump in the village? I thought about it for half the night last night and have a preliminary idea, but I need your help to put it into practice."

Liu Zhijun stared blankly at Zhao Jianguo, waiting for him to continue.

He pointed in the direction outside the village and said, "This is what I'm thinking. Let's find a deserted wasteland outside the village and set up a large composting site. All the garbage generated in the village every day, such as leftover food scraps, straw from the fields, sawdust, etc., can be collected and composted."

"The remaining garbage is then further sorted, such as scrap metal, waste paper, old clothes, and even some dry waste. There are specialized recycling companies that collect these, and they can all be turned into cash to generate income. Wouldn't that completely solve the village's garbage problem?"

Upon hearing this, Liu Zhijun couldn't help but sigh deeply and said with a wry smile, "Secretary, your idea is good, but this method will absolutely not work in our village!"

"You don't understand the people in our village. Who would be so diligent as to travel all the way outside the village to dump the garbage? And even take the initiative to sort the garbage? If everyone were really that conscientious, our village wouldn't have been tainted by that garbage for so many years! Your method won't work."

Instead of getting angry, Zhao Jianguo laughed heartily after hearing this: "That's right! That's why I insisted on asking you for help today!"

Liu Zhijun was even more confused, pointing to himself with a wry smile: "Secretary, you overestimate me! If I had that much influence, able to command hundreds of villagers to obediently sort their garbage with a single word, I would have been the village chief long ago, why would I be here cooking porridge?"

"Who said you were going to persuade the villagers to sort their trash?" He slapped his thigh, staring intently at him. "I said you were going to help me with the bookkeeping!"

"Keep in the books?" Liu Zhijun was completely stunned. "You have to keep in the books for throwing away the trash?"

"Yes, bookkeeping!" he explained with a smile. "I plan to set up an environmental bank in our village!"

"Villagers can sort and bring their garbage themselves every day, or I can arrange for someone to collect it from the streets and alleys at fixed times and locations, once or twice a day. We don't buy the garbage from the villagers; instead, we give them points to accumulate!"

His eyes lit up as he spoke: "Let's set a price, for example, how many points a pound of wet waste will get, how many points a pound of dry waste or cardboard will get, and you can record it all in a ledger. Then, I'll set up a redemption point at the village committee. Once the villagers have accumulated enough points, they can redeem them for free daily necessities like rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, tea, eggs, and soap!"

"If someone is diligent and proactively sorts their trash before bringing it in, we can even weigh it on the spot and exchange it for eggs to take home!"

He paused, then continued his calculations: "The garbage we collect this way can be composted or recycled and sold. I've checked the data; good quality organic fertilizer can sell for 800 to 1,000 yuan per ton! Every household in our village has land, and with the kitchen waste, we can easily produce several tons of fertilizer a month!"

"The money from selling fertilizer and waste is just enough to replenish the eggs, oil, and salt at the exchange point, and then to pay the workers' wages. If things run well, the village collective might even have a surplus! As for the construction waste and toxic waste that we really can't handle, I'll pay the town's environmental protection company to collect and transport them away, one payment at a time. That's a complete closed loop!"

Liu Zhijun sat in front of the earthen stove, not even noticing the firewood he was using to start the fire falling to the ground. When he heard this, his eyes widened in disbelief.

This is garbage?! How can you do something like this?!

He used to hear people on the radio talking about turning waste into treasure every day, and he always thought it was nonsense. But today, after hearing Zhao Jianguo's plan, he was truly amazed and saw what it really meant to turn waste into treasure!