Me! A high-ranking official!

"Think about it, this contractor is stingy to the bone. He took on such a big lighting project in our village, made so much dirty money, and didn't leave us a single drop! The village chief and I were so angry in the office that we thought of getting everyone to step in and give them a piece of our mind halfway through the project, to really squeeze them dry!"

Upon hearing the thick slang and underworld jargon, the old men exchanged knowing glances and nodded in understanding. They were just doing it for money, and they had seen plenty of the shady dealings between village officials and construction teams in the countryside.

The old woman who had been the most defiant earlier was now completely relieved. She leaned closer to Zhao Jianguo and whispered smugly, "Oh, so it was Secretary Zhao who arranged this! Just you wait and see! Today, this old woman will make sure they can't get through this road. Forget about getting into the village, they won't even be able to back up!"

He nodded in satisfaction, his face full of admiration: "Auntie is really reliable! Well, since we're all on the same side, I won't hold back anymore."

He casually lowered his voice and asked, "By the way, when Village Chief Shuishan assigned you the work yesterday, did you all receive the 300 yuan per person service fee on time? If you get things done perfectly today, I, as the Party Secretary, will give each of you an extra 100 yuan!"

As soon as the words were spoken, the faces of the elderly men who had been so smug just moments before changed instantly.

The old woman even exclaimed in shock, "What?! What did you say? Three hundred? Wasn't it two hundred?!"

Zhao Jianguo's smile froze abruptly, as if he had heard something unbelievable. His eyes widened, and he asked in astonishment, "Two hundred?! How could it be two hundred! I clearly told Village Chief Shuishan in the office yesterday that this job would be hard work, and I would allocate three hundred yuan to each of you! And he only gave you two hundred each yesterday?!"

Upon hearing this, the old man smoking a pipe immediately became agitated. He jumped up from his stool, his voice trembling with anger: "Yes! They only gave each of us two hundred yuan! And that money wasn't from Luo Shuishan; it was from Luo Ming, your village accountant and also the village head, who secretly delivered it last night in the middle of the night!"

Another old man was so angry his beard stood on end. He slapped his leg and yelled, "Damn it! That little bastard Luo Ming must have embezzled it! No wonder that despicable scoundrel was so keen on it!"

"This is outrageous! We're all in our seventies and eighties, working under the scorching sun doing this dirty work, is it easy for us to earn enough to pay for our funerals? How dare Luo Ming embezzle our hard-earned money! He has no conscience!" The old lady pounded her chest and cursed angrily.

Zhao Jianguo, like an angry young man kept in the dark, stomped his foot in fury upon hearing this and said with a pained expression, "How could Director Luo Ming do such a shameless thing! It's so hard for us old folks in the countryside to earn a little pocket money! He just passed it around, did nothing, and still managed to pocket a hundred yuan from each person! He made more money from that one transaction than you do in a whole day of sunbathing!"

Zhao Jianguo became increasingly agitated as he spoke, even clenching his fists: "No way! Is there no law anymore? When I get back, I'm going to confront him face to face. This matter must be resolved!"

These words were like knives piercing the lungs of these elderly people. They had initially thought it was great to receive two hundred yuan, but now, upon hearing that they had been made a fool of and had been exploited for a hundred yuan, their anger—a feeling of being more concerned about unfairness than about scarcity—instantly extinguished their reason.

"Get the hell out of this muddy road!" The old woman kicked away the small stool blocking her way, her eyes red as she roared, "I'm not staying here anymore! Come on! Everyone, follow me back to the village, we're going to find Luo Ming and demand an explanation! I'm going to tear that bastard's face off today!"

Zhao Jianguo immediately nodded emphatically, and said loudly with righteous indignation, "That's right! Ladies and gentlemen, don't be afraid, come with me! Otherwise, if I go back alone, they will definitely deny it to the death! You come with me to confront them in court! Today, with me, the village secretary, backing you up, if Luo Ming really dares to do such a thing as exploiting the villagers, I guarantee I will not tolerate it, I will definitely report to the higher authorities, and have him dismissed on the spot!"

The elderly people were already blinded by anger, and now that they saw the Party Secretary backing them up, they were even more confident.

"Let's go! Let's go to the mudstone factory and settle accounts with them!"

"Yes! We can't let this corrupt beast get away with it!"

The elderly men and women didn't even bother with benches and palm-leaf fans; like a crusade, they charged headlong towards Luo Family Village.

Zhao Jianguo, without showing any emotion, pushed his electric scooter behind the group, indignantly fanning the flames as he went: "Everyone, hurry up! Don't let this guilty guy get away! When you see him later, Auntie, just ask him where that hundred yuan went!"

The two-kilometer journey was covered in less than twenty minutes by the elderly people who were usually not very mobile, thanks to this surge of energy.

Aside from holding the nominal title of village head, Luo Ming's main job was as an accountant at the mud board factory run by Luo Shuishan.

Zhao Jianguo led this Avengers team, whose average age was over sixty-five, and stormed into the gate of Luoshuishan's mud-brick factory.

Inside the factory, a dozen workers were working, covered in white dust, when they suddenly saw the newly arrived Secretary Zhao leading a group of red-faced, menacing old men and women from the neighboring village rushing into the yard. The workers were all stunned.

Not knowing what had happened, everyone stopped what they were doing and gathered around, looking at each other in bewilderment.

As soon as the group of old men entered the mud slab factory compound, they went all out. Without Zhao Jianguo needing to give any instructions, they started yelling in the yard at the top of their lungs, "Luo Ming! Luo Ming, you son of a bitch! Get your ass out here right now!"

"Luo Shuishan! Village Chief Shuishan! You come out here too! Let's see what kind of good stuff you've raised!"

The door to the mud board factory office was ajar. Inside, Luo Shuishan and Luo Ming were discussing the factory's accounting for the next month when they suddenly heard shouts of insults directed at them from outside. Both of them changed their expressions at the same time, and their hearts pounded.

Pushing open the office door and peeking out, the two of them gasped in shock.

Why didn't these old men and women block the traffic at the village entrance? Instead, they followed Zhao Jianguo all the way to the factory!

The moment the two appeared, several middle-aged women swarmed around them as if they had discovered their father's killers, completely surrounding Luo Shuishan and Luo Ming. Pointing fingers and spitting as they bombarded them: "You, Luo Ming! I, this old woman, have known for a long time that you're no good! You're so heartless! You even dared to embezzle the money the new secretary allocated to us poor people?!"