Me! A high-ranking official!

Having figured this out, Luo Shuishan had a complete plan in mind. He gave a forced, dry laugh: "Oh, Secretary, what are you saying? As the village head, how could I not support the village's development? I certainly will! But..."

Luo Shuishan abruptly changed the subject, his tone becoming extremely cunning: "As I just said, I can only represent my personal opinion; I can't represent the village collective, much less the majority of villagers! So, let's discuss this matter at a meeting tomorrow!"

With that, Luo Shuishan stood up abruptly, dusted himself off, and said with a forced smile, "Secretary, it's really getting late. My back can't take it anymore, I need to go back to sleep. We can talk about the rest at tomorrow's meeting!"

After saying that, Luo Shuishan didn't even glance at Zhao Jianguo, turned around and left, his back exuding an arrogance and pride that "in Luojia Village, what I say goes."

At 10 a.m. the next day, a special expanded meeting of the village party branch committee was held on time in the simple meeting room of the Luojia Village Committee.

The village committee of Luojia Village is not very large, with a total of seven people. In addition to Luo Shuishan, the village party secretary and village head, and Luo Ming, the village director and accountant, there are also the organization committee member, discipline inspection committee member, propaganda committee member, women's director, and public security director. However, the village is poor, and the meager subsidies of the village cadres are not enough to support their families. So, apart from the women's director Zhu Yan, who is a woman who married into the village from another place and stayed in the village, the other four younger committee members work in other places all year round.

To ensure the meeting's compliance, Zhao Jianguo had Zhu Yan set up an old laptop and connect it to the village's intermittent network to create a rudimentary video conference. The screen was divided into four small boxes, and the four committee members, some at the construction site and some in the factory dormitory, connected during their breaks. After all, this was a major matter involving the transfer of land for the entire village, and formal meeting minutes and democratic voting were essential.

At the start of the meeting, Zhao Jianguo got straight to the point without any small talk, giving a detailed report to the attendees on the preliminary ideas discussed with the owner of the medicinal herb company the previous night and the far-reaching significance of the planting base construction.

After giving the general overview, he picked up his teacup, took a sip of water to moisten his throat, and then solemnly revealed the most crucial benefit: "Everyone, let me be practical. Once this Chinese herbal medicine planting base is established in our Luo Family Village, there are three main direct benefits."

He held up three fingers and explained clearly: "First, the people receive rent! Large companies lease large tracts of land for modern farming, and the price they pay is much higher than our usual scattered land transfers. I roughly calculated that the transfer price per acre is about 450 to 550 yuan, which is a stable guaranteed income for the people."

"Secondly, the village collective's land management fee! Based on the scale of 500 mu in the first phase, even if our village committee only charges 20 or 30 yuan per mu for management or service fees, it will bring in about 13000 to 20,000 yuan a year. Our village committee has been an empty shell for many years. With this flexible income, we won't have to go to the town to beg for money everywhere to handle village affairs in the future."

"Thirdly, and most importantly, they provide jobs right at our doorstep! They promised that the base's daily maintenance would prioritize using our village's labor force, which would provide 30 to 50 jobs year-round. During peak harvesting or planting seasons, the workforce could even reach over 100 people! Besides these, there are many other hidden benefits from the industry's development. Furthermore, they explicitly promised that once the land transfer contract is signed, they will directly donate a huge sum of money to help us upgrade the dilapidated road leading out of the village to the provincial highway!"

Road construction!

The moment those two words were uttered, not only the people present, but even the four committee members working away from home in the video stared wide-eyed.

Zhao Jianguo scanned the room with sharp eyes and concluded in a deep voice: "Comrades, this matter is of great significance to Luojia Village. It can be said to be an opportunity to change the fate of the village. That's why we are holding this meeting today. Now, according to the procedure, everyone can speak freely about any questions or opinions you may have."

Before anyone could react, Luo Shuishan was the first to put down his pipe.

He cleared his throat, put on the serious expression he usually wore when reporting to town leaders, and said loudly, "Secretary Zhao's speech was excellent! Comrades, introducing such a large project is a great thing that benefits the present and future generations! It will fill the pockets of the people and repair our dilapidated road. As the village party secretary, I, Luo Shuishan, absolutely support and firmly endorse Secretary Zhao's decision!"

Luo Shuishan went on and on, spouting nothing but extremely positive platitudes, with only one central message: full support!

With Luo Shuishan taking the lead, the others, already moved by the generous terms, naturally had no objections. Village head Luo Ming echoed his sentiments, and women's director Zhu Yan nodded repeatedly. The four committee members in the video also expressed their support, saying that this matter was extremely beneficial to the village's development and that they would absolutely support it.

The meeting then proceeded to the voting stage, and as expected, all seven village committee members voted in favor!

Seeing the unanimous approval, Zhao Jianguo felt a little uneasy and glanced at Luo Shuishan with some surprise.

Last night in the office, this guy was acting all sarcastic and uncooperative, but after just one night, he was completely cooperative during the meeting today? Not only did he not cause any trouble, but he even took the initiative to set the tone?

"Could it be that this old fox has figured things out after going back? Knowing that this matter can't be stopped, he's going with the flow to gain political achievements?" He thought to himself. If Luo Shuishan is really willing to put aside his prejudices and petty calculations and contribute to the development of the village, he wouldn't mind giving him a hand in the subsequent work and sharing a substantial political achievement with him.

As soon as the meeting ended, he was about to ask Luo Shuishan to stay behind and discuss the details of the land transfer in more depth.

Unexpectedly, Luo Shuishan acted faster than anyone else. He grabbed the teacup on the table, casually said, "I'm going to the town to submit some materials," and slipped out of the meeting room without giving Zhao Jianguo a chance to speak.

Watching his hurried departure, Zhao Jianguo frowned slightly, vaguely feeling that there was something strange about the matter, but he couldn't find any evidence to support it.

"Secretary Zhao..."

At this moment, Zhu Yan, the women's director, came over. She was very enthusiastic, even a little ingratiating. She walked to Zhao Jianguo's side, looked at him intently, and rubbed her hands nervously on her apron.