Me! A high-ranking official!

This is like a windfall! He never imagined that a live stream of less than half an hour could have such a huge ripple effect! The 500,000 yuan of special funds that had been misappropriated were actually recovered thanks to a single sentence from Deputy County Head Lian!

"Thank you, County Chief Lian! And thank you, Director Guo, for your great help! This money is a godsend for our Luo Family Village!" He thanked them repeatedly, his voice trembling with emotion.

After hanging up the phone, he excitedly paced back and forth in the room, his mind racing with calculations.

The 500,000 yuan of special funds that were lost and then recovered, plus the 700,000 yuan sponsored by Hotan Company, and the 70,000 yuan from the Culture and Tourism Bureau... the total amount of funds for road construction suddenly reached an astonishing 1.27 million yuan!

Based on the overall budget for the 5,000-meter road, the current shortfall is less than 200,000!

The biggest headache for him, the lack of funds for road repairs, has now been largely resolved. The remaining less than 200,000 yuan will be much easier to come by! If all else fails…

A backup plan immediately popped into his mind: didn't the village collective still have more than 30 mu of private land? He could simply bundle all 30 mu into the land transfer agreement! At 550 yuan per mu, with a ten-year contract, that would be nearly 170,000 to 180,000 yuan in real money!

When the time comes, the rent can be withdrawn from the company in advance in the name of the village collective, and the funding gap for road repairs will be completely covered!

The next day, just as the sky was beginning to lighten, the village roosters crowed for the first time.

Zhao Jianguo was still half asleep in bed when he heard voices coming from the yard. He listened carefully and realized that Li Gan was cleaning outside and was being questioned by the early-rising villagers.

He rubbed his sore eyes, threw off the covers, got out of bed, put on his coat, and went out the door.

There stood Luo Junyi, an elderly man from the village receiving the five guarantees, gesturing to Li Gan at the village committee entrance. Upon seeing Zhao Jianguo emerge, Luo Junyi's wrinkled, orange-peel-like face immediately broke into a smile, and he hurried forward, saying, "Oh, Secretary, you're awake? Did I disturb your rest?"

He yawned, splashed cold water on his face, and laughed, "I should have woken up by now, sir. What brings you here so early?"

Luo Junyi rubbed his rough hands, took a half-step closer, and smiled, "Secretary, I watched your live stream last night, and it's been keeping me on edge ever since. I couldn't sleep a wink. I wanted to ask about the rent. You see, my plot of land is right next to the main road to the west. I take excellent care of it, and both its location and fertility are top-notch in our village! When our company comes to acquire land, we can't just go with the flow and only look at the acreage, can we? Shouldn't we also consider the quality and location of the land?"

At this point, Luo Junyi held up five fingers and waved them: "Secretary, could you talk to the company and ask them to give us a little extra money for this kind of good land? I don't need much, just six hundred yuan per mu will do!"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Jianguo raised an eyebrow. This old man was quick-witted; he'd been waiting for him. He smiled and shook his head, saying firmly, "Grandpa, I'm afraid that won't work. The land acquisition price set by the company is fixed; it only considers the actual acreage, not the geographical location. Besides, you can't measure soil fertility with a ruler. Nowadays, farming is all about high-powered machinery and scientific fertilization. Even if the soil was originally less fertile, with the right fertilizer, the final harvest won't be much different."

Upon hearing this, Luo Junyi frowned, displeased, and used Zhao Jianguo's words from the previous night to shut him up: "That's different! Secretary, didn't you yourself say during the live broadcast last night that you specifically chose our land in the west for convenient transportation and storage? This shows that transportation is also the most important factor in land price! Our land is right next to the main road, and large trucks can drive directly to the field. Transportation is definitely much more convenient than those low-lying areas. I'll only have to pay him fifty yuan more per mu per year, which is really not much! Secretary, please help me out. Could you pass on a message to the company? I'll kill a hen that lays eggs and treat you to a meal later!"

He gave a wry smile and shook his head without hesitation, refusing: "Sir, this isn't about food. The price is based on a signed letter of intent, and there's no room for negotiation."

Seeing that he wouldn't budge, Luo Junyi gritted his teeth and took another step back: "Well... even if it can't be increased by fifty, thirty would be fine! Thirty yuan more per mu is nothing to a big company! Secretary, you know my family's situation. I'm just an old man living alone, all my bones are worn out. It's not easy for me to earn a living. Please have pity on me and help me out!"

He stopped smiling and said seriously, "Sir, I understand your difficulties. The village has assistance policies for the elderly living alone, that's another matter. But the land expropriation rent is non-negotiable. This isn't just a matter of whether the company will agree; even if the company boss stood here today and agreed, I still can't agree!"

"Why?" Luo Junyi stared wide-eyed.

"Because this isn't just your problem!" Zhao Jianguo stared directly at Luo Junyi. "Once I open this door to charging extra based on location, the whole village will feel it's unfair! People who already agreed to the 550 yuan per square meter will immediately back out. Today you bring up the location, tomorrow someone else can bring up the flatness of the land, and the day after tomorrow someone can bring up feng shui! They'll find all sorts of reasons to raise the price. How can this work be done then? This project will simply fall through!"

Upon hearing this, Luo Junyi's face flushed red, and he grumbled in dissatisfaction, "Secretary, how can you be so stubborn and heartless! I'm just an old man living alone, and this is all I have to live on. Can't you just help this old man out and be a little more accommodating?"

"I'm sorry, sir." He remained unyielding: "I'll help with anything else in the village as long as it's within the rules, but on this bottom-line issue of land transfer, I can't make an exception. I'm making this clear today, not just for you, but for anyone, even if it's a relative of the county party secretary standing here today, this exception absolutely cannot be made!"

Seeing that Zhao Jianguo had completely shut down the conversation, even bringing up the county party secretary, Luo Junyi knew there was no hope left. He stomped his foot in frustration, turned around and left, muttering things like "stubborn" and "mistaking a trivial matter for an imperial edict."

Watching Luo Jun's spirited departure, Li Gan, who hadn't dared to interject, leaned forward with some concern: "Brother Zhao, you refused so decisively, won't he get angry and lead the way in refusing to rent the land to us?"