Me! A high-ranking official!

"A few days ago, just after the plan to build a medicinal herb planting base was finalized, Luo Shuishan secretly came to my house in the middle of the night..." Luo Ming's voice trembled, but it was clearly audible in the quiet threshing ground. "He told me that it was all Secretary Zhao's doing that caused my son Zhiyong to go to jail! He said Secretary Zhao is my whole family's enemy, and he told me he has a way to help me get revenge and regain the face I've lost!"

Luo Ming took a deep breath and continued, "He told me to find a way to stir up trouble in the village and obstruct Secretary Zhao's land acquisition work! As long as we ruin the project, we can drive Secretary Zhao out of Luo Family Village!"

At this point, Luo Ming suddenly opened his eyes, his tone tinged with regret: "But I know I was wrong now! Zhi Yong broke the law, and that was entirely his own fault, not Secretary Zhao's! It was Secretary Zhao who showed my family a way out! Luo Shuishan was just using me as a pawn!"

The surrounding villagers were stunned and in uproar. No one expected that behind this farce, which seemed to be about fighting for interests, was actually a conspiracy orchestrated by the village secretary to vent his personal grievances!

Zhao Jianguo coldly pressed, "What did Luo Shuishan tell you back then? Who did he arrange for to incite trouble?"

Luo Ming kept his eyes down, avoiding eye contact with the crowd, and slowly recited the names one by one: "Luo Shuishan told me that he had already made arrangements privately, including Luo Kanzi, Luo Yonghai, Luo Jianshe, Wang Dazhu..."

As Luo Ming read out the names one by one, the faces of the people whose names were called changed drastically! They never expected that Luo Ming, Luo Shuishan's former staunch confidant, would completely betray Luo Shuishan and expose them in front of hundreds of people!

"Luo Ming! You're talking nonsense!" Wang Dazhu, his face pale, jumped up and down in a fit of rage, yelling, "Stop spouting nonsense!"

Luo Jianshe and the others, whose names were mentioned, also looked flustered. Noticing the suspicious looks in the eyes of the surrounding villagers, they quickly joined in the denial: "That's completely untrue! Don't listen to his nonsense! He's been bribed by Zhao Jianguo and they're working together to deceive us!"

Luo Jianshe, his neck stiff, tried to muddy the waters again: "We're just not satisfied with the land acquisition price! Our land to the west is so good, right next to the road, why is it paid the same price as those bumpy, ordinary plots to the east?! It's not just me, isn't that what everyone thinks? Besides, why did Zhao Jianguo decide for us, setting it at 550?! We're just not convinced!"

Zhao Jianguo sneered at Luo Jianshe's stubborn, unyielding face, then suddenly took a step forward and roared, "Five hundred and fifty yuan and you're still not satisfied?! Then let me ask you, five hundred yuan, four hundred and fifty yuan, would you be satisfied then?!"

Upon hearing Zhao Jianguo's words, Luo Jianshe, Wang Dazhu, and the others' expressions changed drastically, like cats whose tails had been stepped on. These precise numbers instantly stung their nerves. They looked at Zhao Jianguo in horror, clearly not expecting that he would even know such a highly confidential matter!

Looking at their trembling expressions, Zhao Jianguo sneered, his loud voice echoing throughout the room: "The company representative who was in contact with me had barely left when Luo Shuishan stopped him on the way! What did he discuss with the company, what deals did they make? Do I need to repeat it all to you in front of the entire village today?!"

Luo Jianshe and Wang Dazhu, who had been shouting the loudest just moments before, now had faces that alternated between pale and flushed, cold sweat pouring down their foreheads. They looked like wilted eggplants and didn't dare to utter another word.

Seeing their feigned indifference, Zhao Jianguo ripped off the last veil of pretense, sneering repeatedly: "You keep saying that I, Zhao Jianguo, am preventing the price from rising? Let me tell you! Back then, Luo Shuishan, in order to secure this five-million-yuan project for himself and to kick me out, secretly negotiated with the company behind the backs of the entire village, and he actually offered to lower the price! He personally told the boss that as long as the company would hand over the project to him, Luo Shuishan, he was willing to proactively reduce the price from 550 yuan per mu to 500, or even 450!"

"This is the good village chief you elected! You've been used as a pawn by him to attack me, and what's he doing? He's using your hard-earned money to pave his own political path to promotion and wealth!"

These words were like a bombshell dropped on the threshing floor!

"What?! Luo Shuishan is actively trying to lower the price?!"

"From 550 to 450? Isn't that just ripping off ordinary people like us?!"

The villagers were in an uproar! If they still harbored a sliver of hope for Luo Shuishan before, now that they heard this blatant betrayal, everyone's anger was instantly ignited. Many people looked at Luo Jianshe and his group with undisguised hostility and fury.

Just then, a furious roar suddenly came from behind the crowd:

"You're talking nonsense!!!"

"Zhao Jianguo! You're spouting nonsense here! To absolve yourself of your own responsibility, you dare to throw all the dirt on me! You're not even human!"

Everyone looked in the direction of the sound and saw village chief Luo Shuishan, his face flushed and panting, squeezing in from the outside of the crowd. Behind him were two uniformed police officers from the town police station!

Luo Shuishan pointed at Zhao Jianguo's nose, shouting angrily, "Zhao Jianguo! You're shameless! You've been suppressing the village's land prices, refusing to let them be raised, and you're clearly the one taking kickbacks from the company! Now that the villagers have found out, you're trying to smear me! Officers, you all heard that, didn't you? He's publicly defaming me!"

Zhao Jianguo didn't even lift his eyelids. He slowly turned around, his gaze icy, a thick sneer on his lips, and sneered at the furious Luo Shuishan and the two policemen who had appeared at just the right moment behind him.

"Well done, Village Chief Luo." Zhao Jianguo clapped his hands, his tone filled with undisguised mockery. "And two police officers, you've come at just the right time!"

Zhao Jianguo raised his wrist, glanced at his watch, and said coldly, "From the moment these people gathered and surrounded the company's staff until now, it's been a full forty minutes! Why did you all arrive at the perfect moment—just when I, Zhao Jianguo, returned, just as I was about to expose Elder Luo's true colors—you all appeared like divine soldiers descending from the heavens!"

He stared at Luo Shuishan's face, which was beginning to panic, and sneered, "Luo Shuishan, your act of saving the day at the last minute and then turning around and biting back was truly spectacular!"

"You're talking nonsense!!!"

Luo Shuishan, like a wolf whose tail had been stepped on, angrily pointed at Zhao Jianguo's nose and shouted, spitting as he yelled, "Zhao Jianguo! You're making baseless accusations here! To absolve yourself of responsibility, you dare to throw all the dirty water on me! You're not even human!"