Me! A high-ranking official!

The villagers who had just been incited by Luo Shuishan and clamoring to kill Zhao Jianguo were now dumbfounded. When the irrefutable video finished playing, their expressions changed from astonishment to extreme shock, and finally to uncontrollable disgust and rage!

"brute!!!"

An old man, trembling with rage, pointed at Luo Shuishan, who was being held down on the ground, and cursed, "Luo Shuishan! You heartless bastard! We treated you as our village chief, and you, for your own kickbacks, actually lowered the price behind our backs in front of the big boss! You ripped us off a hundred yuan a mu of land!"

"Are you even human?! You don't deserve to be our village chief!"

"Kill this traitorous old bastard!"

The two policemen who were just about to arrest Zhao Jianguo turned pale with fright when they saw the enraged villagers turn their guns on him. They unconsciously took two steps back and didn't dare to touch Zhao Jianguo again.

"Fellow villagers! Let me explain... That video was taken out of context, they conspired to frame me..." Luo Shuishan, his mouth full of mud, was still making a last-ditch effort, desperately waving his hands to defend himself.

But his faint voice was instantly drowned out by the curses and spittle of hundreds of people. No one believed a single punctuation mark he uttered. Several hot-tempered young men even took off their mud-covered cloth shoes and smashed them hard on Luo Shuishan's head.

"That's enough!"

Just as the scene was about to completely spiral out of control, Zhao Jianguo stepped onto a tall stone roller and roared, forcefully silencing the commotion.

He looked down at the hundreds of villagers with their varied expressions, his eyes revealing a resolute determination.

"I, Zhao Jianguo, as the village secretary sent by higher authorities, have been in Luojia Village for over half a month, and my goal has always been the development of the village collective and improving the lives of the villagers!"

He surveyed the entire room, his words ringing with conviction: "Although I haven't been here long, I believe that through the environmental protection bank, the village-wide lighting project, and this planting base, I, Zhao Jianguo, have done some real work for our village and brought some benefits to everyone!"

"Especially this 5 million yuan planting base! This is a major positive policy that will boost our village's economic development, solve employment issues for everyone, and completely eradicate poverty!"

He suddenly held up five fingers, his voice rising: "The transfer standard is 550 yuan per mu! You can go around asking around the whole county, the whole province! See if there's a higher ceiling price than that?!"

The villagers looked at each other in bewilderment at his question, and many lowered their heads in shame.

"I understand your dissatisfaction and commotion at this price today! After all, no one in this world complains about being paid too much!" Zhao Jianguo sneered, his tone instantly becoming incredibly sharp: "But! I'm putting this out there! Human greed is a bottomless pit. Even if the company agrees to give you a thousand today, tomorrow someone will want two thousand! There will always be someone who's not satisfied!"

"If we continue with this unreasonable and nonsensical negotiation, this land will never be acquired! Our Luo Family Village will never be able to develop; it will forever remain rotten in this poor mountain valley!"

He pointed at Zhou Min and Hu Zhiwei beside him, directly piercing the cruel reality of capitalism: "Do you really think Luojia Village is some kind of auspicious place, indispensable to you?! At this price, the company has far too many options in the entire county! Compared to other villages, Luojia Village has no advantage whatsoever!"

"The reason the company is willing to invest five million here is not because Luojia Village has any advantages, but because I, Zhao Jianguo, am here! It's because I want to give you a helping hand!"

"If you continue to cause trouble, it won't just affect my personal career development! At worst, I'll just pack up and transfer back to the county, still as my deputy section chief! But it will affect the livelihoods of hundreds of people in your Luo Family Village for the next ten or even decades!"

His furious rebuke was like a resounding bell, making all the villagers present feel their eardrums go numb and cold sweat pour down their backs. They finally realized that they had almost smashed the golden rice bowl that could turn their future generations around for a mere few dozen yuan!

"I hope everyone will not only focus on the small, immediate gains but also consider the long-term benefits for the entire village!"

Zhao Jianguo took a deep breath, his tone becoming iron-fisted and resolute, and issued a final ultimatum: "If you don't want your land to be requisitioned, we won't force you! It's not like we absolutely have to take your land! If the land in the west is good and you want to control it, and the west isn't an option, then we'll take the land in the east! If the east isn't an option either, then we'll take the land in the south!"

"At worst, the villagers in Sanlitun are eagerly awaiting this investment! Our village, including the land in Sanlitun, only has 500 mu in total. We can easily scrape together enough!"

With a wave of his hand, like a commander in control of the entire situation, he declared: "Now, everyone disperse! Those who are willing to have their land expropriated at 550 yuan per mu, take your notebooks and go to the village committee this afternoon to sign a letter of intent!"

"If someone is unwilling, we will never force them!"

After saying that, his face turned ashen, and he strode back to the village committee compound with his men, leaving behind a group of bewildered villagers!

Upon entering the room, Li Gan didn't even bother to drink a sip of water. He grabbed Zhao Jianguo's arm anxiously, his eyes filled with worry as he looked at the dried blood on the back of Zhao's head. He said urgently, "Brother Zhao, you've been hit on the head with a blunt object. This is no joke! Let's go to the town clinic right away for an X-ray. If there are any lasting effects, that would be a real problem!"

"Damn it, that bastard Luo Maizi, he really went all out!" He reached up and touched the back of his head, and as soon as his fingertips touched the wound, he gasped in pain.

Looking at the bloodstains on his fingertips, he secretly rejoiced. The jujube wood stick, as thick as a child's arm, was solid hardwood. If that blow had hit an ordinary person's head, even if it didn't crack their skull, a severe concussion would have been inevitable. Fortunately, the Treasure Basin had enhanced his abnormal physique, making him not only incredibly resistant to blows but also far more resilient than ordinary people, allowing him to withstand the fatal blow and reduce it to a superficial injury.

"Alright, stop making a fuss." He shook the blood off his hand and shook his head. "No need to go to the clinic. It's just a scrape, no bones are broken. It'll scab over on its own in a couple of days."

"No way! We have to disinfect it first, no matter what!" Zhu Yan had already pulled a first-aid kit from the cabinet in the inner room and hurried over with alcohol swabs and gauze. "Secretary, please sit down. Let me treat your wound. An infection would be no joke!"

He nodded, pulled over a wooden chair and sat down. Zhu Yan carefully parted the hair at the back of his head and wiped the wound with a cotton ball soaked in alcohol. The alcohol irritated the broken flesh, and a piercing pain came. He frowned slightly but didn't utter a sound.

Village head Luo Ming stood in the corner, his hands clasped together, his face full of struggle and worry. He looked at Zhao Jianguo, his lips trembling, and hesitated, "Secretary... I... I today..."

He glanced at Luo Ming in the mirror, his mind clear as day. Luo Ming had completely betrayed his old boss, Luo Shuishan, and had offended him terribly. He was afraid that Luo Shuishan would take revenge on him later.

"Old Luo, don't worry," Zhao Jianguo said calmly, then sneered, "With me backing you up, what are you afraid of? I'll report directly to the town, the county party committee's discipline inspection commission, and the supervision office in a moment, giving them a full account of what happened at the threshing ground today!"

He paused, a cold glint flashing in his eyes: "For his own selfish desires, Luo Shuishan not only obstructed the village's major economic development projects, but also maliciously incited and triggered a mass gathering of hundreds of people! With these accusations, not only can he, a mere village party secretary, not even the town leaders can protect him! From today onwards, Luo Shuishan will have no place to hide in Luo Family Village!"

Hearing his assurance, Luo Ming's tense shoulders finally relaxed, and he let out a long sigh. No matter what, he used to follow Luo Shuishan around. Now, he had personally sent his old boss to his doom and brought things to this point. He felt a mix of emotions and was very upset.

At this moment, Zhou Min, who had been standing silently to the side, walked over and looked at Zhao Jianguo with an undisguised admiration and awe.

"Secretary Zhao," Zhou Min smiled slightly and said in a deep voice, "Our boss instructed me to pass on a message to you: if there's anything in Luo Family Village that requires her help, please feel free to ask."

He smiled and nodded: "Please thank your boss for his kindness, but the situation is under control now. Also, could you please send the original video evidence from the dashcam to my phone, Manager Zhou?"

Zhou Min understood immediately, took out her tablet, sent him the video, and after finishing, put away the device and said, "Secretary Zhao, since there's nothing else here, we'll go back and report to the boss. As for the land transfer contract, we'll come over to go through the process as soon as the village signs the letter of intent."

"Alright, thank you for your hard work, take care." He got up and saw the two of them out of the village committee gate.

Back inside, Zhu Yan packed her first-aid kit while angrily saying, "Secretary, I only knew Luo Shuishan was domineering before, but I never imagined he could be this despicable! For his own selfish gain, he'd even betray the interests of the entire village. How could he do something so heartless!"

He sat back down at his desk, took a sip of cold water, shook his head and sighed, "Heaven is watching what people do. It's not that I didn't give Luo Shuishan a chance, but he was blinded by greed and went his own way, which has led to this situation. There's no way he can turn back now, not even a god can save him."

He put down his water glass, his expression turned serious, and he began to arrange the next steps: "Zhu Yan, Director Luo, listen carefully. Now that this malignant tumor has been removed, the villagers have seen the reality. The resistance to land acquisition should be much less. If nothing unexpected happens, quite a few people will come to sign letters of intent this afternoon."