Me! A high-ranking official!

Just after one o'clock in the afternoon, the sun was blazing overhead, but the courtyard of the village committee was already filled with people in twos and threes.

Just as Zhao Jianguo had predicted, after the big commotion that morning, the villagers had finally figured things out. They had only just finished eating, and many of them, without even taking a nap, rushed over with their household registration books and ID cards to keep watch.

Li Gan was sweeping the yard when he saw the huge crowd outside. He shouted at the top of his lungs, "Folks, go back to the shade under the trees and rest! The company people won't be here until 2:30 this afternoon. You're just waiting here so early!"

But no one wanted to leave. They all crowded together on the stone blocks and earthen steps in front of the village committee, smoking pipes and chatting enthusiastically in small groups.

After several mornings of being swayed by Luo Shuishan, and even joining the commotion with a shovel, the burly man lingered at the door for a long time before finally walking into the office with a flushed face and rubbing his hands.

"Secretary Zhao... I'm so sorry about what happened this morning. We were blinded by greed and listened to that bastard Luo Shuishan's instigation..." The leading man was full of shame and kept his head down, not daring to look at Zhao Jianguo.

Zhao Jianguo, sitting behind his desk, waved his hand casually upon hearing this and said in a calm tone, "Alright, ignorance is no excuse. Everyone is just trying to make their lives better, and their intentions are good. It's just that they've been taken advantage of. In the future, be more careful when you encounter things and don't believe everything you hear."

Seeing how magnanimous Zhao Jianguo was, not only did he not blame them, but he also comforted them, the men felt even more guilty. When they looked up and saw the gauze on the back of Zhao Jianguo's head, they felt both heartache and anger.

"Secretary Zhao, does your head injury still hurt? That bastard Luo Maizi was too ruthless!"

"Exactly! If we hadn't exposed this today, we'd all still be completely in the dark, kept in the dark by that old bastard Luo Shuishan!" An old man angrily banged his cane. "Damn it, he's been the village chief for so many years, we relied on him, and he turned against us! The boss didn't even mention trying to lower the price, but he actually went out of his way to rip us off so he could pocket the money! He doesn't care about the lives of us ordinary people at all!"

"That's right! Only when something really happens do we realize that Secretary Zhao is truly a good official who wholeheartedly cares about our village!"

Everyone chimed in, cursing Luo Shuishan's ancestors for eighteen generations.

Just then, Zhu Yan walked in quickly, carrying a thermal lunchbox. She knew that Zhao Jianguo was injured, so she specially went home at noon to kill a laying hen she raised herself and stewed a whole pot of braised pork, all of which she brought to Zhao Jianguo.

"Secretary, you've been injured, you need to recover properly. Eat something while it's hot." Zhu Yan opened the lunchbox, and a rich aroma of meat instantly filled the office.

Zhao Jianguo was indeed hungry. He thanked them, picked up his chopsticks, and began to eat heartily. As he ate, he instructed Zhu Yan and Luo Ming, who had just come in, "There are more and more people outside. You two quickly go to the yard and stretch out a rope to organize the line. When the company people arrive later, they'll definitely be eager to sign contracts. Don't let them all rush in at once; it'll be chaotic and cause problems. Line up properly and come in order!"

Zhu Yan and Luo Ming readily agreed and immediately turned and ran into the yard to maintain order.

At 2:30 p.m., Zhou Min arrived at the village committee on time with staff from Hotan Medicinal Herbs Company.

At this moment, three long queues had already formed in the village committee courtyard. Everyone knew very well that Zhao Jianguo had made his point clearly that morning: the price of 550 yuan per mu was absolutely the highest price in the entire county. Zhao Jianguo was right; Luojia Village was not some kind of auspicious place. If they refused to sign today, this 5 million yuan windfall would immediately fall on the heads of the neighboring Sanlitun.

So the signing process in the afternoon went exceptionally smoothly. No one haggled. After the staff checked the area and documents, and the villagers confirmed that everything was correct, they immediately and readily pressed their fingerprints and signed their names.

While the signing of contracts outside was in full swing, Zhao Jianguo sat in front of his computer inside the house, his fingers flying across the keyboard, writing a detailed report on the extremely serious mass gathering incident that had occurred that morning, as well as Luo Shuishan's suspected job-related crimes and kickbacks.

After finishing writing, he burned the dashcam video that Zhou Min had sent him onto a USB drive, and put it together with the printed report into a manila envelope. He planned to go to the town in person to submit this crucial material and completely seal the Luo Shuishan case.

After everything was tidied up, I picked up the file folder and walked to the door when I suddenly heard an extremely sharp noise coming from outside the yard.

"Zhao Jianguo! You heartless bastard! Get out here right now!"

He frowned and stepped out of the house.

Outside the gate, Luo Shuishan's wife, Wang Guihua, stood with her hair disheveled, followed by two burly middle-aged women, clearly relatives from her maternal side. These three women, like three enraged tigresses, stormed past the villagers who were queuing up and headed straight for Zhao Jianguo.

The moment Wang Guihua saw him, her eyes reddened. She pointed her finger at his nose and began to berate him: "You, surnamed Zhao, what right do you have to treat my husband, Lao Luo, like this?! My husband has been the village chief of Luo Family Village for so many years. Even if he hasn't done anything particularly meritorious, he's certainly worked hard. He's done so many good things for the village! So what if he made a mistake in a moment of confusion?! You're an outsider, why don't you want my husband to be the village chief?! What evil intentions are you harboring?!"

The two women behind her joined in, hands on their hips, and began to curse wildly in extremely sarcastic and mean-spirited rural swear words, spewing out vicious terms like "jinx" and "childless" like beans.

Zhao Jianguo looked at them coldly and retorted without any politeness, "Luo Shuishan brought this upon himself! He embezzled, accepted bribes, and betrayed the interests of the villagers. It's not a matter of whether I want him to be the village chief or not; it's that Party discipline and the law cannot tolerate him, and it's that the people of Luojia Village cannot tolerate him!"

Upon hearing this, Wang Guihua not only didn't back down, but instead barked even louder as if her tail had been stepped on, jumping up and down and throwing a tantrum: "You're talking nonsense! You're just jealous of Lao Luo's prestige! This is retaliation!"

Luo Ming and Zhu Yan, who were maintaining order nearby, couldn't stand it any longer and quickly ran over to persuade her: "Sister-in-law, please stop making a scene here. It's true that Village Chief Luo was in the wrong today. The evidence is right there..."