"What are you doing?" A middle-aged man wearing a tattered cotton jacket came out from a simple bungalow. His hair was messy, his beard was unkempt, and his eyes were dirty. He was holding a broken porcelain bowl and shouted at Zhang Zhiyuan.
Lu Yiwei was about to go forward but was stopped by Zhang Zhiyuan. He ignored the flying dust and walked over with his windbreaker wrapped around him. He greeted warmly, "Hello, fellow countryman."
The man stared blankly at Zhang Zhiyuan, then looked at Lu Yiwei from the corner of his eye. He picked up his chopsticks, stuck out his tongue, and licked them out of habit. Then, he plunged the chopsticks into the steamed bun in the bowl, raised it up, and took a bite.
Zhang Zhiyuan and Lu Yiwei looked at each other and said, "Yes, yes, yes. I'm from another place to get paid."
"Go back!" The man waved his hand and said blankly, "The boss is gone. Where are you going to get paid? How much do we owe you? "
Zhang Zhiyuan stretched out his hand. The man said coldly, "500,000?" Zhang Zhiyuan nodded. The man threw the steamed bun into the bowl and said with a gloating expression, "Good boy! You're really unlucky. Don't count on it. You won't get a single cent! Go back, don't wait. "After saying that, he lifted the curtain and entered the room.
Zhang Zhiyuan suddenly had an idea. Since the man didn't know him, he might be able to hear something from him. He lifted the curtain and entered the room. After entering, he regretted it and almost vomited.
Oh my god! The room was less than 10 square meters and was filled with things. There wasn't even a place to stand. There was a stove in the middle of the room. The black smoke from the stove and the steam from the kettle were mixed together. The smoke was like southern smoked bacon. It was so choking that he couldn't open his eyes. The most horrifying thing was the smell in the room. The smell of sweat, body odor, bedding and so on were mixed according to the proportion. It was simply unbearable. Zhang Zhiyuan stood at the door and hesitated for a while. In the end, he endured it and walked in. Lu Yiwei accompanied her and simply lifted the curtain to let in the fresh air from outside.
"Hey! What? Put it down! "The man scolded Lu Yiwei." You've released all the heat you've accumulated. Get out! "
After October, the outdoor temperature in Nanyang County plummeted. The highest temperature during the day was less than 20 degrees Celsius, and at night, it could approach 0 degrees Celsius. The difference between day and night was quite large. These two days, the wind was blowing and the temperature was dropping. The noon sun was scorching hot, but it did not feel warm. On the other hand, this smelly little room was quite warm.
Zhang Zhiyuan turned around and gestured for Lu Yiwei to put him down reluctantly. He said to the man, "Old friend, you said the boss ran away. Where did he go?"
The man placed the bowl on the bed that was filled with junk and said, "Are you guys here to get paid or not? You don't even know such a big thing has happened? The boss was a swindler who ran away with the money! Let's go. If you want money, go to the county! "
The man was just a construction site manager, so that was all he knew. Zhang Zhiyuan didn't ask any more questions and retreated with a solemn expression.
When they reached the gate, Shiwan Village was not far away. Zhang Zhiyuan got into the car and said, "Let's go into the village."
After entering the village, Zhang Zhiyuan gestured for Lu Yiwei to stop by the side of the road. They chose a farmer's house nearby and walked in.
The yard was clean and tidy. In the pigsty at the side, a few hungry piglets were whining. The big yellow dog that was squatting at the door became vigilant. It stood up with its neck straight and barked at Zhang Zhiyuan, startling the farmers who were eating lunch.
A woman wearing an apron walked out. The strong light was blinding. She covered her eyes with her hands and asked, "Who are you looking for?"
Lu Yiwei stepped forward and said in Nanyang dialect, "Auntie, we are from the county. We came to Shiwan Village to run some errands, but we didn't manage to do it. Now that it's noon, we're hungry. Can we have a meal at your house?"
The woman pointed and said, "There's a restaurant outside the village. You can eat there." Then, she walked into the house angrily.
"Auntie, wait!" Lu Yiwei stopped her. "If we go there, they won't open the door. Don't worry, we'll pay for whatever you eat."
When money was mentioned, the woman changed her attitude. After asking the people in the house for their opinion, she said, "Come in."
There was a fire in the house, and it was very warm under the sun. When the man saw that the two of them were dressed differently, he quickly put on his red long johns and sat up from the kang bed. He revealed a row of yellow teeth and laughed. "Get on the kang bed, it's warm."
Lu Yiwei did not care for the earthen kang bed, but it was rare for Zhang Zhiyuan, who was from the city. He put down his pride, put on his slippers, and got on the kang bed. He learned from the man and crossed his legs to experience the farmer's life.
The male host placed a small table in front of Zhang Zhiyuan, picked up a poor-quality cigarette and handed it to Zhang Zhiyuan. Zhang Zhiyuan took it without hesitation and lit it up. He said with a smile, "Old friend, you seem to be living a good life!"
The man's face was simple and honest, and his mouth was clumsy, but he still smiled foolishly and said, "Not bad, not bad!" Then he asked, "You are officials, right?"
Zhang Zhiyuan smiled. Lu Yiwei immediately changed the topic, "Big Brother, how's the harvest this year?"
The man's smile froze on his face and the cigarette fell on his body. He immediately stood up and shook it off before picking it up and took two puffs before throwing it away. "There's not a single grain of harvest. All the land has been expropriated." He sighed.
This was the topic that Zhang Zhiyuan was concerned about. He sat up and asked, "Has your land been expropriated for the construction of the cement factory?"
"Yeah." The man lit up another cigarette and continued, "My family has over 20 acres of land, and we rely on farming to survive. Now that we've lost our land, I don't know what to do. In the past, my yard was filled with corn. But look, it's empty this year. There's not even a single grain of corn. "
"Didn't we compensate you guys?" Zhang Zhiyuan was shocked.
"It's compensation!" The man replied. "The money was spent before we could use it. It's not even enough to buy food!"
"How much did you compensate us?" Zhang Zhiyuan asked.
The man replied. "Only 100 RMB per acre. 2,000 RMB is just enough for this year's expenses. What about next year? What about the year after? No one cares about us. "
Zhang Zhiyuan was shocked. This was the opposite of what he knew. He clearly remembered that when the Standing Committee agreed on the compensation, it was 300 RMB per acre, and there were relocation fees, seedling compensation, etc. Based on this family's situation, it should be more than 10,000 RMB. But why is it only 2,000 RMB? Where did all the money go? Zhang Zhiyuan did not continue asking. "Were you willing to expropriate your land?"
"How can I be willing?" The man replied. "The officials from the county and town came to my house every day and said a bunch of good things. I signed the contract in a daze. Once I signed the contract, they immediately turned hostile. They promised to arrange jobs for us, but the boss of the cement factory ran away. How can we survive? We went to the village, and the village pushed the case to the county. The county said that Mayor Su had been transferred away and is no longer in charge. They asked us to wait for the new county magistrate. We really wanted to cry but had no tears. The land left by our ancestors was wasted. "The man said as tears flowed down his cheeks.
The people who went to the higher authorities could not find a channel to appeal for help. Pushing layer by layer, pushing level by level, pushing level by level, pushing back and forth, no one knew who to look for. It was no wonder that some people took extreme actions to protest against the government's inaction. The decline of the government's credibility also caused the people to lose their original trust. They even stood on the opposite side and hated the government. But the officials were still high and mighty. They did not care and used high-handed means to suppress the people. Intercepting the petitions became the main work of the village every year.
Zhang Zhiyuan decided to intervene in this matter. "What's your name?"
"Zhao Siwa!"
Zhang Zhiyuan nodded solemnly. "Brother Siwa, if you have a choice now, do you want a job or land?"
"Of course it's work." Zhao Siwa said, "Farming is not as good as it used to be. It's not even enough to buy fertilizer. But I am a farmer. What else can I do other than farming?"
"Then why don't you go to the coal mine?"
"You mean the Erbao coal mine?" Zhao Siwa shook his head. "You can't go there! There are people in the village who work there, but they haven't received a penny yet. Also, working there means working with your head above your waist. You don't know when you'll die. More than ten people have died in the village. My child is still young, and I can't lose my father. "
"More than ten people have died?" Zhang Zhiyuan was even more shocked. As the county magistrate, he did not know that so many people had died in the Erbao coal mine.
"That's right!" Zhao Siwa said, "Just this summer, a small coal mine collapsed and crushed six people to death. It was said that Qin Erbao's men dug out and used a forklift to seal the mine. Three of them were from our Shiwan Village. In the end, we paid 60,000 RMB for each missing person. What a sin! God finally opened his eyes and put these scourges in jail. It's all thanks to County Magistrate Zhang. If it weren't for him, these bullies would still be running amok. "
Although he was praised by the crowd, Zhang Zhiyuan could not smile. He boldly asked, "Brother Siwa, do you think the cement factory has anything to do with Qin Erbao?"
"Why not?" Zhao Siwa's eyes widened. "I heard that Qin Erbao is the boss behind the scenes. He planned everything from start to finish. He wanted this land for a long time, but he couldn't get it approved. In fact, Mayor Su flattened it in a few days. I heard that he wanted to build a coking plant. The cement factory is not a problem at all! "
Zhang Zhiyuan's body leaned forward. He felt the world was spinning. He had been kept in the dark about all this. He asked Lu Yiwei, "Do you know about this?"
Lu Yiwei shook his head.
At this point, the cement factory incident that had been suspended for a while had surfaced again. Zhang Zhiyuan intended to unravel this mystery. Before that, he wanted to investigate the compensation. Who was the one who took away the benefits of the people? But was there any point in investigating? Su Qiming and Kang Dong had been transferred away, and the person in charge, Wei Guoqiang, had gone crazy. Even if he found out, what could he do?
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