Chapter 245: I Want to Contract for 30 Years

Taking Chen Jinli along, Ye Cheng went again to Chen Jinshui's house. Chen Jinshui was easy to talk to; he and Ye Cheng were already acquainted, so as soon as Ye Cheng spoke, he immediately agreed.

The four of them loafed their way into the village office together.

In the village office, Village Chief Chen Jinhai sat alone in his office, sipping tea, with an official air.

"Jinhai, Jinhai." A voice suddenly called him from outside; Chen Jinhai looked up and immediately frowned.

Besides the two clansmen brothers, there were also Ye Guowei and Ye Cheng.

He sauntered out, speaking with a sarcastic tone: "Yo, what do you all want, trying to tear down the village and take over?"

"Jinhai, speak properly; Guowei is here on business." Chen Jinli shouted back, they're all clansmen brothers, nobody fears anybody.

"Village Chief, we came to discuss contracting the tidal flats." Ye Guowei said, he didn't take a liking to Chen Jinhai either, but now he needed village business, so his momentum was considerably weakened.

"Contract the tidal flats?" Chen Jinhai murmured, "The village's tidal flats aren't said to be for contracting; who said they could be contracted?"

Seeing this guy start to speak in officialese, Ye Cheng glanced at the two experts he had invited.

The two immediately understood; Chen Jinshui was more reserved: "Our village had said a few years ago we wanted to contract out the tidal flats, but nobody took it."

Chen Jinli was more direct: "Jinhai, Guowei coming to contract is a good thing; the village would still have income—don't keep holding a grudge and deliberately make things difficult."

Having Chen Jinli directly point out that he was making things difficult, Chen Jinhai's face darkened; he glanced at him displeased, wondering whose side he was on.

Chen Jinli plopped onto the chair, speaking bluntly: "Don't look at me like that; I'm purely doing this for the village's good, right, Jinshui?"

"Yes, yes, it's for the village's good; if the aquaculture gets going, other industries will follow."

As they were talking, the neighboring accountant Chen Chunfu walked in.

"Chunfu's here; come on, perfect—wasn't the village previously thinking of contracting out the tidal flats?"

Chen Chunfu had been the village accountant for many years; of course he knew.

"Hmm, yes, but nobody took it."

"Look, Jinhai, this matter does exist—hurry up and check on contracting it."

"Huh? Someone wants to contract it?" Chen Chunfu still looked bewildered.

"Uncle Chunfu, my older brother wants to contract it." Ye Cheng interjected.

"Great, the village has so many tidal flats lying idle; how much do you want to contract?" Chen Chunfu was very pleased; as an accountant, looking at the empty ledger, there really wasn't much fun.

"Let's see what price the village has." Ye Cheng also didn't know what price the village had previously.

Chen Chunfu recalled: "I remember it being about 100 per mu."

100 per mu was fine; it was within Ye Cheng's acceptable range.

But before he could speak, Chen Jinli interjected: "100 per mu is too expensive—no wonder nobody contracted it; let's lower the price."

"No, you can't just say lower price and lower it—this is the village's collective property." Chen Jinhai interjected, he was anxious, wondering what they were trying to do.

"Are you trying to sideline me as village chief?" If he didn't speak up, these few people would have decided the matter.

"It's the village's collective property, so we should pay for it, but if the price is too high nobody will contract it; leaving it idle is still a waste, so better to lower the price, right, Jinshui, Chunfu?" Chen Jinli looked at the two.

Chen Jinshui certainly nodded; Chen Chunfu also wanted to contract it out, pretending not to see Chen Jinhai's glance as he nodded.

"Then, Jinhai, look, several people in the village committee agree—you're not trying to pull some petty emperor act, are you? We're a collective; the township meetings have said we need collective decision‑making."

Chen Jinli's words left Chen Jinhai speechless; he sat down angrily, glaring at the bunch of white‑eyed wolves before him.

He knew that recently, the two children of the Jinli family had been getting close to Ye Cheng; they had come to help.

But he couldn't help it; he had always touted collective decision‑making outwardly, and now they were using the collective as an argument, leaving him with no recourse.

"I think 30 yuan per mu is appropriate—what do you say?" Chen Jinli spoke up, basically offering to give it away for free.

"Impossible!" Upon hearing the price halved, Chen Jinhai jumped up, his beard practically exploding with anger: "At this price, why don't you just give it away for free?"

"Then what do you say?"

"At least 90."

Chen Jinli still wanted to argue, but Ye Cheng suddenly interjected: "90 it is, but I want to contract for 30 years."

Ye Cheng's words shocked everyone—one shock was the contract price, the other the contract term.

The price of 100 yuan was moderate; Ye Cheng accepting it was fine, but demanding a 30‑year contract really startled everyone.

Ye Guowei was also startled; he looked at Ye Cheng and said, "A Cheng, isn't 30 years too long?"

"Well, Lao Er, contracts are usually for three to five years; jumping straight to thirty seems... a bit wasteful." Chen Jinli had wanted to say they were burning money, but held back.

"Sure, we'll definitely contract it out for 30 years." Upon hearing the 30‑year term, Chen Jinhai couldn't suppress a grin at the thought of such a fool, but added, "However, it must be paid in full up front."

"Jinhai, you're going too far—demanding full payment for 30 years, why don't you just go rob someone?" Chen Jinli said.

"No problem, just a lump sum; I want 30 mu, and I'll pick the location myself."

"Deal!"

Without letting others speak, Chen Jinhai waved his hand and eagerly agreed.

Now the others didn't know what to say; both sides had agreed, so there was nothing left for them to add.

"Then, Lao Er, how much do you want to contract?" Chen Jinli asked cautiously; he was now a bit afraid of Ye Cheng, who seemed to be acting outside normal reasoning.

He was acting outside normal reasoning, because there was no need to.

At 90 yuan, even after 30 years—or even 20 years—it's just the price of a fancy milk tea; being able to contract for a year, what's there to wait for?

"Fifty mu!" Ye Cheng uttered softly.

Instantly another thunderclap rolled, shocking everyone present.

Even Chen Jinhai, who had been hoping to see Ye Cheng suffer and become a joke, was startled by that number.

Fifty mu of land.

One mu equals 666.67 square meters, about the size of a standard basketball court; fifty of them amount to over 30,000 square meters, basically covering the better tidal flats of Baiyun Village.

Ye Guowei was completely dumbfounded; he had thought contracting twenty mu was the limit, but Ye Cheng went straight to the max.

He pulled out his fingers to start calculating, but couldn't figure it out—there were too many zeros at the end.

"5... 50 mu, 30 years, still have to pay it all at once, Ye Cheng, you're serious?" Chen Chunfu could barely speak.