Chapter 1784: Phoenix Village 2

His clothes were torn to shreds, his hair was as messy as a bird's nest, and he looked quite disheveled.

There were five or six other people standing opposite the man; it was clear that both sides had just been in a physical altercation, and they all looked very agitated.

Zirui was ushered into the room by a group of villagers, and everyone's gaze fell squarely upon him. A refined-looking man asked, "Who are you?"

He had already been recognized outside, and now that he had reached the Village Office, there was no need to hide anything further.

Zirui introduced himself: "I am the newly appointed Village Chief. The appointment order is in the box..."

"No need to look, no need to look, I believe you."

His face was flushed red, but upon seeing Zirui, he suddenly looked as if he had encountered a savior, bowing and cupping his hands in greeting: "You've finally come, that's great, that's great! I'm leaving right now. This godforsaken place is a man-eater that doesn't even spit out the bones; I'm never coming back."

After saying this, he ran outside.

A man of about fifty reminded him: "You haven't packed your luggage."

"I don't want it anymore. Whoever wants it can have it, it's all yours. I'm leaving immediately."

Zirui was stunned.

Leaving even his luggage behind—what on earth had the previous Village Chief experienced here?

He did not shrink back from his future; instead, he became even more interested.

A tough nut is hard to crack, but it also has more flavor.

The older man was quite warm, taking the initiative to apologize to Zirui: "I'm sorry, Village Chief. I let you see a joke on your very first day. I am the village accountant; I will do my best to cooperate with your work in the future..."

A villager interrupted him: "Accountant Hao, don't just spout pretty words. When are you going to hand over the account books..."

"Go, go, go, hurry up and leave! The Village Chief is here for his first day, don't you go meddling. Let all those people outside leave too. That useless waste is already gone; there's no spectacle here for you to watch, get out of here now."

Accountant Hao chased the villagers away and returned to introduce the remaining few people to Zirui.

The Militia Company Commander.

The Women's Director.

The Public Security Director...

The village committee members were quite complete, but the only one missing was the Village Party Secretary.

"Where is the Secretary?"

The few people looked at each other in dismay, until finally the accountant said: "The Secretary, the Secretary has gone out to work."

Zirui:...

The Secretary went out to work?

This village is truly... different.

There must be something strange going on here, but he had just arrived, and many things would have to be taken slowly.

The accountant was very warm toward Zirui, apologizing, pouring tea, and even calling home to have his wife cook a meal and bring it over!

However, the others remained indifferent.

There was a clear sense of distrust in their eyes, and they were quite dissatisfied that the higher-ups had sent yet another college-graduate village official. The new Village Chief looked too young, even worse than the last one; he was surely just someone fresh out of campus coming here to experience life.

Useless as a fart.

Zirui had just arrived, yet he could already feel the undercurrents surging; this was not mentioned in his notes.

For many things, he would have to feel his way across the river.

Before long, the accountant's wife came in, carrying a bowl of egg noodles, and handed it to Zirui: "I'm sorry, there's nothing good to eat. I only cooked a bowl of noodles; please make do with it."

The customs here were the opposite of those back home.

When a guest arrives, they must eat noodles, which signifies that everything will go smoothly.

The noodle bowl was coarse, but the noodles were actually made quite well and smelled fragrant.

Zirui had been riding in a motorized tricycle for several hours and was indeed hungry. After thanking her, he took the bowl, and seeing that there wasn't even an intact chair in the room, he squatted on the ground to eat.

His second brother had said that many people here had a habit of squatting on the ground to eat noodles even when chairs were available.

When in Rome, do as the Romans do; he had to learn to adapt.

This small action made those distant gazes become a bit more amicable.

"Village Chief, are you a country boy too?"

"Can't tell, you look so fair and clean, you look just like a city kid."

"Another pampered scholar. What are you here for? You won't last two days before you're crying and leaving."

Zirui looked up and smiled: "Even if I run away crying, I'll have to take my luggage and leave in one piece. That's called starting and finishing well."

"Well said, that's how it should be. I think you're different from other city kids; maybe you really can achieve something in our Phoenix Village."

In the time it took to eat a bowl of noodles, Zirui had already gained the preliminary approval of the Village Office.

Once the noodles were finished, the accountant began to arrange his living quarters.

He led Zirui to a small room next door; it was where the previous Village Chief had lived, and it was about the same as the small room he had rented as an intern.

One table, one bed, one chair, and a simple clothes rack.

Although the items were simple, the room was very messy, with many books scattered on the table and a thick layer of dust.

The quilt on the bed was unmade, messy, and greasy.

Especially the edge of the quilt, which was so black it looked like it hadn't been washed in a lifetime. How was he supposed to sleep in this?

The accountant was good at reading people; seeing this, he immediately had his wife bring over a new set of bedding.

"No need, don't go to such trouble for me, I'll just use this one." Zirui was polite with his words, but in truth, just looking at the quilt made him want to retch.

But he forced himself to endure it.

His second brother had said last night that the people here were not sticklers for small details, and with nine droughts every ten years, water was scarce, so everyone wasn't very particular about hygiene. Being too particular would make one seem different from the others and lead to being ostracized.

Since he was here, he had to be like everyone else.

"No, no, the quilt must be changed..."

The accountant woman brought over new bedding, which still carried the scent of sunshine, and Zirui breathed a secret sigh of relief.

Although he had made up his mind to be the same as everyone else, how could habits be changed so easily?

Accountant Hao left, and he closed the door, preparing to sleep.

After a simple wash, he lay down on the hard wooden bed; even though the bed was not very comfortable, he fell asleep very quickly.

He hadn't slept at all the previous night, and combined with rushing about on the road all day today, he was exhausted.

He slept until the middle of the night.

"Bang!"

"Clang—"

After these two sounds, Zirui was startled awake; the wind was whistling into the room, and the glass had been smashed.

"Who is it?"

He demanded sharply.

He rushed out of the room into the courtyard in one stride, but there was no one in the courtyard; Zirui ran outside the courtyard, but a dark shadow flickered once and then vanished.

It must be someone from the village who was very familiar with the surrounding environment; he gave up on continuing the chase and turned back.

The glass had been smashed, but fortunately, only one pane was broken.

It seemed someone wanted to make sure he couldn't even get a good night's sleep; this was only the first day, and there was no telling what would happen in the future.

Zirui gave a bitter smile, picked up a broom to clean up the broken glass on the floor, and then pasted some newspapers over the window.

Fortunately, it was an old-fashioned window, not the kind with large panes of glass; once pasted with newspapers, the wind immediately lessened a lot, so he pulled the curtains, deliberately leaving a small gap in them, and then, with the lights still on, he crawled back into the covers.

Lacking an eye mask, he folded a towel a few times and placed it over his eyes to serve as one.

This way, he wouldn't have to worry about anyone coming to smash the glass again.

A thief has a guilty conscience.

Even if that person came back, they would have reservations upon seeing the lights on in the room and would not come again.

"My Wife Always Wants to Anger Me"

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