Chapter 176

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Protagonist:

Li Xiulan

The one thing Wang Zhanggen could be proud of in his life seemed to be nothing more than having three sons.

Of course, if he went into detail about this matter, he could still boast about it to others for an entire afternoon.

For example, he had given birth to three sons back then, and had never paid a single superbirth fine.

Another example: all three of his sons had been registered in the household without spending a single cent.

Yet another example: he hadn't really disciplined his three sons, yet all three were now very well-behaved and sensible.

The eldest son went to earn money after retiring from the military, the youngest son's grades were excellent, and in two years when the college entrance exam came, he would surely bring glory to the ancestors.

Only the second son was a bit worse, but compared to other people's children he wasn't far behind either; the second son had entered high school, stayed out of trouble, and getting his high school diploma was no problem at all!

That day, several guests came to the house, and Wang Zhanggen boasted to those guests that his eldest son had just retired from the military and found a good job in Guangzhou!

"His monthly take-home salary is nearly ten thousand yuan!"

Wang Zhanggen boasted to the guests like this.

Of course, his words were not baseless; they had grounds.

Didn't Dashan say he sold four computers on his first day? According to what he himself said, the commission on one computer was eighty yuan, four computers a day meant a commission of three hundred twenty yuan, so over thirty days in a month, wouldn't that be over nine thousand, nearly ten thousand yuan?

Hearing Wang Zhanggen say this, the guests all smiled and complimented him, saying his eldest son was promising and he could now enjoy blessings.

Wang Zhanggen's vanity was greatly satisfied.

He laughed hehehe modestly with his mouth:

"How could it be that fast to enjoy blessings? I still have two sons in high school; if they both get into university, we'll have to suffer for many more years, and university tuition is expensive!"

His words seemed modest on the surface, but were actually showing off again.

Up to now, Shanggou Village had not had a single proper university student.

Some were merely students from private junior colleges or third-tier universities; such university students didn't count as real university students in the eyes of the villagers.

At least it had to be a second-tier university or above to count as a real university student.

And in all these years, Shanggou Village hadn't even had a single second-tier university student.

From this one could see just how scarce educational resources in the mountains were.

To walk out of the mountains required how much effort.

Over these years, Shanggou Village had actually produced several children considered to have aptitude, but due to this or that reason, these children ultimately couldn't get into university.

Especially during the rebellious period of junior high, many students lacked discipline, their grades plummeted all at once, and thereafter never recovered; the better ones might barely get into high school, while those who fell completely might not even get into high school.

To be like Wang Xiaohua, whose grades weren't that good in junior high but then surged upward in high school, was extremely rare; to put it exactly, it wasn't just rare—up to now, Shanggou Village had produced only Wang Xiaohua this one person.

"Don't blow it out of proportion; our Erhai and Xiao Hua haven't even taken the college entrance exam yet, and you're already saying they can get into university—if they happen to do poorly then, wouldn't that be a laughingstock?"

Li Xiulan, standing to the side, couldn't stand Wang Zhanggen's posture of boasting recklessly to outsiders, and so poured a bucket of cold water on it.

She felt that if her own children achieved results, they should be even more low-key, for fear of arousing envy from other families and having them secretly sabotage her own.

Don't think such things won't happen; anything can happen in the countryside.

Some people would come to blows over a corner of a field; some, seeing others make money raising fish, would go at midnight and put medicine in others' fish ponds; some, seeing others become successful, would even go destroy others' ancestral graves.

Anyway, all sorts of messy things could happen in the countryside.

Wang Zhanggen didn't think so; he felt that if his own sons were promising, it should be said out loud.

If you don't say it out to show off, then isn't your son's promise for nothing?

"I'm not blowing it out of proportion; I'm telling the truth. That day Dashan called home and you answered too—he said he could earn three or four hundred a day, isn't that a monthly salary of nearly ten thousand? As for our youngest son, his grades are so good; just at the midterm exam he ranked fifth in the whole school. Isn't getting into university a sure thing? Now it's just a matter of choosing a university! And our second son Wang Erhai—if he just puts in a little effort, I think he still has a chance to get into a second-tier university!"

Wang Zhanggen said this with such firm conviction that he wouldn't allow Li Xiulan to question him further, otherwise he would surely turn angry.

Li Xiulan gave him a white-eye look, knowing she couldn't embarrass him in front of outsiders, otherwise they'd have another big argument.

She couldn't be bothered to argue with Wang Zhanggen.

So she said in an unkind tone:

"Say whatever you want; your mouth is on your own body, I can't control it!"

After saying this, she turned around and went out to feed the pigs.

The several guests who came to the house today were all acquaintances from the village.

Old village doctor Zhong Jianguo, former Village Committee Secretary Liang Yuanchao, and current Village Committee Secretary Zhang Zhongtian were all among them.

Besides them, there were also some older people with deeper seniority, and staff from the village committee.

These were all authoritative figures in Shanggou Village, with certain decision-making authority.

They came to Wang Zhanggen's house to discuss an important matter together.

"Now the country is strongly encouraging new rural construction, and new rural construction must harden the village roads, build a cultural room, and besides, it would be best to also get running water done, so every household can use running water."

Zhang Zhongtian said this, and he also said:

"As long as it's declared upward, the government will allocate funds downward, so I think this time is an opportunity to build our Shanggou Village well. Changgen, you're in construction, so you should know how to pave roads and install running water, right? Why not let you contract all these projects?"

The other several people all turned their gazes toward Wang Zhanggen.

In recent years, Wang Zhanggen had done masonry work with great distinction; in the masonry construction circle, he could be considered to have some authority. Whether in Shanggou Village or several nearby villages, everyone highly recognized his craftsmanship. Most importantly, his prices were fair, his quality passed muster, and he never engaged in graft or extortion.

No matter the size of the project, he would do the job well, calculate the money accurately, never take an extra cent, and never ask for a cent less.

Precisely for this reason, several authoritative people in the village discussed it together and finally decided that the projects of hardening the village roads, building the cultural room, and installing running water would all be contracted to Wang Zhanggen.

If someone else were contracted, no matter who, there would definitely be people in the village who wouldn't accept it; but if Wang Zhanggen were contracted, it would definitely convince most people, especially those villagers whose houses Wang Zhanggen had helped build—they all knew his character plainly.

Hearing this, Wang Zhanggen was not very willing, and he said with a dry laugh:

"I'm just a building constructor; having me do this isn't very appropriate, is it? Secretary Zhang, aren't you also a foreman? And you do it far better than me — you've even contracted highway construction projects before. Why don't you do this matter?"

Zhang Zhongtian, however, laughed heartily and said:

"It's not appropriate for me to contract it; I'm the Village Committee Secretary, I have to avoid suspicion, otherwise people will have opinions. Speaking of which, when I did highway construction before, it already let some people have opinions. Anyway, for the village's projects now, I definitely won't handle them directly; I'm only responsible for liaison and supervision."

When Zhang Zhongtian said these words, he also meaningfully glanced at Liang Yuanchao.

These years as Village Committee Secretary, he indeed used the power in his hands to seek not a few private benefits for himself, and Liang Yuanchao, this former Village Committee Secretary, indeed had quite a lot of complaints about this.

Several times Liang Yuanchao actually secretly wrote letters to the Town to report him; fortunately Zhang Zhongtian had connections in the Town, and his report letters were all intercepted.

This time the new rural reconstruction involves huge benefits; although Zhang Zhongtian wanted to take a big bite, he also had misgivings, just afraid of leaving a handle for Liang Yuanchao to report again and poke out a big hole, so he thought of this one method, pulling Wang Zhanggen into the partnership; he only needed to eat some commission from the middle.

Having Wang Zhanggen, this mud worker with a universal reputation, contract the project — everyone surely should have no opinions then, right?