Chapter 52: Rural Absurd Past Events Chapter 52: Shanggou Village 52

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Protagonist:

Li Xiulan

"I disagree!"

Li Xiulan's cold voice was like a knife, slicing through the harmonious atmosphere.

"Li Xiulan, men's business—what right do you have to speak!"

Before Liang Yuanchao and Zhang Zhongtian had expressed their positions, Wang Zhanggen first put on a fierce look and scolded Li Xiulan.

Something even the head man of the household had agreed to, yet Li Xiulan refuted him in front of other men—wasn't that denying him dignity and face?

And what Wang Zhanggen cared about most was precisely dignity and face.

"Why can't I speak? This house is partly mine! If I disagree, who dares to tear down my house? Let them try!"

Li Xiulan's attitude was extremely firm.

Because this concerned her and her three children's future life and housing.

Wang Zhanggen came home only a few times a year; this home was dispensable to him, so naturally he could not use his brain and easily agreed to the demolition.

But she could not!

If this house was torn down and she had no new house to live in, would she have to bring her three children to sleep on the streets?

"I see you're simply unreasonable! You insist on opposing me, don't you!"

Wang Zhanggen was furious with shame and anger, gnashing his teeth, and raised his hand to slap Li Xiulan.

Money was not important to him, nor whether his wife and children would have a place to live in the future; saving face and not becoming a laughingstock among the villagers was what he considered most important.

Fortunately, at this moment Liang Yuanchao and Zhang Zhongtian hurried to stop him, thus sparing Li Xiulan from disaster.

"Changgen, speak nicely, don't lay hands on anyone!"

Liang Yuanchao hurried to placate him.

But Wang Zhanggen still acted like a mad dog, pointing at Li Xiulan's nose and cursing loudly:

"This house was left by my father; whether you agree or not is none of your business! What right do you have to handle my family's things!"

Hearing this, Li Xiulan's heart turned half cold:

"So after being married to you for so many years and bearing you three sons, you still treat me as an outsider, right!"

Li Xiulan's heart was twisted like a knife.

It was only now that she deeply understood what it meant that the closest person hurts one the deepest.

Zhang Zhongtian then hurried to ask Li Xiulan:

"Xiulan, we're not refusing to pay, and three thousand yuan in demolition compensation is really not a small amount, so why do you disagree?"

Li Xiulan's tears were already rolling in her eye sockets; she endured them and said coldly:

"Because I don't believe you. Unless you give me the money first, otherwise I will not agree to the demolition!"

Li Xiulan had been deceived by Liang Yuanchao once before; as the saying goes, once bitten by a snake, one fears a well rope for ten years—that was the principle.

"The contract is written clearly in black and white; once the contract is signed and approved above, the funds will be allocated through the Town Government. What are you afraid of?"

Liang Yuanchao questioned her with a speechless expression.

"Afraid you'll deceive me! Afraid you'll fool me! I have no education and can't understand the contract! I only hold to one principle: no money, no agreement!"

Li Xiulan was like an unreasonable shrew.

No longer the gentle, kind, and reasonable woman she once was.

And the reason she had become this way was entirely forced by life.

But she only wanted to protect her own interests—what was wrong with that?

"You are simply unreasonable!"

Liang Yuanchao was so angry he could hardly catch his breath!

"Liang Yuanchao, do you know how hard it is to reclaim ten mu of barren mountain land with just a hoe? Do you know what it feels like to be treated sincerely and then deceived?"

Li Xiulan looked coldly at Liang Yuanchao and sneered:

"Heh, it's normal you don't know, because you're a village cadre, you never go reclaim land, and you'll never be deceived. Only us ignorant fools with no education or experience get deceived by you!"

Liang Yuanchao understood the meaning in Li Xiulan's words and felt embarrassed and guilty:

"Li Xiulan, I know our handling of those ten mu of cassava fields on Shanbei last time was improper, but you must understand that village cadre work is not easy. Besides, I didn't entirely deceive you before—didn't I give you three hundred yuan as a reclamation fee? This time the Jingzhu Expressway construction is a national-level project; not only do they give you compensation, they also allocate you homestead land. What are you dissatisfied with? Just stop being unreasonable, okay!"

But Li Xiulan said:

"I still say the same thing: give me the money first, then sign the contract! Otherwise, forget about tearing down my house!"

Wang Zhanggen coldly glared at Li Xiulan:

"You're simply a madwoman!"

Then he hurriedly said to Liang Yuanchao and Zhang Zhongtian with courteous humility:

"Village Secretary, Accountant Zhang, don't mind this madwoman. I'll sign the contract for you; my signature counts!"

Li Xiulan said angrily:

"Wang Zhanggen, are you still a man? I'm your wife. I'm protecting this family's interests. You won't help me, fine, but you call me a madwoman?"

Then she looked at Liang Yuanchao and Zhang Zhongtian and said:

"I don't recognize Wang Zhanggen's signature. If anyone dares to forcibly demolish my house, I'll hang myself right here! Let me see who dares to come over!"

Seeing Li Xiulan put her words so decisively, Liang Yuanchao and Zhang Zhongtian both felt helpless.

Those doing village committee work fear most encountering such unreasonable people.

Did they really have to give Li Xiulan the demolition compensation first?

But that goes against the rules!

The town hasn't even released the funds yet; if we give Li Xiulan her demolition compensation first, the village committee will have to advance the money itself!

If we give it to Li Xiulan and other families find out, they'll all come demanding it too—then what do we do?

So this door absolutely cannot be opened!

In the end Liang Yuanchao could only let out a long sigh and said to Wang Zhanggen:

"Changgen, go do some ideological work on your wife first. We won't sign this contract for now. Anyway, there's still some time before construction starts. Once you've done the ideological work, I'll come back to your house later."

After saying this, Liang Yuanchao left together with Zhang Zhongtian.

To do demolition work at other families' homes.

"Li Xiulan, you insist on making me lose face in front of outsiders, don't you! Now you're happy! The demolition thing is ruined! Originally, with the demolition compensation we could take out a little more money and build a very nice new house, but you're just so unreasonable! You can forget about building a new house from now on!"

Wang Zhanggen was so angry his neck turned red.

Just thinking that tomorrow this matter might spread through the whole village, that he would be the first man in Shangou Village who couldn't control his own wife, and thus become the laughingstock of the whole village, made him furious beyond measure.

"Wang Zhanggen, have you ever cared about me at all? Do you know Liang Yuanchao deceived me once! I worked hard to clear the cassava field for over half a year, and in the end he tricked it away from me with some petty trick! Can you guarantee that on this demolition contract he won't deceive us? If we get cheated, the house gets demolished, and the demolition compensation still doesn't come through, what do you say we do then!"

Li Xiulan was also angry.

Wang Zhanggen not helping her protect the family's interests was bad enough, but he actually helped others scold his own wife—it was simply laughable to the extreme!

"Village Secretary Liang is trustworthy! He won't deceive us! As for that ten-acre cassava field matter, it's just that you yourself feel cheated. Village Secretary Liang did give you reclamation fees—he gave you three hundred yuan in reclamation fees. Aren't you satisfied yet!"

Li Xiulan coldly said:

"Anyway, I only recognize one hard rule now: only when the money is in hand can we sign the contract!"

Wang Zhanggen was furious:

"Unreasonable! I can't be bothered with you!"

He flicked his sleeve:

"I don't care about you anymore! Sign it or don't, I don't care! I'm going back to the city tomorrow! If you don't sign now, then when the time comes you won't get the money and won't be able to keep the house either—just don't come crying to me for help!"