Chapter 276: Negotiation

With Zhao Dequan chased away by Hao Qiang, Laoyingzui Village lost its backbone. After discussing it, everyone sent people to call Yue Bai back from the government.

Although Yue Bai was now a government employee, her roots were still in Laoyingzui Village. The kind-hearted Yue Bai, hearing what the villagers said, immediately lost her sense of direction. The incident happened at the construction site, which was Qian Youyu's site, and she was the Vice Chairwoman of Qian Youyu's Group Company. Although it was an empty title, it had been officially documented by the township government.

The person who died was one of her own people. Being caught in such a contradictory situation, her identity in representing Laoyingzui was truly awkward.

It wasn't that Laoyingzui Village had no one else; besides Zhao Dequan and Yue Bai, there were several other Party members. Now that a death case had occurred and several fellow villagers had been arrested, if they couldn't negotiate a deal, it wouldn't just be a matter of losing face; it would be very difficult to hold their heads high in the future. Moreover, if the negotiation went well, there was no benefit for them. If it collapsed, it was a lifelong issue of face.

So, no one wanted to step forward, pushing the responsibility to each other. Finally, Zhao the Half-Immortal's daughter remembered Yue Bai. As soon as she proposed it, it immediately received unanimous support from everyone, saying that in Laoyingzui Village now, besides Yue Bai, no one more suitable could be found.

Yue Bai's dual identity was clearly seen by everyone. As someone who had left Laoyingzui Village, if she didn't fight for the interests of Laoyingzui Village, how could she face her ancestors? As a government employee, Yue Bai's words carried more weight than those of ordinary people, and she could speak up during negotiations.

In this way, Yue Bai was kidnapped by her conscience and had no choice but to step forward to negotiate with the government.

Yue Bai's low words gave me confidence, so after passing around a round of cigarettes, I invited the representatives of Laoyingzui Village to go with us to the old township government to talk. After all, the administrative office of Suxi Town was still at the old township government.

The negotiation reached a stalemate as soon as it began. The representatives of Laoyingzui demanded that the people who had been arrested be released before talking. They said they were the victims, and to be beaten and then thrown in jail was against heaven's law.

Yue Bai kept her lips pursed and didn't speak, waiting until everyone was too exhausted from the clamor to continue before saying, "If you want to release people, release them on both sides. Otherwise, people will say we lack sincerity."

The people of Laoyingzui were naturally dissatisfied with her proposal and shouted, "Yue Bai, whose side are you on?"

Yue Bai smiled faintly and said, "This isn't a matter of whose side anyone is on. We must be fair in our words and actions! Releasing people is a small matter; Uncle the Half-Immortal's compensation and the future of Laoyingzui are the big matters. If everyone thinks this is just about venting anger, I don't think there's any need to talk, don't you agree?"

Some nodded in agreement, whispered to each other for a while, and then a Party member took the lead and asked me, "Town Mayor Chen, Uncle the Half-Immortal was beaten to death. Beating someone to death is against the law; shouldn't a life be paid for with a life? Isn't that the logic?"

I nodded in recognition of his logic, waiting for him to continue, "After beating someone to death, you have to pay for the funeral expenses, right? This is heaven's law; it's been the logic in every dynasty. We feel that with Uncle the Half-Immortal gone, Aunt the Half-Immortal won't live long either. This is equivalent to killing two people."

I looked at him, confused, and turned to Huang Qishan, "Secretary Huang, what do you think?"

Huang Qishan shook his head helplessly and asked me for a cigarette again. This guy seemed to have become addicted; if he didn't smoke for a moment, he couldn't sit still, as if he were on fire.

I asked, "What's your meaning?"

The speaker straightened his posture, cleared his throat, and said solemnly, "If you want to save Aunt the Half-Immortal's life, you have to save her source of livelihood. We all know that Aunt the Half-Immortal has relied on Uncle the Half-Immortal her whole life. Now that he's gone, Aunt the Half-Immortal has only a dead end."

"Isn't that a bit too serious?" Guo Wei frowned and said, "People always die, right? Does that mean if Zhao the Half-Immortal isn't around, his wife won't live?"

"Live, of course she has to live!" The representative took out a dry tobacco pouch, rolled one, and held it between his lips without lighting it. He didn't look at us, stared at his feet, and spat out a sentence, "It just depends on how she lives."

"Eating, drinking, farting, and burping, just living life as usual, how else could she live?" I began to understand his meaning, but I had to play dumb. Exposing myself too early would leave me with no way to fight back.

"Uncle the Half-Immortal is gone, who will earn money for Aunt the Half-Immortal? So, I think besides the funeral expenses, we should also compensate for Aunt the Half-Immortal's living expenses for the rest of her life." He finally stated his purpose, as if he had let out a sigh of relief, found a match, struck it, and sucked hard on the cigarette under his nose.

"Then how do you want to be compensated?" Huang Qishan was impatient. Dealing with cunning villagers required keeping a few tricks up one's sleeve. These people, who looked simple on the surface, liked to talk in circles.

Huang Qishan's words didn't attract everyone's attention; the representatives were still chattering and asking us for people—the people who beat Zhao the Half-Immortal to death, they called them murderers.

The atmosphere of the negotiation took a sharp turn for the worse. The people of Laoyingzui stopped asking for money and changed their tune to ask us for people.

Yue Bai spoke up at this moment, smoothing her hair unhurriedly, and said, "Solving cases and arresting people is the business of the Public Security Bureau; it doesn't have much to do with the town government. It's good that everyone wants to arrest people; I also feel that if we don't arrest someone, we're letting down the late Uncle the Half-Immortal. But everyone must also think, the dead are gone, and the living still have to live. If this murderer isn't caught in ten days or half a month, or even in a year or so, does Uncle the Half-Immortal still need to be laid to rest?"

Everyone fell silent after being asked this by her.

"My view is that the entire village of Yuetang should move to the agricultural trade street. In the future, they will also be people of Suxi Town, and everyone will be neighbors. As the old saying goes, distant relatives are not as good as close neighbors. There is another old saying: it is better to resolve grievances than to knot them. Think about it, if we resolve this matter, there won't be any resentment in the future, right?"

Yue Bai's words were sincere and reasonable. Everyone was nodding in agreement with her, only I smiled without saying a word. I naturally understood the logic behind Yue Bai's words.

Zhao the Half-Immortal's daughter waited for a long time without seeing any discussion of the actual compensation for her father, so she rolled her eyes, fell off the chair to the ground, slapped her thighs with both hands, and wailed to the heavens.

As soon as she cried, the negotiation scene began to become chaotic. Someone shouted, "If you want to solve the problem, we have three points, otherwise, no talk."

I smiled and said, "Everyone, don't be anxious. Tell me first, what are the three points?"

The speaker felt a bit embarrassed, scratched the back of his head, and said, "I'm not sure, probably just those three. First, pay money; second, release people; third, we in Laoyingzui want to be like the people of Yuetang Village and build houses on the agricultural trade street."

I said, "These are all easy to handle. Let me ask you first, how much money do you want for compensation? Releasing people is not something we can decide; only the Public Security Bureau can decide that. As for building houses on the agricultural trade street, that's a good thing, and the government supports it with both hands. But in the final analysis, you can build houses, but you have to come up with the money for it."

They shouted in unison, "We have no money. We don't even have money to eat, where would we get money to build houses?"

"If you have no money, you want to build houses, what are you going to build them with? Surely the state can't build them for you?" Guo Wei said, tapping the table.

"You, this Secretary, you have no level in your speech." Someone in the crowd mocked, "Should your head be hit with two sticks?"

Guo Wei's face turned red when he was told this, and he slapped the table in anger, shouting, "Who is talking?"

No one paid attention to him; they all lowered their heads and giggled secretly.

Yue Bai looked at me and said hesitantly, "How about we listen to Town Mayor Chen's opinion?"

Everyone turned their eyes to me. I smiled and said, "I understand that you have no money to build houses. There is a way, but I'm afraid you won't be willing."

The representatives said almost in unison, "As long as there is a way, we will all agree."

I said, "The person who can help you has been arrested. Without him, even if you poke a hole in the sky, I'm afraid there's no way."

The representatives looked at me in surprise and asked in a cacophony of voices, "Town Mayor Chen, are you talking about Qian Youyu?"

I nodded in acknowledgment and said, "Actually, you were fighting in a group. When Qian Youyu arrived, Zhao the Half-Immortal had already fallen to the ground. Who exactly hit him, no one knows. Tell me, isn't that the logic?"

The representatives looked at each other and asked me, "Town Mayor Chen, be straightforward and give us a way. As long as every household in Laoyingzui Village has a house on the agricultural trade street, even if it's a heaven-sized matter, we will take it on together."

I smiled without saying a word, letting them be anxious.

Zhao the Half-Immortal's daughter cried again at an inopportune time. After crying twice, she was stopped by the people of Laoyingzui, who scolded, "Stop howling, if you want to howl, go home and howl!"

Zhao the Half-Immortal's daughter was stunned, looked left and right at the people in the village, and found that no one paid attention to her, so she had to stop, sat on the ground alone, and wiped her eyes without saying a word.

Yue Bai got up, helped her to a chair, and comforted her, "Don't worry, it will be handled well."

Huang Qishan pulled my sleeve and whispered, "Chen Feng, this responsibility is too big."

I smiled and didn't answer his words, got up, and said to the people of Laoyingzui Village, "I have a suggestion. See if you are willing. If everyone agrees, we will do it this way. If you don't agree, those who should go to jail will go to jail, and those who should do whatever will do whatever, okay?"

Everyone said "good" in unison, waiting anxiously for me to continue. ===== CHAPTER 277 =====