Free Web NovelChapter 17: Chapter 17: Seeing Zhou Mazi Again
Su Zhenping found a buyer in the county who knew the market well and sold the Lingzhi directly.
He transferred seventy thousand yuan to Wang Hao, and of course, since the buyer was connected by Su Zhenping, he also made some profit from the deal.
With this money, Wang Hao’s financial situation became much easier, and he immediately bought some fish and meat to improve the family’s meals, also sending some to Zheng Cailian.
Wang Hao had once promised to earn money to provide a better life for Zheng Cailian and her child, so he also gave her some money.
Zheng Cailian adamantly refused to take it, but couldn’t withstand Wang Hao’s sweet words and eventually accepted it reluctantly.
Whenever Wang Hao had free time, he would study the nine-dragon tattoo on his body.
He had clearly felt the tattoo’s color deepen but still couldn’t fully control it, and considering the long growth cycle of the medicinal herbs, he needed to continue recovering his ability to promote the growth of the herbs.
However, he couldn’t afford to waste this period; now that he had the funds, he had to consider how to invest the money to generate more income—that was the irrefutable truth.
After much thought, Wang Hao still stuck to his original idea, to set up greenhouses to grow vegetables!
He planned to grow durable and easy-to-store vegetables like radishes and potatoes, as well as some off-season vegetables, to sell to wholesalers in the city.
Chen Village hadn’t repaired its roads yet, and the condition was not good. The villagers could only take care of their basic necessities and had no extra money to contribute to road repairs. Furthermore, the government didn’t have any projects to support the village nor plans to fix the roads.
Fortunately, Chen Village was only about ten-plus kilometers from the county town, which could reduce transportation losses, and this would certainly be more profitable than planting rice.
No sooner said than done, Wang Hao immediately got up to go to the county to buy greenhouse equipment, but before he even reached the village entrance, he heard someone calling him; wasn’t that Wang Er from the village?
"Haozi, there’s big trouble! That village bully Zhou Mazi is causing trouble, they want to seize our land!" Wang Er ran over, panting.
"What happened?"
"Isn’t Zhou Mazi raising fish in the village? Now he wants to expand and is planning to take over the villagers’ good farmland to dig fish ponds. I heard they’ve taken a lot of your land as well, and right now several villagers are blocking him at the village head; I must hurry to inform the others."
"Damn, seizing land in broad daylight, are they bandits or what. Let’s go! I’ll join you in rallying people to confront him."
Wang Hao strode off angrily with Wang Xiaoer to gather other villagers.
Villagers depended on their little plots of land to provide for their families, and Zhou Mazi’s land grabbing was pushing them towards a desperate situation.
They absolutely could not let him succeed this time!
Wang Hao rallied the villagers and went to the village head.
Upon arrival, Zhou Mazi was arguing loudly with a few villagers, flanked by a dozen or so burly men. Seeing reinforcements arrive, the older villagers stood up straighter, their spirits bolstered.
"Zhou Mazi, have you lost your conscience? Seizing land from us poor people, aren’t you afraid of divine retribution? If you take even a bit of my land today, I’ll fight you with my life!"
An old man clenched his fists, his teeth gritted as he glared furiously at Zhou Mazi and his group, his eyes nearly bleeding with rage.
"You damn old fossil, which eye of yours saw me taking your land? The land belongs to the state, and the state has the final say. Now I’ve paid money to the state for this land, so get lost!"
Zhou Mazi said arrogantly, waving his hand to signal his followers who took a step forward, ready to block the villagers.
"Oh, I was wondering who it was, turns out it’s you, my defeated foe, barking shamelessly here."
Wang Hao arrived with the villagers, his gaze sharp, an aura of menace about him.
"Even if it belongs to the state, it was allocated to us. What business do you have here causing trouble? Zhou Mazi, it’s best if you know your place; go back to where you came from ASAP!"
Zhou Mazi flicked the remainder of his cigarette onto the ground and stamped it out with force. Turning around, he saw it was Wang Hao, who had injured him a few days before, and his rage deepened.
"It’s you, you little bastard? You’ve got some nerve showing your face in front of me!"
"Get lost if you know what’s good for you; otherwise, I’ll beat you so hard you’ll be searching for your teeth on the ground like last time," Wang Hao said with a cold laugh.
Zhou Mazi, reminded of the beating from that night, subconsciously stepped back at the sight of Wang Hao’s fierce eyes.
Actually, Zhou Mazi had long ago marked off the occupied land with lime, ready to bring in an excavator.
When Wang Hao saw that his own land had also been marked by Zhou Mazi, he exploded with rage and roared at him.
"Remove your crap from my land immediately!"
"What’s wrong, not happy about it? I’ve already bought this land from the government, it’s mine now," Zhou Mazi laughed loudly on the side.
"I think it’s you who should be rolling out!"
"I really think you’ve lost all shame! If you don’t withdraw today, believe it or not, I’ll beat you so hard you’ll be searching for your teeth on the ground."
Wang Hao couldn’t care less at this point; someone was stealing the bread out of his bowl, and he was ready to risk it all to win it back. The villagers behind him followed and stepped forward with him.
"I think you’re tired of living, go, kill him for me!"
Zhou Mazi was not accustomed to being slandered in front of so many people, he signaled to the strong men beside him to teach Wang Hao a lesson.
The muscular men had fierce glares and pulled out small knives from their waists, slowly approaching Wang Hao.
"The village head is here!"
Just as the situation was about to erupt into violence, Village Head Zhao Youquan arrived. ƒreewebɳovel.com
"Let’s see who is causing trouble here?" With a fierce shout from Zhao Youquan, everyone took a step back.
"Village Head, Zhou Mazi is leading people to take over the land. You’ve come at the right time; please stand up for us!" An elderly villager pleaded with a pained expression to the Village Head. fгeewёbnoѵel.cσm
With the arrival of the Village Head, all the villagers were filled with hope, thinking that with an official present, even Zhou Mazi with all his might wouldn’t dare to mess around.
"Zhou Mazi, what’s all this about?"
Upon seeing Zhou Mazi and the others, Zhao Youquan thought about how he had accepted their bribes over the land affair and couldn’t let the villagers find out.
Besides, Zhou Mazi had backing; otherwise, would they have been able to act so arrogantly in the village without him turning a blind eye?
"Village Head Zhao, my uncle has shares in this land, and we’ve paid everything in full. You personally promised us there would be no problems," Zhou Mazi whispered into Zhao Youquan’s ear.
Zhao Youquan’s face turned green. Zhou Mazi’s uncle was Zhou Kun, the deputy director of the county environmental protection agency. He had control over all the environmental policies in the county, and Zhao Youquan was hoping to leverage this connection for his own benefits. He definitely couldn’t afford to offend him.
"Selling the land? When did this happen? How come none of us knew about it!"
Upon hearing this, Wang Hao stared intently at Zhao Youquan.
This old bastard was already squeezing the labor out of the villagers, but now he had even sold their land; this was something Wang Hao couldn’t tolerate.
"Yes, the land has indeed all been contracted by Zhou Mazi to raise fish. It was all decided through village committee discussions. After all, fish farming can promote the village’s economic development. Plus, there will be a fish shared with everyone at the end of the year, so there’s no issue. Everyone, go back home!"
Zhao Youquan said this earnestly but was too guilt-ridden to meet anyone’s gaze, for fear they’d see something amiss.
But the villagers present started to murmur among themselves.
"Village Head, you haven’t taken a bribe from that damned Zhou Mazi, have you? You’re really speaking up for him," Wang Hao stood among the villagers, angrily questioning him first.
Zhao Youquan was struck on a sore spot and was instantly at a loss for words, "You... don’t spout nonsense here."
"Zhou Mazi is a cold-hearted and ungrateful beast, and you, as the head of the village, are colluding with these scumbags."
"Wang Hao, don’t get cocky! Watch out, or I’ll kill you!" Seeing Wang Hao still creating trouble at this time, Zhou Mazi couldn’t help but curse out loud.
Wang Hao’s eyes narrowed; there was no way he would let them occupy the land. If they wouldn’t allow him to farm, then nobody would.
Thinking this, he ran to the edge of the field and destroyed the white lines Zhou Mazi had just drawn...
