Reborn in 97, I solved a cold case at the Municipal Bureau

Chapter 519 A Kind Elder (Bonus Chapter, Requesting Monthly Tickets)

"Miao Tiejun, you said Miao Dongfang treated you very well, paying for your schooling, finding you a job, helping you get married, and even arranging your mother's funeral. Is that true?" Zhou Yi asked.

Miao Tiejun nodded heavily.

"Besides you, is he this nice to anyone else?"

"Uncle Dong is very kind to everyone in the village. If anyone has any difficulties or encounters problems, they can just go to him and he will take care of them."

"Is he only this nice to you people with the surname Miao?"

Miao Tiejun thought for a moment and replied, "I think so before, since we all shared the same ancestor, so we would definitely take better care of each other. Later, the quarry opened and conditions improved, and I feel that Uncle Dong is very good to the younger generation in the village."

"The conditions have improved?" Zhou Yi muttered.

The opening of the quarry was inevitable; otherwise, none of this would have happened.

But at that time, Miao Dongfang was already nearly fifty years old, and he could not work in the quarry like Miao Tiejun and other young and strong people.

How did his conditions "improve"?
However, that wasn't the main point. Zhou Yi asked Miao Tiejun to continue.

Miao Tiejun said that Zhao Tianfu did cause quite a fuss back then, and almost took it to the town government.

In order to quell public anger, the only option was to convene another village meeting and redistribute the work quotas for the quarry.

He said that Uncle Dong acted very indifferent at the time, but he only found out a few years later that Uncle Dong actually harbored a grudge against Zhao Tianfu.

However, the following year, Zhao Tianfu died of a cerebral hemorrhage due to excessive drinking.

In fact, all the fuss they made back then was just self-indulgence, because the town leaders didn't actually communicate well with Boss Huang on behalf of the villagers, and most likely didn't even mention it at all.

So, after running to the town government countless times, Miao Dongfang finally waited for Boss Huang to complete all the necessary procedures before he came to quarry the stone.

The villagers, who had been eagerly waiting, ran off excitedly to get ready for work, only to be met with a bewildered question from Boss Huang: "What are you here for?"

Everyone then realized something was wrong and immediately went to find Miao Dongfang.

Miao Tiejun didn't know what happened after Miao Dongfang went to talk to Boss Huang. He only knew that when Uncle Dong came back, he told everyone that Boss Huang had changed his mind and had already found workers from outside the village. He didn't plan to use the villagers anymore.

The villagers were furious when they heard this, and they all clamored to go and demand an explanation from this boss, Mr. Huang.

But Uncle Dong stopped them, telling everyone that making a fuss like this was useless and they needed to think of another way.

Then he discovered that the quarry was located on the back mountain, so he had to go through the village to get in and out.

The village itself is built in a ravine between two low mountains, making it impossible to build a road around the village.

Therefore, under Uncle Dong's arrangement, on the very day that Boss Huang was transporting equipment to the quarry, a group of elderly people in their seventies and eighties blocked the road at the entrance of the village.

The group of elderly people didn't speak or pay attention to anyone, but they just wouldn't move from their spot.

All the trucks that came were dangerous; which driver would dare to touch these old guys who might fall apart at the slightest touch?

So the car couldn't get in, and Mr. Huang rushed over as soon as he heard the news.

So Miao Dongfang, who had been waiting for a long time, took action.

He invited Mr. Huang to the village committee office and they had a long talk behind closed doors.

An hour later, Miao Tiejun, who had been waiting outside, saw Uncle Dong and Boss Huang walk out with a beaming smile.

Uncle Dong immediately told the villagers that Boss Huang was considerate of everyone and agreed to let the villagers work at the quarry. However, since the business was just starting out, they didn't need so many workers yet. As the business gradually got on track, they would need more people.

Then they asked the village elders to make way for the truck.

A few days later, Uncle Dong led everyone to the quarry to report for duty.

Boss Huang kept his promise and registered the information of the people Uncle Dong brought. He also had a professional quarry worker he brought from outside teach everyone how to work.

In addition, in order to be fair, Uncle Dong divided the job openings in half, with one half going to people with the surname Miao and the other half to people with other surnames in the village.

Miao Tiejun said that his impression of Boss Huang was much better than his impression of Ma Weichang.

Boss Huang was a refined and gentle middle-aged man who looked quite kind, unlike Ma Weichang, who always looked down on people and completely disregarded those who did manual labor.

After the quarry opened, everything was normal. Miao Tiejun was just a laborer, so he naturally didn't know whether the quarry was doing well or not.

But when they received their first month's wages, everyone was overjoyed. Although it was all hard labor, it was still far better than farming.

He was grateful for the support he received, so he asked his wife to go to town to buy some meat for Uncle Dong and deliver it to him. However, Uncle Dong not only refused to accept the meat but also gave him a handful of money, telling him to buy some food for his wife and mother.

Miao Tiejun kept wiping away tears as he said these words.

If it weren't for the fact that Shi Jian's body was dug up from Miao Dongfang's house, judging solely from Miao Tiejun's words, Uncle Dong would seem like a kind and gentle elder.

In fact, Zhou Yi had always had doubts about the motive for this crime. What was Miao Dongfang's purpose in going to such lengths to do these things?
Judging from Miao Dongfang's family's living conditions and Miao Tiejun's claims of providing various forms of assistance to Miao family members in the village, he doesn't seem like the kind of person who would do such a thing for money.

However, facts are facts. In case investigations, things that seem illogical are often due to a lack of key information.

Miao Tiejun said that the quarry has been operating normally, and if someone in the family can work at the quarry, they are considered to be above others in the village.

More than a year later, an accident suddenly occurred.

A worker from their village was accidentally hit on the head by a rolling rock and died despite attempts to save him.

The key point is that the worker's surname is Miao. Although it was an accident, the villagers, especially those with the surname Miao, were all in an uproar.

At the time the incident occurred, Miao Dongfang was not in the village; he had gone to the town to attend a study meeting as the village head.

So a group of angry villagers rushed into the quarry and blocked Boss Huang's way.

The simple-minded villagers not only attacked Boss Huang, but also wanted him to pay with his life, causing chaos in the scene.

“This was an accident. If there were any irregularities involved, the relevant departments would punish Mr. Huang. Why would you want him to pay with his life?” Zhou Yi asked.

Miao Tiejun answered with an honest expression, "A life for a life, a debt for a debt—that's a matter of course. We worked for him, and we died. What's wrong with him paying with his life?"

Zhou Yi could tell from his expression that he wasn't joking.

Although he couldn't concentrate on his studies, he still graduated from junior high school, yet he could think with such simple logic.

It's not surprising that the other villagers thought the same way.

"Continue on, what happened next?"

"Later... that Mr. Huang said he could compensate us."

"You just agreed?"

Miao Tiejun shook his head and said that no one dared to make a decision, and that they would wait for Uncle Dong to come back and see what he thought.

When Miao Dongfang returned from the meeting, he realized something serious had happened and rushed to the quarry.

At that time, Boss Huang had been trapped in the quarry by the villagers for six or seven hours without a drop of water.

After learning the details of the matter, Miao Dongfang first took Boss Huang to the village committee for protection, gave him food and water, and let him rest for a while, while he went to discuss the matter with the villagers.

It was from this point that Miao Dongfang's style began to change.

After leaving the village committee office, he did not first appease the villagers, but secretly found Miao Tiejun and gave him some instructions.

After a while, he stood at the office door and gave a passionate speech, persuading the villagers not to worry, assuring them that Boss Huang would definitely give them a proper explanation.

Then, a group of young people led by Miao Tiejun "openly opposed" and shouted that Boss Huang should pay with his life.

Miao Tiejun said that this was actually Uncle Dong's arrangement. Although he didn't know why he had to do it, he would definitely do as Uncle Dong said.

Infected by their emotions, the villagers suddenly became excited again.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Yi thought to himself, "This old guy is two-faced. Isn't he just deliberately trying to stir up trouble?"

As expected, the final result was that, under Miao Dongfang's "mediation," Boss Huang suffered a huge loss. He not only paid money to compensate the families of the victims, but also signed a document in front of the entire village, transferring half of the ownership of the quarry to all the villagers of Xipinggou free of charge.

This is the document that Ma Weichang's ex-wife, Zhang Guifen, mentioned earlier, which the village chief brought to Ma Weichang just before the opening of his quarry, demanding that Ma Weichang fulfill his promise.

So that's the situation under which it was established.

Then the matter becomes obvious, even though it originated from an accident.

But Miao Dongfang saw an opportunity here and became greedy.

He used these villagers, who lacked understanding, to coerce and entice Mr. Huang into signing a written agreement, ceding half of his property.

His intentions can be determined from the fact that he had Miao Tiejun lead a group to deliberately stir up trouble.

It's likely that Mr. Huang was in a situation where he couldn't leave without writing this agreement.

I reckon he couldn't even have called the police at the time.

If everyone in a village protects each other, even if someone is beaten to death, it might be considered a pointless death.

Besides, once you die, you have nothing left. Merchants are the best at calculating gains and losses.

That's why he compromised and signed the agreement.

But in fact, this is precisely the difference in understanding between Boss Huang, the businessman, and Miao Dongfang, the village chief who thinks he's clever.

Miao Dongfang thought that having this written agreement was enough.

Little did they know that a signature made under duress has no legal effect.

Moreover, the division and transfer of ownership of a business are only valid after going through the relevant procedures with the relevant authorities.

Therefore, the written agreement that Mr. Huang made was just a worthless check.

"Did this Boss Huang run away not long after?" Zhou Yi asked.

Miao Tiejun asked in surprise, "How did you know?"

"Now it's my turn to interrogate you, not the other way around. Answer my questions directly."

Miao Tiejun nodded: "Yes, everyone was quite happy at first, after all, Uncle Dong said that with this document, everyone in our village would get a dividend at the end of the year. Oh, a dividend means we'll get a share of the money..."

"No need to explain that, continue."

"Okay. But when the second month came to the end and it was time to pay wages, Boss Huang disappeared. No matter how hard we looked, we couldn't find him. Uncle Dong even called him, but he couldn't reach him either. Later, Uncle Dong even went to the town to ask the leaders, but the town leaders didn't know where he was either."

"Have many pieces of equipment disappeared from the quarry?"

Miao Tiejun nodded repeatedly: "Yes, the pickaxes and hammers are all there, but the larger pieces of equipment are gone. I heard the foreman say they were going to be maintained or something." Zhou Yi and Yang Chuan exchanged a glance; this Boss Huang seemed to be quite shrewd.

It's highly likely that after writing that agreement, he had already planned to cut his losses and run away.

In the following month, they probably tried every means to recover the losses and secretly removed all the valuable equipment.

Although he must have invested a lot of money in it in the early stages, money is nothing compared to life.

He must have seen through the ignorance of Xipinggou and the vampire nature of Miao Dongfang.

So I ran away without hesitation.

This is the truth behind the villagers' claims that the unscrupulous former quarry owner who owed them money ran away.

He did owe money; at least he definitely didn't pay the last month's wages.

But in essence, this cause was planted by Miao Dongfang himself, a classic case of being too clever for one's own good.

Miao Tiejun said that when Boss Huang first ran away, the villagers did not realize that there was a problem.

On the contrary, they were all very happy, thinking that if the man surnamed Huang ran away, then the entire quarry would belong to Xipinggou.

From now on, all the money earned will belong to the villagers; the quarry is a treasure trove.

Everyone unanimously elected Uncle Dong as the person in charge, to lead everyone to grow bigger and stronger, and create new glories.

Yang Chuan couldn't help but laugh at this. "You guys are just daydreaming. This quarry has been there for thousands of years. Have any of you people from Xipinggou ever dug out a single shovelful of stone and made any money? Expanding and strengthening it, creating new glories? Pshaw!"

It may sound harsh, but that's the truth of the matter.

It's not difficult to dig these things out; the difficulty lies in how to sell these raw materials and turn them into money, and in a continuous and sustainable way.

Whether it's Boss Huang or Ma Weichang, they are businessmen with connections and resources to solve backend problems.

What do these people in Xipinggou have? What does Miao Dongfang have?
From the current perspective, Miao Dongfang can at most help Miao Tiejun find a blacksmith shop as an apprentice and help Miao Zhuang find a driving job.

Faced with Yang Chuan's sarcasm, Miao Tiejun admitted that what happened later was far from as wonderful as they had initially imagined.

The quarry "belonged" to them, but it was utterly useless for them to guard it.

Because they had no idea who to sell these things to or how to sell them.

Just like their superficial understanding, they thought that digging things out was enough.

As a result, Miao Dongfang begged and pleaded with everyone he knew, but it was all in vain.

After more than a month of fussing, everyone finally realized that the quarry was nothing but a waste in their hands.

Miao Tiejun said that Uncle Dong was unwilling, but there was nothing he could do.

In the end, everything went back to the way it was before, and the villagers could only continue to farm to make a living.

But that's how people are; if they're always poor, it doesn't matter, since that's how they've always been poor.

But to go from being rich to being poor again is worse than being skinned alive.

Of course, what they call wealth is not actually wealth at all, but it does fit the mentality that it is easy to go from frugality to extravagance, but difficult to go from extravagance to frugality.

Many people who go bankrupt and commit suicide do so not because they can't survive or they have nothing to eat.

Rather, it's the immense psychological gap caused by the inability to face the future.

The human heart is the most difficult chasm to cross.

Ever since Boss Huang ran away, he said Uncle Dong was like an ant on a hot pan, begging and pleading everywhere.

They weren't looking for a market for the raw stones, but rather for someone to take over the quarry.

He also told the younger generation that as long as they found someone to take over, they could continue to work at the quarry and earn money.

But finding someone to take over this place in Northwest China is no easy task.

So before I knew it, more than a year had passed.

Many people in the village have given up hope, thinking that's just how it is.

About three years ago, someone suddenly came to the village to investigate. The person who came was Ma Weichang.

The villagers didn't take it seriously, after all, it wasn't like no other businessmen had come over in the past year or so, but in the end, they all disappeared without a trace.

The result was obvious: Ma Weichang took over the Xipinggou quarry.

This time, however, Uncle Dong did not spread the word widely, but only told a few people he trusted, such as Miao Tiejun.

Tell them to tell the villagers not to talk too much and not to mention Boss Huang's past if anyone asks.

Miao Tiejun said that Ma Weichang came to inspect the area several more times, and Uncle Dong accompanied him and provided various forms of support.

Finally, in front of the town leaders, Ma Weichang said he had decided to take over the quarry.

Miao Tiejun didn't know the specific details because Uncle Dong told them these things later.

"Miao Tiejun, after Ma Weichang completed all the formalities, did you, led by Miao Dongfang, take the IOU that Boss Huang wrote back then and demand that Ma Weichang honor it?"

Miao Tiejun nodded: "It was Uncle Dong who took us there. He told Ma Weichang that the village owns half of this quarry and wanted to ask him what to do about it."

Zhou Yi thought to himself, "These words are just nice to say. In reality, it's the same as when we dealt with Boss Huang. We want to make this Boss Ma submit."

"and then?"

“This Ma Weichang wasn’t as easy to talk to as the previous Boss Huang. He immediately lost his temper, pointed at Uncle Dong’s nose and cursed him, saying that he should go find whoever signed the document. Later, he even called a group of people, and we almost got into a fight.”

Miao Tiejun said angrily, "He insulted Uncle Dong, which really angered me. If Uncle Dong hadn't stopped him, I would have..."

Yang Chuan slammed his hand on the table, glared at him, and said, "What else do you want to do?"

Miao Tiejun did not continue speaking.

Zhou Yi gestured for him to continue, saying it was useful.

So he continued, saying that the two sides were about to fight when, unexpectedly, Uncle Dong did something that surprised everyone.

Uncle Dong tore up the receipt that Boss Huang had written on the spot.

Not only did he not retaliate against Ma Weichang for his insults, he also calmed down the agitated villagers.

Then Uncle Dong asked Ma Weichang if he could have a private chat with him.

Ma Weichang agreed, but instead of going to the village committee office, he got into Ma Weichang's car.

They didn't know what they talked about in the car because they were some distance apart, but Miao Tiejun said that from the looks of it, it seemed like Uncle Dong was begging Ma Weichang.

Then, Uncle Dong got off the bus.

Ma Weichang then led his group away triumphantly.

The villagers all eagerly asked Uncle Dong, "How is it?"

Some people also questioned why Uncle Dong tore up the agreement that Boss Huang wrote to everyone without their consent.

As a result, Uncle Dong started cursing, saying that he had already taken the document to the town government to ask the leaders, who said that the document in their hands was useless, as it had no official seal, no notarization, and no proper documentation. They said it was too dirty to even wipe one's butt with.

He just didn't tell everyone.

I came to Ma Weichang today with this piece of paper, just taking a gamble, thinking that if he backs down, I can still get some benefits for the village.

Unexpectedly, Mr. Ma didn't buy into that at all.

So someone suggested that they could do what they did before and block the village entrance to prevent them from entering or leaving.

Miao Dongfang only asked one question, which left everyone speechless.

He asked: "If you've driven this Mr. Ma away, who will take over this quarry in the future?"

Everyone immediately fell silent.

Miao Dongfang said he would find a way to let everyone go back first and not to worry.

"Then, I don't know what happened, but suddenly I heard that this Mr. Ma was going to marry Miao Genhua from our village," Miao Tiejun said.

Zhou Yi immediately asked, "Wait, you said you suddenly heard that you mean Ma Weichang and Miao Genhua's marriage registration wasn't forced by people in your village?"

Miao Tiejun was a little confused: "No...no, we only made a fuss that one time. After that, Uncle Dong told us not to make any more fuss, so we stopped."

"Miao Tiejun, I have a question for you."

"What?"

"Have the villagers of Xipinggou ever said anything like that outsiders are not allowed to come here to quarry stones?"

Miao Tiejun immediately shook his head and said, "No."

Zhou Yi gasped in shock.

Because whether it was Ma Weichang, Miao Genhua, or Zhang Guifen, their story was that the villagers didn't allow outsiders to do business in Xipinggou, which is why the fake marriage happened.

Zhang Guifen's information must have been given to her by Ma Weichang, but as the parties involved, Ma Weichang and Miao Genhua couldn't possibly not know.

Judging from the situation after Boss Huang ran away, the villagers' most urgent matter is to find someone to take over their losses.

Then there's no such thing as preventing outsiders from coming in.

In other words, there's more to the story than meets the eye when Ma Weichang and Miao Genhua got married.

It was very likely orchestrated by Miao Dongfang.

"Miao Tiejun, are you sure the news of Miao Genhua and Ma Weichang's marriage just popped up out of nowhere?"

Miao Tiejun nodded vigorously: "Yes, I confirm it. My wife even laughed about it back then, saying, 'How could such a big boss marry a widow with an unclear past?'"

Zhou Yi was taken aback and asked, "What do you mean by 'neither clear nor unclear'?"

"It seems like Miao Genhua had just had a miscarriage not long ago..."

(End of this chapter)