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"Let me tell you, even if your son-in-law doesn't want to back down, I can make him keep doing it. To be honest, the person in charge of the government's pension system is my friend. With just one order from me, I can make your son-in-law lose everything, not even his underwear, let alone make money."

After Zhao Dong finished speaking, he kept looking at Old Zhong, feeling that his words had already had a great deterrent effect.

Chapter 434 Gao Qilin's Thoughts

However, Elder Zhong remained calm and composed. Seeing that Zhao Dong stopped there, he even asked, "..."

"What's wrong with you? Why did you stop halfway through your sentence? Keep going! I want to see what other threats you can come up with."

Zhao Dong never expected that Elder Zhong's heart was so firm, which made him look very surprised after hearing Elder Zhong's words. He stared at him with his eyes straight ahead and remained silent for a long time.

"Since you're not saying anything, then I'll share my perspective. I still remember when your son sent someone to poison my tea. If you're capable of such harmful acts, you're certainly capable of other things as well. So, I've never had much hope for your Zhao family from the very beginning."

"Let me tell you, if you want things to go smoothly, we naturally won't cause trouble. But if you do cause me trouble, I'll make your Zhao family suffer terribly!"

Old Zhong appeared to be a refined and cultured man, and no one expected him to say such things. This surprised everyone present, and after he finished speaking, all attention was focused on him, and they began to discuss it.

"I remember this Mr. Zhong is quite famous recently. If I remember correctly, he shouldn't have caused any trouble during the meeting, right?"

"Yes, if I remember correctly, Zhao Hu's position should be much higher than Elder Zhong's. Given this, Elder Zhong should be speaking with utmost humility, so why is he behaving so domineeringly? Is it simply because he's getting old?"

“I think it’s related to age. I’ve heard people say before that some people can take advantage of their age and think it’s too late. If I remember correctly, the term is ‘taking advantage of one’s age.’”

Although they spoke very softly, Zhong Lao could still hear everything they said clearly.

But Zhong didn't want to cause himself unnecessary trouble, so he just glanced at them after hearing what they said.

Since everyone's attention was on Elder Zhong, others would naturally notice when he turned around.

This frightened the people present, and one of them said directly:

"What's going on? Why did he suddenly turn around? Did he hear what we just said?"

"What? He heard what we just said? Luckily, I'm not that close to him, and he doesn't know who I am. Take care, I'm leaving now."

Upon realizing that Elder Zhong had discovered them, those people panicked instantly, because none of them held a higher position than Elder Zhong, and if they were discovered, it would definitely cause them a lot of trouble.

In the blink of an eye, those gossiping people had vanished without a trace.

"It seems you have quite a bit of intimidation power; you scared those people away with just one look."

Seeing this, Zhao Dong couldn't help but sigh. He realized that Old Zhong was not someone to be trifled with, and that continuing to talk might not get him the desired result, so he decided not to waste his time on him.

"Alright, I still have some things to take care of, so I don't have much time to linger with you. You'd better think carefully about what I'm about to say. If you don't, that's fine too. I'll make you pay a bloody price."

After saying that, Zhao Dong left directly. When he passed by Elder Zhong, he patted his shoulder a few times.

Once he saw that Mr. Zhong had completely disappeared from his sight, he immediately took out his phone.

Because he had been on the phone the whole time and the phone had been in his bag, it was now very hot; touching it would feel like it was burning your hand.

However, Elder Zhong disregarded all that and spoke directly to Gao Qilin and the others:

"You should have heard what we just talked about. Be careful from now on. It's not very safe over there, so I'll hang up now. But don't worry, I'll definitely find a way to help you."

After saying that, Mr. Zhong hung up the phone and went to attend to his own business.

After Mr. Zhong hung up the phone, the scene returned to its previous noisy state. At this time, the villagers began to discuss the matter again. From their conversation, it was clear that they also wanted to do their part to alleviate some of the pressure on Gao Qilan.

However, since the elderly care project was ultimately started by Gao Qilin, the final say still rested with him. So after some discussion, they finally focused their attention on him, wanting to hear his ideas.

"I don't think this matter is as complicated as it seems. If Zhao Ruilong really had the ability to take direct action against us, he wouldn't have dragged it out until now. Besides, given Zhao Ruilong's personality, I don't think he would specifically warn you before attacking you. So I think Zhao Dong's words were purely meant to intimidate you."

Chapter 435 The Villager Who Likes to Get Things Done

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, Gao Qilin shared his views on the matter.

However, the room fell silent immediately after he said that, which made him very uncomfortable, so he quickly asked:

"Was there anything unreasonable in what I just said? Or did I say something wrong? If there is anything wrong, you can point it out directly. After all, we are trying to find a solution. Only when everyone speaks out what they are thinking can we move forward."

"There's nothing unreasonable about it. The reason we all suddenly fell silent is because we felt that everything you said was spot on."

Just as Gao Qilin was at a loss, Gao Qilan's voice rang out from the side.

"Yes, we all think you make a good point, and your idea is much better than ours."

"To be honest, the idea I just came up with was very simple: just rush over and beat Zhao Ruilong up. But I also know that my method is a bit impractical, so it's just a thought."

……

At this moment, the villagers started talking again, one after another, making the scene lively once more.

Seeing that everyone was satisfied with his ideas, Gao Qilin felt relieved. After tidying himself up, he spoke again:

"If everyone has no objections, then I'm relieved. I've already come up with a plan: regardless of Zhao Ruilong's situation, we'll continue to develop our poverty alleviation program."

Upon hearing this, the villagers present became instantly excited, as this poverty alleviation plan was something they had been looking forward to every day.

"But will this..."

However, after hearing what Gao Qilin said, Gao Qilan still looked very worried.

As the saying goes, once bitten by a snake, twice shy, she has now been beaten up and is afraid of everything, completely losing her previous haughty demeanor.

"You've already said that what I said is fine, so just do as I say. Don't talk about 'maybe' or anything like that. Don't forget that we're in the same boat now, so of course I wouldn't harm you."

After hearing Gao Qilan say that, Gao Qilin emphasized his words again and made his stance clear.

At this moment, Gao Qilan realized that she had become afraid of everything and could no longer participate in the following matters, so she did not say anything more.

"Then I'll leave the rest to you. I'll focus on recovering these next few days and try to get back to health as soon as possible so I can work with you all."

Seeing that Gao Qilan had no objections, the others were relieved and chatted for a while before leaving.

At this moment, Zhong Xiaoai also wanted to leave, but was stopped by Gao Qilin.

“My sister is injured like this. If I leave her here alone, she definitely won’t be able to take care of herself. So I’m asking you to stay and look after her.”

"But... never mind, I'll stay and look after it. That way, I can at least be of some help."

Upon hearing Gao Qilin's words, Zhong Xiaoai instinctively wanted to refute them, but after careful consideration, he realized that he really couldn't help in any way, so he might as well stay here and take care of Gao Qilan.

Zhong Xiaoai sighed and returned to Gao Qilan's bedside to begin taking care of her.

Seeing that his younger sister was being taken care of, Gao Qilin had nothing to worry about and focused all his attention on poverty alleviation in the village.

Since the villagers realized that these things were prepared for them, they worked extra hard.

Whenever the construction team needs manpower or assistance, the villagers are always the first to step up and help, without charging any wages.

This was fine once or twice, but Gao Qilin couldn't stand it anymore if it continued like this, so he gathered the villagers together and had a serious talk about it.

“I know you want the school and nursing home to be built quickly, but I want you to understand one thing: those construction teams are hired by us at our own expense. They are paid to do the work, while you are helping them by doing this, which is completely reducing their workload and you don’t get a single penny for yourselves.”

Gao Qilin thought that his words would awaken many villagers, but to his surprise, the villagers didn't care. After hearing his words, they even confidently declared:

“Money doesn’t matter. You’ve already helped us make so much money selling fruit, so we don’t care about a few dollars anymore. What we’re thinking about now is getting the school up and running as soon as possible so that our children can study and learn something to go out into the world.”

"Yes, what we are hoping for now is for the school to be built as soon as possible. When I told my child that there would be a school in our village, he was so excited that he couldn't sleep all night."

At this point, the villagers began to tell their stories one by one, and it was clear from their words that they were very willing to do this work.

Their behavior left Gao Qilin speechless and in a very awkward situation.

Chapter 436 Explanation of the Situation

After thinking it over, he realized the problem and knew that talking to the villagers about these things would be useless. So he chatted with them for a few minutes and then let them leave. He then called the construction team over.

However, the construction team's attitude was quite different from that of the villagers.

Seeing that Gao Qilin had called them over so late at night, they all looked very impatient and started complaining.

"Just say what you need to say quickly, don't waste our time. We still have a whole day of work to do tomorrow. If we stay here too long, we won't have the energy to do anything tomorrow."

"Yes, with such a heavy workload every day, we need to get a good rest at night. Now, we don't even have time to rest at night."

Gao Qilin stared at them intently as they spoke, appearing very impatient. After they had finished speaking, he shouted loudly:

"Stop talking nonsense. Don't you know how much work you've done today? Stop complaining. If I remember correctly, most of the work these past few days has been done by the villagers, and you haven't paid them a single penny, have you?"

As soon as Gao Qilin said this, the scene fell silent. The construction team members looked at each other, unsure of what to say to explain.

"Alright, stop hiding it. I can tell from your actions. Now I just want to ask, how can you be so at ease watching those farmers do your work for you?"

"They offered to help us, and they did it very carefully, so we did it."

"Yes, we're not stupid. If someone can help us share the workload, why shouldn't we let them do it?"

After Gao Qilin questioned them, those people revealed their true thoughts. While they were saying this, they still acted as if they didn't care at all, giving the impression that the villagers should help them.

"It's not wrong for you to think that way, but let me make this clear from the start: if you think that way, I will reduce your wages. But don't worry, I won't embezzle these wages; I will hand them over to the villagers in front of you."

"No, we won't work with them again, absolutely not."

Upon hearing that their wages would be divided among others, the construction team members all showed signs of displeasure.

"Since you've all said that, then starting tomorrow, don't let me see this again. If I do see it, then do as I said. Alright, didn't you say you had a lot of things to do tomorrow? I won't bother you anymore. Go back now."

Seeing their reaction, Gao Qilin said nothing more and left.

After Gao Qilin left, the construction team started complaining again, but this time their complaints were much quieter and lacked the confidence they had before.

The next morning, Gao Qilin got up to check on the construction team, and it turned out to be as he had expected.

The construction teams worked exceptionally hard, resolutely refusing to help whenever villagers tried to offer assistance.

"Why can't we just do it this way? I have to scold them before they do it this way. I really don't know what those people are thinking."