Returning wealthy individuals develop their hometowns and become rich in the 1980s

Zhaoyang County Party Committee Secretary's Office

As Hong Quan listened to Cao Qiulie, the secretary of Mengyu Commune, on the phone, who said that the Hongping Village collective disagreed with the amount of land expropriation compensation offered by the county land bureau, he asked unhappily, "How much do they want?"

On the other end of the phone, Cao Qiulie tried to speak calmly before uttering a sentence that infuriated Hong Quan: "The Hongping Village collective said they want 3,000 yuan per mu as compensation for the expropriation of land!"

Hong Quan laughed in anger after hearing this. "Comrade Cao Qiulie, do you know what you're saying? Three thousand a mu? Are you making a wish here?!"

"Secretary, it wasn't me who set the price. It was a unanimous decision made by the Hongping Village collective. After hearing what Comrade Hua Zhenhong, the Party Secretary of Hongping Village, said for the first time, I felt the same way as you: the villagers of Hongping Village are all obsessed with money!"

Hong Quan, the county party secretary, had a very clear understanding of the situation. He immediately asked, "Did someone say something to the villagers of Hongping Village? Otherwise, how could they dare to ask for such a high price!"

"I don't know the specifics of who said what," Cao Qiulie replied. "But Hua Zhenhong kept mentioning foreign investment and talking about 100 million every other sentence. I reckon it's quite possible that someone said something that made the villagers think that Guangdong Company did allocate 100 million to build the road!"

"That must be it," Hong Quan said, his face darkening as he held the phone. "How dare they even think of that? It's only about 30 li (15 kilometers) from Jiping Lianzhai to our Zhaoyang County. They've spent 100 million yuan on that; they could build several national highways to the highest standards!"

At this point, Hong Quan said firmly, "Secretary Qiu Lie, tell Hua Zhenhong that as the county party secretary, I will stand up for him and the maximum compensation per mu will be 750 yuan. Tell the villagers of Hongping Village not to have unrealistic expectations and think that foreign companies are easy to manipulate!"

"Tell them to know when to stop. Although the road construction is for Guangdong Company, it passes through your Mengyu Commune, so Hongping Village also benefits. Everyone should compromise. They're paying for the construction, and it's convenient for you. It's a win-win situation, so don't try to profit from it!"

On the other end of the phone, Cao Qiulie replied with a bitter face, "Secretary Hong, I called Hua Zhenhong over yesterday, and I tried everything to persuade him, but he just said it was a decision made by the village collective, and he wouldn't sign unless he received the money!"

"They even said that even the county party committee and county government can't force the members of Hongping Village to drink water. Secretary Hong, I really have no other choice. Why don't you talk to Mr. Chen from Guangdong Company?"

Cao Qiulie continued cautiously, "Although Guangdong Company didn't use all of that 100 million for road repairs, it's still 100 million, so it's only a matter of a little over 50,000. Let's just give it to Hongping Village as a subsidy!"

Hong Quan immediately slammed his fist on the table and cursed, "Bullshit! Cao Qiulie, go tell the people in Hongping Village that it was me, the county party secretary, who said there are only 751 mu, not a single inch more! This Nanzhao Highway is a major project that even the municipal party secretary is concerned about. Anyone who dares to obstruct it, I'll be the first to dismiss them!"

"But what about the villagers? What if they cause a commotion and block the construction vehicles from doing the work? We can't just force them to continue. If things get out of hand, Secretary Hong, I'm afraid the municipal party committee will have something to say!"

After his anger subsided, Hong Quan still had to face reality. "You should pass on my words to Hong Ping first, and then I'll call Secretary Lin Deying of Nanshan County to see what Guangdong has to say."

Upon hearing what County Party Secretary Hong Quan said on the other end of the phone, Cao Qiulie smiled and said into the microphone, "Okay, Secretary Hong, I will definitely tell the villagers of Hongping Village what you said."

After hanging up the phone, Hong Quan paced back and forth in his office for a long time with his hands behind his back before finally picking up the phone and asking the operator to transfer him to Lin Deying, the secretary of the Nanshan County Party Committee.

"Hello! This is Lin Deying, who is this?"

"Secretary Deying, it's me, Hong Quan!"

"Hey, Secretary Hong, what's up?" Hong Quan asked, listening to Lin Deying's slightly amused voice on the phone. "It's nothing much, just about Guangdong Company's land acquisition in Zhaoyang County. I'd like you to talk to Mr. Chen about it."

"Tell me what it is, I'm listening."

"That's right, our county's land and resources bureau recently conducted a survey in Hongping Village, Mengyu Commune, and they felt that relying on the terrain of Hongping Village could save a lot of construction costs."

"Uh-huh!"

"Yesterday, the county land bureau issued the land acquisition compensation documents to Mengyu Commune, but a small problem arose. We were thinking of negotiating with Guangdong Company to see if we could increase the land acquisition compensation a bit more," Hong Quan said with a smile.

"Yes, Secretary Hong, tell me how much you want to raise it, and I'll call Mr. Chen in a bit."

"Over in Hongping, they're dissatisfied with the county's compensation of 700 yuan per mu. They're saying they need... 3,000 yuan per mu!"

"Cough cough cough!"

"Secretary Deying, are you alright?" Hong Quan asked hurriedly when he heard Lin Deying coughing on the phone.

"This is what you meant by 'increase'? Secretary Hong, isn't that a huge increase? Three thousand yuan per mu? How can you even say that!"

"Haha! Secretary Deying, don't be anxious. Three thousand yuan per mu is indeed a bit much, but the Hongping Village collective is adamant about this price and says they won't sign unless they get it. I'm also worried that it might delay Mr. Chen's road construction progress. Why don't you try mentioning it to Mr. Chen, Secretary Deying?"

"You make it sound so easy, Secretary Hong. Three thousand a mu? Do you think Guangdong Company's money comes from nowhere? You think you can really get rich by robbing people for free?"

"Hey, Secretary Deying, stop with the witty remarks," Hong Quan said with a smile. "Just pass on a message to Mr. Chen and see what he thinks. This road still needs to be built!"

"It needs to be repaired, but not in this way! Your Zhaoyang County commune is far too audacious!"

"If the road were given to your Hongping Village, and the other villages whose land was expropriated found out, how much money would Guangdong Company have to spend to get it repaired!"

"Old Hong, we can't let them hold us back in this matter!"

"They provided the money and equipment to build roads in our Tuocheng City. They're doing this out of pure kindness, and they're even paying migrant workers from various villages to receive a subsidy of one yuan per person per day!"

"When we conduct ourselves, we must speak with our conscience in mind. Tell me, isn't that the truth?"

Hong Quan blushed with embarrassment after hearing Lin Deying's words over the phone. Luckily, they weren't talking face-to-face, or Hong Quan would have been so ashamed he'd want to crawl into a hole.

According to Lin Deying, Chen Dong's investment was completely unreserved, helping Tuocheng City improve the road traffic problems of the two counties. He did such a great thing, yet Hongping Village still wanted to make exorbitant demands. This was utterly ungrateful behavior.

Anyone with a conscience would be ashamed and indignant upon hearing this and would curse: "Damn it! Are you all crazy for money?!"