I couldn't take it anymore; when I went home for Chinese New Year, the family genealogy book ha

The early winter wind already carries a chill.

Construction in Jiangjia Village, however, has not stopped at all. After the railway opened, the speed at which equipment could be brought in increased several times over. The foundation for the deep processing workshop of the 10,000-mu farm is under construction, and the second phase of the Houshan Ecological Park is also progressing simultaneously.

Everywhere you look, there's the roar of machines and the shouts of workers.

That very afternoon.

A black Rolls-Royce with a Beijing license plate silently pulled up under the crooked old locust tree at the village entrance.

Its shiny body stood out from the tricycles and tractors parked on the muddy road next to it.

The driver's side door was not open.

A man got off in the back row.

Thirty-five or thirty-six years old, wearing a gray bespoke suit, his tie was perfectly tied, and his leather shoes were polished so much that they reflected his image.

She was carrying two beautifully packaged gift boxes.

He did not walk in the direction of the village committee.

She didn't go looking for Jiang Chen either.

He turned directly into the courtyard of Liu Cuifen's family, the eldest branch of the Jiang family, at the east end of the village.

"Oh! What distinguished guest has arrived?"

Liu Cuifen was sitting on a small stool in the yard, eating sunflower seeds. When she saw this outfit, she spat out the sunflower seed shells with a "poof".

She stood up in a fluster and quickly kicked the pile of sunflower seed shells under her skirt behind her.

The man in the suit smiled politely and handed the gift box in his hand to Liu Cuifen.

"Sister-in-law, I'm sorry to bother you. I'm from Beijing and brought you two boxes of authentic Indonesian bird's nest as a small token of my appreciation."

Liu Cuifen took the gift box, weighed it in her hand, and then turned it over to look at the price tag on the back.

Eight thousand eight hundred yuan a box.

Two boxes, 17,600.

Her eyes lit up.

"Oh, you're too kind! Please, have a seat! Let me pour you some tea!"

The man in the suit sat down, not in a hurry to get down to business.

First, he praised Liu Cuifen at length.

Saying things like, "Sister-in-law, you look like a blessed person," and "Jiangjia Village is so fortunate to have a respected elder like you supporting it."

Liu Cuifen was so flattered that she couldn't stop smiling.

We exchanged pleasantries for ten minutes.

The man in the suit suddenly changed the subject.

"Sister-in-law, to be honest, our company has our eye on this piece of land in Jiangjia Village."

He took a document out of his briefcase and spread it on the table.

"We plan to develop a large-scale cultural tourism and health care project in this area, which requires the acquisition of a number of homesteads and collective land."

"Of course, we will definitely not shortchange our elders on the price."

Liu Cuifen leaned over to take a look.

The man in the suit held up five fingers.

"The purchase price for each household is 50 million in cash."

"As long as the elders put pressure on Jiang Chen at the family meeting and get him to agree to the land transfer, the money will be transferred to your accounts that very day."

"hiss--"

Liu Cuifen gasped.

Fifty million?

Fifty million?!

The most money she had ever seen in her life was the 80,000 yuan bonus Jiang Chen gave her last year.

What does 50 million mean?

She couldn't calculate it, but she knew it was a number she never dared to dream of.

Liu Cuifen's breathing became rapid.

"You...you're telling the truth?"

The man in the suit smiled and opened his briefcase, revealing a neatly stacked stack of brand-new hundred-yuan bills inside.

"This is a deposit of 100,000 yuan. Please accept it as a token of our sincerity."

"Once it's all done, the remaining 49.9 million will be paid in full."

Liu Cuifen stared at the stack of money, her fingers trembling.

She swallowed hard and reached for it.

He pulled his hand back as soon as it touched the money.

"But... I can't decide this place by myself."

"Don't worry, sister-in-law," the man in the suit said with an unchanged smile. "You're not alone."

He stood up and patted off non-existent dust from his clothes.

"I'm going to visit a few elders next: Brother Jiang Jianwen, Uncle Jiang Jianmin, and Sister-in-law Sun Yumei."

"There's strength in numbers."

Liu Cuifen's eyes darted around.

The meaning is obvious—it wasn't just her who made the move; it was a group of people moving together.

D.

Moreover, with the big boss outside backing him up, plus the pressure from these elders, no matter how capable Jiang Chen is, he can't possibly withstand everyone on his own.

"OK!"

Liu Cuifen grabbed the wad of money and stuffed it into the inner pocket of her cotton-padded jacket.

"Go talk to them. We'll meet at Jianwen's house tonight."

……

That evening.

Jiang Jianwen's home.

The courtyard gate was tightly shut.

Inside the main room, several people sat around a broken wooden table in the dim light.

The faces of Liu Cuifen, Jiang Jianwen, Jiang Jianmin, and Sun Yumei were filled with barely suppressed excitement.

On the table were four identical boxes of high-end bird's nest from Beijing, and four identical stacks of 100,000 yuan deposits.

Jiang Jianwen stroked his chin, pushed up his thick-rimmed glasses, and pretended to be deep in thought.

"This matter needs to be considered carefully."

Sun Yumei interrupted him in a shrill voice: "What nonsense are you talking about! Fifty million per household! Sell the land, and we'll buy a big villa in the provincial capital! We'll never have to put up with that brat Jiang Chen's attitude again!"

Jiang Jianmin placed one hand on the stack of money, rubbing it repeatedly, his voice very low.

"The old woman is right. We might as well take this money."

"But..." Jiang Jianmin hesitated for a moment, "Chenzi is not someone to be trifled with. Look at what he's done in the past two years, who dares to stand up to him?"

Liu Cuifen pursed her lips.

"No matter how capable he is, can he really turn against the elders of the entire clan? We're not his family's servants! This village belongs to the Jiang family, not to Jiang Chen!"

Jiang Jianwen cleared his throat and slammed his hand on the table.

"Sister-in-law Cuifen is right!"

"That Jiang Chen, relying on his few stinking bucks, acts like a tyrant in the village every day. I, Jiang Jianwen, am at least an educated man. I've written countless couplets for him and given him so many suggestions, but when it comes to profit sharing? He's treated the same as an ordinary worker!"

"On what grounds?"

Jiang Jianwen's voice grew louder and louder.

"We are his elders! In terms of seniority and experience, aren't we superior to him in every way?"

"The year-end clan meeting is in three days. At that time, our families will join forces and bring up the matter of selling the land and dividing the profits in front of everyone."

"I'd like to see if Jiang Chen dares to withstand the pressure from the entire clan all by himself!"

Sun Yumei slapped her thigh and cheered.

"Yes! Let's do it!"

Jiang Jianmin wanted to say something more, but Sun Yumei glared at him and shut him up.

He shrank back and remained silent.

Under the dim light, the four men talked more and more enthusiastically, and their enthusiasm grew.

No one noticed that in the darkness outside the courtyard, a figure leaned against the wall, listening silently to the entire conversation.

The person quietly turned around and disappeared into the night.