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

"Boss Jiang! Please! Give us a way to survive!"

Village Chief Wang of Zhaojialing, whose face was as black as the bottom of a pot, knelt down outside the archway of Jiangjia Village with a thud.

Behind him, the six village chiefs who had just signed the village merger agreement also knelt in a row.

Behind them were hundreds of emaciated villagers, their eyes filled with despair as they stared longingly at the village.

The sun overhead was like a giant fireball, scorching the skin.

The corn leaves in the field have already started to wilt and curl at the edges.

Once the sluice gates of the Hongqi Reservoir were closed, the lifeline for these seven or eight villages and thousands of acres of land downstream was severed.

Jiang Chen, wearing flip-flops, slowly carried a grand chair out of the village committee office.

It was placed under the shade of the archway.

Wang Xiuying brought over a bowl of freshly chilled plum juice, with a few dried osmanthus flowers floating on top.

Jiang Chen picked up the bowl, blew on it to cool it down, and slowly took a sip.

He didn't even glance at Village Chief Wang, who was kneeling on the ground.

"Boss Jiang!"

Village Chief Wang crawled forward two steps on his knees, almost sobbing.

"We know we were wrong! We shouldn't have let those little bastards in the village run rampant!"

"But the crops in the fields are innocent! They're our only hope for the whole year!"

"If we don't get water to irrigate, it'll all be over! Thousands of people will have no food for the rest of the year!"

An old Party branch secretary was overcome with emotion, his head pounding so hard it made a loud "bang" sound.

"Boss Jiang, you're so magnanimous, please just ignore us!"

Jiang Chen finally put down the bowl and glanced at them.

"Now you're in a hurry?"

"Where were you last night when those brats from your village were throwing manure on my greenhouse?"

Village Chief Wang opened his mouth, but couldn't utter a single word.

Her face flushed red and then turned pale.

Jiang Chen picked up the plum juice and took another sip. His voice wasn't loud, but it carried throughout the room.

"It seems you haven't heeded the rules I set before."

"Today, I'm going to teach you another lesson."

He slammed the porcelain bowl he was holding onto the small stone table next to him, making a crisp "clang" sound.

"I'm the kind of person who likes to hold people accountable."

"Whoever caused this mess, they'll have to cover for me."

"It's none of my business if your crops die of drought. Go find that guy named Zhao Hu."

"I'll open the gate when he's licked the greenhouse clean for me, or when you've taken care of him."

"Otherwise, you can all die of drought here with your land."

After saying that, Jiang Chen leaned back in his armchair, closed his eyes, and gestured as if to see the guest off.

Upon hearing this, the village chiefs kneeling on the ground were all dumbfounded.

They initially thought Jiang Chen wanted money or some other form of compensation.

To everyone's surprise, Jiang Chen simply passed the buck back to them, letting them deal with Zhao Hu themselves.

The hundreds of villagers at the back of the crowd also heard Jiang Chen's words clearly.

After a brief silence, the crowd erupted.

"Why?! That bastard Zhao Hu caused this mess, why should our crops suffer too?!"

A dark-skinned man's eyes instantly turned red.

His five acres of corn are the tuition fee for his son's college entrance exam in the second half of the year!

"That's right! Let's go! Let's settle the score with Zhao Hu!"

"Kill that little bastard! If it weren't for him, would Boss Jiang have cut off our water supply?!"

"If he doesn't want a good life, he shouldn't drag us down with him!"

The anger of hundreds of villagers was instantly ignited.

They are not afraid of hard work or suffering; they are only afraid of having no hope.

Now, Zhao Hu has extinguished their last hope.

Village Chief Wang leaped to his feet, his expression shifting from pleading to ferocity.

He wiped the sweat from his face, turned around, and raised his arms to the villagers of Zhaojialing behind him.

"What are you all standing there for! Grab your weapons! Come back to the village with me!"

"If we don't cripple that little bastard Zhao Hu today, not a single person in Zhao Family Ridge will survive!"

At a command.

The swarm of several hundred people turned and rushed back towards Zhao Jialing.

That aura was more than ten times fiercer than when they came to plead for mercy earlier.

now.

Zhao Jialing, Zhao Hu's house.

Zhao Hu was shirtless, lying on a bamboo recliner in the courtyard, humming a little tune and fanning himself with a tattered palm-leaf fan.

A few of his underlings were playing cards nearby, and a pile of sunflower seed shells were scattered on the ground.

"Brother Tiger, do you think that guy surnamed Jiang is furious right now?"

"Of course!" Zhao Hu swung his legs smugly. "His greenhouse stinks so badly that even dogs wouldn't dare go near it! Haha!"

The voice just fell.

"Bang--!"

His thin wooden door was kicked open from the outside.

Village Chief Wang was the first to rush in, carrying a rusty hoe.

Behind him were dozens of villagers from Zhaojialing, carrying carrying poles, brooms, and shovels.

Everyone had bloodshot eyes, as if they wanted to devour someone.

Zhao Hu was so startled by the scene that he fell off the recliner.

"Uncle...Uncle Wang? What are you doing?"

"What are you doing?"

Village Chief Wang took a step forward and smashed his hoe on the ground at Zhao Hu's feet, sending pebbles flying.

"You little bastard!"

He pointed at Zhao Hu's nose and started cursing.

"My cornfield is dying of drought! Hundreds of acres of land in the whole village are going to be ruined!"

"It's all your fault, you jinx!"

Before Zhao Hu could react...

An elderly woman, who usually doesn't dare to speak loudly in the village, rushed up with a broom in hand.

"I'll beat you to death, you wicked devil! My grandson's milk powder money all depends on the harvest from the fields!"

The broom was immediately used to hit Zhao Hu on the head and face.

"Hit him!"

"Kill him!"

Dozens of villagers rushed forward.

Fists, slaps, hoe handles, broom bristles rained down on Zhao Hu and the dozen or so troublemakers.

Zhao Hu had never seen anything like this before.

He usually bullies honest people, but today all those honest people have gone crazy.

"Ah! Stop hitting me! Stop hitting me!"

"I was wrong! I'll never do it again!"

Zhao Hu was beaten black and blue, rolling around on the ground, crying and begging for mercy.

But the angry villagers wouldn't listen.

An old man found a bundle of thick hemp rope from somewhere, and several people rushed over in a flurry.

They tied Zhao Hu and his dozen or so henchmen up tightly, like big rice dumplings.

"Throw it onto the tractor! Take it to Jiangjia Village and hand it over to Boss Jiang to deal with!"

Village Chief Wang wiped the sweat from his face and jumped onto the village's only Dongfanghong tractor.

The tractor sputtered and sputtered, belching out black smoke.

Inside the truck bed, Zhao Hu and his group huddled together like dead dogs, groaning and moaning.

A dozen minutes later.

The tractor drove all the way to the entrance of Jiangjia Village.

Village Chief Wang jumped out of the driver's seat and ran to Jiang Chen, who was still resting with his eyes closed in the armchair.

He pointed to the pile of bruised and swollen people in the truck bed, panting heavily, his voice booming.

"Boss Jiang, the person has been brought!"

"Kill me or torture me, it's up to you!"