"Without progressive taxes, we can still open up more land for cultivation."
"It doesn't count, it doesn't count." Bai Puting shook his head repeatedly. "With more land, the expenses are also high. Once you pay taxes, it's hard to say whether you will lose money or make a profit. Besides, if you have more land, you still have to hire workers. There is no money at home. A place for long-term workers to live.”
"Haha," Yun Suji said with a smile, "You are such a calculating person! Don't worry, I will definitely study your problem carefully when I get back so that hardworking people will not suffer!"
"Thank you for your concern, chief!" Bai Puting nodded repeatedly.
"Where is your little girl?"
"She's in the house. She's still a naive child and doesn't dare to come out and disturb the chief..."
"Take it out and let me have a look."
Bai Puting murmured in his heart, wondering why the chief wanted to see his little girl - what's so good about a child who is only over 2 years old? But since he said this, he naturally couldn't disobey and immediately shouted: "Big girl, take the second girl out!"
The eldest girl agreed, went in and took the second girl out. Yun Suji saw that the child was white and fat, wearing an old calico cotton-padded jacket, and had a shaved peach on his head - a girl accustomed to the countryside was coming. He only started growing his hair when he was eleven or twelve years old - he was really cute. He immediately picked up the child and said, "It's quite heavy."
Bai Puting said: "That's because she was lucky enough to live in such a good place." He couldn't help but think of his little son who died on the road, and almost shed tears in his eyes.
Yun Suji teased the child for a while and asked, "What's the child's name?"
"What's the name of a girl in a movie? They call her Erniu."
"My sister doesn't have a name either?"
"Yes," Bai Puting smiled, "Young girl can't be included in the family tree, so what's the use of giving her a name?"
Yun Suji smiled: "Can I give her a name?"
Bai Puting stood up quickly: "Chief, you are trying to offend me. I, I am a farmer..."
Yun Suji smiled and said: "Sit down, sit down, what's the point of choosing a name? I think your eldest daughter doesn't have an official name either, so she gave them both: the eldest daughter will be called Bai Li, and the younger daughter will be called Bai. Yeah."
As soon as Han Daoguo heard that he was going to name the daughter of the Bai family, he had already prepared to write ink. He still retained the habit of carrying ink cartridges with him at all times when he was a clerk in his early years. Yun Suji took the pen. Write two names on a white paper.
Bai Puting never dreamed that the chief would actually name his two daughters. This was really a smoke coming out of the ancestral grave!
He was both happy and regretful - it would be great if his youngest son was still alive! The two girls took this advantage for nothing!
He stammered and didn't know what to say. It wasn't until Fan Twelve kicked him that he woke up from a dream and shouted: "Big girl! Why don't you hug your sister and kowtow to the chief!"
The big girl sighed. Just as he hugged his sister and knelt down, Yun Suji shook his hand: "No, no, no. The Senate doesn't like this. Get up and talk!" Then he asked the eldest girl how old she was and whether she could read or not. Can I read the newspaper?
"She is thirteen years old. She can recite "Hundred Family Surnames" and "Thousand-Character Essay". I can recognize more than half of the characters in the newspaper. I can probably understand the meaning." The eldest girl is a little shy. She already knows people and has been given names by the chief. Asking again, I couldn't help but have random thoughts: Are you attracted to me?
"Can you write?"
"I can write a few words, but my words are ugly..." The girl's face turned red.
"Who taught you how to read?"
"Taught by the teacher at Winter School."
"Do you like going to winter school?" Yun Suji asked. The eldest daughter of the Bai family has a typical Shandong girl's face, dark and bright eyes, and is quite tall.
"I like it. Going to winter school is fun and informative." Bai Li nodded and glanced at her father secretly.
Yun Suji knew what was going on. Asked Bai Puting: "Are you not letting your daughter go to winter school?"
Bai Puting was shocked. The chief was really good at predicting things! He didn't dare to deny it and said with an apologetic smile: "Why not? It's just that there are too many people in the winter school this year. Men, women, old and young mix together to talk and laugh. This, this, is not good - she is still a big girl..."
"What's wrong? I think it's very good." Yun Suji said emphatically in a very positive tone, "It's not a small good, it's a big good!"
Bai Puting was startled. He didn't know that what he said touched the chief's nerve, so he quickly said: "Yes, it's great!"
Yun Suji said to Fan Twelve again: "You have to pay close attention to the matter of studying in winter. If someone doesn't want to learn it, you have to force him. Which parent is unwilling to learn it himself and doesn't let his family members learn it? , but also need a good education. I think if you ban your feet, there will be a solution."
Fan Twelve nodded repeatedly: "Please rest assured, chief. I will definitely run the winter school in the village well!"
As he was talking, suddenly there was a heartbreaking scream from outside: "Injustice..."
As soon as the word "injustice" came out of his mouth, it was stuck in his mouth. Yun Suji was startled, and Fan Twelve and Han Daoguo suddenly turned pale. Fan Twelve was still smiling at first, but this time his face became dull.
At this moment. A guard ran in at the door, saluted Yun Suji, leaned down and whispered: "Chief, I caught an old woman outside the backyard wall who wanted to climb over the wall. She said she was wronged..."
Yun Suji nodded and whispered: "Bring it to the village office first. We'll talk about it later!"
Fan Twelve couldn't sit still anymore, stood up and said tremblingly: "Chief..."
"It doesn't matter," Yun Suji stood up and said, "I think it's getting late, so I'll spend the night at your place today. I think we'll have dinner at Lao Yang's house for the evening meal. You go ahead and do your work, I'll Chat with Lao Bai for a while."
Fan Twelve had no choice but to go out with Han Daoguo first. Not far after going out, he saw Liu Yuanhu killing chickens and wiping his neck. He winked at them. Fan Twelve took a "poof" and said, "What the hell are you doing now! Look, Got a good guy!”
Liu Yuanhu's face was full of grievances: "This old guy has to go to the toilet, I can't follow him in, right? Who would have thought that her legs and feet are still so good at her age! Climb out of the window of the public toilet!"
Fan Twelve still wanted to scold him, but Han Daoguo advised: "Forget it, forget it, the matter has come out. Let's not blame this or that, let's think about what to do!"
Liu Yuanhu was young and said: "We haven't done anything wrong..."
Fan Twelve scolded: "Shit! Do you think it's a shame to kill someone and set fire to steal someone's wife? Old lady Cao is not a good person! She came to the chief and made a fool of herself, so let's all carry our luggage to the Cheka to drink tea. !”
Liu Yuanhu became nervous and said, "What should we do? The old woman was taken to the village office, and the four guards were watching, but there was nothing they could do!"
It was better for Han Daoguo to be calmer, he said: "Don't panic! It's a blessing or a disaster that can't be overcome. The matter has already happened. There is nothing we can do now. We can only bite the bullet and file a lawsuit! Let's get it first. Let’s discuss it. Chief Yun is bound to ask us questions. Let’s think about how we should stand and how we should respond. Otherwise, if we ask an impromptu question and get confused, everyone will say their own thing and say everything they shouldn’t say - then That’s what’s going to happen!”
They were discussing here. Yun Suji talked to Bai Puting about some production matters before going out to the village office. Ask the guards to bring Mrs. Cao over for questioning.
The guard brought an old woman, and Yun Suji knelt down on the ground with a bang, shouting: "You are wronged!" Yun Suji said quickly: "Get up, get up, sit down and talk!"
However, the old woman obviously couldn't understand his Mandarin and spoke Shandong dialect. Yun Suji couldn't understand and was already feeling a little unhappy. Fortunately, someone among the guards understood her and acted as an interpreter.
From her words, Yun Suji roughly knew that the old woman's surname was Cao and her husband's surname was Huang. Her husband's family members all died in the Dengzhou Rebellion. She and her son and daughter-in-law escaped and were resettled in the village.
The old woman's son felt that farming made little money, so he recruited workers to work in the county's lumber factory. He was injured and died on the job two years ago. The county civil affairs department said that there was a pension payment, but so far he has not seen a penny.
"...I am an old woman, without a son, and I am all alone. The village swallowed up my pension and locked me up!" Old woman Cao gritted her teeth, "Three bastards, Fan Twelve, Han Daoguo, and Liu Yuanhu! They have no conscience! They swallowed me up!" My old lady’s money also took up my land! They said they were farming on behalf of others, but they didn’t even give me a pound of rice!”
Yun Suji had long known that there was something fishy about contract farming, but when he heard that he wasn't even given a pension, his expression changed. Although the pensions given by the Senate are not large and are one-time except for the families of fallen soldiers, they are a very important social stabilizer. Although the amount of this matter is limited, the social impact is very bad. In the old days, the credibility of grassroots government agencies was destroyed bit by bit in this way.
He couldn't help but become serious and asked: "Is this all the truth?"
"If my old lady tells a lie, I will be struck by thunder!" Mrs. Cao's expression was firm and sure. Yun Suji felt that it was unlikely that he would lie.
"Fan Twelve, Han Daoguo, Liu Yuanhu... they are all so bad that their intestines are rotten," she added, "In the fish and meat village! If anyone doesn't follow them, they will say that you are against the Senate, and they will be tied up and beaten with a pole. It’s common to beat him to a pulp! Last year, I even beat one to death..."
Upon hearing this, Yun Suji quickly asked: "Did you beat someone to death?"
Old Mrs. Cao nodded: "If you beat him to death, take a roll of mat and throw it into the river. It's really lawless!"
Yun Suji found it a bit unbelievable, but he knew that the lawlessness at the grassroots level was indeed beyond ordinary people's imagination, so he quickly asked: "If this happened, who was killed?"
"The son of the old Meng family!"
"Lao Kong? Which Lao Meng?"
"It's Lao Meng who makes tofu!" Mrs. Cao's voice became louder and louder. "Lao Kong thought that his son was working in the county. Fan Twelve and the others lied to him! I told him several times that he I don’t even believe it!”
Yun Suji was doubtful. How could Lao Meng not know about such a big thing? This is too unbelievable. Is Borang Village really a "pretend to be progressive but really reactionary" village? (To be continued.)
