allonlinenovel Chapter 121: A tall tree attracts the wind, and a popular person attracts jealousy
Chapter 121: A tall tree attracts the wind, and a popular person attracts jealousy
Xu Keqin's case has not been judged yet, and he has been temporarily arranged to repair the dam with Wen Ya and Lu Yiming. The difference is that Wen Ya and Lu Yiming can go home at night, but Xu Keqin is under surveillance 24 hours a day. Not to mention going home, he is not even allowed to see his parents.
It was still the production team era, and Qinghe Village had more than a hundred households and was busy with all the big and small matters every day, so the village chief was indispensable.
The village held a meeting and decided to let clerk Ma Houcai temporarily take over the position of village chief, and then officially appoint him after Xu Keqin's case is concluded.
Although the main reason why Ma Houcai was able to become the village chief was because Xu Keqin did not do good deeds, Ma Houcai knew in his heart that without Xie Changqing and Wen Wan, Xu Keqin would never be able to step down.
He remembered this favor, so when someone from the town came to investigate Wen Wan's speculation, Ma Hou did not bring the investigator to the Xie family.
He was not clear about the criteria for conviction and was afraid that the prosperous scene of the Xie family would be used as unfavorable evidence.
So while warmly entertaining the two investigators, he asked someone to call Wen Wan over.
The two investigators insisted on going along.
Ma Houcai had only been the village chief for a short time, and he had not yet learned the official language that one could not refuse even though he knew it was fake. In desperation, he had to stop them on the grounds that the road was difficult to travel.
After saying this, even he himself felt that this reason was a bit lame, and was about to make up a more reasonable one. Unexpectedly, the two investigators were quite receptive to his advice and actually sat back to continue drinking tea.
Ma Houcai thought about it carefully and decided that these two probably didn't really want to go over there.
When Wen Wan got the news, she had just woken up and hadn't even had breakfast.
Xie Changlin and Xie Yuting went to the neighboring town to buy goods. Xie Changshan didn't quite understand the specific situation and was getting anxious.
"What should we do? A few years ago, I saw people who engaged in speculation and profiteering criticized in the town hall. After the criticism, they were sent to labor camps. I don't know who is so wicked as to report us."
A big tree attracts the wind; a famous person attracts jealousy.
Now there are few people in the village who are not jealous of them, and anyone may report them.
Besides, the report has been made, and the focus now is on how to deal with the investigators, not on who made the report.
Wen Wan comforted him, "It's alright, big brother. They only said it was an investigation, not a struggle session."
Xie Changshan said in a daze, "Oh!" "Sister-in-law, let's do this. You know a lot. Please analyze the situation for me so that I can have a better idea."
"What's there to analyze? People say it's speculation, and they might just arrest people," Zhang Lan said sarcastically. Her expression made Wen Wan want to stuff some melon seeds into her mouth and let her eat them.
After hearing this, Xie Changshan panicked even more. A second later, he said confidently as if he had made a major decision, "Then I won't analyze it anymore. I'll go.
Remember, I am the boss, this small workshop belongs to me, it has nothing to do with you."
Unexpectedly, Xie Changshan was so responsible at the critical moment. Wen Wan appreciated his kindness, but he might not even be able to figure out the situation, let alone explain it.
Wen Wan said: "Brother, have you forgotten how we promoted it in the village? Now everyone in the village knows that the workshop belongs to Xie Changqing."
Xie Changshan was speechless.
"If you go, you will only be called a scapegoat. Not only will Xie Changqing and I suffer, but you, as an accomplice, will also be unable to escape.
Isn't this just losing both the lady and the army? It's not worth it.
I'll go! Big brother stays at home and makes sure nothing goes wrong."
Xie Changshan thought about it and still felt that it was not possible, "I am the eldest in the family, I can't let you, a woman, take the blame.
Why should I care about him so much? I am the eldest son. Everything in the house belongs to me, and all the money I earn goes to me alone.
No matter what other people say.”
I didn’t expect Xie Changshan to be such a man, but now is not the time to show his true manliness!
Wen Wan said helplessly: "Brother, if this matter is going to happen, it is between Xie Changqing and me, it will be useless for you to go.
I went to see how the matter was handled. It wouldn't be serious. If it was, they would have arrested the person directly instead of going to the village committee to understand the situation."
Xie Changshan thought it made sense, "Okay, I'll go with you."
Zhang Lan, who didn't get to eat the melon seeds, didn't hesitate to join in the fun and make sarcastic remarks. As soon as Wen Wan finished speaking, she followed up:
"It won't be true. You are quite open-minded. Do you know what the crime of speculation is?
Do you know how many years the third kid from the Wang family in the neighboring village was sentenced to last year? He just bought and sold some Chinese medicinal herbs, and the money he earned was not as much as the wages you paid to those workers.
For someone like you, you should be sentenced to life imprisonment!"
This reminded Wen Wan that Zhang Lan was a rural woman, and she would usually gossip with the gossipers in the village about the Zhang and Li families, such as whose men were incompetent, whose women were lazy, and whose mothers-in-law were powerful...
When did we understand clearly what the crime of speculation and profiteering was, and even know that the sentencing was based on the value of the case?
Wen Wan narrowed her eyes and asked suspiciously, "Sister-in-law, how many years will the third kid from the Wang family be sentenced to?"
"Five years."
"The aunt of the third boy of the Wang family is the wife of Hu Guangting from our village, right?"
Zhang Lan was stunned for a moment, as if she had not expected her to ask this. "Yes, it's her."
Wen Wan smiled knowingly.
If Wen Wan was just guessing just now, now Wen Wan is 70% sure that it was Zhang Lan who did it.
Wen Wan didn't know the third boy from the Wang family in the neighboring village at all. Hu Guangting's wife's surname was Wu, so how could she have a nephew from her mother's side with the surname Wang?
From this, we can infer that Zhang Lan doesn’t know the third boy of the Wang family, and this information was most likely given to her by someone else.
If I'm not mistaken, this other person should be Wen Ya.
If Zhang Lan was the only one reporting it, she wouldn't be able to come up with any big name. But with Wen Ya as the military advisor, it would be different. They would try to pull up any serious crime and would not stop until Wen Wan was imprisoned.
Sure enough, when the two investigators saw Wen Wan, they looked at her carefully for a moment, and then they went straight to the point and asked about the situation, starting with speculation and profiteering, and finally even escalating the topic to whether she wanted to take the capitalist road.
If this happened in ancient times, it would be a capital crime of treason, and all the nine clans like Wen Ya and Zhang Lan would suffer.
Wen Wan smiled and said, "You two leaders are joking. We are just a small family workshop. We make some money by hand during the slack season to supplement our family income. It's the same as growing fruits and vegetables in our private plots and exchanging them for money to buy needles and thread at the market."
The two investigators looked at each other with disbelief in their eyes, and the leader Jiang Wei asked, "Growing melons and fruits does not involve hiring workers, but you have already hired workers.
Who employs workers? Either the landlords or the capitalists.
Do you dare to say the same thing? "
Wen Wan responded calmly with a smile on her face, "There is no employment relationship between us, they are all relatives of the family.
I asked them to come over just to help each other among relatives, just like asking for help when there is a wedding at home.
If you don’t believe me, you can ask them.”
When rural people start to establish relationships, whether serious or not, they all seem to be related to each other, and this is not considered lying.
"That's even more wrong. An employment relationship at least comes with wages. You just said you were helping out a relative, but you didn't even get paid. Isn't this more exploitative?"