Chapter 228: 127, sudden intelligence! Lin Mo was so frightened that he trembled all over!_5
“Mo, although you haven’t come back often in the past, you should know about the issue with Zhangruji Village,” Lin Xueyi said. “I’m not afraid to put it bluntly; our village has lost to them year after year, and we’re really fed up with feeling so frustrated.”
“At the end-of-year town meeting, their village chief almost literally sh** and pissed on uncle’s neck!”
“Is he looking down on me alone? He’s looking down on all the Lin Family folks from our entire village!”
“We can’t tolerate this insult!”
“Plus, this year that big boss from their village, Zhong Juncai, is back, and he alone donated 500,000 yuan. Along with the rest of their village’s donations, I estimate they’ve already raised something like 700,000 to 800,000 yuan.”
“Uncle has this in mind; I’ll donate 200,000 yuan under my personal name. The money has already been transferred, and I accept oversight from all the villagers. The village has also raised over 100,000 yuan on top of that; we’ve almost hit 400,000 yuan now.”
“Uncle came to ask and see if it’s convenient for you to chip in some money? Not much, three or four hundred thousand would be enough…”
As soon as these words were spoken, the people around, especially the few village officials, all became tense.
Everyone understands the difficulty of letting go of hard-earned money; to cough up tens of thousands on the spur of the moment for pride, the person may not be willing.
Having money is one thing, but being willing to part with it is another.
And you can’t force someone to donate—that’s a matter of good intention. Whether it’s a lot or a little doesn’t really matter.
But at the end of the day…
Everyone wants to beat Zhangruji Village just once.
They’ve lost for the better half of their lives, it’s too suffocating!
Village Chief Lin Xueyi came prepared, and without waiting for Lin Mo to respond, he continued, “Mo, I know 340,000 yuan is not a small amount; there aren’t many people in our village who can earn that much in a year.”
“Here’s what uncle is thinking, if you’re willing to put forth the money, uncle will step down from the village chief position next year and let your dad take over. What do you think?”
Upon hearing this, Lin Changshui quickly waved his hands and said, “This, this, this can’t do! This is nonsense, it definitely won’t work! Xueyi, you’ve contributed so much to the village over the years, we’ve all seen it. How could I possibly take your place?”
Caught up in the moment, Lin Xueyi raised his voice slightly and said, “Changshui, let me tell you something from the bottom of my heart: as long as we can win once, even just for one year, whether or not I remain as the village chief doesn’t matter.”
“Even if I get hit by a car and die next year and go to hell, when I see our Lin Family ancestors, I can confidently say I did right by them, I gave it my all!”
After hearing his words, everyone fell silent, unsure how to respond.
Who doesn’t care about face?
This is true for people from the village as well as the city; it’s just that the people in the village have a stronger sense of clan honor and shame.
And frankly speaking,
although Zhangzhuang is a small village with a so-so location, spending three or four hundred thousand for the position of village chief is honestly not expensive.
Leaving aside the issues of greed and embezzlement, just considering the salary every month, pension after retirement, and other benefits, there are plenty of people who would want to be a village chief.
Moreover, the village chief commands great authority and is adored by the villagers, which can satisfy no small amount of vanity.
Lin Mo could see that Village Chief Lin Xueyi genuinely wanted to win; otherwise, he wouldn’t have offered his position so readily.
Even though Lin Mo had grown up away from the village and had almost no sense of collective honor for it,
he thought it over and realized he shared the Lin surname; they all came from the same roots. It was indeed necessary to do something for the village.
At the very least, it would serve as a way to give back for the villagers’ help over the past few days.
Also, Lin Mo had always felt that apart from a scarcity of people and rarely seeing the younger generation, everything else in the village was quite good; overall, it was a harmonious place.
Moreover, this amount of money wasn’t much for Lin Mo at this point.
Lin Mo looked at his father, Lin Changshui.
It was clear Lin Changshui was also conflicted.
He knew his son had made some money; tens of thousands wouldn’t be difficult for his son to come up with.
But still, tens of thousands!
He couldn’t bear to let go of so much money just to save face.
After all, they had come up from poverty.
“Xueyi Uncle, we’re all one family here, we don’t speak in two different ways. We’re all from the same village, and everything we do has to be a collective effort,”
“I really haven’t made that much money, my capabilities are limited,”
Lin Mo said with a smile, “Well, how about this: under my dad’s name, let’s put up 1 million yuan to liven up our village. As for the position of village chief, it’s better if you continue.”
As they listened to the first half of what Lin Mo said, Village Chief Lin Xueyi and the others thought it was a lost cause, their expressions turning anxious.
However, even if Lin Mo didn’t contribute, they wouldn’t say much more.
The money was his; he could spend it as he wished.
But when they heard Lin Mo was going to put in 1 million, they were momentarily stunned.
Immediately after, they couldn’t help getting excited.
Lin Changshui himself trembled with excitement.
The village chief could hardly believe his ears, asking excitedly, “Mo, are you serious?”
“Are you really willing to give 1 million? 1 million?”
Lin Mo nodded with a smile, “Yeah, 1 million, under my dad’s name.”
Several of the village officials also crowded around.
“That’s great, I’d like to see how Zhangruji can show off this year!”
“Mo, we owe it to you. We can finally hold our heads high for once!”
“Haha, I want to see if those guys dare to be so arrogant at next year’s meeting.”
“Changshui, you really have a great son.”