Chapter 82 Red and Purple The biggest difference between Zhulan and Taiyang is that the city's administrative divisions are not strictly divided into two quarantine areas. But the urban areas and villages at different levels. The entire urban area is not big, about the same size as Yaoguang, and the population is not dense. Every resident here lives a very rich and happy life. After leaving the station, Levi found a small park near the station and bought a batch of Zhulan's newspapers for the past half month from the park's newsstand. Although he bought some newspapers and magazines from Zhulan in Taiyang before setting off, the information in those newspapers and magazines was outdated. They were fine for simply understanding the local customs and people. It took five days for the train to travel between the two cities, and there would be a huge information gap unless there was cross-city communication. Sure enough, after finding a bench in the park, Levi spread out the thick stack of newspapers and read from the front date to the back. He realized that while the Sun was being turned upside down by him, Zhulan's life was not at all peaceful during this period. The government of this city is called the Lanting Grand Council Hall, which is formed by 72 large landowner families in the city. The seats are inherited from generation to generation, and the leader who coordinates the entire council hall and manages the entire Zhulan is called the chairman or general councilor. The position of chairman is also inherited from generation to generation by a family surnamed Qi. And just in the days when Li Wei and Feng Zi sneaked from Yu Guang to Yao Guang together, Zhulan's current chairman suddenly suffered a heart attack and died at home. His only daughter was sent to college at the age of 5. She rarely returned to her hometown over the years and has never appeared in public.
Instead, his nephew who stayed in Zhulan and took care of government affairs for him was eyeing the position after his uncle's death. At the same time, a large number of people in the Lanting Grand Council Hall wanted to take this opportunity to abolish the hereditary position of chairman and replace it with an election system with a four-year term. So when the former chairman's confidant saw that the situation was not right, he immediately informed the "princess" who was supposed to be the heir, and asked her to take a leave of absence from the academy and return home immediately. Things were already chaotic enough at this point, and Zhulan's government affairs had been affected over the past few days. As a result, an even bigger mess happened two days ago. The train carriage of Zhulan's 'Princess', the daughter of the former chairman who was scheduled to return to her hometown today, was accidentally derailed! An entire carriage, she, her servants and security guards were all missing! Missing is just a nice way of saying it. Everyone knows that when the carriage was separated from the main train in the intercity tunnel, it was absolutely certain death! According to newspaper gossip, after learning about the incident, the former chairman's nephew held a private party to celebrate that night. When questioned by reporters the next day, he cursed and said that his sister's death had already dealt a great blow to him, and now he had to endure such a wrongful slander. At the same time, early this morning, his face was filled with sadness, and he cried so hard that he almost fainted. He stood in front of the station, ready to hold the train management and operation accountable on behalf of all Zhulan people! Yes, that’s right, this nephew is the yellow-haired guy that Levi met when he got off the bus. After reading about the dirty intrigues that have been happening in the upper echelons of Zhulan recently, Li Wei smacked his lips and sighed in his heart that the newspapers in this city are full of factions, and they are all dogs raised by different families. The previous daily newspaper was still scolding the former director's nephew for murdering the "princess", and the next morning paper began to rant that there was a group of traitors in the Lanting Grand Council Hall who wanted to make the Qi family extinct! Of course, some of the recent major events on the Sun were mixed in, especially mocking the fact that the neighboring city was tormented like that by an artificial creature, and even the tokens of the parliament and the city's name were destroyed. After learning about the latest situation of the city's top leaders, Levi lost interest in these things. He went straight to the owner of the newsstand, bought ten different magazines and newspapers, and began to ask in a roundabout way. "Uncle, were the villages below us particularly short of manpower four years ago?" "Four years ago? There was never a year when the village didn't need people! All the local farmers who grew fruit trees ran away, and they have been relying on selling people from other cities to survive these years." “All the people who bought in other cities were assigned to plant fruit trees?” "That's about right. If you really mean four years ago, the masters of the Great Council did a big deal with the people of the Sun. The newspapers were reporting on it at the time, saying it was a great political achievement. All the people were resettled in the Red and Purple Village down below. But the contract was only signed for three years, and those people must have gone home a long time ago." The old man at the newsstand waved a fan and looked up at Li Wei. "Why are you asking these questions?" Levi smiled and put back all the newspapers and magazines he had just bought. "Those Sun workers haven't returned home yet. My family is very worried, so they asked me to come and ask when they can go back."
"They haven't gone back yet? They must be enjoying themselves here and don't want to leave. Look at what has happened to your Sun these days. To make a man-made thing mess up like this, life must be hard for them, right?" "Yeah, they must be staying here to enjoy themselves." Levi spoke softly, no longer paying attention to the smug old man who kept complaining about how bad the sun was and how good Zhulan was, and turned around and left. Soon after finding a place to have lunch, Levi rented a car from a car rental company. He drove out of the city according to the Zhulan map he bought and found Hongzi Village among the densely packed villages in the countryside. This is the western district of Zhulan. Most of the land is used to grow fruit trees. After driving into the country road, you can clearly feel that there are many more people here than in the urban area. But their mental state was very bad. They looked thinner and darker than the laborers seen by Yu Guang. Most of them were working in the vast fields. Occasionally, one or two would sit by the roadside to rest. They all looked taciturn, with numbness in their eyes. When those people saw Levi driving the car, there was obvious fear and cowardice in their eyes. Levi drove like this for the entire afternoon and finally arrived at Hongzi Village in the evening before it got dark. This place is more like a shantytown than a village. The ground is full of mud and there is no so-called infrastructure. You can't even find a piece of cement floor or a piece of brick or tile. Levi abandoned the rented car directly on the roadside at the entrance of the village and walked into the village on the mud. It was not yet dark, and most of the young and strong men in the village were still busy working in the fields. Only a middle-aged man who seemed to be going home to get farm tools was stopped by Li Wei and handed a cigarette. "Brother, can I ask, is Liu Bao in this village?" The middle-aged farmer who was stopped by Levi was obviously a little terrified. He clearly saw how Levi came here and didn't even dare to take the cigarette he handed over. "Master, you're looking for Liu Bao? I know where he's buried. How about I take you there right now?" "he died?" "He's been dead for two years. He died of exhaustion in the fields." "Where is Yu Haichao? Do you know this person?" "He was the previous village chief and died a year ago." "Where are Yao Jiang, Chu Dafu, Wu Zhouping, and Zhao Sheng?" "I don't know Zhao Sheng and Wu Zhouping, but they must have died a year ago. They were buried together." Levi was silent for a while, took a deep breath, and then spoke calmly again. "Are there any of the hundreds of people who were sold here from the Sun four years ago still alive?" "The people from four years ago? There was also a child, but he was crazy and had been living in the old woods in the cemetery." (End of this chapter)