Carrying a Jurassic on me
Chapter 1066 - 554 Secretary Jiao’s Last Glance_2

Chapter 1066: Chapter 554 Secretary Jiao’s Last Glance_2

"It’s not early, not early at all!" Secretary Jiao became happier as he spoke. "By that time, dare I say, your Sancha River Township will likely become a leading township in wealth generation, right? I’m still waiting for you to lead the entire county in becoming wealthy. What’s so early about that?"

As he spoke, he just happened to reach an elevated area, and Secretary Jiao stopped here: "When the time comes, this place won’t look desolate like this anymore. I really wish I could see the scene you envision sooner!"

People who work at the cattle farm here always ride motorcycles back and forth, even those from Guan Village who work the fields ride bicycles. The distance isn’t far, but you can’t compare the roads here to those in the city.

In the city, where could you find such dirt roads? Even though Yan Fei had people pad the roads numerous times, it still couldn’t change the nature of the dirt roads. Furthermore, Yan Fei only had them padded; they were never fully reconstructed. With their high and low undulations, it’s very tiring to walk on them.

Secretary Jiao, however, was in such high spirits that he didn’t feel tired at all while walking. Not only did he walk on the small trails, but he also wandered onto the field ridges, into the woods, and by the riverbanks, inspecting everything in sight—Places that had recently been flooded were all muddy and required hopping to get through.

Luckily, those accompanying him were all young and strong, used to walking on such terrain, so nobody felt it was too hard.

The scenery wasn’t exactly pleasing, to begin with. Due to the terrain, most areas were barren lands, growing crooked-necked trees and the like. Even the cultivated fields were piecemeal, like tiny vegetable gardens. Only near where the original greenhouses stood did the land somewhat resemble flat, orderly farmland.

However, this made the destruction even more pathetic to see. After the floods, crops in the fields had collapsed, and some, after baking in the sun for days, had turned a withered yellow. Lower-lying areas were simply still submerged in water.

It wasn’t that the villagers were lazy, but with summer not yet over and floods ravaging other areas, what if the water rose again?

Another reason was that these lands were likely private or self-cultivated and thus exempt from the public grain tax. Whatever resulted from their labors would be their own, so the landowners were not in a hurry; if they couldn’t plant autumn crops, they could always sow something else. The main thing was to have a harvest at season’s end.

Unlike other places, where fields subject to grain taxes had to be replanted quickly, what would they use to pay their dues come autumn harvest? Fear of rising water or not, planting might prevent floods, but not planting guaranteed...nothing.

Secretary Jiao probably had visited the entire county by now and had seen such scenes more than once. He didn’t utter any expressions of sorrow, mainly discussing his plans with Yan Fei.

Of course, once he heard that Professor Shu and his group had come from the Provincial City, another round of pleasantries ensued.

By the time Secretary Jiao left, his trouser legs were covered in water and mud—this is what happened when he insisted on walking where there was no path.

If some folks who loved to make odd remarks were here, they might say, with no cameras and no journalists taking pictures, who were you exerting all this effort for?

One kind of soil can nurture a hundred kinds of people, and there are always some who need to stand out.

But about Secretary Jiao, Yan Fei sometimes had to admit, the man was genuine.

Still, he was somewhat puzzled, "Everyone has gone, and yet I’m left here lamenting, ’Why just look around and not say something else? This land isn’t even mine yet?’"

Mayor Chen was helplessly amused as he said, "I’m telling you, Boss Yan, don’t act coy after snagging a bargain. Secretary Jiao made a trip out here, do you think the county will pose too high demands on you later on? Just relax, you’re in the clear!"

"That’s right!" Lin Baoguo, with his knack for quirky introductions, chimed in. "With a forward-thinking person like Secretary Jiao, he would never cut off the branch he’s sitting on. Keeping the chicken lets it lay eggs; if you slaughter it, you lose everything, right? Look at the shepherd—if you shear the sheep, you get wool every year, but if you butcher it, you only get meat once..."

No wonder he was annoyed. Just last night, when he returned home and mentioned to Xiang Rui the incident of tearing Yan Fei’s clothes, he felt genuinely embarrassed and inquired about the cost of Yan Fei’s clothes bought in Hong Kong.

With their relationship, offering compensation was out of the question; he was just asking to know the specifics.

To his surprise, Xiang Rui doubled over with laughter, "Yeah! They are very expensive, bought from a wholesale market in Shen City, right next to Hong Kong—wholesale price of eight yuan apiece, a set of ten with different styles and colors. Moreover, she carried them over for him, and despite him wanting to pay, she refused to take any money, so essentially, the clothes cost him nothing..."

So it turns out that when Boss Yan suddenly changed his price yesterday and said that the clothes were eight yuan a piece, he was actually telling the truth.

Indeed, when it comes to things like this, aside from Boss Yan, there are really few people who would do it.

Once, Xu Xiaoyan mentioned that Yan Fei wears only a few outfits, and they all look pretty much the same, so no one knows whether he changes his clothes daily.

Yan Fei felt the pain and, upon seeing the clothes the driver from Hong Kong was wearing, he asked him about it. The driver laughed and explained that, though he’s basically couriering back and forth, loading and unloading goods always risks dirtying his clothes, which are difficult to wash, so he’d bought a bunch of cheap clothes. After all, they’re inexpensive. If they get really dirty and it’s not worth washing them, he just tosses them to the homeless on the streets.

Boss Yan thought this was brilliant!

First, the clothes were indeed quite trendy, and the prices were low. What he needed even more were clothes he wouldn’t be heartbroken over tearing—what if there were an emergency and he had to transform into a big dinosaur, wouldn’t any clothes become shredded fabric anyway?

So he had some brought back for him.

For such a small sum of money, that driver had become quite familiar here, sometimes even snagging some Medicinal Wine from the market to drink, and as he got to know Heizi and Old Gao pretty well, how could he have the heart to take Yan Fei’s money?

Xu Xiaoyan scorned Yan Fei over this affair, but Yan Fei confidently retorted, "It all depends on the person wearing the clothes. Look at me, I wear clothes worth eight yuan, yet people still think they’re worth eight hundred or eight thousand. Some people just don’t have the right attributes; they lack my handsome, tall, and mighty presence. You could give them clothes worth eighty thousand, and they would still manage to make them look like they’re worth eight yuan..."

His braggadocious manner back then made his wife laugh so hard that she fell into his embrace and couldn’t stand up straight, giving him a good chance to take advantage of the moment.

Once Director Lin learned the whole story, he was close to bursting with anger—the ostentatious way Yan Fei showed off back then, now the entire village government knew that Director Lin had ripped Boss Yan’s Hong Kong-bought clothes. Without a doubt, those must have been incredibly expensive clothes, especially since they came from Hong Kong.

Everyone assumed Yan Fei’s claim of eight yuan was false—who would believe that such a prominent businessman, and a young one at that, who was at the right age for showing off, would wear eight yuan clothes? How could anyone believe such a story!

Lin Baoguo was full of grievances that had no outlet; he couldn’t possibly go around explaining to everyone that Yan Fei’s clothes were indeed only eight yuan each, and besides, he hadn’t even asked him for money when he had them brought back.

Leaving aside whether people believed him or not, even if they did, they’d still retort with something like, "So what if they’re eight yuan? His clothes are cheap so that you can rip them, aren’t they?"

So, this sense of being aggrieved with nowhere to vent his frustration, Director Lin would seize any opportunity to ’get back at’ Boss Yan.

It was a habit between this uncle and nephew, but today Mayor Chen was present!

Hearing Director Lin’s metaphor, Mayor Chen defended Yan Fei, "That’s not really how it is. Look at your cattle farm; to put it modestly, it affects the livelihoods of quite a few families in our township. To put it grandly, it’s a star enterprise in the county and a benchmark for us, and Secretary Jiao will definitely support you."

"Besides, just think about it. Once this cattle farm is established, it will be one of the prominent ones in the entire province. I know you don’t like to hear this, but essentially, I, as the head of the township, would be credited with an achievement without having exerted any effort! How could we not support you?"

Yan Fei nodded.

There’s no need to spell out everything explicitly; as long as everyone understands, that’s enough.

Furthermore, what kind of displeasing words are these? If someone earns an achievement, of course the person who contributed must be reported; then it’s a win for you, a win for me, a win for everyone!

It was just that Director Lin, who had seized a rare moment to vent, was feeling a bit stifled and was contemplating taking off...