Chapter 64: Village-Wide Land Inspection

At the end of the day, despite her anger, Jing Xi had still held back.

If she had really aimed to make Zhou Shu incapable of having children, even an immortal deity wouldn’t have been able to save him.

After returning to the police station from the hospital, Zhou Jiwen carefully reviewed everything he had heard that day.

Jing Xi claimed she wasn’t the one who did it.

Zhou Shu, however, privately told his lackeys that Jing Xi was responsible.

Would someone lie about something that concerned their dignity?

Was Jing Xi’s explanation of Wu Dazhuang and Zhou Shu’s connection really just about cracking down on crime?

Zhou Jiwen narrowed his eyes and rhythmically twirled the pen in his hand.

Both of their statements had inconsistencies.

Without hesitation, he got up and went to find Officer Chen.

As a senior officer at the station, Chen had much more experience.

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Two days later.

Zhou Shu was transferred back to Beizhen for further treatment.

The Beizhen police station continued its investigation into the assault case.

At the same time, in the village, Xie Aiguo initiated a full-scale inspection of village land.

Every household’s registered farmland and residential plots had to be re-examined by the village authorities to verify the accuracy of their records.

Xie Aiguo personally led a team to inspect each home, leaving no exceptions.

The team members were selected from different parts of the village—east, west, south, and north—to ensure no favoritism or cover-ups among relatives.

Surprisingly, as someone involved in the recent events, Jing Xi was invited to join the team, along with Xia Lidong, whom she was acquainted with.

Jing Xi hadn’t known that the Xia family had such influence in the village. They usually stayed out of village affairs unless it was a truly major event—only then would the old master send his children to participate.

For an event like today’s, Xia Lidong had no choice but to attend.

The other five team members were unfamiliar to Jing Xi, though she recognized surnames like Zhou, Meng, and Cong. She simply nodded in greeting.

She greeted Xia Lidong as well, and he observed her expression before saying, “My dad mentioned you the other day. He said you hadn’t visited in a while, and I told him I saw you busy farming.”

Jing Xi explained, “Yes, the village recently allocated two acres of land to me, so I planted some vegetables for my own use.”

Xia Lidong was surprised. “You’re not growing any grains?”

Jing Xi shook her head. “The Long family rented one of my acres to grow medicinal herbs.”

“Oh, I see! Ah, here comes the village chief!” Xia Lidong pointed toward Xie Aiguo’s arrival.

Once Xie Aiguo was there, he signaled for everyone to take their seats.

“Everyone, I really appreciate you making time for this despite your busy schedules. I won’t waste words—let’s get straight to the point. Why are we conducting a land inspection?”

He glanced briefly at Jing Xi before addressing the group.

“I’ve recently noticed major discrepancies between the actual land usage in the village and the official records. Some plots don’t match up at all, and there are even cases where some villagers don’t have any land at all.”

Xie Aiguo continued, “Now, although our village isn’t exactly wealthy, in the past two years, thanks to policy changes, we’ve managed to rise out of poverty. Every household’s income has at least doubled or tripled compared to before. I’m sure you all agree, right?”

“Yes.”

“That’s right.”

“No doubt about it.”

Xie Aiguo nodded. “Since our situation is improving, our policies must also keep up. We can’t allow unfairness in the village. Whether in thought or in action, we must align with national policies and implement them thoroughly. That is the purpose of this inspection!”

He looked around at the group and continued, “You were chosen because you’re all respected figures in the village! That’s why I invited you. Except for Jing Xi, the rest of you are older and take care of the younger generation.”

After his words, he observed everyone’s expressions. They seemed calm and neutral.

Then, he turned to Xia Lidong. “Old Xia, I’m counting on you for a lot in this. I’ll have you manage the records.”

Xia Lidong took the booklet handed to him by Xie Aiguo and chuckled. “Old Xie, this is a thankless job. But for the sake of the village, it’s worth it! My family usually doesn’t participate in village matters, but if we refused this time, it’d be too disrespectful. I’ll take care of it.”

Xie Aiguo patted Xia Lidong’s shoulder, and the two shook hands.

Once the rest of the group expressed no objections, the full-scale land inspection officially began.

With the village loudspeakers broadcasting the announcement, everyone was soon informed about the land audit.

Some villagers were delighted, while others were anxious.

The first to be inspected was Xie Aiguo’s land inspection team. The village blackboard displayed large-character reports updating progress daily, with all seven members, including Xie Aiguo, overseeing the entire process.

The inspection team finished their work in just one day.

Everyone passed without issue—especially Jing Xi, who only had two acres of land, both newly allocated. In fact, the village still owed her money!

On the second day, the inspection moved on to the larger landowners in the village.

Problems surfaced immediately.

Wu Jun’s family, registered as a six-person household, somehow had nearly twenty-two acres of land.

Xie Aiguo’s face darkened on the spot.

Wu Jun initially tried to cover it up, but he hadn’t expected that Jing Xi had worked for his family before and knew exactly where every acre of their land was located.

It was only at this moment that Jing Xi realized why Xie Aiguo had pulled her into this small team!

She had helped with harvesting and labor for dozens of households in the village, so she knew exactly how much land most families owned.

The few hillside acres that Wu Jun had tried to hide—Jing Xi exposed them all.

Even the plot near the dam that Xie Aiguo had originally planned to allocate to Jing Xi had actually been extra land that Wu Jun had illegally claimed, with no official record of ownership.

This wasn’t just Xie Aiguo’s oversight in his work—it was also Wu Jun abusing his position for personal gain.

But the land had already been cultivated with crops, and confiscating it now would be far too inhumane.

Jing Xi suggested an alternative to Xie Aiguo: have Wu Jun pay rent to the village at market rate for the extra land, treating it as a lease.

Xie Aiguo nodded in agreement, while Wu Jun’s face turned even darker.

Xie Aiguo sternly reprimanded Wu Jun, “And you have the nerve to be unhappy? As the village accountant, you should be setting an example! The fact that I’m not ordering your crops to be uprooted is already me cutting you some slack!”

Wu Jun lowered his head, pulled his wife aside, and said nothing. A short while later, the couple went into their house, retrieved some money, and followed Xie Aiguo to the village office to sign the leasing documents and pay the owed amount.

The agreement was personally drafted by Xia Lidong.

Wu Jun’s family had taken four extra acres, and at a rate of 100 yuan per acre, they handed over 400 yuan to Xie Aiguo.

Normally, Wu Jun, as the village accountant, would have been responsible for managing this money. However, given his negligence and failure to uphold his duties, Xie Aiguo decided to entrust the funds to someone else.

After surveying the village, he finally handed the money to Jing Xi.

Jing Xi instinctively wanted to refuse.

Xie Aiguo reassured her, “Xiao Jing, you were already appointed as the temporary accountant for the village by the Long family. A little extra responsibility won’t make much of a difference! You’ll temporarily take over Wu Jun’s duties until we sort everything out and officially appoint a new accountant. And don’t worry—it’s not unpaid work; you’ll be getting a salary! I’ll have Old Wu go over the handover with you.”

Jing Xi lifted her head, slightly surprised. Was Xie Aiguo implying that Wu Jun was going to be removed from his position?

She accepted the money, glancing over to see the miserable expressions on Wu Jun and his wife’s faces.

Jing Xi couldn’t help but feel a sense of satisfaction.

No, not just a little satisfaction—absolute satisfaction!

Oh no… was she developing a taste for dominance?