Insufficient balance

  A dilapidated farmhouse, an elderly man with a trembling gait, before dawn breaks, he has already prepared a bowl of rice bran. Then, leaning on his crutch, he feeds the chickens and ducks in the yard. Afterwards, he will bring out a wooden stool, sit in the yard, and watch the chickens and ducks jump around lively. This seems to have become the old man's habit. Sometimes, he would gaze vaguely at the high-rise buildings not far away, occasionally muttering a few sentences of dry and incomprehensible rural dialect, but more often, he would be frowning, puffing on a lit cigarette.

  This is Wangjiacun Village, where most of the villagers have the surname Wang. The village seems to have existed since the late Qing dynasty and is said to have had tunnels dug and fought against the Japanese devils. Originally, such a historic village should be rich and prosperous, but in reality, it has been declining year by year, with many young people moving away one after another. Those who stayed behind are mostly elderly people who have feelings for the village. It can't be said that those who moved away forgot their roots, but since the construction of a modern airport, there would be occasional loud noises that disturb people's rest and make them feel anxious and distracted, losing interest in work.

  Originally, this could still be tolerated, after all, the sound from the plane is also regular, at least it doesn't disturb the villagers' normal rest in the middle of the night. However, due to the large amount of exhaust and heat emitted, the nearby fruit trees have been reducing production year by year, and the village head has negotiated with the airport authorities more than once, but what he got was just perfunctory responses.

  This also forced many young and middle-aged people to leave their homes and go south to work. The originally harmonious village gradually became deserted, with no signs of the bustling scene where people came and went as before.

  "Old Master Wang!"

  "Hey, Dongzi, sending lunch to your wife again?"

  A native young farmer, carrying a bag on his back and riding a bicycle, passed by the courtyard of Old Man Huajia and shouted out a warm greeting.

  "Alright, Uncle Wang, I'll go deliver lunch to my wife first, and when I come back, I'll help you carry two buckets of water." Dongzi said with a smile as he rode his bike.

  Grandfather Wang suddenly stood up, shaking his hand: "Dongzi, come back, I have something to tell you."

  "Alright."

  Dongzi hastily leaned against the roadside, put down his bicycle, then pushed open the courtyard gate and helped Wang Dage sit down: "Wang Dage, what's wrong?"

  "It's like this, Old Meng just came over and said that someone has come to the village to collect land, can you go take a look? See if the road is correct or not, my legs aren't convenient, you come back and tell me."

  "Take the land? Alright, don't worry, Mr. Wang, I'll go take a look."

  Dongzi carefully helped Wang Dage back to his room, then pushed the bicycle and didn't even have time to deliver lunch to his wife, and rushed towards Lao Meng's house. Lao Meng was called Meng Deliang, who was the village chief of this village. In the late 1980s, rural areas also had to follow the country's reforms, and whoever was appointed by the town as the village chief would have to be obeyed. So, Meng Deliang became the first non-native village chief of Wangjia Village.

  Fortunately, Meng Deliang was dedicated to his duties and had worked hard for the development of Wangjiacun Village. However, with the construction of Beiyong Airport nearby, Wangjiacun Village began to decline. After several years of declining fruit production, Meng Deliang had no choice but to mobilize the villagers to sell their land, otherwise, with so much idle land and dozens of households unable to make a living, at least half of them would not be able to afford food.

  "Dongzi, you're here too?"

  Outside the village chief's office, a crowd of onlookers had gathered. Dongzi glanced at the parked taxi and a somewhat awkward middle-aged man who appeared to be the driver, but didn't look again: "A Zhen, what's going on? Is some big shot coming to our village to buy land?"

  "Big boss? Ha, I'd like to think so, but it's just a little brat running around asking villagers about this place. Old Meng is also confused, even I can tell that kid has no money, and yet he keeps offering water and fruit, in my opinion, he's probably here to scam us for food and drink, most likely nothing will come of it." The little girl called Ah Zhen hadn't spoken up yet when an old man carrying a hoe next to her burst out laughing.

  "Big Brother Dong, Wang Erbo is right, looking at our age, you're not much older than me."

  The little girl glanced at Dongzi's backpack and said, "Dongge, didn't you bring lunch for your wife?"

  "Hey, I forgot. Just as I was passing by the village entrance, Old Man Wang mentioned something about this land, and in my hurry, I completely forgot that I was supposed to deliver lunch to your wife." Dongzi said with a silly grin.

  "Alright, Brother Dong, you stay here, I'll go deliver lunch to your sister-in-law."

  "Alright."

  Dongzi quickly took down the bags, along with the car keys, and handed them over to the little girl. Seeing the little girl leave timidly, Dongzi plucked up his courage and walked to the driver who was smoking a cigarette, looking awkward, and said: "Master, the young man who came with you, I heard he's here to collect land in our village?"

  The driver hastily took out a cigarette and handed it to Dongzi. Dongzi waved his hand, saying he didn't know how to smoke, but still accepted the cigarette and tucked it behind his ear.

  The driver took a deep breath and let out a sigh: "Actually, this little brother is quite interesting. Not long after getting on the car, he asked me about the local situation. Later, he even asked me to take him to the village, but I didn't expect that he was here to collect land. As for other things, I'm not clear either. However, he's quite generous with his money. Originally, he wanted to give me 300 yuan for the ride and also help wash the car. I didn't ask for much, so I only took 200."

  Dongzi heard this and didn't think much, he just stared tightly at the figure in the village chief's office, as if deep in thought.

  "Little brother, are you really interested in that piece of land in our village? Although I'm just a village head, I also understand the market price. Each mu of land isn't cheap."

  Meng Deliang sat in the chair, smiling at Ye Jun in front of him. At first, he was quite excited to hear that someone had come to the village to collect land, but when he saw that it was just a student still wearing his school uniform, his interest decreased by half. However, listening to Ye Jun's words, one after another, didn't seem like a simple student, so he entertained him. Anyway, in daily life, the village had nothing to do, and as the village chief, he had almost become a decoration, so he chatted with Ye Jun about family matters.

  However, the more they chatted, the more shocked he became. Meng Deliang was also a cultured person, no matter what, he was a party member who graduated from the Party School. When Ye Jun talked about buying and selling land, many of his remarks made Meng think deeply before daring to respond, and he lost some of his initial disdain and became more cautious.

  "Mr. Meng, regarding the money issue, I have a solution. You can trust me for now, there's no risk involved anyway. Even if I were to cheat you, it wouldn't be possible to take this land away from you, right? After we sign the contract, it will definitely be a simultaneous exchange of money and land. Don't worry, at that time, I'll ask the relevant departments to conduct an audit and verification before completing the handover."

  Ye Jun would not have known Meng Deliang's thoughts, and before coming over, he had already thought of a way. Now there is indeed no money on hand, but there is a god of wealth, Ye Jun was worried about how to use benefits to tie up the god of wealth, did not expect it to turn around so quickly.

  "Hey little brother, excuse me for asking, what are you going to use this land for?"

  Ye Jun would not tell Meng Deliang that in half a year, the price of these hundreds of acres of land would at least double. He smiled and said: "If you can't plant crops, you can build houses. Next to the airport, if you can build a hotel, it's not bad."

  Meng Deliang took a deep breath, this was a big deal, and he couldn't help but glance at Ye Jun with suspicion, clearly not believing that Ye Jun had the guts to say such a thing. However, he didn't plan on speaking directly, just pretending to boast, saying: "So, little brother, how many mu of land do you plan on buying?"

  "Meng Bo, it doesn't matter if you first ask the price. If it's high, buy less. If it's low, buy more. There's only so much money on hand, can't buy too much."

  Ye Jun chuckled, and Meng Deliang also heard a taste. If Ye Jun opened his mouth and closed his mouth, it would only make him close the door: "This way, I've discussed with the villagers in the village, the half near the airport is 3,000 yuan per mu, and the other half near the village is 4,000 yuan per mu. I also asked someone to measure it, there are more than 500 mu of land, little brother, how many mu can you want?"

  Meng Deliang just quoted, Ye Jun calculated that if 500 mu of land were all taken in hand, at least 1.7 million would be needed. However, this price, Ye Jun believed, still had room for negotiation, and believed that as long as they haggled a bit, relying on the villagers' eagerness to get rid of it, they could at least haggle out 400,000 yuan of space!

  Of course, in the previous life, Ye Jun vaguely remembered that Ye Yangsheng had mentioned that the negotiation between the government and the villagers had always been stuck at a price of 10,000 yuan per mu. In other words, even if it was sold for less than 10,000 yuan, which was an astronomical price, it would not be difficult to get at least 8,000 or 9,000 yuan. Thinking of this, Ye Jun's heart was filled with joy, and he thought that making a profit by flipping land was indeed easy, no wonder those who had engaged in real estate speculation in the 1990s became rich by the year 2000, and some even became famous real estate tycoons nationwide.

  "Meng Bo, I'm sincere about buying this land, so please trust me once. Let's open the window and speak plainly. 500 mu of land, I want it all, but the price still needs to be pressed down a bit."

  Ye Jun smiled and took out a business card, on which was clearly written "Chairman of Huayang Group" and the dazzling words "Dong Suning": "This is my mom. You can think that I don't have money, but I really have the qualification to buy land. Meng Bo, I believe that with only a 30% chance of success, you will grasp it, right?"

  Meng Deliang carefully accepted the business card, although he still had some doubts about Ye Jun's identity, but this card looked authentic and was worth believing: "Alright, I'll make an exception today and trust a young person like you. I'll give you a price, thanks to your boldness."

  1.3 million.

  "No way! According to the price I negotiated with the villagers, it would be over 18 million." Meng Deliang shook his head without hesitation.

  "Meng Bo, this is just the price you want, but is anyone willing to buy it?"

  "This..."

  Ye Jun unconsciously brought up the sharpness of the business war from his previous life, and Meng Deliang was taken aback, his face starting to change. After all, this price was completely discussed by the villagers, and naturally, there was a lot of water in it, at least no one would think that their land was worthless. After a while, Meng Deliang seemed to have gone through a battle between heaven and man, and solemnly said: "I will discuss with the villagers tonight, it may take some time."

  "Alright, Meng Bo, I hope in a few days when I come again, we can discuss the business and handover matters."

  Ye Jun finished speaking and exchanged a few pleasantries with Meng Deliang, then ignored his attempts to persuade him to stay and got into a taxi under the gaze of many villagers.

  When the taxi drove out of Wangjiacun, the driver finally let out a sigh of relief and smiled wryly: "Little brother, I was so nervous just now. By the way, where are we going now?"

  "Go back, Master, trouble you to send me back to Jiangling No. 1 Middle School."

  Ye Jun looked at his watch, a smile all over his face. He hadn't expected things to go so smoothly. Under the circumstances of favorable timing and location, the only thing left to do was to think about how to get his hands on the person, in other words, he had to come up with a plan to "drag down" the God of Wealth.